ITS / VUnet Services / VUmail / VUwebmail FAQ
VUwebmail 2 FAQ
Jump to:
General Questions
Logging In
The Inbox
Reading Messages
Compose
Attachments
Options
Group Mail
Compatibility
GENERAL QUESTIONS
Q: Who should use VUwebmail?
A: People who need quick access to their VUmail on computers other than their own (labs, kiosks, from home during a break, etc.). VUwebmail is not meant to be used as if it were a Fat / Thick client (like Mulberry, Mac Mail or Outlook).
Q: I don't like VUwebmail / VUwebmail doesn't do everything I need my email client to do. Is there something else I can use?
A: Yes. Vanderbilt recommends using the Mulberry client which is available to download by using your VUnetID and password on the Mulberry pages: http://www.vanderbilt.edu/vumail/mulberry/
Q: What happened to the old webmail?
A: It has been replaced by a newer version of the software.
Q: What's the difference between VUwebmail 1 and 2?
A: As a new version of the code VUwebmail is based upon, VUwebmail 2 fixes many of the bugs that users experienced in version 1.0. The new software also offers more preference choices such as: filtering options (profanity, rules) maintenance options (sent mail archiving, scheduled trash purging), and login tasks (set which mailbox to view on login). VUdirectory has been added to the Addressbooks; users now have limited access to group mail; and there is a new easier to read color scheme.
Q: I've tried the online help within VUwebmail and I've already read this FAQ. Where can I go for more help?
A: Find your IT support provider at: http://www.vanderbilt.edu/itsupport/
LOGGING IN
Q: What is my login / password?
A: Login with your VUnetID and password. VUwebmail 2 currently requires "e-password if you have it,
v-password if you don't." If you've forgotten your password, visit
http://www.vanderbilt.edu/password/
Q: Why does it ask me to choose a mailbox?
A: This allows access to either your Personal VUmail mailbox or Group mail. You must log into either one or the other mailbox, you can't view both at the same time.
Q: What are these "Mail Maintenance Operations" I keep seeing when I log in?
A: Under "Options > Mail Mangagement > Maintenance Operations" you can customize a few maintenance operations to run upon login to VUwebmail such as management of your sent-mail folders and the purging of your trash.
Q: I've logged in, where are my messages?
A: Click on "INBOX" to open it.
Q: On the Login screen, why doesn't the Addressbook open when I click on it?
A: You need to login first.
THE INBOX
Q: How do I get rid of deleted mail?
A: VUwebmail can work in two modes: marking mail as deleted, and moving deleted messages to a Trash folder.
If you are using the Trash folder feature, it acts somewhat differently. When you delete one or more messages (by clicking "Delete" in the message view, or by selecting the check box to the left of the message in the mailbox index view and then clicking "Delete"), the mail is moved to a Trash folder, giving you the opportunity to decide to undelete it (remove it from the trash) later. If you are certain you will not need the deleted message(s), click on "Empty Trash folder" in the mailbox index view. In addition, you can schedule VUwebmail to automatically empty your trash folder at login by going to "Options > Mail Mangagement > Maintenance Operations."
Q: Can I undelete messages?
A: You can undelete messages any time up until you click on the Empty Trash or Purge Deleted buttons, or until any automated emptying of the trash occurs if you have set up such an option. To undelete messages (marked as deleted) from the inbox listing, check the checkbox to the left of the messages you wish to keep, then press the Undelete link at the top or bottom left of the page. When you are viewing a message marked for deletion, there will be a link at the start and end of the message to undelete that message.
If you are using a Trash folder, you can undelete the messages by moving them out of the Trash folder into another folder.
Q: Why does the inbox occasionally show the recipient, instead of the sender, of the message?
A: The inbox shows the recipient in the From column on messages for which you are the sender. (In other words, since you sent it, you know who the sender is, so VUwebmail tells you who you sent it to.) This is particularly useful for the sent-mail and drafts folders.
Q: Why do some of the messages in my inbox have a Netscape logo in the column between "From" and "Subject?"
A: This indicates that the message has html or other "special" formatting in it.
Q: What does the image of a face in the inbox mean?
A: The image of a face in the left-hand column of an entry in the inbox means that that message was sent directly to you, and not only Cc'd to you or sent via a mailing list. In other words, your address appears in the To: header.
Q: Why didn't I get the email I KNOW somebody sent me?
