Still not sure what is taking up storage space in your mailbox? Here is an easy way to find out and give you an idea of what you have stored where, and if you have duplicates. Just follow these steps:

In Outlook click on Tools > Mailbox Cleanup:

• By default the find criteria is set to "find files larger than: 250 kilobytes.
• You can increase this to find files 1 MB or larger by changing the number to 1000 and then click on Find

This will launch a new window showing From, Subject, Received Date, Size, and the Folder.

• If you see duplicates, decide which ones you can delete.
• If you see large file attachments save them to another location other than the e-mail server
• (note: all of the files in folders are stored on the mail server)

Chances are you will find you have large files that are no longer needed and can be deleted.

Remember, for sharing photos and such from birthday, retirement and office parties there are many online photo sharing web sites that will easily allow you to share your photos.

For more information, tips and how tos click on the OIT Tools Icon on your desktop and select Ask A Question to go to the FAQs.

Picasa is free photo editing software from Google that makes your pictures look great. Valencia recommends using Picasa to organize and display the photos for your Faculty or Department Webpage.

You can find a How to Use Picasa Web Albums Help Guide here: http://www.valenciacc.edu/oit/documents/How_to_use_Picasa_Web_Albums.pdf  

 NOTICE: The college does not provide support for Mail Enabled Cell Phones, nor personal computers and/or their applications. The following information is provided only as a matter of courtesy. OIT and Valencia Community College assume no liability for use or misuse of this information.

 Although, as noted above, Valencia does not provide support for these devices we do provide you with the settings so your vendor will be abel to assist you in configuring their device.

Here are some configuration settings that your vendor may need:
POP: popmail.valenciacc.edu
SMTP: smtp.valenciacc.edu
OutlookAnywhere: webmail.valenciacc.edu
Domain: local.valenciacc.edu

The voice mail system is now part of the e-mail system and your voice mails appear in your e-mail box.  

If you need to have a new password to access your voice mail you can do this in Outlook. 

Go to Tools > Options and click on the Voice Mail Tab and then click reset PIN.  This will give you a new temporary PIN and unlock your voice mail.

As you know from a previously published tip Personal Distribution Lists can be a great time saver and help you organize your communications. The Outlook systems Global Distribution Lists serve the same purpose, but generally target larger audiences. For that reason common sense dictates using them appropriately. Using a Global Distribution List falls into the category of bulk mail and should be treated accordingly.

Here are some suggestions for Dos and Donts:

Do:

        Do know your audience
Who do you really need to communicate with? Note that an email to the College-wide Email Distribution List is delivered to approximately 2,500 recipients. 

        Do be professional and assure the e-mail is appropriate to the college audience represented by the distribution list.
Bulk e-mail is not the place for a soap box in a college environment

        Do be considerate of others and try not to clog the e-mail systems
Be sure the message you are sending is pertinent to your audience.

        Do use the Blind Copy (Bcc)
This keeps someone from using the Reply to All option (intentionally or unintentionally)

        Do use a Subject that clearly defines the purpose of the e-mail

This helps define legitimate e-mails from SPAM

Dont:

        Dont be disrespectful in tone or content
If you have a beef take it to your supervisor or other appropriate sources

        Dont use distribution lists to announce overstock of office items or to sell personal items
In the Employees Tab in Atlas there is an Employee Bulletin Board called:

                                        VBAY

A community bulletin board for Valencia employees to list announcements, classifieds, discounts and reviews. Need a home for that last package of toner or displaced puppy; this is a perfect place to post it.

        Dont use the College Wide Distribution List unless you have identified that the message is appropriate for all levels at the college

        Dont send bulk e-mails with attachments
Use your departmental network shares for attachment sharing when possible. Larger attachments may also be placed on websites with a link in the email to the attachment.
Personal photos, music, movies, and such can be shared using many Internet web resources

For more tips and FAQs please click on the OIT Tools icon on your desktop and select Ask a Question

Outlook Tip-of-the-Week: Outlook Password Security

Unlike the old e-mail system you cannot have a separate password for the network and your e-mail. This is by design and is a step towards minimizing the number of passwords you will have to remember. There are, however, important security concerns that need to be considered, especially as we move toward a unified sign in.

