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GopherMail Guide

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Contents

 Welcome

  • GopherMail is a Web-browser-based e-mail program that can be used by anyone whose e-mail address ends in @umn.edu. GopherMail's greatest asset is speed, which translates to a lighter load on the central systems e-mail servers and thus provides a faster environment for all users.

  • GopherMail's Welcome screen lets you choose the default delivery method for your messages. The options are:

    • Arrival Time: Time the message was delivered to the mailbox, A to Z.
    • Reverse Arrival Time: Time the message was delivered to the mailbox, Z to A.
    • Send Time: Time the message was originally sent, A to Z.
    • Reverse Send Time: Time the message was originally sent, Z to A.
    • From: Sender's name, A to Z.
    • Reverse From: Sender's name, Z to A.
    • Subject: Blank subjects, then A to Z.
    • Reverse Subject: Z to A, then blank subjects.

  • To stop the welcome screen from appearing, click the checkbox next to Show this screen next time you log in.

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Read/Send Mail

  • Read Mail
    • Unread/new messages are highlighted.
    • To read a message, click on the name of the person in the From column, or click on the subject in the Subject column.
    • Click Check Mail link to connect to the server, and check for new messages.
      Caution: Do not click this too often, as it overloads the mail servers.

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  • Reply to Sender

    • Click Reply to reply the the original sender of the message, or Reply all to reply to the original sender plus all the original recipients.
    • A new Write Message window opens, containing the entire contents of the original message. Each line begins with a least one > (greater-than) character, indicating that it is part of a forwarded message and allowing you to comment line-by-line.
    • The sender's e-mail address fills in the To: field; if you selected Reply all, the other e-mail address(es) fill in the Cc: field. Add additional e-mail addresses, separated by commas, in the To:, Cc:, or Bcc: fields.
    • The Subject field begins with "Re:" and repeats the original subject line.
    • Use GopherMail's Cut/Copy/Paste features to add, delete, or move text.


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  • Send Mail

    • Click on the Compose button. A blank form with standard To, Subject, and Message sections appears.
    • Fill in the form using GopherMail's simple text editor; the editor supports standard Edit/Cut/Copy/Paste functions. While viewing HTML is supported, support for composing e-mail with HTML or rich text elements, such as bold or italics, is not planned for GopherMail.
    • Expand nicknames: Check a typed nickname against your Addressbook; when you click this button, the addressbook's full entry displays. Incomplete entries will display the default domain (typically @umn.edu).
    • From: Anything typed in this box will appear in the "From" column of the recipient's mailbox. GopherMail inserts your real e-mail address after this information, surrounded by <>.
    • To: The recipient's e-mail address. Use commas to separate multiple addresses.
    • Cc: (Carbon Copy) The e-mail address(s) of the person(s) you want to receive a copy of the message. This/these will be visible to all recipients of the message. Use commas to separate multiple addresses.
    • Bcc: (Blind Carbon Copy) When sending an e-mail, if you Bcc someone, you're sending them a copy of your e-mail, but not allowing the recipients in the To: or Cc: fields of your e-mail client to know that the Bcc recipient(s) was included as well. Use commas to separate multiple addresses.
    • Subject: Click in the text entry box (to the right of the Subject label) and type a subject line. (A good subject line is brief yet descriptive. People who receive many messages sometimes decide when, or if, to read a message based on its subject line.)
    • Attach files: Navigate to the file you'd like to attach to the message.
    • Postpone: Save a draft to the postponed-messages mail folder and return to the GopherMail page.
    • Cancel: Cancel the message and return to the GopherMail page.
    • Check Spelling: Spell-check the body of the message and view suggested alterations, leave the word unchanged, or add the word to your personal dictionary.
    • Send: Triggers an immediate send of the e-mail message.
    • Message: Click within the Message section and type your message. The window will automatically expand to make room for larger messages. Use standard Edit>Paste commands to insert information you copy from other electronic documents. You can also use the standard Edit>Cut/Copy/Paste commands to move sections of the message you are writing. When you're finished writing, select Send to deliver your message. If you decide you do not want to send the message, click the Cancel button.

