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hosted by the City of Fort Lauderdale
Microsoft Outlook Web Access (OWA) is a web-based "scaled
down" version of the Outlook program normally used on a desktop
PC. It has many of the features that the Outlook desktop
program already provides. Such features are drag and drop
capabilities, Out-of-Office Assistant, pop-up Reminders, Deleted
Item Recovery, as well as routine messaging functions. You will
not have access to all of Outlook's desktop version features such
as special shortcuts, Call Pilot messages, Rules Wizard, folder
permissions, Personal Folders, etc. OWA's purpose and design
is to provide Internet access to your Inbox, Calendar, Contacts,
and sub-folders (including Public Folders).
Internet Explorer 5.01 and higher
are the only web browser versions that allow OWA to function to
its full potential and are the only web browsers supported by
the City. Internet Explorer 6.0 Service Pack 1 is the latest
version published by Microsoft. The City will not support
the installation of or problems associated with Internet Explorer
on your home PC unless they are directly related to OWA.
Shortcuts
Bar
The default
bar displayed in the left pane at first logon
is the Shortcuts bar. This area contains
shortcuts to the main Outlook folders: Inbox,
Contacts, Calendar, in addition to the Options
and Log Off icons.
Folders
Bar
The Folders
bar will display all of the folders in your
mailbox, including Public Folders. You
will not have access to any Personal Folders
that you may have previously mapped with
your Outlook desktop program. It is
not possible to add or view permissions to
any folders in your mailbox or public folders. To
access the Folders bar, click on the Folders
button at the top of the left pane.
Menu Bar
The menu
bar at the top area (underneath the Internet
Explorer address bar) contains many of the
same everyday functions that you use in the
Outlook desktop program. Move your
mouse over each one to discover its function.
 Inbox
The Inbox
window will only display 25 e-mails
at a time. To scroll through your
messages, click the arrows in the Menu
bar or type a number in the box next to
the arrows. It is still possible
to sort your e-mails by From, Subject,
Received, and Size by clicking the gray
header for each one of these fields. If
sorted by an alphabetic field such as From,
click on any message and then type the
first few letters of the name you are looking
for to move directly to that name.
If you
prefer to use the Preview Pane, click
on the  icon
located to the left of the Address Book
icon in the Menu bar. You will have
to turn on this feature every time you
connect from a new location.
E-mails
that have been read will not change the
message icon to an opened envelope. The
only change that will occur is the message
color changing from boldface to normal.
Sending
an e-mail is done in the same manner
as in the Outlook desktop program. Type
in all, or part, of the recipient name(s)
in the To: field and click the  icon. OWA
will check the Global Address List and
your personal Contacts to resolve the
name(s) when using the Check Names button.
The difference
for name resolution between the Outlook
desktop program and OWA is noticed when
clicking on the To: button. A list
of names from the Global Address List
and your Contacts will not be available
to scroll through. Type in part
of the recipient name in the respective
field and click the Find button to see
a list of names. OWA will only look
in the Global Address List for names
when using the Find button. Once
you have found the name you are looking
for, click the To:, Cc:, or Bc: button
at the bottom of the window to add the
name to the e-mail.
 Adding
Attachments
To add
an attachment to an e-mail, click the
Attachments button. Click the Browse
button to find the file name located
on your local PC hard drive that you
wish to attach. Connecting to OWA
will not give you access to your work
PC drive letters, i.e. M, S, & T
drives. Once you have selected the file
and clicked Open, you must click the
Attach button in the Attachments window. Depending
on the size of the file and the speed
of your Internet connection, it could
take anywhere from a few seconds to an
uncertain amount of time before you regain
access to OWA again. You will know
the upload of your attachment is ready
when the file name is displayed under
the Current file attachments section
in the Attachment window. Click
close to go back to the e-mail you are
sending. It is possible to send
more than one attachment, providing the
accumulative file size doesn't exceed
your limit. If you wish to remove
the attachment before sending, select
the file name from within the Current
file attachments section and click the
Remove button.