        When not at your computer be sure you are logged off or have locked the computer

o   LOG OFF:  Start > Shut Down or Log Off

o   Lock the computer: 

  Press CRTL+Alt+DEL and select Lock Workstation, or

  Press the Windows and the L keys

  To log in Press CTRL+ALT+DEL as you normally do to log back in

        Never share your passwords with anyone

o   Sharing passwords is a direct violation of College Policies [04-38.02]

  You are responsible for all access to your account

  If you are going to be away and others need access to your e-mail you can delegate access via Tools > Options > Delegates

  Since the college is now on Windows Active Directory anyone with an account can log onto the computer. No one needs your password to do this.

o   Be sure to protect yourself, the College network and prevent anyone from using your e-mail account and use secure passwords (alpha-numeric 6 11 characters long)

o   When using Outlook Web Access from a publicly accessed computer be sure

  On the OWA log in screen check This is a public or shared computer

  If prompted for the browser to remember the password select No (recommended is No for all computer systems public or personal)

        If you use Outlook Web Access to change your Outlook password you are also changing your network log on password.

Password security is not limited to your Outlook and network access; it is crucial to protect your Atlas account as that is the portal for all of your HR and Financial Information.

For more tips and FAQs please click on the OIT Tools icon on your desktop and select Ask a Question

Setting up an Out of Office message couldnt be easier! And, the really good news is that by using the date and start feature (just click chose the dates click again!) you do not need to remember to turn it off when you come back in.

1.      On the Tools menu, click Out of Office Assistant

2.      Click Send Out of Office auto-replies.

3.      If you want, select the Only send during this time range check box to schedule when your out of office replies are active. If you do not specify a start and end time, auto-replies will be sent until you click Do not send Out of Office auto-replies.

4.      On the Inside My Organization tab, type the response that you want to send while you are out of the office.

To send auto-replies to people out of your organization, continue with steps 4 and 5.

5.      On the Outside My Organization tab, select the Auto-reply to people outside my organization check box, and then type the response that you want to send while you are out of the office.

6.      On the Outside My Organization tab, click My Contacts only or Anyone outside my organization to specify the people to whom auto-replies are to be sent. (The contact must exist in your Contacts folder)

For more Tips and How Tos please click on the OIT Tools icon on your desktop and click Ask A Question fro the FAQ.

During the migration from GroupWise to Outlook a conversion utility was used to move the data from one system into another. Because of the many servers used for GroupWise it was necessary to migrate data over several weeks. This necessitated the need to be able to e-mail between the two systems, which caused cached (stored) e-mail addresses to default to an address that contained username@first.administrativegroup . . . . . . . . .  which is now an invalid address. There are a couple ways to clean/clear these up.

The first one is somewhat labor intensive, but is simple to do and works well. The second requires a higher level of technical know how and can be somewhat intimidating.

For the first method:

        Open a new e-mail window and, alphabetically, begin to type in someones name.

        When the name auto-populates press the Delete Key

        Repeat this until no more names appear (A through Z)

        As you use e-mail address from your address books they will be cached and you will have good e-mails

The second method is quicker and gets rid of all cached e-mail addresses in moments. Here are the directions supplied by Microsoft: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/287623

Use the steps in the following section to reset the Outlook nickname cache for Microsoft Windows XP.

1.    Quit Outlook.

2.    Click Start, and then click Search.

3.    In the Search Companion left-side panel, click All files or folders.

4.    In the All or part of the file name: box, type *.NK2.

5.    In the Look In box, click to select your local hard disk.

6.    Click More advanced options, click to select Search hidden files and folders check box.

7.    Click Search.

8.    Right-click the .NK2 file with the name of the profile that you want to reset, and then click Rename.

9.    Rename the file to profilename.bak, and then press ENTER.

10.  Quit Windows Explorer.

11.  Restart Outlook.

Outlook will generate a new nickname cache.  [This will then save/cache the e-mail addresses you use]