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  • Search Mail

    • GopherMail's Search allows you to select a subset of messages within the current mail folder. After you've obtained this subset, you may mark them all and take action on them as a group (example: copy them to folder).
    • Text Search (field next to Search button on the right): Allows messages to be selected depending on whether a part of the message contains information from these fields: From, To, Cc, Recipient, Participant, Subject, or Text (please avoid using text, as it overloads the server).
      • Advanced Search (Adv Search link).
        • Search Menus: text, date, status, size.
          • Status: seen (read), unseen, deleted, not deleted, answered, not answered.
          • Size: larger or smaller than the chosen size.
          • From, To, Cc, Recipient, Participant, Subject, or Text.
          • Contains/Does Not Contain.
      • After a search, additional buttons appear:
        • Cancel: Returns you to the listing of the result of your previous search.
        • Fresh Search: Abandon the original search and start a new one. This returns a list of messages satisfying the new criterion. Note that you must have entered the new criterion before you select this button.
        • Narrow Existing Search and Broaden Existing Search: Obtain a listing of messages satisfying several criteria. Again, note that you must have entered the new criterion before you select one of these buttons.
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  • Sort Mail

    • The default sort order is by arrival.
    • To temporarily change the current mail folder sort, select #, Date, From, Size or Subject in the column headings. This will sort in ascending order. For example, if you sort by Size, the smallest messages will be listed first.
    • To reverse the selected sort order, re-select the chosen column (for example, select Size twice to sort by descending size).
    • Regardless of how you choose to sort your messages, GopherMail will always navigate to the page with your oldest, unread message.

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  • Mark Mail


    • Messages on a screen can be marked (selected) by checking the box next to the message number. Marking is useful if you want to do the same thing with several messages on the page, such as deleting or copying a group to the same mail folder.
    • By default, GopherMail does not select messages across multiple pages. To change this option, select the Settings icon, click Advanced, and then click the Use persistent marks (slower, sometimes useful) option.
    • Once messages have been marked, the pull-down menu lets you:

      • Move marked to
      • Delete marked
      • Undelete marked
      • Flag as read
      • Flag as unread
      • Forward marked.

    • Select from the pull-down menu and then click Go.

    • Note: After you've marked messages, you must take action on those messages before you do something else (such as move to another page of messages or read a message). If you do something else before you have taken action on the marked messages, the marks are cancelled unless you have selected the Use persistent marks advanced setting.
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  • Delete Mail
      • Click the check box to the left of each message you wish to delete, and then select Delete Marked from the drop–down menu.
      • The mail is marked as to be deleted and is not immediately removed from your mailbox.
      • When you are ready to permanently delete the messages, select Purge. A screen will display, and you may click Okay to confirm the purge, or Cancel to cancel it. If the confirmation screen does not appear, you must change GopherMail's Settings. Go to Settings > General and check the Confirm purge of deleted messages option.

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    • Thread Mail
      • Threading places messages that are in response to an earlier message into a single "thread" for easier viewing of an extended back-and-forth email conversation.
      • Click Thread Messages to sort the current mail folder by thread.
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    • Using Roles/Identities

      • For information on how to define a role, please see the Identities/Roles section.
      • When you compose a message, you may select an existing role/identity. This means that you can log in with one account and send an e-mail from another account.
      • Click the Compose icon at the top of the screen.
      • Select the appropriate Role from the Roles list. Choose Default if you do not wish to use one of the defined roles.

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    • Attachments

      • Send Attached Files

        • The combined total size of all attachments cannot exceed 10 MB. There's no size limit for receiving attachments, although your mailbox space limit is 1 GB. To send a larger attachment, use a compression utility to reduce the file's size (examples: StuffIt, WinZip).
        • While composing a message, select the Attach files button.
        • Click Choose File to navigate on your computer to the file you'd like to attach to the message. Follow standard conventions for selecting directories and files.
        • Click Attach File to upload the file to GopherMail.
        • Repeat as necessary to attach multiple files.

