USER GUIDE. Basic Features

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1 USER GUIDE Basic Features Merit Network, Inc Oakbrook Drive, Suite 200, Ann Arbor, Michigan Phone: (734) Fax: (734)

2 TABLE OF CONTENTS - BASIC MERITMAIL FEATURES Getting Started Welcome to MeritMail Web Client 3 Logging in and out 5 Changing my default client type for log in 6 Keyboard Shortcut keys 6 MeritMail Assistant 7 Changing your password 8 Forget your password? 8 If your session expires 8 Navigating Your Mailbox Navigating MeritMail Web Client 9 User interface features and shortcuts 10 Right-click menus 11 Applying actions to multiple selections 12 Using browsers 12 Saving my work 12 Viewing the Overview Pane 13 Mail system folders 15 Managing Your Managing your message view 17 Categorizing your messages 18 Sorting messages in Content Pane 18 Customizing your initial page 18 How Conversations work 19 Printing a conversation 20 Viewing in traditional view 20 Moving messages between folders 20 Setting a forwarding address 21 Subscribe to RSS/Atom feeds 21 Managing different identities within account 22 Recovering deleted mail messages 22 Purging messages 22 Using the Junk folder 23 Parts of an message 32 Add your signature automatically 33 Automatic address completion 33 Attaching files to your message 35 Attachment file types 35 Adding CC: and BCC: addresses 37 Using HTML Editor 37 Using spell check 37 Saving messages as drafts 38 Reply to and Forward Messages Replying to mail messages 39 Forwarding a mail message 40 Managing Your Address Books Your Address Book 41 Types of address books available 42 Adding new contacts 42 Using company address book 43 Adding contacts automatically 43 Creating Group Contact Lists 44 Sharing your address book 45 Importing address books 46 Exporting address books 46 Printing contacts/address books 46 Editing contact information 47 Deleting contacts 47 Reading Your Reading Messages 24 Marking mail as unread 25 Receiving a new message 25 Displaying HTML in messages 25 Opening file attachments 26 Printing a mail message 26 Blocking Messages/Attachments 27 Undeliverable mail 28 Retrieving Mail from other Accounts Accessing your External Accounts 29 Adding external accounts 29 Composing Composing a new mail message 31 2

3 Welcome to the MeritMail Web Client, Advanced Edition MeritMail is a full-featured messaging and collaboration application offering reliable, high-performance , address books, calendaring, task lists, and web document authoring capabilities. Your account may not include all the features mentioned. Check with your system administrator to see which features are enabled for your account. You can access the following features from the MeritMail Web Client (MMWC). Compose and send new mail messages Read and reply to mail messages\ Track mail exchanges using the Conversation feature or optionally switch to a traditional message view Include attachments with your message Forward mail messages to one or more recipients Search messages and attachments by particular characteristics or specified text Create your own folders to organize mail Create tags with which to organize your mail Create filters to route incoming mail to designated folders Set up different account identities and addresses to manage different roles in your job or personal life Configure your account to receive from your POP3 or IMAP accounts directly into your MMWC mailbox. Delegate permission to view or manage your mail folders Address Book Create and manage multiple address books Import and export contact lists Share personal address books Calendar Create and manage multiple calendars Create appointments, meetings, and events Delegate permission to view or manage your calendars See attendee s free/busy schedules Import and export other calendar programs Tasks Create multiple Tasks Lists Create to-do tasks Add attachments to you task Manage a task, set the priority and track the progress Delegate permissions to view or manager your Task Lists Documents Create multiple notebooks to organize your Web documents Design pages using an HTML editor, create tables and spreadsheets, add graphics, and create links to Web pages Delegate permissions to groups and individuals within your organization to create and edit your Documents notebooks Delegate permission to the public to view your Documents notebooks MeritMail User Guide 3

4 Welcome (Continued) Briefcase Upload any type of file to your briefcase so that you can access the file whenever you log on to MMWC Create folders to organize files that you upload Delegate permissions to view or manage your Briefcase folders Instant Message (IM) Beta Instant real-time communication Create group chats or chat with individual buddies Maintain a buddy list and see their availability status Select your availability status or create a custom status message Quickly send your chat by Chats are automatically saved to your Chat folder Preferences Manage how your mailbox features work for Mail, Address Book and Calendar Create mail filters Assign shortcut keys to quickly access folders, saved searches, and tags 4

