(Office Outlook users should also follow the instructions at "Reading MLS Newsgroups in Office Outlook" below.)
1. Open Outlook Express and click on Accounts in the Tools menu at the top.
2. In the Internet Accounts dialog box, click the Add button and select News to open the Internet Connection Wizard.
3. Accept or modify (a) your username that will display to the newsgroup and (b) your e-mail account for replies.
4. Enter news.ctimls.com at the News (NNTP) server and check "My news server requires me to log on."
5. Enter the Account Name and password (all lower case letters) provided by your local MLS office (or provided by CTI) for the MLS newsgroups. (This is not your agent account/password.) Passwords are case sensitive. You may check "Remember password" if you prefer. Do not check "Log on using Secure Password Authentication (SPA)". Select Next > Finish > and Close to leave the Internet Connection Wizard and close the Internet Accounts dialog box.
6. Select Yes at the prompt "Would you like to download newsgroups for the news account you added?" (If you select No or skip this step, you will be prompted to view a list of available newsgroups whenever you click on the news.ctimls.com News Server in the left pane of the Outlook Express main menu.)
7. Select the newsgroups you would like to subscribe (or unsubscribe) to by double clicking on their name, or by clicking once on the name and then clicking the Subscribe (or Unsubscribe) button. After all desired newsgroups have been selected, click on the OK button. Typical selections are Announcements, News, Support, and Justforfun.
8. Click Tools in the top menu, select Options, then click the Maintenance tab. IF "Delete news messages __ days after download" is checked, ensure there are enough days selected (typically at least 15 to 30) for you to view new messages and save general information messages into a separate folder (see note 1) before they are deleted automatically out of the newsgroup. If you don't want news messages to disappear automatically, uncheck this setting (which will gray-out the number of days).
Note 1. If you set news messages to delete automatically, it is recommended that you create a separate folder in which to keep selected news messages that you do not want to expire. To do so, highlight Local Folders and then select File > New > Folder from the top menu of Outlook Express. To save a news message, click and hold the cursor on the message Subject line. Drag a copy of the message over the folder you created and drop (by letting go of the cursor).
9. To update newsgroup accounts, first select the ctimls.com News folder in the left pane of Outlook Express. Then check the box across from the Newsgroup in the "synchronize settings" column. Click the Settings button at the top of the synchronize settings column to select the type of synchronization (All Messages, New Messages, Headers only) for the selected Newsgroup. When the appropriate synchronization settings have been made for each Newsgroup, click on the Synchronize Account button to activate the update(s). When you first synchronize, all the messages in all your folders will be downloaded unless you hide some of them or change their synchronization settings.
10. To automatically synchronize newsgroups each time Outlook Express is run, right-click on the news.ctimls.com News folder in the left pane. Select "Properties" in the drop down menu. Click "Include this account when checking for new messages." You also can review or modify your News account name, user and server information by selecting the General and Server tab in this Properties screen.
11. To read newsgroup postings, select the name of the appropriate newsgroup in the left pane of the main screen and click on the particular message you want to read. Click on the plus sign (+) beside a message to display replies to the message. Click on a reply to display its message.
12. To subscribe or unsubscribe to a particular newsgroup later, repeat step 1 but select "Subscribe to Newsgroups." Then repeat steps 7 and 8 making the appropriate selections.
Note 2. Users of other e-mail programs should note the information in steps 4 and 5: News Server = news.ctimls.com; Log on is Required; Account Name and Password (in lowercase letters only) must be entered exactly as provided for newsgroups by your MLS.
Note 3. Newsgroup messages are searchable 24/7. To search for news messages on a topic, highlight the appropriate newsgroup and select Edit > Find > Message (or Message in this Folder) > enter a distinctive word or phrase in the Subject or Message box > click Find Now. To refine the search, click the Advanced Find button on the Find Next screen and enter as much information as is already known in the appropriate fields.
Note 4. When posting a message to any newsgroup, use a short but descriptive “Subject”. This helps other users more easily find and/or respond to the appropriate topic.
When replying to an existing message for all to see, highlight that message and select "Reply to All". This will display your reply indented underneath the original posting and make it easier to follow "conversations" on the same topic. A plus sign (+) will display beside the original message when a reply to it has been posted. If replies are not visible, click on the plus sign beside the original message to display them.
For information on maintaining newsgroups, read the Communications > Newsgroups section of Help in CTI Navigator. To access newsgroups in Office Outlook, see "Reading MLS Newsgroups in Office Outlook" below.
In some versions of Microsoft Outlook you must add the News command to the Go menu to be able to use the newsreader as follows:
Note 5: To configure security settings for e-mail in Outlook, see related article, Configure HTML Security in Office Outlook.
For details on Outlook's newsreader, see the Help in Office Outlook.
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