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      • Receive Attached Files

        • Attachments are indicated in the message list by a paperclip icon.
        • To view an attachment, open the message. Attachment(s) show up as links in the e-mail message.
        • Click the attachment name.
        • You’ll be prompted to Open it or Save it to disk. Note: If the attachment appears garbled when it opens or if GopherMail prompts you to save the document to disk, then you probably don’t have the right software to read or convert this attachment. This is the most common problem that people have with attachments -- you may need to contact the sender to find out what software is needed to open the file.
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    Addressbook

    • Search U Directory
      • Searches the U of M Directory. Only individuals with public entries in the U of M Directory will appear.
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    • Add a contact manually
      • Click the Addressbook icon.
      • Click in the field to the left of the Create entry button, and type in the full e-mail address(es), (separate multiple addresses with commas).
      • Nickname: The common name by which the e-mail account owner is known, set to <none> by default. This can be used as an address shortcut when composing a message. Nicknames are required and must contain no spaces.
      • Name: Contact name(s).
      • Click Add entry to add, or Cancel to cancel.
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    • Add a contact directly from an e-mail

      • Open the e-mail message.
      • Click on the person's e-mail address link (in the From: field).

    • Edit/Delete a contact

      • Check the box next to the name/e-mail address or group you want to edit.
        • Click Edit and modify the contact information; then select Add/Update entry.
        • Click Delete entry to permanently remove it.
      • To edit/delete multiple contacts, click the boxes to the left of the contacts before clicking Edit.
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    • Create a Distribution/Group list

      • Click the box to the left of an e-mail address to select it.
      • If prospective group member addresses appear on different pages of the addressbook, manually create a group by entering the nicknames of existing group members or full e-mail address, separated by commas.
      • Select Group Marked from the pull-down menu
      • Click Go.
      • Modify the information, then select Add entry.
      • Note: GopherMail's addressbook cannot select addresses across pages of the addressbook to create a group. In the [Address(es)] field, enter either the full e-mail address of the group members or the nicknames of existing addressbook entries. Addresses must be separated by commas. Enter a nickname for the group. Then click [Add Entry]. To address an e-mail to the group, enter the group's nickname in any of the recipient's address field(s).
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    • Select a Contact

      • Click the Compose icon to open the message composition window.
      • Type the nickname you with to use.
      • Click the expand names button.
      • Click the Addressbook icon to open the contact list.
      • Click the checkbox next to each contact that you want to send the message to.
      • Click the To>> (or Cc>> or Bcc>>) box(es).
      • Click the Add marked to draft button to return to the message composition window.
      • Each addressbook entry appears on a separate line.

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    • Search your Addressbook

      • Click Search.
      • From the first drop-down menu, select Nickname, Name, or Address to search on.
      • From the second drop-down menu, select contains, is, begins, or ends:
        • is if you are certain of the exact term;
        • begins, ends, or contains if you're unsure or wish to retrieve a potentially wider selection.
      • Select the Search button.
      • After the initial search, use the any/all toggle:
        • any to return entries that match one or more criteria;
        • all to return entries that match all the specified criteria.

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    • Export/Import an Addressbook
      • Save a copy of your addressbook into a file format recognized by other e-mail applications. This can only export your entire addressbook at once.
      • Click Transfer.
      • Choose an option:
        • Export txt to exported it as a tab delimited file. Each address book entry is separated by a hard-return; each field is separated by a tab.
        • Export CSV to export it as a comma separated values file. Use your browser's Save feature to navigate your hard drive. Each address book entry is separated by hard-return; each field is separated by a comma. Use this option when importing into Outlook and Outlook Express.
        • Import from your computer:
          • Choose file: browse to the location of the addressbook on your local disk.
          • Import Addressbook.

    Mail Folders

    • Manage Mail Folders

      • Folders are used for saving e-mails on the server for later use. They are usually grouped according to type, such as personal, work, Course A, and so on.
      • GopherMail stores folders on the server, not on your own computer, which allows access to stored e-mail messages from anywhere in the world. Although you are not required to create such a storage system, we recommend it as it reduces the risk of a particular mail folder becoming too large.
      • By default, all the directories and folders are stored in the mail directory.
    • Create a Folder
      • Click the Folders icon.
      • Type a folder name in the Create folder: field.
      • Click Create.

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    • Rename a Folder

      • Click the Folders icon.
      • Locate the folder you want to rename and click Rename.
      • Type a name in the field next to New name, and click Rename.

