Using Webmail at UIC

The UIC Webmail URL brings your tigger, icarus, or mailserv email to you by way of any Web browser, anywhere. The only two requirements to use Webmail are (1) receiving your email on an ACCC account on tigger, icarus, or mailserv, and (2) a Web browser.

To use Webmail, all you do is point any browser to this URL: https://webmail.uic.edu/ log in, and you're off! Note the https:// in Webmail's URL; that means Webmail uses secure communications.

The new Webmail is SquirrelMail, a fully featured email program, a fine choice to be your primary email program. But even if you normally use Eudora (or Netscape or Outlook or any other personal computer email system), or even pine on ACCC UNIX, you can use Webmail along with it, as a convenient way to check your email when your normal email program is not available. There are a few considerations, however, about using Webmail with other email programs; see the following section.

-- Already use Eudora or another email system?

Do you already use Eudora or some other email system? Use your regular program when it's convenient to do so, and use Webmail when it's not.

In fact, it's particularly convenient to use Webmail along with Eudora or pine or any other email program that uses IMAP. You can use pine (which is compatible with IMAP), and you can use your personal computer email program(s) that are set up to use IMAP, and you can use Webmail (which also uses IMAP), and all the mail folders that you keep on the email server will be available in Webmail, in pine, in Eudora, and in your other email programs.

But:

• Don't use Webmail and Eudora or pine or another email program at the same time.
  
  
• About WebMail and POP. We used to say not to use WebMail with any personal computer email program that is set up to use POP. That is not true anymore. The ACCC has upgraded the POP servers on mailserv, icarus, and tigger and they are now compatible with the IMAP servers on their machines. Pine is has always been OK; it's compatible with IMAP.
  
  
• We still recommend, however, that you set up your other email program to use IMAP. If you do, the email folders that you keep on the server will be available to you when you use WebMail. For complete, step-by-step instructions on how to convert Eudora to using IMAP, see Configuring Eudora for IMAP. The ACCC doesn't support doing email with Outlook or Netscape or any other other personal computer (Windows or Mac) email program, but the Eudora IMAP configuration instructions include all the information you need to configure any email program that supports IMAP (and they pretty much all do now) to use IMAP. I've used the info in in the Eudora page to set up Outlook, Netscape, and Mac Mail.app and Microsoft Entourage.
  
  
• If you use IMAP and you seem to lose some mailboxes you thought you already had, don't worry, they are still there. Try subscribing to them. If that doesn't work, send a note to systems@uic.edu and tell us what your IMAP prefix is set to.
  

To keep this page from getting too long -- which it already is -- it has been separated into two parts.

This page has the basic information:

• a description of the Webmail window and its two frames,
• using the Webmail message lists,
• reading and replying to messages,
• deleting and undeleting messages,
• and creating and sending messages.

The next page, Webmail Tasks, has a group of seven other important tasks:

• logging in and out,
• changing options,
• working with folders,
• managing your sent-mail folders,
• converting a pine or Eudora address book for Webmail,
• searching for email addresses in your Webmail address book or the UIC online phonebook,
• and a bit about attachments.

These seven tasks aren't less important -- in fact, some of them are necessary to effectively use Webmail. But they are isolated tasks, so they each can be described in one section without referring to a bunch of other stuff. So when one of these six tasks come up in the basic instructions in this page, there is a link to the instructions on how to do it in Webmail Tasks.

If you are printing this page for reference, you should print Webmail Tasks also.

There are two things you might want to do to configure Webmail:

1. If you have an existing email address book, you might want to convert it for use with Webmail. See Converting a Eudora or Pine Address Book for Webmail in Webmail Tasks. You'll only need to do this once; after you create your Webmail address book, it will always be available for you to use regardless of where you use Webmail from in the future. We have already moved your address books from the old Webmail to the new Squirrel Webmail, so you might not have to create a new Webmail address book.
   
