FIRSTCLASS. Getting Started with. Address Book. Attachments. Bookmarks. Conferences. Directory. . Forward. History. Internet Address.

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1 Getting Started with FIRSTCLASS Address Book Attachments Bookmarks Conferences Directory FirstClass is an integrated and group conferencing package. This document is for those using FirstClass, or conferencing for the first time and others who may want to know more about this release of FirstClass Intranet Client version 7.1. A basic knowledge of Windows is assumed. First-time users - please see the important note on page 4 regarding your first login. Forward History Internet Address Mailbox Messages Personal Address Reply Résumé Threading Getting Started with FirstClass! CIS6! Version 6! October 2003 Communication & IT Services, Sheffield Hallam University

2 Contents Introduction...3 Who should read this document?...3 What is ?...3 What is conferencing?...4 Registering for FirstClass...4 What an address looks like...5 Offensive Messages: A statement from the Vice Chancellor...6 Introducing FirstClass and FCIC...7 Logging into FirstClass...7 The FirstClass Desktop...8 Your FirstClass Mailbox...9 The FirstClass Directory...9 FirstClass Directory...10 Closing and Exiting FirstClass...11 FirstClass as an system...12 Reading your messages...12 Creating new messages to send...13 Replying to your messages...15 Forwarding messages...16 Using Attachments...17 Attaching a file to a message...17 Viewing and Saving attachments...18 FirstClass Conferencing...19 Looking through conferences...19 Contributing to conference items...20 Adding a Conference to your Desktop...21 FirstClass Mailbox Folders...22 Creating a new Folder in your Mailbox...22 Your Personal Address Book...22 Other FirstClass features...25 Searching conferences and folders...25 Bookmarks...26 Editing your Résumé...27 Message History...27 Unsending sent messages to correct mistakes...28 Deleting and conference items...28 Saving and conference items to files...28 Printing and conference items...29 Customising FirstClass...30 The Preferences Form...30 Available Help...31 Glossary...32 Author: Gordon Walker With thanks to Vanessa James, Anita Mansell and Howard Skipworth

3 Introduction Who should read this document? What is ? This document is for people who are using FirstClass for the first time and for those want more information on the FirstClass Intranet Client (FCIC). It will not cover use of FirstClass via the web browser, but the main features of and conferencing are the same for each method used. Essential items covered include: " how to start using FirstClass " how to read and send " how to read and add new conference items " how to organise your mail and conference folders on your FirstClass Desktop. Words that you may find unfamiliar are in italics; use the glossary at the back of this document to check their meaning. Typically with most Windows applications, there are a number of ways you can execute actions within FirstClass. This guide will concentrate on the menu commands, rather than referring to the Toolbar, the shortcut menus and shortcut keys. ("electronic mail") is the term used for sending messages in electronic form. This is normally between computer users, but can also is now used with other internet-connected devices such as mobile phones. messages are often just text-based but are often used to send multimedia attachments as well. Sending works when computers are connected to networks, which are in turn inter-connected globally to form the Internet. Any sent relies on many computers and networks to be working, therefore s are at risk of delays at any stage, but most will arrive very quickly. To send messages all you need to know is a valid address of the recipient - see addressing below. Messages can either be like formal letters or increasingly they are much more "conversational" where the emotions of the writer are expressed as "emot-icons" (also called "smilies"). Introduction 3

4 What is conferencing? Registering for FirstClass Conferencing within FirstClass is a way for people to share information given in messages to a wide group of computer users. Many people will be able to access them to read and send messages on a particular topic. Some conferences are restricted so that only certain user-groups can access them whilst other will be open to all. Conferences will also have different properties so that messages to some of them are limited to postings from just a moderator or an administrator. Other conferences are completely open for anyone to send to, and therefore users can feel as though they are part of a large conversation. The FirstClass conferences with the most restricted access are those related to your course. Which ones you can use will be governed by your course tutors. Other conferences on your server are likely to be accessible by all other students within the university. Some you will be able to send to, others will just for announcements etc. More details are given FirstClass Conferencing (P19). Conferences also exist in other forms throughout the Internet. The largest collection is called "Usenet news" where the conferences are called newsgroups. Other conferences take on the form of discussion boards within websites. All current students are automatically registered for FirstClass when they enrol. You cannot use the system unless you have a valid FirstClass userid, which will be the same as your network username/loginname. You are also assigned an Internet address. All these details should be on your enrolment form. Your FirstClass userid logs you on to a FirstClass Intranet Server (FCIS) at Sheffield Hallam University. There are currently four servers or FCISs to serve all students across the university. When you log on you have your own Mailbox or postbox where all internal or external is stored. Important Note: The very first time you use FirstClass, you will be asked to disconnect immediately. Please follow the instructions to do so - this is to ensure authorisation of your code on the system. If you have problems go to your nearest CIS Help Desk. Also note that you cannot use the FirstClass web client until your code has been authorised. 4 Introduction

