Adam’s Blog

The Google Apps Newsletter: November 2007

New features

Gmail improvements

You may have noticed some changes in Gmail recently, and there are a few we’d like to highlight. We’ve revamped the Contacts Manager so you can search and edit your contacts faster, and easily create new email groups. To save you time searching for the same email message (or messages) repeatedly, we’ve made it so you can "bookmark" either a search or an individual email. And we’ve added some new keyboard shortcuts, which let you do things like "mute" an email list discussion (yes, really).

In our last newsletter, we told you about the new IMAP support for Gmail, which lets administrators move email from IMAP systems to Gmail. If you missed the announcement and want to learn more about it, Interop.com has a video of a speech by Matt Glotzbach, Google Enterprise Product Director, who broke the news at the Interop New York conference in October (free registration required).

New features for the Premier and Education editions

• Email Migration API (Premier, Education, and Partner Editions)
  A new Google Apps Email Migration API can move email from anywhere — not just IMAP systems — to the Premier, Education, or Partner Editions of Google Apps. If you need to migrate email from your users’ desktops, migrate email from a server not supported by the IMAP migration tool, or do a push migration because of security policies, a tool built on this API could be the perfect answer. The email migration API is based on GData, so it’s easy to use, and you can learn all about it on the Google Code website.
  Interested but think you may need some help? A growing network of partners offer helpful and affordable migration solutions to organizations switching to Google Apps. You can find migration solutions for your organization in our partner gallery.
• Enhanced email compliance filtering (Premier Edition)
  Previously, we announced the release of policy management by Postini, which allowed you to set keyword-based filter rules for inbound and outbound email. Some organizations require filters based on more sophisticated rules, and we’re pleased to announce that Postini’s enhanced content-filtering service is now available to Premier Edition users. Based on your filters, you can quarantine a message, block it completely, or send it on with a carbon copy to an authorized recipient. To set this up, visit the control panel at google.com/a/duanhuimin.com.

Curious about other new developments? Our new features page has a list of features launched in the last few weeks.

Setup steps

Haven’t finished setting up Google Apps for your organization yet? No need to procrastinate — it’s easy. You can visit our getting started resource center and see below for a few first steps:

Step 1: Sign in to the administrative control panel

This is where you manage your user accounts and customize Google Apps for your organization. Visit http://www.google.com/a/duanhuimin.com to access the control panel.

Step 2: Verify your domain ownership

Before we can fully activate your services, you’ll need to verify ownership of your domain. You can do this from the control panel, either by uploading an HTML file or creating a special CNAME record. Verifying ownership of your domain won’t cause any change to your existing services. (Note: If you purchased your domain through Google Apps, you can skip this step.)

Step 3: Customize Google Apps

with the look and feel of your organization. From the control panel, you can do things like add your logo, configure the Start Page to suit your organization, customize the internet addresses where your users sign in, and more.

Step 4: Create user accounts

for your organization. From the control panel, you can set up user accounts individually or use a tool that lets you easily add or update multiple accounts using data from a spreadsheet file.

Step 5: Turn on email

by updating the Mail Exchange (MX) records for your domain. Once you configure your MX records, it can take up to 48 hours before your users are able to send or receive mail, so it’s important to consider timing and let your users know what to expect. (Note: If you don’t plan to use the email component of Google Apps, or if you purchased your domain through Google Apps, you can skip this step.)

Step 6: Help your users get started by

• Notifying them of the timeline for the transition to Google Apps
• Supplying the usernames and passwords that you’ve created
• Directing them to the sign-in pages for your applications, which you can find using the control panel
• Sharing how-tos, helpful tips, and suggestions

We want to make sure your organization’s transition to Google Apps goes as smoothly as possible, so we’ve created a deployment guide that gives you sample announcement emails, links to training presentations, and best practice tips. Here’s where you can access the guide.

User tip

Are some of your users new to Gmail? Here’s a tip you can share directly with them. (For more tips to help you the most out of Google Apps, visit the "Best Practices" section of the Google Apps Discussion Group).

Get through your email faster

If you’ve never clicked on the "Settings" tab in your Gmail account, you may not know about Gmail’s keyboard shortcuts. If you turn them on, you can use your keyboard to read, archive, and delete email more quickly and efficiently. Let’s say you’re on a mailing list, and the messages in a particular thread are starting to distract you from your work. If you don’t want or need to see further replies appearing at the top of your inbox, you can press the "m" key to "mute" the thread. The conversation will automatically be archived, and you won’t see new messages at top of your inbox again unless someone replies with your email address in the To: or CC: fields. If you’d like to use keyboard shortcuts, it’s easy to turn them on — simply click on "Settings" in your account (http://mail.google.com/a/duanhuimin.com) and choose "Keyboard shortcuts on."

Share your story

Has Google Apps had a positive impact on your organization? Has it saved you time or IT resources, helped you focus on your core mission, or perhaps helped your users communicate and collaborate more effectively? However you use Google Apps, we’d love to hear from you — and we may even highlight your organization on our customers page.

Click here to submit your story.

Beyond apps

Put your business on the (Google) map

When your customers use Google Maps to find local businesses, make sure they find you. Simply add your listing — your location, hours of operation, photos, and more — using our Local Business Center. It’s fast and free. Learn more>>

Google Apps: http://www.google.com/a