Advanced features of WebMail
There is also a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) where you may find the answer to your query. Horde, the manufacturers of IMP also provide an FAQ page.
Using WebMail and other mail programs
One advantage of WebMail is that you can use it to access your e-mail while you are away and unable to use your usual mail program. Using WebMail temporarily will not usually cause problems, but there are circumstances where dificulties could arise. The following notes describe the interaction of WebMail with other mail systems.
Irrespective of what program you use to read your mail, incoming mail is stored on your home server until you have read it. What happens next depends on which mail program you use, and what choices you make.
Usually Eudora and Outlook remove messages from the mail server when you download them to your Mac or PC. You can alter the settings in these programs to change this behaviour, but we do not usually advise you to do this unless for special reasons.
WebMail will leave your messages in your WebMail INBOX unless you store them in a folder or delete them. This usually means that messages will continue to be available to Eudora and Outlook after you have read them with WebMail, unless you store them in a folder or delete them. However there is one complicating factor arising if you have a file called mbox in your home directory.
The interaction of the different mail programs is summarised as follows:
- WebMail cannot read messages that have been downloaded to your Mac or PC by Eudora or Outlook, unless you have configured Eudora or Outlook to leave messages on the server. You should not usually configure Eudora or Outlook to do this.
- Eudora and Outlook can read messages that have been left in the WebMail INBOX, unless the WebMail INBOX has been transferred to an mbox file see below for an explanation of this.
- Eudora and Outlook cannot read messages that have been moved to WebMail folders
- WebMail can read messages that have been stored in PINE folders
The Unix "mail" program and the mbox file
If you have used the Unix "mail" program in the past, your read messages will (by default) have been stored in a file called mbox in your home directory. WebMail places your new mail messages in the mbox file. If you don't have one (which will be the case with most people) WebMail leaves your messages in your incoming mail area on the server.
If you do have a file called mbox, WebMail will use it. In this case you will find that as well as your new messages you may have a number of old messages, possibly very old messages dating back to the early days of the Unix servers.
If the mbox file goes on growing you risk running out of disk quota.
Sending and receiving attachments
In order to send a Word document or any other file by e-mail you have to "attach" it to your message. Different mail programs handle attachments in different ways, and although WebMail is compatible with most of the other common mail programs you must be prepared for problems.
Many of the problems that people encounter with attachments have nothing to do with the mail programs. If you send a document to someone as an attachment, they must have software that is capable of opening the document.
Remember that attachments are the commonest way in which viruses are distributed. So only open an attachment if you know who sent it. Even if you know the sender you should only open the attachment if you are reasonably sure that they intended to send it. Do not send unexplained and unannounced attachments to other people.
WebMail has a limit of 2 MB on the size of message (including attachments).
Sending
- First you must locate the file.
- Click the "Browse" button.
- Get the "File upload" dialog-box ¿ in the "Files of type" part of the dialog-box, choose "All files".
- Locate the file on your Mac or PC and click "Open" .
- Then, when the name of the file is displayed in the "Attachment" box, you must press the "Attach" button. The filename will then be displayed.
- Then complete your message and send it as usual.
Receiving
When someone sends you an attachment WebMail will display a link to the file. This behaves like other hypertext links in your Web browser: when you click on it your browser will try to display the file. If your browser doesn't have the necessary plug-in to display the file it will offer you the option of saving it on your disk.
Remember the security warnings about downloading and opening attachments. E-mail attachments are the commonest means for spreading viruses. Only click on an attachment to download it if you know what it is and are sure that it was sent intentionally by your correspondent. If you used to use PINE you were protected from many of the dangers of attachments, because PINE kept your attachments on the Sun server. When you use WebMail it is easy to bring the attachments down onto your Mac or PC, so make sure you have adequate anti-virus software.
Setting filters
WebMail allows you to create filters to automate certain aspects of your email handling. You can set filters to move or delete incoming messages either manually or automatically.
On the menu bar click Options, then select Mail Management then Filters.
Click on Edit your filter rules to create a new filetr or edit an existing one.
The top section of the screen displays existing filters and allows you to delete a filter or change the order of priority. The lower section allows you to create new filters. If you select an existing filter its rules are displayed in the lower section, ready to be edited. As with most WebMail screens clicking the large quaestion mark to the right of the feature gives you context sensitive help.
Addressbook (Contacts list)
Clicking on the "Addressbook" icon on the main menu bar brings up either the "Address Book Listing" window or the "Search" window:
- List window - this gives you the options of viewing a listing of your addressbook or the University Directory.
- Search window - allows you to search for a name or email address in either your addressbook or the University directory.
Clicking on the "Options" link in the addressbook menu bar gives you the opportunity to set one of these as the default to appear each time you open your addressbook.
- More detailed notes on using the Addressbook feature, including storing single or multiple e-mail addresses under one nickname and sending mail.
The LDAP directory
You can search the local directory of e-mail addresses using the Search window of the WebMail Addressbook.
