Introduction to Web Based Email - Information Technology

Introduction to Web Based E-Mail

Get and View Mail

By default, the E-mail Center opens to display the messages contained in your Inbox. However, you can view messages that have been saved to any of your other e-mail folders (Deleted, Sent, etc.). In all folders, messages are marked as unread (unopened) or read (opened) using the following icons:

Unread mail
Read mail

To open the E-mail Center, you can click the e-mail icon that appears in the system's tool menu, or click the e-mail icon or select a message from within your E-mail channel. When you launch E-mail Center, the system retrieves and displays the first 20 new messages that have been sent to your default account. You can set the number of messages that are displayed on each page through the Options tab.

To retrieve additional messages that have been sent to the default account, or to navigate through older messages contained in this account, use the page menu that appears above the message list. This menu displays the message page that you are currently viewing and the number of pages available. A page will contain the number of messages that you have specified through the Options tab. To view additional messages, type a new page number in the box and click Go, or click the >> symbol to advance to the next page.

To refresh your Inbox e-mail list at any time and display new messages, select the mailbox icon for the default account and click the Get Mail icon, which is located at the top of the E-mail Center window. If you have unread messages in any folder, the folder text will appear in a bold face font.

To retrieve mail from any other IMAP or POP accounts, select the folder that you have set up to store these messages and click the Get Mail icon. The system will poll the other server and retrieve messages. As with the default account, these messages will be retrieved in pages containing the number of messages that you have specified. To retrieve additional messages that have been sent to this account, or to navigate through older messages contained in this account, type the page you want displayed in the menu box and click Go.

To view messages in other folders, click on the folder displayed in the left-hand folder view.

folders view

Deleted - contains messages that you have deleted from your Inbox.
Drafts - contains unfinished, unsent messages that you are still composing.
Sent - contains copies of messages that you have sent to others.
Inbox - contains messages that you have not moved to other folders.

To open a message, click on the Subject of the message. The body of the message appears in the bottom half of the e-mail window.

how to read message

Note: The checkbox to the left of the read/unread icon is used to select a message to delete or move a message to another folder.

Compose a Message

To compose (create) an e-mail message, you must open the Compose E-mail window, which provides the ability to address, write, spell check, add attachments to, save, and send your message.

To open the Compose E-mail window, click the Compose icon located at the top of the E-mail Center window.
In the Recipients section of the window, type information in the following fields:
- To: The e-mail address of the message recipient(s). This field is required. You can add multiple recipients by separating addresses with commas.
- Cc: The e-mail addresses of any individuals who must receive a carbon copy of the message.
- Bcc: The e-mail addresses of any individuals who must receive a blind carbon copy of the message, meaning others won't be able to see that this person has received the message.

Note: If you are unsure about any of these e-mail addresses, you can use your address book to find and transfer previously saved addresses. Simply click the Address button. The Address Message window opens with the lists of contacts and groups that you have created. Highlight and add contacts or groups as message recipients in the To, Cc, and Bcc fields as necessary.

In the Enter Subject field, type a topic for the e-mail message. This field tells recipients what the message is about.
In the Enter Message field, type the message. The message will not support advanced text formatting (font styles, indenting, etc.). If text formatting is necessary, you can attach files that have been created in other applications to the message.
If you want to spell check the message, click the Spell Check icon located below the message composition area of the window.
If you want to save a copy of the message to your Sent folder, add a signature file that you have created, or obtain a read receipt, select these options. After you finish, click Send. If you are not finished, but want to preserve your work to send at a later date, click Save a Draft. The application will save a copy of your work into your Drafts folder.
If you want to exit without saving or sending the message, click Cancel.

Send a Message

To send a message, you must address the message to at least one recipient with a properly formatted e-mail address. Your message should also contain a subject and body text. After you compose an e-mail message, use the following procedure to send it.

Verify that the addresses contained in the recipient fields (To, Cc, and Bcc) are correct.
Verify the message's subject and text are correct.
Verify that any attachments are correct.
Select options for saving a copy of the message to the Sent folder, adding a signature file, or obtaining a read receipt as appropriate for your needs.
Click Send.

Attach files to messages

To send files created in other applications (Word, Power Point, Excel, etc.) as attachments to your e-mail messages, use the following procedure.

While working in the Compose E-mail window, click the Attach button. You see the Attach Files window.
Click the Browse button.
In the window that appears, browse your file system to locate the file you want to attach. When you find the file, select it and click Open.

Note: If you are using Netscape as your browser, the default file search type is "html." To locate other types of files, use the drop-down to set the "Files of type" box to All Files (*.*) and select the file you need. If you are using Internet Explorer, the default search type is All Files.

