Manually send welcome email/welcome email for manually added users

[basis]

We need to manually add a list of users to our new vBulletin (3.8.1) implementation from an existing list. The Welcome Email does not get sent to any users added through the admin console. Is there:

1. A way to enable the Welcome Email to be sent to manually added users,

2. Manually send the Welcome Email to a user, or

3. A mod/hack that will allow us to get the Welcome Email to a user?

Also, if there is some other way to get a user's registration information to them that doesn't involve the above, I'd be thrilled to hear about it.

Thanks in advance!

[Lynne]

There is the Send Email to Users (in admin cp > users). If all your new users are put into a special usergroup at first (like COPPA), you can generate a mailing list based on that group and send a message to all of them.

[basis]

Thank you. Do you know the variables ($username, etc.) that we can use in the email feature so I can send users their proper information all in one blast?

[Lynne]

If you go to the Send Email to Users page I mentioned, you'll see this help next to the Message text box:

In the message, you may use $userid, $username, $email, $activateid, and $activatelink.

$activateid will be the activation number the user must use to activate his/her account. $activatelink will be the URL that a user needs to visit to be activated. Note: These will only be defined to users in the "Users Awaiting Email Confirmation" group.

Note: you cannot send passwords using this form as they are encrypted in the database. Please link to the 'lost password' form instead.

and this when you click on the little ? for help:

Message
This is the message to be sent to your users. Within the message, you may use the following special words, or variables, that will be replaced with the correct information for each user when the email is sent.
$userid: This is the user's userid. Normally this won't mean much to a user, but if you are, for example, sending an email telling users what their referrer link is, you would need to include the userid like this:
www.mysite.com/myvb/index.php?referrerid=$userid
which would then give the user credit if another user follows that link and registers.
$activateid and $activatelink are only applicable if you have Email Verification turned on and the user has not verified their address yet. $activatelink is the link that the user needs to visit to activate their account. $activateid would be used if you are manually typing out that link, otherwise it is of no use.
$username: If you want to personalize the email, or remind the user what their username is, use this variable.
$email: This is the email address on file for the user. It is useful if you wish to include a line to the effect of
This email was sent to $emailaddress which was used to register an account at the vBulletin Community Forums.
Please note you can not send passwords in emails because they are now encrypted in the database. You can, if you wish, direct users to the Lost Password page which is located at
http://www.yoursite.com/yourvb/login.php?do=lostpw

[basis]

Lynne,

Many thanks for the help! And apologies for not looking at the obviously placed help text in the Send Email to Users page.