5 Logging in and logging out You must log in and be authenticated in order to use the MeritMail Web Client. Two versions of the Merit- Mail Web Client are available, advanced and standard. Advanced Web Client offers the full set of Ajax based web collaboration features. The advanced web client works with the newer browsers and the faster internet connections. Standard Web Client is a good option when internet connections are slow or users prefer HTML-based messaging for navigating within their mailbox. When the login dialog appears, you can select which version you want to log into. In most cases, Advanced Web Client is the default client and is opened automatically when you log in. You can change the default to be the Standard Web Client from your Preferences, General tab after you log in. To log in 1. Open a browser window and enter the URL provided by your MeritMail administrator. For example: 2. When the login screen appears, type your user name. You may be required to type your full address as the user name and your password. Example of a full address, type: myra@example.com myra123 Your password displays as ****** on-screen, to protect your privacy. 3. To be remembered on this computer until the session expires or you log out, check Remember me on this computer. If you check this, you will not have to log in every time you restart the browser during a day. When this is checked and you do not log out, your session remains active until the session expires. The system administrator configures how long a session is active. Note: If you leave your web client open in your browser but do not access your mailbox for a period of time, your session may time out and then you will need to log back in. 4. If you do not want the default client type, change the version displayed. 5. Click Log In. To log out: To prevent others from logging in to your account, you should always use the Log Out link to close your MeritMail session. MeritMail User Guide 5

6 Changing my default client type for log in Each time you log in you can choose which web client version you want to use, either default Advanced, or Standard. Default is the client type configured in the Preferences, General tab. It can be either Advanced or Standard. Advanced Web Client offers the full set of Ajax based web collaboration features. The advanced web client works with the newer browsers and the faster internet connections. Standard Web Client is a good option when internet connections are slow or users prefer HTML-based messaging for navigating within their mailbox. If your preferred client type is not the default, you can change it after you log in. 1. Click the Preferences tab. 2. Click the General tab and in the Login Options section select either Advanced or Standard. 3. Click Save. The next time you log, your selection will be the default. MeritMail Web Client keyboard shortcut keys Shortcut keys can be used to navigate in the MeritMail Web Client (MMWC) and you can create your own shortcut key combinations. Go to your Preferences>Shortcuts> to see the list of shortcut keys and to create your own shortcut keys. The four tabs display the following Shortcut List includes a list of shortcuts for all applications Mail Folder Shortcuts lets you create and assign shortcuts to access your folders Saved Search Shortcuts lets you create and assign shortcuts to your saved searches Tag Shortcuts lets you create and assign shortcuts to tags that you have created 6

7 MeritMail Assistant MeritMail Assistant is an advanced user feature that provides a quick way to interact with Web Client using the keyboard to do the following tasks: Create new appointments Go to a specific date in your calendar Create new contacts Send a new mail message without changing the application you are currently using You can open MeritMail Assistant from any MeritMail Web Client view except the Preferences tab. The keyboard shortcut to open MeritMail Assistant is ` (back quote) or shift~ (tilde) This key can be found below the Escape (Esc) key. Shift ~ (tilde) does not work when using Safari or Firefox from a Mac OS X. The back quote (`) does work. The MeritMail Assistant dialog offers detailed help. Below are the general steps for using MeritMail Assistant. 1. From within the MeritMail Web Client, use the shortcut key (either the back quote or shift tilde). The MeritMail Assistant dialog displays. 2. Enter one of the following commands - To create an appointment, type appointment. You can then enter a subject in quotes, the time, a date and day of week, and any notes for the appointment. Click OK. Note: If you want more advanced appointment features, click More details to go to the Calendar Appointment page. - To go to a specific date in your calendar, type calendar and the date, or the day of the week. Click OK. Note: After the date you can enter the Calendar view you prefer, day, work week, week, or month. The Calendar opens in that view. - To create a new contact, type contact and enter the contact name, address, etc. Click OK. Note: If you want to open the Contacts detail form, click More Details. On this form you can specify which address book to add the contact name. - To send an without opening the compose windows, type mail. Enter the subject in quotes; type to:name@adress and then type the body of the message. Click OK. MeritMail User Guide 7

8 Changing your password The administrator assigns the initial password. Depending on your configuration, you may be able to change your password. If you can change your password, the Change Password option is listed on the Preferences, General tab. To change your password: 1. Click the Preferences tab. 2. Select the General tab and in Login Options, click Change Password. 3. Enter your old password, your new password, and retype your new password to confirm. Note: Your password cannot contain accented characters, such as these letters: ñ, é, ó, etc. 4. Click Change password. Your password has been changed. Your company may have specific rules for passwords, such as how many characters must be in the password, how often you must change your password, and how often you can reuse the same password. Contact your system administrator if you have problems changing your password. Forget your password? If you forget your password, contact your administrator to reset it for you. If your session expires Your system may be configured with a session time-out that automatically logs you out if your session is inactive for a configured period of time. Your administrator may also set a maximum session length, i.e., a maximum amount of time that you can be logged in, regardless of whether any activity occurs or not. Therefore, you may periodically see the log in screen, even if you are already logged in. If that happens, simply log in again and continue working. 8

