Using the Proxy Feature

The Proxy feature allows you to access other users' GroupWise messages and calendars. With this feature, you can also permit others to view your GroupWise messages.

Remember, your mailbox contains all your GroupWise information: email messages, calendar items, sent items, deleted messages, personal folders, rules, and so forth.

There are two general steps to setting up the Proxy feature:

1.	Specify access to a mailbox. Decide who can access what information and how it can be accessed (Read, Write, or both).
2.	Start a Proxy session. This is the process of opening up someone else's mailbox.

You cannot access others' mailboxes until they have given you access privileges to their mailboxes. Likewise, others cannot access your mailbox until you have granted them access privileges. Attempting to do so without this privilege produces an access denied error message.

NOTE

Be sure you completely understand the available access privileges before granting them to others. If you are too liberal when granting rights to your mailbox, other users can send messages that appear to be from you. They could possibly modify your setup and grant other individuals Proxy rights.

Setting a Password

To provide the highest level of security for your mailbox, we strongly recommend setting a password and thereafter keeping that password secure.

NOTE

If you use Proxy to access someone else's mailbox, the password is not required to gain access. The password feature protects against unwanted access by someone who has not been granted any access rights.

Setting a password is an option you establish through the Tools menu. (We discuss how to set other options and defaults in Chapter 11, "Customizing GroupWise.")

To set a password on your mailbox, follow these steps:

1.	Choose Tools, Options and double-click the Security icon.
2.	Enter a password in the New Password field and in the Confirm New Password field. Click OK to set the password. The next time you start GroupWise, you will need to type in your password. If you select the No Password Required with eDirectory option, you will not be prompted to enter a password when you access your own mailbox if you are logged in to eDirectory.

NOTE

Your administrator may have enabled LDAP authentication for your GroupWise account. If this has been done, you may not be able to change your password from this interface, and it could be grayed out. Pay attention to any warnings or notes from within the change password screen for more information on how your GroupWise system may be configured.

Granting Access to Others

To grant other GroupWise users access rights to your mailbox, follow these steps:

1.

Choose Tools, Options and double-click the Security icon.

2.

Choose the Proxy Access tab.

3.

Click the Address button next to the Name field to start the Address Selector. Double-click the username you want to grant access to. Click OK to add the user to the access list (see Figure 8.6).

Figure 8.6. The Proxy feature allows you to grant others access to your GroupWise mailbox.

NOTE

The All User Access entry in the Access List box allows you to grant blanket rights to all other GroupWise users. This capability may be useful if you want everyone to be able to see your calendar items. Use extreme caution when selecting this option.

4.

With the username in the Access List highlighted, select the appropriate access (see Table 8.2 for a description of the access rights). Click OK and then Close to apply the rights.

Table 8.2. Proxy Access Fields

ITEM TYPE	ACCESS RIGHT
Mail/Phone	Read: Read messages in your Mailbox folder. Write: Write email and phone messages in your stead.
Appointments	Read: Read posted and group appointments from your calendar. Write: Create posted appointments and invite others to meetings in your stead.
Reminder Notes	Read: Read personal and accepted notes from your calendar. Write: Create personal notes and send notes in your stead.
Tasks	Read: Read posted tasks and assigned tasks from your calendar or to-do list. Write: Create posted tasks or send tasks to others in your stead.
Subscribe to My Alarms	Enable users to have alarms for your appointments.
Subscribe to My Notifications	Enable users to have notifications for all messages you receive displayed on their computers.
Modify Options/Rules/Folders	Enable users to change your preferences (password, rules/folders, mailbox access, defaults, and so on), create rules for your mailbox, and change your folder structure.
Read Items Marked Private	Enable users to read any item (mail message, appointment, task, or note) that is marked "Private."

5.

To remove a user from the Access List, highlight the username in the Access List and click the Remove User button.

6.

To change someone's access, highlight the username in the Access List, change the rights, click OK, and then click Close to complete the change.

NOTE

You should grant Modify Options/Rules/Folders rights only to very trustworthy individuals. These rights enable users to change your password and grant others access to your mailbox.

Starting a Proxy Session

With the Proxy feature, you can access a person's entire mailbox and perform other activities within the parameters allowed by the permissions the other GroupWise user has granted to you. Having full access to someone else's mailbox does not mean you can only view the person's messages and calendar items. You can also send mail messages as that user; access the user's sent items, personal folders in the Cabinet, and deleted messages in the Trash; and edit the user's rules and preferences.

After you are through viewing someone else's mailbox, you need to end the Proxy session to view your mailbox again. Optionally, you can open an additional GroupWise window for the other user while keeping your mailbox open (this technique is explained in more detail in the next section).

To start a Proxy session and view someone else's mailbox, follow these steps:

1.	Choose File, Proxy or click the icon next to the online status indicator and select Proxy. (You can also select the drop-down arrow next to the mode and select the Proxy option.)
2.	Type in the username of the user whose mailbox you want to access. Alternatively, you can click the Address Book icon next to the Name field, double-click the username from the Address Selector, and click OK.

The Proxy session starts. Note that the status changes to Proxy and the name of the user whose mailbox you are accessing appears in the GroupWise title bar, as shown in Figure 8.7.

Figure 8.7. The GroupWise main screen indicates Proxy access.

To end the session and view your mailbox again, click the Proxy icon and select your name. Your mailbox opens.

Opening Multiple Windows

By default, your main GroupWise window changes to the mailbox you are accessing with the Proxy feature. This default can be tedious if you need to view multiple mailboxes. In this case, it is useful to open a different GroupWise window for each active Proxy session. This multiple-window feature enables you to view many different mailboxes from your workstation.

TIP

There are other reasons to open multiple GroupWise windows. For example, you can have one window for viewing the new messages in your mailbox, another one showing your open calendar, and a third window for viewing documents in the document library.

To open an extra GroupWise window (with your mailbox open), follow these steps:

1.	Choose Window, New Main Window. A new, complete GroupWise window appears on your screen.
2.	Click the Proxy icon and start a Proxy session with another mailbox. This new window displays the mailbox you are accessing.
3.	You can access any of the open windows by choosing that window from the Window menu. Each window is labeled with the name of the user whose mailbox is open.

NOTE

As discussed in Chapter 7, "Group Calendaring and Task Management," you can use the Multi-User tab in the Calendar folder view to see multiple users' calendar information on one screen.