Chapter 14. Best Practices

Table of Contents

Frequently Asked Questions
14.1 General questions
Q: Where can I find my personal data and settings?
Q: How can I change my password?
Q: Why can particular buttons or input fields not be found?
Q: How am I notified of new email messages or appointment invitations?
Q: How can I read current messages from social networks or news pages?
14.2 Questions about Email Messages and contacts
Q: How can I send an email to multiple addresses at once?
Q: What is the purpose of the input fields Copy to... and Blind copy to...?
Q: I regularly send email messages with identical or similar content. How can I speed up this process?
Q: Can I e.g.: access email messages sent to my Google Mail account?
Q: How can I automatically forward email messages to my replacement?
Q: How to keep an overview of my Email account inboxes??
Q: How can I use the conditions in email filter rules?
Q: How can I use the contacts from my social networks?
14.3 Questions about tasks, calendars, and appointments
Q: When should I use a task and when should I use an appointment?
Q: How can I create a task from an email?
Q: How can I organise another person's appointments as their representative?
Q: How do I use the availability function, e.g.: Free, Busy, Absent etc?
Q: How do I use the calendar or tasks recurrence settings?
Q: How to find free time periods when creating appointments?
14.4 Questions about data organisation and team work
Q: How can I make certain contacts available to my external partners?
Q: How can I share specific documents with my external partners?
Q: I want to share a folder with other users. Which permissions do I have to set?
14.1 General questions
Q: Where can I find my personal data and settings?
Q: How can I change my password?
Q: Why can particular buttons or input fields not be found?
Q: How am I notified of new email messages or appointment invitations?
Q: How can I read current messages from social networks or news pages?
14.2 Questions about Email Messages and contacts
Q: How can I send an email to multiple addresses at once?
Q: What is the purpose of the input fields Copy to... and Blind copy to...?
Q: I regularly send email messages with identical or similar content. How can I speed up this process?
Q: Can I e.g.: access email messages sent to my Google Mail account?
Q: How can I automatically forward email messages to my replacement?
Q: How to keep an overview of my Email account inboxes??
Q: How can I use the conditions in email filter rules?
Q: How can I use the contacts from my social networks?
14.3 Questions about tasks, calendars, and appointments
Q: When should I use a task and when should I use an appointment?
Q: How can I create a task from an email?
Q: How can I organise another person's appointments as their representative?
Q: How do I use the availability function, e.g.: Free, Busy, Absent etc?
Q: How do I use the calendar or tasks recurrence settings?
Q: How to find free time periods when creating appointments?
14.4 Questions about data organisation and team work
Q: How can I make certain contacts available to my external partners?
Q: How can I share specific documents with my external partners?
Q: I want to share a folder with other users. Which permissions do I have to set?

14.1. General questions

Q: Where can I find my personal data and settings?
Q: How can I change my password?
Q: Why can particular buttons or input fields not be found?
Q: How am I notified of new email messages or appointment invitations?
Q: How can I read current messages from social networks or news pages?

Q:

Where can I find my personal data and settings?

A:

You can customise the following data and settings:

Q:

How can I change my password?

A:

In order to change your password, click on My password in the User data square in the Portal app. Learn more from these instructions.

Q:

Why can particular buttons or input fields not be found?

A:

If certain buttons or input fields are not visible it can be due to the following reasons:

  • A function is not available in the current context.

  • To keep the user interface as clean as possible, rarely used control elements are not displayed. In this case, a button called More is displayed. To view all functions, click on this button.

Q:

How am I notified of new email messages or appointment invitations?

A:

If there are new email messages or appointment notifications, the Unread Badge icon to the right side of the menu bar shows the number of new objects. Click the icon to open the Notification Area. It contains information about the new objects. From there you can also directly activate functions, e.g.: read a new email or confirm a new appointment. More information can be found in The User Interface.

Q:

How can I read current messages from social networks or news pages?

A:

In the Portal app you can read current messages from your social networks or from news pages or view photos of specific web pages by adding squares with news widgets.

14.2. Questions about Email Messages and contacts

Q: How can I send an email to multiple addresses at once?
Q: What is the purpose of the input fields Copy to... and Blind copy to...?
Q: I regularly send email messages with identical or similar content. How can I speed up this process?
Q: Can I e.g.: access email messages sent to my Google Mail account?
Q: How can I automatically forward email messages to my replacement?
Q: How to keep an overview of my Email account inboxes??
Q: How can I use the conditions in email filter rules?
Q: How can I use the contacts from my social networks?

