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GroupWise Tech-tips Archive
Information Services sends email "Tech Tips" to LBCC staff on a regular basis. Listed below are "Tech Tips" about GroupWise. If you have suggestions for more email Tech Tips, please contact the Help Desk. Additional information about these topics and more are also listed in the GroupWise 'Help' menu, and under GroupWise in the online Help Desk.
Using GroupWise "Blind Copy" (BC)
Understanding Message and Appointment Lifespans
Managing and Organizing Messages
Jazzing up GroupWise messages (using Bold and color)
About GroupWise "Out of Office" Replies (vacation auto-replies)
Viewing GroupWise Messages (HTML or Plain Text?)
Using GroupWise "Blind Copy" (BC)
When you send email to a group that is on campus, the TO part only shows the group name. But we have many part-time people who have email addresses at Yahoo or HP or Hotmail, etc.
When the email message leaves campus, the group name is expanded into a list of literally everyone's individual email address. So when someone off campus gets the email, they get several pages of "To:" addresses before they get to the message. Seeing all these email addresses becomes a privacy issue.
Email addresses or groups placed in the 'BC:' or Blind Copy field do not appear to anyone but the Sender (using BC: keeps email addresses private). Email addresses placed in the To: or CC: area appear to all recipients.
Using GroupWise "Categories"
This is another way to mark email that you need to go back to. When you right click on a message, there is a Categories item in the pull down menu. You can choose one of the predefined categories listed below or define your own category. The email item will change color so it is easier to find in your inbox. You can also Filter by category (see tech tip on filters) so you can see all the items marked for Follow-up for example.
The predefined categories are: Urgent, Low, Personal and Follow-up. Unfortunately, categories don't work in Web Access email.
Retracting Sent Messages
Some of us have a need to send notifications about campus events, office closures, or paid ads.
Please be diligent about going into your outbox and deleting the messages from ALL mailboxes when the event is over or the item has been given away.
Using the filter option (under View) is a really easy way to see your old messages that should go away. Just type PUBLIC or EVERYONE in the To: area, then click your Sent Items folder.
Using GroupWise "Filters"
Suppose you remember your boss sent you an email awhile back, but can't remember what it was about or how long ago you got it. Unless you are a neatnik who deletes their email as they read it, your inbox could have 120 days worth of messages.
You can find all the messages remaining in your inbox that your boss sent you using Filter. In Groupwise, notice the intersecting black and white circles at the top right of the menu bar. Click on them and choose Filter. A box will come up asking for From, To, Subject or Category. Fill in your boss' name in the From line and click OK. Suddenly, your inbox will only show the messages from your boss! Much easier to scan, even if you have to read every one. Hint: Use wildcards like *yahoo* to get all the messages from people with Yahoo.com email addresses or Mike* to get all the messages from the Mikes in your life.
You can apply the filter to other folders in your email by just clicking on another folder. Filtering by Subject is pretty self explanatory. The subject categories is covered in another tech tip. 'To:' is mostly for your sent items folder.
Hint: Don't use From filtering in your sent folder - by definition, the From is you so it isn't very helpful. 'To:' can find messages you sent to someone else, whether it is to them, a CC or BC.
Hint: Search for both their 'real' name, like Gail Wise, and for their email name if you tend to use it, like wiseg.
Notice that the filter circles icon has changed to green and yellow. That is a reminder that you need to click on it again and click Clear Filter to turn off your filter. If you forget, you won't see all your email.
Using GroupWise "Find"
Find is accessed from the Tools drop down menu or Ctrl F. You will get a dialog box that you can use to search for mail by who it is From or To and the Subject or Text. In that way, it is much like using Filter.
The advantage of Find is that it will look in all the folders you have at once instead of one at a time like Filter. Find also search tasks, notes and appointments and has a date range so you can really narrow in if you need to.
The other nice thing about Find is that it is available from the web access client. Just click on the magnifying glass on the side menu. That means that if you read your email from home or are a Mac user, you can use Find.
About GroupWise Fonts
Incoming Email fonts
Ever get an email that has the fonts really tiny? You can make it bigger!
- Type Ctrl-A to select all the text.
- F9 brings up the font menu.
- Chose a bigger size and
- click OK.
Presto, big type! A bonus is that if you print the message now, the bigger type is used on the printer too.
Unfortunately, the bigger font only stays until you close the message but it does help us with those pesky bifocals!
