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Information Technology

NVEQ Level 3 – Class XI

IT306-NQ2012-Email Messaging (Advanced)

Student’s Handbook

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PSS Central Institute of Vocational Education, Shyamla Hills, Bhopal

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PSS Central Institute of Vocational Education, 2012

Copyright protects this publication. Except for purposes permitted by the Copyright

Act, reproduction, adaptation, electronic storage and communication to the public are

prohibited without prior written permission.

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Student Details

Student Name:_______________________________

Student Roll Number:_________________________

Batch Start Date:____________________________

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Acknowledgements

The following partners were instrumental in providing the content:

1. Accenture India’s Corporate Citizenship Program (Skills 4 Life) has provided the

content material for English and have commissioned and developed as well as

provided access to their implementing partners (Dr. Reddy’s Foundation and

QUEST Alliance).

2. The Wadhwani Foundation team involved in designing and building this curriculum

and content include Ms. Sonia Kakkar, Mr Karthik Chandru, Ms. Toral Veecumsee,

Ms. Rekha Menon, Mr. Ajay Goel and Mr. Austin Thomas.

3. The PSSCIVE’s team was involved in guidance and editing the content.

4. In addition, various public domain sources have been leveraged to create materials

and illustrations across module. The contributions of all these sources is gratefully

acknowledged and recognized.

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Table of Contents

Acknowledgements .............................................................................. 4

Preface…………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………………….6

Session 1: Modify Message Settings ........................................................ 8

Session 2: Change the Message Format .................................................. 25

Session 3: Out of the Office Notification ................................................ 30

Session 4: Create a Distribution List or a Contact Group ............................. 36

Session 5: Insert a Hyperlink ............................................................... 40

Session 6: Sort and Filter Messages using Multiple Criteria .......................... 43

Session 7: Manage Junk Email ............................................................. 47

Session 8: Set Workdays and Time in a Calendar ...................................... 53

Session 9: Display an Additional Time Zone............................................. 56

Session 10: Set availability Options ...................................................... 59

Session 11: Create Calendar Groups...................................................... 65

Session 12: Manage Automatic Meeting Responses .................................... 69

Session 13: Manually Modify a Journal Entry ........................................... 71

Session 14: Reply to a Task Request ..................................................... 73

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Preface

The National Curriculum Framework, 2005, recommends that children’s life at school

must be linked to their life outside the school. This principle makes a departure from

the legacy of bookish learning which continues to shape our system and causes a gap

between the school, home, community and the workplace.

The student workbook on “Email Messaging (Advanced)” is a part of the qualification

package developed for the implementation of National Vocational Education

Qualification Framework (NVEQF), an initiative of Ministry of Human Resource

Development (MHRD), Government of India to set common principles and guidelines

for a nationally recognized qualification system covering Schools, Vocational

Education and Training Institutions, Technical Education Institutions, Colleges and

Universities. It is envisaged that the NVEQF will promote transparency of

qualifications, cross-sectoral learning, student-centred learning and facilitate

learner’s mobility between different qualifications, thus encouraging lifelong

learning.

This student workbook, which forms a part of vocational qualification package for

student’s who have passed Class X or equivalent examination, was created by a group

of experts. The IT-ITeS Skill Development Council approved by the National Skill

Development Corporation (NSDC) for the IT/ITeS Industry developed the National

Occupation Standards (NOS). The National Occupation Standards are a set of

competency standards and guidelines endorsed by the representatives of IT Industry

for recognizing and assessing skills and knowledge needed to perform effectively in

the workplace.

The Pandit Sunderlal Sharma Central Institute of Vocational Education (PSSCIVE), a

constituent of National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) in

association with Wadhwani Foundation has developed modular curricula and learning

materials (Units) for the vocational qualification package in IT/ITes sector for NVEQ

levels 1 to 4; level 1 is equivalent to Class IX. Based on NOS, occupation related core

competencies (knowledge, skills, and abilities) were identified for development of

curricula and learning modules (Units).

This student workbook attempts to discourage rote learning and to bring about

necessary flexibility in offering of courses, necessary for breaking the sharp

boundaries between different subject areas. The workbook attempts to enhance

these endeavours by giving higher priority and space to opportunities for

contemplation and wondering, discussion in small groups and activities requiring

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hands-on-experience. We hope these measures will take us significantly further in the

direction of a child-centred system of education outlined in the National Policy of

Education (1986). The success of this effort depends on the steps that school

Principals and Teachers will take to encourage children to reflect their own learning

and to pursue imaginative and on-the-job activities and questions.

Participation of learners in skill development exercises and inculcation of values and

creativity is possible if we involve children as participants in learning, and not as

receiver of information. These aims imply considerable change in school routines and

mode of functioning. Flexibility in the daily time-table would be a necessity to

maintain the rigour in implementing the activities and the required number of

teaching days will have to be increased for teaching and training.

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SESSION 1: MODIFY MESSAGE SETTINGS

Sometimes it is necessary to alert recipients about the importance or sensitivity of

the information you are sending as well as making sure that your message has been

received and read. At the same time, as a recipient of email, it is critical that senders

know when you will be able to respond to their email. Moreover, when you email

regularly to the same group of people, there is a great way to save time.

In addition, you may want to insert hyperlinks about resource in a mail you send. In

the following five sessions, you will learn about all these features of emailing

software.

RELEVANT KNOWLEDGE

You have already learnt to work with email messages using the email messaging

software. Email messaging software allows us to modify various settings such as

setting importance, confidentiality, set color category, delivery options, etc.

Message settings alert the recipient of the message about the importance and

sensitivity of a message. Both the message importance and sensitivity are indicated by

an icon after the message subject in the Inbox.

Importance

Email messaging software allows you to set priority for messages. For example, since

exam schedule is of high importance, you can set the importance level of exam

related emails to high.

If you want to set high importance for a mail message as a one time activity, do the

following:

1) Compose a new mail message.

2) Click red exclamation (!) under Options group in Message tab.

3) Send the email message to a recipient.

Messages will be marked with red exclamation (!) when viewed by the

recipients indicating that this message is of high importance (figure below).

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Message when viewed in list Email when opened.

To set importance level as high for all outgoing messages, do the following:

1) Select Tools > Options

2) Select E-mail Options...under Preferences tab

3) Select Advanced E-mail Options...in E-mail Options dialog box.

4) Select High from Set importance: dropdown list under When sending a message

section.

5) Click OK thrice to save the settings and move to the previous window.

6) Now compose and send a mail to a recipient.

Notice the message received by the recipient is marked with red exclamation (!).

Note: By using the above specified settings, all outgoing messages will be marked as

High, even messages that have low priority. This can be very misleading. Use high

importance only for critical email messages.

Sensitivity

When you send a mail that as sensitive information, it may be accidently forwarded to

another person or to a group by the recipient. In such cases, you can indicate the

sensitivity of the message by special markers such as normal (default), private,

personal or confidential. This way the recipient can be made aware of the sensitivity

of the message. To mark a message as Private, do the following:


2) Select Options tab.

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3) Click on the dropdown arrow in More Options group. The Message Options

dialog box opens:

4) Select Private under Sensitivity: dropdown under Message settings (image

above). Click Close.

5) Send this message to a recipient.

The recipient will see a message similar to the one below when the mail is viewed.

Note that this option is just an indicator to the recipient, sent with a belief that the

recipient will be ethical and keep the message private, not highlighting the contents

to others. However, the recipient can choose whatever he/she wants to do with such

an e-mail.