   Another reason to have a Webmail address book even if you don't use Webmail that much is that every address that you put in your Webmail address book will automatically be put into your ACCC anti-spam filter whitelist. This means that no email from that address will ever be marked as spam. While it's a lot easier these days to put email addresses in your whitelist, this feature is by far the easiest and most reasonable way.
   
   
2. You will probably want to set some Webmail options, use the Webmail Options main menu item. See Changing Webmail Options in Webmail Tasks.

(For details, see Logging In and Out in Webmail Tasks.)

1. Use any Web browser to go to: https://webmail.uic.edu/
2. Type your netid: and password: in the spaces provided.
3. From the server: dropdown list, select the server that your email account is on.
4. If this is your own machine or if you're going to be logging into Webmail from it again, click Remember login server.
5. Click the Login button.

When you logout: If you have any messages in your deleted folder (mailbox), Webmail will delete them.

What you'll see is something like figure 1.

When you login for the first time: Webmail will ask you to enter your name and your "WebMail Email Address". Type them in the boxes provided and click Save.

• The name and email address that you enter will be saved and used as the name and return address that well be put on your outgoing email, so you will want to use your netid@uic.edu email address. (See Options -> Personal Information.)
• At the same time, Webmail will subscribe you to whatever mailboxes you already have on the server. If you've already used the old Webmail or if you use Eudora or some other email program with IMAP, you will have some. If not, you will only have the ones that Webmail creates for you. See Folder Tasks in Webmail Tasks.

This is enough to get you started without having to set options.

On Any Webmail Screen: Squirrel Webmail has a number of features that are the same or similar on all of its windows.

(Check mail) Red 1

Click on (Check mail) to check to see whether there is new incoming email in your INBOX. If there is, the number in parentheses after INBOX (the red 2) will increase. Even though this text is black, it is a link.

INBOX Red 2

Click on INBOX to open your Inbox or to refresh the message list to display new email. Click on any folder name to display that folder's message list, regardless of where in Squirrel you are. Even though text of the folder names is black (other than the first four), they are links

deleted

By default, Webmail creates a folder named deleted and uses that for your trash folder. You can tell because the icon looks like a trash can. The messages in the deleted folder will be deleted (and gone forever) automatically when you log out. If you have email in your deleted mailbox, you will have a (Purge) link beside your deleted folder; you can delete that deleted email at any time by clicking on the (Purge) link. See Deleting and Undeleting Messages.

 

drafts

Like the old Webmail, drafts is the folder that Squirrel Webmail keeps the outgoing messages that you are working on that you aren't ready to send yet. Unlike the old Webmail, in Squirrel Webmail drafts is a normal email folder on the server, and it is available to you when you're using any other email program, provided that it's set up to use IMAP. See Save Draft.

reportspam folder Red 11, along with the Report as Spam button, also labelled with a red 11, on the right.

If you recieve any email that you think is spam, click in the box on the left hand side of the line in the index describing it and then click the Report as Spam button. This will move the email into your reportspam mailbox. The ACCC's automatic spam filtering system will remove the spam messages from your reportspam mailbox and use that spam message to help identify future incoming spam messages.

sent-mail

By default, Webmail creates a folder named sent-mail and uses that to keep copies of email that you send, for as long as you have disk space available to do so. Keep track of this mailbox; it can get really full and eat up all your disk space.

 

spam Red 12

The ACCC has automatically turned on spam filtering for everyone using a uic.edu email address. For more information on the ACCC Spam filtering, see Canned Spam Filters.

Any folder name in the blue area

Click on any folder name to display that folder's message list, regardless of where in Squirrel you are. Even though text of the folder names is black (other than the first four), they are links.

Folder Sizes Red 10

Click the Folder Sizes button to display a table of your folders with their sizes listed.

