instructions for mass mailing

Author: Storce

docs/staff-docs/procedures/opstaff-email.md

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+We sometimes need to send email in mass for things like opstaff hiring. This is how we do it.
+
+## Getting emails from ldap
+You need admin privilege to complete this step:
+
+`kinit []/admin && ldapsearch "(creationTime>=20240815000000-00)" mail | grep mail >> emails.txt`
+
+Here I set creationTime filter to the start of the Fall 2024 semester. You can change it to whenever that suits your needs. 
+The idea here is that we are filtering for freshman and sophomore.
+
+## Importing emails to Google Sheets
+There are many ways to export the .txt file into CSV. I (vibe) wrote a python script to do that.
+Once you have the emails in CSV, import it to a Google Sheet under OCF google drive.
+
+## Sending emails
+You can either use ocflib.misc.mail.send_mail or Gapps script. I used Gapps.
+I stole and modified the script from the DecalVM mailing list. You should copy paste the following code into Your Sheet -> Extensions -> App Script:
+```
+function sendHiringEmails() {
+  // --- Please update this ---
+  var sheetName = "Sheet1"; 
+  // -------------------------
+
+  var sheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet().getSheetByName(sheetName);
+  if (!sheet) {
+    Logger.log("Error: Sheet not found. Please check the 'sheetName' variable.");
+    return;
+  }
+  
+  var data = sheet.getDataRange().getValues();
+  var alias = "[email protected]";
+  
+  // --- Email Content ---
+  var subject = "Waddles says hi!";
+  var message = `
+    Waddles is the best!
+  `;
+  // ---------------------
+  total = 0
+  for (var i = 0; i < data.length; i++) {
+    var email = data[i][0]; // Get email from the first (and only) column
+
+    // Basic validation to skip empty rows or invalid-looking emails
+    if (email && email.includes("@")) {
+      try {
+        GmailApp.sendEmail(email, subject, "", {
+          from: alias,
+          htmlBody: message
+        });
+        Logger.log("Email sent to: " + email);
+        total += 1
+      } catch (e) {
+        Logger.log("Error sending email to: " + email + " - Error: " + e.message);
+      }
+    } else {
+      Logger.log("Skipping row " + (i + 1) + ": Invalid or empty email.");
+    }
+  }
+  Logger.log("Email sent to " + total + " students.")
+}
+```
+Of course, change the message, alias, sheetname etc.
+Make sure that when you run it you have the permission to send as the alias address.