Unix Systems Group

The latest version of USF WebMail is now out of beta! If you have any questions or comments, please post a comment to this blog entry or send an Email to USG@mailman.acomp.usf.edu

We hope you enjoy this update to WebMail — it is the first improvement of several that are planned for the 2006-07 school year.

What new features are available?

The most obvious change is the new design. The basic layout has stayed the same, but we have added new graphics and adjusted the design to make WebMail easier to use. You might also notice that there is a new menu option: Remote. This module allows you to grab mail from any POP3 mail server so you can read all of your mail in one place (more on this later). The other major addition is the new WYSIWYG editor — this allows users to write HTML-based messages in an editor similar to MS-Word.

How can I check another Email account through WebMail?

Before trying this, please make sure the account you are trying to check can be reached using the POP3 protocol. This protocol is a standard used by many systems for transferring mail. The remote Email function is WebMail ONLY works with POP3, it will not use IMAP or any other mail protocol.

You need 3 pieces of information before starting this process:

• POP3 Server name (and port number if it is not the default, 110)
• Your Username
• Your Password

Once you have these pieces of information, login to Webmail and click on Remote

Click on Define new server

Fill out each of the fields with the information from above.

Adding a Server

You can leave the password field blank (recommended) and WebMail will ask you for the password whenever it tries to check your mail. If you do enter your password, it will be encrypted and stored in the WebMail database.

Alias - A short description used by WebMail to identify the account (e.g. Work Mail or ENG account)

Leave Mail on Server - Choose this option if you want to download a copy of your messages to WebMail, but keep the original messages on the server. If you de-select this, the messages will be deleted from your mail server after they are transferred to WebMail.

You can choose when to check this account automatically, either at login or whenever you click the “refresh” button on the left-hand pane. If neither of these choices are selected, you must click on the “Remote” icon and started the mail download process manually.

Click on “Add Server”

Downloading Remote Mail

Once the account is configured, click on the “remote” icon.

Select the server you want to check

Type in your password if required and click on “Fetch Mail”

Your new messages will be added to your USF email account.

Will all of my settings (Addressbook, filters, etc) be retained?

Yes. The only thing that they may have been changed when moving to the new version is the “Custom CSS” setting. If you have set a custom font size, you may need to set that again.

How can I compose HTML emails?

Click on the “Compose in HTML” button when you are writing an Email message. A set of toolbars will appear that are very similar to the ones in MS Word. By clicking on the toolbar icons, you can set font size & color, add links or images, you can even use a “virtual keyboard” to add characters from different languages. To make HTML messages the default for your account, Click on “options” and then “Display Preferences”. Scroll down to “Default Email Composition Format” and set it to HTML. Click the Submit button to save your changes.

I don’t see a “Compose in HTML button!!!

You are using an unsupported browser. Unfortunately, HTML mail is only supported in IE 5.5+ and Mozilla/Firefox 1.4+. Safari and Opera support will be added once those browsers support all of the necessary features.

I like the old design!

We’ve included a WebMail theme that is very similar to the old design. Click on “Options” and then “Display Preferences”. Change the theme to “Old USF WebMail”and click Submit to save your changes.