Quick tips to using cc:Mail General understanding of the working of cc:Mail at S.K.Group of companies: Whenever you login to the computers, you are basically logging onto a network operating system [OS], which happens to be Netware 3.12. The functions of such a networking OS are various. It has to offer security such as preventing unauthorised access to any of your data which it secures through username-password combinations. YOUR PASSWORD is the key to your account on these types of networking OS. To summarise, netware security is very strong and hardly any body has been able to penetrate such a system. cc:Mail also has a username-password combination to prevent unauthorised access to your mail-boxes. But since we have already installed a very secure network OS, we can have a workaround so as to make things easier and users do not have to logon to two different systems each time they login to computers. Efforts have been taken to ensure that users do not face the perils of logging in twice, i.e. once into netware, and secondly into cc:Mail. The user has to only logon to netware with his/her correct password and logging into cc:Mail is taken care of automatically. Rest assured that this system is very secure and no body other than you can read your mail, unless the other person has your netware password. In the normal operation, after you login to the computers, you can access the cc:Mail by pressing the ALT + 2 key combination. After cc:Mail is open, you can use all the features as per your requirement. All your current applications are compatible to this softwarewhich means that, while working in Wordstar, you can be intimated about the arrival of new mail, enabling you to switch over to cc:Mail and replying to any such new mail. In case of misfunction, your ALT + 2 Key combination might not work. In this case, you can kick start cc:Mail by typeing "tmail" at the command prompt, i.e. "f:\>" or "g:\>". In case of some problem like programs taking too long to operate or hanging problems, you can also use "email" at the command prompt.-- using this command, "email" only lets you use cc:Mail for that particular session.. which means, once you exit outof cc:Mail , you cannot read mail unless you use "tmail" or "email" again. These functions are only valid as far as you are using DOS and not using WINDOWS. In case of any further problems,you can leave mail for the system adminstrator, who can look into the matter and coordinate with engineers to set right those problems. You can also send mail to "PCT AT SKE-HO". The following pages give you more indepth knowledge about cc:Mail functions. CC: Mail Terminologies The following are most commonly used cc: Mail terminologies: Messages : The basis unit of exchange in the cc:Mail system is the message. A cc:mail is like a mail envelope that can contain a number of different forms of paper communication a cover letter, a form, a picture etc.. In cc: Mail, the contents of a message are called Message items. Inbox : Just as with paper mail, messages that come in for you are contained in an Inbox. Post Office and Administrator : Your paper mail goes into and out of post offices. Similarly, you can connect with others in your organization through a cc:Mail Post Office. The postmasters functions of paper mail are performed in cc:Mail by the administrator, who manages the use of the cc:Mail post office. Directory and Mail Lists : Director lists all the people and the post offices you exchange mail with. cc:Mail also has public and private mailing lists so that you can send message to groups of people such as "Sales Managers". Folders : You probably file away much of the paper mail you receive and copies of the mail you send. cc:Mail too has folders for storing messages. Bulletin boards : Bulletin boards allow all cc:Mail users to send and receive public messages conveniently on designated topics. All mail users may send messages to bulletin boards defined by the Administrator and these message are immediately to all mail users. In cc:Mail, the symbol "#" immediately preceding the titles of bulletin boards differentiates them from folders. Menus : cc:Mail is a menu-based system. At each point in the program you are given a list of options. By making selections you proceed through task such as preparing and sending message. Notify feature : If you would like to be automatically notified when new messages arrive, the Notify feature will provides that capability. This feature puts a small window showing new message heading on your screen and sounds a doorbell tone to alert you. Message Items : Message Items are building blocks of cc:Mail messages, cc:Mail uses four types of message items. Messages may in fact contain upto twnety items in any combination of text, graphics, files or facsimile items. Text item : upto 20,000 characters Graphics item : one full graphics screen DOS File item : Any length Facsimile item : One page of message This chapter thus defines cc:Mail basics and terminologies which will keep occurring throughout the rest of this guide. Any reference of these terms in following chapters pre-supposes the fact that you have read this chapter. Receiving Mail and Managing the Inbox. When you start cc:Mail, you will be able to tell immediately whether you have received any messages by looking under the "New" column next to tyhe "Msgs" column on the Menu screen. You may have new messages in your Inbox and /or new bulletin board messages. When you are confronted on the screen with a menu, you have two options for performing actions of your choice. You can select the required option by highlighting the item on the Menu and pressing the "ENTER" key. You could also type the power user key for the option, in this case "R". When you exercise the option of "Read inbox messages", a one-line description of each message in you Inbox appears on the screen. New messages appear in bold faced type while previously read messages appear in regular type. The first level of help on how to proceed from hereon is available on your status line which gives you a set of keystrokes that allow you to perform tasks on the messages that you may want to act on. Reading a Message : Move the highlight bar to the message you wish to read and select it by pressing "ENTER". After reading the Message press "ENTER". Your screen now has an action Menu. You will need to select one of the options to perform any action on the Inbox message that you have received. In case, you need to clear the screen and delete the message go through the following steps : Select "Delete message" from the lower right hand corner of the Action Menu. You will be asked : "Are you sure you wish to delete the message ?" Type Y for Yes. The message headings list of the Inbox will reappear on the screen. If you do not whish to read any more of your new messages, press "Esc" to return to the Main Menu. Preparing and Sending Messages This chapter deals with preparing and send a simple text-only electronic mail message. From the Main menu select "Prepare new message" by highlighting the option and pressing the "ENTER" key or by typing the power user key P. Select "Address to person" from the Address Menu. User the cursor keys to move the highlight to the name of your choice and press "ENTER". Alternatively, beng to type the last name which will cause the highlight to jump to that name and press "ENTER". The name will appear after the word "To:" is the message heading on top of the screen. Repeat Step 2 if you wish to add additional addressees. Press "ENTER" a second time or "Esc" to clear the mail directory and the Address Menu will return. Setting Message Priorities : cc:Mail lets you set priorities for each message you prepare. You may send urgent, normal, or low priority messages. Urgent messages are treated as urgent after they have arrived at the addressee's post office, as well as within your post offices and between port offices, and are sent to the addressee first. Low priority is useful, if you are sending as long message and several short once at the same time. Set low priority for the long message so that it is trannsmitted last without holding up the short messages. You need not set a priority for a normal message. However, if you wish to send an urgent or a low priority message : Select "set Priority level" from the Address menu. The "Enter Priority level" screen appears. Type U, N or L for the desired priority level and press "ENTER". If the message has an urgent or a low priority, a U or L appears at the left end of the message summery line in the recipient's Inbox message directory. Similarly, and incoming urgent or low priority messages display these priority codes in your Inbox message directory. End Addressing : You can also send copies, either to individuals or to mailing lists, or perform a number of other actions while the Address Menu is displayed. However, when you are finished selecting the options you want, select "eNd addressing" from the Address menu. You will now be prompted for a subject for your message. Entering a Subject for the message : Simply begin typing. cc:Mail's in built word processor does most word processing functions. Type anything you like, upto 60 characters in length, then press the "ENTER". The cursor will move below the dashed line under the subject prompting input. You are now ready to begin composing the message. Typing the Message Content : Begin typing the message. If you want to view all of the word processor functions, press F1 for Help and Esc to clear the help screen when you are finished. When you are finished typing, press F10. The complete message heading and the Send Menu appears on your screen. Attachments and Folders  Attaching Text Items to a Text Message : Prepare a text message, end with F10. The Send Menu appears. Press T ("attach Text items"). Begin typing additional text item. Press F10 when finished typing. Press S ("Send Message"). Attaching a Graphics Image to a Text Message : Prepare a text message, end with F10. The Send Menu appears. Press G. The cc:Mail graphics editor appears. Prepare a new graphics item. Press F10. Enter item title when prompted. Press F10. Press S ("Send message") or attach additional items. Attaching a DOS file to a Text Message : 1. Prepare text message, end with F10. 2. Press F ("attach copy of dos File"). 3. Highlight drive:directory\filename, press ENTER. 4. Press S ("Send message"). 5. Repeat step 3 to attach more files. Creating a New Folder : A folder is an entity that consists of mails that contain both outgoing and incoming mails that you would like to store for future reference. 1. From the Main Menu select ("Manager Mailbox"). 2. Press F ("Manage Folders"). 3. Type title for folder and press ENTER. 4. Repeat step 2 for additional folders. 5. Press Esc (to end adding folders). 6. Press R ("Return to main menu"). Creating a Mailing List : A Mailing list is an entity consisting of one or more members of the mailing directory. A mailing list normally can be specified to address a homogeneous set of users within an organization like a department for instance. There could be two types of mailing lists. Public mailing lists are created by the administrator for every user in the directory to use. A Private mailing list on the other hand can be created by any user for his own access. A private mailing list created by a user is not accessible to other members of the mail directory. 1. Press M ("Manage mailbox"). 2. Press M ("manage Mailing lists"). 3. Type title for mailing list and press ENTER. 4. Highlight name to be added, press ENTER. 5. Repeat step 4 to build mailing list. 6. Press Esc (to end adding names). 7. Press Esc (to end adding mailing lists). 8. Press R ("Return to main menu"). Replying, Forwarding and Printing Messages : These miscellaneous message functions allow manipulations of the cc:Mail messages without getting back to the Main menu and novigating through the series of menus that are normally required. Replying to a message : 1. From the Main menu select ("Read inbox messages"). 2. Select the message you want to reply to by highlighting the choice and pressing "ENTER". 3. Press down cursor key (to move the cursor beneath the existing text). 4. Type your response (use AltF1 to change the highlighter). 5. Press F10 to end editing. 6. Press Y ("reply to the sender"). 7. Press N ("eNd addressing"). 8. Press S ("Send message"). Forwarding a Message : 1. From the Main Menu select ("Read inbox messages"). 2. Select the message you want to reply to by highlighting the choice and pressing "ENTER". 3. Press ENTER (to view each message item and/or end reading). 4. Press F ("Forward message"). 5. Address message to the person you want to forward to. 6. Press N ("eNd addressing"). 7. Press S ("Send message"). Printing a Message Item : 1. From the Main menu select ("Read inbox messages"). 2. Select the message you want to reply to by highlighting the choice and pressing "ENTER". 3. If desired press F5 and F6 to mark a block of text. 4. Press F8 to print text item, block of text, graphics item or facsimile item. Moving a message to a Folder : 1. From the Main menu select ("Read inbox messages"). 2. Select the message you want to reply to by highlighting the choice and pressing "ENTER". 3. Press ENTER (to view each message item and/or end reading). 4. Press M ("Move to folder"). 5. Move highlighter to folder name, press ENTER; or type new folder name, press ENTER. Finally some helpful tips to manage your mail-box. Do Not keep messages in your inbox so as to avoid clutter and confusion. Move important messages to specially made folders for future referance. Create folders if required. After creation of folders, typically people tend to forget what they have saved and this unnecessarily wasted precious hard disk space on the servers.. make it a point to clean up your folders/message logs/inbox. Every month first week, system cleanup is going to be performed. In which all messages which are not in any folders and lying around in inboxes, message logs, and more than 15 days old, will be automatically deleted. So better start maintaining your mail-boxes so as to preserve any important messages.