CIS Unix WebMail Infrequently-Asked Questions

This document contains infrequently asked questions about CIS Unix WebMail. Please see the FAQ in the CIS Unix User Guide for answers to the following questions (and more):

Here, on the other hand, are the infrequently-asked questions, answered here:

  1. What does the message "You didn't mark a contact as your own yet" mean?
  2. How do I change the color scheme?
  3. How do I transfer my Pine addressbook to WebMail?
  4. How do I quickly empty a folder?
  5. How do I attach a file to an outgoing message?
  6. I blacklisted someone by accident. How do I undo that?
  7. How do I create a list of addresses?
  8. Where can I go for more information?

What does the message "You didn't mark a contact as your own yet" mean?

This message is generated when you check the

Attach your contact information to the message?

option in the compose window. If you specify this option, you need to have (previously) marked an addressbook entry as "you".

That's not hard to do, but the message means you haven't done it yet. If you'd like to try it:

  1. click on "Organizing" on the left side menu to reveal the "Address Book" submenu (if necessary);
  2. click on "Address Book" on the left side menu;
  3. If you don't see yourself in your address book list, click "New Contact", choose your own address book in which to save the contact, enter information you wish to share with your recipients, and click "add". You'll see a link to "Mark this as your own contact", so click that too.
  4. If (on the other hand) you do see yourself in your address book, click on yourself; you'll see the "Mark this as your own contact" item, which you should click.

That should do it. The message you're seeing should go away, and (when you check the option), your contact info will be attached (as a "vcard") to your sent messages.

I think so, anyway. Let me know if it doesn't work for you.

How do I change the color scheme?

  1. Click "Options";
  2. on the resulting screen, choose "CIS Unix WebMail" from the pulldown menu, if necessary;
  3. on the resulting screen, click on "Display Options";
  4. choose a color scheme from the pulldown menu;
  5. click "Save Options".

How do I transfer my Pine addressbook to WebMail?

To transfer your Pine addressbook to WebMail, the following (relatively complex, sorry) method seems to work:

  1. Enable Aggregate Commands in Pine, if necessary:
    1. In Pine's main menu, type 'S' (setup) and 'C' (config).
    2. Press down-arrow to the 'enable-aggregate-command-set' option.
    3. Press 'X' to check it if it's not already.
    4. Press 'E' to exit setup, and 'Y' to save your changes.
  2. Export your Pine address book in 'vCard' format:
    1. In Pine's main menu, press 'A' (addressbook).
    2. Choose your addressbook (.addressbook) if necessary. If you see your addresses immediately, it's not necessary.
    3. press ';' (semicolon) and 'A' to select all addresses (you can also be more selective, but we'll ignore that complication).
    4. Press 'A' and 'S' (save all).
    5. Press 'E' (export).
    6. Press 'V' (VCard).
    7. Type a filename, for example 'addressbook.vcf'.
    8. Exit Pine by typing 'Q', then 'Y'.
  3. Transfer the file you saved (e.g. 'addressbook.vcf') to your PC. You can use an FTP client to do this, or (usually) your web browser to go to ftp://username@cisunix.unh.edu/. Details will differ based on how your FTP client works.
  4. Import the file into WebMail:
    1. choose the 'Addressbook' link.
    2. choose the 'Import/Export' link.
    3. choose 'vCard' from the pulldown menu in the Import Addressbook section.
    4. press 'Browse'.
    5. find and select the file you downloaded to your PC.
    6. press the 'Import' button.

You'd think this would be easier, but no. As near as I can tell, there's no easy way to transfer WebMail addressbooks to Pine. (In fact, Pine doesn't seem to have any ability to import addressbooks in any format.)

How do I quickly empty a folder?

If you want to quickly get rid of all messages in one or more folders:

  1. Click the 'Folders' icon to go to the Folders screen.
  2. Click 'Expand All' if necessary to get the folder list.
  3. On that screen, click the checkboxes next to any and all folders you want to empty.
  4. From the pulldown menu, select 'Empty Folder(s)'.
  5. Click OK when you get the are-you-sure-you-want-to-do-this box.

Obviously, this is not something you want to do with folders that contain anything you want to keep. Be careful!

How do I attach a file to an outgoing message?

This isn't hard, but people are faked out by that big "Attachments" button in the middle of the Compose window. Don't go there, at least not at first. Instead, draw your attention to this section at the bottom:

attachment section

Press the "Browse..." button; this will allow you to select a file on your computer. Once you choose a file, your filename should appear in the "Attachment" box. Press the "Attach" button to upload your file to the WebMail server and attach it to your message. Compose the remainder of your message and send as normal.

I blacklisted someone by accident. How do I undo that?

Here's how to remove people from your blacklist:

  1. On the left-side menu, click the plus-sign-in-a-box icon next to the 'Mail' menu item, if necessary, to display its subitems;
  2. Click the 'Filters' icon under 'Mail';
  3. On the resulting ("Existing Rules") page, click on the 'Blacklist' link or the editing icon on the left;
  4. On the resulting page (which should show a list of your blacklisted addresses) use your mouse and delete key to remove any addresses mistakenly put there;
  5. click 'Save' when done.

Note that this change only affects the filtering of future incoming mail; it won't (for example) undelete previously-deleted messages from erroneously-blacklisted addresses.

More information on blacklist maintenance in WebMail (with pictures) is here.

How do I create a distribution list?

A distribution list is a list of two or more recipients grouped in your address book under a single entry; you can use the entry to send mail to everyone in the list instead of tediously typing the addresses one by one.

  1. First, make sure that everyone really wants to be in the list; there are few things more tedious than getting unwanted mail from well-meaning people.
  2. Enter all addresses to your addressbook as individual contacts.
  3. Select 'Browse' from the top menu of the Addressbook module; this should display 'My Addressbook'.
  4. Choose one or more contacts to put in your list by checking the boxes next to them.
  5. On the pulldown menu next to the word "Add" at the top or bottom of the browse list, choose "My Addressbok", underneath "Create a new Contact List in:";
  6. click the "Add" link;
  7. Type a name for your list in the resulting dialog box and click OK.

When you compose mail, type the list name in the 'To' box and press 'Expand Names'. I think. Let me know if it doesn't work.

Where can I go for more information?

The people who wrote WebMail have a FAQ document here. Please feel free to use the 'Problems' link in WebMail to ask about anything not covered there, here, or in the FAQ.

Page Maintenance:
Paul A. Sand <pas@unh.edu>
Last modified: 2012-05-09 12:31 PM EDT
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