Options

To see Webmail's configuration possibilities, select the "Options" button at the top of the browser. You should see these menu choices:

Personal Information

When you first set up your Webmail, be sure to fill in your Personal Information. You can later modify it as needed.

  1. Select the "Options" menu (at the upper left of the right hand frame).
  2. Choose "Personal Information" and customize your profile as follows:
  3. Full Name (required):
    Enter your name as you wish it to be seen by recipients of your e-mail.
  4. E-mail Address:
    Enter your e-mail address, but only if it's different from your automatically assigned Unity address.
  5. Reply To:
    Enter the e-mail address you want your recipients to reply to, but only if it's different from the one you're sending from.
  6. Signature:
    Optional - A signature is a piece of text that can be attached to the bottom of each message you send. If you want a signature, mark the checkbox beside "use a signature" and then type in the desired signature.
  7. Multiple Identities:
    Select this link if you want to use different e-mail addresses for different purposes (e.g., one identity for your work e-mail, another for home). You can then enter each additional e-mail address you want to use.
  8. Timezone Options:
    Leave this at the default setting ("Same as server").
  9. Reply Citation Options:
    When you choose the "Reply" button to respond to a message, the Compose form will automatically include the original message. The Reply Citation option allows you to choose the introductory line (the citation line) for this quoted message:
    • No Citation: Inserts no citation line.
    • AUTHOR Wrote: Inserts the line: "[original sender] Said:" where [original sender] will be replaced by the name of the person who sent you the original message.
    • Quote Who XML: This produces the line: <quote who="[original sender]">.
    • User-Defined: Enables you to customize the citation line. In the two text boxes accompanying this option you can type the beginning and end of the citation line. The original sender's name will be inserted between these two texts.
  10. Signature Options:
    These allow you to use or not use your signature (see Step 6) and to precede it with a dashed line.

Display Preferences

  • Theme
    Webmail offers a choice of color themes.
  • Custom Stylesheet
    Changing a theme changes only the colors. A stylesheet can be used change, for example, the font and size. These changes will be applied to every message you send.
  • Language
    You can easily change the language of most displays. From the list, choose your desired language (if listed), and it will be used for all future Webmail-related messages you send.
    NOTE: This option does not translate incoming e-mail messages or folder names.
  • Use Javascript
    Even though one of the main goals in creating Webmail was to eliminate Javascript from it, some of the developers made a very good address book searching utility that uses Javascript, and other Javascript functions were also added. So you now have the option of using pure HTML or allowing Javascript as well. If you don't know what this means, it is safest to choose "Autodetect."
  • Number of Messages per Page
    This is the number of messages that you want to be displayed at a time in a message list. If a folder contains more than this number, you will see "Previous" and "Next" links that allow you to see pages that list the other messages.
  • Enable Page Selector
    Setting this to "Yes" shows page numbers above and below the message list so that you can quickly move to a specific page of messages. "Maximum number of pages to show" can be used to limit the number of pages displayed.
  • Wrap Incoming Text At
    This specifies the number of characters to allow before wrapping the text. This prevents messages from scrolling off the screen. A good number to try initially is "86."
  • Width of Editor Window
    This is the number of characters per line that you can type in your "Compose" box before the line wraps.
  • Location of Buttons when Composing
    You can choose the locations for the "Addresses," "Save Draft," and "Send" buttons in the right hand frame.
  • Addressbook Display Format
    Choose how you want the Address Book to be displayed. If you want maximum compatibility with all browsers, use HTML. To display a nicer Address Book, select Javascript if you know your browser supports it.
  • Show HTML Version by Default
    If a message you receive is in both text and HTML format, you can choose to see the HTML version (Yes) or the text version (No). Default format is "text."
  • Include Me in CC when I Reply All
    "Reply All" sends your reply to all recipients of the original message, including yourself. To leave your own e-mail address out of the reply list, set this to "No."
  • Enable Mailer Display
    When you view a message, this identifies the e-mail program the sender used.
  • Display Attached Images with Message
    If someone sends you a message with one or more images attached and you've set this to "Yes," the images will be displayed right away when you view the message.
  • Enable Subtle Printer Friendly Link
    This determines the presence or absence of a quicklink button that allows you to print messages.
  • Enable Printer Friendly Clean Display
    When enabled, this will clean up the message so the print looks nicer.
  • Compose Messages in New Window
    This enables a pop-up window whenever you compose a reply or forward a message.
  • Width and Height of Compose Window
    If you elect to have a pop-up window when composing, this specifies its size.
  • Append Signature Before Reply/Forward Text
    This will allow you to decide if/where your signature will be included in a new message.
  • Use Receive Date for Sort
    Sort new messages in the Inbox by receive date. There are no other options in this menu, but you can change the sorting in a folder as noted in Learning the Layout.
  • Enable Thread Sort by Reference Header
    This will enable the "Thread View" option in the Inbox. This option groups together the messages having the same subject and sender.
  • Delete/Move/Next Buttons
    This allows you more location options for buttons. In this case, you can reposition the "Delete", "Move," and "Next" buttons.
  • Windows Preferences
    You can decide if you want a pop-up window when you open a message for reading. There are also a few customizations of the Address book and Auto-complete features. The address book link can be aligned or hidden. Auto-complete can be set to search under e-mail addresses, nicknames, or both, or it can be disabled.

