Google Apps User Manual

Table of Contents

 

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What is Google Apps?

Google Apps is a Web based e-mail, calendar, and document management system. Many companies and organizations use Google Apps as their e-mail solution because of the large storage space, spam protection and ability to login from anywhere with a Internet connection. Google Apps uses the standard gmail.com interface which you already may know and love but utilizes your domain name(yourname.com) instead of gmail.com. Google Apps was developed as a replacement for the costly and clumsy Microsoft Exchange. Google Apps is considered a cloud application with no need for a in house server to maintain, backup and administrate.

There are many other features of Google Apps which you or your administrator can choose to turn on, such as chat system for everyone on your domain name, a integrated to do list, and many other features which are added regularly. Google Apps Standard is currently free and gives you 50 users, unlimited e-mail groups(e-mail forwards or aliases) and 7 gigs of storage space. There is a Premier edition available which allows for more users, more storage space, no advertisements and the ability to use Google’s API system which gives you even more capabilities.  The current price for Google Apps Premier is $50 year per user. So if you had 5 users it would cost you $250.00 a year.

Google Mail

Obviously the most used Google App, utilizes the same interface as gmail.com and gives you all the benefits of the Postini spam filter, the ability to automatically apply labels(similar to Outlook’s folders) to e-mails, a filtering ability to automatically forward a e-mail, send a canned response or have certain e-mails skip the inbox all together archiving it. Archiving takes all of the e-mails in your inbox and stores them out of sight but easily accessible by searching or clicking on a label.
Google Mail grows with features regularly so it would be impossible to list all of the features and abilities. You are able to add certain features from Google Labs, features developed by Google employees but not yet integrated automatically.

Google Calendar

Google Calendar is the Web based calendar system that comes with Google Apps. Google Calendar allows you to create multiple calendars viewable at once with the ability to share these calendars with other Google Apps and Google users. Depending on the permissions you set, those users can view your calendar, add events, restrict the even to “busy” hiding the details of the event, or even publish the calendar publically on your web site.
Google Calendar like every Google App of course is searchable which helps to remember times and dates of meetings and such. It has several different views, such as day, week and month as well as a agenda view.

Google Docs

Google Docs is the document management system that comes with Google Apps. Google Docs is designed to replace Word, Excel, PowerPoint, as well as the ability to create Google Forms. The best way to describe why Google Docs is great is to use this analogy. Lets say we are working on a proposal in Word, a budget in Excel and a presentation in PowerPoint. Before you would compose these on one computer and then e-mail them to someone you wanted to collaborate with. They would then make changes and send it back to you and if there is a 3rd person involved then there are 3 copies. With Google Docs, you simply share documents with other users and grant them permission to edit or view. If multiple people are working on a document at once you a handy chat window pops in the browser to allow you to communicate with them in real time.

Once a document is finalized, you can then export it as a Word document, PDF and any other format you need. You also have the ability to e-mail the document as a attachment so the recipient would even know that the document was created with Google Docs. Like all Google Apps you can quickly search for a document as well as create folders and sub folders to allow for your own personalized organization.

Google Sites

Google Sites allows you to build Web sites utilizing their WYSWIG web site builder. It’s mostly commonly used for Intranet’s(internal company web sites) which allow someone with no html knowledge to quickly and easily update the web site. The pages allow for commenting, uploading of documents and can help manage a large team.

Administrating your Google Apps Account

How Do I Login To Google Apps?

To sign into your account simply go to https://mail.domain.com where domain.com is your company or organizations domain name. Type this into the address field in any Web browser, such as Internet Explorer or Firefox. Be careful to only enter the beginning part of your e-mail address since the domain name will already be displayed.

Examples:

• https://mail.association_name.org/
• https://mail.compyname.com/
• https://mail.business.net/
• https://calendar.association_name.org/
• https://calendar.compyname.com/
• https://calendar.business.net/
• https://docs.association_name.org/
• https://docs.compyname.com/
• https://docs.business.net/

 

How Do I Change My Password?

To change your Google apps password follow these steps.

1. Login to your Google apps account.
2. Click Settings in the top corner and then Accounts.
3. Click Google Account settings
4. This will take you to your Google password page.

 

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Administrating Your Google Apps Users

How Do I Manage my Google Apps Users?

Once you login, click the cog icon in the top right and then click Manage This Domain then click Organization & Users. There you can create and delete user accounts, change passwords and assign administrative rights.

You will need administrator rights to Manage E-mail accounts.

Important: Your password are located in your Welcome e-mail

How Do I Delete A User?

1. Click the Organization & Users tab.
2. Check the box next to the user (or users) you want to delete.
3. Click More actions > Delete users
4. When prompted, confirm that you want to delete the user
5. If necessary, delete the user from your Gmail contacts list.

Remember that it takes up to five days for a user to be deleted so make sure to delete any unnecessary accounts before your Google Apps Premier free 30 day trial ends.

How Do I Change A User Password?

1. Click the Organization & Users tab.
2. Click on the user
3. Click the Change password link
4. Enter in the new password and click Save Changes.

You can also make that user choose their own password after they first login.

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 How Do I Create E-Mail Aliases For Users

Every user has a primary email address, which is the email address created when the user’s account was created and the address the user uses to log into Google Apps. Google Apps enables to you create additional email aliases for a user.

An email alias is an alternative email address that points to an existing user account. For example, the user bill@subsidiary.com might also want to receive email addressed to william@subsidiary.com. If you create william@subsidiary.com as an email alias for bill@subsidiary.com, Google Apps will deliver email for both of these addresses to the same Gmail inbox.

To set one up simply login to your mail account at http://mail.yourdomain.com substituting yourdomain.com for your domain.

