Frequently Asked Questions

OurFold helps you reach your whole group with one message — and keep every email, photo, and file in one private Archive. You send one email to your unique broadcast address and OurFold delivers it to every member of your group, handles bounces and unsubscribes automatically, and saves a copy in your Archive alongside the photos, files, and posts you add. It's one simple subscription per group — broadcast included — with a 14-day free trial, so you can try everything first.

Anytime — but the sooner the better. Setting up early means your archive addresses and broadcast address are ready from day one, and your join link is ready to share so people can join ahead of your first message. Most leaders find that getting set up before their first big send removes the last-minute scramble.

OurFold is one simple subscription per group — monthly or annual, your choice — and broadcast is included, with no separate add-on tiers to sort through. Every subscription starts with a 14-day free trial, and you can cancel anytime. If a subscription lapses, your group simply becomes read-only and your Archive is kept safe. Each group you run has its own subscription.

Every group starts with a 14-day free trial — no charge until it ends, and you can cancel anytime during the trial or after. If your subscription lapses or you cancel, your group simply becomes read-only: you stop sending new broadcasts, but your Archive and everything in it is kept safe so you can still read and download it.

OurFold is a straightforward subscription — one simple plan per group, billed monthly or annually, with broadcast included. There are no hidden fees, no per-broadcast charges, and no per-member charges. You can cancel anytime, and a 14-day free trial lets you try everything before your first charge.

About five minutes. Sign up, name your group, and you're done. You get your archive addresses (Forward-to-Archive and Direct-Archive) and your unique broadcast address right away, plus a join link and QR code ready to share with your members.

Almost nothing changes. You write your message as usual and send it to your broadcast address, and OurFold delivers it to every member of your group while saving a copy in your Archive. To archive an email without sending it to the group, CC (or BCC) your Direct-Archive address instead. Same email you were going to write — no app, no new account. Most leaders are up and running after one message.

No. Members click your join link, enter their email address, and they're on the list. No account, no password, no app to download.

No. Your account is active the moment you sign up — there's no confirmation email to click. You're also added to your own group automatically so you'll receive your broadcasts just like everyone else.

BCC and group emails can technically work, but they create real friction over time: email providers flag mass BCCs as spam, bounced addresses pile up silently, and every week you're updating a list that's already out of date. OurFold handles delivery, bounces, and people leaving the list automatically — and saves every message alongside the photos and files you upload, so you end up with a complete record instead of scattered emails in your sent folder.

Your join link, QR code, personalized Story image, and downloadable printable sign are all on the Share page once you're logged in. Use the built-in Text it or Email it buttons to send a pre-written invite with your link, share it directly to Facebook, post a personalized Story to Instagram or Facebook, or display a printed sign at a gathering — anyone who clicks or scans can join in seconds.

Yes. The Share page generates a personalized Story image — sized perfectly for Instagram and Facebook Stories — featuring your group's name and QR code. On mobile, tap Instagram or Facebook on the share button to send it directly to your app. On desktop, the image downloads automatically so you can upload it yourself. Choose between a light or dark version using the toggle.

Yes. The Share page lets you download a personalized 8.5×11 sign at full print quality, featuring your group's name and QR code. Anyone who scans the code can join instantly. Choose from a light or dark version using the toggle, then click Download Custom Flyer.

Send an email from your authorized address to your broadcast address. The message — including images, links, and formatting — is delivered to all members within seconds. No extra steps required.

You enter your sending address when you sign up — it's automatically authorized. Emails from any other address are rejected, which keeps your group protected from unauthorized sends.

Yes. Your own email is always authorized, and you can approve up to three more senders — such as a co-leader or assistant — from the Approved Senders page (linked from your Email Group and Add Content pages). Their emails to the broadcast address reach everyone on the list just like yours, and anything they forward also lands in your Archive. Handy for sharing news when you're unavailable or between regular updates.

