Rackspace Email & Apps Blog

Recent Posts in the ‘Product Enhancements’ Category

Say Hello to Rackspace Cloud Drive & Rackspace Server Backup

Nov 17th, 2009 in Company News, Product Enhancements by Cameron Nouri

Every day, Rackspace customers experience the benefits of having their IT in the cloud. By entrusting their IT to our team of experts, our customers are able to focus on their core business, instead of being distracted by IT headaches. We love hearing from our customers and how happy they are with us and our Fanatical Support®.

So, we’re particularly excited to announce the launch of two new Apps designed to help businesses work even more efficiently. With Rackspace Cloud Drive and Rackspace Server Backup, businesses can now organize, backup, and share their files in the cloud—securely, and backed by our 24×7x365 Fanatical Support. Here are the details:

Rackspace Cloud Drive is essentially an online hard drive—a hard drive that is in the cloud. Your Cloud Drive allows you to access and store files online, via a network drive on your computer. It works across Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems without any additional hardware. Yet the Cloud Drive offers more than just online file storage, online file backup, and online file sharing—with Rackspace Cloud Drive, you get access to powerful features that help you take advantage of the cloud:

Store and share files between other employees and/or team members
Synchronize folders across one or more computers
Use Rackspace Team Sync to ensure that team members are always working with the most recent version of a file
Set up automatic backups of your data to the Rackspace Cloud and easily restore that data in the event of a hardware failure
Secure your data with built-in AES-256 encryption, using a key controlled by the user

Get Rackspace Cloud Drive for $4/user/month, which includes 10 GB of storage space in the cloud. If you are a current customer, you can have your administrator add users via the Upgrade section in the Control Panel. If you are not a customer yet, you can learn more and sign up online.

Rackspace Server Backup enables you to automatically backup your Windows or Linux based server data to the cloud. Chances are, if you have a server in your closet, you also have backups running on that server already, most likely with a tape backup. Every few days or couple of weeks you have to go into the server closet and switch out the old tape for a new tape. Sound familiar? It can be a painful, manual process.

Using Rackspace Server Backup, you can toss all those tapes out and not have to worry about your server backups or data backup software anymore.

You can get Rackspace Server Backup for $5/server/month, which includes 10GB of storage space in the cloud. If you are a current customer, you can have your administrator add Rackspace Server Backup licenses via the Upgrade section in the Control Panel. If you are not a customer yet, you can learn more and sign up online.

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Rackspace Email: New Features in Webmail

Nov 16th, 2009 in Product Enhancements by Manny DeJesus

Some Rackspace Webmail releases have themes or a singular focus. For example, this past summer we worked on significant speed improvements and had a “Speed Release.”

Other times we release a list of features that are a) requested by customers, b) overdue and/or c) just pretty damn cool…

Our latest release was the latter. Here are the highlights:

Compose Window Pop-In
Speed is critical in web-based apps and Compose/Send is critical in email clients. So creating an improved and faster way of sending emails was a no-brainer. For users who love the flexibility of a pop-up compose window, but have been slaves to browser rendering, this pop-in is definitely for you. Give it a try.

Improved Address Auto-Complete
The auto-complete function for addressing emails is bigger, faster and smarter. It can store an unlimited amount of contacts and even remembers addresses not stored in your Contacts List. It also prioritizes the recipients you email a lot – over those you don’t.

Keyboard Shortcuts
Enable keyboard shortcuts in your Webmail Settings and never use your mouse again! Well, maybe not never, but Keyboard Shortcuts do allow you to perform many popular email actions from the keyboard alone.

“No Attachment” and “No Subject” Alerts
This new feature automatically detects a variation of the word “attachment” in your email and alerts you if no file is attached. Similarly for the Subject; an empty Subject field will prompt an alert. Both features can be toggled on/off in Webmail Settings.

Right-Click to Create Email Filters
Quickly create email filters right from your inbox. Simply right-click on a message to bring up the “Add New Filter” menu.

Invites can Send to Groups
A life-saver for all you project manager-types… Create a Group within Contacts that you consistently schedule meetings with (say “Developers”) and simply send an invite to that Group for future pow-wows.

Do you have a Webmail Idea?
Check out our Rackspace Webmail BETA to submit any and all feedback you may have… in addition to previewing new features before they’re released.

