Messaging Help

About Electronic Mail

FirstClass offers advanced electronic mail features.  Incoming mail arrives in your “MailBox”, and you can create outgoing mail with file attachments and address it to others. 

Messages usually have a sender and one or more recipients.  When you open a message it will show the date it was sent, along with the subject and the list of recipients.

When mail is addressed, you may use people's ordinary names for simplicity.

When a message arrives it is considered “unread” until you open it by double clicking.  A small red flag is used to mark unread messages.

When you create a message, it's normally created in your mailbox and marked unsent with a small white flag.  Once you send it the flag is removed.  Copies of sent messages are retained in your MailBox.  You may delete them, or anything else in your MailBox by using the Delete command from the File menu, or you can let it expire automatically.  All messages expire after a pre-determined period, set by your administrator.

You may also drag copies of sent and received messages to folders that you can create in your MailBox.

Reading your Mail

Your MailBox

When you first login to FirstClass you will see an icon labelled “MailBox”. This holds all your incoming and outgoing mail and you can open it by double clicking on the icon with your mouse. When you open your mailbox you see a summary of your mail and any folders which you have created. For incoming messages the summary shows the sender, the subject of the message, the time it arrived and a black flag if the message has not been read. For outgoing messages the summary shows the first recipient, the subject of the message, the time it was last updated and an outline flag if the message has not yet been sent. 

Opening a message

To read a message double click on the message that interests you. A new window will be opened which has two panels; the upper panel shows the envelope information (To:, From:, Subject etc.) while the lower panel contains the message contents. You can scroll either of these  panels independently. 

The Open Unread Feature

You can quickly read unread mail using the Open Unread feature. If you have unread mail, as shown by the unread flag beside your mailbox, simply pull down the File menu and choose Open Unread. The first time the command is used  it will open your mailbox. Subsequent times will open the next unread message, and close the previously open message so you can quickly display all your unread messages in sequence. This feature works best with the command key equivalent. 

Using the palette

FirstClass provides a palette containing buttons which allow you to quickly navigate through your mailbox and conferences. There are six navigation buttons at the bottom of the palette. They are from top left to bottom right: Previous Unread, Next (Open) Unread, Previous in Thread, Next in Thread, Next, Previous.

Composing and Sending Mail

To compose a new message, choose “New” from the Message or File menus.  A new, empty message is created and displayed in a new window.  The window has two panels; the upper panel shows the envelope information (To:, From:, Subject etc.) while the lower panel is for the message text.  You may scroll either of these  panels independently.  The envelope panel contains a field where you can fill in a message subject, and “To:” and “Copies:” fields where you may enter a list of recipients. 

Addressing

To address the message, move the cursor using your mouse to the To: line and type in the name of your intended recipient.  If you are unsure of the recipient's name, just type in the first few characters of the first and/or last name; FirstClass will search for the name in its user directory and fill in the full name for you.  If multiple names are found, (for example if you entered “smith”) a window is opened showing matches.  You may select from the list by clicking once with your mouse and closing the window.  The name will be pasted into the field.

Enter the contents of your message by clicking in the lower pane of your message window and typing in your text.

Sending

When you are finished, choose “Send” from the Message menu and your message will be delivered immediately.  Note that the “unsent” flag is removed from the summary line once your message is sent.

How To Address Messages

Messages may be addressed to either people or conferences.  In either case, you simply enter the name of the person or conference and the user directory is searched for names that match.

For example, you might want to address a message to “John Appleby”, but may not know the spelling of his last name. Type the first few characters of his first and/or last name in the To: field and hit RETURN.  FirstClass will search the user directory and display all names that match the discription.

Typing “ap” in the To: or Cc: fields might match:

John C. Appleby
Susan Apton
Apple Software

You may select the name you want by clicking on it once with the mouse and closing the list window of matched names.  Names may also be abbreviated, so you can type “j appleby” or simply “appleby” to match John C. Appleby.  You can also abbreviate the last name; for example “appleb” would match John C. Appleby from our example.

See also “Using the Directory”

Using Reply and Forward

Reply

If you are responding to a message, you can use the “Reply” feature to automatically produce an addressed reply message with the Subject already filled in.  To reply, open the message you wish to reply to, pull down the Message menu and select Reply.  A new message will be created, addressed to the sender, and you can immediately begin typing your reply.

