SmarterMail Support
Welcome to SmarterMail Web Messaging. Web Messaging allows users to access their mail on the SmarterMail
server system from any web browser on the Internet: they do not need to
have a mail client. Users can also maintain an address book, create
and manage mailboxes, and change user settings. The web administration
features of Web Messaging allow the administrator to monitor the SmarterMail
system using a web browser on any remote system. It also allows
administrators to perform system maintenance such as add and delete
users, aliases and list server mailing lists from any web browser.
Logging in to SmarterMail
You will need to obtain the link to your SmarterMail server's web site from your Administrator or Domain Administrator. If you are the site administrator, this was sent you at the time you first set the services up. That information can be resent at your request.
To login to SmarterMail, type in your full email address
and Password on the login screen. You will be presented with the
welcome page and a view of all folders in your mailbox. The full email
address (not an alias) must be used to log into the corresponding
mailbox.
"Remember Me" checkbox – By checking
this box SmarterMail encrypts your login and password, then you can
close the browser window and not have to re–log in when you return.
This function works as long as you do not "log out" of SmarterMail prior
to closing your browser window. Note: You will need cookies enabled on your browser for this feature to work.
A standard User is able to view all email
folders (inbox, sent, and Custom) for their designated account.
Only users
with admin permissions (usually the owner of a domain) can add/remove
users and change domain settings.
Composing a Message
There are several ways to begin
composing a new message in SmarterMail. The most common method is to
click on New Message in the sidebar. The only fields that are
absolutely required to send an email are the “To” address and the e–mail
Subject.
Action Buttons
Send – Sends you message out to recipients
Save as Draft – Saves the message
in its current state to the Drafts folder. If you do not have a Drafts
folder, one will be created the first time you choose this option. You
will then be able to go back to your Drafts folder and continue
composing this email until you are ready to send.
Spell Check – A tool that will help
identify spelling errors in your email. Note that you can choose the
dictionary to use from the My Settings page.
Add Files – Click on this button to
add attachments to your email. Be mindful that some email services pose
restrictions in the size of attachments they can receive.
Remove All Files – Removes all attachments from the current email. This button will only appear if you have added attachments to the email.
Cancel – Cancels the new message and returns you to where you came from.
Message Envelope Items
To – Enter a recipient's email address, or click on the "To:" link to select a recipient from your contact list. Separate multiple contacts with a semicolon (;)
Cc – The Cc field should contain
recipients that should receive "carbon copies" of the message, but are
not the primary intended recipients of the message.
Bcc – Bcc, or “Blind Carbon Copy” –
represents people who should receive copies of the email, but nobody
else should know they received it.
Subject – Enter the primary subject of the message
Attachments – If you have added any attachments to the message, they appear below the subject line for your reference.
Compose Area
Depending on your browser and your
configuration settings, you may see an HTML editor or a text–only
editor. Enter the content of your email in the box.
Reading a Message
The Read Message page in SmarterMail
allows you to view the contents of an email message and perform various
actions with the message. To read a message, click on it from the list
of messages in a folder.
Along the top, there are several buttons, like
Reply, Reply All, Forward, etc. Each of these buttons are actions that
can be performed on the message you are currently viewing. Below that,
you will see the header of the email. This contains information about
the email message like the sender, subject, and the date the message
was sent. Lower still, and you'll find the body of the message. Each of
these sections will be explained below.
Action Buttons
Prev / Next – Allows quick navigation between messages. These buttons may or may not appear depending on where you are in your list of messages.
Reply – Opens up the compose page
that lets you respond to the sender of this message. In addition, the
text of this message will be filled in to the new message as well.
Reply All – Operates similarly to the Reply button, but it also adds any email addresses in the To or CC fields to the response as well.
Forward – Takes you to the
compose page and allow you to forward this message to someone else.
The method that this email is put into the response can be customized by
several settings in the My Settings page.
Mark as Spam – Moves this message
to the Junk E–Mail folder and adds it to the list of Spam messages that
are processed for statistical filtering. The more spam messages you
identify using "Mark as Spam," the better the filter will get over time.
This button will not appear while viewing the Junk E–Mail folder.
Unmark as Spam – Adds the message
to an approved email list, adds the sender to your trusted sender list,
and moves the message to the Inbox. This button only appears in the Junk E–Mail folder.
Delete – Deletes a message from
your mailbox. After deleting it, the next message in your folder will
show up instead. Note that there are several methods of deleting a
message in SmarterMail. Please refer to the My Settings topic for more
information.
Print – Prints the contents of the email without all of the extra navigation controls on the page.
Back – Takes you back to the folder you were in prior to reading the message.
Email Header
From – Email address from which the message says it was sent
Date – Time and date when the message was sent
To – The email address(es) of the primary recipients of the message
Subject – The subject of the message
Attachments – If any attachments are included in the email, they will show up as links here. Be
very careful when opening attachments in emails. Ensure that you know
the sender and do not open any attachments you are not expecting.
HTML link – Displays the message in HTML format, which allows for colors and fonts
Plain Text link – Displays the message in plain text, which only allows text content with no special formatting or graphics
Header link – Displays the header
of the message, which indicates the path the email took to get to your
email account, along with several other pieces of information
Raw Content link – Displays the
content of the email exactly as the server received it. This is helpful
if you cannot view the message in any other display mode.
Email Body
This section shows the content of the message. The default method of viewing messages is HTML, but it can be changed from the My Settings page.
