HelpDesk

Webmail FAQ

Note: E-mail FAQ,  Outlook FAQ , and  IMAP Clients FAQ are also available.

• Help
• Helpful Hints
• Setting Preferences
• Setting Options
• Address Books
• Quota Information
• Messages
• Printing
• Delivery and Read Receipts
• Departmental Folder Subscription

      Help

1. Are help and training available for Webmail?

Helpful Hints

2. Are there any important defaults that I should know?
3. What is the default e-mail quota?
4. How long can I stay online in e-mail (Webmail) with no activity before I'm dropped?
5. Why am I getting a 60 minute timeout message as soon as I try to log into Webmail?
6. I seem to be getting logged out of Webmail sooner than the allowed 60 minutes
7. I am getting the error "A Runtime Error has occurred. Do you wish to debug?" in Webmail using Internet Explorer.
8. I have a dialup internet connection from home and Webmail loads slowly. Can I do anything to speed this up?
9. I have a fast internet connection from home and would like Webmail to load more message headers. Can I do this?
10. How can I create a subfolder in webmail?
11. Are there any characters I cannot use when creating and naming a folder?
12. I am using Netscape 4.7 browser on a Mac OS system and I get garbage characters inserted into the body text of my messages when using Webmail. How can I prevent this?

Setting Preferences

13. What are the default preference settings in Webmail?
14. How can I setup or change my signature?

Setting Options

15. How do I change delivery (or unsubscribe) from JMU Informational bulk e-mail?
16. How do I forward my JMU e-mail to another account?
17. Can I setup my e-mail to send a message out to any incoming e-mails received while I'm away on vacation?

Address Books

18. How do I copy my local addressbooks from my IMAP e-mail client into Webmail?
19. How can I print out my address book?
20. How do I copy addresses in Excel to Webmail?

Quota Information

21. How can I check my e-mail quota?
22. Why do I get a message about being over quota and what should I do about it?
23. Why is my e-mail quota increasing when I have my e-mail forwarded?
24. Why does my Used quota not decrease even after I delete messages?
25. Why am I not receiving messages and I have attempted to "Empty My Trash" but I'm getting error "Permission Denied" error message?

Messages

26. I attached a file, but it didn't send my attachment. Why?
27. Why am I receiving winmail.dat file attachments?
28. I deleted and permanently removed some email messages (through empty my trash or compact in webmail, or purge in IMAP client). Can I retrieve them or have them restored?
29. Why can't I send e-mail to a departmental mailbox, such as to the helpdesk?
30. How can I remove an attached file after I've clicked to Add it as an attachment?
31. I was sent a forwarded message with an attachment. I can see the attachment name in the message text as >2003EmailStudy.doc (28k bytes), but cannot open the file. Why?
32. What is the difference between forward and inline on a message?
33. How do I check for new messages?
34. I'm not seeing any new e-mails or only seeing one screen of messages, but I know I should have more.
35. How can I change a message that has been read (opened) to unread (not opened or viewed)?
36. How do I compose a message and what options (spell check, message priority, etc. ) are available?
37. How do I format my e-mail message using Webmail?
38. Does Webmail have a "recipient list hidden" feature?
39. I am no longer receiving my technical newsletters and other listserv messages, why?
40. My technical newsletters and other listserv items are being sent to the Junk Mail folder. How can I tell the system to deliver these messages to my Inbox?
41. Can I display more messages on the screen?
42. Why do I receive the error message "Too Many Recipients" when I try to send an e-mail to a large number of recipients, either by typing in all the e-mail addresses, copying and pasting them in from a database, or sending to one of my webmail address book groups?

Printing

43. How do I print my e-mail without printing all the frames?

Attachments

44. How do I stop a blank browser window from appearing when I open or save an attachment?

1. Are help and training available for Webmail?
   
   Yes. Login to Webmail and click Help in the left hand navigation bar.  Information Technology Training offers online tutorials and training courses.
2. Are there any important defaults that I should know?
   • The maximum message size is 32 MB.
   • The maximum number of recipients for any message is 2000.
   • Use First, Prev, Next and Last navigation in Webmail--not the browser arrow keys.
   • New mail is checked every 5 minutes.
   • Inbox, Draft, Junk Mail and Trash are default folders.
   • The maximum number of addresses allowed in a Webmail is 1000.
3. What is the default e-mail quota?
   • 100MB for faculty, 50MB for staff, 10MB for students.
4. How long can I stay online in e-mail (Webmail) with no activity before I'm dropped?
   
