VTH/FirstClass Email Quick Reference Guide: Your Desktop The First Class Desktop is where everything begins for your Virtual Town Hall. The FC Desktop displays your mailbox, contacts, calendars, archives and file folders, and calendars, which contain all the information you need to maintain use your email and group Intranet services. With FC email you will be able to share your calendar with your associates, add calendar events to group calendars, Instant Message anyone in your user group, store files for use on another computer, and if allowed, manage the content on your Web site. Depending on how your user group or personal preferences were set up it could look like any of following. Personal preferences are covered at the end of this document. Your desktop may have additional items on it, and they will be explained to you during initial training. It's all pretty straightforward. If you have further questions, contact our customer support line at (978) 461-5895, or send an email to support@virtualtownhall.net, and we will be happy to assist you.
Mailbox The Mailbox is the core of the Virtual Town Hall Intranet service. First Class is, among other things, an email application -- much like Outlook, Eudora, etc. Your mailbox is where you send and receive email as well as send public notices and post meeting minutes and agendas if you are managing your website content. Comments sent from your Web site by a visitor may also appear in your mailbox if you have been set up to receive them. You may also have your mailbox set up similar to the Microsoft Outlook format, where you have a separate Inbox and Sent Mail box. This is simply a setting in FirstClass and can be easily changed. You send mail from your mailbox by either clicking on the "New Message" icon in your mailbox window, or by choosing Message - New Message from your menu options. A copy of all messages you have sent will remain in your mailbox unless you delete them. You can also create folders to organize and store messages in your email archives where they will be protected from accidental deletion.
Inbox If you have chosen the Outlook desktop view then all incoming email will be directed to your Inbox. When there is a red flag on your mailbox it indicates there is new mail you have not yet read, and unread messages in your Inbox will also have a red flag next to them. When you open any unread message the red flag will disappear. If you cannot address any issues presented in that email you may want to reset its status to "unread" so the red flag will reappear, reminding you that you need to deal with that incoming message. Drafts When you create a new email message you need not finish it before sending it. By simply clicking on the "X" in the upper right of the message window you can save it to your Drafts folder for later use. This does not delete an email message. If you want to delete a message be sure to click on the "X - Delete" within the tool bar of the email message. Sent Items When you click the "Send" icon on your toolbar for a message it automatically removes it from your Drafts folder and places it in your Sent Items folder. Junk Mail Generally speaking we are filtering out 90+% of all incoming junk mail before it hits your mailbox. However, you may want to create your own mail rules to further filter out mail that is less critical than normal. For instance, you may choose to create a mail rule that takes any incoming email that has more than 5 names in the To or CC address fields and have it redirected to your Junk Mail folder. This way you can read it or delete it later, after you have addressed more important email. New Email & How to attach a file to your email message. 1. Create the new message as by clicking the New Mail icon on the toolbar or choosing Message - New Message. 2. To attach the file to the message, click on the "Paperclip" icon, or from the menu choose File - Attach. A directory of your computer appears. 3. Go to the directory where you have saved the file you want to attach.
4. Select the file and click the "Open" button. The file is attached to the new message. You can attach more files by clicking on the "Paperclip" icon for each one, or by selecting multiple files using either the Shift key or the CTRL key. 5. Type your email message in the free form body area. You may want to check spelling prior to sending the message. You should also include your personal signature with any email message. 6. On the Toolbar, click the "Send and Close" icon. The Menu Bar vs. Icon Shortcuts There are two ways of performing operations within the Virtual Town The first is to use the menu commands at the top of each window. From your desktop the menu choices are as follows: File - Edit - Format - Message - Collaborate - View - Help. The second way is to use the icons below the menu. The icons are designed to be easy to use. In addition, if you hold the mouse arrow over any icon you will display the function of that icon at the bottom of the window and, with Windows, as a pop-up near the icon. To make life easier, you can customize your tool bar by selecting: View - Toolbar - Customize Toolbars. You can drag and drop icons from the category windows to your toolbar and place them wherever you wish. You can also delete unneeded icons by dragging them off the toolbar and dropping them into the category window.