A: Your mailbox could be over-quota. Each VUmail account starts off with 20 megs of space which can fill up quickly if you receive several large attachments. Download any attachments you need, then delete the emails they came with. Be sure to 'expunge trash' or 'purge deleted' (schedule trash purging in the Options menus) to empty the Trash folder.You can buy more quota space online at: https://www3.vanderbilt.edu/quotarequest/.
Q: Why is the date wrong on emails?
A: In VUwebmail, go to: Options > Your Information > Time Zone and select "Use Default Value." Some have changed the personal setting to "America / Chicago," thinking this would mean Central time. However, VUwebmail assumes that the system time is in GMT, but the servers are set to display Central time. Because of this, setting your personal option to Central applies the correction (-6 hours) to the systems time which is already correct by default.
Q: Is there a way to reverse the order the emails appear? I prefer the most current first with the rest in reverse chronological order.
A: Within the Inbox, click the little arrow image to the left of "Date" - that will toggle the ordering of the messages.
READING MESSAGES
Q: Why are signatures too dim to read?
A: This is an option which can be set to some degree in the options from the main message page.
- Options -> (Other Options) Display Options
- [checkbox] Mark different level of quoting with different colors?
- [checkbox] Dim Signitures?
Q: How can I view a message's full headers?
A: To see the entire message header, click the Message Source link in the Parts section of the message view. This will show you the raw mail message in the mailbox, including full headers and any attachments in encoded form.
COMPOSE
Q: When I click "Compose" nothing happens! What's wrong?
A: Check the preferences of your browser. If you do not allow JavaScript pop-up windows you'll need to change your settings. The compose window is a pop-up.
Q: Why do I get logged out when I compose a long email?
A: VUwebmail has an inactivity timeout feature that automatically logs users out after a long period without communication with the server (currently set to 60 minutes). This is a security feature that helps keep others from getting into your email if you've stepped away from the computer and left VUwebmail open. When you spend a long time composing a message, keep in mind that the last time your browser "talked" to the server was when you clicked "Compose." Typing in the message doesn't count against the inactivity timer because VUwebmail doesn't see what you've done on the client side until you click "send."
To avoid losing a message you've typed, compose really long messages off-line in a text editor and cut-and-paste them into VUwebmail. Or if you are already typing your message within VUwebmail and realize that it has taken you a long time to type it up.. before you click "send" select all of your text and copy it. If you get logged out just log back in, click "compose" and paste the message back into the compose window.
Q: Why does it cut off my messsage in a long email?
A: There is a character limit in all browsers that people may reach because it is a web-based client. This is another reason to compose very large messages off-line. If your message is too long to send, save it as a file and attach it to the email message.
ATTACHMENTS
Q: How do I attach a file to a message I've composed?
A: Due to the nature of Web-based mail, attaching a file to a message you are about to send is slightly different than what you may be accustomed to in conventional mail programs. Attaching a file requires two steps.
While composing the message:
1. Type the filename in the Attachment field, or press the Browse button to use a dialog box to choose the file to attach.
2. Press the Attach button to attach the selected file. This may take a moment as the file is copied from your computer to the VUwebmail server.
Please note that for large files and/or slower Internet connections, the process of uploading and attaching your file to the email may take a while. Please be patient and do not click on other things while you are waiting.
Q: When opening attachments within VUwebmail, the filenames get lost and only the extension remains. If I open the attachment with Mulberry, the filenames are there. What gives?
A: The difference is the client-side handling of the MIME type. MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) extends the format of Internet mail to allow non-US-ASCII textual messages, non-textual messages, multipart message bodies, and non-US-ASCII information in message headers.
Your browser preserved the extension because that's probably how it determined MIME type (some browsers do it differently, not all alike). The funky file name is the local temp swap/space file name created on the fly to store the file once the browser downloaded locally to pass off to your local app for the determined MIME type.
Mulberry (or any other Fat client) is going to handle passing a file (piece of attached content) to a local app differently, relying usually on the OS to determine mime type. Also, depending on how your mailboxes are established in Mulberry, the attached files (your entire message) may have already been downloaded locally, hence no need to temp swap/space file naming. Or even the client can act accordingly to download copies or your messages for viewing in the local client without your requesting it, if you don't specify this kind of behavior then the originals remain on the mail server (but you still have a local copy to work with).
OPTIONS
Q: How do I get back to the "identities" menu after changing one? I want to make it the default.
A: You can get back there by clicking "Options > Personal Information." The previous default remains the default until you change it in the first identity page.