 Checking
for new E-mails
You will
be notified of any new incoming messages
by a small pop-up window located over
the system clock in the bottom right
corner of your monitor screen. This
pop-up will disappear after a few seconds. A
small envelope will also be visible at
the bottom of the OWA left pane when
a new message has arrived. Click
on the pop-up or small envelope to view
new messages. Alternatively, you
may click on the Send/Receive button
on the menu bar, or click the Refresh
button in your web browser. You
will only receive notifications of newly
arriving e-mails that are destined for
your Inbox folder. If you have
created a server-side rule that moves
messages to a folder other than the Inbox,
you will not be notified of its arrival.
Reading
E-mails with Attachments
To open an
attachment , click on the link located
under the Attachments area in the upper
portion of the message. Some attachment
file types such as a .HTML produce an
error message stating "This attachment
must be saved to disk. Right-click the
link and save from the menu."
The attachment types that cannot be opened directly in the same window,
such as an .HTML file, must be opened in a new window or saved directly
to your local hard drive.
- First try opening the file
in a new window: Right-click
on the attachment name and click Open
in New Window.
- If you are unable to open
the file in a new window, save it
to your local hard drive: Right-click
on the attachment name and click Save
Target As from the menu. Save
the file to your local hard drive,
find the saved file, and open it
from the saved location.
 Deleting
E-mails
To delete
an e-mail, select an individual message,
or a group of messages, and click the on
the Menu bar. It will take a moment
or two for the delete request to be sent. Deleted
messages will be moved to your Deleted
Items folder.
 Address
Book
The OWA Address
Book does not provide the ability to
scroll through a list of names from
the Global Address Book in the same manner
as the Outlook desktop program does. Type
in part of the recipient's name in the
respective field and click the Find button
to see a list of names. OWA will only check
names from the Global Address Book and
not from your Contacts folder.
 Calendar
Creating
an appointment is done in the same manner
as the Outlook desktop program.
The default
view for the Calendar folder is the Today
view and cannot be permanently changed. Select
alternate views from the Menu bar. If
you wish to view a month other than the
current one, scroll through the respective
months from the small monthly Calendar
in the upper right. OWA will not
automatically display the new month which
you have switched. To view this new
month, click one of the dates on the small
calendar.
 Contacts
Creating
a new Contact is done in the same manner
as the Outlook desktop program. To
scroll to an existing Contact, select any
Contact with your mouse and type the first
few letters of the name which you are searching. You
may also use the arrows in the Menu bar.
 Options
The Options interface will allow access
to turn on/off the Out of Office Assistant,
set special settings, change your domain
password, and Recover Deleted Items. After
making a change in the Options interface,
you must click on the Save and Close button
at the top.
 Change
Password
It is
possible to change your domain password
from within OWA. Type in your domain
name, username, old password and new
password. Click OK when all information
has been supplied.
If your
domain password is due to expire, a notice
will be displayed just below the menu
bar.
 Recovering
Deleted Items
If you
have emptied your Deleted Items folder,
it is possible to restore some, or all,
of the messages in the Deleted Items
dumpster. E-mails can be recovered
as far back as 30 days from the day they
were emptied from the Deleted Items folder. Select
which e-mails you wish to restore and
then click the Recover button. (This
feature is also available on the Outlook
desktop program by selecting the Deleted
Items folder and then selecting Recover
Deleted Items from the Tools menu.)
 Log
Off
It is HIGHLY recommended that you close
OWA and the Web Services Center by clicking
Log Off. You will need to log off of both
separately (i.e. you must log off two times). Log
Off can be found on the Shortcuts bar for
OWA and at the navigation area (left column)
of the WebServices Center.
When you are
finished with your session on the IT WebServices
Center, it is very important to close ALL
web browser windows that were opened with
your access to this site. We
have added additional security to prohibit
unauthorized access, but failure to
close ALL session windows could potentially
result in someone else gaining access with
your account. Please use extra caution
when connecting from a Public location.
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