More about WebMail
WebMail is used as a generic term for web-based email applications. IMP, the Internet Messaging Program, is one of the most popular WebMail applications available. The version of WebMail used at the University of St Andrews is based on IMP.
WebMail allows universal, web-based access to IMAP and POP3 mail servers and provides a full range of features normally found only in desktop email clients. Because WebMail is web-based it will always be a little slower than your desktop email client but it aims to provide most features of a desktop email client. Whether you are in a PC classroom, at home, abroad, or on the move, if you have access to the Internet you will be able to read your email. This universality also means that it doesn't matter what type of computer you have (whether it be an Apple Mac or a PC) you will still have access to your email in exactly the same way.
WebMail is an application that is delivered to you via a web browser, and therefore you do not need to maintain it in the same way as your other desktop applications - you only need to deal with the messages you send and receive. You do not need to worry about upgrades to the program or backing up your email data as these are managed centrally on your behalf by IT Services.
WebMail servers
The University currently runs three dedicated WebMail servers. Depending on usage your email will be processed by any of these servers and loads on each server are balanced to ensure that email is processed as efficiently as possible.
Home (village) servers
All users at the University are allocated disk space on one of our home or 'village' servers. When you first received your St Andrews user account you will have been given details of which home server you should use. This disk space is provided to let you store some of your own files. It also contains files used to configure your account. If you use WebMail your mailboxes and their contents will also be stored in your disk space on your home server, unless you move them to your own desktop or portable computer.
The exception is your email INBOX, which is always held on one of the University's email servers. If you use a IMAP email client such as Eudora this INBOX differs from the local inbox in the email program on your computer. When your email client makes a request to the server to deliver any new mail, copies of new messages are sent from your INBOX on the email server to the inbox on your local computer. The original message on the email server is then deleted, unless your email client has been configured to leave mail on server.
If you use an POP3 email client such as WebMail, the messages displayed in your INBOX remain on the email server until you move them into another mailbox. This requires that you actively manage your email messages as there is limited space available on the email servers. Keeping too many messages in your INBOX will cause your WebMail sessions to slow down, and ultimately stop serving messages to you. For suggestions on how to manage your mailboxes please see managing your messages.