For more tips and FAQs click on Ask a Question in the OIT Tools on your desktop

• Create a custom contact folder (rather than share your main contact book)
  • Click on Contacts
  • From the top menu select the down arrow and then select Folder (or CTRL+SHIFT+E)
  • Give a name to the folder and save it
• Create a custom distribution list (make sure you have selected the new folder)
  • From the top menu select the down arrow and then Distribution List (or CTRL+SHIFT+L)
  • Give a name to the DL
  • Click on Select Members from top icons this will open up the Global Address Book
    • To select people from your own lists click the down arrow under Address Book
    • When done adding members select Save and Close on the upper left.
    • Sharing the Contact Folder
  • Click File > Folder > Change Sharing Permissions
  • Click Add and select those who need access to the list
  • Click Apply
• Define the Access Levels
  • Highlight the person(s) you have added
  • Using Permissions Level select the down arrow and choose the level of access.
  • E-mail the people you have shared this with to let them know you have shared it with them
  • Accessing a shared DL
• Under Contacts Current View select Open Shared Contacts
• Type in the user name of the person who has shared it or select the Open button and choose the person from the Global Address List
• The Contact Folder will now appear in Peoples Contacts

E-mailing a shared DL

• Open the Contact Folder and double click the shared DL listed
• At the top of the group find the icons grouped above Communicate and select E-mail, which will open a new e-mail window with the Dl in the To field
• To use a DL that has been e-mailed to you simply open the e-mail and drag and drop the DL into the Contact Folder you want it in.

For more tips and FAQs click on 'Ask a Question' in the OIT Tools on your desktop

Outlook Tip-of-the-Week: More Unified Messaging

The new Voice Mail system is part of the MS Exchange system accessible through your telephone via x1805 or your Outlook e-mail. Voice mail resides only on the MS Exchange server; there are no longer two disparate systems voice mail and e-mail are integrated.

That being said: If you have a message light on your phone, but do not see a new voice mail in your Outlook trust, Outlook to be the final authority. Just remember; there is only one system - voice mail is in one place, not two.

Extension 1805 and 1806 functions and calling extensions that do not have voice mail:

        Accessing your voice mail from a phone other than yours is slightly different.  When you dial x1805 (or press the message button on the phone) you will need to press the start (*) button and then follow the voice prompts.

        Express messaging: Transferring a call to someones voice mail dial 1806 and follow the voice prompts

        Setting your own phone to go to voice mail: Press the Forward button on your phone and enter 1806 follow the screen prompts on your specific phone.

        If you dial an extension that is not set up with voice mail the system will route you back to your phone. This is a clear indicator there is no voice mail for that particular number.

The Unified Messaging guide is available in the FAQs at: http://answers.valenciacc.edu/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=5572&task=knowledge&questionID=1315 or go to answers.valenciacc.edu - Keyword: Unified

Outlook Tip-of-the-Week:  Customization of Stationary and Fonts

You Only Get One Chance to Make a Great First Impression.  This is something you have probably heard time and again. In email, as in life, you only get one chance to make a first impression.

Consider your audience when you send an e-mail.  A previous Outlook Tip-of-the-Week mentioned the use of a subject line never send e-mail without a subject.  Subjects help everyone categorize and prioritize their e-mails.  Also, consider the stationary and font you want to use; ask yourself What impression am I trying to make? and change your stationary and/or fonts to suit that purpose.

Customizing your stationary:

        In Outlook click on Tools > Options

        Select the Mail Format tab

        Select Stationary and Fonts

        From this point just click and choose.

Remember - what you choose needs to be easy to read by the recipient.   For example, when choosing font color, choose a color that has good contrast to the background color.  Bright blue fonts on a blue background can be very hard to read but so is a bright red font on a dark blue background.

Here are some tips on how not to make a good first impression.

Getting a persons attention:

BOLD!    RED!      CEATIVE? 
Attention getters?  Yes, but it can be difficult to read and annoying to the person reading the e-mail.  Use those features sparingly - just enough for emphasis.  In the example above a person with color blindness might have a problem with the word creative as typed. 

Be mindful of using colored backgrounds in e-mail..  

        This example is difficult to read because there is not enough contrast between the background and letter colors.

        This example is easy to read because there is good contrast between the  background and letter colors.

