Email

Tips and Tricks: Outlook Web Access

December 14, 2016 by Michael Caban

Most UCI Exchange email and calendar users now have their accounts in Microsoft’s Office 365 cloud service. You can always use the full-featured Outlook application (part of Microsoft Office), but you can also use the Web interface, Outlook Web Access (OWA) if Outlook isn’t available on your computer, or doesn’t meet your needs.

There are many methods for sorting and filing from your inbox. You can delete a single message by simply clicking on the trash can icon that appears when you hover over or select the message. You can use the check-boxes that appear on the left when mousing over a message to create a group for refiling or deletion. You can also drag-and-drop messages one at a time or (by shift-clicking or control-clicking) in groups.

Because OWA is part of an online suite of Microsoft tools, you can quickly jump to another (such as your calendar) using the grid in the upper left of the window. There is also a flexible search box in that corner.

The Filter drop-down menu above your message list offers a number of features, including the ability to choose how the message list is sorted (say, by date or sender.)

From the black-and-white gear at the upper right, you can configure your out-of-office message, as well as make some layout choices (Display Settings).

The Reading Pane is where you see the contents of a message. You can choose where in your browser window you want it to appear, or suppress it and use all the screen space for your folder and message list. From the Conversations tab you can display related messages with the newest message first or last.

This is only a sample of the features in OWA. The OIT Help Desk is ready to assist you with any other needs in managing your Exchange email or calendar.

Tips and Tricks: Managing Spam

August 16, 2016 by Lyle Wiedeman

Your email account is set up to help you perform your job. But there are thousands of individuals who want to use your account to sell you something, or steal something from you. Unsolicited commercial email – or spam – wastes your time and other University resources and exposes you to malicious software.

What does OIT do to protect me?

OIT blocks known spammers from sending email to UCI. If someone has been improperly listed, the message our spam blocker sends will alert the sender to the problem and give an opportunity to fix it.

What can I do to limit spam?

OIT examines incoming email and tags it if it looks like spam. To take advantage of these tags, you must set up spam filters (see “What can I do about spam?” on OIT’s spam web page) to move messages marked as spam from your Inbox to a spam folder. No automated technique can determine with 100% accuracy if a message is spam. Check your spam folder periodically for legitimate messages that were incorrectly marked as spam, as well as to delete the actual spam.

If you use Office365 as your mail service, the Exchange server analyzes incoming mail, directing messages that are very likely spam to your Junk Mail folder. A secondary feature which you can activate is “clutter.” Exchange tries to learn the messages that are not important to you and directs them to your Clutter folder. By moving messages to the Clutter folder, or rescuing messages from the Clutter folder, you can train Exchange how to perform this gentler, second-level filtering. For more on Clutter, read this Office Online article from Microsoft.

How can I help?

You can help us identify new sources and styles of spam. We have a special email address for reporting such behavior, and detailed instructions can be found in the OIT Knowledge Base.

Tips and Tricks: Vacation Messages in Webmail

March 30, 2016 by Carol Jackson

If you are leaving campus for a conference or vacation, or for some other reason will have limited access to your email, it is helpful to set up your account to inform your correspondents. Called a “Vacation message” or “Away message,” you can say as much or as little as you wish, and each person who writes you will only be notified the first time they send you email.

If you use OIT’s Webmail service, it is a simple process with the new Webmail software:

Click the Settings button then the Vacation tab
From that screen, check Enable (turn on) vacation messaging, be sure the end date and message are correct, and click Save

When you return to the office, repeat these steps but disable (uncheck – turn off) your message

For a detailed visual guide to setting a vacation message in Webmail, refer to the OIT Knowledge Base.

If you prefer (or while using the legacy Webmail software), you may still use My Email Options to set an away message.

If you use OIT’s Exchange service, you can set up an automatic reply in Outlook or Outlook Web Access.

If you use UCI Gmail, you should use the automatic reply feature.

Group Email – Hints and Tips

March 25, 2015 by Lyle Wiedeman

Email has become an integral tool for business communications. However, using email to communicate among a group can be challenging. Here are some ideas for more effective communication and collaboration within a team or other UCI community.

For small groups and short-term issues, a simple cc: list and “reply all” can get the job done, but when the number of recipients grows, communication becomes disjointed as people reply to different messages in a chain, respond to different drafts of a document, accidentally share comments intended for one recipient to the whole list, and other inefficiencies.

Mailing lists (provided at UCI by the Mailman software) are a convenient method for communication among a large group or interest community. Lists can be configured to be for announcements only (list members see official postings but cannot reply), moderated (anyone can reply but the list administrator has to approve a reply before it is distributed), or open discussion. You can request a new mailman list on the OIT Web site. Administrators can build a list of recipients, or potential subscribers can add and remove themselves from a list as interests change. Recipients are spared a chain of “Please remove me from this list” email messages which can result from using cc: addressing.

Beyond simple group communications, there are collaboration tools such as UCI Google Groups. With collaboration software, you don’t have to send email attachments around – teams can work on a single on-line copy of a document together, discussing ideas in email, or attaching comments directly to the document. Access to the document is tied to membership in the group, so as people join and leave the team, the ability to participate in discussions or change team documents follows in parallel.

If you have questions or wish assistance in using group communication tools, please contact the OIT Help Desk.

In Brief April 2014

April 3, 2014 by Lyle Wiedeman

The Office of Information Technology is in the process of upgrading the 25-year-old campus telephone system. The upgrade will not affect VoIP Cisco telephones. Physical telephones and basic functionality of your telephone will not change.
The administrative portal SNAP will be retired at the end of May 2014. The new ZotPortal system should be used instead.
OIT has tentative plans for Exchange users to be transitioned to Microsoft’s cloud service this year.