|
San Jose State UniversityUniversity Computing SystemsBest Practice Guide for e-mail UseVersion 3.04 |
ContentsSize of messages and attachments |
SummaryWhen sending mail:
When administering your mailbox:
IntroductionThis document provides guidelines on best practice when using e-mail and suggests how e-mail can be used most effectively within the University. References to sources of detailed information are listed at the end. Sending mailMail securityUnless you are using encryption techniques, e-mail should be regarded as insecure. Anything you send may be read by others. Anything you receive may not have originated from where it says it does, as mail headers are easily forged. Therefore, never disclose anything confidential, such as your password or a credit card number, in a mail message. Note: When corresponding with other on-campus Lotus Notes users, the Staff/Faculty Lotus Notes mail system can encrypt network traffic and the actual e-mail. You can also digitally "sign" Lotus Notes documents and e-mail. Campus E-Mail Protection Anti-virus Mail that comes in from the internet or goes out to the internet must be scanned for viruses. The campus SMTP gateway provides inbound and outbound scanning. To protect the network and its users, campus e-mail systems must connect to this system to ensure that all e-mail is protected against the spread of computer viruses. The Staff/Faculty Lotus Notes e-mail system is further protected with anti-virus software that runs on the server and scans attachments. The desktop and laptop computers that are owned by the state are all licensed for antivirus software to ensure that computers are not infected by viruses from the web or other files. The antivirus software is at no additional cost to the departments or end users (for state owned equipment). All computers should run antivirus software. Unsolicited Commercial E-Mail (Spam) Tagging The e-mail coming in from the internet is scanned for viruses and is also scanned to determine the likelihood that the e-mail is Spam (unsolicited commercial e-mail). Through a series of tests and greylisting, e-mail from the internet is checked. If the e-mail is believed to be spam, it is tagged with the phrase [[JUNK]] in the subject line. To ensure that no incorrectly tagged mail is ever lost, the tagged e-mail is delivered to the recipient. Users are encouraged to filter their junk mail to a separate folder so they can determine, at a glance, if they would like to keep the mail or delete it without reading it. The e-mail sent within the Staff/Faculty Lotus Notes system, the Student (Unix) e-mail system or e-mail between the two is not tagged for spam. The Faculty/Staff Lotus Notes e-mail system allows you to automatically file all [[JUNK]] mail to a "junk" folder. You can review this mail before deleting it.
Size of messages and attachmentsMessages should always be kept as short as possible. This is particularly important when sending messages to large mailing lists. Non-textual files, such as Word documents or spreadsheets, are generally quite large. For instance, a file of 2,000 characters (about 300 words) could become a 20 KB file when saved as a Word document. Attaching files to messages should be avoided as much as possible. Compress file attachments using freely available software such as WinZip or other common tools. Whenever possible, files should be saved as HTML (see below) and installed on the Web. The URL can then be included in a short message. Keep in mind that internet e-mail is not secure. Internet e-mail should be thought of as no more secure than a postcard. The mail hubs restrict the total size of each message that goes to or comes from the internet:
You can freely exchange large files using free utilities on the internet such as YouSendIT ( http://www.yousendit.com/ ). These files can then be accessed by anyone who has been given their location. Using an internet based file Using a free large file exchange program will allow you to distribute very large files to your recipients by sending them an e-mail that contains a hyperlink to the file. When the recipient clicks the hyperlink, they download the large file from the system's web site. Note that if security of files is a concern, the files should not be sent via internet mail of any kind because internet mail is inherently unsecure. Format of attachmentsIf you do have to attach a non-textual file to a message (for example, a document that is being sent to a few people for comments), remember to ensure that the recipients have access to software that will be able to read the file. In particular, if you are using a relatively new version of a package, ensure that the people to whom you are sending the file are also using that version. Many application vendors supply web plug-ins to allow recipients to view a document in a browser without needing to purchase the authoring software. Some free document viewers: Adobe Microsoft
