CubMail Tutorial

Getting Started

CubMail is Columbia University's web-based email program. CubMail is very useful if you are traveling or do not have access to your regular email software. It is not as robust as Pine or Mulberry and is not intended to be a full-featured email program. There are limited configuration options available within CubMail.

To use CubMail, you need a current browser, such as Netscape or Internet Explorer (with JavaScript enabled), a valid CUNIX ID (UNI) and a computer with Internet connectivity. You also need to enable cookies in your browser.

In this tutorial, you will be introduced to CubMail and will learn how to send mail, read mail and manage mail using CubMail.

Open a web browser and click here to access CubMail.

Logging in to CubMail

1. Enter your UNI (CUNIX ID) and password in the appropriate fields. Do not enter the @columbia.edu.



2. Click the Log in button.

If you are prompted to perform maintenance, you can either select a maintenance operation by clicking the appropriate checkbox and then clicking the Perform Maintenance Operations button, or skip the maintenance by clicking the Skip Maintenance button.

The index screen of your Inbox will be displayed as shown below.

Note the quota display which indicates to you how much space you are currently using and how much space you have available to you. This does not take into account how much mail is waiting to be delivered to you. If you don't have enough space, mail delivery will be interrupted.

Sending a Message

1. Click the Compose button on the toolbar to create a new email message.



2. Enter the recipient's email address in the To field. Enter a subject and then type your message.
3. Click the Send Message button to send the message. You can have CUBMail display a confirmation message each time you send a message by selecting the option Display confirmation after sending a message from Message Composition in Options.
4. You can save the message in the Draft folder by selecting Save Draft if you want to save it to finish it later.

Retrieving and Reading a Message

From the index screen, click once on a subject to view its contents.

Replying to a Message

1. Click Reply (or Reply All if you wish to send the reply to all individuals in the cc: field as well).
2. Type your response in the message text box and then click the Send Message button.

Deleting a Message

1. From the index screen, select the messages you want to delete by clicking the check box next to each message so that a check mark appears and then clicking Delete. Each message will be crossed out, and you'll see a trash can icon next to each message you marked for deletion. If you don't see the trash can icon (if the messages disappear after you've marked them for deletion), click Show Deleted to display those messages.
2. Click Purge Deleted. The messages will be removed permanently from your CUNIX directory and will no longer be accessible.

Tip: It is important to remember to purge mail marked for deletion. This will help keep your quota usage within the limit allotted to you. When you go over your allotted disk space on CUNIX, mail delivery will be interrupted (you won't receive your email) because there won't be sufficient space available in which to move your new mail.

Working with Attachments

Attachments are files that you can send along with email messages.

Sending an Attachment

Before you send an attachment, you should be sure that the recipient has a mail program that can accept attachments and the proper software to open the attachment you send.

You also need to know the location of the attachment you wish to send on your computer or floppy disk.

1. Click the Compose button on the toolbar.
2. Enter the address of your recipient and a subject.



3. Click in the blank Attachment field at the bottom of the window to display the cursor. Enter the location and name of your file, or click the Browse button to locate the file.
4. Click the Attach button after you've entered the location of the file, and then click the Send Message button to send the message.

Opening an Attachment

When you open a mail message with an attachment, you will see information about the attachment, such as the name of the attached file and the file type.

Tip: File attachments sometimes contain computer viruses, so it is recommended that you first save file attachments to your computer before you open them. You should also make sure that realtime virus protection is turned on in your antivirus program so your file can be scanned for computer viruses when you open the file.

1. Click the diskette icon located in the Parts field just below the Subject field. The File Download window is displayed.
2. Click Save. The Save As window is displayed.
3. Select the location in which you want to save the file and then click Save.
4. Open the attachment with the appropriate application.

Tip: If you receive a message with a large attachment, you may want to save the attachment to your local hard drive and delete it from CUNIX to avoid filling up space.

Working with the Address Book

CubMail enables you to maintain an address book with a list of people and their email addresses. To access it, click Addressbook on the main toolbar at the top of the page.

• An address book created in CubMail is not retrievable if its contents are lost.
• Although you cannot export the address book to other email programs such as Pine, Netscape or Outlook, you can save your CubMail address book as a comma-separated (CSV) or tab-separated (TSV) file, and then import that file to Netscape or Outlook.
• You can import comma-separated (CSV) files, tab-separated (TSV) files, or electronic business cards (vCards) into your CubMail address book. Any information you import will not overwrite any contact information already in your address book.

When you enter the address book, you'll see the list of your address book contacts. You can search for addresses either in your personal address book or in the Columbia directory.

• Click Browse to view all the contacts already stored in your address book.
• Click Add to add a new contact or distribution list. Enter the contact information and then click Save.
  
• To add an existing contact to a distribution list, select the contact(s), choose the distribution list from the drop-down at the far right (or select New List to create a new distribution list), and then click Add to.
  
• Click the Add to button on the right to add an existing contact to a new or existing distribution list.
• Click Show Lists to display your distribution lists.
• Click Show Contacts to display your contacts.
• Click Show All to display your contacts and distribution lists.
• To display a map showing the geographic location of a contact's address, display the information for a contact and then click .
  

To return to the index screen of your Inbox, click the CubMail button on the main toolbar at the top of the page.

Note: You may edit contact information at any time.

Managing Mail

You can mark messages manually as read, seen, important, answered, unanswered, etc.

1. Select the desired item by placing a check mark next to the mail item.
2. Click on the down arrow next to the Mark as drop-down menu to expand the list of choices.
3. Choose a value for each selected message.

You can display all the messages that you have marked in a certain way.

1. Click on the down arrow to display the category names.
2. Select the desired category from the Select drop-down menu.

You can move or copy a message to a different folder.

1. Select the message(s) in the message index by clicking its checkbox so that a check mark appears.
2. Choose a destination folder from the Move/Copy drop-down menu.
3. Click Move or Copy.

Managing Folders

CubMail provides many ways to work with your folders. Click the Folders button in the toolbar to display your mail folders.

To perform an action on a folder, select the folder and then select an action from the Choose Action drop-down menu.

You can also create a new folder by choosing Create Folder from the drop-down menu.

Tip: If you delete a folder, all mail messages in that folder will be deleted as well.

Setting Up Options

Click Options on the main toolbar to display a list of configuration options as shown below. These options include signatures and language settings, forwarding and filtering preferences, and options that change the appearance of CubMail.

To change an option, click the name of that option and then follow the instructions.

Logging Out of CubMail

Always remember to log out of CubMail to prevent others from reading your mail and sending mail using your account.

To log out, click the Logout button on the toolbar at the top of the page. You will return to the CubMail login page.