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12 things you should know about Monash E-mail
So you've got your e-mail account all setup and you're
receiving e-mail!
But what exactly are the best ways to manage your e-mail
account and make it work efficiently for you? The following 12 tips can
help!
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While this may be obvious to some people, you would
be suprised how many people do not follow this advice! If your inbox
has hundreds of e-mail messages sitting in it, or you never seem
to be able to find the e-mails that you want without looking for
10 minutes, then you may not be using folders effectively.
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When defining folder names, try to think in
broad terms. Don't base folder names on people, try to focus
on committees, groups, and projects.
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If you have trouble prioritising your work then create a high
priority folder
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If you receive e-mail that requires a lot of phone follow-up
then have a phone folder
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Don't be afraid to use subfolders, for example a committee
folder could have the following subfolders : Agendas, Minutes,
Resolutions, Tasks, RSVP, etc.
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Don't be afriad to delete e-mail - if you can't sort it and
it's not useful then delete it!
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Show me an example! - Creating
Folders / Deleting Folders / Moving Messages
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While folders are important, you'll find that you
have to spent a lot of time moving messages from your Inbox to other
folders. The best way to combat this is to set up message filters.
Message filtering is a quick and convenient way to organise your
e-mail messages. Filtering moves your e-mail to the correct folder
based on a set of rules which you specify.
For instance, you may wish to filter all Admin
Global E-mails to a specific folder so that you can read them at
a later date, or you may receive weekly e-mail reports that always
have similar subject lines. These types of messages can be easily
filtered.
Show
me an example! - Setting up a Filter / Changing a filter's priority
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On occasion, e-mail attachments can be difficult
to deal with, especially when you don't seem to be able to view
the contents!
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If you are unsure what a sent attachment actually is or you
don't know the sender of the attachment, or is the attachment
looks suspicious (look out for .EXE, .VBS in the filenames),
DO NOT OPEN THE ATTACHMENT. Attachments can
contain viruses which can be dangerous to your machine.
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If you can't open an attachment by clicking on
it - try saving it to your hard drive
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Try to download all attachments to your Hard drive and then
delete the e-mail which they came with. Deleting e-mails with
attachments is the fastest way to reduce the amount of space
you e-mail uses up.
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Don't send e-mails with excessively large attachments! In
particular try not to send large Word, Excel, or Powerpoint
files. Also beware of sending large graphic files. A good rule
of thumb is to attempt to keep attachments under 2 Megabytes
in size. Remember that when you send an e-mail attachment you
are contributing to your quota (a copy of every e-mail is kept
in your sent folder) as well as the recipients. Also note that
if your attachments are too large the e-mail servers may reject
them or split them up making them almost impossible to put back
together.
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If you are sending lots of files then split them up into separate
e-mails.
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Don't bulk post attachments, i.e. Don't send a Word document
to 50 people at once via e-mail, an alternative is to get it
put on a web page (Contact the Web Team for more details)
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Show
me an example! - Saving attachments / Checking file size and type
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SPAM (Unsolicited Bulk E-mail) is a constant annoyance to most
users and unfortunately there is no sure fire way to get rid of
it completely. If you want to keep the SPAM that you get down to
a minimum, consider trying the following -
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Check out the ITS page regarding SPAM at http://www.its.monash.edu.au/publications//security/spam/
- it provides information on what to do about SPAM and what
can be done to alleviate it.
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Setup message filters to deal with regular SPAM
that you recieve
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Protect your e-mail address! Don't subscribe to
mailing lists that you feel may send you SPAM. Also, try to
be aware of privacy policies that websites display, ensure that
your personal details are not going to be passed on to any 3rd
party companies.
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Never reply to SPAM - replying to SPAM may show
the spammer that your e-mail account is active and being read
and therefore they may continue to target your address.
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Avoid falling for gullible e-mails, chain letters,
and fake virus warnings. By passing these messages on all you
end up doing is propagating SPAM further.
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If you receive SPAM on a regular basis and the
messages are unable to be filtered easily, consider installing
SpamAssissin
which can help to filter SPAM e-mail
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Archiving your e-mail is a good way to reduce your e-mail quota.
It's also a good way to remove clutter from your inbox and various
folders. To archive your e-mail, use the following procedure :
Show
me an example! - Using the archive tool
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With HTML e-mail you can send e-mail with proper formatting, graphics,
and colours - it takes longer to download than plain text e-mail
but it looks nicer on the screen (if created properly). Plain text
e-mail is exactly that, e-mail send in plain text with no formatting.
Both methods have advantages and disadvantages
Plain Text E-mail
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HTML E-mail
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Advantages - Plain-text e-mails are extremely quick and
easy to compose and send out.
This is an ideal format for everyday e-mails. Everyone with
an e-mail account can read these emails. Because of their
small file size, plain-text e-mails are quick for readers
to download.
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Advantages - This is the most attractive type of e-mail
because you can include photos, graphics, color and other
design elements.
Ideal if you are creating an e-mail publication that you
want to send out to many users
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Disadvantages - Plain-text emails cannot contain color,
graphics or other design elements, they are not eye-catching.
Readers may quickly lose interest when reading row after row
of text with no graphical, visual breaks.
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Disadvantages - Takes a long time to compose, formatting
can be difficult to work out. recipients may not have a HTML
compatible email client
If photos or graphics are included in the HTML e-mail, readers
must have an open connection to the Internet while they read
the e-mail to see the photos. This may be a problem for people
who view the newsletter at work because some companies restrict
their employees' Internet access.
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As a general rule you should compose all mail in plain text unless
you have a specific reason for formatting, color and graphics in
your e-mail (note that you can still send graphics in an e-mail
attachment)
Show
me an example! - Composing a HTML e-mail
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Creating e-mail signatures is fairly straight forward and can save
you the hassle of putting in your name, address, phone number, and
position title each time you send an e-mail.
Vcards are similar to signatures but they provide a graphical formatted
version. Whether you use a signature or a Vcard is generally just
a personal preference.
Show
me an example! - Creating a Signature
Show
me an example! - Creating a Vcard
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Managing your e-mail quota is extremely important as each member
of staff only has a limited amount of space on the mail server to
store their e-mail. For information on managing your quota check
out the following link - http://itm.med.monash.edu.au/itss/info/emailquota.cfm
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Digital Signatures are a way to prove to a recipient that you are
the actual sender of an e-mail messages. Monash's implementation
of Digital Certificates currently allows you to sign an e-mail message
with the certificate. In the future you will also be able to encrypt
e-mail. For more information on Digital Certificates visit
http://www.its.monash.edu.au/security/certs/ |
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Tip 1 : Use Folders to distribute your e-mail