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Webmail Overview

This page is intended as a guide for users who wish to use Webmail as their e-mail client for Reed's new IMAP system.

Accessing Webmail

Webmail should be available from any internet-capable computer on or off campus. It is located at http://webmail.reed.edu. To log in, use your Kerberos username and password. More information on this and how to reset your password can be found on our Kerberos page.

Creating Your Signature

Webmail can add a signature to the bottom of every message. Signatures may include additional contact information, quotes, or just a name. Be sure that you won't mind having it appended to all your e-mails.

To create a signature, click on the Settings button. Click on the Identities tab and select your account. To add a signature, select the Signature tab. A field exists for you to type in your signature. Press Save to save your signature.

Your new signature will be automatically inserted into the text field of any new message you begin composing with Webmail. In the event that you don't want to include your signature in a particular message, simply delete it while composing the message.

How to Use the Webmail Interface: A Brief Description of the Main Window

RC Interface
(Click for a larger view)

  1. Folders pane - displays a list of your folders. The highlighted folder indicates the current folder you are viewing.
  2. Message pane - displays a list of your messages (default view shows 40 messages). Use the scroll bar on the right to scroll through the first 40 messages. Use the little arrow buttons at the bottom of this pane to navigate to the next 40 messages. Single-click or double-click on a message to read it.
  3. Preview pane - displays a preview of the currently selected message (initiated by a single-click of a message in the Message pane).
  4. Quota - displays your quota usage.
  5. Icon toolbar - check for new messages, create a new message, reply to sender, reply to all/list, forward the message, move message to trash, mark message, more actions.
  6. Search bar - type in your search term and hit enter. Default setting searches for subject and sender within the current folder. Click the little arrow next to the magnifying glass to change the search options, or move to a different folder if you need to search from within it.

Reading Messages

To read a particular message, click on it from the list of messages and it will appear in the Preview pane below. Alternatively, double-click the message to view it by itself. Unread messages are indicated in bold.

Replies and Forwarding

When viewing a particular message, use the icons at the top to reply to the sender, reply to all, or forward it:

Reply/Foward icons

Attachments

To download an attachment to your computer, click on the attachment link in the header part of the message.
Download Attachment

Composing Messages

  1. Click on the Create a new message icon from the toolbar.
    New Message
  2. Type in the recipient address, subject and message body. Note: RoundCube will auto-complete addresses from Reed's Directory or your Personal Address Book.
  3. To add an attachment, click the Attach a file button.
    Attach a file
  4. You can manually save a draft when composing an email by pressing the Save draft icon. Note that RoundCube also saves drafts automatically.
  5. Press the Send Now button at the bottom left.

Address Book

Webmail utilizes a directory listing of all Reed students, staff, and faculty to make finding contact information easy. Begin by composing a message (Note: enter at least 3 characters for autocompletion).  Enter part of a person's name or e-mail address in the To: or CC: fields and a list of individuals who match what you've typed in should appear below the text field. Select the correct name from the menu. These steps may be repeated to add multiple individuals to the recipients list. Due to how the system performs its recognition, it is advisable to type in what you believe to be the first name, or last name of your contact, but not both at the same time.

Webmail allows you to create and manage a personal address book online. To create new entries in this address book, click on the Address Book tab located near the very top of the page. This should bring you to an interface resembling the one shown below:

Note: All of your Address Book entries from the old Webmail interface should have been automatically migrated to RoundCube. 

  1. Click on the Address Book icon above the Search Bar.
    Address Book
  2. You should see two groups: Personal Addresses and Reed Directory. Click on a group to reveal its contacts. Click on a contact name to reveal properties of that contact.
    3. Groups

     

To create, rename or delete a group
You can create groups of contacts in your Personal Address Book.

  1. Select the Personal Addresses group
  2. To create a new group, press the + icon towards the bottom of the Groups pane, enter a name and press the return key. To delete or rename a group, select it and use the gear icon to delete/rename it.
    GP

To add a contact to a group

  1. Find the contact in your Personal Addresses or Reed Directory group.
  2. Drag the contact to the desired group in the Groups pane.
  3. A message will briefly appear that says, "Successfully added the contacts to this group".

Using Your Address Book

Begin by composing a new message and start typing part of a person's name or e-mail address in the To: or CC and this will launch a drop down menu window that will let you select contants in your address book to the recipients list of the e-mail. The recipients fields of the e-mail should now contain the contacts you have specified.

Managing Folders

Folders allow you to organize your e-mails so that you don't have to search through every saved message in your Inbox to find the one you're looking for. Some folders are automatically created for you - Trash, spam, Sent, and Drafts are the standards. But you can also create your own folders (such as "work," "school," etc.) to help you organize your messages in a way that makes sense to you.

Press the gear icon at the bottom of the Folders pane in the main window and select Manage Folders from the menu that appears. You should now see a more detailed list of folders.

    Manage Folders

Adding and Removing Folders

To add a new folder: select the parent folder then click the + icon on the lower left . Enter a name for the new folder and press Save.
To delete an existing folder:  select it from the list, click the gear icon and select Delete.
To move messages into folders: simply drag and drop the message from the Message List Pane into the desired folder in the Folders pane.

Shared Folders

Below your own list of folders in this detailed view, you'll see a section of folders that have been shared with you.  Placing a checkmark next to a shared folder will make it appear in your list of folders on the main webmail screen.

shared folder

Filters

When the college transitioned to Roundcube webmail, Vacation and Spam filters had to be reset to a default state, and any custom filters you created were archived. Please contact CUS or ACS support staff if you need help recreating your mail filters.