Message Highlighting

This option allows you to color-code messages from a particular sender or on a particular subject for easier recognition. Click on [New] to create a new color code or [Edit] to change an existing one. The window will expand to provide several options:

message highlighting

  • Identifying Name
    This is a name for the highlighting itself. For example, if you are highlighting messages from your mother, you might choose the name "From Mom".
  • Color
    You can select the first radio button and then choose the highlight color from a drop-down menu of predefined ones. Or you can select the "Other" radio button and enter the HEX code (e.g., a6b492) for that color.
  • Matches
    From the drop-down menu, choose the header field to match against (e.g., "From"). In the text box, enter the phrase to be matched (e.g., mom@yahoo.com).

Folder Preferences

These options will determine how your folders are used and how they are displayed in your browser window.

  • Trash Folder
    You can choose one of your folders other than "Trash" to hold your unwanted messages. If you select "Don't use Trash," you will not be able to temporarily store in Webmail any messages you don't want but haven't yet deleted.
  • Draft Folder
    You can choose one of your folders other than "Drafts" to hold your message drafts (completed or partially written e-mails that need to be reviewed before sending). If you select "Don't use Drafts," you will not be able to save your drafts in Webmail.
  • Sent Folder
    You can select one of your folders other than "Sent" to hold your sent messages. If you select "Don't use Sent," you will not be able to save Webmail copies of messages you send.
  • Location of Folder List
    You can display your folder list in either the left or right frame in your window.
  • Width of Folder List
    If you have very long folder names or large fonts, set the width of the list fairly high. Otherwise, set it low to save screen space.
  • Auto Refresh Folder List
    You can set the interval between automatic refreshes (in minutes) to reveal the current number of unread messages in each folder.
  • Enable Unread Message Notification
    This option specifies how to show the number of messages you haven't read. If you select "No Notification," you won't see the number of unread messages. If you set it to "INBOX," the arrival of new mail will cause the name of the Inbox to become bold and the number of new messages to appear in parentheses. If you set it to "All Folders," this behavior will occur on all folders.
  • Unseen Message Notification Type
    When a folder contains new messages, this option tells whether to display the total number of messages in that folder or only the new ones.
  • Enable Collapsible Folders
    This allows you to 'fold' or collapse a folder so that any subfolders it contains will not be displayed. You can collapse a folder by clicking on the "-" sign next to its name and expand it again by clicking on the "+" sign. Setting this to "No" disables collapsing.
  • Show Clock on Folders Panel
    Choose whether you want a clock to be displayed above the folder list and how it should look. "Hour Format" lets you choose a 12- or 24-hour clock.
  • Memory Search
    If you search a mailbox, the search will be saved for quick access later. This option specifies how many mailbox searches to save.

Index Order

This specifies the order in which the columns (Date, Flags, Subject, From and the checkboxes) appear in the message list. You can add, remove or rearrange columns or customize them to fit your needs. Use the Up, Down, or Remove links to reposition columns or delete one from the display.

LDIF Addressbook Import

This feature will allow you to import an address book in the LDIF file format (as defined in RFC-2849) from another e-mail application into NC State's Webmail. Many e-mail programs can export address books in this format.

  1. If possible, export your address book in LDIF format from the other e-mail program and save it to your local computer or remote file space.
  2. Open NC State's Webmail.
  3. Browse to the location where you saved the exported file.
  4. Import it to NC State's Webmail.

If your e-mail program cannot export in LDIF format, see http://www.slipstick.com/config/convaddr.htm for a list of converters available from different sources.

You can also import an address book in CSV format. For information and instructions, see the Address Book page.

Message Filters

This feature is available only for filtering out spam. See the automatic IMAP SPAM Filter Setup Tool for instructions

Rules for Unsafe Images

This menu allows you to decide how to handle images deemed "unsafe" by SquirrelMail. You may choose to accept all images (not recommended), accept images from specific users, or work only with images you have originally sent. You can also choose to add additional "rules" or limitations.

SpellChecker Options

The SpellChecker allows you to set the default language or modify the "Personal Dictionary."

When you run the SpellChecker as you compose a new message, it will identify misspelled words and others not in the Personal Dictionary. You can include them by selecting "Add." When you use the Personal Dictionary, all the words you've added to it are listed. To remove a word, simply mark its checkbox and select "Delete."

The "Set up International Dictionaries" option will set the dictionary language that will be used with the SpellChecker. The default is English.

Archive Settings

This menu allows you to modify the ways in which you archive your messages. You can choose the way in which you will export the messages and the type of file that the archive will be saved as. For more information about archiving messages go to the Learning the Layout page.

New Mail Options

Select "Enable Media Playing" if you want a media file to play when you receive new mail. You can then choose the file from a list at the bottom of the page. Selecting "local media" will play a specified file stored on the local computer. If no local file is specified, the system will use a default file on the server.

The "Check all boxes, not just INBOX" option will check all of your folders for unread mail, not just the inbox.

The "Count only messages that are RECENT" will check for only the most recently received messages. It will not alert you to messages for which you've already received an alert but not yet read. This reduces the occurrence of sounds or pop-ups signaling unread mail.

Selecting the "Change title on supported browsers" option (requires JavaScript) will change the title in some browsers to alert you about new mail. This option works only in Internet Explorer, but it won't produce errors in other browsers. It will always tell you if you have new mail, even if you have "Check RECENT" enabled.

Selecting the "Show Popup" option (requires JavaScript) will show you a pop-up window when unread mail is in your folders.

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