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    • Delete a Folder

      • Click the Folders icon.
      • Locate the folder you want to remove and click Delete.

      • Click Okay to confirm the folder deletion, or Cancel to cancel.
      • You can only delete a directory if it has no mail folders inside it.

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    • Move a Folder
      • The Directory field shows the name of the current directory (default mail). Entering the name of another directory and then selecting Apply will display the contents of that directory.
      • Type mail in here at any time to return to the default mail folders list.
      • The Filter field allows selection of mail folders by name. For example, typing sent into the Filter field will, once the Apply button is selected, cause the display to change to show only mail folders with sent in their names.
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    • Search a mail folder

      • Search within a mail folder (not across folders):

        • From: sender's name or e-mail address.
        • To, Cc: e-mail address or name that appears in the To: field. This can be useful if you are on a listserv and want to find messages that were sent to both you and other parties.
        • Recipient: e-mail address or name in the To: or Cc: fields.
        • Participant: e-mail address or name in the To:, Cc:, or From: fields.
        • Subject: searches the subject line.
        • Text: body text string and header information, including Subject:, From:, To:, Cc:, Bcc:, Date:, Message-Id:, etc.
      • Use partial phrases; keep search terms simple; mail 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 will search 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.
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    • Define Favorite Folders 
      • GopherMail allows you to define a list of Favorite mail folders. This list appears in the pull-down listing in the common toolbar, replacing the list of default folders. Once you have one or more Favorite mail folders, an expanded set of actions becomes available on the Message List screen.
      • Click the Folders icon.
      • Click Favorite Folders.
      • Locate the folder you wish to define, and click Add to Favorites.
      • The selected folder will be listed below the INBOX, and above the remaining folders of your mailbox.
      • Once you have selected one or more folders to Add to Favorites, the status line updates.
      • Make Preferred allows you to select one mail folder as a dominant Favorite. Once you select this, the listing for that folder changes. If you subsequently wish to change your Preferred folder, simply select a different folder to Make Preferred. Having a Preferred folder means that that becomes the default folder listed in the pull-down listing in the common toolbar.
      • Click Remove from Favorites to remove a folder from the Favorite Folders group.

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    • Download a Folder

      • Click the Folders icon.
      • Click Download Folders.
      • Navigate to the folder you wish to download, and then click Download. Your browser may prompt you to choose a “save” location on your computer.
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    Settings

    • Click the Settings icon.
    • Click one of the buttons in the left hand column (General, Display, Compose, Advanced).
    • Select the duration for the change(s):
      • Cancel immediately cancels any edits.
      • Change for this session applies only to the current session.
      • Change for this and future sessions applies for each session until the change is altered.

      • General Settings

      • Main style: Drop-down list of available looks /styles
      • Enable welcome screen: whether the initial "Welcome" screen is displayed when you log in.
      • Confirm purge of deleted messages: If this is checked, attempts to expunge messages will generate a screen asking you to confirm or cancel deletion.
      • Confirm folder deletion: If this is checked, attempts to delete folders will generate a screen asking you to confirm or cancel deletion.
      • Confirm Logout: Default is unchecked, meaning that selecting "Logout" on any screen will log you out immediately. Checking this will generate a screen asking you to confirm or cancel your logout.

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    • Display Settings

      • Use icon: Display icons or text for GopherMail's links and navigation.
      • Duplicate icons below message: A duplicate common toolbar (the icons/text appearing at the top of every screen) appears below the message list.
      • Display text/html sections inline: Many messages consist of both text and HTML. If this option is unchecked, then when messages have a Content-Type: text/html header and the HTML section is selected, the raw HTML is shown rather than being rendered (i.e., formatted).
      • Display text/* sections starting Display text/* sections starting <html>. Some messages are in HTML but do not have the correct Content-Type headers (particularly spam messages). If this option is unchecked, these messages are displayed as raw HTML rather than being rendered (formatted).
      • Preserve MIME type when downloading attachment: Whether attachments where the type can be handled by the browser (for example images in GIF or JPEG format) are displayed in the browser when the attachment is selected. When the option is checked an attachment of a type the browser can handle is displayed when selected; otherwise the browser's "Save As..." dialog box appears, allowing you to save the attachment to your local system for later processing. If the option is unchecked, selecting any attachment will bring up the browser's "Save As..." dialog box.
      • Messages sort order: The way all mail folders are sorted (presented). The default is Arrival, meaning that messages are presented in the order they arrive in the mail folder. Alternative orders include Date, From, or Subject.
      • Messages per page: The number of messages displayed on each screen (100 message maximum).
      • Addressbook sort order: The way addressbook entries are sorted. The default is Order, meaning entries are presented in the order they've been added to the addressbook.
      • Addressbook entries per page: The number of addresses displayed on each screen in the addressbook.
      • Alt Addresses: A comma-separated list of alternative addresses that you may use to send e-mail. This controls what is shown in the From column of the message list. Messages from any of your defined addresses will show whom they are to rather than whom they are from.

