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1996-07-10
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Office Talk Electronic Mail for Netware
Introduction
About Office Talk
Office Talk is an easy to use electronic mail package for use
with Novell Netware 2.x. Office Talk works directly with Novell's
user names and groups. Office Talk stores mail in existing Novell
Mailboxes. No elaborate setup or installation is required.
Simply copy the executable program(s) into a public utility
directory.
Office Talk features a full screen editor and allows you to send
message to multiple users and/or groups. When you receive mail
you can automatically reply to the message, optionally copying in
the text from the original message for reference. You can save
mail to disk, keep it for later reading, or save mail in an "old
mail" mailbox.
Requirements
Office Talk requires the following hardware and software to run
IBM PC/XT/AT/386
DOS 2.1, 256K RAM
Novell Netware 2.x
Disk Manifest -
OTMAIL.EXE The Main Electronic Mail Program
OTCHECK.EXE Mailbox Check program
OTPHONE.EXE Phone message program
OTPHONE.LST List of messages used by OTPHONE
OTLOAD.EXE TSR loader, loads OTMAIL from within other
applications.
OTALK.DOC Documentation for installing and using Office Talk
OTREAD.ME Additional information about Office Talk.
OTALK.REG Software registration / order form.
Software License
Office Talk and its related programs and documentation are
copyright (c) 1989 by Ron Chibnik, PC X-Pert. You are granted a
limited license to use the Office Talk software on a single
server in a network environment. You may make backup copies of
Office Talk for archival purposes only. You may not distribute
Office Talk software or documentation in any form, electronic or
otherwise.
Office Talk is distributed under the Shareware concept. You are
free to try and evaluate Office Talk software for a period of 30
days. If you continue to use Office Talk, you must register it by
sending $95 per server. Registered users will receive the
registered version of Office Talk, as well as a printed user
manual. The registered version of Office Talk includes several
enhancements detailed on the Registration form in the file
OTALK.REG, on the distribution disk.
We feel that Office Talk is a useful alternative that fills many
simple electronic mail requirements. The shareware distribution
is a full working version of Office Talk. We ask that if you use
Office Talk, you should register it. By doing so you enable us to
continue to support and enhance the product. Thank you for your
support.
Office Talk is a trademark of PC X-Pert.
Warrantee Disclaimer
PC X-Pert makes no warranties or claims that Office Talk is fit
for any particular purpose. In no way shall PC X-Pert be liable
for any damages, incurred directly or indirectly, through use of
Office Talk software, including, but not limited to, damage to
computer hardware, software, loss of business.
Installing Office Talk
This section is meant for Supervisors who are installing Office
Talk. It assumes a working knowledge of MS-DOS and Novell Netware
at the supervisor level.
Office Talk requires that the SUPERVISOR copy the Office Talk
programs to a directory that all users are search mapped to. You
may copy the OT*.EXE files to SYS:PUBLIC but we suggest that you
create another sub-directory called, for instance, SYS:UTILS,
with the same rights as SYS:PUBLIC. Then include MAP
S16:=SYS:UTILS in the system login script.
Check mail at login
OTCHECK checks your mailbox to see if mail is waiting, and sets
the dos ERRORLEVEL variable to 1 if there is. To check mail at
login, place the following lines in the system login script:
#OTCHECK
IF %ERROR_LEVEL == "1" THEN BEGIN
WRITE "Loading Office Talk E-Mail. One Moment."
#OTMAIL
END
You may include other commands, such as
fire phasers 4 times
WRITE "You have Mail, %LOGIN_NAME"
fire phasers 4 times
PAUSE
between the BEGIN and END.
OTLOAD Office Talk TSR loader
OTLOAD is a terminate and stay resident (TSR) program that loads
OTMAIL.EXE from within any application. OTLOAD swaps the current
application out of memory, loads OTMAIL.EXE, and then reloads the
application after OTMAIL exits. OTLOAD will swap the current
application to EMS, RAM Disk, network disk or hard disk,
depending on how OTLOAD is loaded. The format is:
OTLOAD <<drive-letter>>
<<drive-letter>> should be drive letter followed by a :, blank
for EMS or the default directory. A RAM Disk is best choice, The
users Home Directory or local hard disk are also acceptable.
This command should be placed in the users AUTOEXEC.BAT file,
after he has logged into the network.
For instance:
OTLOAD D:
will use drive D: to create the temporary files. If you use a
network drive, it is important that the user have Read, write,
create, modify and delete rights to the directory mapped to the
drive you specify.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
DO NOT load OTLOAD.EXE from the system or user login script.
Loading any TSR program from the
login script wastes a tremendous amount of memory.
Using Office Talk
Office Talk is easy to use and prompts you every step of the way.
The Office Talk screen is divided into three windows. At the top
is the status window which displays status information. In the
center of the screen is the work window, where you browse and
enter messages. At the bottom is the dialogue window which
contains directions and help information.
Sending Mail
To Send mail, Press F2 from the browse mail screen. Select an
addressee, enter a title for the message and the message body.
Selecting an addressee
You select an addressee for your message by simply typing the
user or group name. To select the addressee from a list, or to
send to multiple addressees, press F3. Office talk opens two
windows on the screen, one containing a list of users, the other
a list of groups.
To tag a user as a mail recipient, highlight the name by moving
the cursor, then press the space bar. Notice that a checkmark
appears to the left of the name. The checkmark acts as a toggle.
To untag a user, highlight the user and press space again.