Delivery Options

Delivery options include settings that:

Specify that replies be sent somewhere other than to the sender of the message.

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Delay delivery of the message until a specified date or time. The message is stored

in the Outbox until it is delivered.

Have the message expire after a specified date or time. After the expiration date,

if the message has not been opened yet, it is deleted. If the message has been

opened, it is crossed out.

Setting Expiration

You can set expiry date and time for time sensitive messages. For example if you send

an email to a large group announcing a public gathering at a specific date & time, you

generally do not expect participants to join the gathering after the specified date and

time and it is useless if this message is viewed by the recipients beyond the schedule.

Hence, you can set the mail to expire automatically beyond a particular schedule and

mails will be marked with the status as expired denoted by a strikeout icon.

For example, you need to compose a mail to announce an Interschool competition

along with its schedule. To set the message to expire beyond the schedule, do the

following:

1) Create the appropriate mail.

2) Select Options tab and click dropdown arrow in More Options group. A Message

Options window appears.

To set expiration, select the checkbox next to Expires after under the section

Delivery Options and specify the exact date and time as mentioned in the schedule.

3) Send the email message to a recipient

The message is displayed with a strikethrough (figure below), if viewed by the

recipient after the date and time has elapsed, indicating that the message is no

longer valid.

Viewed in mailbox Message when opened beyond schedule

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Delay Delivery

If you want to send a message on a later date, at a specific schedule, you can use the

delay delivery option. Delay delivery is useful when you want to delay the message

delivery for example, announcing a time sensitive activity such as a contest or when

waiting for a confirmation from your supervisor about an announcement. In such

cases, you can prepare the mail in advance but set it to shoot off later.

To understand how to specify delayed delivery, do the following:

1) Compose a new mail message announcing a painting contest – “Miracle of

Hands”.

2) To delay the delivery, select Options tab. Select the dropdown arrow in More

Options group. The Message Options dialog box appears.

3) To set the mail to be sent at a later schedule, check Do not deliver before:

under Delivery options section and select a data & time from dropdown list.

For this exercise, select the current date as date and set the time 5 minutes

from the current time. Click Close.

4) Now send this message to a recipient.

Notice this message will be queued in Outbox and will be sent only at the specified

time.

5) Now compose another message and send this immediately to a recipient. Note

the difference.

Notice the second message is delivered immediately to the recipient; message marked

for delayed delivery will be sent only at the specified time. Check with the recipient

if they have received the contest mail after the delayed schedule.

To delay the delivery for all messages, do the following:

For example, to set the messaging software to delay delivery of mails for all messages

by 60 minutes, do the following:

1) Select Tools > Rules and Alerts. Click New Rule… A dialog box appears.

2) Select Check messages after sending from the dialog box Step1: Select a

template. .

3) Click Next. A window similar to the one below appears indicating that this rule

will be applied all messages. Click Yes.

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4) Check defer delivery by a number of minutes under Step 1: Select action(s).

5) Select a number of from the dialog box Step 2: Edit the rule description (click

an underlined value).

6) A Deferred Delivery dialog box appears. You can specify the delay in minutes

here. In this case enter the value as 60.

7) Click OK. Click Next twice and Click Finish. Click OK.

8) Now compose a new test mail message and send it to a recipient.

Notice the message is queued in the outbox waiting to be sent 60 minutes later.

9) To confirm, select outbox. Double-click the queued message. Select Options

tab, select dropdown arrow in More Options group.

10) Notice the schedule set automatically 60 minutes from now under Do not

deliver before: (data & time values).

Receiving a confirmation (Requires Exchange environment and/or ISP support)

Sometimes, when you send important messages, you may need a confirmation that

the email message sent by you has reached the recipient. Email messaging software

can track delivery of messages; however, this is not a guarantee that the recipient

has read and understood the message.

If you want to specify the confirmation settings as a onetime activity, do the

following:

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1) Compose a new email message.

2) Apply the Request a Delivery Receipt option available under Tracking group in

Options tab.

3) Send the email message to a recipient.

You will receive an email message either with icon next to the mail message if it is

delivered to the recipient or with icon next to the mail message if it is not

delivered.

To receive delivery receipts for all outgoing messages, do the following:

1) Select Tools > Options.

2) Select E-mail Options...under Preferences tab.

3) Select Tracking Options...under E-mail Options dialog box.

4) Select Delivery receipt under the section For all messages I Send, request:.

5) Click OK thrice to save the settings and move back to the previous level.


Notice that you will receive delivery receipts for all outgoing messages once delivered

to the recipient.

Read Receipt

If want to receive a notification when the recipient has viewed or read your mail, you

can use the Read Receipt feature. To receive a notification for a single mail, do the

following:

1) Compose a new email message

2) Apply the Read Receipt option available under Tracking group in Options tab.

3) Send the email message to a recipient

When the recipient of your mail has viewed the mail, he/she will see a dialog box

requesting permission for sending notification to the sender of the mail.

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If the recipient clicks Yes (a decision made by the recipient), then you will receive a

mail that the message was read by the recipient indicated by the icon next to the

email (figure below).

If the recipient has clicks No, you will not receive any notification. However, if the

message is deleted without begin viewed or read, you will receive an email with

Message Deleted Without Being Read notice indicated by icon next to your mail

message.

To receive read receipt notification for all messages, do the following:


2) Select E-mail Options...under Preferences tab.

3) Select Tracking Options...under E-mail Options dialog box.

4) Select Read receipt under the section For all messages I Send, request:.

5) Click OK thrice to save settings and move to the previous level.


Notice that you will receive red receipts for all outgoing messages if the recipient

chooses to click Yes.

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Note to instructor: Disable the rule before moving to next section as this rule will

delay all other activities in this session. To disable, select Rules and Alerts, uncheck

this rule and Click OK.

Flag Messages

Imagine yourself in a role in which you interact with many people through mails

everyday; it would be extremely difficult when you want to track multiple activities.

You may forget to respond to a vendor, sign a contract or follow-up with someone for

an important decision. Flagging email messages can help you to manage emails much

effectively. For example if you want to set a remainder for yourself, do the following:

1) Select a mail message from the list

2) Select Actions > Follow Up > Custom…

3) In the custom dialog box (figure below) under Flag for Me:, select Reply from

Flag To: dropdown list.

4) To set an alarm, check Reminder: and select a date and time from dropdown

values.

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5) Click OK

Reminders are stored in the email messaging software as To-Do’s lists. To view list of

To-Do’s, select Go > Tasks. Notice the follow up listed under To-Do list flagged along

with reminder (Left) and action to perform (Right).

If you want to send a message to someone and you need a reminder for yourself for

following up, do the following:

1) Compose a new mail message

a. Select Follow Up dropdown arrow under Options group. Select Custom.

b. Check Reminder: , select a date and time convenient to you for a follow

up.

c. Click OK.

2) Send the message to a recipient.

a. Select Go > Tasks to view the To-Do list. Notice the reminder set in the

list.

Sometimes you may delegate a task to your colleague and expect a response. If your

colleague forgets about the delegated task, you may not receive the response on

time. To avoid this, you can flag the message you wanted your colleague to respond.

To set a reminder for a task delegated to your college, do the following:


a. Select Follow Up dropdown and select Flag for Recipients…

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b. Under Flag for Recipients section, select Reply from Flag To: dropdown

list, select data and time under Reminder: dropdown.

c. Click OK.

