FMLink HELP

This page contains useful information to help you get the most out of FMLink. It also will help you solve most problems you may encounter. If you still are stuck, we show you how to reach us.

Table of Contents

Passwords
FMLink pages do not appear to be coming up correctly
Getting or stopping the FMLink newsletter
Updating your e-mail address and other registration information
FMLink search engines
Doing research on FMLink
FM Forum-the FMLink discussion group
How the News section works
Special tips for taking advantage of FMLink
Using the Job Mart effectively
Sending press releases to FMLink
FMLink contact information

Passwords

Forgotten password

If you have previously registered on FMLink (or you think you might have), click here. Be sure to check the box that says you forgot your password. If you still have the same e-mail address as when you registered, it will be sent back to you automatically; otherwise, we will advise you on how to get back onto FMLink.

Password not working

1. The most common reason for a password not working is that they were originally input by you with both upper case and lower case letters. Passwords are case-sensitive, which means that you have to input them the same way when prompted. For example, the system looks at "DON", "Don" and "don" as three different people. If you aren't sure what you originally entered, just try what you think might work, or click here and we'll send you your password.
2. If you are accessing FMLink from your company, its IT or IS group may have established special security systems, which may cause difficulty for you when accessing outside Web sites that are password-protected. If you are accessing FMLink from your company, and you are positive you are entering your password correctly, this likely will be the cause of the problem.

The best way to test for this is to access FMLink from a connection outside of your company. If your password lets you in, you will have pinpointed the problem. To get it fixed, speak to your IT or IS group. They may show you how to first enter your internal network password (before the FMLink one), or they will just set you up so you can get through to FMLink.

3. FMLink password scripts may have difficulty with non alphanumeric characters (e.g., $@#%&*!, etc.). If you think you may have used such characters in your username or password, it is likely that your password was not entered properly in the system. In these cases, you will need to re-register. If you re-register, you often will not be able to use the same username as you had before (the system will think it already is in use, even if there is no record of the password).
4. FMLink uses a cookie to track your log-in status as you go from page to page through our site. In order to navigate through the password-protected portions of FMLink, your browser must have cookies enabled. The default settings of most browsers support cookies. Unless you are certain that your browser is rejecting cookies, you need not take any special action to view FMLink. If you are certain, click here for more information.

If you still have any problems, please e-mail us at support@fmlink.com and describe what FMLink page you were on when the password access problem occurred, what you clicked on, and what the error message said. Also describe whether you may be in situation (2.) above.

Why FMLink requires a password. By registering, you are providing us with information about yourself. This information is used to provide a profile of our visitors (by combining the statistics from all visitors). This information not only helps us learn more about our audience (so we can continue to provide the best information to you), but also, when summarized, lets others (including our advertisers) know more about our general population. We do not give anyone specific information about any individual subscriber, unless the subscriber has requested us to do so (see next paragraph).

Does FMLink release personal information to others? When you register, you can decide whether to allow FMLink to send e-mails to you on behalf of companies that have products or services that may be of interest to you. At no time does FMLink provide your e-mail address or any other information about you to these companies or to anyone else. FMLink simply uses your e-mail address to send you a mailing, and the address never leaves FMLink's control. Should you wish to change your information from the way it was when you registered, just let us know by e-mailing us at support@fmlink.com.

FMLink Pages Do Not Appear to Be Coming Up Correctly

If graphics do not appear correctly, or if certain pages do not load the way you think they should, you might have a browser problem. We have designed FMLink to work with Versions 4.0 and higher of both Netscape and Microsoft Internet Explorer. You can upgrade to those versions free of charge at those companies' Web sites. If you believe that the browser version is not the problem, e-mail us at support@fmlink.com and describe what FMLink page you were on when the problem occurred, and provide a brief description of the problem. Also, let us know what browser you are using, as well as its version number (you can get the version number by selecting "Help" on the menu bar, then clicking "About...").

Getting or Stopping the FMLink Newsletter

How to get it if you don't have it. To get the newsletter, you must be a registered user of FMLink. Send an e-mail to us at support@fmlink.com, requesting the newsletter. Be sure to include your full name (as when you registered), as well as your company name.  If you have changed companies since you registered, provide the names of both your old and new company. We send the newsletter every other weekend, and you must be on the mailing list the week before each newsletter is sent in order to receive that issue of the newsletter.

How to get the newsletter sent to a different e-mail address. Send a note explaining the situation to us at support@fmlink.com. Be sure to include your full name (as when you registered), as well as your new and old e-mail addresses. Subscribers may get the newsletter sent to one e-mail address only. Please allow two weeks (one newsletter) for us to update our records.

How to stop the newsletter if you are getting it. Just send us a note at support@fmlink.com. State your name, company name and the e-mail address to which the newsletter is being sent. You might get one more newsletter before your subscription ends.