9 Navigating MeritMail Web Client When you log into the MeritMail Web Client you see a full screen view similar to the one shown below. The MeritMail Web Client page includes the following areas: 1. Browser Controls. Shows the standard browser buttons, such as Home, the current address you are pointing to, and other features that may depend on your browser software and settings. The buttons on the browser bar are not part of to the MeritMail Web Client and display for every Web page you visit. 2. Search Bar, User Name and Quota Display. The Search, Advanced Search, the user name under which you logged in and your mailbox quota are displayed in this area. 3. Application Tabs. The applications that you can access are listed in the tabs at the top. On the right is Help and Log Off. 4. Toolbar. Shows actions available for the application you are currently using. In this example, the Mail application toolbar is displayed. 5. Overview Pane. Displays your Folders, including the system folders Inbox, Sent, Drafts, Junk, and Trash, as well as any custom folders you may have created, Searches you may have saved, and Tags you created, Zimlet links that may have been created to integrate with third-party applications from within your mailbox. When you are in the Calendar application, the Overview pane displays your calendar list and Zimlets. 6. A mini-calendar can be displayed below the Overview pane. Displaying the mini-calendar is optional and can be enabled in Preferences, Calendar tab. 7. Content Pane. The content of this area changes depending on what application is in use. In the Inbox view, it displays all messages or conversations in your Inbox. MeritMail User Guide 9

10 User interface features and shortcuts The MeritMail Web Client interface includes many convenience features. Down-arrow menus. Some command buttons have a small down-arrow icon next to them. Clicking on the button performs one action, and clicking on the down-arrow icon displays additional menu choices. Drag and drop. Click on and drag messages or conversations between folders. Right-click menus. Right-click on items such as folders, conversations, messages, the From column in messages or conversations, or items in mail headers to display a menu of functions that you can perform on that item. This is an example of right-click on From. Movable sash. For split-pane windows such as the Conversation view, you can use the sash to increase or decrease the relative sizes of the upper and lower panes. Click and drag on the bar separating the panes. Clickable items. MeritMail follows standard browser conventions by changing the mouse cursor to a hand when it passes over an active link. 10

11 User interface features and shortcuts (Continued) Tool-tips. Passing your mouse cursor over items, such as command buttons, conversations, or mail addresses in message headers, displays a small text box of descriptive information about the item. Paging. Use the left and right arrows in list windows to page back and forth, if the list is too long to fit into a single window. Note that the paging buttons may behave differently on different screens. The numbers represent the sequence of messages on that page. Use the Tool-tips display to identify what the paging will do on your current screen. Right-click menus Many portions of the advanced MeritMail Web Client interface allow pop-up action menus that appear when you pass your cursor over an item such as a folder and click your right mouse button. The exact menu choices that appear depend on the type of item. Right clicking on the following displays right-click menus: Conversations. You can mark conversations as read or unread, apply tags to conversations, delete conversations, or move conversations between folders. Messages. You can reply to or forward the message, mark it as read or unread, apply tags to the message, delete the message, move it to another folder, print, show original header information, and create a new filter. Names in message headers. You can perform searches on the name, begin composing a new mail message addressed to that person, or add the person to your personal Contacts list. If the name is an existing contact, you can edit the contact entry. Folders. You can create a new folder, mark all items within the folder as read, delete or rename the folder, move the folder, expand all folders, or search. You cannot delete system folders (Inbox, Sent, Trash, Junk, Drafts). MeritMail User Guide 11

12 Applying actions to multiple selections When you view a folder by clicking on the folder name on the left, the contents of the folder display with one item selected (highlighted). You can select one or more items to perform actions as follows: Click to select one item at a time. Clicking on another item de-selects the previous one. Double-click to open an item. Right-click an item to display a menu of actions that can be applied to this item. You can also right-click after selecting multiple items, to apply the same action to all of them at once. Control-click selects multiple items. Can also be used to de-select the current item, leaving nothing selected. Shift-click selects multiple items in sequence. Click on one item and then Shift-click another item further down the list and all items between the two selected items are highlighted. You can select multiple items, and with one right-click on the mouse choose to Mark as Unread, Tag, Delete, or Move all selected items. Using browsers The MeritMail Web Client is designed to work within an Internet browser. Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, and Macintosh Safari are three of the most popular. Not all browsers are supported, so check with your administrator if you have questions. Some general guidelines when using the MeritMail Web Client within a browser: The browser s Back button takes you to the previous page you were viewing. You can also use the Forward button. To log off, click If you browse to a different site without logging out first, your session may remain active until it times out. If you share a computer, other users can access your account while the session is still active. Do not use the browser s Reload (Refresh) button. Doing so will download the client and start your session over, which is probably not what you meant to do. When do I need to save my work? The MeritMail Web Client is a graphical user interface (GUI) that includes windows, buttons, text entry, and mouse. With a GUI that uses Internet browser technology to display and operate the user features, it is not always possible for the application to detect when you have done something that you might want to save. Within MeritMail, the following rules apply: 12 If you are in the middle of composing an message, and you click another portion of the MeritMail screen, you are prompted to save your work. You can subsequently find the message in your Drafts folder. Reloading the MeritMail Web Client from the same browser window will continue your mail session, but you may lose any unsaved changes.

