Using Webmail

Access Read Reply/forward New mail Send Attachments Delete Purge Save Mail, Use Folders Change folders Save copies Save Addresses Signatures Options Help Exit

Webmail is a web-based mail client. It is well suited for users who must access their mail without having software other than a web browser, a situation travelers often face. Webmail is specifically useful if you are using a computer that you can not configure to view your mail account. In addition to reading and sending mail, Webmail allows you to filter messages and save messages into different folders on your mail account.

Accessing Mail

To use Webmail when in the labs and offices in the Seamans Center, go here. At the login screen enter your Engineering account login ID and password, then press the Log In button.

Note: if you mis-type your password 15 times, you will get locked out of your account briefly.

Reading Mail

When you log in, Webmail displays the Engineering Webmail portal page. Click on Mail on the left side of the screen to open your Inbox. Unread messages display in bold with a closed envelope in the left column. Other columns show the message number, date sent (or time if current day), sender, subject, and size of message. To read a message click on the message subject or sender; the message opens in the current window, unless you set it otherwise in Options.

To set Webmail to open to your Inbox, from the portal page, click Options | (Other Information) Display Options | change " What application should Engineering Webmail display after login?" to Mail. Select Save Options.

You can sort messages by the message number, date (the default), from (sender), subject, or size by clicking the column names. Change the order (ascending or descending) of the sort by clicking on the arrow left of the column name. By default you’ll see 20 messages on each screen, but you can change that in Options. At the top right of each page is a page counter and 4 arrows. Click the smaller arrow to see the next or previous screen of messages. Click the larger arrow to go to the first or last page of messages.

Replying to and Forwarding Mail

When reading a message, you have options for responding to the message, as well as options to delete, save, print, and actions related to filtering. All options are listed at the top of the message just above the date and shown above. Select Reply to send a response to the sender. Select Reply All or Reply to List to send a response to the sender and others who received a cc: of the message. Forward sends the message to another person; the person to whom you forward mail will see the original sender noted in the first line of the message. Redirect sends the message to another person maintaining the original sender’s address in the From: field.

Getting New Mail

Click on the icon of the two arrows (circled in illustration), just right of the INBOX label, to get new mail. New message are displayed in bold.

Sending Mail

To write new mail, click the New Message button. A message composition window opens. Address your message in the To:, Cc:, and Bcc: fields. To: the message recipient; cc: recipient(s) who get the message, perhaps for information purposes. Bcc: recipient(s) who get the message but other recipients do not see them as recipients. Fill in the subject line.

Options on the Message Composition screen are to go to the Address Book (to look up an email address), Expand Names (used when getting names from your address book or a directory), Spell Check, Special Characters (to add foreign language characters), and Attachments (to view attachments to the message; see below). Select as necessary. Type your message, then choose from the three options at the top or bottom of the screen. If the message is ready to send, click the Send Message button at the top or bottom of the screen. Click Save Draft to return to the message later or Cancel to abandon it without saving.

Attachments

webmail attachment dialogue box width=643 height=258
Webmail Attachment area when composing a message

To include an attachment, go to the Attachments area at the bottom of the Compose screen. Click Browse to see a listing of your files. Browse through your files to find the one(s) you want to send with the message. When you select a file by double-clicking on it, it displays in the Attachment area. Click Update to include the displayed document. To view the attachment names and the total size, scroll to the Attachment area at the bottom of the message. You can remove an attachment by clicking the Delete box in the attachment description. Note that Webmail allows you to save only the message, not the attachments, in the Sent folder: "Save Attachments with message in the sent-mail folder?" The default is No. Because the accumulation of messages and attachments can put you over your mail quota, No is often the desired setting.

Webmail allows you not to include the attachment with the sent message. Link attachment means that the recipient gets a web link for the attachment rather than the document as part of the message. Read the Webmail help (click on the lifesaver for reasons to use or not use this option).

In Options (for mail) | Message Viewing, check "Show an icon to allow stripping of attachments from messages?" When you view a message with an attachment, you can download the attachment, then click the Trash can icon to strip the attachment from the message.

Deleting Mail

You can delete a message in two ways. 1) When viewing a message, click Delete on the toolbar just above the message to remove that message. 2) When viewing a folder listing, check the box at the left side of the message line of any message to delete, then click Delete just above that column.

Purge

By default Webmail moves messages marked for deletion to the Trash. You can purge deleted messages (remove them from the Trash) by clicking on Empty Trash button on the toolbar. If you are nearing or over your mail quota, do this so that the deleted messages no longer use mail quota.