Adding a User Account - Administrator Only
To begin adding a user account, click on Add User
from the Email Accounts page. When you do so, you will be presented
with a page that contains the items below. When the items are set to
the values you want, click on the Save button to finish adding the user.
Note: Many of these values,
especially those in Display Settings and Compose Settings, can be left
at the defaults when adding a new user account, as they are better set
by the user. They are included in the Add User page so you may edit
them if you wish, however.
User Information
Username – The email address (e.g. "user" in user@domain.com).
Full Name – Enter the name of the person using the email account.
Disable this user – This will
completely disable this user, but the account is not deleted. The user
will not be able to log in, send or receive email for this account until
you reactivate it.
Domain administrator – If this
option is checked, the user will have full domain administrator
privileges, including the ability to add and edit users. This is disabled by default.
Mailbox size – This box allows you to set the maximum mailbox size for the account you are adding. You may NOT set a size in excess of the maximum allocated your services.
Reply–to address – Enter an alternate reply address you wish to use. This will be the default reply to address for mail sent from this account.
Forwarding address – Enter an
address to forward every inbound email message to. For example, if your
mobile phone has an email account and you will be away from your
computer for a few days, enter the mobile phone's email address here to
forward email to it. You can only forward to a single email address. If
you need to send to multiple addresses, you must use an alias.
Delete message on forward – Check
this box to delete the message from the inbox of the original email
account after forwarding it to another email address.
Signature – Add text to this area
for a 'signature' that will display at the bottom of each email message
that is composed in the web interface.
Password
New password – Enter a password for the email account
Confirm password – In order to ensure you typed the new password correctly, enter it again in this space
Lock password – This option 'locks'
the password for end users. If this option is checked the user will not
be able to change their password.
Display Settings
Sort messages by – When
viewing messages in a folder, they will be sorted in the order chosen
in this field. By default, messages are sorted by date in descending
order.
Sort folders by – When viewing the manage folders page, folders will be sorted in this order.
Messages per page – When viewing the messages in a folder, this option lets you customize how many emails will appear per page.
Message list refresh rate – If this box has something besides Never chosen, the page that shows messages in a folder will automatically refresh after the chosen number of minutes.
Display messages as – While a user
can choose to view a message in plain text or HTML while reading it,
this option will allow you to choose the default viewing method.
- Plain Text – This
option will only display text. While it is less interesting (no fonts,
images, etc), it is also much more secure and is faster to view than
HTML.
- HTML – This option will
display HTML content if present in the email. This content can include
stylistic elements, like fonts or colors, as well as hyperlinks and
other formatting elements.
When messages are deleted
– Choose what happens to messages when they are deleted. The options
are outlined below. For more information about deleted items, refer to
the topic Deleting Messages.
- Move to deleted items folder – Deleted items will appear in the deleted items folder, which will need to regularly be emptied manually
- Delete message and purge folder – Remove the message and get rid of any other email messages that are marked for deletion
- Mark as deleted – Does not actually delete the message. Flags the message for deletion, and it will not get removed until the folder is purged
- Mark as deleted and hide
– Does the same thing as "Mark as deleted" above. Be careful to monitor
your disk space usage when using this option, as it may fill up with
what appears to be a small number of messages
Enable hover bar in tables – In
some browsers, the hover bar may take up too many resources. Disabling
this option will still allow the user to click on rows to edit items
and view email, but will not show the hover bar.
Compose Settings
Spell check dictionary – Choose from any of the dictionaries that the administrator has installed on the server
Compose messages as – Choose the method of email composing that the user is to use.
- Plain Text – Use this for a
simple method of email editing. The user will not be able to change
colors or fonts, but the emails will generally be much smaller and
readable on more email clients
- HTML – Use this option if you wish to add stylistic elements to your user's emails
Compose window size – Choose the edit window size from this drop down that best works with the user's browser. Recommended is small for resolutions smaller than or equal to 800x600, medium for 1024x768, and large for resolutions equal to or higher than 1280x1024.
Forwarding method – There are several methods by which a message can be forwarded. Please see the list below to understand each of them.
- Normal – Includes original content, including font styles from original message, as part of the new message
- Plain text only – Inserts
the plain text version of the original message into the new message.
This is useful if you want to exclude links or fonts.
- Embed as attachment – Attaches the original message to the new one. The message will not appear in the body of your message.
Reply header type –
Choose whether to include a shortened basic header in email replies, or
the full header instead. For most users, basic headers will be
sufficient.
Reply indicator – If your compose
method is plain text, this character will get added to each line of the
original message in order to distinguish it.
Include previous replies in reply – If checked, the message you are replying to will get embedded in the new message.
Save copy of replies in Sent Items folder
– If checked, all messages you send from the web interface will get
saved in the Sent Items folder. If the user sends many messages, they
may need to regularly delete items from the sent items folder.
Changing a User Password
Changing any User Password with the Mail Administrator Account
To change an account password, logon to the webmail
system with the administrator account credentials provided to you. Go to
the Settings menu and click Email Accounts. Click the account whose password you wish to change. Enter the new password in the New password field. Confirm the password by typing it again in the Confirm password field. Click Save at the top of the screen.
Changing your own User Password
To change your password, logon to the webmail system with your user ID and password. Go to the Settings menu and click My Settings. Enter the new password in the New password field. Confirm the password by typing it again in the Confirm password field. Click Save at the top of the screen.