Once you have selected a file to attach, click the Attach button. You see the filename included in the attachment window and a tally that alerts you to the amount of space the attachment consumes and the attachment limits that have been set for your system.
Repeat steps 2 through 4 above to add other files as attachments to the message.
To delete an attachment, select the file that you want to delete from the list of added attachments and click the Remove button.
To return to message composition with the attachments that you've selected, click OK. To exit without adding or changing attachments, click Cancel.

Reply to a message

Often, you will need to provide an answer or an acknowledgment of receipt to an individual who has sent you an e-mail message or to all of the individuals who have received a message. In order to do this quickly and accurately, you can use the Reply and Reply All features of the E-mail Center.

From the message display list, select the e-mail to which you want to reply.
In the preview pane above the message, you see a series of icons. Depending on how you want to reply, click one of the two reply icons:
- Allows you to reply only to the message sender.
- Allows you to reply to the message sender and all message recipients (except Bcc recipients).
The Compose E-mail window opens. Notice that the To line is filled in with the e-mail address of the individual who sent the message and, if "reply to all" has been selected, the addresses of any other recipients. The subject line contains the subject of the message that you are replying to, prefaced by the abbreviation "Re."
In the Enter Message box, type any text necessary to reply to the message. The message will not support advanced text formatting (attach files that have been created in other applications to the message.
To spell check the message, click the Spell Check button located below the Message box.

After you finish, click Send. If you are not finished, but want to preserve your work to send at a later date, click Save a Draft. The application will save a copy of your work into your Drafts folder.
If you want to exit without saving or sending the reply, click Cancel.

Create an auto reply message

The E-mail application allows you to set up an auto reply message that can be automatically sent to individuals who are sending you messages, even if you are not there to reply. Auto reply messages are convenient if you are going out of town and want to alert people that you will not be able to reply to their messages until you return. The E-mail system allows you to set up auto replies that start and end on dates that you stipulate. To set up and enable an auto reply, use the following procedure:

If you have not already done so, open the E-mail Center.
Click the Options tab.

You see the E-mail Options window, which allows you to set options for your e-mail application. Click the Auto Reply link.
You see the Auto Reply window, which allows you to compose an auto reply message and specify the start and end dates for this message.
From the Start on options, select the month, day, year, and time that the auto reply should start.
From the End on options, select the month, day, year, and time that the auto reply should end.
In the data entry field, type the auto reply message that will be sent automatically during these dates.
Click the Enable Auto Reply checkbox. This feature allows you to preserve a standard auto reply message and re-enable it whenever you want.
You can add your current signature file to the auto reply by clicking the Attach Signature button.

Note: Your current signature file is appended to the auto reply message that you created. If you change your signature file at a later date and set another auto reply, you should reattach the signature file.

Forward a message

Occasionally you may have to send a message that you received from one person to another person who also needs the message. This is called forwarding a message. To do this, use the following procedure.

From the message display list, select the e-mail that you want to forward. In the preview pane above the message, you see a series of icons. Click the Forward icon.
The Compose E-mail window opens. Notice that the Subject line contains the subject of the message that you are forwarding, prefaced by the abbreviation "Fwd."
The message that you are forwarding is displayed in the Enter Message section of the window. The Attachments section of the window also indicates that you are forwarding a message.
In the To, Cc, and Bcc fields, enter e-mail addresses for the recipients of the message you are forwarding.
In the Message section, type any text necessary to indicate who you are forwarding the message from and why. You will type this above the message that is being forwarded.
To spell check the message, click the Spell Check button located below the composition area of the window.
Once finished, click Send. If you are not finished, but want to preserve your work to send at a later date, click Save a Draft. The application will save a copy of your work into your Drafts folder.
If you want to exit without saving or sending the message, click Cancel.

Set an auto forward address

Auto forward allows you to forward your ccri.edu mail to another to another email account such as Yahoo, AOL, and COX.

If you have not already done so, open the E-mail Center.
Click the Options tab.
From the list of options, click Auto Forward. You see the Auto Forward window, which allows you to set an auto forward address for the e-mail application.
In the Auto Forward To field, enter your e-mail address on another mail system. For example, you may want to forward mail to your Hot Mail account. In such case, you would enter your e-mail address for your Hot Mail account.
To enable auto forwarding, click the OK button. To exit without setting an auto forward address, click Cancel.

Print a message

If you need to print an e-mail message, use the following procedure.

From the display list, select the message that you want to print.
You see a red arrow ( ) indicating that the message has been selected. The message itself appears in the preview pane below the display list.