Yes. HTML emails with images, links, bold text, and other formatting are fully supported. Plain text emails work too. Members receive exactly what you sent.

Yes to both. Emojis 😊🌍🙏 are preserved everywhere you use them and render consistently in your Archive and in broadcasts to your members. Every language comes through too — accented Latin scripts like Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German, plus non-Latin scripts including Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Russian and other Cyrillic, Greek, Arabic, and Hebrew. Whether an entire email is in another language or just a few words are mixed into English, it's captured exactly.

There's no cap on how many you can send — most leaders send about once a week. The one nuance: if two broadcasts arrive close together (within about 6 hours), OurFold automatically spaces them at least 6 hours apart — the second is held briefly and sent a little later, and the sender gets a quick note that it's queued. This protects your group's deliverability, and nothing is lost.

Any email client — Gmail, Outlook, Apple Mail, and others. As long as you send from your authorized address to your broadcast address, it reaches the whole list.

Each group has two archive addresses (visible on the dashboard and archive): Forward-to-Archive (prefix forward-) for forwarding existing emails into the archive, and Direct-Archive (prefix direct-) for CC-ing on emails you're composing. You and any approved contributor can use either one — entries are added at their original send date, alongside your regular broadcasts. Common use cases:

• Past updates you sent — earlier emails, announcements, anything from a different inbox before your group existed.
• Meaningful emails you received — from members, colleagues, or anyone else worth saving.
• Anything else worth preserving in the same place as your regular updates.

Archived emails don't go to your members; they only go to the archive.

Yes. From the Approved Senders page (linked from your Add Content and Email Group pages), approve up to three trusted people beyond yourself. Anything they forward to your Forward-to-Archive address lands in your Archive, attributed to the original sender — without giving them any access to your account.

Yes. If you received a meaningful email — from a member, a colleague, a friend — you or any approved contributor can forward it to the Forward-to-Archive address. The archive shows the original sender, and a small "Forwarded by..." line records who added it. Useful for preserving correspondence you received but didn't write.

Re-forward the same email from the inbox with the attachments included. The archive replaces the prior entry — only the most recent forward is kept. Many email clients drop attachments when you click Forward; check that they're still attached before sending.

We parse the original sender from the forwarded message-history block. Different email clients format forwards differently — if our parser can't detect the format, we still archive the email, but attributed to you (the forwarder) rather than the original sender, and send you a heads-up letting you know. Reply to that heads-up or contact support if you have a forward that wasn't parsed correctly; it helps us improve format detection.

At its original send date, not the date you forwarded it. A 2024 email forwarded today lands among your other 2024 messages in the list — sorted by original date, newest first. If our parser couldn't extract the original date, the row sinks to the bottom of the list.

Yes — non-forwarded emails to either archive address are archived as your own email update, with you (the sender) listed as the sender. The Direct-Archive prefix is positioned for this use case; the Forward-to-Archive prefix accepts it too. Empty-body emails still bounce; for those, resend with content.

Yes. When you send your update from your email client, include your Direct-Archive address (the one with the direct- prefix) among the recipients — To, CC, or BCC, whichever fits your workflow. The email is added to your archive automatically. You don't need to forward anything separately. Your update goes to your usual recipients exactly as you sent it; the archive copy is only visible inside OurFold.

An earlier copy of that email is already in your archive — either because you sent it directly with your Direct-Archive address as a recipient, or because you sent it as a broadcast through OurFold. The original copy has cleaner sender/date/subject information than a forward can carry, so we keep the original and discard the forward. If you want to replace the existing copy with your forward, delete the existing entry from your archive first, then re-forward.

Yes. Use the Upload Photos page (linked from your Archive) to add photos from members, helpers, or anywhere they arrive outside email. Pick a date for each batch so they land in the right place on the timeline. Photos can be rotated and reordered after upload, and they're saved in your Archive.

Yes. Use the Upload Files page (linked from your Archive) to add documents like bulletins, flyers, newsletters, or any PDF you want preserved alongside the emails. Uploaded PDFs are kept in your Archive.