Log-in today: https://apps.rackspace.com/beta

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[Launch] Self-Service Email Migrations Performed In the Cloud

Nov 4th, 2009 in Product Enhancements by Cameron Nouri

We’re always looking for ways to make it easier for businesses to move into the cloud. That’s why we’re proud to announce our new do-it-yourself Migration App.

With the Migration App, customers can copy their email data from their previous email servers to our Rackspace Email or Microsoft Exchange messaging platforms. The Migration App is located in the customer Control Panel and is completely self-service, walking the customer through the process step-by-step.

Here are some highlights:

Migrate from your own internal email servers or from other hosted servers.
Migrate from Exchange servers and POP/IMAP servers. We’ve even added settings for popular email services that we see customers migrating from, such as GoDaddy.
Create multiple migrations, including customized migrations for specifics sets of mailboxes.
Schedule your migration for a date and time that work best for you.
When the migration begins, email data will begin transferring automatically, without any additional effort on your part.
View migration progress online and receive email alerts.
Save migration details, so that you can review the migration report at any time.

Our Migration App will guide you through the process and includes helpful information along the way. And, of course, our Fanatical Support® team is here 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, if you need any help.

Please note, if your business has advanced requirements that require a manual migration, our dedicated transition team can build a custom migration plan and manage the entire process for you. Please contact us to learn more.

Want to get started?

For current customers, the Migration App can be accessed within our Control Panel, under Domains -> Tools -> Migrations.

If you are not a current customer, what are you waiting for? Isn’t it time for your business to get in the cloud?

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Introducing Notes! Now in Rackspace Webmail

Oct 10th, 2009 in Product Enhancements by Manny DeJesus

Our CTO, Bill Boebel, is pretty damn busy. He runs from meeting to meeting with a laptop, a notepad, pens and his BlackBerry. Yet, somehow, his thoughts are rarely all in one place (shocking). So for Bill, and the millions of other super-busy people, we’ve created Notes!

Notes is a new app now included with our Rackspace Webmail client. It’s the perfect place to store a new idea, a meeting summary or just some quick thoughts. Combine Notes with our Webmail, Calendar, Tasks and Contacts and you have a full-featured, productivity suite!

Notes is easy to find and even easier to use. Rackspace Email customers can log-in to their Webmail account and find Notes under the Notes tab. A welcome message and instructions await you there…

Using Notes with Sync for BlackBerry. Now it gets Interesting…
One of the best features of our new Notes app is actually not found in Notes at all. It’s part of our Sync for BlackBerry tool; which allows Bill to create, edit and access Webmail Notes, while he’s on the go, from his mobile. Here’s how it works:

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New Features in Beta for Rackspace Email

Sep 25th, 2009 in Product Enhancements by Mike Bulman

For those of you who don’t already know, we have a beta version of our webmail product for Rackspace Email – https://beta.apps.rackspace.com. We use this version, affectionately known as simply “beta,” to get our newest features into the hands of customers as soon as possible, so we can get valuable feedback and work out any kinks before going live.

We recently launched our latest version of beta and, as a member of the webmail team, I am extremely proud of this release. It’s packed full of improvements to existing features, as well as brand new features. Here are a few highlights:

Autocomplete
We have completely rewritten the autocomplete feature (which you see when addressing an email). It is now faster, smarter, and delivers a much better overall user experience.

Keyboard Shortcuts
We have added the ability to use keyboard shortcuts in the Email section of webmail. To try this out, click “Settings” and check “Enable Keyboard Shortcuts.” Use the “?” key to see everything you can do. This feature is still in its infancy, so the more feedback the better.

Compose Reminders
Ever send an email without a subject and get yelled at by that one picky co-worker? Ever send an email with an attachment to someone, only without the attachment? No more. If you try to send an email without a subject, or if we think you meant to include an attachment and didn’t, you will get a popup letting you know.

We’ll be touching on everything that went into this release in more detail in future posts. Remember to keep the feedback coming, and enjoy!

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Launch: Auto Delete Invitations

Sep 22nd, 2009 in Product Enhancements, Tips & Advice by Matt Pfeil

I receive several event invitations a week—sometimes even several a day. Every time I get an invitation, I either accept or decline, and then I delete the email. The way I see it, if I can’t attend the event, I don’t need to keep the invitation. And if I accept the invitation, the event information is transferred to my calendar.

So, for people like me, Rackspace Email has released a new webmail calendar feature that saves me a few valuable seconds. With the new “Autodelete Invites” option, I can automatically delete the invitation email as soon as I’ve accepted or declined the invitation.