5 What an address looks like To send an to someone else, you need to know their address. If a name is listed in the directory of your server using that name will automatically send to their address. This includes all teaching staff at the university and all other students on your server. Otherwise you need to know their Internet address. Conversely, if you want someone to you from a different FirstClass server you need to tell them what your Internet address is. Note: You will have to use the Internet address for students whose FirstClass accounts are not on the same FirstClass server as you. Your Internet address has a very specific format and needs to be quoted carefully and accurately. This is the address you should quote to anyone who wants to contact you from outside the University as well as to other students within the university on a different FirstClass server. Your Internet address is made up of two parts: your name and your postbox Internet name. Your name is unique to you, whilst the postbox name is the address of a central server within the university which sends on to your FirstClass mailbox. Your name is separated from the rest of the full address by (pronounced "at") sign. For example, Remember: An Internet address never contains spaces. virginia.woolf@student.shu.ac.uk Internet name postbox (or usergroup) institution academic community country This address would be pronounced as: virginia dot woolf at student dot S H U dot A C dot U K. Introduction 5

6 Offensive Messages: A statement from the Vice Chancellor Sheffield Hallam University prides itself on being a welcoming and caring institution, committed to enabling all students to reach their full potential. In order to make this possible, each of us has a responsibility to treat other staff and students with the respect which they deserve. In the past this has been demonstrated by the way in which we interact with one another in the classroom and in social spaces throughout the university. With the increased use of CIT (Communications and Information Technology) for teaching and learning, we are becoming aware of the importance of this medium as a channel for social interaction too. Although the CIT facilities are provided primarily for academic use, a limited amount of this social use is acceptable. In some ways, however, the use of CIT for communications can be more problematic than traditional face to face situations: an inexperienced user may inadvertently send messages to a wider audience than intended; there is no body language or tone of voice to indicate whether something is serious or in jest. Difficulties such as these can easily result in situations where offence is caused to the readers of an message, and would be as unacceptable as making offensive remarks elsewhere within the university. The use of racist or sexist material and the harassment of others on whatever basis, is covered by University Regulations, outlined in the Student Handbook, and is likely to result in serious disciplinary action against offenders. Please report anyone who you feel is abusing the CIT facilities of the University to a C.I.S. Help Desk or a Learning Centre Information Desk. If you feel that you have been offended or harassed contact an academic tutor or seek advice from your School Office in the first instance. Help us to keep Sheffield Hallam University a place where everyone feels welcome and is enabled to participate fully in the academic and social life of the university. 6 Introduction

7 Introducing FirstClass and FCIC Logging into FirstClass To login to FirstClass: " Click the Start button on your taskbar and select FirstClass, or choose the FirstClass icon from the taskbar. This starts the FirstClass Intranet Client (FCIC): " The following Login dialog box will should appear: Close button Note the black shadow round this button indicating it is the active button. By pressing the Enter ( ) key, you will choose it by default. Alternatively, you could use the mouse pointer to click and select it. " With the cursor in the User ID: field, type your userid assigned to you at enrolment. " Press the Tab key to move to the Password: field (or use your mouse). " Type your password. " Press the Enter ( ) key. If you have entered your User ID and password correctly you will login and the FirstClass Desktop window will open. Note: when you login, some conferences may automatically open. These contain important messages which need to be read, and will continue to auto-open until you have read them. Each conference opens in its own window, and therefore it can be very confusing for a first-time user. You can close the windows using the close button in the top right-hand corner of a window. Introducing FirstClass and FCIC 7

8 The FirstClass Desktop Desktop window title bar All FirstClass users get a default desktop similar to this: Close button Menus Toolbar (see below) Mailbox - where all your personal sent and received is stored. School Conference - set up for your specific school to store all courserelated conferences. Flag on conference shows unread items Desktop window Status bar - a description of whichever menu option or Toolbar button the mouse pointer is currently over Help Conference - various items and sources of help. All Students Conference - for general university messages to all students. Emergency Messages - for any very important notices (these will be deleted after 2 days from posting). News Conference - contains all important FirstClass and IT news, includes the SHU I.T. Regulations. SHU conference - all the university's public conferences are in this conference. Most of the nested conferences and folders beneath this conference will be accessible by all FirstClass users which means everyone can contribute to the same shared topics. Careers&Employment - for all news regarding employment and careers, including advice, fairs, placement opportunities etc. The FirstClass Desktop window is the top-level window. A new window will open for every conference you go to. Extra items can be added to the desktop when you perform actions such as creating an Address Book, creating a Bookmark folder or adding conference shortcuts to it, as are described later in this document. Go to mailbox (if not there already) Go to desktop (if not there already) The toolbar enables you to select the most common menu commands quickly and easily. The default set of toolbar icons which will appear on most of the other windows is: Disconnect/logout Exit FirstClass completely Up one level Open new message Open Address Book Open Bookmarks Directory Find/search Delete current item Each new FirstClass window will open with its own toolbar, usually containing the above icons plus new some ones. The buttons are mostly self-explanatory but will also be described throughout this document. 8 Introducing FirstClass and FCIC