You can also set Webmail to purge messages in the Trash automatically. Go to Options (for Mail)| Login Tasks. Check "Purge old message in the Trash folder," then set "Purge Trash how often" from the pull-down menu; the options are yearly, monthly, weekly, daily, every login. You can also set "Purge messages in Trash folder older than this amount of days. " by filling in the appropriate number of days.

Saving Mail, Using Folders

To save a message, when the message is open, click Save as on the toolbar. You can open or save the message. With Firefox and IE you can navigate to where you want to save the message; you can use a filename other than the subject of the message, which is the default. Firefox treats saved email messages as downloads and saves them in the folder you have specified for downloaded files.

To save a message into another folder, while reading the message, select the folder to which to save the message (tourbus in this illustration), then click Move (or Copy). To move or copy multiple messages, open the folder in which the messages currently reside, often the Inbox. Check the box at the left side of the message line of any message, select the folder to which to move the message(s) (tourbus in this illustration), then click Move (or Copy).

To move a message to a new folder, select the message(s) you wish to move by clicking the check box in the left column. In the upper right-hand corner, select New Folder from the drop down box labeled Move | Copy Messages to. To the left of that box, select Move. Enter a name for the new folder, and click OK.

You can use folders to organize mail. Another way to organize is to use filters, which can sort, file, or delete mail. Because there is so much that can be done with filters, that is a separate document called Filtering Email with Webmail.

Changing Folders

To view the messages in another folder, click the Folders button. Click the "+" next to INBOX to see a listing of all mail folders. Double click a folder to open it. You can also delete or rename folders from this screen, create new folders, and check folders for new mail.

Saving Copies of Messages

You can set Webmail to save a copy of each message you write into the Sent folder. Go to Options (for Mail)| (General Options) Personal Information to edit your default identity or other identities you have created. If you want to save sent messages for any other identity, "Select the identity you want to change" at the top of the screen. Check Save sent mail? at the bottom of the screen. You can specify the folder you want to use from the pull-down list. We suggest you select Sent, which Webmail and Thunderbird both use. Then click Change.

When you write a message, if you have set Webmail to save copies, there will be a check by Save a copy in “Sent” [or whatever folder you have specified] in the compose window. Uncheck that box to not keep a copy of that message. If you don't have Webmail set to save copies of sent messages but want to save the message you are writing, click Save a copy in "Sent"before clicking the Send Message button.

Mail saved in the Sent folder(s) counts against your mail quota, so you should regularly delete messages in that/those folders. If you need to purge mail to get below your mail quota, read Purge Deleted Mail.

Address Book

By default Webmail add addresses to My Addressbook.When you read a message, you will see a book icon at the end of the sender's address.

Click on the book icon to save the address. Webmail replies that the entry was added.

To add entries not from a piece of mail you are reading, click the + by Organizing, then select Address Book to open it , then the New Contact button. Choose the address book to add the contact to, and the New Contact screen opens. Enter at least the person’s name and email address; you can also add phone and address information, notes, etc. After you click Add, you’ll see the information you added; you can Edit or Delete the entry.

Signature

To create a signature, from the Inbox or anywhere when viewing email, click on Options (for Mail) | (General Options) Personal Information. To add a signature for your default identity, go to section labeled Your Signature and create or modify it. (If you want to add or change the signature for any other identity, "Select the identity you want to change" at the top of the screen.) If you already have a signature, you can modify it. You can check to "Precede your signature with dashes (-)?" and "Place your signature before replies and forwards?" Click Save Options to save or replace the information. Once you have created a signature file, Webmail automatically uses it with each message you write.

Options

You can set options for the Engineering Webmail portal, Mail, Address Book, etc. Click the Options button; if you are in Mail when you select Options, you'll get the mail options. If you want to set other Options, chose from the drop-down menu of Edit Options for: at the top right of the screen. Options set your personal information, whether or not copies of message are saved, signature file, create filters and set when the filters are applied, how to handle deleted messages, how often or if maintenance operations are run, how many messages appear on each screen, sort criteria for displaying message, how often the view is refreshed with new messages, if a pop-up tells you about new mail, what color the display is, etc.

Explore all the Options categories to make the desired settings.

Help

There is help with some of the Webmail commands. Where you see the life saver

, click for the available help. See also the ITS Webmail page for links to their on-line documentation about Webmail.

Exiting Webmail

When you are ready to exit, click on the Logout button. Webmail exits you to the login screen with this text above the Username and Password: “You have been logged out.”

updated: 18 August 2008