OWA (Advanced Topics)
The advanced features of Outlook Web Application (OWA) include improved "calendaring" function, "conversations" feature that allows for a new way to organize email, "out of office" message creation that allows for two kinds of messages, one for internal recipients within the organization and the other for external recipients outside the organization. Here is a discussion on advanced features. For basic features of OWA, please refer here.
Calendar
The Calendar functionality in OWA allows for a number of advanced functions. To access the calendars in OWA, choose "Calendar" in the lower left-hand menu.
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This is the main calendar screen.
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1. Current day/month. You can change the current month by clicking on the left and right arrows on either side of the current month. You can change the day by clicking on a specific date.
2. My Calendars. Lists your personal calendars.
3. People's Calendars. Lists any user calendars you have permission to view. Checking the box next to another calendar will open that calendar next to and of your personal calendars you have checked. If you have more than one calendar open, you can choose the active calendar by clicking on the calendar. You can close calendars by clicking on the "x" to the right of the calendar name.
4. New. Clicking the "New" button will open a "New Appointment" window, which allows you to create a new appointment. Clicking on the small down arrow next to "New" will allow you to create a new appointment, meeting, or message (email).
5. Delete. Choosing an appointment/meeting and clicking "Delete" will delete the appointment/meeting.
6. Calendar view buttons. You can choose between "day", "work week", "week", and "month" view for calendars.
7. Share. Clicking the "Share" button allows you to add another users calendar ("Add Calendar"), share any of your calendars ("Share Calendar"), or change the permissions of that users have to any of your calendars ("Change Sharing Permissions").
8. View. Allows you to turn the reading pane on or off.
9. Calendars. Shows any calendars that are active.
10. Reading pane. Shows detailed information about any the current appointment or meeting that is highlighted.
Conversations
The "Conversations" feature in the Outlook Web Application is a new way of organizing emails. Emails can be seen via a thread view, grouped by conversation on a particular subject. You can expand any one email and see the replies that pertain to that conversation.
Login to OWA and click on "VIEW" on the main toolbar on your INBOX. You will see the option Group by Conversations. Click on "Use Conversations."
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You will see all conversations in a threaded view grouped by a given subject show up in the reading pane.
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To see more options on how to group conversations, click on "View".
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Alternatively, you can click on "Options"
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Next, click on "See all options"
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To disable seeing email messages as threaded conversations, click on "View" and uncheck "Use Conversations" .
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Another way to disable conversations is to click on "Arrange By" and uncheck "Conversation"
Delivery Reports
The Delivery Reports functionality in the Outlook Web Application allows for monitoring of when messages were delivered, including date and time a message was submitted, and when it was successfully delivered.
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The quickest way to view a delivery report is to right click on your message and choose the option "Open Delivery Report".
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An alternate way to see details of email delivery is by going to "Options" menu and selecting "All Options".
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Choose "Organize Emails" and "Delivery Reports".
To see all messages sent to a particular user, select "Choose select users", type in the last name of the user in search box and click on the looking glass. Choose the correct user by doubleclicking on the user from the list that is displayed. Make sure that the "To:" field at the bottom of the screen shows the user you have selected. Click on the "OK" button at the bottom of the screen. Press the looking glass on the bottom of the screen to search for messages.
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The date and time of submission of delivery can be seen on the delivery report. This report can be emailed by clicking on option "Email this report."
Global Address List
The Global Address List(GAL) is a directory service that provides you with contact details of individuals and groups within our college. The GAL earch feature in the Outlook Web Application provides a way of searching for particular individuals or groups.
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Login to OWA. Type into the "Find Someone" box, the last name of the individual you want to search for. If more than one match is found, it will be displayed on the screen. Doubleclick on the name of your choice and the contact's details show up in a new window.
Double clicking on the open notebook icon located on the extreme right of the screen, can help you search for individuals and groups. Click on the magnifying glass to see a list of all individuals and groups.
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Clicking on a contact's name gives you detailed information about the contact.
Meetings
Meeting Request is a tool that allows you to setup a meeting and invite attendees. If you create the meeting request, you will receive notifications if people have accepted, declined or proposed a new time for the meeting.
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To enter a new meeting request, click the arrow next to "New" on the toolbar and select "Meeting Request".
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Fill in the information such as "To: " to get the email address of the people you want to invite. Type in the "Subject"" and "Location:" . Leave the Optional and Resources boxes empty. Fill in Subject, Location, Start/End time/date and pick a time for a reminder. Click "Send" when you are done entering details. An email message will be sent to the people you have invited.
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You can check the availability of people you are inviting to a meeting by using the "Scheduling Assistant". This assistant will show you "Free/Busy" time for the people you are inviting according to the entries they have made in their calendar. There is a "Suggested Times" box on the right side that will let you know when people/resources are free on a certain date and time. To select more than one attendee, click on "Add a name" button to select a name from the Global Address List (GAL).
If you see a purple bar across a time frame as in the case of the second invitee between 3:30p.m and 4p.m, it shows that the person is unavailable/busy at that time. Everyone can see everyone else's availability, which allows for easy scheduling of meetings. The green and red vertical lines indicate the time period requested for the meeting. You can move the lines by clicking on a different time period on the calendar.
Out of Office (Automatic Replies)
The Out of Office functionality in the Outlook Web Application is more advanced than previous versions of OWA, allowing for greater detail when setting up automatic replies to emails while you are away.
To setup an Out of Office reply, login to your account and go to the "Options" menu on the far right. Next, click "All Options".
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Then, select "Tell people you are on vacation."
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You can enable or disable your Out of Office messages by choosing "Don't send automatic replies" (disabled), or "Send automatic replies" (enable).
To send replies to senders while you are away, choose "Send automatic replies".
If you want to specify a period of time where automatic replies will be sent, check the "Send replies only during this time period" box, and specify the dates and times.
Now you need to setup the message you will be sending to Stonehill employees when you are away. This message will only be sent to users with email accounts with Stonehill College.
If you want to send replies to people outside of Stonehill College, you need to check the "Send automatic reply messages to senders outside my organization" box, and then setup the message you want to send to those users.
Finally, click the "Save" button in the lower right of the screen.
Don't forget! Once you are back in the office, set the automatic reply to "Don't send automatic replies".