You also have the capability of splitting the view of any folder on your desktop. By selecting View from the menu bar, and then select Split - you can either split the screen vertically or horizontally (the example is split vertically). This allows for you to view your folders AND your documents or messages at the same time. Splitting a folder containing minutes or agendas makes it easier to archive your posted files into sub-folders when you change from year to year. By choosing File - New - New Folder you can create archives for past year's contents, then select and either "drag and drop" them into the appropriate sub-folder, or with the right mouse button choose Move to Folder and select the appropriate sub-folder to move the items all at once.
Address Book/Contacts Folder The Address Book is where you can create and store often-used email addresses and group mail lists. It behaves similarly to address books in other email systems. Your address book can contain all the personal contacts that are not in your network (e.g. email addresses on other servers).
Adding Entries You can create new address book entries several ways. If you have received an e-mail from someone on another server, with the message open use the right mouse button to click on the sender's address. Choose "Add to address book". Be sure to fill in the human readable name to go along with the e-mail address. When complete, click OK. You can even do this for any email address within the body of the email message. If you only have your mailbox open select the e-mail message, and from the menu choose "Collaborate - Add to address book" Follow the rest of the instructions as above. Click on the Address Book icon in your mailbox window, then click on the "New Personal Address" icon. Follow the rest of the instructions as above. Choosing File - New - Personal Address from your menu options. Type the exact email address of the individual you would like to add and press enter or the tab key. Place your cursor in the name field and type in this individual's name as you would like it to be stored. You can continue to add more contact information, such as addresses, title and company, phone numbers, as well as even free-form notes for your reference found under the Notes tab header. When you are done, click Save and Close. Importing Contacts If you have a contacts list in another email system you can easily import any list as a comma separated file (.CSV) into your FC email address book. With the Contacts folder highlighted choose File - Import - Import Contacts. The resulting window will ask you to find the file. Be sure to choose.csv as the file type and select the file you saved from your other email, then click OK. The system will now ask you to match the incoming field names to those within your FC email address book. Most names coming from either Outlook or Outlook Express will be identical. When your matching is complete click OK to begin the import. Mailing Lists It should be noted that there is no email standard for email lists, so you will not be able to import any lists that have been created in other email applications. You can create mailing lists to send e-mail to a number of people at the same time. The simplest way is to open your Address Book using the icon on the
toolbar. Then choose the "Personal Mail List" icon. Once the list is open be sure to give it a name (e.g. Planning Board Members). You can type the addresses in one at a time. However, if the addresses already exist in your Address Book you can drag and drop them into the new Mail List. This is the preferred way. Then if the person changes their mail address you will only need to chance their Personal Address and it will automatically be reflected in the appropriate Mailing Lists. Staff Bulletin Boards vs. Staff Mail Lists While you could create a mail list for all members in your group to make it easier to send a memo to all members of your staff, you may find that a group bulletin board is more effective. As an example, if you were to send a memo to all 20 members in your mail list, and they all Replied All to your email, each of you would end up with a bunch of extra email that only clutters up your mailboxes. Instead, you can create a staff bulletin board (conference) where you post notices to all members of your staff. This could include a questionnaire about the summer picnic or a notice of new features in your benefit plan. Think of it as a logical place to go to get news that is common to all. When you want to post a notice to all members of your staff simply open the staff bulletin board, click on the New Message icon to create a new email, fill it out and send it as normal. What you will notice is the To address is the name of the bulletin board. All members of your group that have a copy on their FC desktop will notice the red flag indicating a new posting. If you have asked for a reply they can choose to reply only to the Conference if it is not a private matter. This way all replies to your original posting will be aggregated with your original email to make it easier to view all at once. In fact, by selecting all the messages in the thread you can click the Summarize icon in the tool bar to view all the messages as one. If someone wants to reply privately they can choose Reply - Original Author to send their reply back to your mailbox instead. For more assistance in setting up staff bulletin boards please contact our customer support team. Group/Global Address Books: In some cases it will make more sense for you to create a global address book that can be used by all members of your town staff. For instance, why should everyone create their own individual mailing list for the members of the Town
Council or appointed boards, and have to constantly try to keep it up to date as members of those boards change? One person can create a global address book, give each member of your staff a copy and give them permissions to use (but not edit) email addresses in the list. To create a global address book: File - New - New Contact Database File - Properties to give it a logical name Collaborate - Permissions: Choose which contact form to use (Usually Outlook ) Subscribers: Add Subscribers: Choose name to put a copy on their desktop. Who: Enter the person you subscribed (or the name of your user group; i.e. CityST Mailusers) Key Permissions Ability to create items Ability to edit items they created Ability to save the window properties Ability to delete items they created Open the contacts database (conference) Search the contacts folder Open items Download attachments Be sure to let each member of your group know the purpose of the new contacts database, and have them drag it into their regular Contacts folder to activate its usage. Calendars Calendars are, well... calendars. They are used to post events, meetings and agendas, or simply keep track of what you're doing next week. Calendars have four primary views: daily, weekly, monthly, and list. The monthly view is shown below. If you want to share your calendar with another member of your group you can easily place a copy on their desktop and give them appropriate permissions to view or edit your personal calendar.
