FirstClass FAQ's An item is missing from my FirstClass desktop

Transcription

1 FirstClass FAQ's An item is missing from my FirstClass desktop Deleted item: If you put a item on your desktop, you can delete it. To determine what kind of item (conference-original, conference-alias, folder etc.) is represented by an icon on your desktop, select it and from the File menu choose Properties (Windows) or Get Info (Macintosh). If you want to delete an alias or other item, select it then press the DELETE key on your keyboard. Click Yes to confirm. Deleting an alias to a conference has no effect on the original conference or on anyone else's Desktop. In order to delete an original conference or calendar, you may need to first unprotect it by unchecking a box in the Info window (select it then File > Properties or Get Info). Hidden icons: If your desktop is in icon view, an icon may be hidden behind another or dragged away from the other icons. If there is a scroll bar, examine the entire scrolled area for your missing item. Another way to be sure your icons are not hidden is to temporarily change your Desktop to list view (View > View by List). If you still don't see it, try splitting the window (View > Split > Split Horizontal) then check both the top and bottom panes for your missing item. An item is missing from my mailbox One of the following situations may explain why your item is missing and help you find it, if possible. * If you have accidentally deleted an item, you can try to undelete it. Deleted items are not always retrievable because of the setting that all items in user trash is deleted after 7 days. If your item was deleted and does not appear when you make deleted items visible, it cannot be retrieved. * Try closing then opening your mailbox. If a temporary filter was applied to your mailbox, this will clear it. (Filters can be set to show only incoming, outgoing, unread or unsent items using View > Filter.) * If your messages are grouped (threaded) by subject, the groups may be collapsed, showing only one message in each group. To reveal all messages in your groups, View > Change View Properties. In the View Properties window, un-check the Collapse All Groups box. If you still don't see the item you are looking for, try scrolling down or re-sorting to look for your messages. * Look at the top of the Mailbox window for information about the number of files and folders. If it tells you that there are hidden files, your viewing preferences may have been set to hide messages that have been read (only show red-flagged messages). You can change your preferences so that the hidden messages will appear. * If you use a POP client to read your mail, such as Eudora or Outlook, and you have set that software so that it does not leave a copy of your messages on the server, messages will be deleted from FirstClass when you read them with the POP client. You need to go back to the computer where you read them and open them the same way, with the POP client. * You may have hidden your message or folder or moved it from one pane of the split window to the other. To find it: Open your mailbox in Explore view. From the desktop, click once on your mailbox to select it and View > Explore Look for your missing folder or message. If you don't see it, SHIFT-click the plus/minus sign next to the Mailbox on the left side of the window. If you see your missing item, select it then File > Properties (Windows) or Get Info (Macintosh). Click the arrow next to View, Icon ID, Icon Position to expand it. Change the contents of the View field to Default. Close the Info window and your item should have returned to its place in your mailbox. * You may have dragged a message or folder from your mailbox to a conference. This is only possible with a conference for which you have permission to create items (such as controller permission). * You may have dragged a message or folder from your Mailbox to another folder in your Mailbox. One way to locate it is to open each folder in your mailbox (and each level of subfolders inside, if any). If your message or folder is there, it will be sorted among the other items in the folder so you may need to scroll down to find it. A simple way to tell whether a