13 Viewing the Overview Pane On the left-hand side of the MeritMail Web Client interface are your folders, searches, tags, and Zimlets (for the advanced Web Client). Folders Inbox is where new mail is placed by default. Sent contains messages that you have sent. Draft contains composed messages that have not yet been sent. Junk contains messages that have been marked as spam either by you or by the system. Trash contains items that you have deleted. Folders that you have created follow. If your mail account was migrated from another mail system such as Microsoft Outlook, you may see extra folders here that represent folders on the previous mail system. Unread Message Count. The number in parentheses next to each folder is the number of unread messages contained in that folder. Tags folders display unread message count as well. Any item with unread messages is bold. To see the number of messages and the total size of the folder, hover the cursor over a folder. Searches This area contains search queries that you created and saved for future use. MeritMail User Guide 13

14 Viewing the Overview Pane (Continued) Tags This area shows the tags you have created. Click on a tag to quickly see all messages that are tagged with that tag. See Using tags to classify mail messages for more information. Zimlets Zimlets are created as a mechanism to integrate third-party information and content with the MeritMail Web Client features. Zimlets let you interact with different content types in your messages. Depending on your configuration, you may not have access to Zimlets from the Overview Pane. 14

15 Mail system folders The system folders are Inbox, Sent, Drafts, Junk, and Trash. You cannot move, rename, or delete these folders. System folders are always displayed at the top of your folder list, followed by any folders you create. If you hover the cursor over a folder, the number messages in the folder and the size of the folder are displayed. Inbox New mail arrives in the Inbox. By default, your Inbox is displayed after you log in. Sent A copy of each message you send is saved in the Sent folder. Drafts Messages you have composed but have not sent can be saved in the Drafts folder. If you open a message in the Drafts folder, it opens in the Compose view. Junk Most filtering of unsolicited automated mail (aka spam or junk mail ) is handled by a spam filter before those mail messages reach your Inbox. Mail that might possibly be junk mail, but isn t certain to be junk, may be placed in your Junk folder. You can review these messages and either move them or delete them. If you don t delete them, they will be purged after a period of time as specified by your MeritMail administrator. If you find that you are receiving a large number of unwanted mail messages, contact your MeritMail system administrator. Reporting mail as spam helps your mail administrator to fine-tune any spam filtering that may be in use at your site. If you find a message that is clearly not relevant, you can highlight it and click Junk on the toolbar. The mail is moved to your Junk folder. Sometimes messages may be put in the Junk folder that are not really junk mail. Drag those messages to another folder. You can empty the Junk folder by right-clicking the folder from the left-hand pane and choosing Empty Junk. In addition, the contents of the Junk folder can be automatically purged after an administration-configured number of days. MeritMail User Guide 15

16 Mail system folders (Continued) Trash Deleted items are placed in the Trash folder and remain there until you manually empty the trash or until the folder is purged automatically. Mail is purged from this folder after a specified period of time, as specified by your administrator. You can empty the trash by right-clicking the folder from the left-hand pane and choosing Empty Trash. See also: Setting your user preferences 16

17 Managing your message view You can view your messages as single messages or as conversations. If you are using the Conversations feature, the default view is by conversation. To change how messages are grouped for this session, click the arrow next to View in the box above the Overview Pane. To change the default view, go to the Preferences, Mailbox tab. Message view The traditional view displays a list of messages with the most recent message displayed first. Unread messages are shown in bold. The information displayed on the one line includes, flags, tags, from, attachment presence, subject, folder location, size of the message, including attachments, and the time the message was received. Conversation view Conversation view displays your messages grouped by subject. The number of messages in the conversation is displayed in parentheses after the subject. Each conversation consists of the original message and all replies. Conversations containing unread messages are shown in bold. Double-click the conversation to display the messages within the conversation. Click on a message to display its contents. All messages related to the conversation are displayed, even if the messages are stored in other folders. The Folder column shows the folder where the message is stored. Related Topics: Conversations can span folders Printing a conversation Printing a mail message MeritMail User Guide 17