To check or modify your filters, click the Settings link in the upper-right corner, and then click the Filters & Vacation tab (see circles 1 and 2 in the screenshot below):

Roundcube Filters

(click for larger version)

Disabled filters are displayed in gray text. In the screenshot above, the "Spam" filter is enabled and the "Vacation" filter is disabled.

How to setup a Vacation auto-reply filter

RoundCube does not support vacation filters with a start and end date, so you will need to manually turn it on and off.

Here is how to setup a Vacation auto-responder filter from scratch. Feel free to compare your existing vacation auto-responder filter's settings to the settings outlined here.

  1. At the bottom of the Filters & Vacation column, click the plus + sign button to create a new, blank filter, or click the name of an existing filter you want to configure. Blank fields will now appear in the Filter definition area, to the right of the Filters & Vacation column.
  2. In the Filter name: field, enter a name for your new filter, such as "Vacation".
  3. In the For incoming mail: area, select the radio button next to all messages.
  4. In the ...execute the following actions: area, select Reply with message from the left of the two drop-down menus.
  5. In the Message body (vacation reason): field, enter the text you want to appear in the body your auto-reply email.
  6. In the Message subject: field, enter the text you want to appear as the subject of your auto-repy email.
  7. In the Additional list of recipient e-mails (comma separated): field, enter any and all Reed email addresses at which you receive email. (When you click Save later on, RoundCube will automatically add to this list any aliases you have setup in your Campus Email Prefs in IRIS.)
  8. In the How often send messages (in days): box, enter the number for how many days RoundCube should wait before re-sending your vacation auto-reply to someone who emails you more than once while you are away. (For example, if you enter "7," a given person will receive your vacation auto-reply the first time they email you, and the won't receive it again for 7 days. If they email you again after 7 days, they'll receive your auto-reply once more.)
  9. To enable the filter, uncheck the Filter disabled checkbox on the lower right.
  10. Click the Save button on the lower left.
  11. When you are ready to turn off your vacation message, check the Filter disabled box on your vacation auto-reply filter and click Save.

RoundCube will not send your vacation auto-reply to any mailing lists that properly identify themselves with the correct headers. If you have questions or concerns, please contact your respective computer support department (find out which one here).

How to setup a Spam filter

Here is how to setup a Spam filter from scratch. Feel free to compare your existing Spam filter's settings to the settings outlined here.

  1. At the bottom of the Filters & Vacation column, click the plus + sign button to create a new, blank filter. Blank fields will now appear in the Filter definition area, to the right of the Filters & Vacation column.
  2. In the Filter name: field, enter a name for your new filter, such as "Spam".
  3. In the For incoming mail: area, select the radio button next to matching any of the following rules.
  4. Change the drop-down menu on the left from Subject to the ellipsis "...".
  5. In the blank field between the two drop-down menus, enter the following text, including the hyphens: X-Spam-Score
  6. In the drop-down menu to the right, select value is greater than or equal to.
  7. In the blank field to the right, enter 6.
  8. In the ...execute the following actions: area, make sure the left drop-down menu is set to Move message to.
  9. Set the right drop-down menu to Spam. (Note: if you do not see Spam as an option here, it means you need to recreate your spam folder. Contact your support department for help; contact information is here.)
  10. Make sure the Filter disabled checkbox is UNchecked.
  11. Click Save.

How to setup a custom filter (e.g., Blacklist)

Creating a custom filter allows you to specify the action to be taken when a message meets one or more criteria.  For example, if you are subscribed to a mailing list and want all emails sent to that list to be redirected to a specific folder as opposed to appearing in your Inbox, a filter will do just that.  In the example below, we outline how to setup a blacklist.  A blacklist is used to automatically discard messages from a particular email address such that they never appear in your Inbox.  Alternatively, email addresses in a whitelist will always be delivered to your Inbox even if it you have another rule that would otherwise filter it.

To setup a whitelist, follow the steps below noting these exceptions: Name the filter "Whitelist", make sure the action is set to move the message to your Inbox, and move the Whitelist to the very top of the Filters & Vacations column.

  1. At the bottom of the Filters & Vacation column, click the plus + sign button to create a new, blank filter. Blank fields will now appear in the Filter definition area, to the right of the Filters & Vacation column.
  2. In the Filter name: field, enter a name for your new filter, such as "Blacklist".
  3. In the For incoming mail: area, select the radio button next to matching any of the following rules.
  4. Change the drop-down menu on the left from Subject to From
  5. In the drop-down menu to the right, select contains
  6. In the blank field to the right, enter the email address you want to blacklist
  7. To add multiple addresses, click the little "+" button on the right and follow steps 5-7
  8. In the ...execute the following actions: area, select Delete Message
  9. Make sure the Filter disabled checkbox is UNchecked.
  10. Click Save.
  11. In the Filters & Vacation column, click on the Blacklist you just created and drag it to the top of the list (or just below your Whitelist if you have one). This step is important because filters are processed in the order in which they are listed.

How to setup mail forwarding

Please follow the instructions below if you want your Reed email forwarded to another address:

  1. Log into IRIS: https://iris.reed.edu/email_prefs/update/delivery.
  2. Enter the desired address in the white box below where it says Deliver my email to another account.
  3. Click the Update delivery preference button.

Customizing Webmail

Many settings can be accessed by clicking on the Settings button on the top right toolbar. A column on the left hand side  of the window named section lets you select what options you wish to edit. For example, to change the language of Webmail, select User Interface and under the Main Options box selcet the Language drop down menu to change the language according to your own preference.