Click on your personal calendar, then click Collaborate - Permissions, and add their name to your Subscribers and give them appropriate permissions (see Group Calendars below). Creating New Events To create a new event either click on the "clockface" icon on your calendar tool bar or click File - New - New Calendar Event. Subject of Event The Subject is the title of the meeting or event. The subject can contain letters,
numbers, and special characters (/,?, ", &, @, etc.). The subject should be descriptive, but not ponderous. We recommend that you not exceed 40 characters. Starts At / Ends At The Starts At field is a data field that allows you to select the date and time at which the meeting or event will start. By clicking on the menu arrow you will be presented with a calendar for the current month. If the meeting occurs this month, simply choose the appropriate day. If it occurs next month, click the right arrow in the top right of the form to advance to the next month. You will also select the time the meeting is to start. If the meeting starts on the hour, you can choose the time with the drop down menu. If your meeting does not start on the hour, simply enter it as: 7:30p, and click OK. Notice you do not need to worry about P.M. or A.M. Either "a" or "p" will be enough. The Ends At field is a data field that allows you to select the date and time at which the meeting or event will start. Alternatively you can set the ending time by entering a Duration. Normally the Duration will default to one hour, or whatever you have chosen in your Preferences. Show End Time This check box is only used for managing web calendar events. Since most public meetings have no designated ending time this box is unchecked by default. It is not used for internal calendar functions. If you are creating a calendar event for a web calendar that does have a fixed duration or ending time you should check this box. If you do not check the Show End Time box the ending time will not show up on your Website. Location The Location field is where you indicate the building and room where the meeting is taking place, or the location of the event. Color The Color box allows you to put a background color behind the event on the calendar view. This is useful for color-coding different types of meeting and events. Selectmen's meetings are blue, ZBA meetings are green, etc., and for highlighting when Town Hall will be closed.
Helpful Hint: Choose only light colors. Darker colors often obscure the text and viewers are unable to read it easily. Participants Tab The Participants section can be used when you want to include other members of your group in the meeting. Depending on permissions a copy of the event will either be placed on their personal calendar, or an email invitation will be sent to them. If they accept the meeting invitation they need only reply to the email to add the event to their personal calendar and send a reply back to the originator indicating their acceptance. While you will not be able to see their calendar, there is a status bar which indicates the time you have selected for the meeting, and an indicator as to whether they have a conflict or are available. You can also choose to include an outside email address as a participant to send them an email notice of the meeting. It will include an industry standard file attachment that will allow them to add it directly to their personal calendar in most other email systems. You may also use a Mail List to send it to multiple outside email addresses at the same time. Advanced Tab: Repeat Function The Repeat section allows you to create a large number of events at a regular interval (weekly staff meetings). Keep in mind that a board that meets on the first and third Tuesday of each month is not one meeting to be repeated every two weeks, they are two meetings that are repeated Monthly (Same Weekday). Choose the repeat frequency, then select the last day of the year to create meetings on every monthly calendar automatically. NOTE: There is a known bug when a meeting event takes place in the fourth week of a month. The software assumes it is the LAST week of the month, and for those months of the year where there are five weeks in the month, those meetings may fall in the fifth week, rather than the fourth week. If you set up an annual calendar in advance it would be a good idea to check that all meetings fall on the appropriate week, and that meetings don't fall on a holiday. Changing a single Repeated Event 1. Open the calendar in question using the FirstClass client software.