Are you over quota? You can use sorting by Size with the Folder Size button to pick which folders might have the largest messages. Remember that an M -- Megabyte -- is 1000 times bigger than a k -- kilobyte. So go for the M folders first. Click on the name of the folder in the Folder Sizes table to open that folder's message list. For more information, see How to fix icarus or tigger Inbox quota problems with WebMail and How to fix mailserv Inbox quota problems with WebMail.

The white frame on the right is where your message lists are listed, you compose your messages (unless you use Options -> Display Preferences to tell it you want to compose them in separate windows), you work with your address book, you set your options, and you view the Squirrel help.

The Webmail Main Menu Red 7

Squirrel Webmail Main Menu is in the right-hand white frame, at the top, beginning at the left side of the frame. It is available in every Squirrel window. The functions available are:

• Compose: compose and send a new email message - Creating and Sending Outgoing Mail.
• Addresses: manage your Webmail address book - Searching for Email Addresses in Webmail Tasks and Making and Using A Webmail Address Book in Special Topics.
• Folders: manage your Webmail folders, including deleting existing folders or creating new folders. Webmail will know about all your folders every time you log in. See Folders Tasks in Webmail Tasks.
• Options: See Changing Webmail Options in Webmail Tasks. This includes entering your default signature; you enter your name and return address the first time you log in to Webmail.
• Search: Squirrel lets you search for just about anything, just about anywhere, but its search page is a bit daunting; there is only one line without much context to help you along. See the Search menu item below.
• Help: Opens a context-sensitive help on the current Squirrel screen.
• UIC Webmail FAQ: Questions and answers about using Squirrel Webmail at UIC.

The Compose menu item

Use this to create and send an outgoing mail message. See Creating and Sending Outgoing Mail.

The Search menu item

• Opens the Squirrel Webmail search tool, which allows you to list messages that contain specific text and/or are from a specific person. This opens the Search Messages screen. This is not the search for your Addresses.
• For example, to find messages that are From: a specific person: Select the folder or folders you want to search from the dropdown list on the left, type all or part of a person's name in center box, select From: from the dropdown list on the right, and click Search.
• The search results will be listed below, in a miniature message list.
• An example of a wild card search: you could use: ste in center box to search for anyone named whose name is or begins with "ste", such as Steven, Stephen, or Stephanie. You don't need -- and can't use -- a wild card symbol such as *.
• If you wanted to search for someone whose last name is Byron and first name begins with "ste", you would use: ste byron
  For Byron Steves, you could use: bryon ste
• The available search options include the message body and "everywhere".

Help

Use this to get help that is relevant to your current task.

Sign Out Red 8

• The Sign Out link, used to log out of Webmail, is available in the upper right corner of the white frame of every SquirrelMail screen. If this is a public machine and your paranoid, you might want to erase the browser cache when you're finished, so no one else can stumble on to any of your email.
• Webmail will delete the messages in your deleted folder when you logout.
• See Logging in and Out in Webmail Tasks for more about logging into and out of Webmail.

Thread View Red 9

Thread View itself is an option only for message lists, but the white frame of most Squirrel screens have options specifically for that frame just above the body of the information in the frame. (Though they are sometimes centered rather than left-justified, or there are centered options as well as right- and left-justified options.) Sometimes some of these options are repeated at the bottom. They are usually links and in tiny type, like the Thread View; make sure you look around and see what's available.

-- When Viewing the INBOX Message List or any Webmail Message List:

(The red numbers refer to Figure 1.)

In the right-side, white frame is the message list of your Inbox:

Read a message.

Click: The message's Subject Red 3
Comments:
See Reading, Replying, and Forwarding Mail.

See the status of a message: read, unread, has an attachment, and so on.

The icons in the column labeled with the Red 4
Comments:
A closed envelope means you haven't read the message yet; the paper clip means that the message has an attachment.

Sort the message lists.