Dangerous AttachmentsUse extreme caution when receiving file attachments from an unknown or untrusted source. Even if you use antivirus and anti-malware protection, clicking on unknown attachments can damage your machine. To further combat malware/virus attacks, the campus desktop support requested in Spring 2007 that dangerous file attachments be blocked. The following types of files are recognized by the IT industry as dangerous attachments. If someone from an off-campus e-mail system tries to send these files, the file will not arrive in your campus mailbox. Files with these extensions are blocked by our inbound mail system: *.ade, *.adp, *.app, *.asa, *.asp, *.asd, *.awk, *.bas, *.bat, *.cdx, *.cer, *.cgi, *.chm, *.cil, *.chm, *.class, *.cmd, *.com, *.cpl, *.crt, *.csh, *.dek, *.dll, *.ds, *.eml, *.emf, *.esh, *.exe, *.ezs, *.fky, *.fxp, *.hlp, *.hta, *.htr, *.htw, *.ida, *.idc, *.idq, *.inf, *.ins, *.inx, *.ipf, *.isp, *.its, *.jar, *.js, *.jse, *.ksh, *.lnk, *.mad, *.maf, *.mag, *.mam, *.maq, *.mar, *.mas, *.mat, *.mau, *.maw, *.mda, *.mdb, *.mde, *.mdt, *.mdw, *.mdz, *.mem, *.mpx, *.msc, *.msi, *.msp, *.mst, *.nws, *.obs, *.ocx, *.ops, *.pcd, *.pif, *.prf, *.prg, *.printer, *.pst, *.pvd, *.pwc, *.pyc, *.pyo, *.pqx, *.reg, *.rgs, *.rox, *.scf, *.scr, *.sct, *.shb, *.shs, *.shtml, *.stm, *.tlb, *.tms, *.udf, *.url, *.vb, *.vbe, *.vbs, *.vbscript, *.vdo, *.wcm, *.widget, *.workflow, *.wpk, *.ws, *.wsc, *.wsf, *.wsh, *.xqt If you are a campus e-mail user and need to receive a file of the above extension, please ask the sender to rename the file extension, compress the file, or send you a hyperlink to the file on the web. Creating HTML filesThere are many packages available for creating HTML files. Unfortunately, Office 2000, the newer version of Microsoft Office, includes a great deal of unnecessary text and uses many non-standard features when creating HTML files, and so is not recommended for this purpose on campus Web pages. A better option is Macromedia DreamWeaver, which looks similar to Office programs and is the preferred option for campus web page development. URLs in mail messagesMost mail programs allow the reader to double-click on a URL to open the Web page in the default browser (providing your PC is correctly configured). To ensure this facility works properly, it is important that the URL is fully specified (including the "http://" at the beginning), and that it is surrounded by white space. Punctuation immediately following the URL may be picked up as part of the URL and ruin the link. It's best to cut-and-paste the URL from your browser's location box into your message on a separate line. For example, the University's home page should be presented as: http://www.sjsu.edu Some mail programs also allow the reader to double-click on a "mailto" URL in either a mail message or a (properly-configured) browser to send a message to the e-mail address specified. These URLs are in the form mailto:mailname@address. For example: mailto:any.person@sjsu.edu This feature is useful if you want to send a message but then ask people to reply to a different e-mail address. Mail headersWhen composing a message, you normally have the option of filling in the To, Subject, Cc, Bcc and Reply-to mail headers. You must fill in the To header before sending a message, but the others are optional. The Subject header should always be filled in with a descriptive title. The CCand BCC headers contain e-mail addresses for carbon copies and blind courtesy copies of messages. Addresses and mailing listsYou can find the e-mail addresses of everyone who is registered with an SJSU e-mail address by searching the web Directory which is updated every weekday from data held in the administrative databases. The directory can be searched from a Web browser. Listserv mailing lists are for sending mail to groups within the University. Each list must have an owner, though the owner can share administration with other people. Restrictions on this service exist to ensure the campus mail systems are not overloaded. These include a maximum size of message (the maximum message size must be adjusted to ensure that the number of members of a list multiplied by the message size does not exceed 10,000,000 characters) and a maximum number of subscribers (1500, though it is recommended that lists are kept as small as possible). When quoting your own mailname, always specify the address in full. For example, John.Smith@sjsu.edu. Also, ensure that you have the correct e-mail address as specified by your e-mail system. Correct Address Format for Staff/Faculty e-mail and Student e-mail system:
When using the Staff/Faculty Lotus Notes client to e-mail people on campus, the you can simply type the address in the format firstname lastname and Lotus Notes will valdate the address for you. The validated address will have the format Firstname Lastname/SJSU@SJSU for Lotus Notes users. Some systems allow "alias" or shortened versions of the e-mail address. Some e-mail systems will guess at the correct address when an alias is supplied. If you use an alias or some other version of your internet e-mail address, especially when you subscribe to a mailing list, you are likely to encounter difficulties when subscribing and unsubscribing. UCAT only supports using your native Lotus Notes address ( First Last/SJSU@SJSU) or your standard internet address as recorded by the e-mail system. Mailing to very large groupsIf it is necessary to send a message to a very large number of people, special action must be taken. The mailing must be authorized by a senior member of the Public Affair's Office who will post the message to staff in Information Services for processing. The mail is filtered into the system late in the day, so it will not overwhelm the mail system. Administering mailboxesGeneralYou should read your mail frequently, at least once a week, and daily if possible. If a reply is necessary, reply as soon as possible, if only to acknowledge receipt of the message. (Note that Lotus Notes offers the option to ask for an automatic acknowledgement when the message is delivered or opened, but this feature may not exist on other mail systems.) Once you have read and, if necessary, replied to messages in your inbox, you should either delete them or store them in mail folders. Folders can be hierarchical, that is they can contain other folders. So, you can organize stored mail in as complex a filing system as you need. You should go through these saved message folders from time to time and delete those you no longer need. The Staff/Faculty Lotus Notes e-mail system can automatically file e-mail based on rules you supply. The Staff/Faculty e-mail system also has automated server based archiving to allow you to keep your mailbox within the established size limits while still providing access to older mail. Mailbox Size: The Staff/Faculty mail boxes have a maximum size of 400 megabytes. Automated server based archiving automatically archives older documents to a higher capacity server, allowing you to retain extra mail without exceeding the mailbox limit. Mail Archive: The Staff/Faculty mail archive server has a maximum archive box size of 1 GB. If your archive approaches the maximum limit, you will receive warnings. If the archived mail grows beyond the quota, the oldest mail will be deleted to bring the file size below the archive limit. Junk mailJunk mail is mail that has been sent unsolicited and is not wanted by the recipient. You should delete junk mail as soon as possible. The campus mail systems provide subject line tagging of suspected junk mail so you an automatically file them to a "junk" folder and delete them after checking the folder.
When you're awayWhen you are unable to read your mail for a significant length of time (for example if you go on holiday), you should ensure that mail does not build up unnecessarily in your mailbox. If you subscribe to any mailing lists, suspend or unsubscribe from them unless it is vital that you see all the mail sent to them and there is no archive of the list. There is an "out of office" feature on the staff central mail server that, when set up, sends an automatic response to messages. It is normally used by people who will not be reading their mail for some time and who want to warn correspondents that they may not get a reply immediately. However, the automatic message text can contain any message. Having someone else read your mailYou can allow other people to read your mail in several different ways:
Shared mailboxesShared mailboxes allow mail sent to non-personal addresses to be processed by a number of people. For example, mail can be sent to the University Help Desk at help@help.sjsu.edu. Mail sent to this address is delivered to a single mailbox which can be accessed by any of a defined group of people (Help Desk staff). For further details contact your desktop technician. Shared mailboxes are not intended for sharing personal inboxes or other folders. References |
SJSU UCAT - Best practice guide for e-mail use - e-mail- (03.04) This is document is adapted from: http://www.bris.ac.uk/is/selfhelp/documentation/email-g3/email-g3.htm University of Bristol copyright on the page above states: "This document may be used wholly or in part by the academic community, providing suitable acknowledgment is made. It may not be used for any commercial or profit-making purpose without permission. © 2005 University of Bristol. All rights reserved." | |