Tag Archives: UCS

Tech Tip: Penn State increases maximum email size

by Ryan Johnson, I-Tech

The maximum size of an email sent through Penn State’s email system has been increased from 20 MB to 25 MB. The increase matches the allotment offered by some other email providers and will enable students, faculty and staff members to send much larger email messages than before.

Most email providers set a maximum amount of data their users can send or receive in a single email as a way to control mailbox sizes, guarantee service availability, and protect the network from potential attacks designed to flood the email system with useless traffic.

The new 25 MB limit is sufficient for attaching text documents and other small files to an email message and is applied to the sum of the message’s text and file attachments. In other words, the attachments and email text combined can’t add up to more than 25 MB. Messages exceeding the 25 MB limit that are being sent to Penn State email accounts will bounce back to the sender. Likewise, messages larger than 25 MB sent from Penn State email accounts will yield an error.

Files larger than 25 MB can be shared through the University’s cloud-based file sharing and storage service, Box.

EMS… UCS… CollegeNet… 25Live… Oh My!

CollegeNET is a company that creates scheduling solutions. One of the current CollegeNET scheduling solutions is 25Live, which Penn State began using for academic scheduling for the fall 2016 semester. The implementation of 25Live for other scheduling needs on campus began during the fall 2016 semester. These terms are being used interchangeably around campus. Not all locations are using 25Live at this time, but the entire University is working toward 25Live as a scheduling solution.

What does this mean for the library? How does it impact you and your work?

The Libraries have four categories of room scheduling: student group study rooms, instruction rooms, event spaces and meeting rooms. There are currently three systems being used to schedule the spaces within the library: Event Management System (EMS), University Collaboration Suite (UCS) and 25Live.

The student group study rooms are currently scheduled with EMS. The EMS solution is being used at service desks at University Park and at several campus locations. At University Park and Berks, library users are able to book rooms on their own as well as ask for group study room reservations at service desk locations. The Libraries will continue to use EMS as a scheduling solution for the group study rooms through the spring 2017 semester.

There are some features that EMS provides that 25Live is unable to provide at this time. One of those features is the ability to control the length of time library users are able to make reservations. (See the Group Study Room Policy for additional information.)  From time to time, we encounter library users who say that they have requested a space in 25Live. It is not possible for library users to request library space in 25Live at this time. Library users with
questions about reserving library spaces can email UL-ROOMRESERV@lists.psu.edu.

Libraries instruction spaces are primarily being managed in UCS. However, as mentioned by Rebecca Peterson in earlier Library News Blog articles, there are two instruction spaces within the library that are being scheduled using 25Live: those rooms are 302 Paterno and 211 Davey. These two spaces have academic classes scheduled in them throughout the semester. If you have questions for these spaces, reach out to Rebecca Peterson (rmr28@psu.edu) or Rebecca Miller (rkm17@psu.edu).

Events and meetings are also still being managed in UCS. The Event Scheduling Office has been working with ITS to have UCS synced with CollegeNET. Until we are able to sync UCS with CollegeNET, the Libraries will continue to use UCS to manage the event and meeting spaces. If you are looking to reserve other spaces at Penn State, you may encounter different scheduling solutions.

Additional information for 25Live can be found at  http://www.registrar.psu.edu/collegenet/.

If you have any questions or would like additional information, please do not hesitate to contact Ann Thompson at alt6@psu.edu.

– submitted by Ann Thompson, Information Resources and Services

How to check your UCS quota and free up additional space

By Ryan Johnson, technology training coordinator

free ucs spaceWhen logged into UCS, look for where it shows your name at the top right(near the “Log Out” button. Your quota is shown graphically as a bar below your name. If you put your mouse over your name for a moment your storage usage(as a percentage of your maximum storage and the absolute value in GigaBytes) will show up.

Continue reading →

Filter items in your UCS account using tags

By Ryan Johnson, technology training coordinator

filter tagsTags can be your key to creating your own personal classification system in UCS. You can create custom tags and then apply them to any item(s) in your UCS account, such as emails, contacts, calendar appointments, tasks, and briefcase items.

Clicking on any given tag will sort your account based on that tag, only returning items with that tag. For example, you can create a tag called Follow-up, use it to tag emails in your inbox that you need to follow up on, then click the Follow-up tag in the Overview pane to only display items that have been tagged as Follow-up.

For more information on tagging, please view the web-based tutorial Using Tags to Classify Emails, Contacts, Appointments, Tasks, and Briefcase Items.

Creating an ‘Away’ message in UCS

By Ryan Johnson, technology training coordinator

ucs away message

  • You can set an away message that automatically replies to people who send you messages when you are out of the office for an extended period of time.
  • The auto-reply message is sent to each recipient only once, regardless of how many messages that person sends you during the designated vacation period.
  • You can set up the out-of-office reply in advance and set a date when the message should begin to be sent and when the message should stop.

To set an away message:

  1. Select the Preferences tab and choose Out of Office.
  2. Select Send auto-reply message.
  3. Create an Auto-Reply Message in the available window.
  4. Select the time period that the auto-replies will be sent.
  5. Clicksave.

Create email templates using signatures

By Ryan Johnson, technology training coordinator

ITS has recently added a video tutorial on a topic I’ve been showing in my UCS Tips and Tricks class, using the signature preferences tab to create an email template. Email templates allow you to increase efficiency by not having to type the same content over and over again.

Watch the tutorial linked below to see how its done!

http://its.psu.edu/training/resources/UCS-Creating-Templates-Using-Signatures/

Move/add/remove columns in UCS mail

By Ryan Johnson, technology training coordinator

Did you know you can add/remove columns in your UCS email? Simply right-click on a column such as Subject in the Mail tab and you can choose which columns you want to appear:

columsn screenshotAnother way you can edit the column is moving and changing the order in which they are displayed. Simply Drop and Drag the column header to the location which you desire.

In the example below, I moved the Size column between the From and Subject columns.

columns screenshot 2columns screenshot 3

Create a filter to route new service request emails in UCS

By Ryan Johnson, technology training coordinator

The new Service Request System uses email as a key component to update you on the progress of your IT or Facilities Requests. To avoid these emails cluttering up your inbox and possibly being misplaced, I would recommend creating a filter in UCS to automatically route these emails into a specific folder. This will allow you to quickly find and respond to requests.

To create a Service Request Filter in UCS, first go to the Preferences tab and select Mail->Filters.

preferences screen in ucs

Continue reading →

Create delegates in UCS 8

By Ryan Johnson, technology training coordinator

The ability to create a delegate is a new feature in UCS 8. When you delegate someone in UCS, the delegate can send mail on your behalf without having granting manager rights to your inbox.

To enable a delegate select the Preferences tab. In the Accounts category, navigate to the Primary Account Settings section.

how to create delagates in ucs 8

Select Add Delegate and enter the email address. Finally, select Send As or Send on Behalf Of and select OK.

adding delegate in ucs 8

Add important University dates to your UCS calendar

By Ryan Johnson, technology training coordinator

The bursar’s office publishes a calendar that has quite a few important University dates on it. You can add a copy of this calendar to your UCS account by going through the steps below. This will give you a separate calendar in UCS just for dates that the bursar’s office thinks are important and will appear in the top banner section of your calendar. Continue reading →