   60 minutes. You will receive the message: "Your session timed out after 60 minutes of inactivity. Login again to restore and continue with your session." This feature provides added security, as well as system resources savings. For more information see To End a Webmail session in Webmail Help. If you were in a compose screen, please log in with your full context (eid@jmu.ed) and password to get back to the compose screen where you left off.
5. Why am I getting a 60 minute timeout message as soon as I try to log into Webmail?
   
   There could be a problem with your browser settings, storing of cookies, a cached session that has timed out, or an older version of Internet Explorer.
   • If you are using Internet Explorer 5.x on a Macintosh, then you need to delete all jmu.edu cookies, please see http://isapps.jmu.edu/tutorials/browser/index.asp#MacIE for instructions.
   • When accessing Webmail, open a browser and key in " https://webmail.jmu.edu " (don't use a shortcut or an entry in history to get to the login screen).
   • Check your Internet Explorer (Windows Computers) settings as listed on the E-campus Browser Configuration Tutorial page paying special attention to step 5 on the Internet Explorer Browser Setting Checklist.
   • Check to make sure you are using Internet Explorer 6.0 (Windows computers) available from the Downloads page.
6. I seem to be getting logged out of Webmail sooner than the allowed 60 minutes.
   
   
   • The 60 minute timeout is based on time calculated by server activity. Composing a message or reading a message do not interact with the server. To make sure you are directly communicating with the server, open a new folder (such as Junk Mail) or click on the link to "check mail".
   • Do not use the browser navigation buttons (such as " back") to move about in Webmail; use the links within Webmail itself. You may also experience a "timeout" if clicking on the "refresh" or "reload" links in browsers.
7. I am getting the error "A Runtime Error has occurred. Do you wish to debug?" in Webmail using Internet Explorer.
   
   You can reconfigure Internet Explorer to stop this:
   • Open Internet Explorer.
   • Click on Tools, then on Internet Options.
   • Click on the Advanced tab.
   • Look for the "Disable script debugging" line and put a check mark in the box.
   • Now look for the "Display a notification about every script error" line and REMOVE the check mark in the box.
8. I have a dialup internet connection from home and Webmail loads slowly. Can I do anything to speed this up?
   
   
   • To minimize a startup delay when using Internet Explorer, always add the " https:// " to the webmail URL, such as https://webmail.jmu.edu/.
   • If you have a slow Internet connection, set the Message Count preference to a lower number, such as 10 (the default is 20). This way only 10 message headers are downloaded for each Webmail page display, decreasing the system load. For more information on setting preferences, see Setting Preferences in Webmail Help.
   • You can also speed up the deletion process of e-mails when on a dialup connection by changing the way the process is handled. The default Preference of Delete to Trash causes the screen to refresh the Mailbox each time you chose to delete a message. By clicking on Preference, and changing Delete to Trash from " Yes " to " No ", the messages are only marked for deletion and aren't deleted until " Compact " is clicked.
9. I have a fast internet connection from home and would like Webmail to load more message headers. Can I do this?
   
   If you have a fast Internet connection, you can set the Message Count to a higher number, such as 50, and not affect your system performance. For further information see Setting Preferences in Webmail Help.
10. How can I create a subfolder (nested folder) in Webmail?
    
    Click on Folders in the left-hand navigation bar. You can create a subfolder (nested folder) by clicking on the edit icon . A new window (folder edit) appears where you can create the new subfolder. Type in the name of the subfolder and click on the "add" button. A plus sign (+) before the folder indicates there is a subfolder and can be expanded by clicking on the plus.
    
    
11. Are there any characters I cannot use when creating and naming a folder?
    
    Yes, you cannot use the following special characters:
    
    Dot (.)
    Front slash (/)
    Plus sign (+)
    Quotation marks ("")
    asterisks (*)
    percent signs (%)
    
    For more details, see Folder Naming Conventions in Webmail Help.
12. I am using Netscape 4.7 browser on a Mac OS system and I get garbage characters inserted into the body text of my messages when using Webmail Direct. How can I prevent this?
    
    This difficulty is caused by a limitation in Netscape Communicator on the MacOS platform. Workaround: Use a different browser for Webmail.
13. What are the default preference settings in Webmail?
    • Default preferences are set to Delete to Trash. Empty My Trash rather than Compact appears in the left navigation bar of Webmail. This default settings moves messages marked for Deletion to the Trash folder when the Delete button is clicked in Webmail.
    • Default preferences will include the original message as part of the reply.
    • Default preferences will include your signature if you have it set up in Webmail.
14. How can I setup or change my signature?
    
