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| ACNS Bulletin EM-02: Using WebMail at CSU |
27 August 2002
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These directions are for CSU students, faculty, and staff using one of Colorado State University's central computers as a mail server.
To use WebMail, you need a CSU electronic identity (eID). If you don't have a CSU eID, you can get one at URL: http://eid.colostate.edu.
WebMail lets you read and send email using a Web browser, such as Netscape or Internet Explorer. That's right, you don't have to log in to your account on Lamar or install an email client on your PC. Just point your web browser to the WebMail URL given below, log in, and there's your mail, all ready for you.
WebMail is a full featured mail program that allows you to send, read, file, and delete mail as desired. It uses the IMAP protocol to manage your email. A key advantage of IMAP is that your email messages are stored on the server (i.e., Lamar, Chiron, etc.). The email is NOT downloaded to the PC you are using. Any mail you receive remains in your mailbox on the server until you delete it. This central management of email means you can read your email from various PCs (e.g., at home or in the office, library, or lab) without the fear of losing messages.
Tip: Before you connect to WebMail, be sure to close any other email programs (such as Pine, Outlook Express, or Netscape Messenger) that may be running. Do NOT use Pine and WebMail at the same time.
To access your email, first start your web browser (e.g., Netscape or Internet Explorer).
Then point your web browser to
http://webmail.colostate.edu
Another way to get to WebMail, is to follow the link to WebMail from the ACNS home page:
After you have followed this link, you'll see a WebMail login screen.
When you see the WebMail login screen, type your eID eName in the username box.
Next, select the server on which your email resides. For example, if you are a Holly user, you need to select the server holly.colostate.edu. A Lamar user would select lamar.colostate.edu. Click on the server name, and use the up and down arrows to scroll through the list of available servers. Or you can click on the down arrow to the right of the server name, to select from a pulldown list of servers.
Then enter your eID ePassword.
After you have entered your eID and selected a server, click on the "Login" button to connect. Assuming all information was entered correctly, the next screen you see will be the "New-Mail" folder with your mail.
WebMail appears as a window within your web browser window. Remember to click on the WebMail icons and buttons within the WebMail window to manage your mail, and not the browser options.
Be sure to log off of WebMail when you have completed your email session. To do so, simply click on the icon labeled `Logout' in WebMail's Messages window. After logout is completed, you'll see a new WebMail login window.
Logging off is especially important if you are using WebMail on a public computer in the Library or one of the computer labs on campus. You don't want the next person who comes along to be able to read your mail, do you?
Once you are logged into WebMail, sending and receiving mail is pretty straightforward. However, if you need help while using WebMail, you can pull up the on-line WebMail User's Guide. Simply click on the Help Button.
To send mail, from the WebMail, select the "Create" icon. This will bring up the "Create Message" window. You type the email addresses of the recipients in the To:, Cc:, and Bcc: fields. It is always proper nettiquette to include a brief description of your mail in the Subject field.
The message part of the screen is where you type in the message to send. The standard editing keys can be used to create and edit your message. You can also cut text from other sources and paste it into your message.
Other icons available to help with composing mail are:
"Spell:" Checks for spelling errors.
"Attach:" Attaches files residing on your PC to your message.
"Add Signature:" If you have previously created a standard signature under the "Options" menu, it can be attached to your message by selecting this option.
"Draft:" Allows you to save a copy of your current message without sending it.
"Address:" Gives you access to a private and public address book. The private address book is a place for you to store commonly used email addresses. The public address book includes all of the Colorado State Directory information on the LDAP server directory.colostate.edu. You can easily search for a friend's or colleague's email address here at CSU by selecting the public address book, entering a name to search for, and then clicking on "Search".
When ready to send your message, simply click on the "Send" icon at the top of the "Create Message" window.
If you create a message and then decide you want to cancel sending it, and not save a copy of it, you can simply press the "X" button in the upper right hand corner of the "WebMail - Create Message" window. DO NOT press the X in the upper right hand corner of the browser window as that will terminate your Netscape or Internet Explorer session without closing WebMail properly.
After you are logged in, WebMail displays a list of your new messages, in the "New-Mail" folder. The "Index" button will get you back to the list of messages.
The message list is sorted by status: drafts first, urgent messages next, then new messages and finally messages that have been read. Icons and highlighting are used to help identify the status of a message. You can easily change the sort order by clicking on a column heading. For example if you want messages sorted by date, you can click on the Date column header.
You can scroll through your list of messages using the arrow keys or the scroll bars. Once you locate a message to read, click on the name in the From column. WebMail will display the "Read Message" window, which shows the message you have selected. You can page through the messages in a folder by pressing the "Next" or "Previous" buttons within the "Read Message" window.
Other icons available to assist with reading mail are:
"Delete:" Moves the mail message to the Trash folder. You can configure how many messages will be kept in the Trash (Deleted Messages) folder via the Options Menu.
"File:" Allows you to save a message into a folder.
"Reply"/"Reply All:" Allows you to reply to the Sender of the message, or the sender and all the recipients of the message. The original message is included, each line beginning with ">" to identify the original message.
"Forward:" Lets you send the message to others. Includes the contents of the original message in the new message.
"Check:" Checks your mail server for new mail while you are viewing the message list.
Some email messages contain URLs, which are links to electronic pages on the World Wide Web. If a mail message contains a link, it will be underlined and highlighted, and you can simply click on it to follow the link. Don't forget to return to WebMail and log out if you do this.
If a mail message has a file attached to it, the name of the attachment will be at the bottom of the mail message. It will have an attachment icon next to it. To view the attachment, simply click on the name of the attachment.
Folders can be used to organize your mail. The Sent folder contains messages you have sent, and the Trash folder contains messages you have deleted. The "File" icon lets you manage your folders. You can create or delete folders and file messages into them. The folders are stored on your mail server. You can change the directory in which the folders are stored, via the "Options" menu.
Tip: Store any messages you may want to refer to later in folders. Email trash folders on Lamar, Holly, and Simla are emptied daily. Once you delete an email message you will not be able to retrieve it the next day.
WebMail doesn't have any print functionality within itself. To print a mail message, just view the mail message and use your browser's print function to print it out locally.
For additional information on WebMail, see the WebMail User's Manual. It is available by clicking on the "Help" icon within WebMail. If you have questions about WebMail, you may send email to Consult@colostate.edu or stop by the Computing Help Desk, Room 224A Weber Building.