CompassAir Web New User Guide
We are pleased to welcome you as a new user of CompassAir Web software.
This guide is intended to serve as an introduction to basic settings, allowing you to start making good use of our software. It is one of a series of guides that demonstrate how to use the many useful features of CompassAir (web version).
Where it is felt that additional training would be beneficial, bespoke packages can be provided for both individual users as well as groups. Please contact solutions@thinkcompass.io for more information.
Index
1 Google Chrome and Extensions
2 Messages: Home Screen
3 Settings General
4 Compose
5 Compose: Message Send Delay
6 Browse
7 Browse: Hiding Duplicated Messages
8 Browse: Message View – Horizontal or Vertical
9 User Interface: Chrome Extension
10 Signatures
11 Message Rules
12 Message Colours
13 Region
14 3rd Party: Google Drive and Dropbox
15 3rd Party: Skype Integration
16 Notifications (alerts when sending/receiving messages)
1. In order to make best use of all the features of CompassAir Web version we recommend that you use the Google Chrome web browser.
2. For full functionality please download the following Chrome Extension: CompassAir (see 9 below), Office Editing and Skype.
1. For more information about the above see the CompassAir Web Guides, accessible from Help under the user’s name, or alternatively directly at https://mycompassair.com/compassair-web-guides/. For example, information relating to Views and how to customise these can be found in User Guide Volume 3.
1. Access to CompassAir settings is available from the dropdown menu, under the user name. The menu also shows the number of current connections to the account (i.e. web, IOS and/or Android) with the option to end each by clicking on it and then selecting “Terminate”.
2. By clicking on the appropriate item in the list, the related settings are made available for customisation.
3. Any changes made to an individual setting are automatically saved and synchronised across all connections where applicable (i.e. IOS, Android and web).
1. Messages/Compose consists of a number of options that allow a user to choose default settings when composing new messages.
2. When a user has access to a number of mailboxes, the one most frequently used can be set as default.
3. Some of these options are introduced below.
1. When a new message has been composed, the option exists to then delay sending it. This is done using the drop down menu, found next to the red “Send” button. This is useful where, for example, further relevant information needs to be checked or received. It also allows the message to be revisited after a short delay, if that is considered necessary. Delayed messages are then stored in the “Pending” View and are available for editing by the user until immediately before despatch
2. The default delay, if any, can be selected under “Messages” in Settings, from “No Delay” to “Send in 24 Hours”
3. When a message is sent (and transferred to “Pending”) a blue box immediately pops up allowing the user to view the message in the pending view, achieved by clicking on “View Pending”
4. There it can be edited, cancelled, deleted or dispatched with a different delay.
5. The message can also be cancelled by clicking on the “Cancel” button on the green bar, on which there is also a timer, counting down the time to when the message is sent. This is useful where the user has a number of pending messages, needs to edit one or more and hence needs to prioritise
1. Messages/Browse allow a user to customise the way they see messages on the home screen.
1. When defining message Views (see Volume 3 CREATING CUSTOM MESSAGE VIEWS) it is possible to accumulate messages relating to a number of different addresses in that one View. For example, My Messages might include info@abc.com as well as admin@abc.com, with a supplier sending the same message to both addresses. By toggling “Hide Copies of Messages” to “Yes” under Messages Settings, when an identical message is sent to both addresses only one copy will be displayed in a particular message View
2. When a duplicated message has been read with “Hide Copies of Messages” turned on, all duplicates are also marked as read at the same time
1. The default view is for the screen to be split vertically as in 2 above. Using Messages/Settings this can be changed to a horizontally split screen
2. The size of the viewing screen can be adjusted by dragging the blue line up or down
3. Double clicking on a message opens that message in a new window
1. The CompassAir Google Chrome extension can be installed from the Settings menu, under “User Interface”
2. Once installed, the CompassAir icon will be visible on the Chrome toolbar
3. By default, files are downloaded from Chrome to the Download folder on your local drive (this can be changed from within a user’s Chrome browser settings). However a different folder can then be selected from the Windows “Save As” pop-up. Rather than opening File Explorer each time, the most recent files downloaded from CompassAir can be seen by clicking on the CompassAir icon in 2 above
4. Each file is then quickly accessible. It can be viewed in the download folder, opened, deleted or removed from this most recent list, each action achieved by selecting one of the four yellow icons
1. New signatures are created via the Settings menu from “Signatures”, existing signatures being visible in the viewing panel, showing which are active and which is the default. They can be selected and edited as required
2. Clicking on “New Signatures” enables additional customised signatures to be created
3. A description of the new signature is made under “1 General” and can now (or later, when edited) be set as active/inactive, default or not
4. The content of the signature and its format are created in the viewing pane, for consistency using the same formatting that is made available when composing messages
5. A summary of the content and characteristics of the new signature is displayed by clicking on the “Finish” button. Alternatively the content can cleared and re-entered, or the creation of the signature cancelled.
