Email contact groups can now be created in Outlook 2011 on the Mac. Unfortunately, the groups you create in Outlook 2011 will only exist on your actual MacBook in Outlook 2011. They will not appear in Webmail nor will they sync to the server. This is simply a limitation of using the Mac to connect to Exchange 2010 at this time.

Important Background Information
To create groups locally on your computer, the ‘On My Computer’ option needs to be visible. Once you complete the steps in the directions below, you will see two storage spaces for email, which can be confusing. You will always need to be clicked on your account's email storage space, which is titled with your name. The other, ‘On My Computer’ should never be highlighted. If it is highlighted, you may think your email is gone, when all of your email is still there, just under the account titled with your name.



How-To Create Contact Groups in Outlook 2011
Now that you understand which account to use for ensuring that your email works on an ongoing basis, please click on the link from Microsoft's Office for Mac help website below and follow the instructions to set-up Contact Groups.

> Create a contact group (Microsoft Office: mac)

One more tip: When you are on the above website, for the applicable directions, please make sure the flag is opened under the ‘If Contact Group is Not Available’ link and follow those directions (as pictured with the red circle in the image below).

Tags: Exchange, Outlook 2011

Recently, we've had a rash of complaints from certified staff members whose Internet Service Provider is Comcast about their inability to access their District 21 email via Entourage 2008 on their Staff MacBook. Typically, these staff members have received a message like that pictured below:


We know that this error is real and is taking place, but we have been unable to consistently replicate. Nothing has changed on our end in regard to our District 21 Exchange server, firewall configuration, or other technical structure that should be causing this. We believe that the issue is on Comcast's end, but in order to help resolve this, staff members are asked to do the following when they see this dialog box while working at home with a Comcast connection:

• Record the specific date and time that this took place
• Open Safari and try to navigate to http://webmail.ccsd21.org
• Email helpdesk@net56.com and tell them exactly when this took place and whether or not you were able to access Exchange Webmail at http://webmail.ccsd21.org
• If you were unable to access Exchange Webmail, too, you might also choose to call Comcast and report the issue to them.

Thank you for your assistance in collecting data to track down this problem.

Tags: Exchange, Entourage 2008, Staff MacBook

Today, District 21 staff members receive very little spam despite the fact that over 90% of all email is spam. For us, nearly all of that spam is blocked by our spam filter. The spam emails that we have recently seen sneak through our filter typically from random and changing domains from around the world. (A domain is what follows the "@" symbol in an email address.) Sometimes, though, more menacing spam can appear that seems to be from a more trusted source.

How can spammers send email from a friend or colleague's work or personal account? This is able to happen because the account is compromised as the spam creators somehow obtain the username and password information of the email address's rightful owner in order to send from this account. This serves as a good opportunity for us to understand how this can take place and what all of us can do to try and prevent this.

How do the spam creators get the username and password information? There are two typical methods: (1) The use of software that will automatically try to enter millions of different passwords for each username until it finds one that works or (2) the user will simply give his or her username and password combination to the spammers without realizing it.

When this happens to a company or if it would happen to us, the entire company (or School District 21) would be at-risk. If our domain (@ccsd21.org) is used to send out spam, it will be blocked by other servers' spam filters, and we'll be unable to send emails to other organizations that block our emails.

So, what can you do to prevent this?
First, staff members should use rigorous passwords that do not use regular words or names. Our minimum password requirements assist with this. Organizations can and, often times, also do require users to frequently change passwords, too (i.e., every 90 days), and this further improves security.

Second, you should never give your password out--and definitely never via email. In District 21, we will not ever request password information in an email. If we did, it would only be on the phone or in-person or, possibly, via our own iChat services. Even in those cases, our preferred method for solving most problems is to temporarily change your password and then ask you to change it back when the problem has been resolved. Either way, please do not email your confidential information to anyone.


Our Internet-based safety is like our real world safety in that a "neighborhood watch" is probably the best approach to keeping all of us safe. In so many ways, it's a very different world in 2011, and we appreciate all of your efforts to keep us collectively safe and to provide instruction to our students that prepares them to be successful with these major shifts in society.

Tags: Exchange, Active Directory

Entourage mail program keeps a list of recent e-mail addresses from people you have corresponded with. While this can save time typing out the full address, it’s annoying when the recently used address turns out to be wrong.

If you want to remove that incorrect entry from the recently used list in Entourage 2008:

• Create a new message and start typing the address you want to remove.
• When the pop-up menu of suggested addresses appears, select the incorrect one.
• Hold down the Control key and click on the address.
• Choose the Add to Address Book from the menu to create a new contact. (Yes! You’re actually going to create an incorrect address first!)

Now that you’ve created a contact file with the incorrect address:

• Select the incorrect contact from your Contacts list, go to the Edit menu, and choose Delete Contact.
• Once you delete the contact and discard the blank message you created, the entry should disappear from the Recent Addresses list.