2) Send the message to a recipient.

Note: Following screen will be available only on the recipient’s email messaging

software.

Mail message flagged using this procedure is displayed to the recipient similar to the

one below:

Flag icon on a mail message

Notice the flag icon next to the mail message (Left) and text above Sent: (Right).

Now the recipient can add this flagged reminder to their calendar by:

1) Right-click on the flag icon

2) Select Add Reminder… (figure below)

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3) Click OK in the Custom dialog box.

Now the reminder is added to the To-Do list in Recipient’s email messaging software.

To view the to do list , select Go > Tasks.

Flag on a mail message

Notice the flagged reminder (left) and text (Right).

Since the reminder is added to the recipient’s calendar, alerts may pop-up depending

on how the recipient’s messaging software is configured. Recipient can send a reply

to the sender to indicate the completion of task.

Voting

Imagine a situation where you want to finalize a decision based on votes from a group

of audience. Usually a meeting is conducted or groups are collected for voting. This

requires lot of time spent by each voter. To save time and money, electronic votes

are used, especially if a large group (possibly located in different geographical

locations) is being addressed.

For example, to conduct a survey across your school to have special computer lab

classes over a weekend, do the following:

1) Compose a new mail message explaining the details of this survey.

2) To insert voting buttons, do the following:

a. Select Options tab

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b. Select dropdown arrow in More Options group. The Message Options

dialog box appears.

c. Select Yes;No from Use Voting buttons: dropdown list in Voting and

Tracking options section (image below). For now, select Yes;No from the

list.

d. Click Close

3) Send the message to a recipient or group of recipients.

Recipients will receive your mail just like any other mail, except that in addition they

can choose Yes or No from a menu similar to the one below. Message viewed in inbox

(figure left) and when opened (figure right)

Recipients can respond either by choosing Yes or No from the dropdown depending on

their decision with or without additional comments. When recipients click Yes (or No),

a window similar to the one below appears:

If Send the response now is selected, the decision is sent immediately

If Edit the response before sending is selected, messaging software allows you

to add comments before sending the vote.

4) Click OK.

Once recipients have made their votes, the sender will receive the results with the

voting decision in the Subject line (figure below).

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If you have received large number of responses, it is easier to track the responses by

viewing the number of votes instead of checking mails one by one. To view the

response, click on the title area above From:, and click View voting responses.

A window similar to the one below appears with a list of results.

Note: Not all recipients vote. Responses from recipients who voted will be displayed

in the result. You can consolidate the results from the recipients to make the decision

based on votes. You can customize the voting dropdown by specifying values

separated by semicolons in Use Voting buttons: dropdown list. Examples:

Recommend; Don’t Recommend

Monday; Wednesday; Friday

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Categories

You have learnt to create color categories for appointments using Calendar. Now, you

will learn about a similar concept with mail messages.

When you have large number of mails in your inbox, it may be difficult to locate

specific messages. You can color code and categorize messages that are easier to

locate. For example, Blue color can be mapped to messages from vendors, Red for

mails from supervisor, Green for mails from colleagues, etc.

For example to apply a color, do the following:

1) Double click on a message

2) Select Categorize dropdown menu from Options group

3) Select Blue Category from the dropdown list. A Rename Category dialog box

appears (figure below).

4) Type Vendor in the Name: text box and click Yes.

From now on, you can mark the messages vendor that will be easier to locate. You

can modify the existing color categories or create your own categories by doing the

following:

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1) Select Actions > Categorize > All Categories…

a. To rename an existing category:

i. select {color name} Category

ii. Click Rename.

iii. Type a name, for example Office and click OK.

b. To add a new color and a category:

i. Click New…

ii. Type a new in the Name: text box

iii. Choose a color from Color: dropdown and a shortcut from

Shortcut Key: dropdown.

iv. Click OK.

Now you can assign this category whenever you receive mails from clients.

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EXERCISE

Perform the following activities till you are confident:

S.No. Activities

1. Modify the settings to receive Read Receipt for all messages.

2. Modify the settings to delay the delivery for all messages by 2 hours.

3. Create 2 different votes for:

a. Weekend Special Classes for a Subject, use “Agree and Don’t

Agree” for voting values.

b. Buying a book at Flipkart.com , use “Recommend and Don’t

Recommend” for voting values.

Send it to your classmates, collate and present the results.

ASSESSMENT

Answer the following questions:

1. Explain the procedure to mark high importance to mail messages with an

example.

2. Explain the procedure to request read receipt for all mail messages.

3. Explain the procedure to set expiration for a message with an example.

4. Explain the procedure to set sensitivity options with examples.

5. Explain the procedure to set voting options with examples.

Fill in the blanks

1. To set high importance for a mail message, click _____________ red

exclamation (!) under _________ group in _______ tab.

2. Do not deliver before option is available under _______________ options

section in ___________________ dialog box.

3. Four levels of sensitivity options are _________, ___________, ___________

and ____________.

4. Voting options is available in _________ group under _________ tab.

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SESSION 2: CHANGE THE MESSAGE FROMAT

RELEVANT KNOWLEDGE

Why have different formats?

You have already learnt how to compose email messages. When sending emails, you

need to consider if the recipients have necessary support to view the email as

intended. When a recipient views your mail using a email software different from

yours, the message may appear distorted or garbled making it difficult to read. In

such cases, you need to send the message in a format that is acceptable to the

recipient’s email software.

Email messaging software supports a variety of formats to address these kinds of

issues. For example if a recipient reports that their email software can accept text

formats without any problems, it is advisable to change the format at your end before

sending the mails.

Modify email format

To modify message formats, do the following:

1) Open the email messaging software.

2) Go to Tools > Options. A Options dialog box appears.

3) Select Mail Format tab. Notice the list available under Compose in this

message format dropdown list in the section Message format.

Email messaging software supports the following formats:

1. HTML – This is the default message format in email messaging software.

This format allows the user to add formatted text, images, and

hyperlinks in the message. Message composed using this format look like

document.

2. Plain Text – This format of email message enables the user to add only

text contents without any images or text formatting such as bold, italic,

colors, etc. This format is supported by all email messaging software.

You can use this when you need maximum compatibility.

3. Rich Text – This format enables the user to add formatted text content.

The email messaging software automatically converts the RTF format to

HTML while sending over the Internet.

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Note: In most cases, you can leave the default setting as it is. Change the message

format settings only if the recipient is having issues viewing your mails.

Using Plain Text Format

Plain text format is a simple text format that has widest compatibility compared to

other formats. Since plain text format is pure text, mails composed using this format

are smaller and move faster compared to other formats.

If you want to send a plain text message as a onetime activity, you can change the

message format at the time of composing an email by doing the following:

1) Select File > New > Mail Message.

2) Select the Options tab.

3) Select Plain Text under Format group.

4) Now compose a test message.

Notice that options such as bullets, paragraph options are greyed out as you

cannot use advanced text formatting when using plain text format.

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5) Send the mail to a recipient and observe the format received by the recipient.

If you want to set your email messaging software to use only Plain text format for all

outgoing messages, do the following:


2) Select the Mail Format tab.

3) Select Plain text from the Compose in this message format: dropdown list (in

the Message format section).

4) Click on Apply.

5) Click OK.

Now select File > New > Mail Message. Notice the default mail format is in plain text

(Plain Text option is selected in the Options tab).