A: Yes. Go to OPTIONS, "Personal Information" then select "edit your identities." Here you can designate which folder you want "sent mail" to be filed in. Different identities can have different sent-mail folders set up for them. You may want to change the VUwebmail default "sent-mail" folder to the one Mulberry uses by default ("sentmail").
GROUP MAIL
Q: Can I use VUwebmail to access Group Mail?
A: Yes, VUwebmail offers limited access to group (or shared) mailboxes. However, it should NOT be used as your main method for daily access. Instead, use Mulberry for full support of group mail. VUwebmail should be only used in a pinch for quick access.
Q: How do I access my Group Mail?
A: On the login screen, choose "Group" from the drop down "Mailbox" menu and login. Click on "Folders" or use the "Open Folder" drop-down menu to select the mailbox you'd like to access.
Q: Why can't I delete / move messages in my Group mail folder?
A: You may not have permission to do so. Administrators of Group mailboxes decide wether subscribers have the ability to view messages, send them or delete them. Contact the administer of the mailbox in question if you would like additional priviledges.
Q: How do I administer my Group mailbox?
A: You can't do that with Thin clients such as VUwebmail. For such advanced procedures, you must use a Fat client such as Mulberry (which is available to download by using your VUnetID and password on the Mulberry pages: http://www.vanderbilt.edu/vumail/mulberry/).
COMPATIBILITY
Q: What platforms / browsers does VUwebmail work on?
A: VUwebmail 2 was beta tested with the following configurations:
Mac OS 10.2.4:
- Internet Explorer 5.2.2 (5010.1): works great.
- Safari 1.0 Beta (v60): works great.
Mac OS 10.2.1:
- Internet Explorer 5.2.2 (5010.1): works great.
- Mozilla 1.2b: works great.
- Mozilla 1.1: works great.
- Netscape 7.0: works great.
- Netscape 6.2.3: works great.
- OmniWeb 4.1.1 (v424.6): works great.
- Opera 6.0b1: works great.
Mac OS 10.1.5:
- Internet Explorer 5.1.4 (4415.2): works great.
Mac OS 10.1:
- Internet Explorer 5.1.6: works great.
Mac OS 9.2.2:
- Internet Explorer 5.1.6: works great.
- Internet Explorer 5.1.4: works great.
- Netscape 6.2.3: works great.
Mac OS 9.2.1:
- Internet Explorer 5.1.6 (5010): works great.
Mac OS 9.1:
- Internet Explorer 5.1.5 (4719): works great.
- Internet Explorer 5.0 (2022): works great.
- Netscape 6.2: works great.
- Netscape 4.7: works, has minor display differences.
Mac OS 9.0.4:
- Internet Explorer 4.5: works great.
- Netscape 6.2: works great.
Mac OS 8.1:
- Internet Explorer 5.1.6 (5010): works great.
- Internet Explorer 5.0 (2022): works great.
- Internet Explorer 4.5 (0408): works great.
- Internet Explorer 3.01a (PowerPC): constant JavaScript errors and display problems. Can read mail, but not send. Not recommended.
- Netscape 4.6: works great.
- Netscape 4.08: works great.
Mandrake Linux 8.2, Gnome 1.4:
- Galeon 1.0.3 (mozilla): works great.
Solaris 2.8:
- Netscape 4.76: works great.
Windows XP Professional (SP1):
- Internet Explorer 6.0.2800.1106 (SP1): works great.
- Internet Explorer 6.0.2: works great.
Windows XP Professional:
- Internet Explorer 6.0.2600: works great.
- Internet Explorer 5.1.2600: works great.
Windows 2000 Professional SP3:
- Internet Explorer 6.0.2800.1106: works great.
- Mozilla 1.1: works great.
- Mozilla 1.0: works great.
- Netscape 7.0: works great.
- Netscape 6.2.3: works great.
- Netscape 6.2.1: works great.
- Netscape 4.8: works great.
- Netscape 4.79: works great.
- Netscape 4.08: works great.
- Opera 6.04: works great.
Windows 2000 Professional SP2:
- Internet Explorer 6.0.2600.0000: works great.
- Internet Explorer 6.0.26: works great.
- Mozilla 1.0.1: works great.
- Netscape 6.2.3: works great.
- Netscape 4.76: works great.
- Opera 6.04: works great.
WinNT 4.0 Professional SP6a:
- Internet Explorer: works great.
- Mozilla: works great.
- Opera: works great.
WinCE 3.0:
- Internet Explorer: Can read and send email (although you have to tell VUwebmail not to open a new window when you compose). Some buttons don't work - like "Open Folder" in the upper right. You can get to folders via other means.
