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Introduction to GroupWise

Groupwise provides a method for exchanging notes and computer files between people using NC State's network or the Internet. Individual messages can be read, printed, forwarded, or deleted. GroupWise also includes modules for tracking appointments, calendars, and notes.

When you exchange mail using GroupWise, you will be sending envelopes back and forth. Every envelope contains a message (the note you want to send). Envelopes may also contain files, such as Word documents or Excel spreadsheets. As your incoming mail accumulates, you may want to organize the envelopes into folders. For example, you may want to place all envelopes relating to a particular course you are taking into one folder. You may want to place personal notes into another folder. You may create as many folders as you wish.

GroupWise 6 for Windows 2000

The view of GroupWise 6 above shows the menu and toolbar as well as the Folders (in the Left hand window) and the list of mail that is in the Mailbox.

Folders

Mailbox Displays any messages that you receive (IN BOX)
Sent Items Contains the messages you sent (OUT BOX)
Calendar Displays your calendar
Task List Displays your tasks
Work in Progress This folder is used to hold messages that you have not finished and are not ready to be sent. You can retrieve them at a later time, finish the messages, and send them.
Cabinet This is where you create other folders that you use to organize your mail system.
Trash The trash folder contains the messages that you have deleted.

Help

Help is available within GroupWise by clicking on the "help" section of the menu bar. General help about performing tasks (sending mail, saving a file, deleting mail) can be found under the "How do I..." section of help. Specific help on an GroupWise command can be found under the "Index" section of help. GroupWise provides many "desktop views," and lets you create your own customized view. To see some of the default views, select the "Views" option on the tool bar.

Reading your mail

With the Mailbox folder on the left frame of the window highlighted, the messages you have received are displayed in the right hand frame. Double click on the message that you want to read and it will open.

Work in Progress

If you are writing a message to send and are interrupted so that you can not finish the message and you do not want to lose it, you can save it to Work in Progress and finish it at a later time. To save a message while you are in the send message dialog box select File on the menu bar. Then select Save a Draft and when it asks where you want to save the message, choose Work in Progress folder.

When you want to finish the message, choose Work In Progress folder and double click on the message. The message will open and you can finish and send it.

Sending messages

To send a message use the send button on the tools bar or Ctrl+M. The send mail dialog box will open

To:
Type in the name for the person who is to receive the mail. You may send the same message to multiple people by typing their name's. If you do not know the person's login id, you can use the "Address..." option to find the login id. Use of the "Address..." option is explained in the next section of this User Guide. To send e-mail to someone off campus just enter the complete address, for example janes@alpha.umich.edu.
CC:
Enter the login id(s) for anyone who is to receive a carbon copy of this message. All recipients of the message will see the login id's of the "To:" recipients and the "CC:" recipients.
BC:
Enter the login id(s) for anyone who is to receive a blind copy of this message. Only the person receiving the blind copy will know that it was sent; other recipients do not see the login id's of the "BC:" recipients.
Subject:
Enter a subject for the message. The subject should be descriptive of the actual message. Also, each message should be limited to a single subject.
Message:
Enter the message you want to send.
Attachments:
If you wish to "enclose in your envelope" a file or multiple files, you can enter their names here. If you don't remember the file names choose the Attach button and select the files you want to send.
Address:
This option is used to bring up a "pick list" of login id's. Use of the "Address" screen is explained in the next section of this User Guide.
Send:
Clicking on "Send" will actually send the message.
Cancel:
Clicking on "Cancel" will cancel the sending of this message and return you to the main GroupWise screen.

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Addressing mail

When sending a message, you can hand-type the login id of the recipient, last name or you can use the "Address" feature to search for the login id.

Groupwise Address Book

To use the "Address" feature, click on "Name Search" and then begin typing the recipient's last name. As you type the name, the window will zoom-in to the appropriate section of the alphabet. Once the recipient's name is in view, highlight the name and then click on the appropriate box ("Add To", "Add CC", or "Add BC"). The highlighted name will be transferred to the appropriate window. When you have selected all of the recipients, click on "OK".

People on the Internet who want to send e-mail to you will need your Internet address. Your Internet e-mail address is composed of your login id and "@ncstatecollege.edu". Here are some examples:

Novell login id Internet address
BMCCORMA BMCCORMA@ncstatecollege.edu
MRODRIGUEZ MRODRIGUEZ@ncstatecollege.edu

Reading and printing messages

Mail messages can be read by clicking on the message entry of the "in-box" window. Once you have read a message, you can take one of several actions:

Action

Explanation

Delete

Get rid of your copy of the message.

Forward

Send a copy of the message to someone else.

Move to a folder

Organize your mail messages into folders, just like you might store paper mail in actual file folders.

Print

Print a copy of the message you have just read. MAKE SURE THAT YOU HAVE CONFIGURED YOUR PRINTER PROPERLY! It is best to print enclosures by saving them as disk files and then using software like WordPerfect or Word to do the actual printing.

Reply

Send a message back to the sender of the message you have just read. The "To:" line and the "Subject:" line will be filled in automatically.

Save

Save a copy of the message or attached file as a disk file. You can save the file to your local computer (drives A: or C:), or to your network drive (drive H:).

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Sending and receiving files

Besides sending a regular message, you can include files (spreadsheets, documents, graphics, etc.) with your message. These files are "inserted into the envelope along with the message" just like you would enclose various items in a physical envelope.

To send files Windows users can send attachments by clicking on the "Attachments" icon.

In general, attachments should be saved to disk and then processed in the appropriate software (MS Word, Ms Excel, etc.). Attempts to print attachments directly from GroupWise may not be successful!

If you are sending attached files to someone on the Internet, you will get the best results if you send ASCII (plain-text) files rather than Word files or some other non-text files. (For the technical people who want to know why: The GroupWise mailer will change non-ASCII files into MIME documents. The recipient will need a MIME-compatible reader to retrieve the files.)

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Using groups

If you need to send mail to the same group of people frequently, you might want to create a "personal group." Once the group is created, you can send mail to the entire group by typing the group name on the "To:" line.

You can create groups in the Address Book by choosing the names to include in the group and then choosing the "Save as Group" icon at the lower right corner of the Address book. You can then name the group and choose where the group is to be saved. The best place for personal groups is in your private address folder.

A special caution regarding groups...

It is very rude to generate an unsolicited mail message to a large group (this is junk e-mail!). Groups should be formed for specific purposes, such as a class project or committee. Do not use e-mail as a bulletin board. If you have thoughts that you want to share with a large group of people, please use the news groups and bulletin board (BBS) programs provided on the network (described in the chapter 8 of this User Guide).

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About the "out" box

GroupWise places a copy of each message you send in your Sent Folder. You can get information about your message (date and time sent, date and time read, server path, etc.) by highlighting the message in your Sent Folder and pressing "enter".

You should periodically go through your out box and delete old messages. This will save file storage space for you and make the entire mail system run more efficiently. One easy way to keep your out box clean is to use the GroupWise setup options by choosing Tools, Options and Send to set automatic expiration of your out-going messages. All messages are deleted after 90 days.

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