Though I have not done extensive testing, I am currently making use of the DIGEST feature at current LISTSERV maintenance level e.g., NDSUVM1 and at BETA levels e.g., PSUVM. It seems to work well. Some anomalous behavior exists when a list definition is _changed_ from (the default of) daily to weekly, and you already had your personal options set before the change -- you continue to get the more frequent DIGEST distributions until the beginning of the longer cycle (or so it seemed to me under 1.7fbeta). I also tested a DIGEST distribution for my list that was NOT archived -- worked as advertized. Here is the relevant list header (no notebook) -- * Digest= Yes,x1/300,daily,size(1000),23:00 This is really nice for lists which have high traffic, but your are essentially a lurker (something that I'm know for ;-)) INDEX works well too (of course it only will work where NOTEBOOKs exist). I did not try this with an archived list that had explicitly turned off DIGEST -- to see if there was an interaction (I'm not sure that you can get an INDEX under those conditions, but I suspect NOT since that's how I interpretted Eric's postings.) Finally, I tried TOPICS, first looking to see if other 1.7f-beta sites had enabled this on their lists (my search of about 10 USA (+SEARN) sites (LIST DETAILED) revealed NO topics= keyword, which I thought strange). Again, limited testing seems to show that it works (of course there was no real doubt). Here is the relevant list header - * topics= seminar,owner,etc I did NOT try TOPICS with DIGEST (or INDEX). All in all, I am looking forward for the official release AND install- ation of 1.7f ! Are we having fun yet? /Pete ([log in to unmask]) -- Peter M. Weiss | oas.psu.edu postmaster 31 Shields Bldg -- Penn State Univ.| "Connectivity is more than a Connection" University Park, PA USA 16802-1202 | E. Michael Staman, _The Circuit_, Apr 92