Basic Lesson 5: Using the Tell Feature

Workspace is a collaborative tool, and that means that many people work together, editing document, creating events, or finishing tasks.  But the hierarchy of Workspace can be complicated – how can you point your colleagues to the item you have in mind?  In this lesson, I’ll show you how to inform others about information in Workspace.

If you want to notify other Workspace users about a particular item in Workspace, you can send them an e-mail with a link to the item.  By sending a link to the item rather than attaching the item, you help preserve version control and you will no longer need to deal with clutter in your email.  You can send the message directly from within Workspace.  Here’s how:

First, you’ll want to make sure the recipient can access the item – make sure to check the item’s access policy first.

From the information page of the document or item that you want to tell others about, click Tell People, which is in the command bar under the Inform heading.

Enter the email address of the recipient in the To field.  If you do not know the email address of the recipient, click on the button to open the address book.  Edit the subject line and Message Content, if needed.  Make sure to leave the URL and email address of the Help Desk intact.  When you are ready to send the message, click OK.

Alternately, you can copy and paste URLs into your own email client.  Each item in Workspace – folders, document, calendar entries, tasks – has stable and unique URLs that never change even if the item is moved or re-named. That means that you can tell people about a project, document, or other item of interest by copying and pasting the URL into an email.  This is particularly helpful if you need to tell a colleague about multiple items in Workspace.

But what if your colleague if not a Workspace user?  Well, sending him or her a URL won’t be of much help, but you don’t want to download and attach a document either.  Luckily, the Tell People feature allows you to attach a document.  Just erase the URL and Help Desk email from the Message content, or you will confuse the recipient.  It’s also important to remember not to send sensitive information and not to attach several large files at once – many people have controls in place that limit the size of emails they can receive at once. 

Now you know how to point people to information in Workspace.  At this time, you can return to workspace or view another video tutorial.