Accessing Email from Anywhere

Please pardon me while I get a little technical. I am going to explain why you need to think about how you access your email messages, and how you can enhance the utility of your email system. If email is important to your daily work, read on.

There are two ways to get your email from the server at mail.computassist.net into whatever email program (client) you prefer to use on your desktop, laptop or phone. They are protocols called POP3 (Post Office Protocol) and IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol.) IMAP is the more sophisticated of the two, allowing you to manage one mailbox from multiple clients. You can see which protocol you are using by looking at the account settings in your client program. If you are currently using POP3 to get your mail into a desktop mail program such as Outlook or Thunderbird, you should strongly consider switching to IMAP. Here's why:

With POP3, one program controls your mailbox, including things like marking messages as read, moving to folders, managing junk and trash, etc. Once you act on a message with the POP3 protocol, that message becomes inaccessible from other computers and devices. (You can set POP3 to leave a copy on the server, but it still doesn't provide for read status, moving to folders or most other actions.)

IMAP cuts the tie between your desktop email program and your actual mail store. Your mail stays on the ComputAssist server, folders are managed on the server, message status is retained on the server, and so on. This enables you to access the mail store from any IMAP client, be it a PC, a web mail program (such as Zimbra or SquirrelMail), a smartphone or tablet, a public library computer, a hotel or vacation home, anywhere you can find Internet access. Your messages are no longer held captive by your desktop computer. They aren't in an Outlook .PST file or other proprietary format, so you don't have to worry about conversion issues, and you won't lose them if your hard drive crashes. Even better, mail stored on the server is backed up nightly, so you will never lose all your email to a system failure.

WARNING: don't simply edit your existing POP3 account in your desktop program and change the protocol to IMAP -- you run the risk of losing all your old messages. You need to create a new IMAP account and copy all your mail from the POP3 account to the IMAP account, then you can remove the POP3 account. Ask me for instructions on how to do this for your mail program.

Zimbra: Setting a Vacation Message

This feature is also known as an out-of-office auto-reply message. You can set a vacation message that automatically replies to people who send you messages when you are out of the office for an extended period of time. That message is sent to each recipient only once, regardless of how many messages that person sends you during the designated vacation period.

1. Go to the Zimbra page and log in with your full email address and password.

2. Click the Preferences tab (near the top of the screen.)

3. Click the Mail item in the list on the left (beneath General.)

4. Scroll down below Receiving Messages and find Send auto-reply message. Click the check box.

5. Enter your message text.

6. Click the Start and End check boxes and edit the dates you need. Or leave them unchecked and vacation messages will begin when you Save, and stop when you return to this page and uncheck Send auto-reply.

7. Finally, click Save (near the top of the window) to make it effective.

Zimbra: Managing Spam

Most filtering of unsolicited automated mail (aka "spam" or "junk mail") is handled by Zimbra's spam filter before those messages reach your Inbox. This filtering helps to reduce the amount of spam that is put in your Inbox.

In addition to the automatic spam filtering rules,  you can set your mail preferences to identify specific addresses to block or not block. You create a list of addresses that should not be allowed and addresses that always should be allowed. The spam filter uses this list to make sure you get the email you expect.

If you receive a message in your inbox that should have been filed in Junk, click the Spam button in the toolbar just above the message list. This will move the message to Junk, and it will also copy the message to Zimbra's spam-learning folder, where the spam filter will be trained to recognize the message as spam. It is important for you to use the Spam button -- don't just drag the message to your Junk folder. By clicking the Spam button you will help Zimbra learn what you consider to be spam mail.

When you are viewing the Junk folder, the toolbar button becomes "Not Spam" so you can use it to tell Zimbra when it has misfiled a message that you wanted to receive. Clicking the Not Spam button will move the selected message from Junk to your inbox, and train Zimbra to recognize that message as desired email.

Old junk messages are automatically purged from your Junk folder after 15 days, so you never need to worry about cleaning out the Junk folder.

Messages in your Trash folder are purged after 30 days.

How to set up your Spam Mail Options

1. Log in to Zimbra, then go to the Preferences tab and select Mail in the left list pane.
2. On the page that opens, scroll down to the Spam Mail Options section.
3. Enter complete email addresses in the appropriate boxes, either Block messages from or Allow messages from.  You can enter up to 100 addresses for each.
4. Click Save on the toolbar to save your changes.