Click: The gray boxes in the column headings Red 5
Comments:

• The default sort of the message list is by inverse time, with the newest messages at the top. Click on any of the gray boxes in the column headings to sort the message list by the column the box is beside. The sort is circular: click once to sort by increasing, again by decreasing, and again, by whatever is the default for that column (and the icon will return to a gray box). Note that in the screen shot the Date is a down arrowhead, and this index is sorted with most recent at the bottom, not the top. The Date gray box has been clicked.
• Are you over quota? Note the last column in the message headers that you can sort by is Size. If you click on the gray box beside it twice, your message list will be sorted by descending size. Very useful if you are over quota and are looking for large messages to delete.
  
  

Sort your message list by subject, with replies indented from the first message.

Click Thread View Red 9
Click on Unthread View to undo it.

Delete messages.

Click in the box beside the From: address of the message and then click: Delete
Comments:
See Deleting and Undeleting Messages.

Manage multiple messages at the same time: Click in the boxes beside the message's sender to select the messages you want to work with, then:

Click: The various links and boxes marked in figure 3 with 3 Red 6s.

Move messages to another folder.

Choose the folder (mailbox) you want to move the message(s) to from the Move Selected To: list, then click Move

Forward multiple messages to someone else -- all in one message (cool!).

Click: Forward

Mark messages with a red flag.

Click: Flag or Unflag

Mark messages as Read or Unread

Click: Read or Unread

Figure 2: Moving from Page to Page in Message Lists When a Webmail message list has more than 50 messages in it, then the links you use to go through the menu pages are at the top left, below the main menu. They are enclosed in a blue box in the screen shot. (The default of 50 messages per page can be changed; Options -> Display Options.) You can got to the Previous or Next page, or click on a number to go direct to any page.

To forward the message to someone else.

Click: Forward or Forward as Attachment from menu group Red 1
Comments:
Then see Creating and Sending Outgoing Messages.

To reply to the message.

Click: Reply or Reply All from menu group Red 1
Comments:
Then see Creating and Sending Outgoing Messages.

To print a message.

Click: View Printable Version from menu group Red 2, Options. Then use your browser's Print function, often: File->Print

To look at or save an attachment.

Click on an attachment's name to open it (not a good idea) or the download link to download it (a better idea because you can virus scan it that way).
Comments:
If you receive an email message that has an attachment, read Handling Messages with Attachments -- and an Important Warning in Webmail Tasks before you open it.

To visit a Web URL included in the message in a new browser window.

Click on the URL

To move the message to a different folder.

Select the folder that you want to move the message to from the Move To: folder dropdown list and then click Move button, red 6

To delete a displayed message.

1. Delete from menu group Red 1 deletes and goes back to the message list.
2. Delete & Prev and Delete & Next, Red 6, deletes the current message and goes on to open the previous or next message.

Comments:
By default, Webmail creates a deleted mailbox for you and uses it as your trash mailbox.The messages you delete are moved to this deleted folder, and are deleted from it when you log out.
While you are logged in, you can undelete messages by moving the copy of a message in the deleted folder back into the folder you deleted it from.
For more information, see Deleting and Undeleting Messages.

To quit Webmail.

Click: Sign Out
Comments:
Please do remember to do this; see Logging Out of Webmail.

To save the message's From: address in your Webmail address book.

Click: Add to Address book from menu group Red 2
Comments:
There is also Take Address, menu group Red 3, button Red 4, but it doesn't work as well. (Go figure.)
See also Searching for Email Addresses in Your Webmail Address Book and the UIC Online Phonebook in Webmail Tasks and Making and Using A Webmail Address Book in Special Topics.

To view an HTML message as HTML instead of plain text.

Click: View as HTML from menu group Red 2 (not shown in figure 3)
Comments:
By default, Squirrel displays all messages as plain text. If an HTML-formatted message comes in, it displays it as plain text and puts a View as HTML link in the Options menu, menu group 2. Click View as HTML to view the message as HTML, but without its images.
Use View as plain text to reverse it.
See Viewing HTML messages in Webmail in Using Webmail: Special Topics.

To view the images in an HTML message.