Outgoing Email Fonts
This font is the default Windows "Message Text" font. See "Changing GroupWise Fonts" on the Information Services online Help Desk for directions to change this.
Understanding Message and Appointment Lifespans
Did you know that your email messages automatically are trashed after 120 days? This is true, even if you have moved the message to a folder. Folders just organize your messages, they don't save messages forever.
To save a message electronically, you need to Archive it. To archive a message, click on Actions when the message is open and then choose Archive. The message will be saved in whatever folder the message is in, so you may want to put it in a folder first so it is easier to find later.
To read archived messages later, choose "Open Archive" from the File pull down menu on the main Groupwise screen. Only your archived messages will show. You must click "Open Archive" again to go back to your regular mailbox.
Email trash is automatically emptied 15 days after a message goes there.
Calendar entries are saved for 2 years.
Managing and Organizing Messages
First, did you know that you can delete messages without reading them? Just scan the list of messages waiting for you in the morning and highlight the ones you don't want before you even start reading them. (Do this one at a time or use the control-left click method to select several messages.) Then just press the Delete key on your keyboard.
The junk mail goes to your trash can before you even start reading the good stuff!
See "Creating GroupWise Folders" for further information about managing your messages.
Using GroupWise Notify
If you would rather not have GroupWise "Notify" bothering you whenever you get a new email, you can turn off notifications by going to Tools on the top menu and clicking on Options. Double click the Security icon and choose the Notify tab. Click on your name and then uncheck the Subscribe to Notifications box by clicking on the check mark.
Using a GroupWise Signature
You can easily add a signature to your email messages. It can be added to every message or you can be prompted whether to add it or not.
In GroupWise, choose Tools from the top menu. Click Options (at the bottom of the drop down menu), then the double click the Environment icon. Signature is the last tab. Should be self explanatory from there.
Here is an example:
**************************************************
Ann L. Adams, Director
Information Services
Linn-Benton Community College
6500 SW Pacific Blvd.
Albany, OR 97321
541/917-4357 541/917-4379(fax)
AdamsA@LinnBenton.edu
*************************************************
Jazzing up GroupWise messages
When you are composing an email, it is easy to jazz it up by using the formatting buttons at the top of the message box. You can either click on the button and have the format applied until you click it again OR highlight part of your message and then click the appropriate button to apply the "jazz".
Here is what the buttons do -
b will bold the text
u will underline the text
i will italicize the text
You can also change the font, font color (the button that looks like an artist's pallet) and size. This formatting is only viewable in HTML so you might want add a note at the beginning of the message like 'Best viewed in HTML'. Be aware that many people off-campus (including students) may use email readers that may not show HTML by default -- or at all; your text formatting will not be visible to them.
See "Viewing Email - HTML or Plain Text" for additional information.
Using GroupWise "Read Later"
When you open your email, you sometimes read a message that you can't act on immediately. Groupwise has a several features that you can use to help remind you to go back to the message later - like "Read Later" for instance:
From the web, you can just click a "Read Later" button while you are reading the message. From the regular email, use Ctrl-R or choose "Read Later" under Actions or by right-clicking the message. What this does is keep the message marked as unread. It will stay in bold in your inbox and when you open Groupwise the next time, it will be the first message your screen starts with.
About GroupWise "Out of Office" Replies (Vacation Auto-replies)
A vacation rule can automatically reply to email you receive while you are gone so that the sender knows you are out, when you'll be back or who to contact if they can't wait. Click "Creating a Vacation Rule" for a step by step guide on setting up a rule. You can set it up now and then just turn it on when you go on vacation. If you need help, call x4333 for assistance.
PS - don't forget to change your voice mail recording too. Click "Recording a Greeting" if you have forgotten how to record a new greeting.
Viewing GroupWise Messages (HTML or Plain Text?)
Sometimes you get an email that looks like one big run on sentence. Or you get a nice email with animation or pictures that you can't see. This is often because the email message contains HTML formatting and your GroupWise is currently viewing messages as plain text.*
Try clicking on the View menu item and change your view from Plain Text to HTML.
To make your default view HTML, click on the Tools item on the top menu. Click on Options, then double click Environment. Click on the Views Tab and check HTML at the bottom right.
*Be aware that many people off-campus (including students) may use email readers that may not show HTML by default -- or at all. They will also view HTML formatted email in a similar way as when GroupWise is set to view as "Plain Text".