USING ALL CAPS IS SHOUTING
No one likes being shouted at not even you.

Watermarks:  Use of water marks (pictures, logos, images and such) competes with the message and breaks up the ease of readability. Use them sparingly, if at all.

Ease of reading:
Fonts are easy to change.  What may look good to you may be very difficult  for another to read
In the examples above it was necessary to make some of the fonts 16 pt  - enlarging them so they would be legible. Look closely at the spacing, too. For those of us with less than perfect vision, it can be hard discerning the words because the letters have run together.

_____________

One final tip: If you get an e-mail that is very hard to read, just click on Reply, go to the Options tab and choose plain text.

For more tips and FAQs click on 'Ask a Question' in the OIT Tools on your desktop.

To remove a consolidated course you must first remove all the courses linked in consolidated course:

1.  Go to My Courses.
   
   
2.  Click "My Consolidated Courses" on the upper right.
3.  Click the consolidated course that you want to remove.
4.  Click the "Courses" link in the "Configuration Tools" in the left margin of your consolidated course homepage
5.  Remove ALL courses from the consolidated course.
6.  Now you can delete the empty consolidated course.

When you receive a new voice mail or a missed call notification it will go directly into your inbox.  For some of us this can make if difficult, if not awkward, to manage voice mails.

Here is a tip that will help you manage this:

Create a new mail folder and name it _VoiceMail (this will move the folder to the top of the folder list)
Create a new rule where the subject contains "Voice Mail" and "Missed Call" and select "moved it to the _VoiceMail folder"

If you use Favorite Folders in Outlook click and drag the _VoiceMail folder to it.  All of your voice mail will be at the top and will readily indicated if you have unread voice mail.

Adjunct Faculty now have access to Valencia's e-mail system. The primary access will be vai OWA (webmail.valenciacc.edu) which is a web based interface to a Microsoft Exchange System.

Username:  Your Current Atlas Username (ex. Jdoe)
Password: First Initial of First Name + First Initial of Last Name + Last 4 of Social Security Number
(ex. John Doe with Social Security number 987-65-1234 would be jd1234)
Email Address: Your_Atlas_Username@valenciacc.edu

Shuld you desire to change your password you may do so by clicking the options button in the upper right and then select Change Password on the left column. PLEASE USE A SECURE AND COMPLEX PASSWORD

This will then become the passwor you  use to log onto the classroom and office computers with.

How to Forward your Atlas Email

1. Login to Atlas (http://atlas.valenciacc.edu).
2. Click on the email button in the upper right hand corner.
3. Choose Options.
4. Click the Mail tab and then Settings Tab.
5. Enter your new Outlook email address (listed above) and choose Add to have your mail forwarded to your new address.

If you are having issues logging into Atlas, please clear your browser's cache and cookies, then attempt to log in again. If you do not see instructions for your specific version or browser, search your browser's Help menu for "clear cache".

1. From the Tools menu, select Internet Options...
   
2. Choose the General tab.
   
3. Under Browsing history, click Delete...
4. Check off both "Temporary Internet Files" and "Cookies"
5. Click Delete
6. Click OK to exit.

1. From the Tools menu, select Internet Options
   
2. Choose the General tab.
   
3. Under Browsing history, click Delete
   
4. Next to "Temporary Internet Files", click Delete files
5. Next to "Cookies", click Delete cookies
   
6. Click Close, and then click OK to exit.

1. From the Tools menu, select Clear Private Data
2. Check Cache and Cookies.
3. Click Clear Private Data Now.

1. From the Safari menu, select Empty Cache... .
   
2. When prompted, click Empty to confirm that you want to empty the cache.

Unified Messaging is a Voice Mail system that integrates with MS Exchange and can be accessed through either your telephone or MS Outlook 2007.

For a Quick Start Guide showing the Voice User [e-mail] Interface and the Touchtone Interface please click UnifiedMessagingQuickStart

If you need to reset your passcode (PIN) you can do so in Outlook:

Click Tools > Options > Voice Mail (tab) > Clcik Reset PIN.  The system will send you a new PIN.