9 Your FirstClass Mailbox Your Mailbox or postbox contains all your personal messages received as well as messages you have sent - this includes items you have posted to conferences. To open the Mailbox window: - from the File menu select Open then Mailbox, - or double-click its icon on your FirstClass Desktop, - or click on the Mailbox button on the Toolbar. Note the Mailbox toolbar now has extra icons for dealing with messages - see later sections for more details on these: Reply Forward Message History Previous Unread Next Unread Previous in Thread Next in Thread Summarise Selected Messages Add to Bookmark You read a message by double clicking it with the mouse. You can move between messages using the navigation buttons on the toolbar when message windows are either open or closed. Note that there are even more buttons when reading messages - see page 10. Message Icons Column titles These can be found to the left of the messages in your Mailbox. You may also notice some of them when browsing conferences: Unread flag (red flag) You have not read the message. Unsent flag (white flag) Your message has not been sent yet. Paperclip icon The message has attachments. Bold typeface. If the Subject: is bold; the message has been sent with URGENT priority. Upper pane : for folders you have created when organising your mailbox. Folder created by user to store messages Unread message. Identified by red flag. Subject: has bold typeface indicating an URGENT message. Paperclip icon - indicates a message with attachments. Unsent message. Identified by white flag. The Lower pane : for messages in your mailbox before you either move or delete them. Messages are grouped together by the Subject: thread. Represented by the indentation & the minus sign (-). When a group 'collapses', the minus sign becomes a plus sign (+). Introducing FirstClass and FCIC 9

10 FirstClass Directory The FirstClass Directory is similar to a local telephone directory in that it lists all the users, conferences and mail-lists on your FirstClass server. Searching the FirstClass Directory As there is nothing in the Pattern: field, the first 50 entries are listed by default " Select Directory... from the Collaborate menu, or click the Directory button on the toolbar. The Directory window will appear - similar to the window below: " Enter part of the name you wish to search for in the Pattern: field. " To shorten the search time, deselect one of the Show check boxes, if you wish. Any name listed in bold means they are currently logged in. Any user listed in bold and italics means they are logged in with chat turned off. Any names in capitals are university staff. The main icons used in the Directory are: Regular user A user on the same FirstClass server as you. (green icon) Remote user (blue icon) Conference Calendar Any non-local user A user who is not properly registered within SHU. A discussion forum. Scheduling feature. This could be any of: a mailing-list, an external user or an address-book entry. 10 Introducing FirstClass and FCIC

11 Viewing Résumés from the Directory You can view information about a user on your FirstClass server by looking at their Résumé. To do this: " Highlight the relevant name from the Directory list. " Click the Résumé button, or double-click their name. If you wish to edit or change your own Résumé, see page 25 for more details. Remember: FirstClass not only retrieves users' names from its Directory, it will also return the names of conferences and other objects which could match what you typed in. The object's icon will appear to the left of the name in the Directory window. Closing and Exiting FirstClass You can close FirstClass in 2 ways: you can Exit which means you close the program completely and have to restart it from the menu; or you can Disconnect which allows reconnection again in a couple of ways. " To Exit: - Click the Exit button, or, select Exit from the File menu. This will shut down the FirstClass program completely in your machine. " To Disconnect: - Click the Disconnect button, or select Disconnect from the Collaborate menu. " To Reconnect: - if the FirstClass logout window is still on your screen click the Login button, or Click the FirstClass icon on the Quick Launch toolbar, or If the FirstClass icon can be seen on the taskbar (in the bottom right-hand corner of your screen) rightclick this icon and choose Connect. Introducing FirstClass and FCIC 11

12 FirstClass as an system Reading your messages Note : New messages will have red flags next to them to signify they are Unread. When you have read a message and closed its message window, the red flag disappears. " Open your Mailbox by either - from the File menu selecting Open then Mailbox, or - double-clicking its icon on your Desktop, or - clicking the Mailbox button. " Your Mailbox window will open. If you have mail, you will see message summaries listed. " To read a message, double-click it. Another window appears this is referred to as the message window. It contains two panes separated by a split-bar. Postmark Message header information Message envelope pane Attached file Split-bar Message body pane The top pane is known as the message envelope because it displays the addresses for the sender and recipient(s), the time and date of posting, and a postmark. This pane may also contain attachments (see page 17 for more details on attachments). The lower pane is referred to as the message body because it comprises the actual text of the message. " When you have finished reading the message, close the message window, by clicking the Close button (X) at the far right of the title bar. When you read messages, the toolbar will now look like: Reply with quote Forward History Previous/Next in thread Smaller font Reply Previous/Next unread Previous/Next (regardless of read/unread or whether in thread or not) Print Save Attachment Add to Address Book Select all Larger font 12 FirstClass as an system

