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Before  you start:

The email system requires permission to pop up new windows in your browser.  If you are using a popup blocker, please add "mirapoint.colby.edu" to the exception list for your browser and any toolbars (Google, Yahoo, etc.) that offer popup blocking.

About These Instructions:

These instructions are written for the Corporate Edition of Mirapoint Webmail.  There is a Standard Edition, as well, that can be selected on the login page.  The Standard Edition is best for users accessing webmail via a dial-up connection.  By default, the Corporate Edition is selected when you go to the webmail login page.  Click on the Standard Edition link to log in to that version of webmail.



Opening Your Mirapoint Webmail Client/Logging In

Logging Out

Click "'Sign Out" in the upper right-hand corner of your browser window.

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Opening and Reading Email

Emails that have been sent to you will appear in your inbox. Unread emails will be in bold text. You can read them by single-clicking  or double-clicking on either the "from", the "subject", "received" or "size" column for the message you want to read. If you click once, the email message header and contents will display in the area beneath your inbox entries.  If you double click, the message will open in a new window.

The toolbar above the message window contains the following commands and menus:

  • Click Delete(Delete) to delete the message.
    Result: The message is removed from your message list, and the next message in the list is displayed. The message window will close if the message you’re deleting is the last one in the message list.
  • Click Previous (Prev) to display the previous message in the message list.
    This button will be disabled if you are currently viewing the first message in your message list.
  • Click Next (Next) to display the next item in your message list.  This button will be disabled if you are currently viewing the last message in your message list.
  • Click  Reply to Mail (Reply) to open a Compose window automatically addressed to the message sender, or click  Dropdown for this menu:
  • Reply: Opens the Compose window with the email address of the sender automatically displayed on the To line.
  • Reply All: Opens the Compose window with the sender and all recipients of the message appearing on the To and Cc fields. The reply is automatically addressed to the sender and all recipients. Anyone who initially received a Bcc does not receive your reply.
  • Click  toolbar icon (Spam) to move the email to your Junk folder
  • Click Mirapoint Show Message Preview Pane icon to show the message preview pane below your list of e-mail messages.
  • Click Mirapoint Hide Message Preview Pane icon to hide the message preview pane below your list of e-mail messages.

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Replying to Messages:

  • Make sure the message that you want to reply to is displayed; click Reply to Reply, or click the menu icon Dropdown and then select one of the following in the drop-down list:
  • Reply: Only the sender of the message appears on the To line.
  • Reply All: The sender and all recipients of the message appear on the To and Cc fields. Anyone who initially received a Bcc does not receive your reply.
Result: A Compose window appears with the specified addresses in the correct address text boxes. The Subject is automatically filled in with Re: preceding the original subject line to show that this message is “in regards” to the previous message. You can set your WebMail preferences to include the original message inline (default), or to add it as a file attachment.
  • Make any other desired recipient specifications, enter the text for your reply, and select other message options, as described in Composing Messages. Click Send Send.
    Result: The message is sent and flagged with the Answered icon Reply to; you are returned to your last selected mail folder.

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Creating a New Message

To send a new email message:

  • Click the New Message toolbar image Newdown arrow  button from the toolbar.
  • Enter the email address(es) of the recipient(s) in the To: field.
  • If you wish to send a copy or a blind copy to others, enter their email addresses in the Cc: or Bcc: fields.
  • Compose your message within the body field.
  • If an attachment is desired, click the Browse button, select the file and click on Add.
  • Click on the Options tab (next to "Compose", above the To: field) to request a delivery or read receipt.  By default a copy of the sent message will be saved.  You may change this setting for this message here, as well.  (To permanently change this setting, see Customizing Your Mirapoint Settings.)
  • Click Mail Send Button Send to send immediately, or click on  Save as Draft Save Draft, to save this message and send it later. 
  • To edit and send a message you have saved as a draft, click on the Draft Folder icon Draft Mail folder in your list of folders on the left.
  • Double click on the subject link for the message you wish to edit and/or send.  The message will open in a compose window.  When you are finished with your email, click on Send Mail icon Send.

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Receiving Attachments

Attachments are files that may be attached to email messages. Some attachments, such as GIF image files or HTML files, usually display right in your message. Other attachments may need to be opened using the Open link at the bottom of your message. For such an attachment, you may have to pick a program to open the message; you can do this by right-clicking while holding the Shift key down, or, your browser may prompt you to pick a program from a list.

Whether or not your attachment displays in your message, there is always an Open link at the bottom for each attachment. This is so you can open the attachment separately from your message and save it.

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Moving/Copying Mail to Folders

There are two ways to move or copy messages from your Inbox to other folders:  dragging messages to a folder or using the Move and Copy buttons in the mail toolbar.  SeeFolders in Mirapoint for more information on creating and using folders and subfolders.

Dragging Messages to a Folder

  • To move a message, place your cursor on one of the fields (message flag, From, Subject, Received Date, etc.) in the row of the message you want to move.  To drag more than one message, click the checkboxes to the left of the messages and then place your cursor anywhere in the row of a selected message.
  • Click your left mouse button (Windows) or your mouse (Macs) and hold it down while you drag the message(s) on to the target folder in the list of folders on the left.  A single mail icon (Mirapoint Move a Single Image) or a mutilple-item mail icon (Mirapoint Move Multiple Items Image )will display next to your cursor.
  • Release your mouse.
  • To copy a message to a different folder, hold down the Ctrl key (Windows) or the Options key (Macs) while dragging the items to the target folder.  A plus sign (+) and  a single mail icon (Mirapoint Copy a Single Item Image )  or multiple-item mail icon (Mirapoint Copy Multiple Items Image)will display next to your cursor. 

