Obtaining data export of all members email addresses?

Discussions around using and interfacing with the Church MLS program.
nathangg
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Obtaining data export of all members email addresses?

#1

Post by nathangg »

Hello,

Here is my issue:

As a stake executive secretary I would like a data export of all members in the stake that contains member's callings and their email address, even if they've set their email address to "leadership only".

Here's the background:

I've been using the MLS Export feature on the stake clerk computer to get an export of members names, their callings, and their email addresses.

I can then easily email people on behalf of the stake presidency ("Please email all elders quorum secretaries and remind them of the home teaching training we are having on ____").

However, I just realized that MLS Export doesn't export email addresses if a member has set their email address to "leadership only" (which is unfortunate, since I would consider the stake clerk and stake executive secretary as "leadership", especially when we email members on behalf of the stake presidency :-) )

Does anyone have another good way to get a full listing of the all the members in the stake AND their email address (even if set to "leadership only") AND their callings?

Thanks~!
russellhltn
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Re: Obtaining data export of all members email addresses?

#2

Post by russellhltn »

nathangg wrote:However, I just realized that MLS Export doesn't export email addresses if a member has set their email address to "leadership only"
As far as I know, the MLS program has no concept of "privacy". Are you sure you're not seeing something based on Household vs. Individual email?

OTOH, the on-line tools DO understand privacy and frequently seem to hide results even from leaders.
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aebrown
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Re: Obtaining data export of all members email addresses?

#3

Post by aebrown »

I'd use an MLS Custom Report.

I'd have one criterion: Age -- is or is greater than -- 18

I'd include the fields: Preferred Name, Callings, Contact E-mail, Ward/Branch Abbreviated Name

Of course, you can adjust the fields or criteria to meet your specific needs. Note that the "Contact E-mail" field means "use the individual e-mail address if it exists; otherwise use the household e-mail address."
nathangg
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Re: Obtaining data export of all members email addresses?

#4

Post by nathangg »

russellhltn wrote:As far as I know, the MLS program has no concept of "privacy". Are you sure you're not seeing something based on Household vs. Individual email?
I'm looking in Membership.csv from the MLS Export feature.

There are two columns: Household email and individual email.

There is an elders quorum president in my stake that has his individual email privacy settings set to "Leadership Only" (and I can see it online, which is good).

But when the Stake Clerk does an MLS export and gives me the "Membership.csv" file, this Elders Quorum President's individual email address is empty, and his household email address matches the one online.

It sure feels like MLS is honoring privacy settings in this case.
nathangg
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Re: Obtaining data export of all members email addresses?

#5

Post by nathangg »

aebrown wrote:I'd use an MLS Custom Report.

I'd have one criterion: Age -- is or is greater than -- 18

I'd include the fields: Preferred Name, Callings, Contact E-mail, Ward/Branch Abbreviated Name

Of course, you can adjust the fields or criteria to meet your specific needs. Note that the "Contact E-mail" field means "use the individual e-mail address if it exists; otherwise use the household e-mail address."
Thank you. I will look into this to see what kind of data I can get and in which formats.
russellhltn
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Re: Obtaining data export of all members email addresses?

#6

Post by russellhltn »

nathangg wrote:It sure feels like MLS is honoring privacy settings in this case.
I'd be interested in knowing if MLS has the data at all. It might be that the data doesn't sync if it's set for "leadership". It's not unreasonable to think that the email was entered on-line and MLS has never seen it.

For that matter, since this is exported from the stake MLS, we have to make sure enough time has passed for it to get to the stake MLS machine.
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nathangg
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Re: Obtaining data export of all members email addresses?

#7

Post by nathangg »

russellhltn wrote: I'd be interested in knowing if MLS has the data at all. It might be that the data doesn't sync if it's set for "leadership". It's not unreasonable to think that the email was entered on-line and MLS has never seen it.
Good point. It is entirely possible that this person entered their personal address online within the past week and we haven't synced the stake MLS yet.

I'll do that and check it again.

THANK YOU!!!
nathangg
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Re: Obtaining data export of all members email addresses?

#8

Post by nathangg »

So, it turns out the information was entered in many months ago via lds.org/directory, but the privacy settings are such that this person's individual email address is configured to be "Private - Leadership Only".

It would seem that when privacy settings are "Private - Leadership Only", then the individual email address is NOT synced with the stake MLS (or perhaps even the ward MLS). So this person's email address is ONLY accessible online.

Which is somewhat unfortunate, since I'd like to be able to easily email people based on their calling and I thought the "Export MLS" feature from the stake computer would give me all the private information, but that doesn't seem to be the case.
russellhltn
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Re: Obtaining data export of all members email addresses?

#9

Post by russellhltn »

nathangg wrote:It would seem that when privacy settings are "Private - Leadership Only", then the individual email address is NOT synced with the stake MLS (or perhaps even the ward MLS). So this person's email address is ONLY accessible online.
Interesting. I don't know if that's a feature or a bug.
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jdlessley
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Re: Obtaining data export of all members email addresses?

#10

Post by jdlessley »

I think it is reasonable that an e-mail address entered online with the privacy setting set to Private - Leadership Only will not sync with MLS after the Directory edit is saved. If, however, the e-mail address is entered online and the Directory edit is saved before the privacy setting is changed and saved then I would expect the e-mail address to show up in MLS.
JD Lessley
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