CSUB E-Mail

FirstClass Version 6.0

CSUB faculty and students working with faculty have can have access to the electronic mail and collaboration system, which has been in use by the CSUB University faculty and staff since early 1996. It is the FirstClass System from Centrinity, Inc., which features an intuitive interface and uses many of the same techniques found in the Macintosh Finder and Microsoft Windows operating systems. It's friendly interface shields the user from the intricacies of transfer protocols, initialization strings, and other technical aspects which have traditionally made telecommunications difficult for new users.

The current FirstClass System (Version 6.0) is available as separate programs for the Apple Macintosh and Microsoft Windows operating systems.
 

NOTE: First Class is a great email program but the current version has a major deficiency.  There is no adequate filtering system so you are likely to recieve lots of spam and some significant virisus.  I suggest that you do not open any attachments that are not from a someone you know and expect to send an attachment. Especially, do not open attachments that are from an unknown source and have no message , just an attachment.

All CSUB faculty have a First  account automatically assigned.  To verify your account and password call Tem Moore at 2209. Currently registered CSUB students working with faculty will be eligible for e-mail accounts under the FirstClass System. In order for students to get a FirstClass e-mail account, the faculty supervisor should send an email  request to Tem at tmoore@csub.edu and include the students ID.

In order to access your FirstClass e-mail account while you are on campus, you will need a computer which is connected to the University's communications network. For faculty this is your office computer.  If FirstClass is not installed call 2307. For most students the logical location is the main student computer laboratory, Room 1 on the ground floor of the Stiern Library. All stations in the several instructional computer laboratories, as well as the computers in faculty and staff offices are networked and usually have FirstClass installed.

There are three places in which you may find FirstClass on a campus networked computer:

1. Double-click on the FirstClass icon if it is on the computer's desktop
2. (CSUB Labs) Double click the Communications folder, Double click the FirstClass icon 
3. Click the Start Button on the computer's desktop > Drag your pointer over the Communications folder > place your cursor over to the FirstClass icon  and click on it twice.
3. If the above is not possible. click on the computer's hard drive fold My Computer > Double-click on Program Files > Double Click on CSUB FirstClass > Double-click on the FirstClass icon

Downloading a Copy of FirstClass
Logging On FirstClass

Down loading the FirstClass program
(1)You will need to have access to the internet, an ISP,  in order to access your FirstClass e-mail account from home, you can have either a dial-up modom or high-speed Internet connection (DSL or Cable) to use FirstClass.

(2) Obtain a copy of the FirstClass program for your computer.:

(a) You can download FirstClass from download First Class, click Download Client and choose either Windows or Macintosh. Download instructions are included on this page.

a) Click Start/Programs/CSUB FirstClass/FirstClass

b) Type your user ID and password at the Login screen.Click Login. If you click on "save", FirstClass will save your password and you will see a string of asteriks - this hides your password and the number of characters in your password.

Contents

---

After you log into your FirstClass e-mail account, either on campus or at home, you will see the FirstClass "Desktop" window. If there are unread incoming e-mail messages in your Mail Box, you will see a red flag beside the Mail Box icon at the top left of the window. Double-click the Mail Box icon to open it.

Each unread message in your Mail Box will have a red flag at the left side. Double-click the message line to read it.

After reading a message you may click the close box to keep the read message in your mail. You could also "Reply", "Forward", "Delete" are "Save" the message.

Turning Red Flags Off and On

Before you open a message, a red flag appears beside it. After you open the message, this flag disappears.

To remove the unread flag from a message without opening the message, select it, then choose Message > Unread.

To make the unread flag reappear on a message that has already been opened, select the message, then choose Message > Unread again.

This can be useful in certain circumstances, such as making the message attract your attention the next time you log on to FirstClass.

a) Replying to all recipients

If a message in your Mailbox was sent to several other users at the same time, you can reply to all recipients of the message.

To reply to all recipients:

1. Select or open the message.
2. Choose Message > Reply Special > Reply All.

b)Replying to the sender only

If a message in your Mailbox was sent to several other users at the same time, you can reply to just the sender of the message. If the message was forwarded to you, you can reply to either the person who forwarded the message or the originator of the message.

To reply to the sender of the message only:

1. Select or open the message.
2. Choose Message > Reply Special > Reply Sender
-or-
3. Simply click the  icon on the menu bar.

1. Select or open the message.
2. Choose Message > Reply Special > Reply Original Author.

c) Customizing reply preferences

There are several settings that are used as defaults for replies to messages. You can change these defaults by choosing Edit > Preferences. Update defaults as required, then click OK. To restore every preference to the shipped default, click Default.

d) Replying to messages in conferences

You can send a reply to a message in a conference to the same recipients as for any other message. You can also send your reply to the conference, so that all users with access to that conference can read your reply.

To send a reply that all can see:

1) Choose Message > Reply Special > Reply Conference.

e) Quoting the original message

You can quote all or part of the original message when you reply.
The name of the person you are quoting is included in the reply.

