Participation Mailing Project

This project streamlines the process of sending mass emails to students using official roll sheets and a customizable mailer. It consists of two main components:

• Roll Sheet Email Address Generator (in RollSheets/)
• Mass Mailer Service (in mailer/)

Follow the steps below to generate email addresses and send emails efficiently.

---

1️⃣ Generate Email Address CSV (RollSheets)

1. Download Roll Sheet PDF

   • Get the official roll sheet PDF for your target year/semester from the NIT KKR website.

2. Extract Roll Numbers

   • The PDF is multi-paged. Manually extract roll numbers:
     • Screenshot each page.
     • Use a Large Language Model (LLM) like GPT or Gemini to parse screenshots and list roll numbers.
   • Save all roll numbers in a CSV file (one per line or column).

   Future: Scripts may automate PDF parsing and roll number extraction using Gemini SDK.

3. Generate Email Addresses

   • Open RollSheets/index.ipynb in Jupyter Notebook or VS Code.
   • Set the input and output CSV filenames in the first code cell.
   • Run all cells:
     • Reads roll numbers from your input CSV.
     • Appends @nitkkr.ac.in to each roll number.
     • Saves email addresses to a new output CSV file.

4. Result

   • The output CSV contains all student email addresses, ready for mailing.

---

2️⃣ Send Mass Emails (mailer)

1. Install Dependencies

   npm install

2. Setup Environment Variables

   cp .env.template .env
   # Edit .env with your Gmail credentials

   • Set up a Gmail App Password (see below).

3. Prepare Your Email List

   • Use the CSV generated in Step 1 (emails in the first column).
   • Update the path in mailer/index.js if needed.

4. Run the Mailer

   # Test run (no emails sent)
   node index.js --dry-run
   
   # Send emails
   node index.js

Gmail App Password Setup

1. Go to Google Account Settings
2. Enable 2-Step Verification
3. Create an App Password for "Mail"
4. Copy the password to your .env file

Customization

• All settings and content are in mailer/index.js:
  • Subject, sender, HTML template, CSS, attachments, batch size, delays, etc.

Command Line Options

node index.js --help              # Show help
node index.js --config            # Show current configuration
node index.js --dry-run           # Test without sending emails
node index.js --batch-size 5      # Set batch size to 5
node index.js --max-batches 3     # Send only 3 batches

---

📁 Project Structure

Publicity Mailing/
├── mailer/           # Node.js mass mailer
│   ├── index.js
│   ├── package.json
│   ├── .env.template
│   ├── .env
│   └── Content/
├── RollSheets/       # Roll sheet email generator
│   ├── index.ipynb
│   ├── *.csv
│   └── README.md
└── README.md         # (This file)

---

🔧 Troubleshooting & Tips

• Start with a small test batch using dry run mode.
• Use Gmail App Passwords, not regular passwords.
• Monitor Gmail sending limits and adjust batch/delay settings.
• Never commit .env to version control.
• Keep your email list secure.

---

🛡️ Security

• Use app passwords and enable 2-Step Verification.
• Regularly rotate your app passwords.
• Protect your email lists and credentials.

---

📄 License

MIT License

---

🆘 Support

• Check the README files in RollSheets/ and mailer/ for details.
• Review error messages and test with dry run mode.
• Verify Gmail app password setup if you encounter authentication issues.