    NOTES
    *  If you select multiple rows to move or copy, but then click and drag on a row that was NOT selected, your current selection will be de-selected and the row you drag will be moved or copied.
    *  Folders that can accept your moved or copied items will be highlighted when you drag over them.
    *  When you drag items over an area where you cannot drop items, a "not allowed" icon (Mirapoint Move Not Allowed icon) will be displayed.
    *  If your list of folders is very long, hover your cursor at the top or bottom of the folders list to scroll up or down the list.

Using the Move or Copy Buttons in the Mail Toolbar

  • Click the checkboxes to the left of the message(s) you want to move. 
  • In the mail toolbar, click the Down arrow next to the Move or Copy button:

    Mirapoint Move Button menu   Mirapoint Copy Button menu
  • Select and click on the target folder in the drop-down list.  Messages are moved or copied to the target folder and either deleted (or marked for deletion) in the current message list.

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Deleting Messages

There are two options for deleting messages from your Inbox or other folder.  You may choose to delete your mail to the Trash or not.  See the Mail Settings section on the Customizing Your Mirapoint Settings page.  Look for the Delete to the Trash (Yes or No) option.  By default, this is set to Yes, and mail will be moved directly to the Trash folder, disappearing from your mail list, but staying in your Trash folder until you "Empty Trash".  If this is set to No, deleted mail will still appear in your mail list, but with a delete Deleted icon.  It will remain this way until you "Compact" your Trash.

Deleting to the Trash

  • Click Delete(Delete) to delete the message.
    Result: The message is removed from your message list, and moved to the Trash folder. 
  •  You may retrieve messages from the Trash by clicking Trash (or the name of your Trash folder, if you have renamed it), selecting the message(s) you want to retrieve and moving them to a different folder. 
  • Deleted messages will stay in the Trash folder until you click on the Delete menu in the mail toolbar and select Empty Trash:
    Mirapoint delete menu with Empty Trash option 
    NOTE:  When your Trash folder is emptied, the contents can sometimes be recovered.  See Recovering Deleted Mail.

Deleting Mail Using Compact

  • Click Delete(Delete) to delete the message.
    Result: The message will remain in your message list, but with a delete Deleted icon.
  •  You may undelete messages by going to the Mark menu in the toolbar and clicking on the Undelete option: 
    Mark Menu - Undelete option
    The mail will then appear in your list, with same state the message had before being deleted.
  • To permanently remove these messages from your mail, click on the Delete Menu in the mail toolbar and select Compact:
    Mirapoint delete menu with compact option
    NOTE:  When you select Compact, messages that were marked for deletion can sometimes be recovered.  See Recovering Deleted Mail

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Recovering Deleted Messages

Each user has 20MB of space to hold deleted messages.  Once this limit is reached, the oldest mail is overwritten and cannot be recovered.

  • To locate deleted mail, click on Shared Folders in the lower left of the left column:
    Shared Folders link
  • Subscribe to any deleted messages folders by clicking on the checkboxes next to them:
    Select deleted messages folders.
  • Any folders you subscribed to will show in your list of shared folders. 
    Shared folders list.
  • Click on a folder to display its messages in the main window.
  • Locate the message(s) you want to restore, click the corresponding checkboxes and Move or Copy them to your Inbox (or desired location.)
 

Sorting Messages

You can sort the message list by any of the named column headings or the Read/Unread Read/UnreadAttach Attachment, or High Priority Priority columns. When you click on a column heading, your messages are sorted by that factor first in ascending order; also, a Sort icon, Up Sort or Down Sort down, appears next to the column heading. Click again and the messages are sorted by that factor in descending order.

The default sort factor is arrival time (Received) and date is always the secondary sort factor. Although these two sort factors are similar, arrival time reflects different system time zone settings. It also reflects the time in which a message first appears in a message list. For example, if you move a message from one folder to another, the moved message will have a more recent arrival time compared to all the other messages in the target folder—even if the message was originally received before the others messages in the target folder.

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Searching for Messages

Webmail allows you to use the following Boolean operators in a search: OR, AND, NOT. For example, in the From field you could search for “Brad OR Mike”. The OR, AND, NOT operators are case-sensitive, meaning they must all be uppercase. If they are lower case, or a mixture of upper and lower case, your query searches for those words explicitly instead of treating them as operators. The search queries, on the other hand, are case-insensitive. This would mean that a query for all messages from “Brad” would return the same results as a query for all messages from “brad”.

If you enter multiple words in any of the text options and do not use a Boolean operator, Search looks for all the words entered as a single text string. For example, if you enter “release topics” in the Subject line for a message search, the return is only mail that includes the text string “release topics” and messages with “release 3.6 topics” would be missed.

To search for a message, follow these steps from the Mail Mail tab.

  • From the Mail toolbar, click  Search.
    Result: A search area on the page displays.
  • Specify the criteria for your search in any of the following ways:
  • From: Who sent the message.
  • To/Cc: Who the message was sent to. Find
  • Larger than/Smaller than: The message size in kilobytes (KB).
  • Subject: Words likely contained in the message Subject line.
  • Body: Words likely contained in the message body; this search is typically the most time-consuming.
Optional:
  • Select the Search in results to narrow your search to look only in the results of a previous search. If this option is not selected (default), the search is performed on all the messages in the current folder.
  • Select the Search in unread only to only search the unread messages in the current folder. If this option is not selected (default), the search is performed on all the messages in the current folder.
  • Click Search or Cancel.
    Result: If you click Search, the results are listed below and the search area closes. If you click Cancel, the search area closes.

If the results of your first search is too large, you can refine the search by performing another search on the results you just received. Follow the steps above and select the Search in results checkbox. The results of the new search are derived from the previous search results, as specified by your new criteria.

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