Zimbra: Sharing Folders

One of the advantages you get with using Zimbra is the ability to collaborate with your coworkers and others. Some examples:

An executive can delegate the scheduling of appointments to an assistant by sharing one of his or her calendars.

A support team can use a shared mail box to allow anyone on the team to respond to emails.

Coworkers can upload documents to a shared Briefcase folder, where all can access them as needed.

You can share your email, address book, calendar, tasks, and briefcase folders with others in your organization, external guests, and the public.  Right-click a folder and choose Share This Folder. In the dialog that appears, specify the type of access permissions to give the Grantee.

You can share with internal users who can be given read-only, read-write, or complete manager access to the folder, external guests that must use a password to view the folder content, and public access so that anyone who has the URL can view the content of the folder.

When internal users share a folder, a copy of the shared folder is put in the Grantee's folder list on the Overview pane. When the folder is selected, the content displays in the Content pane.

The Sharing page under Preferences helps you manage your shared items. This page shows the folders you shared with others and folders that are shared with you.

Granting access to your folders

You can share folders with internal users or groups, external guests and the public.

Internal users or groups

You can share with others in your group or company. When you share with internal users or groups, you enter the email addresses and select the type of access to grant, one of:

• Viewer. The Grantee can view the content in the folder but cannot change the content.  

• Manager. The Grantee has permissions to view, edit, remove content, accept and decline calendar invitations or requests to share other folders.

• Admin. The Grantee has full permission to manage the folder, including view, edit, and remove content; accept and decline invitations, share your folder with other people or groups, or revoke access to a shared folder.

• None. This is an option to temporarily disable access to a grantor's shared folder without revoking the share privileges. The Grantee still has the folder in their list but cannot view or manage activities in the folder.

External guests

You can share with external guests that must use a password to view the folder content. External guests cannot make changes to your folder.

Public URL

Anyone who knows the URL to the folder can view the folder content. The public cannot make any changes to the folder. When you select to share with Public, the URL for that displays in the Share Properties dialog is made accessible to the public.

Revoking access to shared folders

You can edit the access rights and revoke permissions at any time from the folder's Edit Properties page or from the Preferences, Sharing folder.

Zimbra: Working with the Briefcase

Briefcase lets you save files in your account so that you can access these files whenever you log in to your account from any computer. Briefcase can be used to share and manage documents with your co-workers.

You can upload documents, spreadsheets, presentations, images, pdfs and many other types of files and you can save attachments sent with your email messages to Briefcase. You can create different Briefcase folders to organize the files and you can share Briefcase folders with others.

Files you upload to Briefcase are copies of the original file on your computer. Changes you make to a file in your Briefcase do not change the original file.

Uploading Files

Uploading a file transfers a file from your personal computer to your Zimbra account. This makes the file available any time you log in to your account. Your account quota determines how many files can be uploaded to your Briefcase.

To upload files

1. Open Briefcase and on the toolbar click Upload File.

2. In the Upload New File to Briefcase dialog click Browse to find the files to upload. You can select multiple files to upload at once if the files are in the same directory. To add other files, click Add and browse to the file.

When all files are uploaded, click OK. The files are displayed in the Briefcase.

Note: Your account has a maximum size (currently 2GB) for all your email, contacts, and uploaded files. If the file is too large, a warning is displayed. Files that you upload impact your account quota. 

Sharing your Briefcase

You can share your Briefcases with the following:

• Internal users or groups.  You select the type of privileges to grant, either:

  •  Viewer. The Grantee can see the files in the briefcase but cannot make any changes to them.

  • Manager. The Grantee has full permission to edit and delete files in your briefcase.

  • Admin. The Grantee has full permission to administer the shared item with the same rights as the owner.

  • None.  Temporarily disable access to a grantor's briefcase without revoking the share privileges. The Grantee still has the folder in their list but cannot view or manage files.

• External guests. You create a password to access the shared briefcase. Guests must enter this password to view the files. They cannot make changes to files.

• Public. Anyone that knows the URL to the shared briefcase can view the contents. They cannot make any changes.

 To share your Briefcase

Right-click on the briefcase folder to share and select Share Folder.

On the Share Properties dialog select whom to share with.

Internal Users or Groups

External guests

Public