Managing Outgoing Messages

The Sent Items folder stores all the items that you send from your account. You retain access to these sent items for three purposes: to track the status of the messages, to edit and resend the messages, and to retract the messages.

Checking the Status of Sent Items

GroupWise offers the distinctive feature of tracking the status of sent messages. With status types, you can find out the disposition of any message you have sent.

You can get some information about the message simply by looking at the icon to the left of the message in the Sent Items folder. For example, if the recipient has not opened the item, the envelope is closed. If the recipient has opened the message, the envelope icon is open. If the message is shown in bold, it has not yet been delivered.

The status information in GroupWise corresponds to specific message types. For example, you can check to see whether a Phone message has been read or a task you sent has been completed. However, you can't see whether an email message has been completed because you can only mark a task completed. Table 5.3 lists the different status types, and Table 5.4 shows how they correspond to each message type.

Table 5.3. Description of Status Messages

STATUS	DESCRIPTION
Delivered	The message has been delivered to the recipient's mailbox.
Replied	The recipient has replied to the message.
Opened	The recipient has opened the message.
Retracted	The message has been retracted from the recipient's mailbox.
Deleted	The message has been moved to the recipient's Trash.
Emptied	The message has been purged from the recipient's Trash.
Completed	The task has been completed.
Accepted	The recipient has accepted the appointment, note, or task.
Declined	The recipient has declined the appointment, note, or task.
Downloaded	A remote client has downloaded the message.
Transferred	The message has been transferred to the gateway.

Table 5.4. Message Type/Status Information Correlation

STATUS	EMAIL MESSAGE	PHONE MESSAGE	MEETING REQUEST	TASK ASSIGNMENT	REMINDER NOTE
Delivered	X	X	X	X	X
Replied	X	X	X	X	X
Opened	X	X	X	X	X
Retracted	X	X	X	X	X
Deleted	X	X	X	X	X
Emptied	X	X	X	X	X
Completed				X
Accepted			X	X	X
Declined			X	X	X
Downloaded	X	X	X	X	X
Transferred	X	X	X	X	X

NOTE

The only status information you can obtain about a message sent outside your GroupWise system (such as an email message sent to the Internet) is Transferred. You can also get a return notification email when the Send Notification to My Mailbox option is checked under the Send Options of new mail. The recipient's mail system must support Delivery Status Notifications back to your GroupWise system for this feature to work properly.

To check the status of a message, follow these steps:

1.

Click the Sent Items folder.

2.

Double-click the message for which you want the status and choose the Properties tab. (Alternatively, you can select a message, right-click it, and choose Properties from the QuickMenu.) The two styles of properties you can view are Basic Properties and Advanced Properties. The Basic Properties view shows the basic information about the recipients of an item. To view a detailed list of information about the properties of a sent item, select the Advanced Properties from the Style setting in the upper-right corner of a sent item.

TIP

The default for double-clicking a message in the Sent Items folder is set the first time you run GroupWise and double-click the item. You are prompted to either view the properties or open the message. To change this, choose Tools, Options. Then double-click Environment and select the Default Actions tab. Sent Items default actions are in the upper-left corner.

Figure 5.23 shows a typical message with Basic status properties displayed.

Figure 5.23. The properties of a sent message display delivery information.

Retracting Messages

Retracting a message is extremely useful if you have regrets about a sent message or if you have any other reason to recall a message you have sent. As long as the message has not been opened, you can retract it.

NOTE

You cannot retract messages sent through a gateway to another mail system, such as messages you send to Internet users.

To retract a message, follow these steps:

1.	Click the Sent Items folder.
2.	Click the message you want to retract and press the Delete key, or choose Edit, Delete. (As a shortcut, right-click a message and choose Delete from the QuickMenu.)
3.	From the Delete Item dialog box, shown in Figure 5.24, make a choice about which mailboxes you want to remove the message from: My Mailbox Removes the message from your Sent Items folder only, leaving a copy in the recipient's mailbox Recipient's Mailbox Removes the message from all recipients' mailboxes, leaving a copy in your Sent Items folder All Mailboxes Removes the message from all recipients' mailboxes as well as from your Sent Items folder Figure 5.24. The Delete Item dialog box allows you to determine the options for the retraction of a message. NOTE If you are using GroupWise in remote or cache mode (discussed in Chapter 10, "Remote Access"), you see an additional option: Delete from Remote and Online Mailbox or Delete from Caching and Online Mailbox.
4.	Click OK and the message is retracted.

If you send a message to several recipients, you can retract the message from all recipients who have not opened the item. If a recipient has opened the item, and you attempt to retract it, it will be retracted from all users who have not yet opened the item. You can check the status of the sent item to see the status of a retract request. When you see Retracted and Purged, you know the message has successfully been retracted. You can also see the status of the retraction per recipient.

NOTE

You can retract a message only if the recipient has not opened it. The Delete from Recipient's Mailbox option is the safest way to retract because you still keep a copy of the item in your Sent Items folder (for status tracking, resending, and so on).

Resending Messages

If you have ever sent a message to the president of your company, only to read it later and find a glaring typo, or you forgot to attach the file you were going to send, you should appreciate being able to resend messages with GroupWise.

From the Sent Items folder, you can edit a message you have sent and resend itwith an option to retract the original message.

To resend a message, follow these steps:

1.	Click the Sent Items folder.
2.	Click the message you want to edit; then choose Actions, Resend. (As a shortcut, right-click a message and choose Resend from the QuickMenu.)
3.	Edit the message, click the Send button, and answer Yes when you are prompted with the question, Retract Original Item? (see Figure 5.25). Figure 5.25. When you resend a message, you see the Resend dialog box, which allows you to remove the old message from the recipients' mailboxes.