Audiences

This page is also in the Courier wiki: https://github.com/rsjsoftwareltd/courier/wiki/Audiences

On New notice, Send to has two choices, and they are kept deliberately separate: Computers and People.

What has been proven. Notices to Computers and to People, and Active Directory groups read from a real domain, have been seen working on a lab server and PC (October 2026). One person signed in on two computers, and one person signing out and another signing in, are not yet proven on real machines. Try them on a small group you can check by eye first.

Computers #

You tick the computers that should show the notice. The list shows each computer's name, whether it is Online or Offline, and whether the Courier module is installed. A filter box narrows a long list; Select all ticks the computers currently shown and Clear unticks everything.

A notice goes to whoever is using that computer, so a Computers notice is the right choice for a room, a lab or a wall screen, and the wrong one for something meant for a single person.

A computer that is off or offline collects the notice when it comes back, as long as that is before the notice closes. A computer that has not got the Courier module cannot show it; the preview warns you and links to Agent Settings, where you can enable it.

People #

You name people instead of machines, and Courier delivers the notice to the sign-ins of those people on the computers that report them.

Usernames. One per line or separated by commas, for example SCHOOL\jsmith or jsmith@school.sch.uk. They are matched to the name each computer reports for the person signed in, including the domain; capitals are ignored. The two spellings are different names to Courier, so use the form your computers report. The page offers the names it has seen signed in as quick buttons.
Active Directory groups (optional), one per line, for example Year 7. See below.
Someone nobody has seen signed in yet still gets the notice if an enrolled computer reports them signed in before it expires. The preview tells you when no computer has reported a person.
Each matching sign-in gets its own copy. Someone signed in on two computers has two copies, and acknowledging one does not close the other.

People are frozen when you send: the notice goes to the people the preview listed, so it never grows because a group changes later.

Active Directory groups #

Groups let an administrator address, say, All Staff or Year 7 without typing a hundred names. Only administrators can use groups for now.

Setting it up #

Under Message Settings -> Directory, enter:

Account (DOMAIN\username) -- use a dedicated account that can only read the directory (an ordinary domain user is enough). Courier reads group membership only and never changes anything in the directory.
Password -- encrypted for the Courier service's own Windows identity, never shown again and never written to a log.
Domain controller (optional) -- leave empty to find one automatically.

Choose Save, then Test. Test signs in with the account, reads nothing about people or groups, and says in words whether group lookups will work.

If your school shares its Active Directory domain with others, fill in Limit to these OUs: one distinguished name per line, for example OU=Example Academy,DC=trust,DC=local; a school with a staff OU and a pupil OU lists both. With a limit set:

A group name is looked for under your OUs first. A group elsewhere in the domain, such as a trust-wide All Staff, can still be used, but only its members who are under your OUs are included.
Names typed into a People notice must be enabled users under your OUs, or they are refused by name.
The preview says how many people were left out of each group for being outside your OUs, and refuses if nobody is left.
Test checks that each OU exists.

Empty means the whole domain. If Courier cannot read what it needs from the directory (for example the directory's list of its domains, without which it cannot tell which domain a person belongs to), it refuses the lookup and says why instead of guessing.

What Preview tells you #

When you press Preview on a People notice that names groups, Courier looks the groups up and shows each group with its number of people, the total after removing duplicates, and what was left out: disabled accounts, computers, people outside your OUs, and accounts whose status could not be read. Groups inside groups are followed. If a lookup could not complete, Courier says so and sends nothing.

Send looks the groups up again and sends only if the members are still the ones the preview showed; if they have moved it asks for a fresh preview.

What is not built #

Sending to a group of computers taken from Active Directory (an administrator can save a list of enrolled computers as an audience under Message Settings -> Audiences), people from another domain (they are refused, not guessed), members of a group only through their primary group (for example Domain Users), and signing in to Courier with an Active Directory account.