connect@stern

Basics

Connect Overview
Logging On and Off Connect@Stern
Session Expiration
Navigating Connect@Stern
Customizing your initial view
Using the Zimbra Assistant
User Inferface Features and Shortcuts
About Zimlets

Connect Overview

When you log into the advanced Connect@Stern web collaboration system you will see a full window view similar to the one shown below. This is the mail view, which is the default view upon login. The view changes when using the different applications, such as address book and calendar. Various parts of the window are notated in red and described below.

Search area You can enter a word in the search field to do a Quick Search of the Inbox, and you can click Advanced Search to create a query to search for specific types of information such as dates, types of attachment, tags, etc. You can also save a search query to quickly perform the same search again.

Name and quota The user name you used to log in and your mailbox quota are displayed in this area.

Application tabs The applications that you may access are listed in the tabs at the top. Click on the tab to open the application. On the right of the tabs are Help and Log Out links.

Toolbar Shows actions available for the application you are currently using. In this example, the mail application toolbar is displayed.

Content pane The content of this area changes depending on which application is in use. All messages or conversations in your Inbox are displayed in the Inbox view.

Overview pane Displays folders necessary for the application you are using. When you are in the mail application, the Overview pane displays system folders (Inbox, Sent, Drafts, Junk, and Trash), as well as any custom folders you created, searches you saved, tags you created, and Zimlet links that may have been created within your mailbox.

Mini-calendar can be displayed below the Overview pane. Displaying the mini-calendar is optional and can be enabled from the Options>Calendar tab.

Logging In and Logging Off

You must log in to use the Connect@Stern web collaboration platform. Two versions of the Connect@Stern platform are available, advanced and basic. Connect@Stern defaults to the advanced version, unless you specifically click on the link under the login box to access the basic version.

The advanced Connect@Stern offers more features, including automatic address look-up and completion. The advanced version works with IE and Firefox and faster internet connections. The basic version is for Safari browsers and is a good option when internet connections are slow.

To Log in:

Open a browser window and type http://connect.stern.nyu.edu. Alternatively, you may access the Connect@Stern webmail from within SIMON or from Sternlinks webpage.

When the login screen appears, type your Stern NetID or user name and your password. If you want to use the basic web client, in the Click here to switch to the basic web client sentence click the here link. A new log on page is displayed. Your password displays as ****** on-screen, to protect your privacy.

If you check Remember me on this computer, you do not have to log in every time you restart the browser during a day. If you do not log off, your session remains active until the session expires. The session will expire two hours from initial login.

Note: If you leave your web client open in your browser but do not access your mailbox for a period of time, your session may time out and then you will need to log back in.

To log off:

To prevent others from using to your email account, you should always use the Log Off link located in the upper right-hand corner to close your Connect@Stern webmail session.

If your session expires

Connect@Stern is configured with a two hour session time-out that automatically logs you off after two-hours of inactivity. If you leave a compose message window open and leave your computer for longer than two hours, Connect@Stern will automatically log you out and your incomplete message will be lost. To avoid losing any work, be sure to save messages you are composing as drafts before walking away from your Connect@Stern session.

If a window of more than two-hours of inactivity has passed, you may see the log on screen appear even if you had been logged on. If this happens, login in again to begin a new session and continue working.

Navigating Connect@Stern

Connect@Stern combines email, calendar and address book tools under one easy log in accessible from any recent internet browser. Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, and Macintosh Safari, the three most popular internet browsers, may be used to access Connect@Stern.

When using Connect@Stern keep the following general navigation guidelines in mind:

Do not use the browser's Back button. This will take you out of Connect@Stern.
To log out, click Log Out.
If you browse to a different site without logging out first, your session may remain active.
Do not use the browser's Reload or Refresh buttons. Doing so will restart your session, requiring you to login again. You will lose any unsaved drafts.