See below for why we encourage you to get the biweekly FMLink newsletter.

Updating your e-mail address and other registration information

You can help us to give you the best possible service by giving us your most current information, especially your company name and e-mail address. This will enable us to send you your password automatically when you request it, as well as ensure that you continue to get your newsletter (if you signed up for it). Please send these and any other registration information changes to us at support@fmlink.com. Include your original registration information if possible, including your name, original e-mail address and company name; then include the new information.

FMLink Search Engines

FMLink has search engines in several parts of the site. Each one is designed to work best for the area it covers, and is explained below.

ExpressSearch

This is the main FMLink search engine, and it may be accessed from the top of the left green menu bar, which appears on all FMLink pages. It is a very quick way for you to search for a word (or multiple words) used on FMLink pages. The search engine looks at nearly all FMLink pages. The only pages not included in this search are:

1. Job Mart.
2. Individual postings on FM Forum (FM Forum has a separate search engine).
3. Marketplace Directory listings (however, detailed descriptions of product and service providers, which some providers have, are tied into ExpressSearch); there is a separate search engine in the Marketplace (see below) for all Directory listings.
4. Pages that have been updated since midnight of the previous night (the search engine updates itself each evening around midnight Eastern USA time).

If you input multiple words into ExpressSearch, the search engine will search for all the words. For example, if you input "air quality", the search engine will look for pages with both of the two words, but not necessarily appearing together. If you wish to find both words together, you must put quotation marks around the search words.

The default is to return the results from the current news and articles on FMLink. If you want top search the archives, you may do this by following the directions on the page on which the search results are presented.

When searching the content of the story itself, the search engine also is looking for whether the story contains your requested word(s) in the keywords, industries or topics assigned to the story by FMLink's editors.

The search utility presents the results in an order that relates to how closely the search engine believes each article has matched the requested word(s), as represented by the score. Usually, this relates to where on the page the words appear; the closer to the top, the higher the score.

Once the results are presented, just click on the one you like, and you will go to that page. The requested words should be highlit. If not, use the FIND feature on your browser (usually CONTROL+"F") and then input the keyword. If the article is presented because there was a match between your search words and the article's keywords, industries or topics, you will not be able to find the word within the article, but the entire article should be about the search words.

Once you have the search results, if you would like to narrow your search down further, scroll down to the bottom of the page and conduct a "Search with Results."

TIP: If you get too specific in a search, you will find less matches. If you use too broad a search, such as for "asset", the search engine will turn up many matches, of which a lot may not be as useful as they could be.

TopicSearch

TopicSearch may be found just under NEWS and SURVEYS on the left green menu bar. This is a very easy way to find News and Surveys stories based on the topics they cover. The search is a "smart search", meaning that you will find stories that not only contain the topic-word itself, but also words that relate to that topic. If a Topic does not have any stories from within the past 18 months or if there are fewer than five stories in it, the Topic will not appear.

News, Surveys and Magazines Search Engines

FMLink has separate search engines in the News, Surveys and Magazines portion of the site. Each of these works the same way as ExpressSearch, described above, except that they will search only those portions of the site. However, the News search engine does not search the Calendar of Events; you will have to use either the site-wide ExpressSearch or else just go to the Calendar page and use your browser's Find feature.

Marketplace

FMLink offers three ways to find a company's listings in its Directory. By Category, Company Name, or Keywords:

Category. Select from one of the Categories listed. You will be prompted to input one of the Subcategories available, and then a region that you want the company to service. If you are looking, for example, for a vendor who can service New York City, select from USA:Northeast, and not USA:All Regions (the former will yield more finds; the latter is good if you are looking for a vendor to service multiple sites across the country).

Company Name. Input the Company Name. If the listing cannot be found, you will be prompted to look for the same word in our Keyword search.

Keywords. You will have a choice of searching for ALL or ANY of the words you list (if you list multiple words). This search engine will search parts of words, so "ergonom" will find all forms of "ergonomic" and "ergonomics". This search engine will look for all words in the company's listing, including any special enhancements or additional pages used by that company. It also will search for companies listed in any FMLink Category using the Keyword.

Some of the listings you find will offer you the opportunity to click on their company name or logo to see more information; some offer direct links to their Web site. Companies who have enhanced their listings are always listed before those without enhancements.

Doing Research on FMLink

"Do you know where we can find information on ... ?" is a typical question we get asked on FMLink. FMLink often can be used to help you get the answer; just follow the guidelines below, and you will see how easy it is. If for some reason you come up empty, e-mail us, tell us what you've tried so far, and we'll see if we can help you any further.

