I am using the Newsletter #1 that is included in the 'Direct Mail Example' as a reference to explain how to format the newsletters you create so that subscribers only see content for which they subscribed.

This is an overview of the newsletter in 'List Mode'

The sample Newsletter has 9 content sections and is setup to use the 'Normal Column' and the 'Border Column'. See screen shot below.

1st Content Section

This is the greeting and intro section and uses 'Data Fields' to personalize the mailing.

You can find the list for the 'Data Fields' under

--> Plugins  --> Direct Mail Module   --> Instructions from the drop down menu.

Data Fields in Direct Mails

You can insert personalized data in the mails by inserting these markers:

###USER_uid### (the unique id of the recipient)###USER_name### (full name)###USER_firstname### (first name calculated)###USER_title######USER_email######USER_phone######USER_www######USER_address######USER_company######USER_city######USER_zip######USER_country######USER_fax######SYS_TABLE_NAME######SYS_MAIL_ID######SYS_AUTHCODE###

(In addition ###USER_NAME### and ###USER_FIRSTNAME### will insert uppercase versions of the equalents)

2nd Content Section

This section is placed into the 'Border Column' and links to the Sitemap. In the example it is configured like this in header section of the content:

3rd Content Section

This section is also placed into the 'Border Column' uses the 'News Plugin'. In the example it is configured like this in the header section of the content:

4th-7th Content Sections

These 4 sections correspond to the 4 categories in the example: Books, Food, Religion and Sport. Create a separate content for each category, don't put them all together into one content section.

8th Content Section

This section links to other pages. In the example it is configured like this in the header section of the content:

9th Content Section

The last section links to the Search Page for your site. In the example it is configured like this in the header section of the content:

Now that you have created your newsletter you need to match the sections to the categories of your subscribers. Go the the next page.

You can link the newletter to the categories now or when you are ready to mail the newsletter. Just don't forget to do it. I placed a reminder in the tutorial under Select Newsletter.

Clicking on Plugins --> Direct Mail Module or the name of the Newsletter you just created will open the Newsletter Direct Mail Edit Page.

Here you see all the newsletter(s) that you have created. You can view them from here, edit them, create your mailing based on them and select the categories that go with each content section.

When you set your categories as you create your newsletter you won't have to worry remembering to set them at the time of your mailing. This way if you create your newsletters in advance or in bits and pieces, by automatically setting the categories you are always up-to-date.