Using HTML Format

HTML format is similar to that of a webpage containing text and graphics formatted in

a specific way. Messages composed using this format appear as it would appear in a

web browser. HTML mails are used in scenarios that require attractive messages such

as a newsletter or marketing emails. However, since HTML mails contain graphics,

colors, tables, URLs, etc, they take up more mail space making the email bulkier and

it’s movement is slower compared to other formats.

Most email software includes support for HTML format through a GUI editor for

composing mails and a rendering engine for displaying HTML mails.

If you want to send a HTML Mail message as a onetime activity, you can change the

message format at the time of composing an email by:

1) Select File > New > Mail Message.

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2) Select Options tab.

3) Select HTML under Format group.

4) Now compose a test message; notice options such as bullets, paragraph options

are available as you can use advanced text formatting in the HTML format.

5) Now send the mail to a classmate and observe the format received by the

recipient.

If you want to set your email messaging software to use only HTML format for all

outgoing messages, do the following:


2) Select Mail Format tab.

3) Select HTML from the Compose in this message format: dropdown list (in the

Message format section).

4) Click Apply.

5) Click OK.

6) Now select File > New > Mail Message. Notice the default mail format is in

HTML (HTML option is selected in Options tab).

Rich Text Format Rich Text format is a proprietary format developed by Microsoft. RTF is recommended

when you use Microsoft Exchange, a mail server from Microsoft. However, Outlook

automatically converts email messages composed using rich text format to HTML

format when it is sent to an Internet recipient such as Gmail or Yahoo! Mail.

Note: It is recommend to use HTML format if you send and/or receive mails from

recipients using a variety of mail servers/clients to avoid any compatibility issues.

If you want to send a mail message using rich text format as a onetime activity,

follow the same steps as learnt for HTML and then select Rich text under Format

group

Now when you compose a test message; the options such as bullets, paragraph options

will be available .

Send the mail to a recipient and observe the format received by the recipient.

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Similarly, you can set your email messaging software to use only rich text format for

all outgoing messages

EXERCISE


S.No. Activities

1. Compose a bi-monthly newsletter to be sent to all your classmates

based on the guidelines below:

a. Announce an activity to be held in school or neighborhood

b. Include promotional pictures

c. Use HTML format

ASSESSMENT


1. Explain the different message formats in email messaging software.

2. Explain the procedure to use plain text format for sending a mail (one time

activity).

3. Explain the procedure to set HTML format as the default mail format.

Fill in the blanks

1. You can change mail formats from Tools > Options, __________ tab.

2. You can compose mail messages in ________, ________________ and

____________.

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SESSION 3: OUT OF THE OFFICE NOTIFICATION

RELEVANT KNOWLEDGE

Understanding Out Of Office notification

Out Of Office feature of messaging software (referred to as OOO), automatically

sends a standard reply to your incoming messages while you are out of the office, on

leave/vacation or having limited access to mails.

Configuring an Out of Office notification

To configure the out of office notification, as a first step, you need to create a

template that will be used when automatically responding to received mail. Do the

following:

1. Start the email messaging software.

2. Go to File > New > Mail Message, and compose a message similar to the one

below.

3. Now, save this as a template. Click File> Save As. A dialog box appears as

shown below.

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4. Specify a name, select the relevant option from Save as type dropdown menu

and click Save. If you are using MS-office, the option would be Outlook

Template.

5. You need to formulate a rule so that whenever you receive a mail, the message

in the template is sent as a reply to the sender. To setup the rule, select Tools

dropdown menu.

6. Click Rules and Alerts…. A Rules and Alerts dialog box appears similar to the

one below.

7. Click New Rule…. A Rules Wizard dialog box appears (figure below).

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8. Select Check messages when they arrive under Start from a blank rule and

click Next.

9. In the next step, you need to specify to the conditions that need to be

checked.

a. Select the sent only to me option available under Step 1: Select

condition(s) and click Next.

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10. In the next step, you need specify what you want to do with the message.

Here, select reply using a specific template option available under Step 1:

Select action(s).

11. Now, you need to specify the template to be used. Under Step 2: Edit the rule

description (click an underlined value), click a specific template. A Select a

Reply Template dialog box appears (figure below).

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12. Select the template (use Look in: dropdown menu to locate the template) and

click Open.

13. Click Next. The Rules Wizard dialog box appears where-in you can specify any

exceptions to the rule you have just created. (figure below).

14. For now, click Next. Click Finish on the next window. Finally, click OK.

From now on, the message specified in the template will be sent automatically

whenever you receive a mail.

You can also set up rules to forward mails from a specific client to a colleague who is

handing issues in your absence or to forward messages on a critical project to your

manager.

35

EXERCISE

Perform the following activities until you are confident:

S.No. Activities

1. Configure Out Of Office for Annual Holidays. Use the following

samples as guidelines:

Sample 1:

Thank you for your message. I am not available until DATE and I have

limited access to my Emails.

If urgent, please contact - Phone +__________ or email

__________________.

Regards,

Your Name

Sample 2:

Thank you for your message. I am not in the Office until DATE and I

have limited access to my Emails.

If urgent, please contact - Phone +__________ or email

__________________.

Regards,

Your Name

Sample 3:

I am currently out of the office and will respond to your email when I

return on Date. If you need immediate assistance, please contact

Name at email or phone.

Thank you,

Your Name

ASSESSMENT


1. Explain Out of Office notification.

2. Explain the procedure for setting up Out of office notification.

Fill in the blanks

1. Rules option is available in _______________.

36

SESSION 4: CREATE A DISTRIBUTION LIST OR A CONTACT GROUP

RELEVANT KNOWLEDGE

Understanding distribution lists

A distribution list refers to a collection of contacts or a contact group enabling you to

quickly address and send messages to a group of recipients. For example, if you want

to send the exam schedule for 11th grade students, you can create a group that has all

the members of the 11th grade students and then send the schedule to that particular

group. This helps in saving time and avoids leaving out anyone by mistake from the

list.

Distribution lists are stored in the contacts folder, where you can identify them by the

distribution list symbol.

Creating a distribution list

You need to create a distribution list before you can work with it. To create a

distribution list, do the following:

1. Open the email messaging software.

2. Go to File > New > Distribution List. A window, similar to the one below appears.

1) Specify a name for the distribution list, for example my classmates in the

Name: textbox.

2) You need to add contacts to this distribution list. To add contacts, do the

following:

a. Click Select Members option available under Members group. A dialog

box appears with the list of contacts from your address book. Select the

contacts that you would like to add to this distribution list.

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b. After selecting contacts, click Members -> and click OK. Now, the

Distribution List window appears with the list of selected contacts.

3) Click on Save & Close option available under Actions. Now a distribution list is

created.

Using the distribution list

To use the distribution list, do the following:

1. Compose a message.

2. Click To…, and the Select Names Contacts dialog box with the list of contacts

and distribution list appears (shown below). Notice the icons for contacts and

distribution lists.

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3. Select the distribution list from the dialog box and click OK.

4. Click Send. The mail is sent to all the contacts included in the distribution list.

Modify a distribution list

If you add/remove a name in the distribution list temporarily,

1. Click on the plus sign icon preceding the list name in the To... text box.

2. In the Expand List message box, click OK to replace the distribution list

with its members.

3. Add or delete the user name(s) from the To… text box.

To modify a list permanently, double click the list you want to modify. Edit the list,

Save and Close to update the list.