18 Categorizing your messages The Web Client provides several methods for categorizing messages. You can use these along with the Search feature to quickly locate and retrieve messages. Methods you can use are: Filters. In your Preferences, Mail Filters tab, you can create rules for classifying inbound mail according to items in the subject line, sender, recipient, or other characteristics. Folders. You can create folders to organize your messages and you can move mail from one folder to another, for example taking a mail out of a To Do folder and moving it to a Done folder. Tags. You can use tags as labels on messages and then use the Search feature to show all mail with a certain tag. Conversations. You can have messages grouped by conversation. This built-in feature automatically groups all sent and received messages with the same subject into a single conversation You can create shortcut keys from your Preferences,Shortcuts tab for mail, saved searches, and tags. Related Topics: Assigning tags to messages Creating custom folders How Filtering Works Managing your message view Sorting messages in the Content pane Any pane containing messages, such as your Inbox, can be sorted by the Subject and the Received columns. Sortable columns are highlighted as you pass your mouse cursor over them. To sort by a particular column, click the column title. The column shows an arrow indicating whether the sort is in ascending order (up arrow) or descending order (down arrow). You can only sort by one column at a time. Customizing your initial page By default, your mailbox opens with the Inbox view. All messages in your Inbox are displayed in the Content pane. You can change the initial view to be any of the folders, searches, or tags in the Overview pane. For example, if you would like to see only your unread messages when you open your mailbox, go to Preferences>Mail>Default Mail Search and in the field type the search as is :unread. Or, to see mail tagged with the ToDo tag you created when you log in, enter the search as tag:todo. To see mail in a folder other than your Inbox, enter a folder search, for example in:work. Use quotes if the folder or tag is more than one word. For example in: Unread . 18

19 How Conversations work The conversation view displays your messages grouped by subject. Because all messages in a conversation have the same subject, the subject displays only once in the conversation view pane. All messages related to the conversation are displayed, even if they are stored in different folders. Grouping messages into Conversations You can read messages grouped together in context and ordered by date, including replies and forwarded messages. In order for a message to be grouped in a conversation, the subject of the message must be the same. For example, the following subject lines would be considered part of the same conversation. Who s in charge of the project? Re: Who s in charge of the project? Fwd: Who s in charge of the project? However, if you change the title to who s in charge of the project? - ask Mike, the message would not be included in the conversation. It would be part of a different conversation. Conversations do not continue indefinitely. If the last message in the conversation is 30 days old or older, messages sent with the same subject begin a new conversation. Conversations can span folders If a conversation includes three mail messages, one of those messages could be in your Inbox, your reply (which is also part of the conversation) will most likely be in your Sent folder, and another message could be in a custom folder. What this means: If you search for mail messages and one message is found that matches your search, but that message is in a conversation with several other messages that do not match your search, the entire conversation and all messages within it are listed under the search results. When you open the conversation, only messages that match your search criteria are highlighted. The same conversation may appear to exist in more than one folder. This can happen if the mail messages are in different folders, either because you moved them there, or you applied a filtering rule that put them there when they were received. Because a conversation is a group of related messages, if you move a conversation from one folder to another, all messages within that conversation are also moved to that folder. Related Topics: Managing your message view Printing a conversation MeritMail User Guide 19

20 Printing a conversation To send all messages within a conversation to the printer: 1. In the Conversation view, right-click the conversation to be printed. 2. From the list, click Print. A separate window appears showing all the messages in the conversation in a single scrolling window with the total number of messages being printed displayed at the top. 3. In the print dialog, choose a printer and click Print, to send the message to the selected printer. 4. Close the message window. Viewing messages in Message view The traditional Message view displays each individual message that you receive. If you have the Conversations view feature, the default view is by conversation. To change views for this session, on the toolbar click the arrow next to View. To change the default view, go to Preferences, Mailbox tab To change views using the View menu: 1. Click View, and then choose By Conversation or By Message. 2. Selecting the Reading Pane option toggles the bottom pane on and off. Moving messages between folders You can transfer messages or entire conversations from one folder to another. Drag and drop the item over the desired folder in the left-hand pane Select the items, right-click, select Move. In the Move Message box, select a destination folder, and click OK. If you are moving a few messages within a conversation, the conversation appears in both places. The Conversation Detail View window shows the new location of the message that was moved. 20