Q:

How can I send an email to multiple addresses at once?

A:

To send an email to multiple recipients at once, you can choose from the following options:

  • Enter all recipients in the input fields To..., Copy to... or Blind copy to.... Use the auto-complete function to more easily enter the addresses. This FAQ list provides an explanation of the differences between the input fields.

  • If you regularly send email messages to the same group of people, create a distribution list in the Address Book app and add the email addresses to the distribution list. Information can be found in Creating Distribution Lists.

Q:

What is the purpose of the input fields Copy to... and Blind copy to...?

A:

Recipients entered in the input fields To... or Copy to... can be viewed by all other recipients entered in the input fields To... or Copy to.... Recipients entered in the input field Blind copy to... cannot be viewed by other recipients entered in the input fields To..., Copy to... or Blind copy to.... In practice, this means:

  • If you send an email to a team and every recipient should be able to see who else receives the email, enter the recipients in the input fields To... or Copy to...

  • If you send an email to recipients who should not see the names of the other recipients, enter the recipients in the input field Blind copy to....

Q:

I regularly send email messages with identical or similar content. How can I speed up this process?

A:

Make use of the ability to save email messages as drafts. Information can be found in Working with email drafts.

Q:

Can I e.g.: access email messages sent to my Google Mail account?

A:

For many email service providers you can set up external email accounts, e.g.: for Google Mail. You only need your account data for the respective provider. As soon as you set up the external email account you have access to the email messages from within the folder tree. Information can be found in E-Mail Accounts.

Q:

How can I automatically forward email messages to my replacement?

A:

Enable the function Auto Forward in the settings. Information can be found in Automatically forwarding email messages.

Q:

How to keep an overview of my Email account inboxes??

A:

Use Unified Mail to display the inboxes of multiple email accounts in a central folder. Information can be found in Using Unified Mail.

Q:

How can I use the conditions in email filter rules?

A:

You can create a condition by

  • selecting an email component, e.g. "Subject";

  • selecting a criterion, e.g. "Is exactly";

  • entering an argument, e.g. "protocol".

In this case it would be verified whether the subject of an email exactly matches the argument's characters ("protocol"). You can control if the condition is met with the criterion and the character string. The differences between the individual criteria will be explained in the examples below. In the examples, the subject is used for filtering email messages.

  • Criterion: "contains" The condition is met if the subject contains the characters in the argument. Example: The argument is "protocol".

    • The condition is met for the subject "protocol".

    • The condition is also met for the subject "meeting protocol".

  • Criterion: "is exactly" The condition is met if the subject exactly matches the argument's character string. Example: The argument is "protocol".

    • The condition is met for the subject "protocol".

    • The condition is not met for the subject "meeting protocol".

  • Criterion: "Matches" The condition is met if the subject exactly matches the characters in the argument. The character string can contain wildcards. Example: The argument is "protocol*". The "*" character is a wildcard for any characters.

    • The condition is met for the subject "protocol update".

    • The condition is not met for the subject "meeting protocol".

  • Criterion: "Regex" The condition is met if the subject contains the characters provided by the regular expression in the argument. Regular expressions allow complex requests. More information can be found on respective sites on the Internet. The following very simple regular expression should give an insight to the topic. Example: The argument is "organi(z|s)ation". The expression "(z|s)" stands for either the "z" or the "s" character.

    • The condition is met for the subject "organization".

    • The condition is also met for the subject "organisation".

    • The condition is not met for the subject "Organic".

Q:

How can I use the contacts from my social networks?

A:

You can use the contacts from your social networks like Facebook, LinkedIn or Xing by subscribing to the contacts. Information can be found in Subscribing to data.

14.3. Questions about tasks, calendars, and appointments

Q: When should I use a task and when should I use an appointment?
Q: How can I create a task from an email?
Q: How can I organise another person's appointments as their representative?
Q: How do I use the availability function, e.g.: Free, Busy, Absent etc?
Q: How do I use the calendar or tasks recurrence settings?
Q: How to find free time periods when creating appointments?

Q:

When should I use a task and when should I use an appointment?

A:

Whether it is best to use an appointment or a task can be determined based on the following criteria:

  • An appointment takes place at a defined point in time. If you need to execute an action at a defined point in time, create an appointment for this action.

