Messenger Express FAQ (Part 2)
Note: Messenger Express has been renamed "Communications Express", but the instructions in this FAQ still apply.
How do I use my address book?
There are two main ways to use the address book. In the Compose window, you can click on the card-file icon just to the left of the To:, Cc:, or Bcc: fields; this will pop up a separate window entitled "Select Recipients from Personal Address Book". I'll refer to this as the "Address window" to distinguish it from the "Address tab", which I'll talk about in a bit.
The Address window is divided into three main parts: the left side is called "Personal Address Book Entries", the right is "Message Recipients", and in between them is a column of buttons. To add a recipient to the message you are currently composing, click on it in the left side, then press the appropriate button in the center column, depending on whether you want to add this address to the To: line, the Cc: line, or the Bcc: line of the message. If you made a mistake, you can click on an address on the right side and hit the "Remove" button; this will only remove the address from the current message, not from the address book itself. Repeat the process until you have all the desired addresses listed in the right side; then click the OK button to return to the Compose window with the appropriate address fields filled in. If you return to the Address window while you are composing the message, the right-side list will be empty, but that doesn't mean you have to re-select all the addresses you filled in last time; any addresses you select this time will merely be added to the ones already there. Note that the Search button is useful if you have a large number of addresses in your address book and are looking for a particular one.
The second way to use your address book is through the Address tab. When you click on that tab, you will see a listing similar to the list in a message folder or the Folders tab, except that this one lists addresses instead of messages or folders. At the far left of each line are checkboxes labeled To, Cc, and Bcc; to send a message to anyone in your address book, check the appropriate checkbox next to each address you want to include, then click the Compose button in the toolbar. When the compose window pops up, the addresses you checked will already be filled in on the appropriate address fields.
How do I create a new address book entry?
In the address tab, click the "New Contact" toolbar button; this will pop up an address book entry window. This window has four tabs of its own: Name & Contact, Address, Notes, and Groups. The only required fields are in the Name & Contact tab, which is already displayed when the window first pops up. They are First Name, Last Name, Display Name, and Email Address. When you fill in first and last name, the Display Name is automatically changed to match, overwriting anything you may have already entered in that field. The Display Name is what appears in all listings of addresses, whether in the Address tab or the Address Window. The other fields on this tab, and in the other tabs, are all optional.
I heard that the bug that used to stop us from editing addresses has been fixed. Is this true?
Yes, this is true. Up until June 15, 2004 (a day after this FAQ originally went out) there was a major bug in Messenger Express that prevented any editing of address book entries. This bug has now been fixed.
What are address groups?
Address groups are a way of organizing large address books into categories for easier searching, and also to send a message to a large number of addresses at once. Groups are limited to fifty addresses, though; if you regularly need to send email to more than fifty addresses at a time, you can either create multiple groups or contact Paul Lambert (extension 88003 or lambertp@wou.edu) to get an email list created on the server. Email lists (also popularly known as "listservs") will be covered in a later FAQ.
How do I create an address group?
In the Address tab, click the "New Group" toolbar button; a "New Group" window will pop up. It has two tabs: Group Members and Notes. In the Group Members tab (which is automatically shown when the window first appears) you will see two lists; on the left is a list of all the addresses already existing in your address book, and the right contains the addresses in this group (it will of course be empty when you first create a group.) You can select addresses on the left side and use the Add button to add them into a group.
The Notes tab is intended as a place to keep notes about this group; the bug that formerly kept you from saving changes has been fixed.
How do I edit an address group?
In the Address tab, click on the name of the group in the list of addresses and groups. An "Update Group" window will pop up, almost identical to the "New Group" window except that any addresses already in the group will be listed on the right side. You may add or remove group members, but don't make any changes on the Notes tab or you will not be able to save any of your changes.
Note that when editing a group, you may select another group on the left side and add it to the current group; this will merely add all the members of the selected group to the current group. The limit of fifty addresses per group still applies.
When you click OK after editing a group, you will get a message that a group or entry by that name already exists; you will have the option to change the group's name or replace the group. Choose to replace the group, then click OK.
All right, enough about addresses; how about something else.
How do I attach a file to a message?
