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Text File | 1994-02-26 | 26.6 KB | 546 lines

OUT OF THE OFFICE (C) Copyright 1993 by Cobblestone Software All rights reserved. No part of the program may be reproduced in any manner without written permission of Cobblestone Software. cc:Mail is a registered trademark of Lotus, Inc. Cobblestone Software 517 Thompson Avenue Suite C Mountain View, CA 94043 Telephone: 415/493-6937 Introduction Out of the Office is a service. It handles your electronic mail while you are unavailable. When you know you'll be away, you can use Out of the Office to do the following: o Notify people who send you electronic mail that you are away and the date you will return. If you like, you can include a personalized message with your notice. o Forward your incoming electronic mail to whomever you like (optional). Out of the Office leaves you copies of all electronic mail you received so you can examine them when you return. System Requirements As electronic mail administrator, you need to be aware of the following system requirements: o A dedicated electronic mail server. o At least 640 KB of RAM. o MS/DOS 3.3 or higher. o IMPORT.EXE and EXPORT.EXE, version 3.21 or higher. (Sold in cc:Mail Import/Export by cc:Mail, a division of Lotus.) o CHKSTAT.EXE, version 3.1 or higher. (Sold in cc:Mail Platform Pack for DOS by cc:Mail, a division of Lotus.) Version 4.0 and higher also require ENGLISH.RI, which is included in the Platform Pack. About This Manual This manual provides information on the installation and operation of Out of the Office. It is made up of the following: o Chapter 1, Installation, is for the electronic mail administrator. It explains the software installation process. o Chapter 2, Using Out of the Office, is for electronic mail users. If necessary, Chapter 2 can be photocopied and distributed to all electronic mail users. For More Help If you are the electronic mail administrator, and you have questions regarding Out of the Office, please contact Cobblestone Software by phone or electronic mail by using the access numbers on the copyright page. If you are an electronic mail user and have any more questions regarding Out of the Office, contact your electronic mail administrator. Chapter 1 Software Installation and Setup This chapter is for the electronic mail administrator. It explains how to install the Out of the Office mail server and how to set up the server's environment for optimal performance. Before You Begin Before you install Out of the Office, make a backup copy of your Out of the Office diskette. Use the DOS DISKCOPY command to make your backup. For example, if you have two floppy drives of the same type, do the following: 1. Insert your Out of the Office diskette (source) in drive A: and your formatted blank diskette (target) in drive B:. 2. If your AUTOEXEC.BAT Path statement doesn't specify your DOS directory, change to your DOS directory. 3. Type DISKCOPY A: B: and press [ENTER]. Follow the prompts. (If you only have one disk drive, type DISKCOPY A: A: and press [ENTER].) Use the backup diskette to install Out of the Office. Also before you begin, insert your Out of the Office backup diskette in drive A: and view or print the README file. It contains release notes and information received too late to be included in this manual. Installation Complete the following steps to install Out of the Office on your mail server: 1. Create an Out of the Office directory. On your mail server, create a directory named OFFICE. For example, at the DOS prompt, type and enter the following: MD OFFICE [ENTER] 2. Change to the OFFICE directory. Type and enter the following: CD OFFICE [ENTER] 3. Copy cc:Mail files to the OFFICE directory. You need to copy the following cc:Mail files from your cc:Mail Import/Export diskette to the OFFICE directory: IMPORT.EXE EXPORT.EXE CHKSTAT.EXE If you are using the cc:Mail DOS Platform Pack, also copy the following file: ENGLISH.RI Note: ENGLISH.RI is included only in Platform Pack version 4.0 or greater. 4. Run the INSTALL program. Insert your copy of the Out of the Office diskette into drive A:. Type the following: A: [ENTER] INSTALL [ENTER] 5. Enter your post office information. The INSTALL program starts by prompting you for your post office name, password, and path. Out of the Office needs this data to run properly. When you enter all your post office data and press [ENTER], INSTALL verifies this data. If INSTALL cannot access the post office, the program aborts and a message displays stating the reason. Check your post office name, password, and path and try again. 6. Choose directory for files. INSTALL asks you what directory you want for the Out of the Office files. Select your OFFICE directory. Note: Out of the Office checks for this directory. If not available, or if you type the name wrong, INSTALL aborts.) 7. Choose your Out of the Office Cobblestone server name. Software suggests using At this point the INSTALL program "Out of the prompts you to enter a server name for Office" as your Out of the Office, which is later server name. automatically added to the cc:Mail directory. Type a name, and press [ENTER]. Note: cc:Mail treats Out of the Office as another user. The name you enter here appears on the mail list directory whenever you display it. 8. INSTALL copies and creates files. 9. Edit your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. The INSTALL program instructs you to add a statement to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Using your favorite text editor, add the statement you see displayed into your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. 