Note: The checkbox next to the message allows you to select the message without previewing it.

In the preview pane above the message, you see a series of icons. Click the Print icon.
You see a dialog box specifying the name of the printer and options for printing the message.
Set any necessary print options and click OK.

Access the address book

With the E-mail application, you can access and create an address book that you can use to maintain information about your frequent online contacts. Use the following tips to access and navigate the address book.

To open the Address Book, open the E-mail application and do one of the following:

Click on the Address Book tab.
Click the Address button to the right of the To: field in the Compose E-mail screen.
The Address Book displays a list of all contacts, including a "name," "primary e-mail address," "display name," and "home phone" for each. Click on the "primary e-mail address" attribute (displayed as a link) and the Compose Message window opens allowing you to create and send a message to that contact. Click on the "display name" attribute (also displayed as a link) and you can edit information for the contact.
Use the drop-down View menu to filter the displayed list of contacts by logically related groups that you create. Select the group from the menu, and all contacts in that group are displayed. To Edit the group, click the Edit Group button.
The icons in the tool bar allow you to get mail, compose a message, and delete contacts. To delete contacts, you can select any number of contacts (using the checkboxes by their names) and click the Delete icon to remove them from your address book.
You also have buttons for functions that allow you to add and edit contacts and groups of contacts in your own address book.

Allows you to add contacts to your address book.

Allows you to create groups to organize contacts.

Allows you to send a mail message to all members of the selected group.

Allows you to edit groups in your address book.

Allows you to import and export data to and from your address book into other mail applications like Outlook.

Create a new contact

The Address Book allows you to maintain information about frequent online contacts. To create a new contact, you can access the Address Book and define a new contact from scratch, or you can add a message sender directly to the Address Book as a contact.

If you are creating a new contact from scratch, open the Address Book and click the New Contact button located on the Address Book tool bar.
If you are adding a message sender to your address book as a new contact, click the sender's e-mail address in the To field of the message window and the Address Book opens. The sender's e-mail address will be populated in the Primary E-mail field.
You see the Add Contact window.
In the Personal Information section of the window, enter the contact's first name, last name, and display name (which is used in the display list to identify the contact).
In the Contact Information section of the screen, enter an e-mail address for the contact and any other information that you want to preserve about this person.

Note: If you are adding the contact directly from the e-mail message, the sender's e-mail address will be automatically filled in.

To save the contact, click OK. To exit without adding the contact, click Cancel.

Edit contact information

The Address Book allows you to edit information about individual contacts. To edit contact information, use the following procedure.

If you have not already done so, click on the Address Book tab to open the Address Book.
From the View menu, select the group that contains the contact that you wish to edit.
From the display list, click the contact's Display Name. This is a link that opens the Edit Contact window.
The Edit Contact window contains a number of fields that allow you to maintain information about the contact. Edit fields in this window as necessary.

Note: You can also delete the contact by clicking on the Delete Contact button.

To apply the changes, click OK. To exit without making changes, click Cancel.

Delete contacts

You can delete contacts that you have added to your address book. However, after you have deleted a contact, there is no way to recover it.

If you have not already done so, click on the Address Book tab to open the Address Book.
From the View menu, select the group that contains the contact that you want to delete.

Note: If you are unsure of a contact, you can access a specific group and delete the contact. For example, if you had both a John Smith and a J. Smith in your All Contacts list and you knew you wanted to delete the contact who was in your English Study Group, you could access your English Study Group and delete the proper contact from there.

From the display list, click the checkbox next to the contact that you want to delete.
From the Address Book toolbar, click the Delete icon. The contact is deleted.

Note: You can also delete a contact by clicking the contact's display name, which opens the edit contact window where you have a Delete Contact button.

Import/Export Contacts

With the Import feature you can import Address Books from other e-mail applications into the Campus Pipeline system. With the Export feature, you can export Campus Pipeline addresses to other e-mail applications. You can import and export addresses to and from such programs as Outlook and Outlook Express.

Log into Pipeline
Open the e-mail Center.
Click the Address Book tab.
Click the Import/Export button.
The Import/Export Contacts screen opens.

Import

Export the address book from the program that you wish to import from.

Select the program used in step1 by clicking on the down arrow:

select email application to import from

Specify the file to import.
Click on the Import Now button to Import the file.

Export

Select a program to export contacts to

select email application to import from

Click on the Export Now button to Export the file.