21 Setting a forwarding address You can identify an address to forward your messages and choose to retain the message in your mailbox or automatically delete the message when forwarded. To forward your 1. Open the Preferences tab and select the Mail tab. 2. Scroll down to the Receiving Messages section and in When a message arrives:forward a copy to, add the complete forwarding address. 3. If you want to automatically delete the from your account, enable Don t keep a local copy of messages. 4. Click Save. Subscribe to RSS/Atom feeds You can subscribe to Web sites that provide your favorite RSS (Really Simple Syndication) and podcast feeds to send updated information directly to your mailbox. You create a folder for each RSS feed. Before proceeding, know the URL for the RSS. 1. Above the Folders heading in the Navigation pane, click New Folder. 2. In the Name field, type the name of the RSS feed folder 3. Check Subscribe to RSS/ATOM feed. 4. From the folder menu select where to add the RSS feed folder. Choosing the root folder creates a folder that displays at the highest level in your folder view, that is the same level as your Inbox folder. 5. In the URL field, enter the URL for the feed. 6. Click OK. The RSS feed icon,, displays as the folder in your Navigation pane. Open the RSS folder to access the link. To update the content, open the RSS folder and click Load Feed. MeritMail User Guide 21

22 Managing your account identities When you send new , reply to, or forward an message, one identity is always associated with the . This is the default identity created as the account name and is used unless you set up different identities. Creating different identities, called personas, allows you to use multiple addresses from your mailbox. You might want to do this to manage different roles in your job and personal life from this single account. You can also add external account addresses to retrieve from your other POP or IMAP accounts, and you can configure the external account settings so that when you reply to those messages, the corresponding address is in the From field. If you have set up more than one persona or added external accounts, when you open a new compose window, your identities are listed in the From field in the header. Personas, external accounts, and signatures are configured from the Preferences, Accounts tab and from the Signatures tab. Recovering deleted mail messages When you delete messages and contacts, the file is moved to the Trash folder. You can recover files from the Trash by dragging and dropping them into another folder. Messages left in the Trash may be automatically purged, in which case you cannot recover them. Purging messages To delete messages from Trash, right-click on the Trash folder and select Empty Trash. All messages are permanently deleted. In addition, the MeritMail Collaboration Suite can be configured to automatically purge old messages from any folder after a specified period of time. The MeritMail administrator sets the policies for your site regarding how long messages remain in your folders. You can see what your purge policy is from the Preferences, Mail tab. Purged messages cannot be recovered. 22

23 Using the Junk folder Most filtering of unsolicited automated (aka spam or junk mail ) is handled by a spam filter before those messages reach your Inbox. Mail that might possibly be junk mail, but is not certain to be junk, is placed in your Junk folder. You can review these messages and either move them out of the Junk folder or delete them. If you don t move or delete the messages, they are purged after a number of days as specified by your administrator. If you find that you are receiving a large number of unwanted messages, contact your administrator. Reporting mail as spam helps your administrator to fine-tune any spam filtering that may be in use at your site. If you find an message in your Inbox that is spam, you can highlight it and click Junk on the toolbar. The is moved to your Junk folder and the spam-training filter is taught that the mail is junk. You can empty the Junk folder by right-clicking the folder and choosing Empty Junk. MeritMail User Guide 23

24 Reading mail By default, all new messages are placed in your Inbox. If you have mail filter rules, new messages can appear in places other than your Inbox. The number in parentheses next to each folder name indicates the number of unread messages within that folder. If you are using the Conversation view, messages are grouped into conversations. If you pass the mouse cursor over the conversation, a tool tip displays the first line from the body of the newest message. To read a message in the Conversation view 1. Double-click the conversation containing the message. 2. The Content pane changes to show the individual messages in the conversation. The Fragment column shows the first line of the message body. To open the message, click the line that contains the message you want to read. If you have Reading Pane on, the message body appears in the lower pane. Otherwise, you must doublelick the message in the message list an, it will fill the Content pane. To read a message in Message view Double-click the message. See also: The message body appears in the lower pane. If it does not display, double-click the message in the message list. How to tell when you have new mail Reading mail from the Reading Pane The Reading Pane is the area below the messages in your Inbox. If you have Reading Pane enabled, when you click on an message, the message displays in a pane below the message header information, and the messages is marked as read. To adjust the size of the Reading pane, click then drag the divider bar up or down. By default, viewing messages in the Reading Pane is on. You can turn it off from the Preferences, Mail tab. Uncheck Display Message Reading Pane. You can also change the Reading Pane option from the View menu, but when you do it from here, the change is only good until you log off. When you log on again, your Preferences setting determines whether the reading pane is enabled. 24