13 Creating new messages to send It is always good practice to send yourself a test message when you use a new system for the first time. You can do this by either addressing it to yourself or to our test user shown below. Select Message - New Message from menu bar or click the New Message button. A new message window will open. Like other windows it has its own toolbar with new buttons (described briefly overleaf). To send to more than one person: press Enter ( ) instead of Tab in the To: field after entering the first name, then type in the next name and press Tab. " The cursor will initially flash in the Subject: field. Type in a subject for your . " Press the Tab key to move to the To: field. " Type Virginia Woolf in the To: field; press the Tab key. " Press Tab again (or use the mouse) to move the cursor to the message body pane and type your message: " Send the message by either selecting Send and Close from the Message menu, or click on the Send and Close button. The window closes and the message is sent. Notice that a copy of this sent message will now be stored in your mailbox. You should then receive an automated reply from this particular user saying your message has been successful. New Message Toolbars When writing a new message tool bar will now appear as: Send and Close Attach File Cut Copy Paste and there is a new toolbar for formatting above the message pane: Do and undo Plain Bold Italic Underline L/R Indent Format selection Format paragraph Make link Spell checker Font name Insert signature Font size Font colour Alignment Insert object control FirstClass as an system 13

14 Searching the Directory to send a message Note : There are many FirstClass users on the FCIS, so the more information you provide as the search pattern, the quicker the Directory will return a list. Notice when the Directory window appears, the Pattern: field displays the partial details you typed in the message window. IMPORTANT Points to Remember: 1) Before ing someone using their Internet address, MAKE SURE it is definitely correct - DO NOT GUESS! 2) The slightest error in an address WILL return an nondelivery report 3) An Internet address NEVER contains spaces or ends with a dot. If you want to send a message to someone who exists in the Directory but you are not sure of their full name, just enter part of their name. FirstClass will then search its Directory and provide a list from which you can select the person you require. " When in either the To: (or Cc:) field, type part of the name for the person you wish to . For example, type Virg Woo. " Press the Enter ( ) key FirstClass will now search its Directory. There are two possible outcomes: 1. If one name matches what you typed in, it will appear in the To: (or Cc:) field; e.g. if you typed Virg Woo. 2. If more than one name could be matched, the Directory window will appear listing all those possible, e.g. if you typed V Woo. If the intended recipient is present in the list, doubleclick their name and it will appear in the To: field. If you cannot see the name you require, try changing the spelling of the name required. " Finish the message and send it in the usual way. Sending a message to an Internet address " From the Message menu select New Message, or click the New Message button on the toolbar. " Type in a subject for your . " Move to the To: field. Type in the full Internet address for the person you wish to and press the Enter ( ) key. For example, to send a message to the address shown on page 5, type the following in the To: field virginia.woolf@student.shu.ac.uk After pressing the Enter ( ) key, you will notice a Regular User icon appear in the field. " Type the message content and send your message in the usual way. If you receive either an "non-delivery report" or a message you do not understand, ask for assistance at a CIS Help Desk. 14 FirstClass as an system

15 Replying to your messages After you have read a message in your mailbox, you can reply to the sender of the message in a number of ways. Sending a Reply using the default preference " Select or open the chosen message for replying in your Mailbox. " From the Message menu select Reply, or click the Reply button. " When the unsent message window appears, you will notice the message envelope has been completed. Your name is in the From: field; the Subject: field contains Re: followed by the subject of the original message; and the sender of the original message is in the To: field. The message envelope pane already completed when the Unsent window opens. Make sure the To: field has the address you want - if you have selected Reply All by mistake you may have many more recipients than you intended. " Type your reply to the original message. " Send your reply in the usual way. Sending quoted replies When sending an ordinary reply the original message is not included in the message body. To include the original text you need to use Reply With Quote. Note that this is only available with open messages. Quoting the original text is not always necessary in FirstClass as previous messages can be found and read easily using threading (see page 18). However it can be useful to return part, or all, of the original message in the message body of your reply. FirstClass as an system 15

