Information Technology Services recently enabled formatting and attachment options on the Fac_Staff listserv after conducting testing on a department listserv. After the transition to Microsoft Exchange for email, ITS feels comfortable enough with its virus and malware remediation solution to enable these new features; the listserv has always been capable of sending formatted messages and attachments, but these features had never been enabled.

Formatted text and attachments are now allowed for Fac_Staff or Social listserv messages. However, ITS has established some guidelines for use of these new capabilities:

• Attachment sizes are limited to 40 megabytes, but shouldn’t be more than 32 megabytes. Exchange will prohibit large attachments before they’re ever sent to the listserv.
• Attachments of 5 megabytes or more should be made available via the campus website and have a URL posted to the listserv.
• Moderators do not edit outgoing messages. Catching and correcting spelling, grammar and formatting errors remains the responsibility of the sender.
• The ability to format and color text should be used in moderation, and keep in mind that aesthetically pleasing messages are more likely to be read.
• Outlook should preserve most formatting that is cut-and-pasted from Word or Excel, although common Word formatting options are already available in Exchange. Cutting and pasting from Excel will not be the same as attaching an Excel document to a message.
• ITS cannot retract messages once they are sent, so please use caution to include the correct attachment for your message.
• Multiple attachments are allowed.

Comments, questions or concerns on this topic may be directed to Technical Support at 3777.