Create new folders

The E-mail Center displays a separate folder for each of the IMAP and POP e-mail accounts configured for access through the E-mail application, beginning with a folder for your default account. Beneath each folder, the E-mail Center provides five default folders you can use to organize your e-mail messages:

Inbox: Contains all new messages that you receive.
Drafts: Contains all unsent messages that you are still composing.
Sent: Contains a copy of each message that you compose and send.
Deleted: Contains all messages deleted from your Inbox.
Search Results: Contains the results of your last e-mail message search.

These default folders appear in the left-hand side of the E-mail Center window in an interactive folder view similar to the following:

image of Email Folders in Pipeline

You can create as many additional folders as you need. For example, you could create a folder for each of your courses so that e-mail messages from colleagues in your English class can be separated from messages relating to biology or political science. Depending on the mail system at use at your school, you may be able to create folders and subfolders to further organize your mail messages. Subfolders are indicated by the arrow icon next to the folder name. Click the arrow icon to expand or collapse the folder display.

If you need to create a new folder, click the Add option located above the folder view.

To create a new folder, use the following procedure:

The Add Folders window opens. Select a destination folder from the icons displayed below the data entry box. If you select the primary mailbox icon, the new folder will be created at the same level as the Inbox. If you want to make a subfolder in an existing folder, highlight the destination folder from the folder view.
In the Enter New Folder Name field, type a name for your new folder.

new folder name field

Click OK. The new folder is created within the destination folder you selected.
When you are finished creating, deleting, or editing folders, click the Done button. This returns you to the message view so you can get and compose messages.
To edit or delete a folder, you can use the links that are provided.

Note: Do not Add under the InBox

Move Messages

After you create folders or rename folders to meet your needs, you can move messages among them as necessary. By default, all new messages route through your InBox or into folders for which you have set up filters. However, once the message has been received, you can move it to another folder. To move messages, follow the instructions outlined below:

Select the folder that contains the message you want to move. From the display list, select the message by clicking in the box in front of the message(s). A red arrow
( ) indicated that the message is selected.

image of selecting Inbox mail messages

From the E-mail Center navigation bar, click the Move Icon.

From the folder view, highlight the destination folder where you want to move the message. The color of the destination folder changes to alert you that it has been selected.

image of selecting the folder to move mail to

Note: You cannot move messages from the Sent or Drafts folder.

Click OK. Your message is moved to the destination folder. To view the message, click the destination folder.

Create a signature file

The E-mail Center allows you to create a signature file that can be added to any message that you send. For example, you may want to attach a signature that contains your title and an e-mail address that can be clicked for automatic reply for the reader. To create a signature file, use the E-mail Options tab and the following procedure.

If you have not already done so, open the E-mail Center.
Click the Options tab.

You see the E-mail Options window, which allows you to set options for your e-mail application. Click the Signature link.
You see the Signature window, which allows you to create the signature and specify whether the signature will be added to all messages by default.
With your mouse, click in the text entry box.
Type in the information you want to include as a signature. Note that you can only have seven lines, each up to 40 characters in length. To break information into separate lines, use the Enter key after each element of your signature. To enter an auto reply address that will show up as a hot link in your signature file, use the following format:

mailto: username@ccri.edu

To attach your signature to all messages that you send, check the option that reads: "Add signature to all messages by default." If you don't want to add the signature by default to all messages, leave this option unchecked and use the "Add signature" option available when you compose a message.
To save the signature file and/or attach it by default to all messages, click the OK button. To exit without applying a change, click Cancel.

Set message preferences

The E-mail application allows you to set options for how your messages are sent. To adjust message options, use the following procedure:

If you have not already done so, open the E-mail Center.
Click the Options tab.
You see the E-mail Options window, which allows you to set a variety of options for the E-mail Center. Click the Message Preferences link.
You see the Message Preferences window, which contains the following options:
- Requesting Read Receipts: Allows you to specify whether the Compose Message screen will contain an option to request a read receipt when you send a message.
- Save Sent Messages: Allows you to set whether copies of sent messages are saved in the Sent folder.
- Sent Messages: Allows you to set whether a confirmation appears after you have a sent message.
Adjust the Message Preference options to suit your needs.
To save your changes, click the OK button. To exit without applying any changes, click Cancel.

