Faculty/Staff Computing HelpDesk Firstclass Troubleshooting

The Ultimate HelpDesk Firstclass Troubleshooting Documentation

Mailbox Issues

Problems Sending Email & FirstClass Quota

If the user cannot send email it is possible that they have reached their space quota. Other symptoms include problems modifying their resume or preferences.

An indicator of your remaining disk storage space is located on the summary bar in your Mailbox and on your Desktop. If you hover your mouse over this bar, it will also tell you how much total space you were given. Additionally, you can use the Disk Usage Utility to find out how much of your FirstClass quota is being used:

1. Log in to FirstClass.
2. Open the Computing Questions conference on the desktop.
3. Double-click on the Disk Utility to check for the amount of space used.

Note: The Disk Usage Utility does not work if the user is accessing FirstClass through the web interface.

If the user has reached their quota, delete emails with large attachments. Delete messages rather than folders for the quota to immediately adjust, otherwise they will need to wait for the overnight system maintenance to adjust their quota. (To delete a folder, first empty it of messages.)

Quota increases are given only on a temporary emergency basis, for example if someone is on a trip and is unable to send messages or delete mail. However, do not suggest to the caller that a quota can be increased. Find out what you can about the situation and offer information about saving and deleting messages and attachments. If the caller wants to talk to someone about quota policy or her/his situation, refer the log to the FirstClass referral.

Problems Receiving Email

Make sure the sender is typing the email address correctly.

There is no longer a limit of received messages that can be stored in the Mailbox. Even if you haven't upgraded to Version 9.002, you no longer need to limit the number of files in your mailbox. Folders are still recommended to help organize.

Folders on Desktop

FirstClass Administrators recommend having folders only in the Mailbox. If the user keeps her e-mail messages in her main Mailbox or within folders in her Mailbox, they will not expire.

Do not keep messages on the FirstClass desktop or move mail folders to the FirstClass desktop. If they are moved out of the Mailbox they will have a default expiration of 30 days.

Note: This does not apply to folders that were directly created on your desktop. If you created folders on your desktop and uploaded files/emails to it, the folders will never expire. However, be sure to check if your individual emails or files can expire by selecting them and going to File > Properties > General > Expiry Period and selecting "Never."

Lost Messages in Mailbox

The messages in your Mailbox or conference can be temporarily filtered by one of four categories: Incoming, Outgoing, Unsent or Unread.

Check if you have any Filters on (View > Filter, see if anything on the list is checked). Revert to the default by choosing All Items.

Also, if there is a red flag but no apparent new messages, it is because the user who sent the message has unsent it. To get rid of the red flag, mark the conference or your Mailbox as read by selecting it and going to Message > Mark as Read.

Mail Rules

To create/modify Mailbox rules, you have to have FirstClass open and be on your Desktop with the Mailbox selected. You cannot be within your Mailbox. Otherwise Collaborate > Rules will be greyed out. Note: For FirstClass 8.3, some users might experience the Rules function being greyed out even when the Mailbox is selected. To access Rules when this occurs, go to Edit > Preferences > Messaging Tab, and use the Mailbox Rules button.

If the user creates a Mailbox rule that moves a received message to a sub-folder of the Mailbox, the message will lose its red flag. She will not know that this new message has been received until she opens the folder.

Do not create a Mailbox rule that sets up any message to "Delete silently." Messages deleted in this way can not be retrieved, can not be undeleted and do not show up with "Show deleted items." It is possible to set up very complex rules with unintended consequences.

If running into problems, disable the rules immediately. They can be turned on again later.

Note: Rules are interpreted in the order they appear in the Mailbox Rules window. If you have other Receive Mailbox Rules that also move certain messages into folders, you will want to place the Spam Rule last on the list of the Mailbox Rules window. You can drag rules in the list to change their position.

Missing Folders

If the user complains of missing folders:

1. Check if it has been deleted by going to the Trash Can from the Firstclass desktop. Older versions of FirstClass can access these items by going to the View menu > Show deleted items.
2. If it doesn't appear, it is possible that it may have been dragged into another folder. Search thoroughly for the folder in other folders. It is usually helpful to split folders to make searching easier.
3. Finally, it is possible that if the viewer has the Mailbox on split view between folders and messages, the folder was accidentally dragged into the message portion. Have the user scroll down their messages to the bottom to see if the folder is there.
4. If the folder does not show up refer to the referral and note the last time the user saw the folder.

Restoring Deleted Items

If you delete a item and later want to retrieve it, you can do so any time before the 2:00 AM nightly purge. If not, it's gone forever.

To undelete an item:

1. In version 8.3 or later, go to the Trash Can. All deleted items should appear. In older versions of FirstClass, View > Show Deleted Items.
2. Select the deleted item. Then go to the File menu > Undelete.

Spam Rules

To create a rule to filter out spam mail, see Creating Spam Rules.

Changing Custom Dictionary

You can edit entries in the custom dictionary in FirstClass. If you accidentally added a wrong word to the dictionary, the spell checker may not catch that spelling mistake.

To remove it from the dictionary in Windows:

1. Click on My computer> Local Disk or C: drive> Program files > FirstClass > Tools.
2. Edit the file called user.fct with Notepad to remove the misspelled word.

To remove it from the dictionary in Mac OS X:

1. Go to the Home folder > Library > FirstClass > Tools > user.fct.
2. Edit the file with TextEdit to remove the misspelled word.

• Erin Foti, efoti@wellesley.edu
• Information Services
• Date Created: January 4, 2007
• Last Modified: August 20, 2007
• Page Expires: August 1, 2008