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Print a distribution list

To print a distribution list, do the following:

1. Click Contacts.

2. Open the distribution list you want to print.

3. Select File>Print.

EXERCISE


S.No. Activities

1. Create a distribution list for:

a. your school friends

b. classmates

c. your family

d. your friends at home

ASSESSMENT


1. Explain the purpose of a distribution list.

2. Explain the procedure to create and use a distribution list.

Fill in the blanks

1. Distribution List option is available in ___________.

2. Select Members option is available in _______ group in

______________________ tab.

40

SESSION 5: INSERT A HYPERLINK

RELEVANT KNOWLEDGE

You have already learnt about hyperlinks that are widely used in the Internet. A

hyperlink is an object, text or a graphic that links to another web page, email

address, network etc. Email messaging software includes a facility for sending

hyperlinks to recipients. This is very useful when you need to send reference links to

others via email. By clicking the hyperlink in an email, you can quickly get to the

resource.

To begin with, open email-messaging software. If you want to include links to website

in a mail message, do the following:


2) Type the website URL in the body text area. For example, if you want to

include a hyperlink to Wikipedia, type www.wikipedia.org or

http://www.wikipedia.org and press Enter. Notice the URL is automatically

converted into a hyperlink.

3) Send the message to a contact.

To insert a hyperlink manually, do the following:


2) To insert a hyperlink, click the Hyperlink option available under the Links

group in the Insert tab (shown below).

3) A dialog box for inserting a hyperlink appears (shown below).

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4) Type the website URL in the Address: text box. For example, www.google.com

and click OK.

5) Now send the message to a contact.

Inserting lengthy website hyperlinks can look odd or difficult to read. For example:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etiquette_%28technology%29. You can insert text to

include lengthier hyperlink. To set hyperlinks through text, do the following:


2) Type Etiquette in the message body. Select the text Etiquette, select

Hyperlink from Links group.

3) Type the complete website URL, for example:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etiquette_%28technology%29 and click OK.

Notice - the text is hyperlinked to the lengthy URL.

4) Send this message to a contact. When the contact receives the mail and moves

the mouse over the hyperlinked text, the entire link is visible. By clicking the

link, the website can be accessed.

If you want to send a list of hyperlinks in an email for example a list of job websites

and important email address, do the following:


2) Type the list of website URL using the procedure mentioned in this session.

3) You can include the mail address in one of the two methods:

a. Type the email address and Press Enter. For example:

[email protected].

b. Include simple text content and link that to an email address. For

example type job1, select the text. Select Hyperlink in Links group

under Insert tab. Type the mail address as

mailto:[email protected] and click OK.

4) Send the mail to a contact.

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The person you sent the mail to will receive the websites and email addresses as

hyperlinks (embedded in the mail), which when clicked upon, will open with web

browsers and email clients.

EXERCISE


S.No. Activities

1. Compose a message with list of:

a. Job websites

b. Email addresses of recruitment consultants

Include the websites and email addresses as hyperlinks.

ASSESSMENT


1. What is a hyperlink and why would you use it in an email?

2. Explain the procedure to include hyperlinks in email messages.

Fill in the blanks

1. Hyperlink option is available under the _____ group in the ______ tab.

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SESSION 6: SORT AND FILTER MESSAGES USING MULTIPLE CRITERIA

As messages accumulate, in your mailbox it becomes important to organize and find

messages as quickly as you can. In addition, you would want to filter out unnecessary

mails (advertisements etc.) rightly called Junk. The next two sessions guide you

through these options in a email messaging software.

RELEVANT KNOWLEDGE

You have already learnt to create, send, receive and open email messages. Over time,

searching for a particular email messages could prove to be difficult as your mailbox

might have innumerable mails.

To help you out of this issue, email-messaging software has features to sort and filter

messages using single or multiple criteria. For example, if you want to locate a mail

that has a large attachment, you can sort mails by size and locate the specific mail

from the sorted list.

Sorting Messages

By default, messages are listed based on timestamp, with most recent mails at the

top. You can change the arrangement to suit your needs.

Single criteria

To sort mail messages based on size (single criteria), do the following:

1) Click View > Current View.

2) Select Customize Current View. A Customize View: Messages dialog box

appears. Notice - the default value under Sort… is specified as Received

(descending).

3) Click Sort.. A Sort dialog box appears.

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4) Select Size from the Sort Items by dropdown menu (figure below)

5) Click Ok and move to the previous dialog box. Click Ok here too.

Notice the email messages are now sorted by Size, with the mail with the biggest

attachment, irrespective of when it was received, being at the top.

Using multiple criteria

In the previous case, a mail, received long ago with a huge attachment, could appear

at the top. It just might be that what you wanted was a mail, recently sent but with a

huge attachment. In such a case, you need to specify multiple criteria.

So, to sort emails first by date received and then by size, do the following:

1) Click View > Current View and select Customize Current View.

2) Select Size from Sort Items by dropdown menu as the first criteria (figure

below).

3) Select Size from Then By Dropdown

menu as the second criteria (figure

below).

4) Click Ok and move to the previous

dialog box. Click Ok here too. Notice

now the mails are sorted based on

most recent timestamp and size.

45

Filtering mail messages

Mailboxes can be flooded within a short span of time. Messages from friends, colleges,

subscriptions, etc. need to proper management to avoid issues locating important

mails. However, an alternative is to use the filtering feature available in mail

messaging software to locate mails. To filter mails, do the following:

1) Click View > Current View and select Customize Current View.

2) Click the Filter button (which is set to Off by default) from the Customize

View: Messages. A Filter dialog box appears similar to the one below:

a. To filter using a keyword (only subject field), type the keyword in Search

for the word(s): text box. Click OK twice to save and move to the

previous dialog box.

Notice the search results match the keyword in the subject area of the

mails. Since this searches only the subject field, you may see limited

mails in your search results.

b. To filter using a keyword (subject field and content), select subject field

and message body from In: dropdown list. Click OK twice to save and

move to the previous dialog box..

Notice the list of mails matching the keyword. Since both subject field

and email content are scanned, you may see more number of mails in

the search results than in the previous search.

c. If you remember the email address of the person, you can specify the

email address in the From: text box and perform the search.

46

Note that if you are using a keyword during this search, messaging

software will look for a combination (multiple criteria) of the specific

keyword sent from particular email address and you may notice a very

limited number of mails as the search output.

You can filter messages using the options in Filter dialog box i.e. recipients mail

address, time sent, time received, expiration status, unread status, with or without

attachments, flagged, size, etc. You can combine more than one criteria from this list

to filter messages further.

EXERCISE


S.No. Activities

1. Sort messages based on the following guidelines:

a. Message Size (Ascending)

b. Messages flagged for follow-up (Ascending)

2. Filter messages based on the following guidelines:

a. Message Sent to one of the recipients

b. Message marked with high importance

c. Message with at least one attachment

ASSESSMENT


1. Explain the purpose of sorting messages with an example.

2. Explain the procedure to sort messages using multiple criteria.

3. Explain the purpose of filtering messages with an example.

4. Explain the procedure to filter messages using multiple criteria.

Fill in the blanks

1. Customize View: Messages is available in _________. 2. List any five options available under Sort Items By: dropdown menu.

___________, __________, __________, __________ & ______________. 3. Filter message options is available in _____________. 4. List any five criteria through which mails can be filtered. ___________ ,

______________, _______________, _____________ & _____________.

47

SESSION 7: MANAGE JUNK EMAIL

RELEVANT KNOWLEDGE

Junk mails, also known as Spam are the unwanted mails you receive (sometimes

unintentionally sent to you). You can configure the email messaging software to filter

junk mails and keep your mailbox cleaner. Some junk mails anchor viruses that could

potentially harm a computer, remove data, send personal information from the

computer to unknown recipients, etc. and are considered extremely dangerous.

