Group Messaging lets you send a private message to an entire Joomla user group at once. Instead of selecting recipients one by one, you select a group like "Managers" or "Support Staff" and everyone in that group receives your message.
Benefits:
- Send announcements to entire teams quickly
- Ensure consistent communication across departments
- Control who can send group messages and to which groups
Enabling Group Messaging
- Go to Components > JoomPMS > Options
- Click the Group Messaging tab
- Set Enable Group Messaging to Yes
- Save
Who Can Send Group Messages
The Method setting controls which users can send group messages:
| Method | Who Can Send |
|---|---|
| All | Any logged-in user |
| Exclude | Everyone except selected groups |
| Include | Only selected groups |
Examples
Allow only administrators and managers to send group messages:
- Set Method to Include
- Select "Administrator" and "Manager" in the user groups field
Block new users from sending group messages:
- Set Method to Exclude
- Select "Registered" (or your new user group) in the user groups field
Which Groups Can Be Messaged
The Strict Mode setting controls which groups appear as recipients:
Strict (Recommended)
Only shows groups where all members can receive your message. This ensures complete delivery - if a group appears, everyone in it will get the message.
Permissive
Shows all groups you could potentially message. Some members might not receive the message if their personal settings block you.
Dynamic
Shows only groups you've been explicitly allowed to message. Use this when different roles need access to different groups.
Setting Up Dynamic Mode
Dynamic mode gives you precise control over who can message which groups.
How It Works
You create mappings: "Users in Group A can send to Groups X, Y, Z"
Configuration Steps
- Set Strict Mode to Dynamic
- The Dynamic Group Access field appears
- Click a source group tab on the left (e.g., "Managers")
- Check the target groups that source group can message
- Repeat for each group that needs different access
Example Setup
| If user is in... | They can message... |
|---|---|
| Super Users | All groups |
| Managers | Employees, Support Staff |
| HR Department | All Employees, New Hires |
| Support Lead | Support Staff only |
| Regular Users | No groups (leave unchecked) |
If a user belongs to multiple groups, they can message any group allowed by any of their memberships.
Recipient Limits
Maximum Recipients
Sets the maximum number of people who can receive a single group message. Default is 50, maximum is 500.
If a user selects groups totaling more than this limit, they'll see an error asking them to select fewer groups.
Queue Threshold
When a message has more recipients than this number, it's processed in the background instead of immediately. This prevents timeouts on large messages.
Example: With threshold set to 10:
- Message to 8 people: Sent immediately
- Message to 15 people: Queued for background processing
Queue Batch Size
How many messages are sent per processing cycle. Higher values are faster but use more server resources. Default of 20 works for most servers.
Setting Up Queue Processing
If you use group messaging for large recipient lists, you need a scheduled task to process queued messages.
- Go to System > Scheduled Tasks
- Find or create the JoomPMS Queue Processor task
- Enable it and set interval (every 5 minutes recommended)
Without this task, messages to large groups will remain in the queue indefinitely.
Monitoring the Queue
Go to Components > JoomPMS > Queue to see:
- Messages waiting to be sent
- Progress of messages being processed
- Any failed messages with error details
You can retry failed messages or delete queue entries from this screen.
Sending a Group Message
- Go to the JoomPMS message center
- Click Compose or New Message
- Click Group Mode to switch to group selection
- Select one or more target groups from the dropdown
- Groups show as:
Group Name (member count)
- Groups show as:
- Write your subject and message
- Click Send
Tips
- You can add individual CC recipients even in group mode
- The total recipients (group members + CC) cannot exceed your maximum limit
- Replies from recipients go only to you, not the whole group
Troubleshooting
"I don't see any groups to select"
Check these settings:
- Is Group Messaging enabled? (Options > Group Messaging > Enable = Yes)
- Does your user have permission? Check the Method and selected groups
- Are you using Dynamic mode without mappings for your user groups?
Quick test: Temporarily set Strict Mode to Permissive to see all potentially available groups.
"Messages are stuck in the queue"
- Go to System > Scheduled Tasks
- Verify the JoomPMS queue task exists and is enabled
- Check if the task has errors
- Go to Components > JoomPMS > Queue to see specific error messages
"Maximum recipients exceeded"
Options:
- Select fewer or smaller groups
- Increase the Maximum Recipients setting (up to 500)
- Send separate messages to different groups
"Some group members didn't receive the message"
This happens in Permissive mode when some members have blocked messages from you. Switch to Strict mode to ensure complete delivery to all displayed groups.
Recommended Settings
For most organizations:
- Enable Group Messaging: Yes
- Method: Include (select admin/manager groups)
- Strict Mode: Strict
- Maximum Recipients: 100
- Queue Threshold: 20
- Queue Batch Size: 20
For complex organizations with many roles:
- Use Dynamic strict mode
- Map each department to appropriate target groups
- Document your mappings for future reference
Settings Reference
| Setting | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Enable Group Messaging | Master on/off switch | No |
| Method | Who can send: All, Exclude, or Include | All |
| User Groups | Groups to include/exclude from sending | Registered |
| Maximum Recipients | Max people per message | 50 |
| Strict Mode | Which groups appear: Strict, Permissive, or Dynamic | Strict |
| Dynamic Group Access | Source-to-target mappings (Dynamic mode only) | None |
| Queue Threshold | Recipients before queuing | 10 |
| Queue Batch Size | Messages per processing cycle | 20 |