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Using Webmail

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Reading Messages

To read your e-mail, first log into webmail. You must enter your network username and password.

The first screen to come up after logging in should be your Inbox. In this interface, all new messages are displayed in boldface text. To read a message, click on the bold writing and the contents will open in a new window.

Inbox view

After reading the e-mail, you may want to reply, forward, or delete the message. You may also move the message to a different folder on the server, download the message, or print out the contents. There is a list of options above and below the content of the letter which affords you easy access to these actions. These options are located in the "Message Tasks" toolbar as illustrated below in Green. The content of this toolbar changes according to what you are viewing.

Webmail Message Toolbars

To check for new messages while in Webmail, click on the button marked Inbox or press the Refresh button. The Inbox button is also a convenient way to reach your inbox from anywhere within Webmail.

Webmail is able to render HTML in messages. For other documents such as PDF, DOCs, or images, simply click on the attachment and save it to your desktop. Then open it with any appropriate program by clicking its icon.

Composing Messages

To compose a new message, click the Compose button in the toolbar. Then write your message as you see fit in the Message Composition window. Click Send Message in the toolbar to send it off.

Adding an Attachment

Please read our attachment ettiquette to avoid any possible difficulties associated with sending attachments via our IMAP system.

If you need to add an attachment to your message, click on the Choose File button at the bottom of the Mail Composition window.

Webmail Attachments

A window will pop up asking you to choose a file. Navigate to the file you want, highlight it and click Choose. You should see the name of your file next to the Choose File button.

From here you have two options. The first option simply allows you to save the sent mali with the attachment. If you think you will need the file again, you may want to select this option. The default is no, meaning the attachment will not be saved along with the sent message in your sent folder. 

The second option is useful for large files. This option is called "link attachment". If you chose to link the attachment the recipient will be sent to a link from which they may download the attachment securely. This way the recipient will not have the large file clogging up their inbox. The default is once again no.

This feature is not currently compatible with all versions of Safari therefore we recommend using Firefox for attachments if Safari does not work

If you chose to send a linked file you will be notified when the recipient has downloaded the file and given a link to delete the file.

Then, click the Attach button located on the far right hand side of the screen.

The file should now be attached to the e-mail and ready to be sent along with the e-mail.

Downloading an Attachment

When you receive a file as an attachment, follow these steps to download it to your computer.

  1. Select the message that contains the attachment.
  2. Next to the name of the attached file, click the icon of a box with a red arrow pointing down towards it.
  3. You will be prompted for a location on your computer to save the file. Select the location and start the download.
Occasionally, attached files may "forget" what type of file they are (for example, a ZIP may lose its extension). On OS X, this can be solved by launching the application which you think should open the file (Microsoft Word for *.doc files, Excel for spreadsheets, Photoshop or Preview for image files), and from the File menu, try to open the unknown file using the application of your choice. If the application you chose was correct, the file should be opened successfully and this procedure should not need to be repeated in the future.