Information Technology

Introduction

The Ohio State University OCIO is migrating the university to a new e-mail system. In cooperation with this, OARDC IT has started migrating OARDC Wooster and Outlying Research Station users to the new University E-mail Service. A new ~500-member mailing list has been created to address those who will be migrated in this phase. You are on this list because you are using the older OSU Central E-mail system and will need to be migrated to the new system in the next several weeks. If you are based in Columbus and are receiving this message then please refer to your local IT support. My apologies for any overlap in communications.

This new e-mail service for faculty and staff will replace the current University system and provide us with such benefits as:

• Integrated e-mail and calendaring tools
• A global address list that includes all faculty, staff and students
• 500 MB of mailbox storage
• High performance commitments for service functionality and availability

You can learn more about the University E-mail Service and the Enterprise E-mail Project online at emailproject.osu.edu.

OARDC IT will be planning 30-45 minute appointments with each person to assist you with the migration (if you are still on Eudora it may take longer). You will receive a separate e-mail from me with an invitation to participate in a “Doodle” poll, where you can sign up for a time slot to have your email migrated. We’ll be scheduling these in waves so it may be some time before each of you receive a Doodle.com e-mail. Also be aware that there have been frequent system slowdowns which will may cause us to cancel and reschedule appointments.

NOTE: We’ll need you to be available during the migration so you can log in with your password at various steps in the process.

What Can You Do To Prepare?

• Have a personal e-mail account set up, like a free Gmail or Yahoo e-mail account. We’ll need to temporarily forward your mail during your individual migration.
• Consider which devices you use to check your OSU mail and have them available at your migration appointment. For example: OSU-owned Desktop, laptop, tablet, phone? Depending on timing, we may only be able to migrate your primary device in the initial appointment.
• Do you have Microsoft Outlook 2007 or 2010 (Windows) or 2011 (Mac) installed? Outlook comes with Microsoft Office. If you don’t have Outlook, we can either install it in a prior appointment or you can use the web-based e-mail called Outlook Web App. Eudora will not be supported with the new University E-mail Service.

If you have any questions about or need help with any of these preparations then please fill out our online work request form or call the OARDC IT Help Desk at 3772 or 330-263-3772. 

Advice for Outlook Users on Old Mail System

You are a current Outlook user. You currently have a set of folders called Personal Folder such as Inbox, Sent Items, etc. These are stored on your hard drive in a .PST file. When we connect you to the new Exchange Server you will see a second set of folders called "Mailbox - Name" or it might be labelled with your name.# depending on your version of Outlook. This set of folders represents what is stored on the server. In case you are not currently connected to the server, these messages are also saved to an "Offline File" called a .OST file. This allows you to take a laptop around offline and work on your recent mail and queue up messages to be sent that will go out when you get connected again to a network. 

Once migrated to the Exchange Server, you will still have the Personal Folders and this is where your older e-mail will remain. Additionally, we set up an Auto-Archive routine to move mail off the server that is 4-6 months old and store it in your Personal Folders file. We do this to help eliminate problems with the 500 MB quota but still allow for a fair amount of mail storage on the server so you can check it from multiple computer and have a useful amount of mail history in the new web mail. The new web mail will display the same information as the Mailbox in Outlook. Web mail will not show the contents of the Personal Folder since that is only stored on your local hard drive. 

With the mail migration, new mail comes in to the Inbox of the Mailbox whereas current Outlook users are accustomed to new mail arriving in the Inbox of the Personal Folders. Adding to the confusion, sometimes the view of the Personal Folders hierarchy of folders is found to be collapsed. By this I mean there is a little triangle to the left of folders with subfolders. The triangle can be clicked as a toggle to hide/show the subfolders. This feature sometimes panics users into thinking that everything is gone.

We try to go over these issues during the migration to reduce the confusion. But this is a problem we still encounter. Knowing that in advance may help you to not be disoriented by it. 

For the most part, Outlook users have a smooth ride. When we must migrate users from Eudora on the old system to Outlook on the new system, there are quite a few more that changes for the user. 

Dialog with a Eudora User

Q: Nearly all of my e-mail is done through Eudora; which I understand will not be compatible with the new system, occasionally when traveling I will go direct to the OSU server.  The latter is not feasible for the management of e-mails, it just lets me know if someone has sent a message and possibly reply.
A: Correct, Eudora is no longer supported. When you say "direct to the OSU server" I think you mean Webmail. Be aware that the new mail system has a different and much improved Web Mail (Outlook Web App) and also allows up to 500 MB storage instead of 30 MB.

Q: It is very important that I have a system in place to do my e-mail storage and sorting WITHIN MY COMPUTER, not a remote site that requires internet access to work with my e-mail files.
A: This is accomplished with Outlook. Outlook is set up to support an offline mode so you can manipulate an offline copy of your mail while not connected to the Internet. When you connect again, it synchronizes with the server. In addition to this, Outlook also has a separate storage file called "Personal Folders" that can be used to archive messages off of the server. These are no longer synchronized with the server.

Q: I have Microsoft Office on all three computers. 
A: We're supporting Office 2007 and 2010. 

Q: I do not know what Microsoft Outlook really is, but it looks like it may be here in the Microsoft package.
A: Outlook is analogous to Eudora in that they are both mail clients. However, Outlook also has a Calendar, Tasks, and Notes elements. The Calendar is the most useful addition. There is a wealth of training material here: http://emailproject.osu.edu/training.php

Q: My OSU name.#@osu.edu is the only e-mail address that I have.
A: The process of migration requires that we direct your mail to another address momentarily. I strongly suggest you take a minute and open a free Gmail account for this purpose: https://mail.google.com  

Note: We're providing direct support for university-owned computing equipment. You're welcome to set up additional personally owned computers to connect to your mail. We strongly recommend you use the new web based mail (Outlook Web App) for these other locations.