2. After you have created all the events for the month of January, and repeated them Monthly (Same Weekday) until the end of the year, advance to each month to determine whether any meetings fall on any holidays, or are normally rescheduled due to summer vacations, etc. 3. Click on any events that need to be changed and choose the drop down menu for the meeting date and click on the correct day for the meeting that month. If meetings are not normally scheduled during the summer months, you may want to delete those altogether. Note: Cancelling an Event - For regularly scheduled meetings that you need to cancel rather than reschedule we do not recommend deleting them. This can mislead a visitor to believe you simply forgot to update the website. By entering CANCELLED in the subject of that meeting date you will indicate the regular meeting will not be held as usual. 4. Click the Save and Close button. You'll see the following pop-up box: Click Current. The event will disconnect from the string of events and the beginning date and time on the web calendar will be correct. Reminders You can set a reminder time for a variety of typical times prior to the start of the meeting. You will receive a visual and audible notice when you are logged into your email. You may also change your default time in your Preferences under the calendar tab. Free Form Area The free form area can be used to either paste in an agenda or other information about the meeting that you and others need to be aware of.
Tasks vs Events You can also create tasks within your calendar for your To-Do list. Tasks differ from events in that if they are not completed they will show up in your Task pane everyday as a reminder. You can also enter a due date and reminder for a task. You cannot assign a task to someone else in your group. Global/Group Calendars Group calendars can be created to make it easier to schedule meetings. For instance, you may want to create a group calendar for any meeting room, and begin your scheduling there. After all, you can't schedule a meeting if you have no place to meet! You may also want to create a vacation calendar for all staff. When an individual adds their vacation "events" to their personal calendar they can add the Staff Vacation Calendar as a participant to make it easier for everyone to keep track of who is on vacation. To Create A New Group Calendar: File - New - New Group Calendar - Standard Group Calendar File - Properties to give it a logical name Collaborate - Permissions: Uncheck "Do not publish in directory" Belongs to CityST Staff Cals group Subscribers: Add Subscribers: Choose name to put a copy on their desktop. They should rename the calendar so as not to confuse it with their personal calendar Giving Permissions Who: Enter the person you subscribed Key Permissions Ability to delete any item you created Ability to create items Ability to edit items you created Ability to edit items
. Email Archiving Virtual Town Hall offers two version of email archiving: Automatic Archiving and Manual Archiving. Ability to delete items they created View unrestricted details Search the calendar Add Participants Open items Download attachments View history Open calendar Automatic Archiving is an addon service. All incoming and outgoing email will be archived automatically. Please contact your VTH Account Rep for more information and pricing. Manual Archiving allows you to create a filing structure that meets your needs. Within your VTH Desktop you should have a folder for Email Archives. Within that folder you can create as many sub-folders as you like to help you organize them according to your needs. When you want to save any email simply click on the email with your left mouse button and hold the button down. Now drag it to the intended sub-folder in your archives and drop it. Done! Once any email is in your archives it cannot be deleted. However, you still have access to it for further review and activity. You can still reply to it as well as forward it to anyone you like. For archiving multiple items at once you can sort your email by Sender or Subject by clicking on the respective column header. Now you can click on the first item, and by holding down the shift key you can click on the last item to select a group of contiguous emails to archive. Now click with the left mouse button within the selected group and drag it to the designated archive sub-folder.
For archiving non-contiguous emails you can hold down the CTRL key and left click on random email messages. Then click with your left mouse button on any selected item and drag it to the designated archive sub-folder.
Internet Browser Email Access Regardless of whether you are on your own computer at home or at work, or half way across the country at a conference you can access your VTH email. If there is not a link somewhere on your website that provides access ask your VTH Customer Support representative to provide one to the correct server. Each time you click on an icon or perform any function a new web page will appear. You will be able to perform all standard email functions (albeit a little differently) but you will not be able to modify pages on your website.