If you want to wipe out all the addresses on the entire Recent Addresses list,

• Go to the Entourage menu and choose Preferences.
• On the left side of the Preferences box, under the Mail & News Preferences, click on the Compose line.
• On the right side of the Preferences box, in the Recent Addresses area, click on the Clear List button.

Tags: Exchange, Entourage 2008

We cannot see your password. We can reset it, though. Actually, you can just call the Help Desk (847.934.8100-press 2), and they can reset it for you.

...BUT... Your next step then is to go to a school Computer Lab, LMC Lab, or one of the silver teacher workroom iMacs, and log-in with your username (firstname.lastname) and the default password that the Help Desk will give you when your password has been reset. When you do that, you will have to create a new password, which meets the following requirements:

• Minimum of 8 characters
• At least 3 of the 4 following types of characters: uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers, and/or punctuation

From there, using your new password, at home, school, or anywhere, you can use a web browser to access your email, calendar, and contacts at:
http://webmail.ccsd21.org

Likewise, this password can be used to access your home directory by simply logging in to an up-to-date/modern computer at school as well as for any wikis for which you are a member.

Tags: Webmail, Exchange, Home Directory, Wikis

“Our servers should be younger than our Kindergarteners.”

This adage is one that school districts aspire to achieve and maintain.

In our quest to provide the best possible tools for students and staff members within our existing resources, we have moved to the Enterprise-class Microsoft Exchange email, calendar, contacts productivity server. Rather than move everyone in a single, sweeping, over-the-weekend transition is as often-the-case with such a change, we have taken a different approach. We have slowly moved groups of people over during the course of the last three years. On Friday, August 27th, the last current CommuniGate user will be moved to Exchange (and celebrations will ensue throughout District 21)!!!

The CommuniGate server will be shutdown this coming Sunday evening, August 29th, after 7.00 PM. After that time, messages on CommuniGate will no longer be available to be retrieved. Most staff have had at least three months to clear these messages from the CommuniGate server in the event that they wanted to retain the messages.




From Listservs to Groups
With this move, we are also in the process of enabling the groups in Active Directory as Mail Groups. These function a little differently than listservs.

First, Active Directory is designed to control most functions within our school district related to computers for each student and staff member. It provides a map for each individual’s electronic life in CCSD21, connecting you with your files, your email, etc. When someone is hired, she is put in to Active Directory, and when she leaves CCSD21, she is taken out, and all of those permissions vanish with her!

Another feature of Active Directory is that we can make groups, and then, we can use that same group for multiple purposes. For example, each school has a Staff group, and that group has permissions on the school-wide staff wiki on the teams.ccsd21.org server and that group will now also be the school’s staff email group.

So, what do you need to know in order to use the new email groups?

• Composing an email--To send an email to the entire staff, just do what you’ve done in the past--send an email to the group. For example, in the screenshot below, I am sending an email to the iTech and Principals groups. If I wanted to send one to the staff at London, I would enter london_staff in the TO line of my email. Then, everyone in the London Staff group in Active Directory would receive the email.
• Replying to an email--This is one of the biggest changes from a listserv. Now, when you hit reply to a message that was sent to the entire group, it will only be received by the original sender of the email, not by the whole group. The benefit is that this eliminates the possibility of accidentally sending an unintended response to everyone, as so often happens! If you want everyone to see your response, you simply hit “Reply to All” instead of “Reply”.

With this change, all of the new teachers, who were only included in Exchange and never entered in to CommuniGate will start receiving school staff emails. So, beginning next week, the staff email group (Remember, it’s not a listserv anymore!) for each school should be complete.

Finally, as with all of the users in Active Directory, the group names are searchable in Entourage 2008, Outlook 2007 and 2010, and Outlook Web App, so you can look up a group if you don’t know its name. To make this transition as easy as possible, nearly all group names match those that were previously used in CommuniGate!

Tags: Staff MacBook, CommuniGate, Exchange, Entourage 2008, Webmail

Previously, we had anticipated being able to begin allowing CCSD21 staff members to access Exchange via their personal smartphones as early as today. Unfortunately, our current mix of staffing and other ongoing summer projects is going to cause us to delay this. As we move through our summer projects, we are continuing to re-evaluate how best to accomplish all of them in an efficient and timely manner while continuing to provide training and resources to staff in order to accomplish these projects. As soon as we are ready and able to begin scheduling appointments with staff regarding signing up to access your District 21 email, calendar, and contacts on a personal smartphone, we will communicate that to all staff via email. Again, we thank you for your patience.

Tags: Staff MacBook, Exchange, SmartPhones

How do I check my Exchange email when I don’t have my Staff MacBook with me?

If you are without your laptop and want to check your email, calendar, and contacts, simply go to Outlook Web App (OWA), also known as Exchange Webmail. This is linked on the left sidebar on the Staff homepage, and can be found at:

webmail.ccsd21.org

There is also a PDF document that is available to help you navigate using OWA. To access this document, which is on the CCSD21 Exchange Support page, you will need to enter your Active Directory Username and Password.