Email messaging software include spam filters that can block mails that have

potentially dangerous content such as scripts or viruses.

Email messaging software protects by maintaining the following lists:

1. Blocked senders: Email address specified in this list are automatically blocked;

you can specify:

a. An individual mail address such as [email protected]. This will

block mails from only that particular email address.

b. A domain name such as example.com. This will block mails from any

mail address that belongs to this domain.

2. Safe senders are email addresses of individuals and domain that you always

receive mails from.

3. Safe recipients are email addresses that you don’t like to block such as a

subscription.

Email messages in Safe senders and safe recipients list are never sent to the Junk E-

mail folder unless blocked by the ISP or settings based on a mail server. Email

messaging software includes four junk filters that are capable of filtering junk emails

(however, it needs to be setup accordingly). These junk filters are:

1. Safe Senders

2. Safe Recipients

3. Blocked Senders

4. International

Managing junk mail

To manage junk email, open the email messaging software and do the following:

1. Go to Tools > Options…, an Options dialog box appears.

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2. Click on Junk E-mail… button. A Junk E-mail Options dialog box appears

wherein you can configure Junk Emails. Notice the tabs in this dialog box. By

default, the Options tab is selected and level of junk e-mail protection

specified here is self-explanatory.

a. To block senders, click on Block Senders tab, a window similar to the

one below appears.

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i. To block receiving mails from a particular address, click Add and

type the email addresses. For example, [email protected].

ii. To block receiving mails from a particular domain name (note: all

mail address from that particular domain will be blocked), click

Add and type the domain name. for example, example.com.

iii. If you want to block a list of email addresses and/or domain

names, first create the list in a text file. Then

Click Import from File, and choose the text file that has

the list.

Click Open and then click OK.

b. To receive emails from email addresses or domains from known and/or

trusted sources, you can specify them in a safe senders list. To add

entries, click on Safe Senders tab, a window similar to the one below

appears.

mailto:[email protected]

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i. The procedure to receive mails from a particular address, or a

particular domain name or a list of email addresses and/or

domain names, is the same as the procedure to block senders.

Notice that the default setting Also trust e-mail from my contacts is checked;

indicating that mails received from your contacts are always on the safe list.

c. To receive mails from mailing lists or newsletters you have subscribed

to, you can add those addresses in the Safe Recipients list. To add

entries, do the following:

i. Click on Safe Recipients tab, a window similar to the one below

appears.

ii. The procedure to receive mails from a particular address, or a

particular domain name or a list of email addresses and/or

domain names, is the same as the procedure to block senders.

d. You use the International tab to block email messages based on TLD

(Top-Level Domains). Some examples of Top-level domains are: .ca, .us,

etc. To block mails using Top-level domains, do the following:

i. Click International Tab. (figure below).

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ii. Click the button Blocked Top-Level Domain List… The Block Top-

Level Domain List dialog box appears(figure below)

iii. Select from the list the countries / regions you want to block and

click OK.

iv. Click Ok again.

You have successfully configured your junk mail box!

Filter Modes

Email messaging software provides four filter modes :

No Automatic Filtering

Low

High

Safe Lists Only

Note: It is recommended to keep the default settings. However, if you want a tighter

messaging security, you can select the Safe Lists Only option (Options tab). By doing

so, every mail other than the one sent from the Safe Senders and Recipients list will

be considered as a junk email. You will need to check the junk folder manually.

Junk filters need to be updated periodically with most recent definitions to protect

new variants of junk mails. You can download Junk filter updates from downloads

section of the mail messaging software vendor’s website.

52

EXERCISE


S.No. Activities

1. Block at least 3 email addresses by using the Blocked Senders Option

2. Add all your classmates email addresses to the safe senders list.

ASSESSMENT


1. Explain the purpose of Junk Mail Filtering options in email messaging software.

2. Explain the purpose of Safe Senders option in email messaging software.

3. Explain the procedure to add email addresses to safe senders list.

4. Explain the purpose of Safe Recipients option in email messaging software.

5. Explain the procedure to add a domain to block senders list.

Fill in the blanks

1. Four junk filters that are capable of filtering junk emails are ________________,

________________, _____________ & ___________.

2. Junk E-mail option is available in Tools > Options > _____________ .

3. Four filter modes for protection options are ________________,

________________ , _____________ & ___________.

53

SESSION 8: SET WORKDAYS AND TIME IN A CALENDAR

Lesson Objectives:

Suppose your normal workday hours need to change due to the needs of a new

project, or you have to coordinate appointment times with someone across the

country or the globe (different time zones) and need to indicate your availability. At

the same time, you may need to create a calendar group to send mails to. How would

you manage all these activities? Additionally, you receive so many meeting requests,

can you configure the system to automatically respond to them?

Email messaging software provides tools and options for you as a solution to all these

issues. In the next five sessions, you will learn about all these tools and options.

RELEVANT KNOWLEDGE

You have learnt how to work with calendar using email messaging software. The

default workdays and work time are set in the email messaging software. You can

configure the workdays and time according to your preferred schedule.

Typically, workdays start on a Monday ending Friday. However, in some countries and

even in some jobs, workdays could be different. To modify workdays and time in a

calendar, open the email messaging software and do the following:

1. Go to Tools > Options…, an Options dialog box similar to the one below

appears.

2. Click on the button Calendar Options…. A dialog box with calendar settings

appears as shown below.

54

3. Check/select the relevant workweek days and change the Start time and End

time.

To view the changes,

1. Click Go > Calendar.

2. Select View > Work Week. Notice the start work day and end work day along

with start time and end time displayed in the calendar (figure below).

EXERCISE


S.No. Activities

1. Modify your calendar to include a six day work week (Mon – Sat) with

a schedule between 7 AM – 7 PM.

55

ASSESSMENT


1. Explain the procedure to change workdays and time settings in email messaging

software.

Fill in the blanks

1. Calendar option is available in Tools > Options > _____________ tab.

2. To change calendar view to work week, select _________ Work week from

_____ menu.

56

SESSION 9: DISPLAY AN ADDITIONAL TIME ZONE

RELEVANT KNOWLEDGE

Places around the world have different time zones and calendar software is set to

match the current geographic schedule. Calendar software include option for adding

additional time zones; this could be beneficial to work if you are working with

colleagues from different time zone.

By default, email messaging software displays the local time in your calendar.

To add an additional time zone, do the following:

1. Open the email messaging software.

2. Go to Tools > Options…. The Options dialog box appears.

3. Click on Calendar Options…..A Calendar Options dialog box appears as shown

below.

57

4. Click Time Zone. Another dialog box similar to the one below appears.

5. In this example, do the following

Type India in the Label under Current Windows Time zone Group

Check Show an additional Time Zone under Additional Time Zone Group

Type Singapore in the Label under Additional Time Zone Group

Select (GMT+08:00) Kuala Lumpur, Singapore from Time Zone dropdown

under Additional Time Zone Group

6. Click Ok to move back and save the changes made..

7. Now when you click the Calendar View, you will see both India and Singapore

time zones. (figure below).

Calendar displaying multiple time zones

Now change different time zones in the calendar software and observe the changes in

the calendar view.

