Setting Up E-mail and Using WebMail

Setting up E-mail Accounts

Each hosting account has one default e-mail account, which has the address

username@yourdomain

(Username is your account login name and yourdomain is the domain name assigned to the account.)

You can set up additional e-mail accounts up to the number allowed by your hosting package. Here's how:

1. Login to your control panel using your web browser. The address is

http://www.yourdomain/cpanel

2. Click on the Mail icon.

3. Click on Add/Remove Accounts.

4. Click on Add Account.

5. Enter the following information:

E-mail - this is the name of the e-mail box. If you have sub, addon, or parked domains, you will be able to choose the domain name as well from the pulldown menu.

Password - enter a unique password for this account.

Quota - enter the amount of disk space that this account can use (the default 10MB is usually plenty). You can also specify 'unlimited' or leave it blank if you do not wish to specify a quota. Once the quota is reached, you will no longer be able to send or receive mail on that account.

6. Click Create. If no error message is displayed, your mailbox is ready to use for receiving and sending mail.

Setting Up Your E-mail Client

Once you have set up your e-mail account, you can access it through any e-mail client software that supports the POP3 protocol. This includes programs such as Outlook, Outlook Express, and Eudora. Since each program (and version of program) handles setting up mailboxes a little differently, we won't go through a step by step of that process here. Please consult the help file or documentation for your program on how to add a new e-mail account.

We do want to note a few things that often trip people up:

1. When your e-mail software asks you for your account or user name, be sure to specify your full e-mail address (e.g. bob@churchassist.com). This is required on all accounts except the default e-mail account.

2. When your e-mail software asks you for the name of your incoming (POP3) server name, specify just your domain name (e.g. churchassist.com). You do not need to prepend this with 'www.' or 'mail.' or anything else.

3. When your e-mail software asks you for the name of your outgoing (SMTP), server name, specify just your domain name (e.g. churchassist.com). You do not prepend this with 'www.' or 'mail.' or anything else.

A note on the last item: in order to reduce spam (junk) e-mail, many Internet Service Providers (ISP) block all outgoing mail that does not come through their outgoing (SMTP) mail server. This means that you will need to replace the outgoing server name with the one provided by your ISP. This doesn't mean in this case that you can't send mail that is 'From' your account, you just need to use their server to send it.

Accessing Your E-mail via the Web

All e-mail accounts are accessible via a web interface. This is very handy if need to check your e-mail and you are not at the computer that you normally use.

Webmail works a little differently than when you access your e-mail using an e-mail client such as Outlook, Outlook Express, or Eudora. When you use an e-mail client, you (typically) download the e-mail onto your computer and delete it from the server. When you access your e-mail via the web, you are directly accessing the mail on the server. If you read a message on the web, you can still download it later to your e-mail client. In the same way, if you delete a message on the web, it will not be available to download to your e-mail client.

You do have access to WebMail through your account control panel, however, you do not need access to the control panel in order to access WebMail. To access your mail via the web, you can use the following address:

http://yourdomain/webmail

Here, 'yourdomain' is the domain name you use to access the account via the web (e.g. www.churchassist.com).

You will be asked for a User Name and Password. This the e-mail account name and the password assigned to that account. For the User Name, you need to specify the full e-mail address (e.g. bob@churchassist.com).

After successfully logging in, you will be given the choice of three different e-mail programs: NeoMail, Horde, and SquirrelMail. Take a look at all three and pick the one you like best (you can even use a different one each time). Our favorite is SquirrelMail. Each program has its own set of configuration options. At the very least, you will want to configure your real name, so that mail sent through WebMail shows up in your recipient's e-mail client as 'From' your name.

You will also notice on this opening screen that you have the option of changing your e-mail password, forwarding your mail to another e-mail address, and creating an 'autoresponder', which automatically responds to each message you receive with a message of your choice.

If you are using WebMail from a public terminal, we do strongly recommend that you log out of your e-mail when you are done. For additional securrity, you can login to your account securely by using the following address:

https://yourdomain/webmail

Using SquirrelMail

You can get to SquirrelMail directly by using the following address:

http://domainmame:2095/3rdparty/squirrelmail/src/webmail.php

Again, replace 'domainname' with the address you use to access your domain via the web. (You might want to bookmark this address!)

When using SquirrelMail for the first time, you may want to specify your real name. This is the 'From' name that those who receive messages from you (sent through SquirrelMail) will see in their e-mail software. To do so, click 'Options' from the top menu, then click 'Personal Information'. Enter your name in the 'Full Name' field and click 'Submit'. There are lots of configuration options in SquirrelMail that you might want to check out. An explanation of each option can be found by clicking 'Help' at the top of the page.

At this point, SquirrelMail works like any other webmail or e-mail client you may have used. A list of messages received appears in the main window. Click on the Subject of the message to view the message. You can refresh the message list by clicking on 'INBOX' in the Folders list in the left pane. You can send a new e-mail by clicking 'Compose' on the top menu. You can manage your address book by clicking 'Addresses'. You can setup folders for organizing your e-mail by clicking 'Folders'. For more information on using the program, click 'Help'.

If you are using SquirrelMail from a public terminal, we do strongly recommend that you click 'Sign Out' in the top right hand corner when are done. For additional security, you can login to SquirrelMail securely by using the following address:

https://domainmame:2096/3rdparty/squirrelmail/src/webmail.php