Right now you’re reading a support article on the Opus Support Site. This site offers three things: support articles, support tickets and support forums. With this task guide, we want to give you an overall idea of how things are laid out, especially in the Solutions area, which houses the support articles. The steps below will take you through a tour of the Support Site and explain what’s what.
This article tells you how to use the Opus Support Site. For info about interface elements or a particular Opus page, check out the other articles on this support site — some of these articles are linked near the bottom of this page.
1. Go to the Support Site
You can either click the Help link in the blue bar along the top of any Opus page, or you can go to https://uclaopus.freshdesk.com — doing either of these takes you to the same place, the Support Site home page:
The home page of the Opus Support Site. Click this image to view a larger version.
2. Click the Forums Link
This is located in the blue bar along the top of any page on the Support Site. Clicking it takes you to the Forums:
The home page of the Opus Support Site. Click this image to view a larger version.
This page probably doesn’t need further explanation. You can click the articles that appear to read their contents. Unlike most online forums, the Opus Support Forums don’t allow you to post or reply to articles — it’s just a place for Opus personnel to post things like status updates, etc. It’s likely that this will change in the future as Opus’ user base evolves, but for now it’s simply an official bulletin board.
3. Scan the Solutions Area for an Article
Click the Solutions link in the blue bar along the top of any Support Site page to access the Solutions Area. This is the backbone of the support site. It offers support articles on a range of topics, and is organized to help you quickly find the information you need. There are articles that cover:
User Guides to help users learn quickly
Answers to frequently asked questions
Step-by-step guides for tasks
Information about the Opus Project
Information about Interfolio
An explanation for each page on the Opus website
Descriptions of Opus interface features
The Solutions Area on the Opus Support Site. Click this image to view a larger version.
Be sure to click around to view the contents of the folders shown here. The Solutions area home page displays only the first few articles in each folder, and there are often many more. For more info about the Solutions Area, check out the Help Page article linked near the bottom of this page.
Read the Appropriate User Guide
In the screenshot above, you'll see several articles titled Opus for… under the User Guides header. These articles provide an overview of Opus for different types of users, as well as links to user-specific support materials, both on the Opus Support Site and the Interfolio Help Center. We recommend that new Opus users start by reading one of these user guides and browsing the links it provides. Find the one that most closely matches the role you perform in Opus and read it over. Follow each link it provides, returning each time to the user guide to continue. Doing so will acquaint you with essential information and quickly bring you up to speed with Opus.
4. Search for a Term
If you don’t spot an article that looks like it will answer your question, you can also try using the search field toward the top of any page on the Support Site — it sits just below the headline that says “How can we help you today?” Search for a term in this field to bring up support articles that mention it:
Search results on the Opus Support Site. Click this image to view a larger version.
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Note: When entering search terms, remember to focus on keywords, and to try different forms of the same word (e.g., "delete," "deleting," "deletion" etc.).
Incidentally, this search function will allow you to search the forums as well. Just click the “Topics” link under the “Search results for…” headline to get forums results.
5. Click the New Support Ticket Link
The last feature we'll show you (and a handy one to know about!) is the link to contact Opus for help. Click this link and fill out the form that follows to start an email thread with Opus personnel — if you want more details about opening a support ticket, see the article linked near the bottom of this page, but please only use the support ticket option after you’ve searched for the answer to your question in the Solutions Area. There is a lot of information available through steps 3 and 4 above.
The Opus Submit a Ticket form. Click this image to view a larger version.