To check it out, just log into Rackspace Email and select Settings / General Settings / Calendar.

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Launch: Rackspace Email 7.0

May 20th, 2009 in Company News, Product Enhancements by Robert McAden

As a Product Manager, I get pumped whenever we release a new version of our products. This is especially true of the latest release of Rackspace Email 7.0. Over the past six months, the development team worked extremely hard to build exciting new features for me (yes, I use the product every day) and, more importantly, for our customers. Among the highlights of this release:

Calendar enhancements to provide greater control, flexibility and collaboration in scheduling
The ability to access features by clicking the right mouse button
Support for the Google Chrome browser and improved support for Firefox 3

Here’s a short video that I put together to introduce you to some of the features:

These are but a few of the changes. In upcoming blog posts, I will dive deeper into these and other improvements that are part of 7.0.

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Glimpse into Hackathon 7 Projects

May 9th, 2009 in Geek Out, Product Enhancements by Cameron Nouri

Hackathon 7 is underway at the Mailtrust office and there are lots of interesting projects being worked on. I want to highlight just a few to show you they type of projects being worked on:

Please Note: Projects that are showcased as a part of this event may or may not make it into the Mailtrust product suite. The event is designed to spark creativity and promote innovation inside our organization. None of the information shown here is intended to infer product direction or future direction of our organization.

Forgot attachment or subject?

Mike Bulman is working on adding checks to Noteworthy Webmail that will alert you if you forgot to add an attachment or a subject line.

Noteworthy Webmail Mobile for iPhone

Khaled and Will Wolf are working on a new Noteworthy Webmail Mobile interface design for the iPhone.

Adding some fresh paint to the office

Bob Black and Amanda Swetnam teamed up to add some color to one of the new conference rooms we have in our office.

These are only a couple of the projects being worked on today—there are over 25 people working on projects today. There is lots of energy in the office and I wouldn’t be surprised to see a couple people trying to knock out more than one project today.

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Hackathon 7.0 Begins

May 9th, 2009 in Geek Out, Product Enhancements by Cameron Nouri

Here at Mailtrust we have a tradition. A tradition that challenges and rewards the brave employees who choose to participate. That tradition is known as Hackathon.

What is Hackathon?

Hackathon is a day where employees choose to volunteer their time for one day on a weekend and dedicate it to “hack” on what they want to with little restriction as to what they can should do. The only requirement is that the project they choose has to be completed – from start to finish – in one day.

The projects that employees choose to work on may or may not make it into our product offering. In fact the event is actually designed to spark creativity and promote innovation inside our organization. It’s not really designed to add new features to our product suite (although we do enjoy when a great idea comes from a Hackathon).

Just a few hours ago we kicked off our 7th Hackathon.

This is my Hackathon project. I am going to be covering today’s events here on our blog. Stay tuned today and throughout this week as I continue to post updates.

In the meantime, you can check out some previous Hackathon recaps:

Hackthon 1.0
Hackthon 2.0
Hackthon 3.0
Hackthon 4.0

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Deleting Confusion to Make Deletes Less Confusing

May 1st, 2009 in Product Enhancements by cynthia

When we saw a rise in customers calling in because they had accidentally deleted mailboxes, we saw an opportunity to improve the control panel user interface. Administrators attempting to delete Blackberry users were inadvertently deleting entire mailboxes. As a result, they’d have to contact our support team to recover the mailbox, which is an inconvenient and expensive process.
And, it wasn’t difficult to figure out what was causing the confusion:

The two pages looked similar
The pop-ups were generic and
users typically dismiss such pop-ups by clicking
“Ok” without thinking
The confirmation messages
were too generic. The messages to delete a mailbox, BlackBerry user, or
even a domain were all the same.

The latest Control Panel release addresses and solves all of those issues.
How?
To prevent users from mistakenly confirming deletes, we did away with the standard pop-up confirmation. As you can see below, the new overlay effect (also called a “lightbox”) darkens the rest of the page, forcing users to take more notice of the action. Then, we made the text in the overlay area less ambiguous. Now, the text lets the administrator know exactly what they are deleting and how many items are being deleted.

We hope this change makes the Control Panel more user-friendly and saves administrators time and money. We look forward to implementing more usability enhancements in future releases. Have some ideas about ways we can improve your user experience? Visit Idea Central and tell us about it. You may find your idea here as a future enhancement.

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