Going Google at DePauw – We made it!

From Carol L. Smith, CIO

We are right on schedule with DePauw’s transition to Google Apps!

We initiated the switch from GroupWise/Tigermail to Google Apps last Saturday as planned and since then mail to DePauw is delivered directly to our Google Apps accounts. Things went well over the weekend, have continued smoothly through this week, and there are now close to 3300 people using DePauw’s Google Apps. Whew!

As we step into this next phase of the project (mainly copying what’s left in our GroupWise/Tigermail accounts and learning what’s new with the new system), I want to leave you with few quick tips and reminders about how email works now with Google Apps.

As I mentioned at the start of this project, we are excited about this upgrade for the campus. I really look forward to the new possibilities that it brings for supporting communication and collaboration in all aspects of our campus activities.

Thank you for your patience and perseverance in helping make this a successful transition!

Cheers,

--Carol.             “DePauw has Gone Google!”

Key points in the following include:

1. You can send now email to DePauw distribution lists from Google Apps


2. You CAN still read your old GroupWise/Tigermail email, but…


3. Remember! Don't use GroupWise/Tigermail to send mail, especially to other DePauw accounts


4. Check your Google Apps messages labeled as “Spam” occasionally


5. The Google Apps automatic out-of-office responder works now


6. Recommended browsers for using Google Apps


7. Where to find more help

1) You can send now email to DePauw distribution lists from Google Apps (i.e., faculty@depauw.edu, staff@depauw.edu, facultystaff@depauw.edu)

To do so, enter the entire address (e.g., “faculty@depauw.edu” not just “faculty”) in the “To:” field.

Two important points to know:

a) In Google Apps, these addresses are set up as special ‘groups,’ so the first time you send to one it won’t show up in the global address book (i.e., it won't auto-populate in the "To:" field). After that first send, though, it will be added to your own contact list and be auto-populated in subsequent sends.

b) The sender doesn’t receive a message he sends to a group, even though he is a member of the group. To make sure you get a copy of the message, just carbon copy (cc) yourself when you send it.

2) You can still read your old GroupWise/Tigermail email

GroupWise/Tigermail will still be available for you to read your old mail (or copy it to Google Apps) until October. You have until October to copy everything over that you wish to keep.

3) Remember! Don't use GroupWise/Tigermail to send mail, especially to other DePauw accounts

If you send a message using GroupWise to another DePauw address, it will be sent to the recipient’s GroupWise account. Unless that person has his GroupWise account set to forward messages to Google Apps (many people don’t!) and he doesn’t regularly check his old GroupWise account, he will not see your message.

4) Check your Google Apps messages labeled as “Spam” occasionally

Google has a great spam filter but occasionally legitimate mail is marked as spam, so it’s a good idea to check those messages, just in case.

If you find a message wrongly marked as spam, you can unmark it by select the message and clicking the “Not Spam” button. Unmarking a message will automatically move it to your inbox.

If you find that some senders' messages are consistently being mislabeled as spam, ways to prevent this are listed at http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=9008.

5) The Google Apps automatic out-of-office responder works now

To set up an out-of-office reply in Google Apps email, click ‘Settings’ and fill in the “Vacation responder” block under the General tab. Remember to click “Save Changes” at the bottom of the screen when you’re done.

6) Recommended browsers for using Google Apps

You can access http://mail.depauw.edu wherever you have an Internet connection via a PC, Linux, or Macintosh (Mac) computer. To take advantage of the newest Google Apps features, you'll need to use one of the following fully supported browsers:

- Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.0+
- Mozilla Firefox 3.0+
- Google Chrome 4.0+
- Safari 3.0+

7) If you have any other questions or need help

Visit Google Apps Help online at https://sites.google.com/a/depauw.edu/depauw-google-apps/ or email the HelpDesk (helpdesk@depauw.edu).

Also watch for information coming soon about continuing workshops and demonstrations about Google Apps.