You may also choose to Reply only to the sender, to all recipients, or just to conferences by choosing “Reply Special” and picking the appropriate command.

The action taken by the “Reply” command can also be changed on your preferences form. See the “Preferences” help file for more information.

Forward

If you receive a message that you wish to send on to someone else, or if you wish to re-send a copy of one of your own messages, you can use the “Forward” feature to create an unaddressed copy of any message.  To forward a message, highlight or open the message you wish to forward, pull down the Message menu and select Forward.  A copy of the message will be created which has not yet been addressed.  It can be addressed using the normal FirstClass method.

Messages which have been forwarded will show a list of the previous senders below the “From” name.

Expiry Dates

All messages in FirstClass, both incoming and outgoing, automatically expire after a pre-determined period.  FirstClass messages are automatically deleted after the messages' expiry dates.  The expiry period for your system is set by your adminstrator, however you can check the actual expiry date of individual messages by using the "Get Info" command.  Select the message you wish to check, pull down the File menu and choose Get Info.  The expiry date is shown near the bottom of the window.

You can modify the expiry date of a message or even set it not to expire in the Get Info window. If you set a message to never expire, it is your responsibility to delete it when it is no longer of any value.

If you set the expiry date on a message prior to sending it, and your administrator has given you permission to do so, your message will be delivered with the expiry date you have set. This is useful when announcing a meeting or event, as you can arrange for the message to expire once that event has occurred.

Attachments: Sending Files by Mail

The “attachment” feature of FirstClass lets you mail files to other users or directly to conferences by attaching the files to a message.  You then address and send the message as usual and can use the text of the message to describe the attached files.  Recipients can save any or all attached files onto their own disk.

Files attached to messages in FirstClass are automatically uploaded to the FirstClass system in the background... allowing you to continue using FirstClass while the file transfer progresses.  This is also the case when downloading attached files from a FirstClass system via network or modem.

Sending a File to a User or Conference

To send a file to another user or conference, first create and address a message as usual.  If you have not created a message, before refer to the Help section on Messaging.  To attach a file to the new message, pull down the Message menu and choose Attach.  A standard file dialog will appear to let you pick a file to be attached.  When you click on the Attach button the file will be transferred to the server (if you are connected by phone this may take a while, depending on the speed of your connection).  The attachment is shown in the header or envelope of the message.  There is no limit to the number of files you may attach.

You should add some descriptive text to the message to describe the attached file and then send the message.  A copy of the message is delivered to each recipient and they may each save a copy of the attachment to their own disk.

Saving An Attached File

To save a copy of an attached file on your own computer, open the message  containing the attached file and use the mouse to click on the attachment you wish to save.  Pull down the Message menu and choose Save Attachment and the file will be transferred from the server to your computer (again, if you are connected by phone this may take a while).

Viewing An Attached File

If you wish to view an attachment directly, hold down the option key and double-click on the attachment. If FirstClass is capable of displaying the attachment it will open a window, transfer the attachment, and display it. If FirstClass cannot display the attachment directly, it will attempt to start the application that created the attachment.

Message History

The message history function of FirstClass lets you track what has happened to a given message.  The history shows where and when a message was created, sent and who has read it.

To view the history of a message, select the message you are interested in, pull down the Message menu and choose History.  A window will appear showing the event (Created, Sent, Read, Forwarded etc.), the time it occurred and the name of the person who caused the event. 

Message history is ideal for finding out if your message has been received and read—or even if someone has downloaded a file attached to the message.

If a message has arrived from another site, the route that the message took to reach you will be displayed in the history.

About Forms

Forms are messages with additional fields, such as pictures, text fields, check boxes etc.  They are used to transmit formatted information via the FirstClass mail system and can be used in place of paper forms.  FirstClass comes with an assortment of forms which you can create, fill in and send.

To select a form, pull down the Message menu and select the New Form item.  A menu of the available forms will appear and you can choose the form that you want.  A new empty form will be displayed in a new window.  Most forms have an address area similar to a normal message where you can enter a Subject, To and Copies names and attach files.  Forms are sent using the Send command; an incoming form will usually have a distinctive icon in your MailBox list—for example the phone message form has a small telephone icon.

Forms Stationery

Your administrator may have created forms stationery documents on your system. These are documents which when opened create a new form for you to fill out. To use these forms, fill in the required fields and choose “Send” from the Message menu to send the form. These forms are usually pre-addressed for you.