Click: View Unsafe Images which will be below the headers of the message, beside Download this as a file, Red 3
Comments:
By default, Squirrel mail doesn't display the message's images when it displays HTML messages as HTML. When viewing the message as HTML, click View Unsafe Images at the bottom of the headers of the message to view the message's images. (Make sure that you really want to see them!)
There are also Options -> Unsafe Image Rules that allow you make more permanent decisions on whether to display images in HTML messages. (Be careful about doing that.)
See Viewing HTML messages in Webmail in Using Webmail: Special Topics.

There are a four ways to delete messages in Squirrel Webmail:

In a folder index,

click in the boxes to the left of the From: address of each message you want to delete then click Delete.

While you are reading an email message,

There three delete options, all links in gray lines, in very small type:

In the top gray line, on the left: Delete, which deletes the message and returns you the folder index.
In the bottom gray line, Delete & Prev and Delete & Next, which do what they say: delete this message and open either the previous or next message.

When you delete a message, Webmail will move it to your deleted folder . As you can see in figure 1, the deleted folder has a special icon in your folder list in the left-hand, blue frame, which is supposed to look like a trash can.

To actually delete a message, the message has to be deleted from the deleted folder.

• Click the (Purge) link beside the name of the deleted folder in the left blue frame.
  
  
• You can go to the deleted folder, Toggle all the messages, then Delete them again.
  
  
• Or you can just wait until you log out; Webmail automatically deletes all the messages in your deleted folder when you log out.

Undeleting Messages

You can use the copy of a deleted message in your deleted folder to undelete a message.

1. Go to your deleted folder,
2. Click in the boxes to the left of the From: address of each message you want to move,
3. Select the mailbox you want to move them to from the Move Selected To: dropdown box in the left upper of the white frame,
4. Then click Move.

Note that this is only available as an option while you are logged into Webmail. By default, Webmail deletes the messages in your deleted folder when you log out of Webmail.

Squirrel Mail has another option for deleting email: if you set your Trash Folder option to [Do not use Trash] (see Changing Webmail Options), then any messages that you delete will be completely deleted when you delete them. There will be no chance to undelete them.

Squirrel Webmail acts this same way when you are over your disk quota. If you are over your disk quota, you don't have disk space to save a copy of your deleted message in your deleted folder, so WebMail will delete it without saving a copy and without telling you it has not done so.

WebMail will automatically begin saving copies of your deleted email again as soon as there is disk space to do it.

Figure 4. Sending Messages To compose and send a message in Squirrel Webmail, click the Compose item in the Squirrel main menu in the top left of the white frame of any Squirrel Webmail window. The Compose message screen has the usual three sets of menus: At the top, the standard Squirrel main menu; the Addresses in this menu is not the Addresses you need to fill out the To:, CC: and BCC: address fields. It allows you to manage your address book. In the middle, the buttons for most of the functions you need for the note are between the headers and the body of the note, including the Addresses button that you will use for the message's addresses if you want to get them from your Webmail address book or to look them up in the UIC online phonebook, and Save Draft, Send, Check Spelling, and Cancel. Note that Ada has a signature; use Options -> Personal Information to tell Webmail your Reply To address (if it's different from your email address) and Signature. When you add your signature, be sure to click the radio button at the bottom that tells Webmail to use the signature automatically. (Unless you want to click the Signature button for every message.) At the bottom is another Send button and the buttons and text box you use to attach files to the message. Note that the maximum size of attachments is 10 M.

To address and send a message, click Compose in the main menu of any Webmail white frame:

1. In the To: field, type the name and email address of the person you want to send email to. In figure 4, Ada is creating a test email message to send to herself so she has typed: adabyron@uic.edu
   You can also select the To: address from your Webmail address book (see Searching for Email Addresses in Your Webmail Address Book or the UIC Online Phonebook in Webmail Tasks) or use the search on that screen to look it up in the UIC online phonebook database.
   