To send mail to an entire group, press the Tab key while viewing
the user list. The cursor will jump to the group list. Highlight
the desired group(s) and press the space bar to tag the group. If
you tag both group and a user who is part of that group, the
user will only receive one copy of the message.
Note that if you choose to select addressees by tagging them from
the menu, you must also tag the user in the TO: field. Office
Talk ignores the TO: field when multiple copies are being sent.
Entering the title
The message title is a single line of up to 47 characters. Try to
make the title reflect the subject of the message. The title will
be displayed when the addressee starts OTMAIL to read his or her
mail.
Entering message text
Office Talk provides a simple text editor for entering messages.
Commands are single key wordstar compatible. A list of editor
commands follows :
Movement Functions Format & Edit functions
END- End of line CTRL-B Paragraph
HOME- Beginning of reformat
line SHIFT-F4 Row join
PGUP,CTRL-R Page up CTRL-Y delete entire
PGDN,CTRL-C Page down line
CTRL-PGUP Beginning of CTRL-K delete to end
text of row
CTRL-PGDN End of text CTRL-T delete to end
<<-,CTRL-S- Cursor left of word
->>,CTRL-D- Cursor right CTRL-N Insert a row
CTRL<<-, ENTER Split line
CTRL-A Previous word INS,CTRL-V Toggle insert
CTRL->>, mode
CTRL-F Next word F10 Exit/Save
UP,CTRL-E- Up one row Message
DN,CTRL-X Down one row ESC Abort Message
DEL,CTRL-G- Delete
character
BACK Backspace
SHIFT-TAB- Edit Subject
Reading Mail
When first invoked, Office Talk displays a list of new mail in
the work window. Each line includes the date and time the message
was sent, the sender's name and the subject. To read a message
simply highlight the message using the cursor keys and press
Enter.
The message will be displayed in the center window. If there is
more than one page of text, use the PgUp and PgDn keys to scroll
through the text of the message. After you have read the message,
press Esc to dispose of the message.
Disposing of mail
After reading mail, and pressing Esc, Office Talk presents a
small menu in the dialogue window. The menu options are:
Delete Delete this message, return to Browse Mail screen
Reply Compose a reply to sender. See replying to mail
below.
Save Save message in Old Mailbox and return to Browse
Mail screen. See New and Old Mail below.
Write Write message to a text file. If the file exists,
the message will be appended.
Exit Leave message in New Mail box, for re-reading and
later disposing.
Replying to mail
By selecting Reply from the disposition menu, you can easily
return a message. The F2 key will copy the text of the original
message so that you can reply to the original message in context.
Text from the original message will be preceded with a ">>"
character to distinguish which is the original text and which is
the reply.
Like sending a message, you can tag other users to receive copies
of the reply. Note that you will also have to tag the person you
are replying to, as Office Talk ignores the TO: field when
multiple copies of a message are being sent.
New and Old mail
Office Talk maintains two mailboxes - a new mailbox and an old
mailbox. When mail is sent to you it is automatically placed in
your new mailbox. You can save messages for future reference
without cluttering up your new mailbox by using the Save command
on the disposition menu.
You can view messages in the old mailbox by pressing F3 at the
Browse Mail screen. Note that if you wish to reply to a message,
you should reply before saving it. This saves you the trouble of
having to switch to the old mailbox and re-read the message to
reply.
Office Talk Phone Messages
Office Talk Phone mail (OTPHONE) is a convenient template for
taking telephone messages for fast delivery via Office Talk.
OTPHONE prompts for all of the information typically found on the
telephone "Pink Slip" .
The Office Talk Phone Mail is organized like a typical telephone
message slip.
Addressee: The login name of the network user to receive the
message. Press F2 to choose from a list.
To: The name of the person who the message is
ultimately for, in the event that the message is
directed to someone besides the addressee (ie., a
secretary.)
Date/Time: The date and time of the call. Defaults to the
system clock.
From: The name of the person calling
Company: The caller's company name
Phone/Ext: The caller's phone number and extension
Message: A one line message. Press F2 to choose from a list
of messages.
Messages are contained in a text file called
OTPHONE.LST and can be modified with a text editor
Memo: This field can contain a short (1-10 line) memo.
Support
You may direct comments, suggestions or support questions to the
following sources:
Email
Wise Byte BBS
212-962-1920 12/2400 bps, N-8-1
212-962-1946 9600bps HST/MNP
Leave mail for Sysop
Compuserve
Eplex 73657,1727
US Mail
PC X-Pert
P.O. 664, Church Street Station
New York, NY 10008-0664
Planned Enhancements
The following enhancements are being considered for future
versions of Office Talk. We welcome your suggestions and
comments.
True CC &
Blind CC Name a single addressee and include cc
individuals. Include CC names at bottom of letter.
Blind CC without notification.)
Message
Encryption Prompt for password, encrypt message using CRC or
bit masking.
MHS
Support Support for multiple servers on LAN or WAN.
Private
Mailing lists Users can create their own mailing lists,
maintained on user or netware group level.
Mail Archives Store old mail messages in an archive, readable by
OTMAIL.
OTPBOOK On-Line Rolodex for managing a list of contacts on
an user and group level. The rolodex will
interface directly with the OTPHONE software,
making the telephone message taker's job even
easier.
User
Directory Extended user Database to include telephone #,
title, groups belonged to and user BIO. Users will
be able to update their BIO and view other user's
bio.