Tags: Staff MacBook, Webmail, Exchange

As we move all District 21 staff members over to Exchange 2010 from CommuniGate during the closing months of the 2009-2010 school year, many staff members are interested in being able to access their email, calendar, and contacts on their personal smartphones. With certain parameters, District 21 is going to allow staff members to gain access to ActiveSync and their Exchange data beginning during the Summer of 2010. (Unfortunately, the CCSD21 Technology Office will not be able to devote time to supporting this until July 2010.)

Initially, we will only be able to support the iPhone/iPod Touch, and users will need to be running iPhone OS 3.0 or newer. From there, as described in the policy form, we hope to add Android OS 2.1 or newer to our supported devices. Then, in the Fall, when Windows Phone is released, we intend to add that OS, as well.

Beginning July 12, 2010, staff members can begin to contact the Tech Office to make an appointment (approximately 15 minutes) to get their phone enabled in the iPhone Management Software. For details on the policy, read it now!

UPDATED-12 July 2010

Tags: Exchange, SmartPhones

Changing Default Font
In Entourage 2008, you can change your default font and font size, however, you cannot change the default color. The default color will always remain black.

To change the default font style, first open Entourage, and then, under Entourage in the menu bar at the top of the screen, choose Preferences.


Then, in Preferences, choose Fonts from the column on the left side.


On the right-hand side, you can choose how to set different parts of your message to different font sizes and styles by using the drop-down menus. Once you are done, hit OK.


Manually Changing Fonts for Individual Emails
You can change the color, size, and style of the font for individual emails manually. To do so, first open a new email in Entourage and enter in the usual information (recipient, subject, etc..) for composing an email. Then, select the new font color, size, and style you would like to use from the menus, just like you would in a word processing document.

Once you begin typing you will see how the new font looks. When you are done with the content of the message, hit Send. Your next email will go back to your default settings.


When choosing fonts, colors, and styles, please remember that your text communicates voice and tone in an email, so when choosing to use bold characters, all uppercase letters, and/or specific colors, you are communicating non-verbal cues via email. Choose carefully!

Tags: Staff MacBook, Entourage 2008, Exchange

If you are using Entourage 2008 from home, when you begin to enter an email address, Entourage 2008 will remember the email addresses of people you’ve recently emailed or who have recently emailed you as well as the users that will pop up from Active Directory. Of course, if you’d like, you could add anyone in as a contact (See Atomic Learning). Then it will be stored in Entourage 2008 and on your computer, and it will sync to your Exchange account. Remember, though, that once everyone is switched to Exchange/Entourage, everyone’s default email address will be firstname.lastname@ccsd21.org.

If/when you use Outlook Web App (OWA/Exchange Webmail) feature through your web browser, only the users that you’ve written to before will be stored.

Tags: Entourage 2008, Exchange

Beginning in March 2010 and continuing through May 2010, new Apple MacBooks will be distributed to all non-administrative, certified staff members. During this same period, all District 21 staff members will be moved from the CommuniGate email server to Microsoft’s Exchange 2010 server.

Certified staff members will utilize Entourage 2008 with Exchange Web Services as their primary application for accessing their Exchange 2010 email, calendar, contacts, tasks, and notes. Entourage 2008 is installed on individual Staff MacBooks. Initial training with Entourage 2008 will take place when staff members receive their laptops. From there, staff members will be able to access the wealth of resources available on AtomicLearning.com to learn more about Entourage 2008.

Non-Certified staff members, such as assistants and custodians among others, will access their Exchange 2010 accounts through the web browser using Outlook Web Access. These individuals receive their initial training from District Technology Office staff or building iTech teachers.

(Central Office staff in the Business Office, Human Resources, and Operations will use Outlook 2007 as the client through which they will use to access their Exchange 2010 email, calendar, contacts, tasks, and notes. Training for these individuals, where necessary will come from District Technology Office staff and via AtomicLearning.com.)

Some important information about the move from CommuniGate to Exchange:

• Email from CommuniGate will not be transferred to Exchange. When you are first moved in to Exchange, you will have an empty Exchange 2010 Inbox.
• You will have continual access to your CommuniGate Inbox until June 2010. No new emails will come in to that Inbox, but it can serve as an archive during the transition to Exchange. On a daily basis, it will only be necessary to check this email daily.
• If you would like to do so, you can forward your CommuniGate messages to yourself, but this is not recommended. You will not be able to reply to the original sender of those messages. Rather, it is recommended that if you would like to archive certain emails, you should do so by saving them as PDFs and filing them as documents in your home directory. You can do this by using the Print dialog box on a Mac and choosing Save as PDF from the lower left corner of that Print dialog box.

• In Late June 2010, the CommuniGate email server will be permanently disconnected and will no longer be accessible.

Finally, the day before staff members receive their MacBooks, users will cease to receive new emails in their CommuniGate Inboxes. They can log in to CommuniGate and send emails during the interim period, but no new emails will arrive there. Users will be able to view new emails once they have logged in to their Exchange client, Entourage 2008 or Outlook Web Access (OWA).

Tags: CommuniGate, Exchange, Staff MacBook