Webmail

Our Webmail application is for viewing, collecting and sending your email when you are not at your usual desktop PC. It is based on SquirrelMail, which is a proven application in use by multiple ISPs around the world. This tutorial covers the basics of using Webmail.

1. Login to Webmail
2. Webmail Layout
3. Compose
4. Addresses
5. Folders - (setup your spam folder)
6. Options - (setup your personal information)
7. Search
8. Help
9. Spam Filtering

1. Login to Webmail

Webmail is available at http://webmail.plus.net/
Alternatively you can connect to it from the Member Centre, click on Webmail on the left-hand menu.

Webmail - Login

To login, select your server from the "Log in to:" dropdown menu (selecting from PlusNet, Force9 or Free-Online), then enter your mailbox name and corresponding password. Tick the "Remember login server" box so that when you return to Webmail later, your server setting will be remembered and you won't have to repeat to the selection.

To login using an additional mailbox, you must use your mailbox username, which is made up of your account username and the name of the mailbox you are logging into:

E.g. username+mailbox_name.
For more information on using your mailboxes, read our Mailbox Guide.


When logged in you will see the Inbox for your email.

Viewing Emails with Images
When reading emails with images embedded in them, our new Webmail, by default, will not show them. Instead you will receive the message This image has been removed for security reasons. There is no cause for alarm, however if you do wish to view the email's images you should click the link View Images and then you will be able to view the email as sent with its embedded images. We recommend that you only view images if you are sure you know who has sent you the email and we would recommend that you do not view images if you are at all unsure about the email's content.

2. Webmail Layout

The Webmail screen consists of a left-hand folder menu that contains your folders, a top menu from where you select which actions to take, and a main window, in which your emails are shown.

Webmail - Layout

Folder Menu (left hand menu)
Lists your folders that are contained in the INBOX. By default you should have Drafts, Sent and Trash folders.

At the top of the menu is a time-stamp of the last refresh. This is the last time the page was updated. Click (check mail) to see if any new emails have arrived.

INBOX - Your email will arrive in the main INBOX by default.

Drafts - When composing emails you can elect to save them here before sending them.

Sent - Copies of emails that you have sent are stored in the Sent folder.

Trash - Emails that you have chosen to delete are stored in your Trash folder. You can empty your trash folder by clicking on [purge]. Important: If you do this, the emails will be permanently deleted.

You can create additional folders to help organise your emails. Read the section about Folders for more details.


Current Folder (Control Panel)
On the top of the screen is the control panel. From here, you can select what actions you wish to take.

Compose - Click this to write and send a new email.

Addresses - Save the contact details for your friends and colleagues.

Folders - Create or modify your mail folders.

Options - Change settings and customise the way Webmail works.

Search - Search your emails.

Help - Online help for Webmail.

Navigation
You can navigate through the emails stored in the folder you are viewing. You can select Previous page, Next page, or you can View all emails on one page (View All). If you do this, you can click Paginate to return to the multiple page view. Note that you can change the number of emails shown on each page by updating Options.

You can select all emails for moving to another folder or deleting by using the Toggle All button.

Sign-out
Click on sign-out to disconnect from the Webmail service. You should always Sign-out if you are using a shared computer to view your email.

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3. Compose

You write new emails using the compose screen.

Webmail - Compose

To: Email address of the person you wish to send to
Cc: Carbon Copy is for sending an email to additional people. All the persons you send the email to can see who else received it.
Bcc: Blind Carbon Copy is for sending a copy to a second person without reporting on the email who received it.
Subject: This is the title of your email.

Priority: Allows you to flag how important you think the email is. This doesn't make it arrive any faster, it simply alerts the person who receives it that you consider it a high priority.
Receipt: You can force a return receipt that confirms that the email has been either delivered (tick On Delivery box) or has been read (tick On Read box).
Signature: Click this to add your signature to the bottom of the email (if you have not selected to do so by default from the Webmail Options.
Addresses: Select the people you want to send your email to from your contact addresses.
Save Draft: Save your email for sending later. It will be stored in your Draft folder.
Send: Will immediately send your email, which will then be recorded in the Sent folder.

Attach: You can attach files to be sent as part of your email. Note that there is a file size limit of 2MB. We recommend that you don't send large files.

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4. Addresses

Addresses allow you to store details for your contacts, making it easier for you to send emails to them in future. To add a new address to your Addresses, complete the information under Add to Personal address book and click Add address. Contacts will then be listed in the Personal address book section, as illustrated below. You can change or delete contacts by ticking the box next to their entry and clicking either Edit, Selected or Delete selected.