25 Marking mail as unread The MeritMail Web Client considers messages that you have opened as having been read. Conversations containing unread messages are shown in bold. You can change a message s status back from read to unread by right-clicking on the message and choosing Mark as Unread from the menu that appears. You can also mark a conversation as unread. Marking a conversation as unread marks all messages within that conversation as unread. Marking a single message as unread marks the conversation that contains the message unread. You can use the same method to mark unread mail as read. How do I know that I received a new message New messages are received when you log on, at automatic intervals that you set, and on-demand when Get Mail is clicked. You can set the new messages polling intervals from the Preferences>Mail tab. The default is every 5 minutes. You can spot unread mail messages by looking for folders with a bold name and a number in parentheses next to the folder name. For example, Inbox (22) indicates that there are a total of 22 unread messages that are contained within conversations that appear in your Inbox. Displaying HTML in messages You can view messages in two formats. Plain text. Plain text messages are messages that contain no HTML formatting code. Messages sent in plain text can always be read by other clients. You can view messages in plain-text mode even if it contains HTML. The HTML tags are displayed in the body of the message in the plain text view. HTML. HTML messages can have text formatting, numbering, bullets, colored background, and links which can make messages easier to read. Some clients may not accept messages formatted in HTML. To always view your messages in HTML, check the View Mail as HTML (when possible) box on the Preferences, Mail tab. Messages are displayed in formatted layout, if they were sent in HTML. MeritMail User Guide 25

26 Opening file attachments messages can include attached files such as word processing documents, spreadsheets, text files, ZIP files, images, executable applications, or any other type of computer file that resides on the sender s computer network. Messages that contain attachments display a paper clip next to the subject. Some types of files, such as JPEG images or text files, can be opened on almost any computer system. Others, such as Microsoft Word documents, must be opened using the same application that created them. When you receive a message containing file attachments, you can double-click on the item in the attachments section of the message header. A dialog appears asking whether you want to open or save the file first. If you choose to view the attachment, you must have an application on your workstation that can read that type of file. If you choose to download the attachment, a browse dialog appears showing your current file system. Choose an appropriate location and save the file. You can open the file at a later point outside of your client. View Attachments as HTML You may have the feature to view attachments as HTML. This allows you to open an attachment even if the corresponding application is not installed. Click view as html to view the content of the file. This feature is set by your system administrator. Virus Safety Computer viruses can spread through attachments. It is considered standard practice for mail administrators to implement virus filtering for incoming mail as well as virus scanning for personal computers. However, there is always a chance that something could get through. In the case of viruses, the majority of them are activated when a file attachment containing the virus is opened or viewed. Many of these viruses have been known to spread themselves using entries in users address books. Therefore, we recommend that you use care when opening file attachments, even from senders who appear to be known to you. Printing a mail message To send a message to the printer: Open the conversation, select the message, and click Print. 2. The selected message appears in a separate window, along with a standard print dialog. In the dialog, choose a printer and click Print to send the message to the selected printer. You can also select an entire conversation for printing. You cannot, however, select multiple individual messages within a conversation for printing. Do not use the browser s File>Print feature. The page will not be well-formatted, and your message may be difficult to read.

27 Attachment blocking Depending on the security policy in place at your site, some types of file attachments may not be viewable in your mailbox. You may see the paper clip link pointing to a file attachment, but you will not be able to open the attachment. Your system administrator can set the following attachment blocking options: Select which type of files can be opened. For example, view attachments if they can be converted to HTML (e.g., Word, PowerPoint, PDF, Excel, or text documents) but not image files, ZIP files, or executable files. View all attachments, regardless of file type This is not the same as rejecting all attachments, which typically blocks delivery of messages that may contain viruses or other unacceptable content. If you receive an attachment that you cannot open, contact your system administrator. Message blocking For security reasons, organizations may have a policy for blocking delivery of messages by certain general characteristics, such as: Attachment size is too large Attachment extension type is blocked, i.e., messages containing.zip extension or.exe extension attachments may be blocked. Note: Many viruses are spread through messages containing.zip or.exe files All attachments, regardless of type (might be temporarily used during virus or spam attacks) The exact blocking policy in place at your site is determined by your administrator. If you think you should be getting messages that haven t been received, check with your administrator. Senders whose messages were blocked may not receive notification that their messages were not delivered. MeritMail User Guide 27

28 Undeliverable mail Sometimes a message bounces, meaning it cannot be delivered for some reason, such as: Recipient is not a valid or existing address. Verify that you have the correct address. Recipient s mail system rejects the mail for one reason or another Recipient s mailbox is full If a message is rejected, you will receive an undeliverable mail message, with at least part of the contents of your original message plus some system-generated error messages that provide more information as to why the mail has bounced. Try to correct the problem and re-send the . If the mail bounces due to a bad address, but you are certain that the address is valid, you will have to contact the recipients using other means, and have the recipients resolve the issue with their system administrators. Contact your system administrator if: Every mail message you try to send is rejected Mail bounces with user unknown or bad address messages for addresses that you used from your corporate address list You start receiving bounce messages for mail you never sent 28