58

EXERCISE


S.No. Activities

1. Set different Time zones using the following guidelines:

a. Set additional time zone to Eastern Time (US & Canada)

b. Set additional time zone to Paris

ASSESSMENT


1. Explain the procedure to add additional time zone with an example.

Fill in the blanks

1. Time Zone can be changed under _____________ option.

2. List any three time zones available in the Time zone dropdown list.

____________, ___________ & _____________.

59

SESSION 10: SET AVAILABILITY OPTIONS

RELEVANT KNOWLEDGE

You have already learnt to share your calendar through email. When you schedule

activities and share, the persons who you have shared with on viewing your calendar

can see your availability as either busy or a blank. Informing others about your

availability assists them in fixing a meeting or requesting an appointment with you.

You can indicate your availability by using the built-in indicators of the calendar

software.

Specifying your availability

Before you share your calendar, use the in-built indicators of the messaging software

to schedule tasks or meetings. To use the indicators, do the following:

1. Open your calendar software

2. Select Go > Calendar

3. Schedule appointments based on the following guidelines:

a. Schedule 1

i. Subject: Team Meeting

ii. Timing – 10 AM to 11 AM

iii. Reoccurrence: Monday to Friday (10 occurrences)

b. Schedule 2

i. Subject: Vendor Meeting

ii. Timing – 2 PM – 3 PM


iv. To mark the entire appointment as tentative, select Tentative

from Show As dropdown in Options group (figure

below)

Options group

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c. Schedule 3

i. Subject: Free

ii. Timing – 3 PM – 5 PM


iv. Mark the entire appointment as Free. Select Free from Show As

dropdown in Options Group.

Notice the entries in your calendar (weekly view).

Calendar, Weekly View

Sharing your calendar

To let others know your schedule and availability, you need to share your calendar.

You can share your calendar by publishing to a web server, ftp server or to a

computer in your local network.

Note: Setting up Web Server or FTP server require additional technical expertise. Only

the procedure for sharing a calendar on LAN is included in this session.

Sharing on LAN

To share your calendar using another computer in your local network, do the

following:

1. Set up a shared folder on another computer that will be used for storing this

calendar.

a. Create a New Folder. For example, C:\CALSHARE

b. Right-click CALSHARE, select Properties

c. Select Sharing tab

d. Select Advanced Sharing…

e. Check Share this folder

f. Select Permissions

g. Select Full Control under Permissions for Everyone

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h. Click Apply, click OK twice and the click Close.

2. From another computer, confirm if you have read and write access to the

shared folder by doing the following:.

a. Click Start

b. Click Run

c. Type \\COMPUTERNAME\SHARENAME. For example, if the computer name

is DESKTOPONE and the share name is CALSHARE, type

\\DESKTOPONE\CALSHARE.

To configure your calendar software to store the calendar in a shared folder, do the

following:

1. Select Tools > Options

2. Select Calendar Options (figure below)

3. Click the button Free/Busy Options….

Free/Busy Options

4. You need to specify the location of the shared folder using the specific format

File://\\COMPUTERNAME\SHARENAME\%name%.vfb. (For example, if your

shared folder is located on a computer named “SERVER” and the shared folder

is given the share name as “CALSHARE”, enter

File://\\SERVER\CALSHARE\%name%.vfb. Note the %name% is a variable and will

automatically create the required filename based on the email account name.

If the email account is [email protected], then the filename will be

user01.vfb.)

Your calendar will be published periodically every 15 minutes by default. If you want

to force the update, select Tools > Send/Receive > Free/Busy Information.

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Viewing calendar published by others

To view calendars published by others, add their contact to your address book and

then do the following:

1. Double-click on the contact.

2. Select Details in Show group under Contact tab. (figure below)

3. Specify the location under Address Text box in Internet Free-Busy section. For

example to include the calendar shared by [email protected], type the

location using the following format,

File://COMPUTERNAME/SHARENAME/someone.vfb. For example,

File://SERVER/CALSHARE/user01.vfb.

4. Select Save & Close.

To view the schedule or availability of the contact, do the following:

1. Schedule an appointment in the calendar

mailto:[email protected]

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2. Select Scheduling under Show group

3. Select Add Others dropdown and select Add from Address Book…. Select the

recipient’s email address and click OK. A window similar to the one below

appears. You can view their availability and schedule a meeting accordingly.

Note: Fetching the calendar details of another user from a shared folder may take few

minutes.

EXERCISE


S.No. Activities

1. Share your calendar using the following guidelines:

a. Populate your calendar with exam timetable

b. Share it with your classmates using the procedure outlined in this

session.

64

ASSESSMENT


1. Explain the purpose of setting availability options.

2. Explain the procedure to share your calendar in a network environment.

Fill in the blanks

1. To set availability, use ___________ Calendar Options under _________

Calendar Group.

2. Free/Busy Options… is available under Advanced Options in ___________

Calendar Options dialog box.

65

SESSION 11: CREATE CALENDAR GROUPS

RELEVANT KNOWLEDGE

You have learnt to work with calendar and make appointments using it.

Calendar groups are useful in scenarios when two or more individuals work together

and need to schedule meetings in sync with each other.

To schedule a meeting you need to select the list of recipients to be invited for the

meeting. Do the following:

1. Open your calendar software.

2. Select Actions > View Group Schedules…. The Group Schedules dialog box

appears (figure below).

3. Click the button New…

4. Type a name, for example, GS1. Click OK. A window appears similar to the

one below.

5. You need to add list of participants. Select Add Others dropdown and select

Add from Address Book…(figure below)

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6. The Address book appears with list of contacts. Select the recipient, Click

To->. Add more recipients and when done, click OK.

7. Once all the recipients are added, select Make Meeting dropdown and

select New Meeting with All…

8. The Meeting dialog box appears similar to the one below.

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9. Type Team Building in the Subject: and 1st Floor in the Location:. Select a

date from the Start time: and End time: dropdown with a schedule between

10 AM to 1 PM. Once complete, send the invitation by clicking Send.

10. Click Save and Close.

Notice the meeting scheduled is displayed in your calendar.

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Recipients when they open their mail will receive an invitation similar to the one

below.

If they select Accept, you will receive a mail that the recipient has accepted your

invitation.

EXERCISE


S.No. Activities

1. Schedule a meeting for exam preparation using the following

guidelines:

a. Use Exam Preparation as the Subject

b. Select the schedule on all Saturdays between 1 PM – 5 PM

Send this invite to all your classmates.

ASSESSMENT

Answer the following

1. Explain the purpose of calendar groups

Fill in the blanks

1. View group schedules option is available in ________ Menu.

69

SESSION 12: MANAGE AUTOMATIC MEETING RESPONSES

RELEVANT KNOWLEDGE

You have learnt to set up meeting requests in the earlier sessions. You can configure

the email messaging software to respond to meeting requests automatically.

Using automated meeting responses could be useful in situations when you want to

accept meeting requests from your team members or colleagues.

To automate meeting responses, do the following:

1) Go to Tools > Options. Select Calendar Options under Calendar Group.

2) Click the button Resource Scheduling… in the Advanced options section. A

window similar to the one below appears.

Resource Scheduling dialog box

Check Automatically accept meeting requests and process cancellations

to automatically accept requests.

Check Automatically decline conflicting meeting requests to decline

meeting requests if a conflict arises. This is helpful when meeting

requests conflict with other scheduled meetings.

