The Basics
Composing/Sending/Replying
Composing
To compose a new email from the web interface:
- Select the New button from the toolbar.
- Depending on how you have your preferences set, a smaller window may pop up with a blank email read for you to compose.
- At the top of the composition window you will see a toolbar including: Send, Cancel, Save Draft, Add Attachment, Spell Check, Signature, and Options. Below are the recipient spaces (by clicking the To: or Cc: buttons you can select recipients from your address books). Fill in the appropriate fields and format your email.
- Select Send to send the composed email.
A quick note about Recipients: The difference between To:, Cc:, and Bcc: is based on who is included on the information and what they can see. Hitting Reply All will reply to all recipients of the original email, including those that are in the Bcc: field.
The email will be sent from your default persona/identity. A different persona can be chosen by selecting from the Account drop-down list.
To save a draft, rather than sending immediately, press the Save Draft button. The message will be saved in the Drafts folder in the overview pane.
Replying
To reply to an email message:
- From the message, select Reply (will only reply to the send of the message) or Reply to All(includes all recipients of the original message).
- A composition window will open with the original message. How this is displayed (with or without special characters)can be controlled in your Preferences.
- You can also change which part of the original message will be included in the reply. Select Options on the compose toolbar. Your default otpion will be marked, but can be changed temporarily.
- Select Send to send the composed email.
Attachments
Attaching files
To attach a file to a message:
- Compose your message.
- Click Add Attachment. A dialog window will appear.
- Click Browse... to locate the file.
- Select the desired file and click Open. The file name will appear in the first Attach field.
- To attach additional files, click Browse and follow the previous step.
- Once all desire attachments are selected, click Attach. The files will appear listed below the subject line
- When the email is completed, click Send.
Viewing Attachments
To view or listen to an attachment click on the file name of the attachment. This is located below the sender and recipient information in the email.
Saving Attachments
If you need to save an attachment from an email select the Download link. A new window will pop up where you will be able to choose the program which you would like to open it or save the file.
If you select Save File, the file will be downloaded and saved to your default location (desktop, a certain folder, etc.).
Suspicious Attachments
Our filters should prevent any dangerous attachments from even reaching your Inbox, but we still urge caution and common sense if you get any kind of attachments from someone you don’t know – if you aren’t sure, contact the helpdesk.
Formatting Text and Spell Check
When replying or composing mail, you will have similar formatting options for your text: a small number of fonts, various sizes, alignment, list options, indent options, font color and highlighting, as well as a few insert options (horizontal line, links, emoticons, and tables).
There is one icon that may seem a bit unfamiliar: the section symbol (it looks like a funny 'S'). This has a list of 'headings'. These 'headings' are pre-formatted font styles that make for quick text formatting.
The Spell Check application is located at the top of the window in the composition tool bar. When you click this button all spelling errors will be highlighted. Clicking the button or pressing the Resume editing link will hide the highlighted spelling errors.
You can set automatic spell check by clicking the Preferences tab, then select Composing under the Mail section at the left. In the first section, check the box that says Mandatory spellcheck before sending a message. Select Save to apply the change.