Here is the best way to start (of course, which of the following ideas work best will depend on the nature of your request):

1. Use our ExpressSearch and our News search engine to look for words or phrases that may appear on our site. Also use TopicSearch, found just under NEWS and SURVEYS on the left green menu bar. See the section above for ideas on how to take advantage of our search engines.
2. Look in Links to Other Web Sites (in our Resources section), to see if there is a site outside of FMLink that deals with topics similar to what you need. You also should look in Organizations (also in Resources) to see if there is an Association that might know more about the topic.
3. See if there is a Category that is similar in our Marketplace Directory; you may find a vendor who can tell you more about the topic.
4. Post a message in the FMLink discussion group in Information Exchange. Use the FM Forum search engine to see if someone else has already posted something that may be able to help you.

FM Forum-The FMLink Discussion Group

Sometimes, the best place to get an answer is from one of your peers. When this happens, click on FM Forum to get to the most active FM discussion group on the Net. FM Forum is the only discussion group co-sponsored and promoted by most of the leading FM associations and publications. FMLink is its Managing Director.

And even if you don't have a question, one of your experiences may help another FM who does have a question.

We do not divulge your e-mail address on FM Forum, so you will not be contacted directly by anyone who sees your posting.

How the News Section Works

Go into our News section, and either use the News search engine (see above), or click on one of the Categories below it. Most of the Categories have Subcategories listed under them. You then will see a list of news articles for that group.

Just click on the first one that interests you, and you will see it appear. At the end of the article, you will have a choice of using your Back button, seeing the next article on the list from the previous page, seeing the next ten articles on the list all at once (if there are ten left), or clicking on any other article on the list. Or you may click on the name of the "parent" Category to go back to that screen.

The articles generally are presented so the newest ones appear first. In some cases, if FMLink editors deem a particular article particularly valuable to FMs, the article will appear near the top of the list.

Special Tips for Taking Advantage of FMLink

Many Tips for the Search Engines and News areas already were shown above. Here are some more!

To quickly get back to the FMLink Home Page, just click on the FMLink logo that appears on the top-left corner of FMLink pages.

If you do not get the FMLink newsletter, it offers an excellent way to see a synopsis of what has been posted on the site in the previous two weeks. Then, if something interests you, just go to that article. Getting the newsletter does not cause your e-mail address to be given out to anyone outside of FMLink. If you are an FMLink registered user and you want to get the newsletter, just send us your name, company name, and e-mail address (if any of these have changed since you registered, send both your old and new information). E-mail these changes to support@fmlink.com, along with your request to get the newsletter.

If you just want to see what's been added to our site recently, go to our What's New page. This will list in one place all the new items that have been posted; you then may click on any item to go right there. That way, you don't have to search all over FMLink to wonder what has changed since your last visit. Most of the new items also are listed in the FMLink e-mail newsletter.

If you are looking for a shortcut to navigate through FMLink, the left menu bar (on the green sidebar) will lead you to the main parts of FMLink. If you want a way to jump quickly from a more detailed area to another, use the What's New page, which provides more details than the green sidebar.

Using the Job Mart Effectively

The FMLink Job Mart is a perfect place to post a job announcement, or, if you are looking for work, you may put up a brief resume. Employers have told us that they have received names of very qualified people from the announcements posted on FMLink.

Advice for job candidates. Read the formatting instructions prior to posting your resume on FMLink. Once your resume is posted, it cannot be modified; instead, we first have to delete it, and then you will have to resubmit it (instructions for this are on the FMLink site). This process may take a couple of days. So follow the rules about length (30 lines, maximum!) and formatting (use of line breaks, etc.). And check all spelling before you post something. You might consider placing the "prose" portion in your word processor first, and then pasting it in the Job Mart.

Sending Press Releases to FMLink

If you are a provider of a product or service for the FM industry, please send us your press releases. We can process them quickest if you send them embedded in the body of an e-mail to edit@fmlink.com. Second choice is to e-mail the PR as an attachment. If you cannot send the press release as an e-mail, you may mail it by hard copy to the following address (this takes considerably longer for us to process):

FMLink
P.O. Box 59557
Potomac, MD 20859-9557

FMLink Contact Information

See which address is most appropriate for you and send us an e-mail. We almost always will reply within the same business day, and often within a few hours!

General questions about FMLink, suggestions, comments:
info@fmlink.com

Help, password assistance, adding your name to the newsletter list:
support@fmlink.com

FMLink editors, sending press releases, errors that need to be fixed:
edit@fmlink.com

Updating registration information
support@fmlink.com

Updating Marketplace Directory information, advertising questions (advertisers only!)
support@fmlink.com

Phone numbers
FMLink staff is in a variety of locations. The best way to be sure your question goes to the right place is to send an e-mail to the most appropriate address above. If a phone call is necessary, someone will call you, but most matters can be handled by e-mail. The phone number for the advertising office is 301-365-1600.