16 To send a quoted reply: Note the "(2)" following "Re", indicating this is the 2nd reply in a thread of messages. Message envelope already completed when Unsent window opened. Quoted-text from the message replying to. " Open the message. " From the Message menu select Reply Special then Reply with Quote or click the Reply with Quote button. A new message window appears with the message envelope completed, as above. Unlike an ordinary blank reply, the message body is not empty. The sender of the message you are replying to appears in bold at the top and beneath you will notice the original message in quotedtext typeface (by default, this is regular text on a grey background). " If necessary, add (or remove) names from the To: (or Cc:) field depending on who you want to receive the reply. " In the message body pane type your reply either above or beneath the quoted text. " Send your reply in the usual way. Reply entered under quoted-text. Forwarding messages Senders of this message; the previous sender at the bottom of the list. Note this is lost when sent outside your server. Note: Fwd: indicating the message will be forwarded. If you wish, you could add a comment to the beginning of the message body so that the recipients know why you are forwarding the message. Message body text is NOT marked as quoted because it is forwarded. You can send a message on to other people (or to a conference) by forwarding it. " Highlight the message in your Mailbox, or open it. " From the Message menu select Forward, or click the Forward button on the toolbar. An unsent message window will appear containing the original message in the message body. " The cursor will flash in the To: field and you should notice that the Subject: field is already filled in with Fwd:... " Type the address for the person who you are forwarding the message to and press Enter. " Add any extra text to the message body you require and send the message in the usual way. 16 FirstClass as an system

17 Using Attachments Remember : Word-processed or graphic files can be large (in size); you are advised NOT to send large messages across the Internet because they are often rejected when they reach other sites, or if not, at least slow down mail servers. If you want to a file such as a word-processed document, spreadsheet or graphics file you will need to attach it to a message. It is also possible to send an attachment in a Conference item. The size of a message is displayed in the Mailbox folder in Kb (kilobytes) or Mb (megabytes). Its size (message + attached file sizes) is reported in your Mailbox after you have sent it, so if you want to attach files you will have to use your judgement when composing the message. This will also take up your own Mailbox space so be careful with large files when close to the normal 10 Mb limit. Attaching a file to a message " Create a new message in the usual way. " From the File menu choose Attach File, or click the Attach File button from the toolbar. An Upload File dialog box appears. " If the Look in: box does not show the drive or folder where your file is stored: # Click the mouse pointer in the Look in: box and then single-click the required disk drive's icon from the list now displayed. # If you need to open folders on the drive, double-click them. # When you are in the desired folder, select the file you wish to attach to the message by double-clicking it. A File Transfer Progress dialog box appears indicating that the file is in the process of attaching to the message. When finished it will show 100% complete. " When finished, click the Close button - the message window will show the Attachments field and the name of the file you have just attached to the message. You may need to scroll down in this window to see this. If you need to attach more files to the message, repeat these last three steps to attach each additional file. Using Attachments 17

18 " Move to the message body pane and type your message to accompany the attached files. " Send the message as usual. The file icon appears to the left of the sent message in your Mailbox (or conference) window indicating an attachment exists. Icon indicates whole file is attached Attached file size If you have attached the incorrect file to a message, you can remove it by highlighting the attachment and then pressing the Delete key. Viewing and Saving attachments Double-click the attached file to open it. To view an attachment in a message, you will usually be able to double click its icon. If an attachment does not open it means your PC does not know which application to use to open it. You will be asked to save it to your F:\DOWNLOAD folder and you can then decide to deal with it later. If you want to save a copy of an attachment for your own use without viewing it: " Select the attachment by clicking its name in the message envelope. " Choose Save Attachment from the File menu or choose the Save Attachment button from the toolbar. A Save As dialog box will appear. " The default location for attachments will be the F:\DOWNLOAD folder as stated above. If you want to change this location, select another folder in the Save in: drop-down list. " Rename the file, if you wish, and press the Save button. A File Transfer Progress dialog box appears indicating the file is being saved to disk and showing its progress. When it is complete the word "completed" will appear in the box. 18 Using Attachments

19 FirstClass Conferencing There are two types of conferences: public and private. Public Conferences readable by everyone - some being fully open to everyone to contribute to as well as read. The conferences on your desktop are mostly public. Those within the SHU conference are mostly accessible to everyone within the university for posting to. Private Restricted to a number of users and will generally be found within your School's or Department's conference - also located on your Desktop. When you open a conference you will notice it contains a list of messages, similar to your Mailbox. Conference messages are usually referred to as items. Unread items are marked with a red flag in the same way as your messages in your Mailbox. Items can also be opened, read, written and posted - similar to your personal . A conference window has a toolbar that is similar to the Mailbox toolbar. The only difference is an Add to Desktop button which is described later in this chapter. Reading items has the same toolbar as reading messages. Looking through conferences Multiple windows open to reach desired conference To browse items in a conference, first you will need to open it by double-clicking its icon. If you have been granted sufficient access rights, the conference window will appear containing a list of items (messages or documents, or both) and possibly more conferences or folders. Nested conferences within current conference Red flag indicating unread conference items exist within these nested conferences Unread conference items Expanded thread FirstClass Conferencing 19

