Skip To Content

You are here:  Help > Announcements Portlet
The announcement portlet displays any announcements that have been entered for a user's role.  The subject of each announcement is displayed as a link, along with the name of the person who posted the announcement.  Clicking on the link will take you to the full display of the portlet, showing any announcements for your role(s) and the text of the announcement.
 
If you are a group leader, you can enter announcements for your group's main page, and can target your announcements to leaders, members or both.  A limited number of college officials can enter announcements for the myColby home tab.
In order to add an announcement, you must be either a group leader or an Announcement Administrator.  Group leaders can add announcements for leaders and/or members of their group.  Announcement Administrators can add announcements for any of the myColby base roles, but generally have a specific role to which they will target an announcement.

Add a New Announcement
 
To add a new announcement, go to the main or full view of the announcements portlet by clicking on the portlet title or the View All Announcements link at the bottom of the portlet.  You will see a blue    Manage    tab at the top of the window. 
  • Mouse over the Manage tab to display an Add a New Announcement option.
  • Select this to open a new announcement form.
  • Enter your information in the following fields:
    Title - This is the Subject of your announcement, and will show on the announcement portlet.
    Send To - Select the role(s) who you want to see your announcement.  For group leaders, you may choose to send  your announcement to leaders only, members only, or both.  For announcement administrators, you may select All Users (which would be students, faculty and staff) or specific roles from the list of myColby base roles.  You may also click on the  Add Individual Users link to send your announcement to users who may not be in your group or the role(s) you have selected.
    Details - Enter the details of your announcement in this text box.  Several formatting options are available.
    Start Date - You may choose to have your announcement display now, display manually at a later time (you'll need to edit your announcement later to do this) or select a date and time for your announcement to appear.
    End On Date - You may choose to have your announcement have no end date, or you may select a date and time for your announcement to end.
    After End Date Option - Choose whether to archive (the default) or delete your announcement when the end date is reached.
  • Click on Save to create your announcement, or Cancel if you don't want to save the changes.
Edit an Announcement
 
To edit an announcement:
  •  In your Outbox, click on the   (Edit) icon for the announcement you want to edit.
  • This will open the announcement form for that announcement.  Make the desired changes.
  • Click on Save to save the changes, or Cancel if you don't want to save the changes.
To manage your announcements, go to the main or full view of the announcements portlet by clicking on the portlet title or the View All Announcements link at the bottom of the portlet.  You will see three sections to the page:
  • Inbox - This is a list of any announcements that you have received and not chosen to delete.
  • Outbox - This is a list of any announcements that you have submitted.
Deleting Announcements in Your Inbox
 
You may delete any announcements in your Inbox that you no longer wish to see on any announcement portlet.
  • Select the checkbox for the announcement(s) you no longer wish to see.
  • Click on Remove Selected.  If this is an announcement that you submitted, you will still see this announcement in your Outbox.
Editing Announcements 
 
To edit an announcement,
  •  In your Outbox, click on the   (Edit) icon for the announcement you want to edit.
  • This will open the announcement form for that announcement.  Make the desired changes.
  • Click on Save to save the changes, or Cancel, if you don't want to save the changes.

Deleting Announcements for All Targeted Users

To delete any announcements in your Outbox that you no longer wish to be available to the targeted roles:
  • Select the checkbox for the announcement to be deleted.
  • Click on Delete Selected.
The announcement portlet on the main page of a tab will display the subjects and authors of any announcements for a user's role(s).  To view the text or main message details of an announcement, you must be in the full view of the portlet.  To go to the full view:
  • Click on the title of the announcements portlet (Campus Announcements or Announcements).
  • Click on the subject link of any announcement.
  • Click on the Show All Announcements link at the bottom of the portlet.
Announcements will be displayed in an Inbox.  Each announcement's message will be displayed below the subject, along with the author and the date and time the announcement was posted.  There is also a checkbox to the left of each subject line.
 
If you are an announcement administrator, when you are in the full view of the portlet, you will also see an Outbox, displaying any announcements that you have entered.  Your Inbox will only show announcements that are directed to your role(s).  I.e., if you are a group leader and create an announcement for members only (not leaders), you would see that announcement in your Outbox, but not in your Inbox.
 
Collapsing/Expanding Messages
 
While you are in the full view of the announcement portlet, the subject line of an announcement is a link which will toggle between displaying and hiding the message text.  When you first go into the full view of the portlet, all announcements will show the full text of the message by default.  You can hide the message text of an announcement by clicking on the subject link.  Click this again to redisplay the message for the announcement.  See Customizing Your View of an Announcement Portlet for showing announcements in their collapsed state by default when you go to the full/main view of the announcements portlet.
 
Deleting Messages from Your Inbox
 
You can remove messages from your Inbox, if you no longer wish to see them.  This only removes the announcement from your view.  Announcement administrators should see the Managing Announcements section for instructions on deleting an announcement for everyone.  NOTE:  Once you have deleted an announcement, you can not get it back.  This cannot be undone!  To delete an announcement: 
  • Select the checkbox for the announcement(s) you wish to delete.
  • Click on the Remove Selected link at the bottom of your Inbox.
  • The page will refresh and the deleted announcement(s) will no longer be displayed.
You may take the following steps on the page where the portlet appears or on the main or full view of the portlet.  (You can get to the full view by clicking on the title of the portlet or the "Show All Announcements" link in the bottom right corner of the portlet.)
  • Click on the (Customize) icon on the right hand side of the title bar of the announcement portlet to open the Customize portlet Campus Announcements (or the name of the portlet you are customizing) window.
  • There is a tab for  Preferences, with the options described below.  Default Sort -
    Show All Collapsed - If you would prefer to see the subject line only when you go to the main or full view of the announcement portlet.
  • Make your changes.
  • Click Save.
  • When you have finished making changes, click on Exit to return to the main view of the portlet.
Preferences Tab
 
Default Sort - Select the default sorting property for announcements on your Main screen.  The options are Date Sent (default), Title or Author.
 
Show All Collapsed - Select the checkbox for this option to automatically display the announcement subject line only when you go to the main or full view of the announcement portlet. You can then click on the subject link of an announcement to view the full text of the announcement.