First Class Email Tips and Tricks

This month, our First Class server software was upgraded to the latest version. So what's the big deal? Well, the deal is that the new software lets you design and put your calendar online. Got your interest? Well, not only can you put it online, but you can share it with others.

So, if you take the time, people who you wish can know exactly where you are and what you are doing. Why is this important? For one thing, if you have someone who really needs to know where you are, you can update your calendar anywhere you have First Class access. In my case, Debbie Primeau and the CAITs are always trying to figure out where I am. Now they can know.

In a school, a principal or support staff could post a weekly calendar and share it with staff. If you are the person who looks after the Resource Centre, you can put your bookings and available times online. If you schedule a computer lab, what periods are open? Post them in your calendar! The possibilities are endless.

Here's how to use it.

Step 1: Create a Calendar

From the File Menu, create your calendar. What? There's more than one option! You bet. In fact, there are various types of calendars.

• personal calendar - your own calendar. You can limit what others can see on your personal calendar.
• group calendar - a public calendar that enables a specific group of people to coordinate their time and tasks
• resource calendar - a public calendar that represents a specific resource, such as a projector. A resource calendar is normally updated when users book the resource as part of creating a calendar event. If you update a resource calendar directly, a new event is created on the same date in your personal calendar.
• location calendar - a public calendar that represents a specific resource, such as a meeting room. Location calendars are updated just like resource calendars.
  

Step 2: Create an Event

From the Message Menu, (hmmmm, this is just like creating a message, isn't it?) select a new calendar event. Or, what I found to be quicker, just find the day you wish to enter the event. Double click on the date and the form opens. From here, it's just a matter of filling in the blanks. To the right, you'll find my entry for a Career Cruising Workshop that I will be offering along with Peg Rooney. I have completed the description, location, and the time the workshop starts at and ends at. In the area below, you will find my notes reminding me what I have to do before the workshop.

Step 3: Repeat Until Done

Each event in the upcoming week is entered the same way. Unlike a desktop calendar where you have to actually be at your desktop, this calendar can have entries created wherever you are able to log into First Class. You'll notice that, on Wednesday, I have scheduled two events at the same time. Overlapping events will be flagged with a bright red bar to let you know that you're overbooked! In addition, there are other things booked for Wednesday. First Class is cooperative and puts in scroll bars so that you can scroll through and see them all.

Step 4: Share it.

Right now, the calendar is sitting on YOUR desktop. To make it available to others, click once on your calendar to highlight it. Now, from the Conferencing menu, select permissions. You can now determine just how much of the calendar people will see (and potentially be able to modify if you give them permissions) and the List of Subscribers (the people who will actually have the calendar on their First Class desktop).

So what's the catch? Well, you do have to have the latest client software for First Class. Older versions will show you just another conference with entries which is what your calendar is anyway.