Getting Started

Setting up FirstClass Personal

These instructions are intended to enable you to start working offline as quickly as possible.

You need to complete each step of the set-up procedure carefully before moving onto the next one.

You may feel that you need more detail than is given here. Should you need further help, please turn to the LTS FAQ FC Work Offline conference inside the LTS Helpdesk conference, which can be found on your online desktop.

Before following the instructions below please ensure you know how to disconnect from your Internet Service Provider (ISP)

1. Start up the FirstClass Client, bringing up the Login window as shown inFigure 1
   
   

   Figure 1 - Login window

   Tip - Login Details

2. Type your OU Computer Username into the User ID field and type in your password
3. Click on the Working Offline button on the Login window.
4. You will see the FirstClass Personal - Quick Set-up window as shown inFigure 2
   
   

   Figure 2 - FirstClass Personal - Quick Set-up

   Tip - FirstClass Personal SetUp Details

5. Type your password into the box titled Your password: this needs to be the same as the password you use to connect online an example is shown in Figure 3
   
   

   Figure 3 - Completed FirstClass Personal - Quick Set-up

6. Check that the details shown on the Registration window are all correct before you click on the OK button, if they are not correct click on Cancel and repeat from step 1
7. Once you have clicked on OK a Quick Set-up Confirmation window will appear as shown inFigure 4
   
   

   Figure 4 - FirstClass Personal - Quick Set-up Confirmation

8. Check settings file location, your ID and your password details are correct
   • If the details arecorrect click on the OK button
   • If the details are incorrectselect Cancel - this may generate an error message, but you should ignore it. Correct the details in the Login window and press the Work Offline button and work through from step 4 again
   For future connections you will only need to click on Work Offline button of the Login window to start FirstClass Personal. The Registration windows will not appear again on subsequent connections to FirstClass Personal.
9. Click on the OK button on the Quick Set-up Confirmation form when you are happy that your details are correct
10. You are now connected to your FirstClass Personal offline server. You should be able to see two windows your offline FirstClass desktop as shown in Figure 5 andFigure 6. Your own offline desktop may look slightly different to the one shown in Figure 5, but you should still be able to see your mailbox and your Offline Conferences folder
    
    

    Figure 5 - Desktop

    FirstClass Personal will download some server directory information and the Receiving: field will read Dir Sync as shown in Figure 6
    
    

    Figure 6 - Dir Sync

11. At this point FirstClass Personal will not be able to download the messages from any conference. You need to tell FirstClass Personal which conferences you want to work with offline.
    • Whether replication is successful or unsuccessful at this point, continue to follow the instructions.
12. Once the directory download (Dir Sync) is complete, the FirstClass Personal is: field will read Synchronising directories as shown in Figure 7
    
    

    Figure 7 - Synchronising directories

    You can now disconnect from your ISP, but do not close FirstClass Personal until the synchronising directories process has completed. The synchronisation process can take some time (possibly over an hour). Once the synchronisation process has completed the FirstClass Personal is: field will read Idle as shown in Figure 8
    
    

    Figure 8 - Idle

13. Reconnect to your ISP and login to your online Desktop on the OU FirstClass server. You will now be connected to both your online and offline Desktop
14. Click on your online desktop window to bring it to the front of the screen
    • Somewhere on your online Desktop there will be a folder called Offline Conferences, you may need to enlarge your desktop or scroll round your desktop to find it
    • If you can't find an Offline Conferences folder on your online Desktop select Collaboration> Work Offline> Open Offline Conferences. An Offline Conferences folder should now have appeared on your online Desktop
15. Each conference you wish to replicate offline needs to be added to the Offline Conferences folder. It is advisable to include OU Service News so you can keep up to date with system down times and changes to the FirstClass service
    • Find the conference, this may be directly on your desktop or nested inside other conferences
    • Right-click on the conference and choose Add to Desktop from the pop-up menu
    • ORHighlight the conference by clicking on it once select Collaborate> Add to Desktop
    • Find the new copy of the conference on your online FirstClass desktop and drag it into the Offline Conferences folder
    • If the conference you copied is normally directly on your desktop, make sure you can still it somewhere on your desktop before you drag the copy into your Offline Conferences folder.

    Tip - FirstClass Personal Conference Permissions

16. For each conference you want to replicate offline repeat step 17
17. Disconnect from FirstClass online
18. Log into FirstClass Personal by clicking on the Work Offline button if you are not already connected offline
19. Replicate the messages by selecting Collaborate> Work Offline> Replicate Now or by clicking on the toolbar button on your offline desktop

    Tip - What Gets Replicated?

Back to the top >>