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    • Compose Settings

      • Save copies of sent messages: Saves a copy of each e-mail you send.
      • Sent Mail Folder: Name of folder where a copy of each sent e-mail is stored.
      • Postponed Messages Folder: Folder where postponed messages are saved (drafts).
      • Skip quoted text on spell check: Do not spell check text that is inside quotation marks.
      • Spell Check Language: The language the dictionary will use to verify the correct spelling of words you spell-check, American English by default.
      • Compose window size: The size of the area in which you type e-mail messages, by default 80 columns by 14 rows.
      • Default domain: A common address that your e-mails will be sent to. GopherMail allows you to type just the internet ID of a University e-mail address, as it appends the umn.edu domain name automatically.
      • Nickname: An easily remembered shorter substitute for an e-mail address. Nicknames can be used in place of the real e-mail addresses in the To, Cc, and Bcc fields of outgoing messages.
      • Signature: Information appended to the bottom of a sent message. By convention, this is four lines or less and is preceded by a separator line -- . If you create a signature here, the separator line and signature are automatically included in the text field on the Compose screen. This is blank by default.


    • Advanced Settings

      • Mail directory (mail, by default).
      • Suppress dotfiles (files starting '.') from folder listing.
      • Folder list should have which at the top of the page?
        • Create a folder (default).
        • Search for a folder.
      • Use persistent marks (slower, sometimes useful).
      • Zoom automatically after search.
      • Unmark messages after aggregate operation.
      • Use persistent marks

    • Personal Dictionary
      You can add words to your personal dictionary that are not included the system dictionary (e.g., proper names, jargon, etc.). Spelling is case-sensitive. Words are sorted alphabetically, with capitalized (uppercase) words appearing before lowercase words.
      • Add a word: Type the word in the Add field, then click the Add button.
      • Remove a word: Type the word in the Remove field, then click the Remove button (or click the relevant word in the list for immediate removal).

    • Identities/Roles

      Roles (also called Identities or Aliases) are designed to handle cases where you need to compose, reply to, or forward mail wearing another "hat.”  For example, you may opt to have a “personal” Role as well as a “work” Role. Roles specify what appears in the From: and Reply-To: fields of a message and enables a tailored signature for each Role.

      • Add a new Identity/Role
        • Click Identities.
        • Click Add new role.
          • Alias: Name of the role as it will appear on the Roles screen.
          • From personal name: Added directly in front of your e-mail address.
          • From address To override your default e-mail address .
          • Reply to address To add it into the Reply-To header of messages composed using this Role.
          • Fcc: Select a folder to store copies of messages sent using this Role (rather than the default sent-mail folder).
          • Signature: Role information to appear at the bottom of a message. By convention, this is four lines or less and is preceded by a separator line -- . If you create a signature here, the separator line and signature are automatically included in the text field on the Compose screen.
          • Click Add/Update entry to add the Role.

      • Delete an Identity/Role

        • Click Identities.
        • Existing roles will be listed; select the Role you wish to delete.
        • Click Delete entry.
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      • Internet Account Options

        • Click to display your Account options page in a new browser window.
        • Enter your Internet ID and password, and then choose one of these Options:

          • Change my UMN Internet Password.
          • Incoming E-Mail controls including allowed and denied senders list.
          • E-Mail forwarding and autoreply.
          • E-mail storage and quota.
          • Change personal information @ One Stop.
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