It seems like every entry I've made so far has something to do with Outlook and Exchange. Email issues are taking up more of my time each day than anything else. It's not that there is anything wrong with the email server - it's more the user expectations that are the issue.
I received an email from a remote user who said he couldn't receive any email on his laptop. Knowing that he carries a mobile email device I emailed him back and asked him to describe the symptoms. He wrote back, "it's just sitting there with this blue bar saying it's downloading."
"Hmmm...could it be that someone sent you an email with a large attachment? Maybe you should just wait it out," I suggested. "Nah, that couldn't be it," he said. "It has never taken this long before to download my email." Of course he knows nothing about the connection speeds at his hotel.
I receive the same email from him every five minutes, "Isn't there something you can do to speed it up?" I'm glad I've trained my users to use email for everything but the most urgent tech support requests. Otherwise he would have heard the exasperation in my voice.
Finally, he says he is going to go to supper and will be away from the keyboard for awhile. I tell him to be sure to leave the computer running and Outlook open. Maybe he will be surprised and his email download will finish by the time he gets back. I don't hear from him again.
Curiosity causes me to shoot him an email the next day (this morning). "Did you ever get all your email last night?" His response, "Yeah, I couldn't figure out what was wrong. Did you do something on your end to speed it up?" Sigh. It just doesn't do any good to try to explain.
I received an email from a remote user who said he couldn't receive any email on his laptop. Knowing that he carries a mobile email device I emailed him back and asked him to describe the symptoms. He wrote back, "it's just sitting there with this blue bar saying it's downloading."
"Hmmm...could it be that someone sent you an email with a large attachment? Maybe you should just wait it out," I suggested. "Nah, that couldn't be it," he said. "It has never taken this long before to download my email." Of course he knows nothing about the connection speeds at his hotel.
I receive the same email from him every five minutes, "Isn't there something you can do to speed it up?" I'm glad I've trained my users to use email for everything but the most urgent tech support requests. Otherwise he would have heard the exasperation in my voice.
Finally, he says he is going to go to supper and will be away from the keyboard for awhile. I tell him to be sure to leave the computer running and Outlook open. Maybe he will be surprised and his email download will finish by the time he gets back. I don't hear from him again.
Curiosity causes me to shoot him an email the next day (this morning). "Did you ever get all your email last night?" His response, "Yeah, I couldn't figure out what was wrong. Did you do something on your end to speed it up?" Sigh. It just doesn't do any good to try to explain.
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