  • A task has a due date and sometimes a priority. If you are flexible regarding the time schedule of an action and only have to respect the due date, enter a task for this action.

Q:

How can I create a task from an email?

A:

Use the Reminder function in the display area of the E-Mail app. More information can be found in Enabling an email reminder.

Q:

How can I organise another person's appointments as their representative?

A:

Ask the other person to share a calendar folder with write permissions. Then enter this person's appointments in the shared folder. The other person will be displayed as the organiser of the appointments.

Q:

How do I use the availability function, e.g.: Free, Busy, Absent etc?

A:

If you want to avoid conflicts when creating appointments, use the availability Free. All other availabilities cause conflict messages for overlapping appointments.

Q:

How do I use the calendar or tasks recurrence settings?

A:

Example 1: An appointment or a task should take place every second day. It should start on 07-01-2013 and should take place five times.

  • Starts on 07-01-2013

  • Daily

  • The event is repeated every 2 days.

  • The series ends after 5 appointments or tasks.

A:

Example 2: An appointment or a task should take place every Tuesday and Friday. It should start on 08-01-2013.

  • Starts on 08-01-2013

  • Weekly

  • The event is repeated every week on Tuesday and Friday.

  • The series never ends.

A:

Example 3: An appointment or a task should take place every second Wednesday. It should start on 09-01-2013. The last appointment should be on 27-03-2013.

  • Starts on 09-01-2013

  • Weekly

  • The event is repeated every 2 weeks on Wednesday.

  • The series ends on 27-03-2013.

A:

Example 4: An appointment or a task should take place on the first Monday of a month. It should start on 04-02-2013. The event should take place twelve times.

  • Starts on 04-02-2013

  • Monthly

  • The event is repeated on the first Monday of each month.

  • The series ends after 12 appointments.

A:

Example 5: An appointment or a task should take place each year on the last Friday in November. It should start on 29-11-2013.

  • Starts on 29-11-2013

  • Yearly

  • The event is repeated every last Friday in November.

  • The series never ends.

Q:

How to find free time periods when creating appointments?

A:

Click on Find a free time period when creating an appointment or click the Scheduling icon in the tool bar. Information can be found in Scheduling appointments with several participants.

14.4. Questions about data organisation and team work

Q: How can I make certain contacts available to my external partners?
Q: How can I share specific documents with my external partners?
Q: I want to share a folder with other users. Which permissions do I have to set?

Q:

How can I make certain contacts available to my external partners?

A:

You can also give external partners access to your groupware address book contacts or to your social network contacts (e.g.: LinkedIn). To do this proceed as follows:

  1. Add contacts from your social networks to an address book.

  2. Create a new contacts folder. Copy all contacts that you want to share from your address books to this contact folder.

  3. Publish this contacts folder. Information can be found in Publishing data.

Q:

How can I share specific documents with my external partners?

A:

You can share the contents of document folders with external partners. You can proceed as follows:

  1. In the Drive app, you can collect the documents in a separate folder.

  2. Publish this folder. Information can be found in Publishing data.

Q:

I want to share a folder with other users. Which permissions do I have to set?

A:

Example 1: A user should be allowed to see the objects in a folder, but should not be allowed to modify or delete them. The user should not be allowed to create new objects. Settings:

  • Folder permission: new folder

  • Object permissions: read all objects, no edit permissions, no delete permissions

  • Administrative rights: No

A:

Example 2: A user should be allowed to see the objects in a folder, but should not be allowed to modify or delete them. The user should be allowed to create and edit objects.

  • Folder permissions: new folder

  • Object permissions: read all objects, no edit permissions, no delete permissions

  • Administrative rights: No

A:

Example 3: A user should not be allowed to see the objects in a folder. The user should be allowed to create and edit new objects though.

  • Folder permission: create objects

  • Object permissions: read own objects, edit own objects, delete own objects

  • Administrative rights: No

A:

Example 4: A user should be allowed to see and edit all objects. The user should be allowed to create and edit subfolders and own objects.

  • Folder permissions: create objects and subfolders

  • Object permissions: read all objects, edit all objects, delete all objects

  • Administrative rights: No

A:

Example 5: A user should have all permissions. The user should be allowed to grant permissions to other users.

  • Folder permissions: create objects and subfolders

  • Object permissions: read all objects, edit all objects, delete all objects

  • Administrative rights: Yes