2 folder is mixed among a list of messages is to look at the top of the window for the number of folders in the list. Another way to find a message or folder that has been accidentally moved to another folder is to run a search for your missing message or folder. Why are there no red flags on my new messages? Check to see whether the flag column is missing, and also scroll towards the right to see if the column was moved. If it was deleted you can add it again. From the View menu, select Change View Properties. Click Default, then Apply. Then click OK. Red flags are removed when messages are downloaded from your FirstClass account by another program and you have set that program to retain mail on the server. This happens if you use a POP client to read your mail, such as Eudora, Outlook or Mac mail or Entourage. Some of these programs can be set to automatically download your mail at a certain time interval. My Mailbox has a red flag. Why can't I see any new messages inside? Someone may have sent you a message and then unsent it. In this case, the flag stays next to the mailbox. If you want to remove this flag select the mailbox and Message > Mark as Read. (If there is a flagged message inside the mailbox when you do this, it will also lose its flag.) Depending on how your Mailbox is sorted, you may have a flagged message that is toward the end of the list. Scroll to see if you can find the flagged message or click the flag button at the top of the column so that all flagged messages will sort to the top of the list. Your new message may be part of a group. Expand the groups to see whether a new message appears. A plus sign (Windows) or right-pointing triangle (Macintosh) indicates that the group is collapsed. Click this symbol to expand the thread. You can expand all groups in the list by clicking the symbol at the top of the column. I receive unwanted mail. How can I filter my messages? You can use Mailbox Rules to filter spam and other unwanted mail. It is recommended that your rules move unwanted messages into folders so that you can review them before deleting. Why can't I send messages? This is a symptom of having exceeded your disk usage quota. You may also be unable to edit your resume or change your preferences. Why can't I receive messages? When people report that messages they send are not getting through, sometimes they are mistyping the address. If someone tells you that he/she receives an error reply ("Mailbox or Conference is full") when sending messages to you, it is because you have reached the maximum allowable received messages in the main level of your mailbox. In FirstClass 8 this number is If someone tells you that he/she receives an error reply ("Mailbox has been deleted. Try reentering the address") when sending messages to you, it is because you have created a mailbox rule that would move this received message into a folder, but there is a problem with the folder. Either the folder name does not exist in your mailbox or the folder is full (more than 4096 messages). You should frequently review the folders in your mailbox to be sure they have not filled up. Message history says a person replied to me. Why didn't I receive the reply? When the person who received your message clicked the Reply button the history function recorded this action even if the person has not sent the reply message to you.

3 How do I arrange the list view columns in my mailbox or conference to the order I choose? There is a column missing (or an extra column) in the list view of my mailbox or a conference. *To choose which columns appear: right-click (Windows) or CONTROL-click (Macintosh) on any of the column headings. A pop-up menu will appear with checkmarks next to selected column names. Click any column name to change whether it is selected or deselected. * To change the width of a column: move the mouse pointer to the right edge of the column heading until it changes to this icon:. Drag to make the column wider or narrower. * To change the order of columns: move the mouse pointer in the column heading until it changes to a hand pointer. Drag and drop the column at the location you choose. Another way of choosing columns and changing their order is to right-click (Windows) or CONTROL-click (Macintosh) anywhere in the list and choose Select Fields. A dialog box will let you choose the fields that this conference or folder will display in list mode and change their order. If the window is split, you can select fields and their order separately for each pane. To revert to the system default set of column headings, click in the list, then from the View menu choose Change View Properties. Click on the Sorting tab. Click Default, then click Apply. Click OK to close the window. Note1: Do not remove the Flag column. If you need to show deleted items, the Flag column is where you will see the trash can icon indicating that an item has been deleted. Note 2: If you need to change the width of columns, do so before changing their order. Otherwise, the rightmost column will be difficult to re-size. My mailbox is in list view and split vertically. Because the left pane scrolls it is difficult to drag a message into a folder. To prevent the horizontal scrollbar from appearing in the left pane of your mailbox, keep the number and size of the sorting columns to a minimum. You should need only the Icon, Name and Flag columns. (The Flag column is important to keep because this is where the trashcan icon appears when you Show Deleted Items.) When adding, removing, re-sizing and rearranging the columns, you will have trouble reducing the size of the rightmost column of the left pane unless you make the changes in the following order. Refer to a previous FAQ for detailed instructions. How do I arrange the list view columns in my mailbox or conference to the order I choose? 1. Remove columns that you don't need. 2. Change the width of columns. 3. Change the order of columns. 4. Drag the separating bar between the two panes of your mailbox so that the left pane is just large enough to accommodate the columns without a scrollbar. The view properties that I set for some conferences doesn't stick. Some conferences have properties that are saved on the server by a controller. You can change them for your own view but they revert to the controller's set properties when you close the conference. This applies only to certain view properties. You can set a list view default on your computer that will apply when conferences do not have set properties. To do so: 1. Open a conference that has a controller who is not you, such as District Announcements or your Building Announcements. Do not choose an open forum that has no controller. 2. Set the list view preferences as you choose - columns and their order, sort order, grouping, font. 3. Close the conference window.

