Frequently asked questions

How to customize the subscription module?

To customize the ccNewsletter subscription module, you will need to edit the HTML and CSS files (via FTP) in the below location (depending on your ccNewsletter version. Please note that we use the Bootstrap UI framework version 2.3.2 in our extensions in Joomla! 2 and 3. Bootstrap is now a core part of Joomla! 3. So you can use Bootstrap CSS classes to change the module styles. For example, changing the button from orange to green would mean finding the button HTML and changing “btn-warning” class to “btn-success”. Read more about Bootstrap buttons.

ccNewsletter 2.x & 3+

modules/mod_ccnewsletter/tmpl/

Select the file that matches the “Type of module effect” you selected in the administrator. After making your changes, use Joomla! template overrides to save your changes in your template! Starting with Joomla! 3.2 you can do all of this in the new Template Manager, read more.

We have an example of the code needed to change all buttons to grey. You can copy and paste this to your template css (override) file. If you want another color than grey, search and replace #868d86 with your HEX color value.

https://gist.github.com/davdebcom/6776fec4ed756a84ab79#file-turn-ccnewsletter-buttons-grey-css

ccNewsletter 1.x

modules/mod_ccnewsletter/templates/*type of effect*

Replace *type of effect* with the effect chosen in the module options in the administrator. Remember, when you upgrade the module in the future, your changes will be lost if you don’t back them up and re-apply or use the Joomla! template overrides!

If sending fails, how can I continue?

For ccNewsletter 1.6 and above: use the “Continue” button in the “Reports” view.

For ccNewsletter 1.5 and below:

You are sending a newsletter to a “all subscribers” or a certain group, and for some reason ccNewsletter fails to send the newsletter to all subscribers. Maybe you closed the browser or your computer was shut down. The good news is that ccNewsletter has an inbuilt function, that will recognize this when you start sending the same newsletter to the same group. It will then continue where you left off and only send the newsletter to subscribers that did not already receive it.

Please note that this only works when sending the same newsletter to the same group immediately after sending failed. For example sending newsletter A to group A, then resending newsletter A to group A. If you send newsletter A to group A, then newsletter A to group B or newsletter B to group A, all subscribers in that group will receive the newsletter. When sending to newsletter A to group A after that, all subscribers will also receive the newsletter again.

How to indentify problematic domains when sending process breaks or gets interrupted?

If when sending newsletter the SMTP service interrupts with error, the sending process gets interrupted and it is difficult to indentify the problematic domains, in this case try to use standard Joomla! Debug & logging.
Screenshot : Debug plus Logging

Could not instantiate mail function

First, check that you have entered all details (From and From email) in the ccNewsletter configuration.

Second, ccNewsletter sends emails via whatever service you configured in the global configuration in Site > Global Configuration > Server. This error will be shown when an extension like ccNewsletter tries to send an email and it fails. If you are using PHPMail in the configuration (default in Joomla!) and it is not working, first try to send an email via another way in Joomla!. For example, dos your contact form work and send and email or does it also fail.

If both fail, contact your hoster provider and ask them why PHPMail is not working. You could also set the Joomla! configuration to SMTP.

The newsletter does not look like what I designed

Example problem: “When I send a real or test newsletter, the newsletter I or my subscribers receive is not at all like the one I created! In other words, the pictures and text in the “real” newsletter are not aligned at all like the way it is in the editor or the preview in ccNewsletter.”

Read about this in the Coding a newsletter section in the “Newsletters in ccNewsletter” chapter.

Images are blocked (red X)

If images that are not embedded in the newsletter but are retrieved from a server or external location, they can get blocked by the e-mail client. This is even a default functionality in Outlook and Windows Mail. Your users will have to find and select the “unblock” message or button in the e-mail client and click it so they can see all images.

In most e-mail clients the message will be something like these examples:

• Images are not displayed. – Display images below
• Images and other external content in HTML e-mail are blocked. Click here to show all images

This is not a ccNewsletter bug!

Newsletter is added to spam folder or not received

If your newsletter is marked as spam/junk or added to a spam/junk folder of Outlook, Thunderbird or Gmail, or isn’t received at all by users on for example Hotmail, Yahoo, Gmail; you should know this is a server and/or domain issue, not a ccNewsletter issue. The exact same newsletter might get into the same e-mails account inbox if it was sent from another server and/or domain.

Services like Yahoo, Gmail and Hotmail have their own “spam lists” where they add servers and domains that they think are sending spam or have sent spam in the past. So it is even possible to sent sent a newsletter from a server or domain which is NOT marked as spam in for example Gmail or Hotmail, but IS marked as spam in Yahoo “spam lists”. It is also possible the criteria of Yahoo/Gmail/Hotmail/Outlook etc. for spam were all met (for example: short message, bad server etc.) and that is the reason it got in the spam/junk folder.

To get a message in the e-mail account’s inbox:

• add more content to the message, rewrite the subject, delete bad HTML code and then see if it gets through
• send the newsletter from a server and/or domain which is not marked in the “spam lists”

How to disable Bootstrap or jQuery in ccNewsletter

ccNewsletter 2.x and up: In ccNewsletter 2.x+ we implemented “Chill Creations Bootstrap” to load Bootstrap and jQuery in sites that do not load them already. You can disable “Chill Creations Bootstrap” in the configuration of our extensions. In older versions: Assuming that your template folder is called mytemplate, copy: media/akeeba_strapper/strapper.ini to templates/mytemplate/media/akeeba_strapper/strapper.ini Then read the contents of strapper.ini to learn how to disable Bootstrap and/or jQuery. These settings will automatically apply to all extensions that use Akeeba Strapper, such as ccNewsletter, ccInvoices, CookieConfirm and all extensions from Akeeba.