    Click on Preferences and look for the text box beside Signature:
    Enter or edit your signature and verify that below the text box that the Yes radio button beside Include Signature: is selected and then click the OK button at the bottom.
    
    
    
    If you would like to discontinue the automatic signature, you may select the No radio button and click OK.
    Note: When you are composing a message, you also have the option to either remove or include the signature at the bottom of the message text box. Just verify the box for Include signature is checked or deselect this option if you don't want to include your signature on that message.
15. How do I change delivery (or unsubscribe) from JMU Informational bulk e-mail? For instructions to change delivery of JMU Informational e-mail to your Junk Mail folder or trash folder view the Adobe Acrobat .pdf Filtering Informational Bulk E-Mail Handout
16. How do I forward my JMU e-mail to another account?
    
    There are two methods to forward e-mail: through the Accounts portal or within Webmail.
    
    To forward e-mail through the Accounts Portal:
    
    • Open a web browser to the Accounts Portal at https://accounts.jmu.edu
    • Chose Option C. and type in your e-ID and password in the login box to login to the portal
    • Click on Directory/E-mail Forwarding from the left-hand navigation links
    • In the Forwarding e-mail to box, enter the e-mail address of where to forward your JMU e-mail, with the format of user@hostname, such username@somewhere.net
    • Decide whether to "Keep a copy of each forwarded message on JMU's e-mail server?" Leave the box blank to not keep a copy. Please Note: Keeping copies of forwarded messages on JMU's e-mail server may affect your ability to receive e-mail if you go over your quota.
    • Click Submit Changes
      
      
    To turn off forwarding in the Accounts Portal:
    • Open a web browser to the Accounts Portal at https://accounts.jmu.edu
    • Chose Option C. and type in your e-ID and password in the login box to login to the portal
    • Click on Directory/E-mail Forwarding from the left-hand navigation links
    • Delete the entire address in the Forward e-mail to: box
    • Click Submit Changes
    To forward messages through Webmail:
    
    • Click on Options (left hand side of the Webmail screen)-> click on Forwarding
    • Enter the mail address to which you want your e-mail forwarded to, such as myemail@somewhere.net
      
      
    • To have a copy of forwarded messages delivered to your inbox: select the Keep a copy of each forwarded message checkbox. Click Start.
    • To stop automatic forwarding: Click on Options (left hand side of the Webmail screen) -> click on Forwarding ->click on Stop. Your e-mail will be redirected back to your JMU e-mail Inbox.
    • For more information, see Starting and Stopping Automatic Forwarding in Webmail Help.
17. Can I setup my e-mail to send a message out to any incoming e-mails received while I'm away on vacation?
    
    Yes. See Starting and Stopping Automatic Reply in Webmail Direct Help. If you choose to use it, Automatic Reply must be set under options in Webmail. With Automatic Reply turned on, if you receive multiple messages from the same sender, only one Automatic Reply will be sent a week.
18. How do I copy my local addressbooks from my IMAP e-mail client into Webmail?
19. How can I print out my address book?
    
    Click on the Address Book webmail link on the left. Click on Import/Export at the top of the Contacts window in the Address Book feature. Scroll down to Export and leave the file export type set to .CSV (for comma separated value)
    
    
    
    Click Export Now. You can browse to the location on your computer that you wish to save the file. Open up MS Excel and choose File, Open. On the Open dialog window, change the Files of Type: box to All Files (*.*) to display the .CSV file extension. Find the file you saved above and open it. Click on File, Print to print your Excel file.
20. How do I copy addresses in Excel to Webmail?
21. How can I check my e-mail quota?
    
    Log in to Webmail. THere will be a quota bar at the top of the webmail window. This quota bar appears at the top of every Webmail Folder. The quota information is also available in the Options. Click on Options from the Mail menu and the quota will appear at the bottom of the Option: Access Control window.
    Quota: 10240 KB
    Used: 1978 KB
22. Why do I get a message about being over quota and what should I do about it?
    
    There are two scenarios in which you may see quota related messages:
    
    Scenario #1:
    When you are trying to send an e-mail message that puts you over your quota, you will see the following message at the top of your Compose window.
    
    
    
    You should check your current quota usage.   Deleting old e-mail messages from your folders (Inbox, Sent, Junk Mail, etc.) and clicking on Empty My Trash in Webmail may help you to avoid getting the message above and allow the messages you send to be properly copied to your Sent folder. You might also consider the size of the messages you are sending with large attachments (eg. audio/video files, photos, multipage documents or spreadsheets, etc.) as these can more quickly put you over quota.
    
