Guide for using the forum

How to login to the 'Forum' and use it:

  1. Type this address in your browser http://fti.sabhlokcity.com/forum/ or click on a forum thread link in the email from FTI Forum.
  2. If you are NOT already signed on then you get following message: You must be logged in to post
  3. On the exreme RHS of ths message there is a login icon with keys image. Click on that login icon and type in your blog login/password
  4. Check the remember me button
  5. It directly takes you to the forum thread you clicked on or forum main page
  6. Bookmark the page – if you are using firefox as your browser, then drag the link of the page to the Firefox toolbar – best way to remember the page
  7. Check out the various forums under the appropriate group (FTI Main or FTI Backoffice)
  8. Click the forum that seems appropriate to your post
  9. Check the topics under the forum
  10. If any of the topics meet your requirement, then click on that
  11. Either compose a new post or write a reply
  12. If none of the topics meet your requirements, create a new topic in the correct forum
  13. Give it a proper heading, and start writing your post
  14. If you cannot find an appropriate forum to create your topic then please post a message to: http://fti.sabhlokcity.com/forum/fti-admin/request-to-create-new-forum
  15. Not all FTI members are allowed to create new topic (thread), so if you want to create new topic and have no access then also post a message in the above topic (link given above in step # 14).

How to subscribe to posts on gmail:

  1. Simply write a post under this topic in Forum: http://fti.sabhlokcity.com/forum/fti-admin/subscribe-to-fti-forum
  2. To stop receiving email on every post: fti-forum is a just a Google Group and any one of its member can go to http://groups.google.com/group/fti-forum and then choose his email delivery option to "No Email" or alternatively simply unsubscribe yourself from this Google group.
  3. In the Forum any member can choose to individually subscribe to a topic of his/her interest by clicking on Subscribe link at the bottom of every topic page and then Forum will send a notification email on every new post on that selected topic.

How to read your unread posts: Follow one of the following ways to read your unread/new posts.

  1. Click on Your Unread and Recent Posts link on any Forum page and it will open up a new page with the links to all of your unread posts in one page.
  2. On top of every Forum page please pay attention to this message "n Topics with unread posts" (where n is count of your unread posts).
  3. On top of every Forum page please pay attention to this drop-down list "New/Recently Update Topics". If you click on this drop-down list all your unread messages are listed in red color.
  4. On the bottom of the main forum page Forum http://fti.sabhlokcity.com/forum there is a table with the title "Most Recent Topics With Unread Posts" that shows your unread posts with this icon on left New Posts indicating unread posts in that topic.
  5. You can get an automated notification email in your GMail for every post made in Forum with a direct link of the post so just click the link there.
  6. On the main page of Forum http://fti.sabhlokcity.com/forum it gives link to very last post in each forum with member name, so in 1 click you can directly go to the last message in any Forum.

How to add an attachment for all the file types such as doc, ppt, xls etc:

  1. Type some text in the given text area.
  2. Highlight/select desired text
  3. Click on the "Insert/Edit Link" icon, one with the chain image next to Indent.
  4. A small popup will open. Click on browse button on RHS of "Link URL" field.
  5. Select Upload tab from the next popup window
  6. Click on Browse button on the bottom-left to open/select files from your computer
  7. Once selected click on Upload button on bottom-right corner to start the upload process.
  8. Once upload is completed you will get a success message
  9. Click on Browse tab to select the newly uploaded file.
  10. And finally click on Insert button to insert the link with the newly uploaded file in your post.

How to send personal message (Email) to a member in 'Forum':

  1. One can send copy of a particular message to others (cc) there is PM option (Personal Messaging).
  2. There is a 'Send PM' button on top of each message (post) in the Forum. Once clicked this button lets a user select member names from a drop-down member list (a buddy list can also be maintained by each user).
  3. You can send a personal message to more than one recipient as well.
  4. Once sent this PM is available in member's personal InBox (in forum application) as well as an email is also sent to member's email address.

Alternate way to reach out to Email InBox of each and every FTI member:

Simply make a post on this topic: http://fti.sabhlokcity.com/forum/fti-admin/send-email-to-all-the-fti-members

How to save drafts:
You will notice a new button 'Save Draft' next to the 'Post New Reply' button in the typing box (shows up after you hit Reply to Post). Any text in the typing area greater than 10 characters can be saved by clicking on this 'Save Draft' button. Apart from this manual save there is an auto save feature also that automatically saves your text every 30 secs.

Every time content is saved you will notice a new red-white wheel icon (left of Cut or scissor icon) revolving indicating that text is being saved.

How to restore saved drafts:

Your saved drafts are retained on your computer itself for 24 hours. If you accidentally close the page or hit refresh or back button you can again come back to the typing area and hit the same red-white wheel to restore the text. If you already have some text in typing area then it will ask for confirmation before overwriting the text in the text-area. If this red-white wheel is disabled then it means there is nothing to be restored.

Browsers Supported: All modern browsers are supported. It has been tested on Firefox 3+, Chrome 4+, Internet 8+ on Mac, Windows and Ubuntu Linux systems.

How to move a post to an existing topic (Admins Only):

  1. Admins will now see a new option in Edit Tools (shown as wrench icon on top of every post to Admins) called "Move This Post to a Topic".
  2. Once you click on this menu option a small pop-up will open with a drop-down list of all the forums.
  3. Select the destination forum and click:
  4. A new small pop-up will open with a drop-down list of all the existing topics within your chosen forum in previous step.
  5. If you selected wrong forum in step 3 you can always go back by clicking:
  6. Select the destination topic where you want this post to move and click:
  7. A confirmation (or failure if any) message will come up on top of the page with the yellow background and that's it your post has moved

PS: Earlier option has been renamed appropriately as "Move This Post to a New Topic"

How to create a user entry for 'Guests' (Admins Only):

Step 1: Managers/Admins will register 'guests' as any other FTI member they register.

Step 2: Managers/Admins need to edit 'guests' record by indicating this user as 'Guest Member' and more importantly specify the user tenure (No limit / 3 months / 6 months). Screenshot is attached below:

Step 3: I will write a cron script that will run every night and lock-down 'guests' records if their tenure is over.

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