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Willamette University Webmail Basics

Introduction

Webmail is Willamette University's web-based email client. It can be accessed from any computer that has a connection to the Internet. This document will explain how to access and use Webmail.

What You Need

You must have a personal computer with a web browser (such as Netscape or Internet Explorer). You must also have a connection to the Internet, either through Willamette University or through an Internet Service Provider (ISP) such as AOL, Earthlink, AT&T Broadband, Qwest DSL, etc.

Accessing Webmail

First, point your web browser to:

http://webmail.willamette.edu

This will bring you to the Webmail login screen. Enter your Willamette username and password, and click LOGIN.

The Webmail Environment

The basics of using Webmail will be obvious to experienced email users. Webmail functions very similarly to other web-based email clients such as Hotmail and Yahoo.

Webmail is laid out in two main sections called frames. In the left frame is the folder list, which contains all of your currently subscribed folders. The folder list is visible at all times, no matter which section of Webmail you are currently viewing.

On the right is where most of the action will take place. At the top of the page is a menu bar. The menu bar displays the Current Folder and a link to Sign Out. Sign out will safely log you out of the program when you are finished. The Current Folder displays which of the folders listed in the left frame you are currently in. After you log in, by default your INBOX will be shown as the Current Folder.

 

Under the top bar is a row of menu choices. These choices represent various Webmail features and preferences, some of which will be discussed in more detail later in this document. The menu choices are:

• Compose - Create and send a new email message, which may include attachments.
• Addresses - Holds a list of addresses that are contained in your Personal address book. You can use this feature to add new addresses, or edit/delete existing addresses.
• Folders - All folder manipulation takes place in this section. You can delete, create, rename, subscribe, and unsubscribe folders.
• Options - Change settings to customize how Webmail responds and looks.
• Search - With this tool, you can search through a mailbox for given criteria.
• Help - An index of help topics and frequently asked questions.

The menu bar and the menu choices will always be visible at the top of your screen, no matter which section of Webmail you are currently viewing.

The Message List

The message list displays the contents of the current folder. By default, Webmail displays 15 messages per page.

• To view the next 15 messages, click Next.
• To view all messages at once, click Show All.

Sorting

For each email message, you will see the sender, the date, and subject. Webmail gives you the option of sorting by any of these categories. Simply click on the grey box or the blue arrow next to the column heading.

The blue arrow indicates the current sorting scheme. In this case, the messages are sorted by date in ascending order.

• To sort by sender or subject, click on the respective grey boxes. The grey box should change to a blue arrow to indicate that what you selected is now the current sorting scheme.
• To change between ascending and descending sort order, click on the blue arrow. An up-pointing arrow indicates ascending order; a down-pointing arrow indicates descending order.

Actions

To move, forward, or delete a message, click in the check-box to the left of the sender's name.
Once the box has been checked, click on the appropriate button.

• To move a message into a different folder, check the box next to the sender's name, choose a folder name from the Move Selected To pull-down menu, and click on the Move button.
• Multiple messages can be moved or deleted together by selecting multiple check boxes, or by clicking on Select All.

Reading Email Messages

 

While viewing the message list, select the message you want to read by clicking on its Subject (which should be underlined to indicate that it is a link).

Your message will now be displayed in the center of the screen, with the mail folder list still in the left frame.

The shaded field located below the menu bar contains the message header. It also contains several options such as Delete, Forward, and Reply. These options apply only to the message you are currently viewing.

• To get back to the message list in the main Webmail display, click on Message List.
• To view the next or previous message in the list, click on Next or Previous.
• To print your message, click on View Printable Version. Then use your web browser's print button (or go to File > Print).

Composing a New Email Message

 The Compose feature allows you to create and send a new email message.

Addressing
Enter the recipient's address in the To: field. You can enter multiple addresses in one field by separating them with commas. You can also include additional addresses in the CC: (Carbon Copy) and BCC: (Blind Carbon Copy) fields.

Attachments
To include an attachment with your email message, type the path name of the file you wish to include into the Attach: field at the bottom of the screen. If you don't know the path name, you can click on the Browse... button to find the file. Once the pathname appears in the Attach: field, you must click on the Add button.

Address Book

The Addresses feature allows you to build an address book.

Adding New Addresses
To add a new address, fill in the fields under Add to Personal address book. When all fields are filled in, click on Add Address. The page will reload, and the new address will be displayed under Personal address book.

Group Addresses
You can create address book entries for groups by entering multiple addresses into the E-mail address field. Addresses must be separated by commas.

Edit or Delete Addresses
Edit or Delete current addresses by clicking in the check-box to the left of the nickname. Once the box is checked, click on Edit selected or Delete selected, respectively.

Importing Addresses from another Address Book
**Note: This feature really only works well if your address book is fairly simple. If you have many lists or groups, or if you store information other than the names and email addresses of your recipients, then you may experience some difficulty when you attempt to import your address book into Webmail.

Webmail will import Address Book files that are in LDIF format. Netscape Messenger and Outlook Express both use the LDIF format, so the process of importing Address Books from those programs is relatively easy.

To start, you will need to export the Address Book from your email program. In most programs, you will open your Address Book, and go to File > Export. This will allow you to save your Address Book as an LDIF file. Then in Webmail, click on Options, and select Address Book Import. Browse to find the LDIF file you saved before, then click Submit.

If you have an Address Book in Pine, you can use the Pine to LDIF converter tool to convert your Pine Address Book to the LDIF format. Once you've done that, you can import it into Webmail.

Using the Address Book
In the Compose screen, click on the Addresses button. You will see a list of all the addresses in your Personal address book.

To select an address for use in a new email message, click on the check-box to the left of the name. You can check one box, or multiple boxes, and you can choose whether to select To, Cc, or Bcc. Or click on All to select all addresses.

