“I’m not getting my e-mails.”

We have had many reports, some direct, some anecdotal, of people not getting their e-mails in O365.  In almost all cases we have found that mail was being delivered directly to that user’s InBox in O365–but they weren’t finding it.  There are several reasons why that might be:

  1. You’re looking in the wrong place.  What has been known as “Bearmail” (and SOGo) stopped receiving any new mail the day you were migrated to Office 365.  All users received a message informing them of this.  If you are still checking there for new mail, you won’t find it.  If any of your devices are still configured to check there, they won’t find it either.  You should be using Microsoft Outlook as your only means of checking for and sending campus e-mail, and should delete all other SUNY Potsdam e-mail accounts from your computers and devices.
  2. “Conversations”.  Conversations is a “feature” of Outlook that keeps all messages from an e-mail thread grouped together for easy reference.  We have seen several instances of this feature “glitching”, however.  Most recently, a user’s entire Tuesday was “gone”!  Switching to “Message” view will resolve this.  At the top of your message list in Outlook (web version) you will see the word “All” with a little arrow next to it.  Click on that and a menu pops up.  At the bottom of the menu is a “View As” option.  Switch it from “Conversations” to “Messages”.  Any “missing” messages should reappear.  (You can turn Conversations back on if you find it useful–the messages won’t disappear again.)
  3. “Clutter”  Clutter is another “feature” that tries to make assumptions about what is or is not important to you, and it is on by default.  Sort of like “Junk,” it pays attention to how you deal with the messages in your InBox.  Types of messages you deal with quickly will tend to stay in your InBox.  Messages you don’t get to may get relegated to the “Clutter” box, where you might not be looking!  To turn off Clutter, right-click on “Clutter” under your InBox (web version), choose “Clutter Settings”, and UNcheck “Separate items identified as Clutter”.
  4. Junk.  No mail sent from anyone on campus (@potsdam.edu) should be flagged as Junk, but it’s possible for any mail from an external address to end up there.  You should check there frequently for “false positives,” especially when someone’s told you they sent you something and you can’t find it.

As always, should you have any questions or concerns about Office 365 or any other CTS-provided and -supported service, please contact the CTS Helpdesk by e-mailing helpdesk@potsdam.edu , or by calling 315-267-4444.  If you are sent to voice mail, leave a message with contact information and someone will follow up with you as soon as possible.

[REMINDER] Leave a message

With the new academic year underway, CTS is experiencing an upswing in the number of trouble tickets.  It is especially high given the migration to Office 365.  Please continue submitting your reports and/or questions directly to the CTS Helpdesk, either by sending e-mail to helpdesk@potsdam.edu or by calling 315-267-4444.  We will get back to you as quickly as we can.
IMPORTANT: If you are sent to voice mail, leave a message! Do not hang up and call back. Voice mail messages are automatically sent as e-mail to the Helpdesk, and Helpdesk staff retrieve and triage those messages very quickly.

[O365] Creating Contact Lists

We’ve been getting a lot questions about creating “Address Groups” in Outlook.  Outlook calls this feature a “Contact List”.  Here is a link to instructions that will show you how to create a Contact List using the Outlook Web interface:
https://blogs.potsdam.edu/network/o365-creating-contact-lists-web/

[ANNOUNCE] Moodle Maintenance Window CANCELLED

Dear Campus Community,

The Moodle maintenance window scheduled for Friday August 26th to Saturday August 27th has been canceled. Moodle will remain available over the weekend. Please continue to prepare your Fall 2016 courses as you normally would.

We continue to work on unresolved issues in the migration process. A final cutover date will be determined and announced at a later date.

Thank you,

CTS

[REMINDER] Direct Questions or Reports of Problems to the Helpdesk

As we gear up for another academic year, CTS reminds the campus community:
All questions about or problems with any CTS-provided and/or –supported device or service should be directed to the CTS Helpdesk: helpdesk@potsdam.edu , 315-267-4444.  If you are directed to voice mail, leave a message with contact information to ensure the fastest response to your report or inquiry.
Thank you for helping us to help you!

[ANNOUNCE] Office 365: Active Students Have Been Migrated

ACTIVE students have been migrated to Office 365 and should have all received a final message on our old mail server.  If you are an active student and can not log in to Office 365 at portal.office.com, please contact the CTS Helpdesk at helpdesk@potsdam.edu or 315-267-4444.  If you are directed to voice mail, leave a message with contact information and someone will return your call.
GRADUATED students (Alumni) will be migrated in groups this week.  If you are an alumnus, do not attempt to use Outlook/Office 365 until you receive notification that you have been migrated.

[UPDATE] Moodle Maintenance Re-scheduled

To the Campus Community:
The Moodle maintenance window scheduled for Friday, August 19th has been canceled and tentatively rescheduled for Friday, August 26th at 8:00 P. M. to Saturday, August 27th at 8:00 A. M. Moodle will be unavailable during this time. Please plan your Fall 2016 course preparation accordingly.
We have delayed in order to ensure that our Moodle migration is as transparent and minimally disruptive to you as possible. We have encountered a small subset of very large Moodle courses that have been problematic to the migration process during testing. Our team is working to resolve this issue so that we can complete the final migration to our new hosting provider in a timely manner. We also continue to configure and test the course shell request and creation process to ensure that it works seamlessly in the new Moodle environment.

[FYI] Moodle Server Migration & Upgrade

To The Campus Community:
CTS has worked diligently this summer to upgrade and improve a number of the mission-critical technologies utilized by faculty, staff, and students. I am pleased to inform you that we will be moving Moodle to an off-campus hosting provider, as well upgrading to the latest version of the platform. An extended maintenance window will be required to complete the project. During this window, Moodle will be unavailable while final course data is migrated from our on-campus servers to the new hosting provider.
Please be advised that we are tentatively planning for Moodle to be unavailable beginning Friday, August 19th at 8:00 P. M. until approximately Saturday, August 20th at 8:00 A. M. to complete the migration. Please plan accordingly. Any changes to our current plan will be announced by Thursday evening, and a confirmation email will be sent to the campus on Friday.
What does this migration mean for you?

  • You can continue to prepare your Fall 2016 courses right up until 8:00 P. M. on Friday, August 19th. At that time, a copy of all your data will be moved to the upgraded Moodle site at our hosting provider.
  • Beginning Saturday, August 20th, you can continue to prepare courses at the new Moodle site. All your data from our current Moodle site will be available to you in the new one.
  • Past semester course data will also be migrated to the new system.
  • Course shell request processes will remain the same for our new site.
  • Procedures for seeking help remain the same. Please contact moodlesupport@potsdam.edufor assistance with Moodle specific issues. Please contact helpdesk@potsdam.edu for assistance with username and passwords.

Why are we migrating Moodle now?

  • We have very few, small windows where such a migration can take place without affecting live courses. While there is never a perfect time for such an outage, this window, between summer session final grade submission and the beginning of the fall semester, is the most suitable for a migration of this size.
  • The new Moodle site will be more stable and reliable, utilizing the Amazon Web Services cloud for hosting. We wanted to have this stability in place before this coming academic year.