1. Click on Manage This Domain in the top right corner
2. It will ask you to login again for security reasons.
3. Click on Organization & Users and then click on the user’s name you’d like to add a nickname to.
4. Click Add a nickname, enter in the beginning part of the e-mail address and click Save Changes.

This will instantly setup your nickname and you’ll now be able to receive e-mail at both these email addresses in the same inbox. You only get 1 nickname per e-mail address. You can make groups to have a e-mail address forward to multiple e-mail addresses.
Google Groups
Google Groups allow you to setup a e-mail address that forwards to multiple e-mail accounts.

1. Log into the Google Apps Control panel for your domain
2. Select the tab “Groups”
3. Create a Group
   1. Name: MyDepartment
   2. Email Address: department
   3. Permission Presets: Announcement
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4. Click the Button “Create New Group” to save the group
5. Add 2 Members to the group
   • Ensure they are set as Members
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6. Add 1 user as an owner
7. Try the following tests:
   1. Send mail to the group
   2. Log into mail as an owner

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Configuring E-Mail Clients

Setting Up Google Apps On Your iPhone

Here’s how to set up your e-mail on your iPhone:

1. Tap Mail from your iPhone’s Home screen.
2. Tap Gmail.
3. Enter your name, your Gmail address, and password in the appropriate fields.
4. Tap Save. Now you’re done!

If you’re running software update 1.1.3, please note that tapping the ‘Gmail’ button will automatically configure Gmail IMAP. Here’s how to set up POP:

1. Tap Mail from your iPhone’s Home screen.
2. Tap Other.
3. Select IMAP from the tab menu.
4. Enter your name, email address, and password in the appropriate fields. The Address field should be your full email address (username@gmail.com). Google Apps users, enter your full address in the format ‘username@your_domain.com.’
5. Under Incoming Mail Server, fill in the Host Name field as ‘imap.gmail.com.’ Google Apps users, enter the server names provided, don’t add your domain name in this step.
6. Under Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP), fill in the Host Name field as ‘smtp.gmail.com.’
7. Tap Save. Now you’re done!

If you notice that access isn’t working properly, please ensure that all your settings are correct by following these instructions:

1. From the Home menu, tap Settings.
2. Select your Gmail address.
3. Scroll to the bottom of the page and tap Advanced.
4. Ensure that your settings are as follows:

Incoming Uses SSL:ON
Outgoing Uses SSL:ON
Authentication:Password
If you’re accessing your Gmail from multiple POP clients, we recommend setting Use Recent Mode to ON.

Setting up Google Apps on BlackBerry

Note: While setup instructions are provided below, Google Apps IMAP access is not officially supported for BlackBerry devices at this time.

To set up the BlackBerry’s email client with Gmail (IMAP), just follow these steps:

 

1. On your BlackBerry device, navigate to your home screen
2. Select the icon that lets you set up email (this can be called Setup, Setup Wizard, Email Setup, BlackBerry Set-up, E-mail settings, or Personal Email Set-up)
3. Follow the setup instructions provided on your device

If setup is successful, you should receive a confirmation message and a new mailbox icon should appear on your device’s home screen, labeled with your Gmail address.

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Setting Up Google Apps in Outlook 2007

1. Open Outlook.
2. For new setups, select Do not upgrade.
3. Click Yes.
4. Enter your display name, email address, and password.  e.g. ‘username@your_domain.com.’
5. Select the ‘Manually configure server settings or additional server types’ checkbox.

1. Select Internet E-mail.
2. Settings: name, full email address (username@your_domain.com’)
   • In the Account Type dropdown menu, select IMAP; enter the incoming and outgoing server names shown below.
   • In the ‘User Name’ field, give your full e-mail address ‘@your_domain.com.’
   • After creating these settings, clicking Next takes you to the end of the setup.

1. In the Tools menu, select Options then Mail Setup. Under ‘Email Accounts,’ click E-mail Accounts.
2. Select an account, and click Change above the list of accounts. Click More Settings, then the Advanced tab.
   • Incoming server must be 993, and must use SSL encryption.
   • Outgoing server can use 587, TLS encryption.

1. Click the Outgoing Server tab. Make sure that ‘My outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication’ is selected. The radio button ‘Use same settings as my incoming mail server’ should also be selected.

1. Click OK > Next > Finish > Close > OK.
2. Check our recommended client settings, and adjust your client’s settings as needed.

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Setting Up Google Apps in Outlook 2003

1.  Open Outlook.
2. Click the Tools menu, and select E-mail Accounts…
3. Click Add a new e-mail account, then click Next.
4. Choose IMAP as your server type by clicking the radio button, and click Next.
5. Fill in all necessary fields to include the following information:

User Information
Your Name: Enter your name as you would like it to appear in the From: field of outgoing messages.
Email Address: Enter your address in the format username@your_domain.comServer Information
Incoming mail server (IMAP): imap.gmail.com
Outgoing mail server (SMTP): smtp.gmail.com

Login Information
User Name: Enter your full email address (username@your_domain.com)
Password: Enter your password.

• Click More Settings… and then click the Outgoing Server tab. Check the box next to ‘My outgoing server (SMTP) requires athentication’ and select Use same settings as my incoming mail server.
• Click the Advanced tab, and check the box next to ‘This server requires an encrypted connection (SSL)’ under Incoming Server (IMAP). Also, enter 993 in the Incoming server (IMAP) box.

 

1. Check the box next to ‘This server requires an encrypted connection (SSL)’ under Outgoing Server (SMTP), and enter 465 in the Outgoing server (SMTP) box.
2. Click OK.
3. Click Next, and then click Finish.
4. Download the latest updates for Outlook from Microsoft. This will help prevent the most common Outlook errors that Gmail users see.
5. Check our recommended client settings, and adjust your client’s settings as needed.

Congratulations! You’re done configuring your client to send and retrieve Gmail messages.