29 Accessing your External Accounts Instead of logging on to each of your external accounts, you can retrieve your accounts messages directly from the MeritMail Web Client. When you set up your external account on MMWC, you can specify where the messages will be saved and create your persona to be used when you reply to or forward a message received from that external account. Information you need to set up your external account When you set up your external account you need to know the following details about this account. You may need to contact your provider for this information. Account type. This is the type of you service provider uses, POP or IMAP User name on the account. The user name associated with this account. Sometimes your user name is the part of your address before and other times it is your full address. server. This is the server name for your external account. Advanced settings. Your provider should let you know if they do not use standard IMAP (143) or POP (110) port. Enable Use an encrypted connection (SSL) when accessing this server when you need to connect securely to the external server. The port numbers will change. Receiving messages to your account When you retrieve your external messages, the messages and attachments are saved to the folder you specified when you configured your account information. Messages from your external account are not automatically received in your MeritMail Web Client account. If you configured the Inbox to be the folder to save the external account s messages, click Get Mail on the toolbar. Your Inbox folder is updated with all new messages including messages from your external accounts. If you configured another folder for your external accounts, select that folder and click the Get Mail button from the toolbar. Messages are delivered to your folder. Click Refresh to see the latest messages. Adding external accounts Instead of logging on to each of your external accounts, you can check these accounts for messages directly from this account. See Accessing your external accounts. To add external accounts to your Web Client account 1. Open the Preferences, Accounts tab and click Add External Account. A new external account name is added to your accounts. Now you need to set it up. 2. In External Account Settings section Account Names field enter a name to identify this account. You can select this account name from the From address list when you compose new messages. 3. In the Address field enter the exact address of the external account. MeritMail User Guide 29

30 Adding external accounts (Continued) 4. Now you configure the account settings. You may need to get this information from your provider. Check the account type, POP or IMAP Username of Account. Enter the name of this account. server. Enter the server host name. Password. Enter the password you use to log on to this external account. To see that the password you typed is correct, check Show password. Advanced options If you service provider uses a different port then the default, change it now. If you use a secure connection, enable Use an encrypted connection (SSL) when accessing this server. 5. In the Download messages to section, select where the messages should be saved. The default is to create a new folder and enable it to receive the messages. But if you want the messages in your Inbox, select Inbox. 6. Enable Delete messages on the server after downloading them, if you want the message deleted from your external account when it is sent to your MMWC account. 7. In the text box below From: type the name that should appear in the From field of your outgoing messages (for example, John). This is the friendly name that is shown before your address. 8. If replies should be sent to a name and address different from that which you configured in From, check Reply-to. Enter the name and address that should receive replies for this identity. For example, replies to training messages John sends should be sent to Team Training at training@example.com. 9. You can select a signature to use for this persona. If you have not created the appropriate signature, you can come back and edit this account information later. If you do not want the signature to be applied automatically, select Do Not Attach Signature. 10. Click Save to save this external account. If you need to create the signature, go to the Signature tab after you click Save. See Using a signature. 30

31 Composing a new message The first step to composing a new message is to click on the toolbar to open a blank compose page. You can also right-click in the From section of an and select New , to open a blank compose page. Depending on your Mail preferences, the blank compose page opens in the MeritMail content pane or opens as a separate compose window. In the MeritMail Compose window, you enter the address of the person or persons to whom you are sending the message in the To: field. You can look up a person s address by clicking To in order to search through your contacts or the global address list. To add BCC addresses, click Options on the compose toolbar. If you have more than one mail identity configured, you will need to select the identity to use before you start to compose your message. You can either compose your message in HTML or in plain text. The default format is configured in your Preferences, General tab. To quickly change the format for this message only, click Options on the compose toolbar and select either HTML or Plain Text. Format As HTML lets you format your message with different font styles, create tables, add color. Format As Plain Text produces text with no style or formatting. Any computer can read this type of message. To compose a new mail message: 1. Click from the toolbar. The compose page is displayed. 2. If you are not using the default identity, in the From drop-down list, select the identity (also known as persona) to use. 3.Complete the address, subject line, and body text as needed. If you supply a first and last name that is not in the form of a valid Internet address (name@domain.com), a confirmation dialog appears advising you that the address does not appear to be valid. You can choose to send the mail anyway, even though it may not be deliverable. Enter the body of the message in the text box below Subject. To check the spelling in the message, click Spell Check. To add an attachment, click If you have a signature defined in your Preferences, Signatures, but not enabled, click Add Signature on the Compose toolbar to add that signature. Click Send to send the message. If you don t want to send the message immediately, click Save Draft. The message is saved in the Drafts folder. MeritMail User Guide 31