1.   On the Tools menu, click Out of Office Assistant

2.   Click Send Out of Office auto-replies.

3.   If you want, select the Only send during this time range check box to schedule when your out of office replies are active. If you do not specify a start and end time, auto-replies will be sent until you click Do not send Out of Office auto-replies.

4.   On the Inside My Organization tab, type the response that you want to send while you are out of the office.

To send auto-replies to people out of your organization, continue with steps 4 and 5.

5.   On the Outside My Organization tab, select the Auto-reply to people outside my organization check box, and then type the response that you want to send while you are out of the office.

6.   On the Outside My Organization tab, click My Contacts only or Anyone outside my organization to specify the people to whom auto-replies are to be sent. (The contact must exist in your Contacts folder)

For more "How to" from Microsoft click here.

Side Notes:

You can toggle your Out of Office message (must be pre-created) via your Voice Mail. When you dial in listen to the voice mail prompts and say e-mail when prompted.

If callers are from within the college and are set up for Unified Messaging Voice Mail your Out of Office message will be sent to them as an auto reply!

During the migration from GroupWise to Outlook a conversion utility was used to move the data from one system into another. Because of the many servers used for GroupWise it was necessary to migrate data over several weeks. This necessitated the need to be able to e-mail between the two systems, which caused cached (stored) e-mail addresses to default to an address that contained username@first.administrativegroup . . . . . . . . . which is now an invalid address. There are a couple ways to clean/clear these up.

The following information is provided as a matter of courtesy. For specific details on configuring your device please contact your carrier/service provider.

( NOTE: Valencia assumes no liability for any loss of data or malfunction of any device used in conjunction with this information. The college supports only College purchased devices).

• Many web enabled cell phone internet browsers cannot process the java and security that is part of the MS Outlook Web.
• The following is the information that may be needed to use your e-mail enabled device
                POP: popmail.valenciacc.edu
              SMTP: smtp.valenciacc.edu
   Active Synch: webmail.valenciacc.edu (enable SSL)
• Domain: local.valenciacc.edu

Again, for specific information on configuring your device please contact your service provider. OIT cannot configure it for you.

You can create a shared workbook (shared workbook: A workbook set up to allow multiple users on a network to view and make changes at the same time. Each user who saves the workbook sees the changes made by other users.) and place it on a network location where several people can edit the contents simultaneously. For example, if the people in your work group each handle several projects and need to know the status of each other's projects, the group can use a shared workbook to track the status of the projects. All persons involved can then enter the information for their projects in the same workbook.

As the owner of the shared workbook, you can manage it by removing users from the shared workbook and resolving conflicting changes. When all changes have been incorporated, you can stop sharing the workbook.

Click here for Microsoft's easy to follow instructions.

To RESEND or RECALL an e-mail go into your Sent Items folder.

Open the e-mail (full screen to see all menu header options)

In the block called Actions select Other Actions.

From here you can recall and/or resend. Other options are available also.

There are Global Distribution Lists that are fairly inclusive for large groups but may not always serve the departmental level needs. You can create a shared contact folder and distribution list within that folder:

Create a custom Contact Folder (rather than share your main contact book)
      o Click on Contacts 
      o From the top menu select the down arrow and then select Folder (or CTRL+SHIFT+E)
    Give a name to the Folder and Save it

Create a custom Distribution List (make sure you have selected the new folder)
      o From the top menu select the down arrow and then Distribution List (or CTRL+SHIFT+L)
      o Give a name to the DL
      o Click on Select Members from top icons this will open up the Global Address Book
             To select people from your own lists click the down arrow under Address Book
             When done adding members select Save and Close on the upper left.   

    Sharing the Contact Folder
      o Click File > Folder > Share [foldername] - This will open a e-mail
      o Click the To button and choose those who need access to the list: there is an option in the e-mail window to
          check to allow the recipient(s) to add, edit and delete items. Otherwise click send.
      o Click Send (the default share permission is Reviewer (read-only) unless you checked the option above.
      o    Click Yes to send

• Defining/Redefining the Access Levels
        o   Click File > Folder > Change Sharing Permissions
        o   Highlight the person(s) you have added
        o   Using Permissions Level select the down arrow and choose the level of access