Getting Started with Punchmail

What is Punchmail?

Punchmail is a self-hosted email marketing platform that gives you full control over your subscriber lists, email campaigns, and deliverability — all from a clean, easy-to-use interface. Because it runs on your own server, your data stays with you.

The left sidebar is how you get everywhere in Punchmail. Here's a quick tour of each section:

Section	What it's for
Dashboard	Your at-a-glance overview of sends, engagement, and recent campaigns.
Subscribers	Browse, search, filter, and manage every individual subscriber across all your lists.
Lists	Create and manage mailing lists — the containers that organize your subscribers.
Campaigns	Build, schedule, and send email campaigns to your lists or segments.
Templates	Design reusable email templates so you don't start from scratch every time.
Segments	Define dynamic groups of subscribers based on rules (e.g., “opened a campaign in the last 30 days”).
Automations	Set up triggered email flows that run on autopilot (welcome series, re-engagement, etc.).
SMTP	Configure the mail servers Punchmail uses to deliver your emails.
Suppression	Manage a global suppression list of addresses that should never receive email.
Deliverability	Monitor your sending reputation, bounce rates, and inbox placement.
Settings	Configure custom fields, tracking, bounce handling, users, and more.

At the bottom of the sidebar you'll find your user avatar (an orange circle with your initial), your name, and your role. There's also a Logout button and a Feedback button if you ever want to share thoughts with your team.

Quick Walkthrough: Your First Send

The fastest path from zero to a sent campaign looks like this:

1. Create a List

Head to Lists and click Create List. Give it a name (e.g., “Newsletter”), fill in your From Name and From Email, and save. This is the container that holds the subscribers you'll email.

2. Add Subscribers

You can add subscribers in a few ways:

One by one — Go to Subscribers, click Add Subscriber, fill in their details, and assign them to your list.
Import a CSV — Go to Subscribers, click Import, upload your file, map the columns, and let Punchmail do the rest.
Embed a signup form — Open your list's detail page, click Get Embed Code, and paste the snippet on your website.

3. Build a Campaign

Go to Campaigns and click Create Campaign. You'll give it a name, choose which list (or segment) to send to, pick or build a template, write your subject line, and preview everything.

4. Send (or Schedule)

Once you're happy with the preview, hit Send to deliver immediately — or schedule it for the perfect time. Punchmail will handle the rest, and you can watch the results roll in on your Dashboard.

That's the core loop: List > Subscribers > Campaign > Send. Everything else in Punchmail — segments, automations, templates, deliverability tools — builds on top of that foundation.