Setting Up Autoresponders

Autoresponders send automatic reply messages when others send email messages to particular addresses. The autoresponders are controlled by means of the .mreply.rc file.

Note for Non-Virtual Domain accounts: The .mreply.rc file is available only for Full-Virtual accounts.

Full-Virtual accounts can have a have a default .mreply.rc file set up in their directory structure. This default file will send an auto-response message to any mail sent to info@yourdomainname.ext. The contents of that default auto-response message will be:

Yo <name of the person sending the mail to you> this is coming from your .mreply.rc file in your home directory. it is an auto-responder and its really cool, Gary

For example, if your domain name is xyz.com, and someone named John Doe sent a message to info@xyz.com, then John Doe would receive this auto-response message:

Yo John this is coming from your .mreply.rc file in your home directory. it is an auto-responder and its really cool, Jim

Of course, you will want to make your own auto-response email addresses. You can enter your custom messages to the info files located in the packets directory in your root directory. The text files that correspond to the email addresses are as follows:

You may customize this by using the Chapman's .mreply.rc Generator or by editing the .mreply.rc file yourself.  Instructions for using Chapman's .mreply.rc Generator are on their page. Instructions for editing your .mreply.rc file yourself are at the bottom of this page.

If you wish us to custom configure your autoresponders, there will be a $75/hour service fee with a $40 minimum.

Chapman's .mreply.rc Generator

If you click on the above hyperlink, you will come to a web page with a form. This is the Chapman's .mreply.rc Generator. We suggest that you print out this page, as well as the associated FAQ page, and then fill in the form.

While filling in the form, we recommend that you skip the boxes dealing with lists and fill in the boxes dealing with auto-responders.

Note: While you may fill in the part of the generator that involves lists, XyNexT does not support the list-serve functions of mreply. If you encounter any problems related to the lists, you will be on your own in fixing them.

Note 2: XyNexT does not allow mailing lists of greater than 10 people, due to the load that larger lists can put on our servers. Accommodating large mailing lists would adversely affect the service we could give to others.

Editing your .mreply.rc file

We recommend downloading the .mreply.rc file (in ascii mode) and editing it with Notepad or other simple text editor. Word processors wll add unwanted formatting tags. Search for the third iteration of the word "info". You should be in the "Who are we?" section. The "serviceAddress" is the address that will be stamped as the "From:" address on the response sent back to the originator. The "ownerAddress" is where the original incoming mail will forward to by default. DO NOT use an autoresponder address for the "serviceAddress" or the "ownerAddress". This can cause a mail loop, crash the server and incur our ill will.  You will notice five "if to" statements that correspond to the addresses listed above. If you wished to replace the info@xyz.com autoresponder with bob@xyz.com , do so like this:

.if to bob
   .message Forwarded
   .goto autoresponder
   .end
.endif

If you will be using similar addresses, remember to place a @ sign at the end to keep the server from matching the wrong line:

.if to bob@
   .message Forwarded
   .goto autoresponder
   .end
.endif

.if to bobby@
   .message Forwarded
   .goto autoresponder2
   .end
.endif

If you wish to specify a forwarding address other than the default "ownerAddress" (DO NOT use an autoresponder address, we're not kidding!) , do so like this:

.if to bob@
   .forwardall !bob@aol.com
   .message Forwarded
   .goto autoresponder
   .end
.endif

The Text file that is sent as a response is specified further down in the "LABELs" section. There, each "insert" statement corresponds with a "autoresponder" number:

.label autoresponder
   .insert $HOME/packets/info.txt

.end

.label autoresponder2
   .insert $HOME/packets/info2.txt

.end

Note: While we recommend Mreply for its autoresponder features, XyNexT does not support the list-serve functions of Mreply. If you encounter any problems related to the lists, you will be on your own in fixing them.

Note 2: XyNexT does not allow mailing lists of greater than 10 people, due to the load that larger lists can put on our servers. Accommodating large mailing lists would adversely affect the service we could give to others

If you wish us to custom configure your autoresponders, there will be a $75/hour service fee with a $40 minimum.