4 In Macintosh OS X, I clicked a button in a window but the window won't close. The menus that drop down from the toolbar in OS X are called "window shades." After you make your selection you may need to click the Cancel button to close the window shade. For example, the window that appears when you type a partial name in the To field of a message is a window shade. If you select a name then click one of the buttons at the top of the window such as Resume, To, etc. your choice will be carried out but you also need to click Cancel to close the window. In Macintosh OS X, the message grouping disappeared in a conference. How can I get it back? In FirstClass for OS X the triangles used to collapse or expand message groups sometimes disappear from conferences so that the messages are no longer grouped properly. To recover you will need to reset the view properties for the conference. 1. With the conference window open, View > Change View Properties 2. Click Default or change the settings as you choose. 3. Click Apply. 4. Click OK. If you need to access your view properties frequently, you may want to add a Change View Properties button to your conference toolbar. This procedure will add the button to the toolbar of every conference you open. With a conference window open View > Toolbars > Customize Toolbars In the Categories field choose View. Locate the Change View Properties icon and drag it to the conference toolbar. You will be able to place it where you like. Close the customize Toolbar window. How can I send a copy of a mail list to another FirstClass user? Open your Contacts Folder/Address Book and drag a mail list to the header of a new message. It will appear in the Attachments field. Complete the message as usual and send it to a FirstClass user. The recipient can drag the attached mail list to her/his own Contacts Folder/Address Book. How can I move or copy a list of names? Moving and copying lists of names between FirstClass locations is done by dragging. Copy/Paste will not work. You can also drag names from Excel into a FirstClass name list location, however copying a list from FirstClass to Excel can be a more complicated process, especially on a Windows computer. The following are places in FirstClass that can hold lists of names: * Message header (To:, CC:, BCC: fields) * Mail list in your Contacts folder/address Book (The listing of individual contact records in your Contacts folder/address book is not a name list of this sort.) * Who field in conference permissions * List of subscribers in conference permissions Note: Internet addresses (in the form, name@address.com) are not allowed in conference permissions windows. If you drag a list that includes an Internet address into the Who field or List of Subscribers in a conference permissions window, they will be translated to "Internet" and you should delete them from the new list. To copy names from one FirstClass name list location to another: 1. Arrange the windows on your screen so that you can see both the list of names you want to copy and the destination. 2. Click the first name on the list to select it 3. SHIFT-Click the last name on the list. All names between and including the first and last

5 name clicked will be highlighted, however the icon next to the last name will remain unhighlighted as shown in the illustration. This icon is your handle for dragging. To copy names from... Do this... One window to a different window, Click the unhighlighted icon example between a mail list window and drag to your destination and a permissions window All selected names should follow One field to another within the same window for example, in a conference permissions window between the Who field and the Subscribers field To move the names from one field to another within the same window (without copying) for example in a message window between the To: field and the CC: or BCC: fields Hold down the CONTROL key (Windows) or OPTION key (Mac) while you click the unhighlighted icon and drag to your destination. All selected names should follow but also remain in the field from which you dragged. Click the unhighlighted icon and drag to your destination. To copy names from Excel to a FirstClass name list location: 1. Arrange the windows on your screen so that you can see both the Excel file and the FirstClass name list location that is the destination. The Excel file can either have the entire name in the same column, or first and last names in adjacent columns. First name must precede last name. 2. Select the entire list in Excel by dragging. If your list is in two columns, be sure to include both columns in your selection. 3. Place your mouse on the edge of the selected cells where the pointer changes to a plus sign with arrows (Windows) or an open hand (Mac). 4. Click and drag to the FirstClass name list location. 5. A FirstClass user icon will appear next to any name in the list that is recognized by the FirstClass directory. If a name has no icon next to it, it may be spelled incorrectly or be another form of the name used in FirstClass. Look up the name and edit it in the list. 6. Usually this process clears the names from the Excel spreadsheet, but if you need to save the names in the spreadsheet you can retrieve them by going to the Edit menu in Excel and choosing Undo Clear. To copy a list of names from FirstClass to Excel: Method 1 - recommended in these situations: * The names are in a mail list and you are using a Macintosh computer * The names are in a conference permissions window and the list is long 1. With the mail list or permissions window open, File > Save As 2. Name the file and save it on your computer desktop. Give the file a.txt extension. 3. Open the text file and edit it, deleting extra information and leaving only the list of names, one per line. Save the file again. 4. Launch Excel with a new spreadsheet and File > Open. Navigate to the text file that you just saved and click Open. 5. In the Excel Import Wizard, click Next until finished. Method 2 - recommended in these situations: *The names are in a mail list and you are using a Windows computer * The names are in a conference permissions window and the list is short * The names are in a message header 1. Open the mail list, permissions window, or message with the list of names in its header. 2. Open a new message. The body of this message will be used to edit the list of names.