When you are composing a message and want to attach one or more files, use the Attach button in the Compose window's toolbar. This will open an "Attach File" window; click the Browse button to pop up a file selection box. This box should work the same as the normal open file box you see in other programs; depending on your operating system and version, the exact instructions vary, so I won't try to go into detail about it now. Use this selection box to find the file you want to attach, and click the Open button (or the equivalent, depending on your operating system.)
At this point the selection box should vanish, and you will be back in the Attach File window; the name of the file you just chose should appear in the text box just to the left of the Browse button. Next you need to click the Add button just to the right of the Browse button; this actually uploads the file from your computer into Messenger Express, and prepares it to be attached to your message. After this step, the file's name should appear in the list in the lower portion of the Attach Files window.
If you have other files to attach, repeat the browsing and adding process until you see them all listed. Now, to actually attach the listed files to your message, you need to click the Attach button at the bottom of the Attach File window. When you do this, the Attach Files window will close and vanish, and you will be returned to the Compose window. The attached files will be listed above the subject line of the message.
How do I send formatted text?
In the Compose window, you should see and HTML toolbar just below the subject line. This toolbar should start with three menus, saying "Normal", "Font" and "Size", respectively. If you don't see this toolbar, click the "Text/HTML" button at the top of the Compose window. The toolbar lets you control the appearance of text in the message you are composing; for instance, you can convert text to boldface by highlighting it and then clicking the bold button. If, when you click a button, you get an error message that says "undefined", you should uncheck the "View HTML Source" checkbox at the right side of the toolbar.
Note that if you plan to send your message to many people, especially off-campus, formatted text is probably not a good idea. Many email programs display formatted text in different ways, and some don't display it at all, so the user will see a bunch of messy-looking HTML tags breaking up your message. Messages with HTML content are also more likely to be considered as spam by many spam filters (including our own.) Please consider using plain text if you aren't sure what program your recipients use to read their email, or what sort of spam filter they have.
What if I want to insert a web link in my message?
To insert a link, click the last button (the one that looks like a globe) in the bottom half of the toolbar; this will make a "Hyperlink" option box pop up. Leave the link type as "http:" unless you specifically know you need one of the other types, type in the link address in the URL box, then hit OK. If you want to change the displayed text for the link, click the "Show HTML Source" checkbox and then edit the text just before the </A> tag. Don't change the URL listed inside the <a href> tag, though; that is the actual destination of the link!
What if I want to insert an image into my message,
so that it appears inside the message instead of as an attachment?
It's fairly complicated to insert an image. To be honest, I personally find that it is more trouble than it is worth, but it is a question we are asked frequently so I will answer it.
First of all, the image has to be accessible somewhere on the web; probably the easiest way to do this is to put it into the public_html folder in your H: drive. Make sure you know the web address of the image; for instance, if the image file name is "image.jpg" and your username is "jdoe" and you have put the image into your public_html folder, the web address will be "http://www.wou.edu/~jdoe/image.jpg". It may be helpful to type this address into a web browser and see if the image appears; once you see the image, copy the address for use in your message.
Next, type in the following at the place where you want the image to appear: <IMG SRC="http://www.wou.edu/~jdoe/image.jpg"> (be sure to type the left and right angle brackets; substitute the actual image address for "http://www.wou.edu/~jdoe/image.jpg" since that is just an example).
Now comes the tricky and slightly unpredictable part. Messenger Express may have automatically switched you into "View HTML source" mode while you were typing; it may also have made part of the text disappear, usually the "<img" part. If you aren't already in View Source" mode, click the checkbox to get there. Messenger Express will have probably changed the text you just typed, so you will probably have to change it back. Unfortunately, if you try to start out in "View Source" mode, your text will probably get messed up even worse. You need to make sure that the entire <IMG SRC="http://www.wou.edu/~jdoe/image.jpg"> appears correctly; it is likely that, among any other changes, the opening and closing angle brackets will be replaced by the codes < and > respectively. Make sure to change these codes back into brackets in the HTML Source view.
If everything has worked correctly, when you uncheck the View Source box and return to normal view, you should see the image. If you don't, make sure you have the correct address for the image, and switch back into View Source mode and check the code. It may take some fiddling to make it work.