Set e-mail display preferences

The E-mail application allows you to set options for how your messages are deleted and displayed, including whether deleted messages are sent to the trash folder or permanently removed from the system, how many messages you want each page to display, and whether messages contain complete or brief header information. To adjust the way messages are deleted and displayed, use the following procedure:

If you have not already done so, open the E-mail Center.
Click the Options tab. You see the E-mail Options window, which allows you to set options for your e-mail.
Click the Display Settings link. You see the Display Settings window, which contains three options:
- Deleted Messages: Allows you to set whether your deleted messages will be sent to the Deleted folder or removed permanently from the system.
- Messages per page: Allows you to specify the number of messages that are retrieved and displayed on each page.
- Message Headers: Allows you to specify whether the system will display all message headers that accompany a message, or a brief header with each message.
Set the delete and display options as suits your needs.
To apply changes click OK. To exit without applying any changes, click Cancel.

Block e-mail addresses

The E-mail system allows you to block e-mail messages that are sent from addresses that you deem unacceptable. This feature allows you to avoid unsolicited bulk e-mail (often referred to as SPAM). You can block messages directly from the window that you use to view your messages, or you can block and unblock addresses from your options menu. To block addresses from the message window, to create lists of other addresses to block, or to remove blocks that you have already put in place, use the following procedures:

If you have not already done so, open the E-mail Center.
Select the message from the address that you want to block.
In the message window you see message header (full or brief, as per your preferences) that contains the e-mail address of the message sender. Next to the address is a Block Address link:

address to be blocked field

Click the Block Address link. You see a message stating that the address has been blocked. From now on, messages received from this address will be sent to your Deleted folder.
To remove blocks or to add blocks outside of the message window, click the Options tab. You see the E-mail Options window, which allows you to set options for your e-mail application.
Click the Block Addresses link. You see the Block Addresses window, which allows you to enter e-mail addresses to block, or to remove any blocks that you have previously enabled.
To add a block, enter the address to be blocked in the appropriate field and click the Block Address button. The address is added to the Blocked Addresses section of the screen.

address to be blocked field

To remove any of the blocks contained in the Blocked Addresses box, click on the address to select it and click the Remove button, The sender's address will no longer be blocked.

Note: To remove multiple blocked addresses, hold down the Shift or Ctrl key while you click on each address that you want to remove.

When you are finished adding or removing blocks, click OK. To exit without applying any changes, click Cancel.

Create a filter

The E-mail application allows you to create filters setting up a number of conditions that determine whether messages are to be routed to predefined folders. For example, you could set a filter that would recognize all messages coming from a certain individual (such as a professor) and route them to a special folder. Once you have created a filter, the system continues to route messages based upon its conditions until you delete or edit the filter. To create a new filter, use the following procedure:

Note: Filters allow you to route messages to alternate folders in your e-mail account. Before you create a filter, you should create any folders to which you will route messages.

If you have not already done so, open the E-mail Center.

Click the Options tab. You see the E-mail Options window, which allows you to set options for your e-mail application.
Click the Filters link. You see the Filters window.
Click the Create Filter button. You see the Create/Edit Filter window, which allows you to set message filtering criteria for the following message components:
- From header: Using this message component, you can filter all messages where the sender's e-mail address (as contained in the From field) begins with, contains, does not contain, or ends with a letter, phrase, e-mail address, or other element. For example, you could set the system to filter all messages where the From component contains the phrase "hotmail.com." This would allow you to direct all messages from this mail application to a special folder.
- To/CC header: Using this message component, you can filter all messages where the To and CC begins with, contains, does not contain, or ends with a letter, phrase, e-mail address, or other element. For example, you could set the system to filter all messages where the Cc component contained the name Sally. This would allow you to direct all messages where the sender had Cc'ed Sally to a special folder.
- Subject header: Using this message component, you can filter all messages where the Subject begins with, contains, does not contain, or ends with a letter, phrase, e-mail address, or other element. For example, you could set the system to filter all messages where the Subject contained the phrase Possible Spam. This would allow you to direct all messages containing the words Possible Spam to a special folder like Junk Mail.
Set the filter operations for the From, To/CC, and Subject header components of incoming messages as suits your needs. If necessary, click the Match Case option. For example, this would tell the system to differentiate between a filter containing "sally" and one containing "Sally."
Once the filter operations are set, click the Choose Folder button. You see a folder view.
From the folder view, select the folder where the filtered messages will be routed, for example a Junk Mail folder. Click OK to set the destination folder. To exit without specifying a destination, click Cancel.
You are returned to the Create/Edit Filter window. You see information stating the folder to which the filtered messages will be routed. To change this folder, click the Change Folder button. To accept the folder, click OK.
You are returned to the Filters window. To apply the newly created filter to your current e-mail messages, verify that the Enabled check box associated with the filter is checked and then click the Apply Filters Now button.

Note: If you decide to filter messages into a Junk Mail folder it is important to open that folder periodically to verify that the messages are indeed spam and then delete them permanently from your mailbox.