|
||
|
|
|
|
Help Desk > Tutorials > My Allegheny |
 Printable Version
|
helpful help
Google provides a complete set of tutorials and help files online. Computing Services encourages community members to use the help link as the first place they look for general usage questions.
Stay Informed About Google Apps
Four Google sites to check for developments with Google Apps and other Google services.
Contact Us
Computing Services is always willing to help with your questions don't hesitate to contact us should you have questions.
Allegheny College is adopting Google Apps for Education to provide the college community with email, calendaring and online collaboration. We began the transition on May 26, 2009 when the students were transitioned. The tranisition will be completed January 1, 2010 when all services are hosted and maintained by Google.
Computing Services has found a few topics that require specific Allegheny information to effectively use parts of the Google Apps for Education suite. A frequently asked question list is being maintained to provide that information to the community.
Q - How do I get Google Apps for Education on my computer?
A - Google Apps for Education is a web-based suite of software that Google that includes email, calendar, documents, sites and contacts. As it is web-based there is nothing to install just open a web browser and head to http://my.allegheny.edu.
Q - How do I logon and check my email? -
A - Open your web browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, etc..) and surf to http://my.allegheny.edu which serves as the entry point into all of the web-based applications used by the college. On the MyAllegheny page click on the MyEmail button and enter your Allegheny username and password.
Q - What is my new email address?
A - We are using the same email address as you have always used at Allegheny College. Your colleagues, students, and friends will continue to be able to send you messages at <username>@allegheny.edu or firstname.lastname@allegheny.edu if you are an employee.
Q - How do I make it so that when I click on an email address in Firefox Google Apps Mail opens not Eudora or another email program?
A - There is a tweak you can make that will set Google Apps Mail as your default mail program. (View directions)
Q - How do I set up an out of the office response?
A - While logged into your email click the settings link. In the General Tab, scroll down to the Vacation Responder box and turn it on.
Q - Can we turn of the Web Clips advertisements?
A - Advertisements are turned off system wide. It should be known that web clips are not actually advertisements but headlines from rss feeds. The headlines rotate and are not limited to current news. Headlines continue to appear until they drop out of the RSS feed. Users can add/remove RSS feeds from the settings tab of mail.
Q - Do you need to include the @allegheny.edu after the username?
A - Yes you need to do this and there is not a known way to automatically append the @allegheny.edu.
Q - Can you send email using a shared email address such as a departmental account?
A - Yes, from the Acounts tab of Mail's Settings you can add additional accounts you have access to, thus allowing you to send messages from different accounts through your personal log on.
Q - How does gears work to provide mail and such offline but keep it synchronized?
A - It is synchronized whenever you are online; it is per browser however. More on Gears and Offline Gmail is available -
http://www.google.com/support/a/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=139154Q - Regular search box doesn't search headers.
A - Sure it does. One big change on Gmail search is that it only shows you twenty results at a time. It's a little surprising for folks used to searching Eudora and getting many more emails back very quickly, but the functionality is actually pretty similar. You can not sort your results like you did in Eudora, so you may have to refine your search further.
Q - I attached a file to my email, but I want to edit it again before sending. Gmail won't let me do this?A - Delete the attachment from the email, make your changes, and then re-attach the email. Attaching the email copies the document to Google. Changes made locally on your PC will not be reflected until you re-attach the email, copying the changed document to Google.
Q - I used to have different signatures for different recipients in Eudora. Can I set up multiple signatures in Google?
A - No, that feature is not available through GMail at this time.
Q - How do you sort message by author, date, or subject?
A - Gmail sorts messages by date and time, with the newest at the top. This can not be changed. Searching for an author or subject is the replacement for sorting.
Q - How do I mark a message I'm sending as high priority?
A - You can't. Gmail does not support priority setting by the sender. The recipient can "star" a message to make it stand out from other messages.
Q - How do you configure a mail client to POP your messages?
A - Computing Services believes the greatest advantages to Email through email are achieved when one uses the web interface through http://my.allegheny.edu. If one absolutely desires to configure an email client on their personal computer we should encourage them to choose to configure their client for IMAP as that synchronizes messages with the server. As this is not something we recommend or support the best we can do is direct the user to the IMAP configuration page that Google maintains at http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&ctx=mail&answer=75726.
Q - How do I set up an autoresponder?
