Groupware intro (Horde)

"Groupware" is email, calendaring, address book, and task management..

There are two ways to view your groupware. One is via the web interface ("horde") and the other is via a local client (Evolution). Local clients are great but we are going to focus mainly on the web interface for a number of reasons:

1. Web based clients have more features in this case.
2. It is fast and easy to use
3. It is easier to train on and support.
4. You can get to it from any computer.

The software we will use is found at http://www.nationalpriorities.org/horde

Once there you will be presented with a username and password question. Your username is prefixed here and only here with web42_ then the typical username before the @ in your email and your standard password.

Options

1. Global Options
   
   1. Personal Information - Name etc
   2. Categories and Labels so you can set items by colors
   3. Display Options - this is important. What do you want to see when you log in.
   4. Login Tasks - this can be go to set to help clean and maintain your emails
2. Address Book (#1 is needed the rest default fine)
   
   1. Choose your main address book
   2. Columns to view
   3. Display
   4. Name Format
3. Calendar
   
   1. User Interface - Some key points to make your calendar use easier
   2. Portal options ie default view
   3. Default Calendar to add events to
   4. Free Busy this is key. This is where you find your free/busy to send to others.
   5. Events Defaults and alarms
   6. Notification Settings for those alarms - I choose inline notifications and that is enough for me.
4. Mail
   
   1. Personal Information ie Signatures etc
      
      1. Sent mail folder is key here make sure to put it in the right area
   2. Server and Folder Information ie Trash, Sent etc
   3. Message Composition
   4. Deleting and Moving Messages
   5. Mail Previews - this is a great feature more in the class on this
   6. Filters - there is a section on this later.
   7. Address book - for auto add recipients
5. Notes
6. Tasks
7. Emails - Sending viewing etc...
   
   1. Click Mail or Inbox to visit that area
   2. Delete is a check box you can remove emails by checking this and then clicking delete
   3. Quick View - if you set #1.1.4.5 above you get a preview of the email as you hover the mouse over the Subject!
   4. Click Subject to view
   5. Sort by date just click. When the triagle points down you are seeing the latest first.
   6. Move / Copy emails to another folder just check the box and choose the menus above that related to the action you want to do.
   7. Another greate feature here is check boxes of say 5 emails you want to read then click View Messages and now you see them in a thread view.
   8. Note the 'Back to Messages' option. No need to press the back button.
   9. Once you click the subject line to read the message you can click the address book to add the person to your address book.
   10. Virtual Folders - this is a key feature. You do not have to make folders as much any more. Though making them is fine too. But you can click the magnifying glass to do a search and then click Virtual folder and give it a name like Alfred. So what ever you searched for say Emails from Alfred subject Support. Then the folder will have all old and new emails in there. But it really is not a folder it is a query every time you click on it. So you do not have to move items into the folder.
       
       1. Note the left hand folder area does not refresh itself. So after these new folder creations you have to right click on it and chose Refresh/Reload. For firefox you can click This Frame-Reload
   11. Filters are another way to sort your emails. You can make filters based on peoples names or subject etc. Put them in default folders or delete them etc.
   12. New emails
       1. Type the recipients name and it will auto find it
       2. Attachements can be found down below. As you add one more places will appear to attache more. Remember to click the update button
8. Calendar
   1. Seeing other peoples calendar. The software allows sharing of cals. So if your department has a calendar then you will see it mixed with yours. If the department sets new items as a category with a color then that cal will be that color. You can turn items on and off by clicking the buttons in the panel on the top left.
      
      Just check or uncheck the ones you do not want to see.  Click the large Minus sign to make this go away.
   2. Free Busy. This is the biggest feature, I think for an office. Here is a step by step.
      1. Click the Plus sign to the left of the Day in the Calendar.
      2. Click the Attendees
      3. Find the people who are being invited to the meeting. They must have a free busy address in their Address Book field - Communications --> Free busy. All staff have this address in the Office Address book.
      4. Then you will get a time line like the image below. By using this you can suggest a time for a meeting. Click Save and Finish and enter the possible time in the Event.
      5. Then when the email is sent, people will get requests for replies. By clicking this they can:
         1. Accept and the email back to you  will help you to see who can make it or not.
         2. Deny so then when all people reply you can see if you need to change it.
         3. They can add it to thier calendar as well.
         4. If you later change the plans you can click the checkbox "Send updates to all attendees?" and they will get an updated email.
   3. Other Fields to Consider
      1. Category to help sort items in the calendar view
      2. Description so people know what the event is for
      3. Recuring etc...
   4. Tasks can be seen here as well.
9. Sharing tasks, notes, calendars etc
   1. Most things can be shared. Tasks, Notes, Addresses. Let's share a note.
      1. Click Notes Manage Notes
      2. Make a Notes Group ie Department X
      3. Once here click the and add the people you want to share this with. To do that enter the persons name user name in this case web42_alfred etc. Then give them the rights you want them to have. You may even have an obvious group to choose from as well.
      4. Now people can see your notes in this group in their notes area.