Using the Mail Tab in OpenSRS Webmail

The Mail tab is where you'll spend most of your time in Webmail. It's your inbox, your sent folder, your drafts, your archive, and your compose window all in one. This guide covers the everyday tasks — reading, composing, replying, organizing, and keeping spam under control.

The Mail layout

Mail has three panes side by side: the folders list on the left, the message list in the middle, and the message preview on the right. You can drag the divider between any two panes to resize them. On narrow screens, panes collapse automatically and you can toggle them back into view from the top of the visible pane.

Check for new mail

Click Refresh in the toolbar. Webmail checks the server immediately and updates every folder.

Show only unread messages

Click the envelope icon at the top of the message column, in the right-hand corner of the search bar. The list filters down to just unread messages. Click it again to show everything.

Resize the Mail panes

1. Find the small triangle in the bottom-right corner of the pane you want to resize.
2. Click and hold it.
3. Drag to adjust, then release.

Select multiple messages

1. Click Select at the top of the message list. Checkboxes appear next to each message.
2. Tick the messages you want.
3. From the toolbar, move them into a folder, delete them, flag them, or mark them as spam.

Mark messages as spam

Marking a message as spam tells the spam filter to learn from its sender, headers, and contents, so similar messages get caught in the future.

1. Select the message (or messages).
2. Click Spam in the toolbar.
3. If a consent pop-up appears, click Accept to share the data with the spam-filter partner.

Rescue a message from the Spam folder

Real messages sometimes land in Spam — wrong subject line, unusual routing, a quirk of the filter. Check the Spam folder occasionally; messages there are deleted automatically after 30 days.

1. Open the Spam folder.
2. Select the messages that aren't actually spam.
3. Click Not spam in the toolbar.

The messages move back to your Inbox, and the filter learns to let similar messages through next time.

Mark messages read or unread

1. Select the messages.
2. Open the Mark menu in the header and choose As read or As unread.

Alternatively, click the circle icon beside any message to toggle its read state.

Flag messages for follow-up

Flagging a message marks it for later. Flagged messages stand out in the list.

1. Select the messages.
2. Open the Mark menu and choose As flagged. Or hover next to a message in the list and click the flag icon when it appears.

To remove a flag, repeat the steps and choose As unflagged.

Delete messages

1. Select the messages (or click a single message to open it).
2. Click Delete.

Messages deleted from Inbox, Sent, Drafts, or a custom folder move to Trash. Messages deleted from Trash are gone for good.

Compose and send a new message

1. Click Compose in the sidebar.
2. Type the recipient's address in the To field.
3. To add Cc, Bcc, Reply-to, or Followup-to, click the +at the end of the To field.

   Note: Reply-to sets a different address for replies to land at. Followup-to is useful for mailing lists, so replies go to the list and not your personal address.

4. Type a Subject.
5. Write your message in the body.
6. Click Send at the bottom of the window.

Reply, reply to all, or forward

1. Select the message in the list.
2. Choose Reply, Reply all, or Forward from the toolbar.
3. Write your reply and click Send.

Format your message

Webmail's compose window includes a rich text editor with the formatting tools you'd expect — bold, italic, underline, alignment, bulleted and numbered lists, indentation, blockquotes, text and background color, font family and size, hyperlinks, tables, emojis, special characters, images, media, undo and redo, find and replace, and a source code view for HTML.

Use spellcheck

Spellcheck supports 44 languages and runs from the compose toolbar.

1. Pick your language from the spellcheck drop-down. Webmail underlines questionable words as you type.
2. Left-click an underlined word to see suggested corrections.
3. Choose the correct word.

Right-clicking uses your browser's built-in spellchecker, which can show both lists at once if Webmail's spellcheck is also active.

Insert an image into your message

1. Click the insert image icon in the editor toolbar.
2. Paste an image URL into the Source field, or select Add file to upload one.
3. Adjust the dimensions if needed.
4. Click Ok.

Images can be JPG, GIF, PNG, or other common web image formats. They can live on the internet or in your Webmail Files section.

Attach a file

1. Click Attach in the compose toolbar.
2. Browse to the file and click Open.
3. The attachment appears in the Options and attachments pane.

Email size limits

The maximum total size of a message — body plus attachments — is 35 MB. Because attachments are MIME-encoded for transit, the encoded size is larger than the file on disk, so aim for attachments under 27 MB. Some receiving mail servers also reject very large messages.

System folders vs. personal folders

System folders — Inbox, Drafts, Spam, Sent, and Trash — come built in. You can't rename, move, or delete them, but you can add sub-folders inside them.

Personal folders are folders you create. You can add, rename, empty, and delete them as needed. They appear below the system folders. You can nest sub-folders inside other folders too.

Add a new folder

1. At the top of the folders list, click the menu icon (three vertical dots) and choose Manage folders.
2. Click Create.
3. Type a name in the Folder name field.
4. To make it a sub-folder, choose a parent from the Parent folder drop-down.
5. From List view mode, choose whether messages should display as a flat list or grouped into threads.
6. Click Save.

Sort messages within a folder

1. Click the folder in the folder list.
2. Click Options in the toolbar above the message list.
3. Choose a sort column — Arrival date, Sent date, Subject, From/To, From, To, CC, or Size.
4. Pick ascending or descending, and whether to group conversations into threads.
5. Click Save.

Search within a folder

You can search by subject, sender (From), recipients (To, Cc, Bcc), message body, or the entire message.

1. Click the folder you want to search.
2. From the drop-down next to the search field, pick the search type.
3. Type your search terms and press Enter.

Click the X in the search field to clear the results.

Rename, empty, or delete a folder

1. Click the menu icon (three vertical dots) at the top of the folders list and choose Manage folders.
2. Click the folder you want to change.
3. Do one of the following:
   • Rename: type a new name in the Folder name field and click Save.
   • Empty: click Empty in the toolbar, then confirm. Messages move to Trash — they're recoverable until you empty Trash.
   • Delete: click Delete, then confirm. The folder is removed and its messages move to Trash.

Move messages to another folder

1. Select the messages.
2. In the toolbar, click More, then Move to, and pick the destination folder.

Or drag and drop: select the messages, then click-and-hold and drag them onto the folder in the list.

Automatically file incoming messages

Mail filters can route incoming mail into folders for you. A filter matches criteria you set (sender, subject, words in the body, and so on) and then takes an action:

• Forward message to another address
• Move to folder
• Delete email message

Filters are set up under Settings. See How to Use Webmail Settings.

Next steps

• Build your address book. See How to Use Webmail Contacts so addressing messages takes seconds.
• Set up your calendar. See How to Use Webmail Calendar to schedule events and reminders.
• Read mail on the go. See Phone Mail Client Setup and Server Settings for iPhone and Android.
• See the big picture. See The Complete Webmail Guide for a tour of every Webmail component.

Questions? Contact OpenSRS Support.