   
2. Press Tab. If you want to send a Carbon Copy CC: or Blind Carbon Copy BCC: (the name and address of the Bcc: recipients won't be included in the copy of the message sent to the To: or CC: addresses), type them and press Tab to move to the next field.
   Ada actually select selected this recipient from the UIC online address book; see (see Searching for Email Addresses in Your Webmail Address Book or the UIC Online Phonebook in Webmail Tasks).
   
   
3. Tab to the Subject: field and type the subject of your email.
   
   
4. Move down to the text box for the message; either press Tab or use your mouse.
   
   
5. Type the body of your mail message. Webmail will automatically move the cursor to the next line as needed, or you can press Enter to add a line and move your cursor to the beginning of the new line. Webmail will also scroll the screen when you fill the box. (By the way, if the size of the window that you enter the body of your message in is too large or small for your browser window, you can change that in Options -> Display Preferences; Width and Height of Compose Window.)
   
   
6. If you wish, click: Check Spelling to check the spelling in the body of your message. Webmail will offer to correct the spelling of each word that it doesn't find in its dictionary (English or Spanish; Options -> SpellChecker Options) or to add that word to your personal dictionary.
   
   
7. Click Send to send the message and save a copy of the sent email in your sent-mail folder.
   
   • If your online disk quota is full, you will get an error message saying that Webmail was unable to store your outgoing message. It may seem that your message didn't get sent, but it did.
     
     
8. The messages in your sent-mail folder won't be automatically deleted. To conserve on online disk space, you should check it out on a regular basis and delete the messages you no longer need. This is different from the old Webmail. See Managing Your Sent-Mail Folder in Webmail Tasks.

To select addresses from your Webmail address book or look someone up in the UIC online phonebook database for the To:, Cc:, and/or Bcc: headers.

Click: The Addresses button between the email message's headers and the footers.
Comments:
Searching for Email Addresses in Webmail Tasks explains how.
The Addresses item in the SquirrelMail main menu is not what you want here.

To send the message.

Click: Send
Comments:
The message is sent and a copy is saved to your sent-mail sent messages folder, where it will be kept until you delete it. There is a Send button between the header and the body and one on the right at the end of the message. See Managing Your Sent-Mail Folder in Webmail Tasks.

To check the spelling of your message.

Click: Check Spelling

To save the message without sending it, to work on it later.

Click: Save Draft
Comments:
The outgoing messages that you've saved as Draft messages will be kept in your draft mailbox. To resume editing the message, click on draft in the folder list in the blue area on the left side of any Webmail screen, click on the subject of the message you want to work on, then while viewing the message, click Resume Draft. It's a very small link in the second menu area at the top left, just below the SquirrelMail main menu.
The draft mailbox is a standard mailbox; it will be there when you look at your email using Eudora or Pine or another email program with IMAP.

To cancel the message.

Click: Cancel

To attach a file to the message.

Click: Browse
Comments:
This displays a standard file selection dialog box.
Or type the name of the file to be attached in the Attach: box and click Add.

To quit Webmail.

Click: Sign Out
Comments:
Please do remember to do this; see Logging Out of Webmail in Webmail Tasks.

Use the Webmail main menu.

To get help, change a Webmail Option, Search for messages, or work with your Address book.

If something happens while you're composing a messages.

Webmail will save a copy of the message (Webmail FAQ) if something happens while you're composing a message, but the length of the message that it can save varies depending on your browser and is sometimes rather limited.

When you send a message, Squirrel Mail saves a copy of it in your sent-mail folder. So you're going to have the same problem if you try to send email when you are over your disk quota as you do when you delete email and you are over your disk quota.

And the solution is the same -- Webmail sends the message without saving a copy of it. The only difference is that in the sending email case, Webmail will give you an error message saying that your disk is full and it hasn't saved a copy rather than doing it silently.

WebMail will automatically begin saving copies of your sent email again as soon as there is disk space to do it.