Yes. From your Archive, click Add Social Post. Take a screenshot of the post (Instagram, Facebook, or another platform), then upload it with a date, title, and platform. If the post had multiple photos, upload extras alongside the screenshot — the first photo appears larger in your Archive. Each social post becomes its own row on Archive.

Yes. Open the email from your Archive (click the subject), then add or remove attachments directly on the per-email page. Useful for catching photos or files that were missed the first time, or replacing the archived copy when you re-forward with the right attachments.

You can bring it right over. From the Email Group page, upload a CSV file or paste in a comma-separated list and everyone is added instantly. No need to start from scratch.

Yes — one at a time, as a comma-separated list, or via CSV upload. You can choose whether to send each new member a welcome notification when they're added.

Yes. Every group has a manage-by-email address (it starts with list-) you can email to manage members — no website access needed. Put a command in the subject or body: add followed by one or more email addresses, remove followed by an address, view list to get the full member list emailed back, or help for instructions. You'll get a reply confirming exactly what changed.

Each group supports up to 1,000 members. Need more? Contact us and we'll help.

Yes. Every broadcast email includes a leave link at the bottom, and most mail clients (Gmail, Outlook, Apple Mail) also show a built-in Unsubscribe link or button next to the sender — clicking either removes them from the list immediately, no action needed from you. You can also remove anyone manually from the Email Group page at any time.

Yes. Once you're logged in, you can add more groups from the Account page. Each group gets its own Archive and its own broadcast address — all under one login. Each group has its own subscription, and a quick-switcher pill in the navigation bar lets you swap between groups from any page.

Completely. Each group has its own independent member list. A member on one group receives only that group's broadcasts. If the same person wants updates from two groups, they'd join each one separately.

Yes. You can invite someone else — a co-leader or assistant — to access the account with their own login. Once they accept the invitation, they can log in and help manage the group without going through you.

Someone you invite can view the broadcast address, check the Archive, manage the member list, and share the join link — everything needed to help run the group. Account-level settings remain with the account owner.

All major credit and debit cards through Stripe, our payment processor — plus Apple Pay and Google Pay on supported devices and browsers. The payment form is built right into the sign-up page; no separate checkout site to redirect to. Some cards require a quick 3D Secure step from your bank, which is handled automatically. Your 14-day free trial starts first, so you can try everything before your first charge.

Yes. If you have a promotional code, enter it in the Have a promotional code? field on the sign-up form and the discount is applied to your subscription. If you followed a referral link, the discount is applied automatically.

Yes. All card details are entered directly into Stripe's secure payment form and sent straight to Stripe — they never pass through OurFold's servers, and we never see or store your card number. Stripe handles payments for millions of businesses and meets the industry's highest standards for payment security.

As long as you keep it active. OurFold is billed monthly or annually and renews automatically until you cancel. If you cancel or a payment lapses, your group becomes read-only and your Archive is kept safe so you can still read and download it.

Yes, anytime. Every group starts with a 14-day free trial, so you can cancel during the trial and never be charged. After that, cancel from Account → Cancel Account whenever you like — your subscription stops renewing, your group becomes read-only, and your Archive is kept so you can still read and download it. To close your account entirely, use Account → Delete Account.

No. Your 14-day free trial runs before any charge, and you can cancel during the trial without paying anything. If you cancel after billing has started, your subscription simply stops renewing — you keep access until the end of the period you've already paid for, then the group becomes read-only with your Archive kept.

It's kept. If you cancel or a payment lapses, your group becomes read-only — you can't send new broadcasts, but you can still sign in to read and download everything in your Archive. Resubscribe anytime to start sending again.

If you have an account, use the Support page after logging in. Otherwise, reach us through the Contact page and we'll get back to you as quickly as we can. Already a customer and looking for help with your account, broadcasts, or Archive? See the Customer FAQ.