20 Browsing unread conference items Conferences can contain many items. To save time, you could just read those items you have not yet looked at. To do this, " Open the conference by double-clicking its icon. " From the Collaborate menu select Navigation then Next Unread, or click the Next Unread button from the toolbar. This will open the oldest unread message in this conference. " When you have finished reading that item, choose the Next Unread option again to move to the next unread item. Browsing unread threaded conference items When browsing a conference and only opening the next unread messages, as above, you may lose track of a particular subject. Messages using the same subject are grouped together in threads. Moving between non-threaded messages can be as confusing as having different conversations with more than one person at the same time! When browsing conferences, it is advisable you read all the unread messages in a particular thread and then move on to read the oldest unread message in another thread. To maintain threads when reading items: " Open the conference. " Open the oldest unread item, by choosing the Next Unread option as described above. " Move to the next unread item in the current thread, by choosing Next in Thread from the Navigation option of the Collaborate menu, or click the Next in Thread button from the toolbar. " Continue reading all the unread items in the current thread using this button until either the machine beeps, or the most recent message window has not changed. " Now choose the oldest unread item by using the Next Unread option again. " Continue in this way until there are no more unread items in the conference. Contributing to conference items There are two ways you can contribute to conference items: " Reply to a conference item and maintain the thread " Create a new conference item and so start a new thread. 20 FirstClass Conferencing

21 Remember : Take care when replying to conference items if you want to maintain threads. New messages will not be included in the same thread - use must use the Reply command to do this. If you had not opened the conference before creating this new unsent message, you would have to type the name of the conference in the To: field. Replying in a conference and maintaining a thread " Open the conference. " After reading all the items in a particular thread, either highlight the last message in the thread or open it. " From the Message menu select Reply, or click either the Reply button or Reply with Quote button on the toolbar. The Subject: field should contain the subject of the thread and the To: field should contain the Conference to which you are replying. " Enter your contribution to the thread in the message body. " Send your conference item as you would a mail message using the Send and Close option. Starting a new thread " Open the conference. " Click the New Message button. " Enter the topic for discussion in the Subject: field. " Notice the conference name appears in the To: field. " Move to the message body pane and type your conference contribution. " Send your item in the usual way. Adding a Conference to your Desktop If a conference you regularly use is nested beneath many other conferences or folders, you can add it to your Desktop so that it can be seen immediately when you log in. To add a conference or folder to your Desktop; " Highlight the chosen conference's icon. " From the Collaborate menu select Add to Desktop, or click on the Add to Desktop button. " The icon for that folder or conference will appear on your Desktop. FirstClass Conferencing 21

22 FirstClass Mailbox Folders FirstClass folders have similar functions to those in Windows. The main difference is that they are used to organise messages in your mailbox rather than files on, say, your local PC. You will probably want to create folders to organise your into suitable categories; for example, sent mail, coursework, personal, and so on. Creating a new Folder in your Mailbox Your Personal Address Book " Open your Mailbox (as described on page 10). " From the File menu, select New, then New Folder. An icon will appear in the current window with the name New Folder. It is best if you customise this folder by, at least, giving it a name. " Highlight the folder's icon. " From the File menu, select Properties... A New Folder Info window will appear. " Type the new name for the folder in the Name: field " Enter a subject in the Subject: field, if you wish. " To select a new icon: # Holding down the Ctrl key, click the icon in this window, # A selection of other icons appear, # Click your preferred choice. " Save the information by clicking the Close button (X). " Confirm your choice by clicking the Save button from the Save Changes? dialog box. Using drag and drop you can now create other folders within your Mailbox or move files and existing folders into it. You can also move this folder to within any other folder. Address Book folder icon - you will only see this on your desktop after you have created a bookmark for the first time. Your Personal Address Book is a folder that can store the e- mail addresses of people who you regularly keep in contact with. You can also use it to create a mail-list that will hold a group of addresses under one name. Although part of your Mailbox, it is located on your Desktop window once created. It should never be moved from here. All items in your Address Book will appear at the top of a Directory window when opened. 22 FirstClass Mailbox Folders