Once you have selected the addresses you want to use, click on Use Addresses. You will then return to the Compose screen, and the addresses you checked should appear in the To, Cc, or Bcc fields, depending on what you selected. Continue composing and sending your message as normal.

You can also use an address from your Address Book simply by typing a 'nickname' in the To field of the composition window. (This works only if you filled in the 'nickname' field when you entered an address into your Address Book.) Webmail will recognize that the nickname you typed corresponds to a recipient in your address book, and it will send to the appropriate email address.

Using a Group Address
You cannot use a nickname in the To field of your composition for sending a message to a group email address. Webmail will not interpret the information correctly. In order to send email to a group address from your Address Book, you must click on the Addresses link, and put a check in the To column next to the group address you wish to send to. Then click Use Addresses, and when you return to the composition window, all addresses from the group should be displayed in the To field.

Folders

The Folders feature lets you create, rename, and delete folders and subfolders. It also lets you subscribe or unsubscribe to folders.

Create a Folder
Choose a folder name that will be recognizable to you later on. Type it into the Create Folder field. If you want this to be the subfolder of an existing folder, then use the as a subfolder of pull-down menu to select the existing folder. If this will not be subfolder, but you would like the ability to put subfolders into this folder, then check the box that says Let this folder contain subfolders. Click on the Create button. This folder should now be visible in your folder list.

Rename a Folder
Use this function to change the name of an existing folder. Select the desired folder from the pull-down menu, and click on the Rename button. You will be taken to a new screen, with a text field containing the current name of the folder you selected. Change the name to whatever you want, and click on the Submit button. You will taken back to the Folders screen.

Delete Folder
Use this function to delete an existing folder. Select the desired folder from the pull-down menu, and click on the Delete button.

Unsubscribe/Subscribe
Unsubscribing from a folder means that you will no longer be save messages to or retrieve messages from that folder. That folder will no longer be visible in your folder list. The folder will not be deleted, it will still exist - but you won't be able to use it. Subscribing to a folder makes it usable again.

To subscribe or unsubscribe, simply click on a folder name to select that folder. CTRL-click to select multiple folders. When all desired folders are selected, click on Subscribe or Unsubscribe, respectively.

Options

The Webmail Options are personal, customizable preferences, which may be changed at any time without affecting any other users on the system. The options include:

• Personal Information
• Display Preferences
• Message Highlighting
• Folder Preferences
• Index Order
• NewMail Options
• Address Book Import
• Directory Preferences

Personal Information
This option lets you configure reply, signature, and time zone preferences.

Display Preferences
This section controls the look and feel of Webmail. Use it to configure font and language, javascript usage, the default number of email messages displayed per page, and many other display options.

Message Highlighting
This feature allows you to color code your email messages based on the criteria that you specify. This is especially useful if you are subscribed to many different mailing lists - you can use a different color for each list, making it easier to distinguish messages belonging to one list from messages belonging to another list.

To Highlight a group of message, click New. Choose an Identifying Name that describes the group of messages you are highlighting. Next choose a highlight color. You can choose a color from the pull-down menu, or from the grid of colors. You can also specify a hexadecimal color code by selecting Other and typing the code in the field.

Next, choose the matching phrase. From the pull-down menu, select a header criteria to match against, such as From, To, Subject, etc. Then type some text into the Matches field. This text could be the name or email address of a particular sender, or maybe words from a subject line. Here are two examples:

Example #1: "From" Matches "John Balling"
This will highlight all messages where "John Balling" appears in the "From" field of the header - in other words, where John Balling is the sender of the email message.

Example #2: "Subject" Matches "wits"
This will highlight all messages where "wits" appears in the "Subject" field of the header - in other words, where the subject of the email message contains the word "wits".

When you are finished, click on the Submit button. Email messages that match the criteria you specified should now appear highlighted in the color you selected. This affects your Inbox, as well as all other mail folders.

Folder Preferences
These options allow you to manipulate the way your mail folders are displayed and how they act. You can specify which folders will act as Trash, Sent, and Drafts, and you can alter the location and size of the frame that contains the folder list.

Index Order
The index order determines the arrangement of the columns in your message list. These are the columns that contain descriptive information about your email messages, such as who they're from, the date, the subject, etc. You can add, remove, or reorder these columns.

NewMail Options
This sections lets you configure settings for playing sounds and/or showing pop-ups when new mail arrives.

Address Book Import
This option allows you to import an address book file from another email program such as Netscape or Eudora.

Directory Preferences
These settings control what type of output you will see when you use the Directory link (in the menu bar) to search through Willamette's directory.

Search

The Search feature lets you search for a particular email message based on the search criteria that you specify. You choose which mail folder to search through, which word or phrase to search on, and which part of the email message you want Webmail to search to find that word or phrase (i.e., in the message body, in the To field, in the Subject, etc).

Directory

Webmail's Directory is like an online Fusser's Guide of sorts. It lets you search for other Willamette users. You can search by name, email address, department, or phone number.

Every person you might find listed in the Fusser's Guide, should also be listed here.

Simply select the search criteria, the name or phrase to search on, and the sort order. Click on the Submit button. A list of matches will be displayed below. Email addresses in the search results will appear as links - you can click on them to send email to that person.

Getting Help

Webmail has an excellent Help section, which contains an index of help topics and a frequently asked questions section. If you have questions about how to use or customize Webmail, WITS strongly recommends that you look through the Help section. Simply click on the link to Help in the menu bar at the top of your Webmail screen.

If you don't find what you need in Webmail's Help section, you are also welcome to contact the WITS Help Desk at 503-370-6767 or wits@willamette.edu.