IT Hints and Tips

The purpose of this page is to provide access to relevant hints and tips you might find useful when accessing the Saltash U3A website and email system. It is not intended to be all you ever wanted to know about using all IT applications!
That said, if you have any suggestions for topics to be covered, or wish to add your own tips, please let us know by clicking Contact Us at the bottom of this page.

I hope you find this useful.
Angie Fisher (Webmaster)

Saltash U3A IT

The decision to use the webmail based Fasthosts secure email system as it satisfies a variety of security and data protection requirements. As a result, while the basic principals of working with email are the same as other systems, the tips below will not translate directly to any of those other systems.  Members of the Committee and Group Leaders have access to Fasthosts.

IMPORTANT NOTICE:  November 2021
A major update to the ‘look and feel’ of Fasthosts email has been recently introduced, which will affect
all Committee Members and Group Leaders using the Fasthosts system.
CLICK HERE to see an example of an email folder screen.

The implications of the update are:

• A more modern user interface, which may appear more user friendly on certain devices such as smart phones;
• The familiar tools are still available, but may have moved: take a moment to look around;
• The Settings have not changed, but how you access them has moved to the side bar on the left of the screen, as have the Contacts, Compose and Logout tools.

Important security notes and recommendations:

1. A reading pane is automatically displayed to the right of each email folder and clicking on an email will open it in this pane. There is no way of closing this pane.
   Recommendation: Whilst the reading pane is very useful for quickly viewing emails PLEASE TAKE CARE to only open emails from trusted sources!
2. In the previous version of the system, there was a checkbox to the left of each email to enable the selection and management of messages.  Initially this is not visible and so it is recommended that you:
   1. Log in to Fasthosts email
   2. Click the Select Tool above the list of emails and choose the Selection option at the top of the pop-up menu – see example
   3. The checkbox is then applied to all email folders and this setting is maintained when you logout.

The links in the following table will display information and/or step-by-step instructions related to the listed topics.
PLEASE NOTE: These notes have not been updated since the system update in November 2021.  The way the features are used has not changed significantly, but the tools to access them and used within them may have moved.
If you require assistance, please email web@saltashu3a.org.uk