    Scenario #2:
    When you are trying to read your e-mail messages and you are near quota or over quota, or if there is a message in the queue to be delivered to you that will put you over quota, you will see a message from the Quota Manager in your Inbox entitled Mailbox full with the highest priority , as seen here:
    
    
    
    When you open and read the message, you will see the following text stating that you should delete old messages from your folders (Inbox, Sent, Junk Mail, etc.) and click on Empty My Trash in Webmail.
    
    Please read this entire message and follow the instructions:
    
    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Date: 30 Sep 2003 22:41:26 -0400
    From: Quota Manager[Administrator@mpmail1.jmu.edu] Add To Address Book
    Subject: JMU E-mail System: Some message(s) not delivered
    To: your e-ID
    
    One or more email messages were not delivered to your Inbox for one of the following reasons:
    
    (1) The incoming email message or attachment is sufficiently large to put you over your quota, therefore was not delivered.
    
    (2) Your account may be near quota limit already.
    
    To receive the message(s), you should check your current quota usage and determine if you really have sufficient space to receive the deferred message(s). Deleting old e-mail, deleting messages in the Junk Mail folder and clicking Empty My Trash in Webmail may help you to receive the deferred message(s). If your quota usage is sufficiently low, you should still be able to receive additional normal-sized messages. It may be helpful to inform potential senders that they should not e-mail you oversized messages, with large attachments (eg. audio/video files, photos, multipage documents or spreadsheets, etc.) that can put you over quota.
    
    Questions? Call the JMU Computing HelpDesk at 568-3555
    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    
    If a message can't be delivered due to quota issues, the mail server places a " mailbox full " message in the user's inbox, and the message(s) that cannot be delivered will be QUEUED. Delivery attempts will continue for 8 hours, after which point it will be returned to the sender. You may wish to send yourself a test e-mail message to verify that you can indeed receive normal size messages.
23. Why is my e-mail quota increasing when I have my e-mail forwarded?
    
    The Junk Mail filtering at the system level and is occurring before the mail is forwarded to the account. You will need to log into your JMU account and delete the messages in the Junk folder and empty the trash.
24. Why does my Used quota not decrease even after I delete messages?
    
    Make sure you are clicking on Empty My Trash in the left hand sidebar. When your Preference is set to Delete to Trash and you click Delete to get rid of a message, it just removes your view of the message from that particular folder, but the message still resides in that folder (it is just not viewable to you). You can verify this if you log in using an IMAP client, those messages will still be in that folder with a line drawn through them (like Mulberry's behavior). The Used quota doesn't drop until you click on Empty My Trash. For example, if you open a folder to display messages in that folder and then select those messages and delete them, those messages are just removed from the view of that folder. To really get rid of the messages and decrease quota, you must click on Empty My Trash.
25. Why am I not receiving messages and I have attempted to "Empty My Trash" but I'm getting error "Permission Denied" error message?
    
    Check your Access Control Options in Webmail (click on Options link->Access Control link) Verify that all of your access control for your account in each mailbox folder set for all access (Read, Write, Mail, Admin). You should have all boxes for each folder checked to verify that your access is setup correctly.
26. I attached a file, but it didn't send my attachment. Why?
    
    To attach a file, you must remember to click the Add button, after selecting the path and file name with the browse button. Even if you have a file listed in the browse box, it is not attached until you click Add. For details on adding attachments see Adding/Deleting Attachments in Webmail Help.
27. Why am I receiving winmail.dat file attachments?
28. I deleted and permanently removed some email messages (through empty my trash or compact in webmail, or purge in IMAP client). Can I retrieve them or have them restored?
29. Why can't I send e-mail to a departmental mailbox, such as to the helpdesk?
30. How can I remove an attached file after I've clicked to Add it as an attachment?
    
    Scroll down to the attached file name and click the trash can icon to the left of the attached file name, as seen here:
    
    For details on deleting attachments see Adding/Deleting Attachments in Webmail Help.
31. I was sent a forwarded message with an attachment. I can see the attachment name in the message text as >2003EmailStudy.doc (28k bytes), but cannot open the file. Why?
    
    The problem was the way the message was forwarded to you. Ask the sender to resend noting these rules. If you forward a message and click Inline rather than Forward because you wish to alter the original message, you cannot forward attachments (they appear inline the text as described in the above question). In order to forward an attachment and edit the original message, you must first save the attachment to a directory, then click Inline from the message window, make your edits and re-add the attachment to the message. For more details on forwarding attachments see Forwarding a Message in Webmail Help.
32. What is the difference between forward and inline on a message?
    