To quote the original message:

1. Open the original message.
2. Determine whether you want to quote all or part of the message.
3. To quote all of the message, choose Message > Reply Special > Reply with Quote.
4. To quote part of the message, select the text you want to quote, then choose Message > Reply.
5. Type the body of your reply, then send the reply. You can type above, below, or in the middle of the quote.

f) Auto Reply

You can reply to your messages from another user or conference automatically. This is useful if you go on vacation and you want the user to know that you will not see the e-mail message right away.

To reply to your messages automatically, choose Edit > Preferences, then click the Messaging tab.

Insert the text you want the recipient to read when the message is replied to. "Local mail" will reply to those messages sent from users within FirstClass, "Internet mail" will reply to those messages coming from users outside FirstClass.

After you have read a message, and you feel that it should be brought to the attention of someone else, you can easily forward it. Open the message, select the "Message" menu then the "Forward" command, type in the recipient's name or e-mail address if he/she is a CSUB FirstClass person, and press the "return" key. Add comments to the message if you wish, and select the "Send" command in the "Message" menu.

If the message is forwarded to a non CSUB FirstClass user, you must type in their complete e-mail address. For example: jross@csubak.edu

Forwarding messages automatically

You can forward your messages to another user or conference automatically. This is useful if you go on vacation and you want your mail answered by someone else.

To forward your messages automatically, choose Edit > Preferences, then click the Messaging tab. Turn on "Automatically Forward" and, at "To", enter the names of the recipients of the forwarded messages as you would when sending a message. "Local mail" will forward those messages sent from users within FirstClass, "Internet mail" will forward those messages coming from users outside FirstClass.

After you have read a message, and you decide not to keep it, close the message window, click the message line, and press the "delete" key. In the warning dialog box [ Do you really want to delete the selected item(s)? ], click the "Delete" button or press the "return" key since delete is the default selection. You can delete several messages simultaneously by control-clicking the appropriate message lines. Control-clicking means to press and hold the <Ctrl> key then with the mouse cursor, click on each file to be deleted.

If you are at one of the networked computers on campus, and you do not have access to your FirstClass account from home, you may save your incoming messages on a formatted disk. Open a message, and select the "Save As" command under the "File" menu. In the subsequent dialog box, locate your disk are folder, name the message, and click the "Save" button or press the "return" key.

If you are at your own computer, you may archive and organize your incoming messages. By clicking the  icon you can create one or more "New Folders", name the folders, and drag each of the messages, which you wish to save, into an appropriate folder.

When you are ready to send a message, select the "New Message" command under the "Message" menu or click on the new message  icon. In the "New Message" window, enter the subject and names of one or more recipients. In case of recipients who do not belong to the CSUB community, be sure to enter their complete e-mail addresses. Do not forget to press the "return" key after the last recipient entry.

Compose your message as you would with standard word processing programs. If the recipent will be a CSUB FirstClass user, you may format your text with selections of "Font", "Size", "Style", and "Color". Check your spelling. When you are satisfied with your message, select the "Send" command under the "Message" menu.

Later you may open your outgoing message, and select the "History" command under the "Message" menu to check the creation, sending, routing, reading, replying, and forwarding status of the message.

To Unsend a Message

Unsending a message that you have already sent makes that message disappear from the recipient's Mailbox. Be aware that the recipient may have already read the message. You can check this by viewing the message history.

To unsend a message, open or select it, then choose Message > Unsend. A hollow flag appears beside the message in your Mailbox.

You cannot unsend any message that:

• was sent through the Internet (to anyone that is not a FirstClass user)
• was moved from the recipient's Mailbox to a folder, or deleted by the recipient.

Sometimes you may want to send a document , a word processing file, spreadsheet file, a shareware program, etc. to someone. You can "attach" these files to an e-mail message. If you have one or more attachments to send with your message, select the "Attach File" command under the "File" menu or click on the attach file  icon. In the subsequent dialog box, locate the disk/folder of your attachment, and open the file. A copy of the file you opened will be sent with the e-mail message.

Some of your incoming messages may have an attached file. There are three ways in which you can view/save the attached file.

1. Single click and highlight the Attachment line. From the "File" menu, click on "Save Attachment" and then locate a destination disk/folder for the attached file in the subsequent dialogue box.
2. Click on the attachment and drag a copy of it to your desktop.
3. Click your mouse's right button on the Attachment line to get the following menu (below).

The saved attachment file can be viewed later with the appropriate software program relative to the file type.

Creating Folders

You can create folders to store and organize your messages and files. To do this:

1. Open your Mailbox.
2. Choose File > New > New Folder. A new folder appears in the upper pane of your Mailbox window.
3. Name your folder by selecting it, then choosing File > Properties (Windows) or Get Info (Mac OS).
4. Type the new folder name at "Name".
5. Close the New Folder Info window and save your changes.

Dealing with Junk E-mail

The CSUB FirstClass administrator has defined certain mail as junk (for example, mail coming from a particular address) but because we are academic it si difficult, may be impossible, to make global blocking (called filtering) of messages.  The next version of FirstClass is expected to have improvements in thois area.

