WebMail FAQ
- What is WebMail?
- Who can use WebMail and how do I access it?
- When I login to WebMail I get an alert warning me about security certificates. How do I stop this pop-up warning?
- Why is WebMail so slow and what can I do improve the speed?
- Can I use WebMail in conjuction with other email clients such as Thunderbird, Eudora or Pine?
- Where are my emails kept and are they backed up?
- How much storage space for email messages do I have and does this affect my other file storage?
- Everytime I login, I get a 'Your session has expired' messages which then logs me out. What is happening and how can I stop it?
- I can login to WebMail OK, but when I attempt to do something, like compose a message, I get logged out with a session expired message. What is happening and how do I stop it?
- I get an 'unserialized' error message when I log on and use WebMail, what is happening and how do I stop this?
- When I am logged into WebMail do I get a notification of new messages?
- Once I have logged on, can I leave myself logged on, and when will the system log me out?
- When I compose a message and choose to save a copy of the email it isn't saved when I send the message. What have I done wrong and how do I fix this?
- In WebMail, do I have all the standard features of an email client, such as address books, signatures and templates, Can I view email messages sent in HTML format, and send and receive attachments?
- Can I import addresses into WebMail's address book?
A. WebMail is a web-based email application that lets you read, send and organise your email via a web browser, which means you can be almost anywhere and still have access to your messages.
Q. Who can use WebMail and how do I access it?
A. All students and staff at the University of St Andrews can use WebMail if they have a valid St Andrews username and password. To access WebMail login at: https://WebMail.st-andrews.ac.uk
Q. When I login to WebMail I get an alert warning me about security certificates. How do I stop this pop-up warning?A. WebMail uses the secure http protocol which needs certificates to validate the authenticity of the server. WebMail authenticates its own certificate using the St Andrews Master Certificate, which is not registered, and your browser does not recognise it.
Once you have followed the instructions and have successfully installed the Master Certificate, then logging onto WebMail will no longer open the pop-up warning.
Q. Why is WebMail slow and what can I do improve the speed?
A. The speed of WebMail depends on three things: the size of your mailbox, the load and speed of your mail server, and the load and the speed of the actual WebMail servers
You can speed up your WebMail access by keeping your incoming mail box (INBOX) as small as possible. Create folders and move read messages to them. Delete any old, unwanted messages and attachments.
The load and speed of your mail server can affect the performance of WebMail since it must retrieve messages from there. Using WebMail at peak times will make WebMail slow down, as there will be an increased demand at these times.
Q. Can I use WebMail in conjunction with other email clients such as Thunderbird, Eudora or Pine?
A. Yes, but you have to be careful. Take note of these three points:
Unpredictable behaviour can result if multiple clients (including WebMail sessions) are opened at the same time. It is recommended that you do not have more that one client accessing your email messages at any one time.If you use another mail client that leaves an 'mbox' in your home directory WebMail will try to move all incoming message to this box before it opens your messages. This may fail if you are near or over your disk quota, which in turn might cause other programs to fail. WebMail is an IMAP mail client. IMAP clients leave emails on the server. If you also use a POP3 mail client such as Eudora it will remove messages from the server after downloading them to your computer, unless configured specifically not to do so and WebMail will not be able to access and display any messages already downloaded.
Q. Where are my emails kept and are they backed up?
A. Your messages are kept in your network filespace ('home directory') on the Central File Server. This server is backed up, but restoration is time-consuming so you are encouraged not to request recovery of deleted messages unless you consider it a real emergency.
Q. How much storage space for email messages do I have and does this affect my other file storage?
A. Storage of email messages will use up your disk quota just like any other files you have saved in your home directory. You can store as many messages as your disk quota allows. To use WebMail effectively you need to be active in organising your messages by creating new mailboxes and moving read messages into them, deleting unwanted messages and saving attachments elsewhere.
Q. Everytime I login, I get a 'Your session has expired' messages and I am then logged out. What is happening and how can I stop it?
A. WebMail uses 'cookies' to store information about your session. You must enable the cookies feature in your browser for WebMail to work. From time to time WebMail session cookies can get corrupted, if your browser cookies are enabled and you have this problem, then clearing/deleting the cookies should fix the problem. Microsoft Internet Explorer can sometime have major problems with corrupted WebMail cookies. If deleting cookies does not help, please download and install Mozilla Firefox or Netscape instead.
Q. I can login to WebMail, but when I attempt to do something, like compose a message, I get logged out with a session expired message. What is happening and how do I stop it?
A. WebMail uses 'round-robin-dns' with many servers performing the same tasks but spreading the load. When your computer or the browser constantly switches from one server to another, you will experience this problem. To solve this problem, you will need to investigate the behaviour of DNS resolution. If this does not help you can use one specific WebMail server by logging onto https://c3p2.st-andrews.ac.uk. This server will not switch you to any other server.
Q. I get an 'unserialized' error message when I log on and use WebMail, what is happening and how do I stop this?
A. Unserialized messages occur when WebMail gets confused between sessions, cached data and pages. To solve this problem you will not only need to delete cookies but also purge stored webpages by deleting your browser's temporary files.
When trying to open large attacements, the page will time-out if the action takes to long, this will also cause an 'unserialized' error to occur. To stop this problem from happening please save the attachment and open it from your computer.
Unserialized errors will also occur when a WebMail page takes to long to load. This will occur when the server load is too high (too many people trying to logon and use Webmail at the same time). In the event of this occurring please do not attempt to logon and use Webmail, as it will most likely to have something drastically wrong with it and the Systems Group will be attempting to fix the problem.Q. When I am logged into WebMail do I get a notification of new messages?
A. Yes, you do. You can set this in the WebMail preferences section. Please do not set the mail checking time period to a small interval as it will put a high load on the server which will in turn slow down your session.
Q. Once I have logged on, can I leave myself logged on, and when will the system log me out?
A. Yes, you can. You will be automatically logged out if you have been inactive for one and a half hours.
Q. When I compose a message and chose to save a copy of the email it isn't saved when I send the message. What have I done wrong and how do I fix this?
A. A copy of an email message is not saved if no 'sent-mail' mailbox is selected in preferences. This often occurs when a user sets up an 'alternative' identity and forgets to select a 'Sent mail folder' even though 'Save sent mail' has been selected. To fix this, you need to select a valid sent mail folder, or create one and then select it.
Q. In WebMail, do I have all the standard features of an email client, such as address books, signatures and templates. Am I able to view email messages sent in HTML format, and send and receive attachments?
A. Yes, address books can be setup and you can search the University's LDAP database for the addresses of other St Andrews users. There are signature, identities and message templates (drafts) facilitites in WebMail. Certain messages sent in HTML can be displayed in WebMail and you can certainly send and receive attachments (depending on size).
Q. Can I import addresses into WebMail's address book?
A. Yes. You can import from Outlook, Mulberry, and Pine address books. You can import vCard addresses (Netscape, Thunderbird) and you can also import addresses from a CSV or a tab separated export file.
