Email FAQ Email FAQ 
[If you are looking for information about new account questions or general FAQs, try those FAQs.]
How do I use my engineering mail account?
How do I configure my mail client?
How do I save copies of messages I send?
How do I save addresses from messages I receive?
Can I block incoming email?
How do I use the service to automatically filter email?
I deleted a mail folder but it didn't disappear. I get an error message when attempting to access that folder.
What do I do when my mail client has disconnected?
I am getting messages about being over my mail quota, but I am under my disk space quota.
The recipient reports that my mail attachment was removed.
I can receive email but cannot send mail after (re-)installing my email program.
Mail going from my engineering account to Hotmail/MSM/Qmail is missing. Where is it?
How do I use my engineering mail account?
You will need an IMAP or POP3-based mail client that is properly configured, or use Webmail from a web browser. The College of Engineering supports Thunderbird, Outlook, and Webmail.
How do I configure my mail client?For the supported clients Thunderbird and Outlook, click on those links. Webmail doesn't need to be configured, though there are options you can set; read about Webmail. For other clients, you must check that documentation to determine what parameters need to be set. At a minimum, you will need to set the IMAP server host to mail.engineering.uiowa.edu and set your Engineering login ID as the user name. Your password is the same as your Engineering account password. If you have a POP3 client, use the same server mail.engineering.uiowa.edu. If your client needs a SMTP server host for sending mail, use mail.engineering.uiowa.edu. If your mail client can use LDAP directory services (Thunderbird can), set the LDAP server to ldap.engineering.uiowa.edu. Outlook uses a Global Address List (GAL) that includes email addresses for most faculty, staff, and students.
How do I save copies of messages I send?
Each mail client has to be configured to save copies. Read about that setting for Thunderbird, Outlook, and Webmail. If you use more than one client, you may have sent mail stored in different places. Thunderbird stores sent messages in an IMAP-stored folder named "Sent". Webmail can be configured to use that same Sent folder.
How do I save addresses from messages I receive?
Each mail client will save addresses to a default location. To learn how to change that location and use the address book, read about Thunderbird, Outlook, and Webmail.You cannot keep incoming mail from being delivered to your account, but you can filter incoming messages into a folder (including the Trash). Read about handling spam.
If you are getting commercial junk email, send the entire message to postmaster@engineering.uiowa.edu. CSS regularly adds sites to a list of sites that are blocked.
How do I use the service to automatically filter email?
You can use a form of your email address to have mail returned to a specific folder. For example, you subscribe to a listserv about Linux and want all that mail to be put in a specific folder. Create a new folder named “linux” and then subscribe to the Linux mailing list with the address:
bgreene+linux@engineering.uiowa.edu
Mail thatyou get from this list will be put into the "linux ” folder. You can use this service as a way of keeping your Inbox cleaner and your mail more organized.
To use the service, you must do two things:
You must check these folders for new messages because the mail clients do not automatically notify you of new messages in those folders.
Note that you can accomplish the same action using filters in Webmail and Thunderbird.
I deleted a mail folder but it didn't disappear. I get an error message when attempting to access that folder. What is going on?
Only Webmail automatically removes a deleted folder from your view. Thunderbird will return an error such as "Cannot open mailbox xxx. No such mailbox." when you attempt to open a deleted folder. You must refresh the mailbox view with those clients.
Thunderbird: click on the "-" to the left of the mailbox listing so that the listing collapses. Click on the "+" to expand the listing. The deleted mail folder should have disappeared. It is a known Thunderbird bug that sometimes the deleted folder does not disappear. It may eventually. Or you can force it to be removed from view by deleting the panacea.dat file in H:\windowsdata\Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\xxx.default
What do I do when my mail client has disconnected?
To clear any stuck connections and to facilitate daily system maintenance processes, every morning at 5am the mail server terminates all connections that have existed for at least 3 hours and are no longer active. You are notified of that disconnection. Click Get Mail/Messages if using Thunderbird to re-establish the connection. Login again if using Webmail.
I am getting messages about being over my mail quota, but I am under my disk space quota.
Your mail quota and your home directory disk quota are two separate quotas. You are given an amount of space on the mail server for email, which is separate from your home directory (H: drive) space. A common reason for going over your mail quota is because of file attachments. Check for messages that have file attachments and move the attachment (to your home directory, for example) and delete the message. Another folder that gets large and uses mail quota is the Sent folder (of sent messages). You may need to purge messages to get under quota. If you need more help, talk to the consultant, 1253 SC, 319-335-5055.
The recipient reports that my mail attachment was removed.
Use WinRAR, or a similar product that compresses files, to zip the file and send it again. Some mail providers remove all attachments with specific extensions, which may be why your attachment was removed.
I can receive email but cannot send mail after (re-)installing my email program.
If you have anti-virus software, turn off mail checking for out-going mail if using mail.engineering.uiowa.edu as the mail server.
Mail going from my engineering account to Hotmail/MSM/xxx account is missing. Where is it?
Look in the Junk or Bulk Mail folders. It seems that some mail providers are automatically filtering mail from our mail server into one of those folders.
CSS | College of Engineering | © The University of Iowa 2009.
All rights reserved. |