GAL Question

[swu]

When a user goes to address a new message, if they click on the New button then the To button - is there a way to view the contents of the GAL, or any contact or personal list? Or do they have to type/auto fill each address?

If I put a common character in the search box I can get it to pull all the addresses up but they seem to be sorted in the order of creation in the system. Is there a way to sort this alpha wise?

Thx!

[tbullock]

There are many discussions in this forum that deal with GAL functionality, configuration etc. Do a search and see if you can find out what you are looking for.

Now, personally I find clicking the "TO" button on then adding people one by one to be slow and tedious.

Instead I find it far more efficient to just start typing a persons name and letting the GAL auto-populate my TO field as I go along.

To ensure the GAL auto populates as a user types check your COS settings under "Features" and make sure "Auto-complete from GAL" is selected.

The webclient should also include the users personal contacts folders when auto-completing.

[swu]

Autocomplete works, but our users tend to like being able to <ctrl> <click> through a list and then adding them in, in bulk. Especially when it comes to using a mailing list - which they can't remember the name of, being able to see the list of lists and then choosing is a big plus. That's why I'm wondering if you could view the contents of the GAL and pick from it when addressing your email.

Thx for any advice.

[tbullock]

Put a period in the search field after clicking your TO button.

That is a wild card search for the GAL.

Does not work so well for personal contact folders.

[swu]

Thx. I did realize I could put a common charcter in and pull up the entire list. As I questioned above, is there a way to sort the GAL that comes up? It seems to be in order of entry into the system. Is there a way to alpha sort the list that does come up?

thx again!

[tbullock]

Not that I am aware of. Why would a person want to browse through a GAL and pick names one by one anyway? That is silly.

Remember that just because someone has "always done it this way" it is not necessarily the best or most efficient way of doing it.

New software brings new ways of doing things. Typing a couple characters in the "TO" field to get the autopopulate to come up is so much more efficient than browsing through a GAL.

Promote the alternate methods that Zimbra is providing to your users. It is the only way you will effectively bring change to old methodologies. Users are stubborn and you have to be just as stubborn. Take it from me because I am the king of stubborn. My users whine all the time about silly things.

For example:

1. In outlook I can double click an attachment and look at it before I hit the "Send Button". How come I can't do that in Zimbra?

ANSWER: Because you can't. Try right-clicking the attachment while you are in the browse window and choose "Open".

2. In outlook I can make a fancy Signature with different fonts. Can I do that in Zimbra?

ANSWER: No. Don't worry your plain text signature will work just fine.

3. My incredimail turns my e-mail into a paper airplane and it flies away when I hit the send button. Can I do that in Zimbra?

ANSWER: Don't be stupid.

4. Can I use Outlook instead?

ANSWER: No.

5. Why?

ANSWER: Because I said so.

Don't worry resistance fades as you stand your ground. I have had users go over my head to the VP level on numerous occassions. I have had company Directors come at me directly and through the actual President. Be large and in charge.

And most importantly EDUCATE them on the features and play down the petty comparisons between clients. Negatives are only to be found in your previous e-mail solutions.

Good luck!

[tbullock]

Oh yeah. One more thing.

In regards to your mailing lists in your GAL. I made a naming convention as a solution to that.

So when I made a mailing list I would always use the same naming convention. Such as:

purchasingdistlist@foo.com
regional1distlist@foo.com
storesdistlist@foo.com

So when a user did need to find a mailing list in the GAL, the answer was to enter 'distlist' in the search field and all lists would be displayed and the appropriate one could be chosen.
__________________
Cheers,

Travis

"Let's look at this from a standpoint of "Status". What exactly, on the Space Craft, IS working?"
-Flight Control, Apollo 13

[Flancer]

Being able to sort the GAL would make it more practical not only for the end users but also for the administrator. Especially if they are planning to Zimbra.

It does make it easier to find names especially when creating distribution lists and you need to dig through a lot of names.

[NOZIL]

autopopulate has sometimes strange behaviour !

If i type too much letters, the name i search is not displayed, but if i go back zimbra find it :

For example typing martin does nos gives me anything, but coming back to mart will give me staphane.martin@ !

ALso stange behaviour when many answers can match autopopulate. Answers are sorted in alphabeticla order, but some answers are not displayed, leading user to believe that adress is not foud, according to alphabeticla order.

[soxfan]

Had to throw my 2 cents in on this one, because the GAL behavior has been kind of a sticking point with several of the users that I support. I will throw in the disclaimer that we are currently using a combination of Zimbra and an external OpenLDAP directory for the GAL, as we are in the process of a very slow migration from our current email server. So, I don't know if this has any effect on some of the things we are seeing.

For the most part I agree with tbullock's sentiments that just because people are used to doing something one way doesn't mean it is the right, best, or only way to do the task or function. However, I have to disagree with this statement:

Why would a person want to browse through a GAL and pick names one by one anyway? That is silly.

99.9% of the time I use auto-complete, and when I see other people clicking on the "To:" button to get a list I always suggest they try auto-complete. However, I can also see the point where sometimes working from a list can be easier than trying to come up with a list of names from the top of your head. Granted, if you were always sending to the same list of people creating a distribution list would be the way to go, but sometimes it is just a once in a while type of thing. If clicking on the "To:" button to get a list is going to be an option then it should work properly, and frankly I see a lot of holes in this area.

I agree with the comments here that auto-complete sometimes exhibits strange behavior and that better sorting options in the GAL would be a welcome addition.

I know there are a lot of open bugs/RFE's related to the GAL, and a lot of this has been discussed previously in the forums. Just hoping for some improvements in this area in 5.0 and beyond.