To tell FirstClass how to handle junk mail, choose Edit > Preferences, then click the Mail Rules tab. At "Junk mail handling", choose one of the following options:

Accept - puts junk mail in your Mailbox as it is received
Delete Silently - deletes junk mail as it is received.

Setting Message Priority

By default, all messages are assigned Normal priority. You can change the priority to Urgent. Urgent priority causes the message to appear in bold in the recipient's Mailbox. Where applicable, Urgent also invokes special gateway handling. To set the priority to Urgent, choose Message > Priority > Priority Urgent.

Setting Mail Defaults

There are two default settings you may want to change. The first is the default mail client that your computer recognizes while surfing the web, the second is the default folder your computer uses to save attachments that are sent to your FirstClass account. You can change these defaults by choosing Edit > Preferences, then clicking the "General" tab. Update these defaults as required, then click "Apply". To restore every preference to the shipped default, click "Default".

Message editing and display defaults (like font, color, size, etc.) can be changed by choosing Edit > Preferences, then clicking on the "Content" tab.
 
 

Providing Info About Yourself and Viewing the Info of Others

You can provide information about yourself for other users by creating a résumé. To do this:

1. Choose File > Open > Résumé.
2. Type your name at the top of the résumé.
3. Copy your picture to the clipboard, then paste it in the top left corner of the résumé, if desired.
4. Type any information you think would be useful to other users in the bottom pane of the résumé. For ideas about what to write, view the
résumés of other users on your system.
5. Close the résumé to save your changes.

You can edit your résumé at any time by following this same procedure.

To view a user's résumé, double-click the user's name in:

• the Directory - choose Conferencing > Directory
• a Who's Online list - choose Conferencing > Who's Online
• the "To", "Cc", or "Bcc" fields of a message
• the "Participants" list in a chat.

To search for specific text in a message or document:

1. Open the message or document.
2. Choose Edit > Find.
3. Type the text you want to find.
4. Turn on the appropriate options. "Match whole words only" retrieves only complete words (the search text "sun" will not retrieve "sunshine"). "Match case" retrieves only text that matches the capitalization of your search text.
5. Click Find Next to search forward or Find Previous to search backward. FirstClass scrolls to the first occurrence of the text and highlights it.
6. Continue clicking Find Next or Find Previous until "None found" is displayed in the dialog box.

1. Type the text you want to replace at "Find".
2. Type the new text at "Replace with".
3. Turn on the appropriate options.
4. Click "Replace All" to replace all occurrences of the text automatically.

To check the spelling of a message before sending it, choose Edit > Check Spelling with the message open. To spell check only part of the message, select that part before choosing this command.

If an unknown word is encountered, the Spell Checker window opens with choices for handling the word. Click one of the following buttons:

• Skip - Leaves this occurrence of the word as it is.
• Skip All - Leaves all occurrences of the word as they are.
• Replace - Replaces this occurrence of the word with the word in the "With" field. You can accept the word shown in this field, type a new word, or click one of the suggested words to select it.
• Replace All - Replaces all occurrences of this word with the word in the "With" field.
• Add Word - Adds the unknown word to the spell checker dictionary.
• Send Now - Stops spell checking and sends the message. You only see this button if spell checking was initiated automatically when you sent the message.

To create a personal mail list:

1. Choose File > New > New Personal Mail List.
2. Type the name you want to give this mail list at "Name".
3. Use one of the following methods to add user names at "Members":
    - Type the names, pressing Tab after each.
    - Click DIR, select the names from the Directory list, then click Select.
    - Drag an address from another FirstClass object or an external file into the "Members" field.
4. Close the New Personal Mail List window and save your changes.

1. Choose File > New > New Personal Address.
2. Type the person's name as you want it to appear in your address book at "Name".
3. Supply the person's e-mail address at the E-mail tab. Either type the person's e-mail address and press Tab, or, if the person is in the Directory, click DIR, choose the person from the Directory list, then click Select.
4. Complete the fields on the Contact Info, Phone Numbers, and Notes tabs
5.Close the New Personal Address window and save your changes.

Shortcut: To add an e-mail address that is in a FirstClass message or document, highlight the address, then choose Edit > Add > Add to Address Book.

• Go to this web address: http://firstclass1.csub.edu/, the CSUB FirstClass Login Page. From this page you can log directly into a web version of first class.

This tutorial deals only with the very basic aspects of setting up your account, and receiving and sending e-mail messages. From the FirstClass Desktop you will find a "Help" folder. Click on "Contents" for a variety of help topics.

The Centrinity, Inc. web site provides two versions (Macintosh, Windows) of very substantial documentation on "Using FirstClass". These can be readily downloaded. The PDF files can be read and printed out with the Adobe Acrobat Reader.

A list of FAQ's has also been made availabe from the CSUB Email Administrator. This list can be accessed at http://firstclass1.csub.edu/.