23 The Name: box should have chosen name in it - you can alter this if you want. Click each tab & then add extra information about this address, if you wish. Creating your Address Book You do not have an Address Book until you create one. Once created, you will not have to follow this procedure again. " From the File menu, choose Open then Address Book, or click the Address Book button. The Address Book window will appear and you may notice a new icon appear on your Desktop. " Close the Address Book window by clicking the Close button (X) at the top right of its title bar. Creating a Personal Address You can create a Personal Address in a two ways: either store an address located in an message or create one from scratch. If you want to store an address from a received " Open your Mailbox and open the message containing the address. " Point and click the mouse on the sender s name in the From: field to highlight it. " From the Collaborate menu select Add to Address Book, or click the Add to Address Book button. The New Personal Address form will appear. If the address is an external address, a Gateway icon will appear to indicate this. " You could enter more information about the address for future reference, either in the Name field or in one of the additional "tab" pages. " When you have completed the New Personal Address form, press the OK If you want to store an address from scratch: " From the File menu choose New, then New Address. " Select the Name: field and type the name you wish to use when ing this personal address in future. For example, type V.Woolf test. " Click the General tab (if it is not already selected). You can add information if you want in the Name section, but the only important part is the field. FirstClass Mailbox Folders 23

24 You can also create a New Personal Address from the toolbar button within your Address Book. " Enter the actual address. In this example it would be virginia.woolf@student.shu.ac.uk and then press the Enter ( ) key. " Save and close the window with the OK button. Open your Address Book by double clicking the icon on your Desktop, or click the Address Book button. Your stored personal address will now be listed in your Personal Address Book list. Creating a Personal Mail List Enter the address for each member of the group. Alternatively, you could use the Directory button to find the address if the member of the group exists on your FirstClass server. If you want to a group of people regularly you can save time by creating a mail list. With a mail list you only need to type the mail-list name in the To: field instead of each individual address and FirstClass will send your message to all the members of your list. " From the File menu select New then Personal Mail List or open your Address Book and click the Personal Mail List button on the toolbar of that window. The New Personal Mail List form will be displayed. " The cursor will flash in the Members: field. Enter the addresses for the individuals in this field in the same way as entering addresses in a message envelope field. " Move the cursor into the Name: field and give your mail-list a name which you will use when sending messages to the group. " Save the mail-list clicking the OK button. 24 FirstClass Mailbox Folders

25 Other FirstClass features Searching conferences and folders FirstClass offers a powerful search tool to help you find items within your Mailbox or any conferences you are subscribed to. Performing a search " Open the conference or folder where you wish to begin the search. (If in doubt, search from your Desktop, but remember this can take some time.). " Select Find from the Edit menu, or click the Find button on the toolbar. The Search dialog box appears. " Enter the search text in the Search for: field. " Select your desired search option(s) by single-clicking its check box - a tick will appear. (Single-click again to remove the tick.). " Click the Find button. The Search Summary window will now appear and when FirstClass finds the occurrences of the search text according to the chosen criteria it will list the relevant messages. " Double-click a message in the Search Summary window to open its message window. If you want to cancel the search at any stage, click the Close button (X) on the title bar of the Search Summary window. Search options You can select one or more of the following six options from the Search dialog box in order to specify where FirstClass should look for the search text: " Search Subject/File Name. " Search sub conferences & folders. Extend the search to look within all conferences and folders that exist "beneath" the current window. If this option is not ticked, only the selected conference (or folder) is searched. " Search content of documents. Look in the message body for the search text. This search can take a long time if there are many items to be looked at. Other FirstClass Features 25

26 " Search attachment names. " Search From name. " Search To/Cc names. " List only items containing all words Only use this to search for more specific items. The search dialog box also allows you to specify the search to be just messages from the last day, week, month or year. Bookmarks Bookmark folder icon - you will only see this on your desktop after you have created a bookmark for the first time. Name supplied by FirstClass Subject typed in by user. Bookmarks are shortcuts to items within FirstClass which you may want to return to without having to search the whole system. They may be conferences, conference items, Mailbox folders or perhaps an important message you want to return to quickly. Bookmarks can even be URLs (web page links), accessed using your web browser. All bookmarks are stored in your Bookmarks folder which is automatically created when you store the first one. Like your Address Book this folder is created on your Desktop and should never be moved. Creating a Bookmark " Highlight the item you want to bookmark. " From the Collaborate menu select Add to Bookmark, or click the Add to Bookmark button available on the Mailbox and Conference toolbars. Note - you will only see this button when you are in a conference below your desktop. " An info window will appear for that bookmark, in which you can edit the name if required and add a subject. " Click on OK to save this. If this was the first bookmark you created your Bookmarks folder will now exist on your Desktop. To add a web page link to your Bookmarks, open the web page with the URL displayed whilst your Bookmarks folder is open, and then drag and drop the link into your Bookmarks folder 26 Other FirstClass Features