A - Settings -> General -> Vacation Responder. The Gmail autoresponder is different from the old system in the following ways:
- Only autoresponds to a unique sender once in a four day period
- Works from the server, so your PC or email does not need to be running
- Can not be specifically filtered, but does not respond to messages already being filtered out of inbox (like mailing lists or spam). Also, can be set to only respond to contacts.
- There is a vacation reminder bar across your Gmail screen to remind you that the responder is running.
- When you change your vacation message, the responder is automatically set to turn on. If you are just setting up the responder, but not turning it on, be sure to check this setting before saving. There is a labs feature that allows you to set start and end dates for the vacation responder. I haven't tried it, just letting you know it's there.
Q - Can I still use my off-site AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) contacts or connect to people at Allegheny who still use AIM through Google?
A - Yes! Under Settings -> Chat, you can enter your AIM username and password. Your AIM contacts will appear with your Google chat contacts.
Q - Will everyone at Allegheny have access to me through chat?
A - By default yes but you can alter your settings to allow only specific people to be able to chat with you. When in your mail click the settings link and switch to the Chat tab to see the options available to you. Note: If you plan on not using chat you can turn this feature off by clicking the turn off chat link which is at the very bottom of your mail page.
Q - Can I import my meetings from Meeting Maker into my Google Calendar?
A - Yes, just follow these steps.
- Sign in to Meeting Maker and from the File menu select "Export as ICalendar by Date..."
- A window will open where you will be prompted to enter a starting and an ending date. Enter the dates that make sense for you.
- The last choice of this window is for you to decide if you want the information as a single file or as multiple files. We recommend a single file so you only have to import once.
- Save that file to your desktop.
- Go back to your Google Calendar and click on the Settings link. In the Calendars tab look for the Import calendar link and follow the steps as you are prompted.
Q - When I go to share my calendar it asks for an email address. Which email address should I use to share with an Allegheny professor, administrator or staff member?
A - You will need to use the username email address not the fullname email address. If you start typing the person's name that you would like to have your calendar, Google Apps will provide you the appropriate email address through contact sharing.
Q - Can the default times in the pull down menu be smaller than the 30 minute increments?
A - You can type in the specific times for the meeting but the pull down menus use half hour increments as they are the most popular. There is not a way to change the default increments.
Q - Is it possible to preconfigure calendars to be shared with certain people or certain functional groups?
A - No, users are the only ones able to share access to a calendar.
Q - If I am a full collaborator for a calendar and I make changes to event notifications, do those notifications get applied to everybody's calendar or just mine?
A - Notifications are per user so the changes to notifications are only applied to your calendar.
Q - Is there a way to create a todo item from the calendar screen.A - Tasks are now able to be created in the calendar much the same way that you would create an event. Tasks created through mail that have dates associated with them will be shown on the calendar according to a Google Apps feature release statement.
Q -Can a Google Doc be closed without saving the changes?
A -Simply closing the window will not save the most recent changes, but since Google Docs auto-saves the only option is to roll back to a prior revision.
Q -Is it possible to edit a google doc through a mobile browser?
A -This is not possible at this time.
Q -Can Google Docs handle multiple people editing the document simultaneously?
A -Google Docs will update the document when saved, either automatically or when save button is clicked. In testing both edits were saved and viewed by the other editor. Does not show real-time typing of another editor. Also show the other active editors in the lower right hand corner of window.
Q -Can you copy and paste from Google Spreadsheet?
A -You can't copy/paste using the mouse or edit menu, but you can using ctrl c, ctrl v, or ctrl x.
Q: How can I import my contacts from Eudora into Google Apps?
A: First you'll have to export your address book from Eudora. With your address book open in Eudora, click 'File' -> 'Save As...' and under the dropdown menu for 'Save As Type:' select the .CSV file type. Create a file name and choose a save location (where ever it will be easiest for you to find, e.g. My Documents). Click the save button.
Now to import, log into your Google Apps account and go to the Contacts page by clicking the 'Contacts' link in the upper left hand corner of the Google Apps interface. On the upper right hand side of the Contacts page you will see a link that says 'Import'. Click it. On the next page click the 'Browse' button and locate the .CSV file you just created from Eudora. Click the 'Open' button in the file browser and then click the 'Import' button on the Google Contacts page. Note the checkbox option that reads "Also add these imported contacts to:". When checked this option will allow you to automatically import the contacts in your .CSV file to a new Google Contacts group or any contacts group that you have already created. If you do not check this box then the contacts will be added into your general 'My Contacts' and 'All Contacts' lists.