Customizing your initial view

By default, your mailbox opens with the Inbox view. All messages in your Inbox are displayed in the Content pane. You can change the initial view to be any of the folders, searches, or tags in your Overview pane. You may want to open only your unread messages, or all messages that are marked with a specific tag, or a specific folder. You can customize your initial view from the Options>Mail>Initial mail search field.
Examples of what you might put in the initial mail search field:

· To see only unread messages, type is:unread.
· To see email with a specific tag, type tag: followed by a tag name, for example tag:ToDo.
· To see email in a folder other than your Inbox, enter in: followed by a folder name, for example in:Work.
· Use quotes if the folder or tag is more than one word. For example in:"Unread Email."

Using the Zimbra Assistant

Zimbra Assistant is an advanced user feature that provides a quick way to interact with the Connect web client using the keyboard to do the following tasks:

Create new appointments
Go to a specific date in your calendar
Create new contacts
Send a new email message without switching context from what you are currently doing

You can open Zimbra Assistant using a keyboard shortcut. This will work in any view except Options. The keyboard shortcut to open Zimbra Assistant is Shift + ~ (tilde, located in the upper-left corner of your keyboard, below the Esc key). Below are the general steps for using Zimbra Assistant.

1. From within the Connect@Stern web client, enter a tilde (~). The Zimbra Assistant dialog displays.

2. Enter one of the following commands

To create an appointment, type appointment. You can then enter a subject in closed quotation marks, and the time, day of week, and date of the appointment.

Optionally, type the location in brackets and any notes for the appointment in parentheses. (If you do not use brackets or parentheses, the location and notes will appear in the subject line.) Click OK. If you want more advanced appointment features, click More Details to go to the Calendar Appointment page.

To go to a specific date in your calendar, type calendar and the date, or the day of the week. Click OK.

After the date you can enter the calendar view you prefer: Day, Work Week, Week, or Month view. The calendar then opens in that view.

To create a new contact, type contact and enter the contact name, email address, etc. Click OK. If you want to open the Contacts detail form, click More Details. On this form you can specify which address book to add the contact name.
To send an email without opening the compose windows, type mail. Enter the subject in quotes; type to:name@address and then type the body of the message. Click OK.

User Inferface Features and Shortcuts

The web client interface includes many convenient features. Below are some examples.
Down-arrow menus Some command buttons have a small down-arrow icon next to them. Clicking on the button performs one action, and clicking on the down-arrow icon displays additional menu choices.
rag and drop. Click on and drag a message or conversation onto a folder to quickly move it from one folder to another. Drag and drop can also be used in Address Book and Calendar.
Right-click menus Many sections of the interface have pop-up menus that appear when you click your right mouse button. The exact menu choices that appear depend on the type of item you choose.

Conversations You can mark conversations as read or unread, apply tags to conversations, delete conversations, or move conversations between folders.

Messages You can reply to or forward the message, mark it as read or unread, apply tags to the message, delete the message, move it to another folder, print, show original header information, and create a new filter.

Names in message headers You can perform searches on the name, begin composing a new email message addressed to that person, or add the person to your personal contacts list. If the name is an existing contact, you can edit the contact entry.

Folders You can create a new folder, mark all items within the folder as read, delete or rename the folder, move the folder, expand all folders, or search.

Paging In the toolbar, the left and right arrows show that there are additional pages to view. Use the left and right arrows to page back and forth. The numbers represent the sequence of messages on that page.

About Zimlets

Zimlets are small programs created as a mechanism to integrate third-party information and content with the Connect@Stern web application. Zimlets allow you to interact with different content types in your email messages. For example:

Click on the URL in a message to launch a browser window to go to that URL. Hover above the URL to see a preview of the site.
Right-click on a phone number to make a call from your computer soft phone, such as Skype or a Cisco VOIP phone.
Right-click on a date within a message to see your Calendar and to schedule a meeting without leaving the message.
Right-click on a name, address, or phone number to update your address book.

Other Zimlets may be available from the Overview pane.