6. Once the user is satisfied with the content and format, the new signature can then be saved for future use
1. Messages Rules are used to automate tasks. To create a new message Rule, select “Message Rules” from the Settings menu. Rules are also used to handle incoming spam – see Volume 5 for more information
2. Existing Rules are listed in the middle pane
3. The example about to be created flags for all employees all incoming messages containing the word “Maersk”, starting by clicking on “New Rule”
4. The new Rule is then described at step “1 General”
5. Next, the specific parameters are defined for the Rule to apply. In this case the text of the message should contain the word “Maersk”
6. Unused parameters can be deleted or more added by clicking on “Add Field”
7. Under step 3, the necessary action to be taken is selected, in this case to flag the message for all employees
8. An option to apply the Rule for a predefined period is available at step 4, the default being to apply it without any time constraints
9. Finally, the properties of the new Rule are displayed at step 5 and, if satisfactory, can be saved, alternatively, they can be edited using the “Previous” button. Once saved, the properties can be further edited at a later time, with the option to make the scheme active or inactive (i.e. deferred for use on a later date)
1. Messages can be colour coded for ease of reference. To set up colour coding select “Message Colours” from the Settings menu. Pale colours have been deliberately chosen to allow black text to remain visible through the colour
2. Existing colour coding is shown in the middle pane
3. In this example we want all incoming messages from Tradewinds to be shown in pink, starting by clicking on “New Colour”
4. The colour coding scheme is described in step “1 General”
5. Next, the specific parameters are defined to which the colour coding is to be applied.
6. Unused parameters can be deleted or more added by clicking on “Add Field”
7. At step “3 Colour” the identifying colour is chosen
8. The existing colour coding schemes are then displayed in step “4 Order”. Here the option is given to prioritise the order in which these schemes are applied. This is done by dragging respective boxes up or down. In this example the “Tradewinds” colour scheme takes preference over all others.
9. Finally at step “5 Summary”, the properties of the new scheme are displayed and, if acceptable, can be saved or, alternatively, they can be edited using the “Previous” button. Once saved, the properties can be further edited, at a later time, with the option to make the scheme active or inactive (i.e. deferred for use on a later date)
1. Both the date format and the user’s time zone can be set using the Region tab.
1. Access to Google Drive and Dropbox is enabled under “3rd Party” settings
2. Once enabled, message attachments can be saved directly to Google Drive and DropBox, the respective icons being revealed from the drop down menu next to the file name. The attachment can also either be previewed or downloaded to the user’s hard drive in the same way. It should be noted that the first time this facility is used it is necessary for the user to log in to either Google Drive or DropBox
3. Attachments from either Google Drive or DropBox can also be added to messages being composed within the Message Editor. These options are available from the “Insert” dropdown menu
1. Integration with Skype is enabled under “3rd Party” settings
2. Once enabled, and when Skype addresses are stored in contacts, clicking on the Skype icon next to a name opens Skype at that contact’s name. Skype can then be used in the normal way to commence an audio or video call or to send a message. The dropdown menu next to “Enable Skype” allows a user to choose between Skype or Skype for Business
1. If a user needs to know when a reply arrives in response to an email they are sending, a notification can be set up using the “Options” drop down mention when composing the message. Providing “Show notifications” has been ticked under your phone’s Application Settings for CompassAir, and CompassAir is running minimised, a pop-up message will appear on your phone upon receipt
2. Alternatively, if the message has already been sent, the same option appears in the drop down menu that appears after clicking the ellipsis at the top right hand corner of the message
3. If the same option is selected as for 2 above for an incoming message, a pop up notification will again appear on your phone when a reply is sent from within your own organisation (i.e. from mailbox that you share). If a reply is sent by the user who selected the “Notify Me” on the incoming message, then a notification will not be generated