10. Reboot your mail server. IMPORTANT ----------------------------------- If you get an "Out of Environment Space" message when running Out of the Office, add the following line to your CONFIG.SYS file: SHELL=C:\COMMAND.COM /p /e:1024 ------------------------------------ This completes the software installation portion of your Out of the Office installation and setup. Out of the Office Setup and Use To continuously update the necessary electronic mail files, Out of the Office must run on a consistent basis. If you use cc:Mail Router or Gateway, you can integrate Out of the Office into your system by using the supplied batch file, OLOOP.BAT, or by modifying your existing configuration to acheive similar results. If you do not use cc:Mail Router or Gateway, then use the supplied utility, WAIT.EXE. (Its usage is noted in OLOOP.BAT.) It is advisable to set up Out of the Office to run every 15 minutes. (Running it takes approximately 10 seconds of server time.) This sets up a response time for mail message replies that would be no more than 15 minutes from the time the original message was sent. Once you set up your batch file, Out of the Office is configured and ready for use. To start the program, execute the batch file you edited (OLOOP.BAT) or the one you created. Once you run the batch file, Out of the Office will search for and respond to queries every 15 minutes (or more if a longer response time is set). This completes the Out of the Office software installation and setup. To use Out of the Office, go to Chapter 2. Chapter 2 Using Out of the Office You communicate with Out of the Office as you would any person in the mail directory. You simply send the necessary information to the Out of the Office server on your network. Your electronic mail administrator assigns a name to the Out of the Office server. This name will appear in your mail directory. If you are unsure of the server name or how to access it, ask your electronic mail administrator. Keywords Keywords tell Out of the Office what to do. They are commands that tell Out of the Office to send you information, add, delete, or list schedules, all by return mail. Insert keywords on the SUBJECT line of the letter you are sending to Out of the Office. The following are Out of the Office keywords. Their usage is fully explained in the sections that follow. HELP Displays a definition of Out of the Office and explains how to schedule an absence. SCHEDULE Displays the Schedule Absence Form. Use this form to tell Out of the Office when you plan to leave, return, who to forward mail to, and what special messages, if any, you would like to send. CANCEL Sends you a list of all your scheduled absences. From this list you can choose one or more to cancel. LIST Displays a list of all your scheduled absences. When properly installed, Out of the Office will run on a regular, periodic basis. Ask your electronic mail administrator how often Out of the Office runs. If Out of the Office runs every 15 minutes, then you will receive your reply within 15 minutes. Scheduling an Absence To schedule an absence with Out of the Office, you will need the Schedule Absence Form. To display the form on your screen, do the following: 1. Address a new message to the Out of the Office server. 2. On the "Subject:" line, type the word SCHEDULE. Note that the body of the message is unimportant and can be left blank. 3. Send the message. 4. Display the Out of the Office return message. The Schedule Absence Form is sent to you as a mail message from the Out of the Office server. When you receive it, open the message as you would any regular mail message. The Schedule Absence Form This form allows you to tell Out of the Office that you will be away and to define what you would like done with your electronic mail during your absence. Note: Please enter your data with care. Incorrect input could cause Out of the Office to misinterpret your meaning and reject the form. To schedule an absence, complete the following: 1. Open the Schedule Absence Form message from Out of the Office. 2. Fill in the remainder of the form using the following directions. The following questions are located in the Schedule Absence form: a. What is your cc:Mail password? Enter your cc:Mail password in this space (be sure to turn your keyboard insert function off). Out of the Office uses your cc:Mail password to access your mailbox while you are absent. Your password is kept secure in an encrypted format, which is deleted when you return from your absence. IMPORTANT ------------------------------------- Note that the screen echoes your password. If password security is an issue, make sure you do not leave an uncompleted form on your screen. Once the form is sent back to Out of the Office, the display will disappear. ------------------------------------- b. What date will your absence begin? Enter the date you plan to start your absence. You can enter it as MM/DD/YY or MM-DD-YY (e.g., 3/ 5/93 or 3-5-93). c. What date do you expect to return? Enter the date you plan to return. d. Would you like your mail forwarded and if so, to whom?) Enter either a Y or an N. If you answer Y, you can enter the name of another cc:Mail user on the next line. e. Do you want Out of the Office to alert people that you are away? Enter either a Y or an N. If you answer Y, you can type your message in the space provided. 3. Tell cc:Mail you want to reply to the form message. This changes the "TO:" line to "Out of the Office." 4. Send the message. Absence Confirmation A few minutes after you send your Schedule Absence Form, you will receive a confirmation message. List of Scheduled Absences If you have one or more absences scheduled, you can list them by doing the following: 1. Prepare a mail message addressed to the Out of the Office server. 2. On the Subject line, type LIST. 3. Mail the message. Out of the Office sends you a mail message listing any absences you scheduled. Cancel an Absence If you return from an absence sooner than you planned, or if you need to change a scheduled absence, you can cancel one or more notifications by doing the following: 1. Prepare a mail message addressed to the Out of the Office server. 2. On the Subject line, type CANCEL. 3. Mail the message. Out of the Office sends you a mail message which contains a form you can use to select absences to cancel. 4. Type an X between the square brackets [ ] on any schedules you want to delete. 5. Tell cc:Mail you want to reply to the cancellation form. This changes the address line to read ôTO: Out of the Office.ö 6. Mail the form. Deletion Confirmation Out of the Office will send you a confirmation message. For More Help If you have any more questions regarding Out of the Office, contact your electronic mail administrator. If you are the electronic mail administrator, and you have questions regarding Out of the Office, please contact Cobblestone Software at one of the access numbers on the copyright page.