27 Using your Bookmarks Once you have stored a bookmark, you can use it to go directly to the location or object you have stored. " Open your Bookmarks folder by either - selecting Open from the File menu and then choosing Bookmarks, or - click the Bookmarks button on the toolbar, or - double-click the Bookmark icon on your Desktop. Click here for information on a selected bookmark.. " Double-click the required Bookmark from the list. The item will open in a new window. Editing your Résumé Photograph Panel Name Panel Résumés are useful for storing personal information about yourself, such as your course, year and any other relevant information. " From the File menu, select Open then Résumé. The My Résumé window will appear. There are 3 areas you can now edit: Photograph Panel Available for BMP files no greater than 64Kb in size. Personal Information Panel Message History Name Panel Personal Information Panel Enter your name here. personal information you want to share with others. To find out if someone has read your message or to see who has read a particular posted conference item, you will need to view the message history. " Highlight the message. " Select the History option from the Message menu, or click the History button from the toolbar. The Message History window will appear listing when the message was created; who sent it; who has read it; and so on. Note that this information is limited with external , showing only routing times to the SHU mail gateway. Also some conferences have restrictions on them preventing messages' history to be viewed. Other FirstClass Features 27

28 Unsending sent messages to correct mistakes Within FirstClass you can remove a message from the recipient's mailbox, as long as their mailbox exists on the same server as you. You can then choose to either delete it or to make any necessary alterations to the message (e.g. attach a file) and re-send it. It is worth checking the Message History first to check it has not been read already. " Open your Mailbox and either select or open the sent message. " From the Message menu, select Unsend. The message has now disappeared from the recipient's mailbox and appears in your Mailbox as an unsent message (i.e. the white flag now appears next to the message). " You can now decide whether to delete it or make the necessary changes and then send it again. Deleting and conference items " Highlight the message or open the message to be deleted. " From the File menu, select Delete, or click the Delete button from the toolbar. " Confirm your action when the Delete dialog box appears. Note that you can only delete your own conference items on your server if that privilege is allowed for that conference. Saving and conference items to files Although you can move messages into different folders (see page 20), they will expire after 459 days. To keep permanent copies of messages you need to save them as text files, either individually or collectively in a summarised group. Saving an individual message " Open the message you want to save. " From the File menu, select Save As... A Save As dialog box appears. " Move to the folder where you want to save the message in the usual way. " You can rename the file by highlighting everything in the File name: field and typing the new name followed by.txt. " Now press the Save button. 28 Other FirstClass Features

29 Note : If you do NOT have the message window open, you might end up saving the selected window. When the message has been saved you can open it later in Notepad or Wordpad. It will contain the message envelope information as well as the message body (see page 12). Saving multiple messages If you want to save more than one message you can save them either together in to one file or you either save them all at the same time into different files. To save messages group into one file, use the Summarise Selected Message feature: Open the desired folder (e.g. your Mailbox or a conference) " Select messages you want to group together. You can select multiple messages by either: # holding the Shift key down whilst selecting the first and last message of a list, # holding the Ctrl key down whilst clicking on each required message, # holding Ctrl and Shift down together then clicking on either someone s name or a subject. This will highlight all matching messages to do with that name or that subject's thread. " From the Message menu click Summarise Selected Messages, or click on the Summarise Selected Messages button on the toolbar. " A Summary window will appear with all selected messages concatenated together. This summary can now be saved to a file or printed as required. To save into different files, use the Export feature. Select the desired group of messages as stated above. Then choose Export from the File menu. Change the desired location if required and click OK. Printing and conference items Note : If you do NOT have the message window open, you will be asked what you want to have printed - the selected window or the selected message. With the item you want to print open: " From the File menu, select Print, or click on the Print button. " Check you have the correct printer selected in the Print dialog box and click OK. Other FirstClass Features 29

30 Customising FirstClass Remember : The View Properties form changes the selected pane within a particular window and the Preferences form changes your whole FirstClass environment. You can change the appearance of your FirstClass environment by changing the sorting and grouping options, displaying certain windows differently, or altering how you view all the FirstClass windows from the default. This section will just summarise the tabs in the Preferences form. There is also the Change View Properties form that alters a selected window. For the full information on these forms and the other options in the View menu, use the available Help. The Preferences Form To display the Preferences form select Preferences... from the Edit menu. Changes to this form are only saved for privileged users (normally staff only). The form has a number of tabs and 4 buttons: OK Exit the form and save the changes you have just made. Cancel Exit the form and ignore changes you have just made. Apply Do not exit the form but save any changes immediately. Default Reset all changes back to FirstClass defaults - not only those recently set. A summary of the Preference tabs is given below: " General: turn 3d-look on/off; set download folder location " Calendaring: for calendar settings if calendaring switched on. " Content: Edit: default text styles and spell checking options; View: quoted and linked text styles. " Viewing: set folder ordering of items and reading unread items only. " Messaging: Mail Rules: reply and autoforward settings Signature: set signature text; Chat: turn chat on/off; Paging: paging settings Note All the above are only available on request to the Administrator and requests are only granted to certain users. " Web: a number of web display settings 30 Customising FirstClass