Webmail - Addresses

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5. Folders

You can better organise your email by creating additional folders.

1. To create a new folder click on Folders on the Folder bar. Type in a folder name in the Create Folder line.
   
2. Use the drop-down box to select where to create the folder. You can place it in your INBOX, or you can create a folder within another folder.
   
3. Click the Create button.

Webmail - Folders


You can rename and delete folders using the drop-down windows.

You can use the Unsubscribe/Subscribe feature to provide access to a folder. When a folder is subscribed, you will be able to move email into it. When a folder is unsubscribed, it will not have the option of moving emails from your Inbox into it.

Spam folder
Webmail comes with Spam Protection, part of our continued aim to provide Spam free broadband service. All email marked with [-SPAM-] should be sent to your Spam mailbox. This mailbox automatically appear on the left hand menu. If it doesn't appear, you can add it;

1. Click on the Folders link above your INBOX.
   
2. At the bottom of the page that opens you will see a list of folders you can subscribe to. You should see a folder called INBOX.Spam

   Tip - If you've not yet received any spam you may not see a 'Spam' folder to subscribe to. If this is the case you can create one manually using Create Folder at the top of the page. Make sure you enter the folder name as 'Spam' (without quotes and note the capital 'S')

3. Assuming that you can now see INBOX.Spam in the list of folders, highlight it and click the Subscribe button.
   
   
4. Click Check Mail to refresh your folders.
   
   
5. Your 'Spam' folder should now be visible.

   Note: Once switched on your spam settings will apply to your whole account (e.g. mailboxes and domains).

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6. Options

Options provide you with control over how Webmail works. It also lets you customise many features.

Webmail - Options


Personal Information - You should complete the information in this section so that the emails that you send are correctly formatted.
Message Highlights - Allows you to colour code emails you receive, making it easier to spot important emails.
Index Order - Change the way that emails are listed, you can also add Email Size to your list, so that you can see the file size of each email.
Display Preferences - Gives you a lot of control over how webmail appears. You can change the colours and text formatting using the themes drop-down. You can also select to see more emails on each page by increasing the number on the Mailbox Display Options.

Personal Information
We recommend that you update this section to get the most out of Webmail.

Webmail - Options - Personal Details


Full Name: Enter your name. This will be used to identify you in outgoing email.
Email Address: Enter your email address. Email you send will show this address in the FROM: line. This can be anything@ your domain, the choice is yours. However, if you don't put something in here your email will not work. Take special care when setting your email address! This is the address that replies are sent to, get it wrong and the replies may not return to you.
Reply To: We recommend you leave this blank. Otherwise, enter the email address you would like people to use for their replies, if it is different from the one you are presenting.
Signature: You can format a signature that you can have placed at the end of your email messages. This can be made to appear by default using the Signature Options, or you can apply on the composition screen by clicking the signature button.
Multiple Identities: If you like to have multiple email addresses, signatures or names, you can enter them here, or select an already created identity.
Your current Timezone: Email usually includes a timestamp that tells the receiver when you sent it. If you select your timezone here, the timestamp will be more accurate. If not, the server's time zone is used.
Reply Citation Options: You can use this option to change the way replies are formatted. This makes it easier to read replies. By default, emails do not show citations, but it is possible to highlight what is reply text, and what was from your original message.
Signature Options: You can select to place your signature text on all emails that you compose. You can also select to add '--' which will tell some email applications that what follows is a signature, allowing them to format them differently or remove then from your message text.

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7. Search

Use the search tool to find emails containing particular information that you've sent or received.

1. Select which folder you wish to search.
2. Type in a word, term or address you wish to search for in the middle box.
3. Select which category you wish to search.
4. Click Search.

Webmail - Search

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8. Help

You can read more about Webmail using the online help.
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9. Spam Filtering

All broadband accounts now include Spam Protection, so you may already have access to this feature. (To activate Spam Protection, go to Manage My Mail and click on the 'Spam' tab. Please bear in mind that it may take around 15-30 minutes for the Spam Protection service to become active). Spam Protection scans all emails sent to your mailboxes and domains for content that matches known spam email patterns. Though the system isn’t 100% effective, most spam emails are identified and have their subject line tagged with [-SPAM-]. You can choose to have these emails sent to your Inbox, or saved to your Webmail 'Spam' folder.

Important: It is possible you may not see the 'Spam' folder when logging into Webmail. If this is affecting you it is likely that you either haven't received any spam yet or are not 'subscribed' to the folder.

To see how to make your 'Spam' folder appear watch Setting Up Your Webmail 'Spam' Folder [Video Help]

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This page last updated 25th February 2008