Exchange Server and Outlook come with an inbuilt address book (Global Address Book – GAL) that includes a list of every mailbox on the University’s Exchange email system. There are still other email systems at work at the University and at present the users on those system do not appear in the GAL.
As this is the case, it is important that the CAMA system is used as the de facto standard for finding e-mail address or telephone numbers. You can not guarantee that the person you are trying to reach has their mailbox residing on the Exchange system.
CAMA Interface:
The Global Address List is still not without merit, but it should be used carefully. As we have so many staff and students appearing in the list, there is quite a high chance that users have the same name. The GAL should contain information detailing a user’s school / service / course to help determine a specific individual.
Please note that the results have been blurred for the purpose of the screenshot.
1. Start typing the name of the individual that you are trying to find. The GAL will always try to navigate that list based on the user Display Name. This typically follows the Firstname, Lastname format, however due to legacy mail systems and number of users, there are users whose Display Name and email address starts only with their initials.
2. Use the scroll bar to find out more details. Most mailboxes have School / Service / Course information included to help distinguish users with the same name.
3. If you are experiencing difficult finding a user, try changing the search capacity. Changing from Name Only to More Columns allows the search field to look across multiple fields in a user’s account. This will let you search for all users with the same surname or same department for example.
4. Finally using the Advance Find function allows to specifically tailor your search for specific fields.