Check Automatically decline recurring meeting requests if you want to

decline meeting requests fearing that a conflict could arise due to

recurring meetings. Generally, recurring meetings span over a period of

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time and can flood your calendar with too many schedules in no time

hence it is recommended to use this option in this case.

EXERCISE


S.No. Activities

1. Modify your calendar software settings to accept all meeting requests

and decline only recurring meeting requests.

ASSESSMENT

Answer the following

1. Explain the procedure to configure the email client to automatically reject all

conflicting meeting requests.

Fill in the blanks

1. Automated response can be set using ____________ option under ____________

in Calendar Options dialog box.

71

SESSION 13: MANUALLY MODIFY A JOURNAL ENTRY

RELEVANT KNOWLEDGE

In real work life, it is important to track your time and tasks and thus document the

efforts needed to complete a project. As you know, using the Journal feature you

have a way to track time, tasks, and “project manage” your assignments. In an earlier

session, you learnt to set up journal to track time automatically. You can also track

journal entries manually using the email messaging software.

You can record time spent on a variety of items such as meetings, phone calls, etc. by

recording journals manually. For billing purpose (when the time spent on an activity is

billed to the client), you want to know the amount of time spent on an activity. This

tracking can also help in effective time management.

For example, if you want to record the time spent on a phone call, do the following:

1. Open your calendar software.

2. Select Go > Journal.

3. Select File > New Journal Entry. A window similar to the one below appears.

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4. Enter the following details:

a. In the Subject: text box, type A/C Repair Service, Maintenance

Feedback Call

b. .Select Phone Call from the Entry Type: dropdown menu

c. If you plan to complete this call within ten minutes (based on your

experience), select 10 minutes from Duration: dropdown menu.

5. When you are ready to dial the call, select Start Timer. Notice the Start Timer

is grayed out and Pause timer is available indicating the progress of this

Journal.

6. You can use the text area to record the comments of this call. Once the call is

complete, select Pause Timer.

7. Click Save & Close. Notice the Journal entry is created and displayed in your

calendar (figure below).

Now create manual entries for activities such as meeting, sending letters, etc. using

the procedure outlined in this session.

EXERCISE


S.No. Activities

1. Create a manual Journal entry for the following:

a. School Annual day preparation discussion (discuss and document key points as summary in the text area).

ASSESSMENT

Fill in the blanks

1. Timer option is available under ________ group of ____________ tab.

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SESSION 14: REPLY TO A TASK REQUEST

RELEVANT KNOWLEDGE

When working together as a team, you may have a list of tasks assigned to each

person in the team. For example, if you want to organize a school annual day

function, a team is formed and tasks are assigned to each student. This makes it

easier to complete the project on time.

This is also called work delegation. The same scenario exists in a real work life. Tasks

can be assigned to coworkers and subordinates. Each Task has a due date, a priority,

and other settings such as whether you want status updates, privacy options, etc.

You have learnt to create tasks in earlier sessions. You can create task requests for

others using the email messaging software.

Create a task

If you want to assign an existing task from your calendar, do the following:

1. Open your calendar software

2. Select Go > Tasks

3. Create a task, for example:

a. Subject: Collect donation from all students

b. Select a target date from Start Date: and Due Date: dropdown

c. Use the Task body to include task items or instructions for this task

4. Notice the Owner: field (Currently you are owner of this task) (figure below)

5. Select Save & Close. Notice the task is created in your task list (image below).

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Assign a task

To assign this task to someone, do the following:

1. Double-click the task to open the task (figure below)

2. Select Assign Task from Manage Task group. A window similar to the one below

appears.

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3. Select To…, and then select the contact (whom you want the task assigned)

from your address book.

4. Select the schedule using Start Date: and End Date: to indicate timelines for

the activity.

5. To keep track the progress of the assigned task, select both Keep an updated

copy of this task on my task list and Send me a status report when this task is

complete.

6. Click OK. A window similar to the one below appears.

7. You have assigned the task to the contact. To send this task, select Send. The

task is sent to the contact through email.

Accept the request (Recipient’s end)

The contact(s) whom you have assigned this task to receive a notification on opening

their email (refer figure below).

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The contact(s) can either Accept or Reject the request. If they select Accept, the task

will is added and can be viewed in their Tasks list (figure below).

Once the task is accepted, the ownership is transferred and now when you view the

task by double clicking on it, you see the following details:

Do you notice a difference? List them out.

Sending updates

Now the assignee will send updates of the progress and complete this task. To send an

update, you need to do the following:

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1. Open the task to be updated.

2. In the task form, enter the updated information. Any previously entered

information can be modified and new information added.

Note: To view who will receive updates, select Details. The Update List line

displays the user name(s) of who will receive updates.

3. On the task request toolbar, click Save & Close. A task update is automatically

sent to those on the update list.

Once the task is completed, the sender can indicate so by doing the following

1. Select Mark Complete Mark Complete in Manage Task group to indicate to the

sender that the task is complete.

2. On doing so, an email is automatically sent to the contact who originally

assigned this task.

The sender (Original owner) receives a mail similar to the one below:

Sender’s task list is automatically updated with the status of this task and can be

viewed in their task list as being struck out.(figure below):

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This method of assigning existing tasks from your task list can also be used when the

task is originally assigned to you and you to transfer the task to someone else.

Tracking task status

Just because you delegate a task to someone does not mean your responsibility is

over. Hence, even though you assigned a task to someone else, you will still need to

keep track of the progress on the task. This helps to avoiding any last minute

surprises. You will receive a status report from the recipient similar to the one below:

To view the status of the task, do the following:

1. Select Go > Tasks

2. Double-click on the task. A window similar to the one below appears:

3. Notice the Status: displayed as In Progress as updated by the recipient. Also

notice the highlighted message above subject indicating the deadline and the

date & time of the last update received.

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EXERCISE


S.No. Activities

1. Create Task request for the following:

a. School Annual day Celebration

b. Eye Donation Camp

Use the following guidelines:

a. Create a complete plan with list of activities

b. Assign different tasks to each person within the group

c. Track the progress by periodically updating the tasks

ASSESSMENT


1. Explain the purpose of Task Request.

2. Explain the procedure to initiate a Task Request.

Fill in the blanks

1. Once a task is complete, you need to select ___________ in Manage Task

group.

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LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS

Advisors:

1. Mr. Ajay Mohan Goel, Director - Skills College, Wadhwani Foundation.

2. Mr. Austin Thomas, Director – Skills College Initiative, Wadhwani Foundation.

3. Prof. R.B. Shivagunde, Joint Director, PSSCIVE, Bhopal.

4. Dr. Vinay Swarup Mehrotra, Head, Curriculum Development and Evaluation Centre,

PSSCIVE, Bhopal.

Subject Matter Experts:

1. Ms. Sonia Kakkar. Wadhwani Foundation.

2. Mr. Karthik Chandru, Wadhwani Foundation.

3. Ms. Toral Veecumsee, Wadhwani Foundation.

4. Mr. Ajay Goel, Wadhwani Foundation.

5. Mr. Austin Thomas, Wadhwani Foundation.

Editing:

1. Ms. Sonia Kakkar, Wadhwani Foundation.

2. Dr. Vinay Swarup Mehrotra, Head, Curriculum Development and Evaluation Centre,

PSSCIVE, Bhopal.

Coordination:

1. Ms. Rekha Menon, Wadhwani Foundation.

2. Mr. Ajay Goel, Wadhwani Foundation.

3. Mr. Austin Thomas, Wadhwani Foundation.

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