Frequently Asked Questions
What is jCmail?
A bridge between Johnson C. Smith University and Google applications.
On one side, we have communication and collaboration needs for our school. On the other side, there are successful, innovative, online personal Google products.
jCmail allows us to embrace the strengths of both sides.
Google quality, Google connectivity. Our school, our people. Powerful, easy-to-use tools. Communicate via e-mail, instant messaging and voice calls. Create and share calendar events, documents and spreadsheets. Access it all from one place - the Start Page.
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Why are we using Google Apps?
To bring together essential communication applications. To improve productivity and communication. We can focus on student needs and adding value to the experience while Google focuses on building excellent products, maintaining the feature set and innovating our communication options for tomorrow.
Our goal is to offer you a reliable, practical, secure, feature-rich webmail environment. We think Google can help.
We can focus on the core values of our school, such as student relationships, and let Google leverage its extensive operational experience with security and privacy.
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How do I get started?
Go to the jCmail login page . Log in with your school username and password, and make sure that you always click the box that says "Synchronize password with Google Apps" and you'll be authenticated to use Google services via webmail.
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What options do I have for accessing e-mail?
The primary option is webmail - https://connect.jcsu.edu.
It's packed with exciting features and integrated with other Google services. In your online e-mail account, you can chat with your contacts, create filters to organize your inbox before new mail arrives, schedule calendar events, map addresses in your messages and track postal packages.
Alternative access options include:
POP
Configuring instructions are very similar to Gmail. In your mail client, anytime you're asked for an e-mail address, enter your full e-mail address (bjones.2010@jcmail.jcsu.edu).
The incoming server is still pop.gmail.com and outgoing server is smtp.gmail.com. For more client-specific instructions, such as Outlook Express, visit the list of supported POP clients.
Mobile
Connect to the web. Enter https://mail.google.com/a/jcmail.jcsu.edu/, and select OK. Bookmark the location for later.
If you have a BlackBerry, you can download the mail application. Navigate to http://m.google.com/a. It has most of the webmail features - search and conversation view. With automatic syncing, actions taken on your Blackberry are reflected in your e-mail account.
This is separate from the Gmail for mobile application. A red "M" icon will appear for Gmail and a blue "M" icon will appear for our jCmail e-mail.
We have also created step-by-step instructions on how to connect on several popular smartphones.
How are the Google services linked together?
You have one username for all services in the jCmail package. Once you log in to one service, you can easily access all others.
Rely on the Start Page to provide access to the rest of the services. The Start Page is publicly available, but won't display personalized content until you log in. You can see a recent snapshot of new mail, calendar events and updated documents.
Within your e-mail account, you can chat with your contacts. You'll receive invitations for calendar events and to collaborate on documents and spreadsheets.
What do I need to know about documents and spreadsheets?
It's a web-based word processing and spreadsheet application. It can help us collaborate on projects from anywhere. Your documents are stored online and anyone you invite to collaborate can access the document from any internet-connected computer and make changes simultaneously. Multiple people can make changes at once, and everyone's changes show in real time.
You can get started right away by creating a new document or by uploading a file from your computer. Since the products are integrated, you can use your e-mail account Contacts list to invite people to view or edit your documents.
More Tips
Revision history -- Individual edits are kept so you can see who made changes and revert back, if necessary.
Search -- Just like the rest of Google products, you can harness the power of Google search to look for a document you haven't edited in months.
Security and privacy -- You choose who sees your document. Other users can only access your document or spreadsheet if you add them to the list of collaborators or viewers, or if you decide to publish the document.
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I can chat in my e-mail account. Why bother with the Google Talk client?
Free voice calls, voicemail for when your contacts are offline and file transfers while chatting.
PC-to-PC voice calls (VoIP) are practical and offer great quality. The person on the other end can be anywhere in the world as long as he or she is connected to the Google Talk network.
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Where can I find more information?
Help Center: www.google.com/support/a/users
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