6 3. Click the first name on the list to select it. 4. SHIFT-Click the last name on the list. All names between and including the first and last name clicked will be highlighted, however the icon next to the last name will remain unhighlighted as shown in the illustration. This icon is your handle for dragging. 5. Click the unhighlighted icon and drag to the body of the open new message window. All highlighted names should follow. The list will show in the new message as a string of names without spaces between them. Rearrange these names into a list with one name on each line. 6. Launch Excel with a new spreadsheet and File > Open. 7. Select the entire edited list in the FirstClass message window, then drag the selection into the Excel spreadsheet. This should place the names into individual cells in a column. First and last names will be in the same cell. How can I set up a document in my conference that all members can edit and share? A conference for this purpose must be set up with special permission allowing all members to edit items. (Usually only controllers have this permission.) This is not desirable in most conferences because members would have the ability to edit each other's messages, therefore you should create a new conference that will hold only the document(s) that will be shared. The conference controller should set up the permissions in the conference so that members have contributor access with one extra permission, Edit items, shown circled below. Click the Edit items icon to turn it on. When you do this, the access level of Contributor will change to Custom. Within the conference create a document (not a message). File > New > New Document. Everyone who has access to the conference and permissions as described above should be able to edit the document. The document history lists each time the document has been edited. How can I share a Contacts folder (Address Book) with a group? A conference controller can create a list of addresses, called a contact database, inside of the conference. These addresses can be shared by selected FirstClass users who will find the contacts within their own directories. The controller will decide who can update the database and who cannot, and any changes made to the list will be reflected for everyone. This is a good way to handle sets of Internet addresses that are used by a group, especially when the membership of the group and responsibility for maintaining the contact list will change over time. Creating a contact database: The contact database must be created by someone who is controller of the conference where the shared contacts will be kept. 1. Open the conference. 2. File > New > New contact database. 3. The new database will open. Close it so that you can name it and assign permissions. 4. Select the contact database. File > Properties (Windows) or File > Get Info (Macintosh). Assign a unique name to the contact database and click the box labeled Protected. Click OK. 5. Select the contact database. Collaborate > Permissions. Give Creator permission to anyone who should be able to add and edit contacts. Give Open Items permission to anyone who will use the contacts but should not edit them. 6. Open the contact database and enter addresses and mail lists as you would for a Contact folder/address book.

7 Making contacts accessible to users: For the contacts in the database to be accessible to a user, an alias of the contact database must be put into the user's own Contacts folder/address Book. The controller also should follow these steps for her/his own account. 1. Put an alias of the contact database on a user's FirstClass desktop: This can be done either by the controller or by the user. If the user has access and permission to open the conference that contains the contact database, she/he can select it and Collaborate > Add to Desktop. Otherwise, the controller can add the user to the list of subscribers in the contact database's permissions window (Select the conference and Collaborate > Permissions.) The following steps are done by the user. 2. Drag the contact database's alias from your FirstClass desktop to your personal Contacts folder or Address Book: (Note that Contacts and Address Book are two names for the same thing.) If you do not yet have a Contacts folder or Address Book on your FirstClass desktop, File > Open > Contacts folder. 3. Log out of FirstClass and log in again. 4. Collaborate > Directory. The addresses in the contact database should be listed at the beginning of your directory along with your personal addresses. 5. In the directory, note that the addresses that are from the contact database each list the database name in the Organization field. To group all addresses from the contact database, click the Organization column heading. Using contacts from the database: Address messages to names from the contact database the way you do any other name in the directory. If the contact directory contains a mail list, like any mail list it will not appear in your directory. You need to type its name into the message header field. To check the name and content of mail lists, open the contact directory alias in your personal Contacts folder/address Book. To edit the database: If you have Creator permission for the contact database you can edit it. Open the contact database (either the original in the conference or within your Contacts folder/address Book) to make your edits. These will be reflected for everyone else with an alias to the contact database in his or her own Contacts folder/address Book.