    Clicking Forward in a message window opens the Compose page with the original message and attachment displayed below the composition window; you CANNOT edit the original message.
    
    Clicking Inline opens the Compose page with the original message in the composition window; you can edit the original message, but you CANNOT forward attachments using the Inline command.
    
    In order to forward an attachment and edit the original message, you must first save the attachment to a directory, then click Inline from the message window, make your edits and re-add the attachment to the message.
33. How do I check for new messages?
    
    
    • From the current folder, click Check Mail.
    • From any Webmail page, click Inbox.
    Result: Your Inbox or selected folder opens with a list of the just retrieved messages.
34. I'm not seeing any new e-mails or only seeing one screen of messages, but I know I should have more.
    
    
    • In your Inbox (or other Folders), click on the navigational bar (First, Prev, Next, Last) to move through your screens of e-mail messages.
      
      
35. How can I change a message that has been read (opened) to unread (not opened or viewed)?
    
    Click in the Msg box beside the message you wish to change from Read to Unread as indicated in the example below. Then change the "Mark" dropdown box from Read to Unread. Then click the Mark button. The icon will then change from Read to Unread
    
    
    
    For more information see Organizing Your Messages in Webmail Help.
36. How do I compose a message and what options (spell check, message priority, etc. ) are available?
    
    See Composing a Message in Webmail Help.
37. How do I format my e-mail message using Webmail?
    
    In Webmail using Internet Explorer, open a "compose" window; if your preferences are set for a default of plain text, you need to click on the HTML text button at the bottom of the compose window .
    You will have a toolbar with formatting available.
    
    
38. We used to receive e-mail that stated "recipient list hidden" that prevented the listing of all the recipients of the e-mail. I like this feature to prevent paper waste when printing. Does Webmail have a "recipient list hidden" feature?
    
    No, this feature is not available in Webmail, but there is a workaround. To prevent the display of the recipient addresses, send your message to yourself and include all of the recipient e-mail addresses in the blind carbon copy (bcc:) line.
39. I am no longer receiving my technical newsletters and other listserv messages, why?
    
    It is possible these items have been identified as junk mail by our new e-mail system. Our mail server is now configured to inspect incoming messages for traits that are common to junk mail messages. It computes a weighing factor for each message and if that factor exceeds a certain level it is marked as junk and automatically filtered to the Junk Mail folder. Click on Folders from the webmail link on the left to see if your mail has been delivered to that folder. To have this mail not identified as junk, see the FAQ How can I tell the system to deliver these messages to my Inbox?
40. My technical newsletters and other listserv items are being sent to the Junk Mail folder. How can I tell the system to deliver these messages to my Inbox?
    
    When you find an item in your Junk Mail folder that is not junk, click on the link "Add to White List" out to the right of the From: field within your message. This takes you to the Options: Junk Mail Control Window. Under E-mail Address or Domain Name you will see the name of the newsletter or listserv item that you wish to receive in your Inbox. Click the button beneath "Add to White List"
    
    
    
    - OR -
    
    Click on "This is Not Spam" link in the message header.
    
    
    
    On the "This is Not Spam" window, click on "Add sender to White List" and if you want the message moved to Inbox, select this box also.
    
    
41. Can I display more messages on the screen?
    
    Yes. Click on "Preferences" and increase the value of the "Message Count" field. The default value is 20. Important Note: Increasing this value is not recommended for dial up users as it will cause your response time to be significantly slower.
42. Why do I receive the error message "Too Many Recipients" when I try to send an e-mail to a large number of recipients, either by typing in all the e-mail addresses, copying and pasting them in from a database, or sending to one of my webmail address book groups?
    
    Webmail has a limit of 1000 e-mail addresses combined in the To:, CC: and Bcc: Fields. If you need more than this, you may want to see about getting a listserv to meet your needs.
43. How do I print my e-mail without printing all the frames?
    
    
    (using Internet Explorer)
    • Click anywhere in the e-mail
    • Click File, Click Print Preview
    • In top right of preview screen
    • Click the drop down menu and select Only The Selected Frame
    • Click Print
    
    - OR -
    
    (using Internet Explorer)
    On the subject line, right click the message and in the drop-down window, select "open in new window". This will open the message in a separate window. Just click on print; and close the open window.
44. How do I stop a blank browser window from appearing when I open or save an attachment?
    
    After opening or saving an attachment in Webmail a blank internet browser window will appear.
    If you use Firefox as your web browser and wish to prevent this window please visit this Firefox Extensions page and install the fix.
    To resolve this issue with Internet Explorer please contact the HelpDesk at 568-3555.