Reading Messages

Reading mail
Reading Mail from the Reading Pane
Marking mail as unread
New messages
Displaying HTML in email messages
Opening file attachments
Printing a mail message
Undeliverable mail

Reading mail (Back to Top)

By default, all new messages are placed in your Inbox. If you have mail filter rules, new messages can appear in places other than your Inbox. The number in parentheses next to each folder name indicates the number of unread messages within that folder.

If you are using the Conversation view, messages are grouped into conversations. If you pass the mouse cursor over the conversation, a tool tip displays the first line from the body of the newest message.

To read a message in the Conversation view

Double-click the conversation containing the message.
The Content pane changes to show the individual messages in the conversation. The Fragment column shows the first line of the message body. To open the message, click the line that contains the message you want to read.

If you have Reading Pane on, the message body appears in the lower pane. Otherwise, you must double-lick the message in the message list an, it will fill the Content pane.

To read a message in Message view

Double-click the message.

The message body appears in the lower pane. If it does not display, double-click the message in the message list.

Reading mail from the Reading Pane (Back to Top)

The Reading Pane is the area below the messages in your Inbox.

If you have Reading Pane enabled, when you click on an email message, the message displays in a pane below the message header information, and the messages is marked as read. To adjust the size of the Reading pane, click then drag the divider bar up or down.

By default, viewing messages in the Reading Pane is on. You can turn it off from the Preferences, Mail tab. Uncheck Display Message Reading Pane.

You can also change the Reading Pane option from the View menu, but when you do it from here, the change is only good until you log off. When you log on again, your Preferences setting determines whether the reading pane is enabled.

Marking mail as unread (Back to Top)

The Mail Client considers messages that you have opened as having been read. Conversations containing unread messages are shown in bold. You can change a message's status back from read to unread by right-clicking on the message and choosing Mark as Unread from the menu that appears. You can also mark a conversation as unread.

Marking a conversation as unread marks all messages within that conversation as unread.
Marking a single message as unread marks the conversation that contains the message unread.

You can use the same method to mark unread mail as read.

How do I know that I received a new message (Back to Top)

New messages are received when you log on, at automatic intervals that you set, and on-demand when Get Mail is clicked.

You can set the new messages polling intervals from the Preferences>Mail tab. The default is every 5 minutes.

You can spot unread mail messages by looking for folders with a bold name and a number in parentheses next to the folder name. For example, Inbox (22) indicates that there are a total of 22 unread messages that are contained within conversations that appear in your Inbox.

Displaying HTML in email messages (Back to Top)

You can view email messages in two formats.

Plain text. Plain text messages are messages that contain no HTML formatting code. Messages sent in plain text can always be read by other email clients. You can view messages in plain-text mode even if it contains HTML. The HTML tags are displayed in the body of the message in the plain text view.
HTML. HTML messages can have text formatting, numbering, bullets, colored background, and links which can make messages easier to read. Some email clients may not accept messages formatted in HTML.

To always view your email messages in HTML, check the View Mail as HTML (when possible) box on the Preferences, Mail tab. Messages are displayed in formatted layout, if they were sent in HTML.

Opening file attachments (Back to Top)

Email messages can include attached files such as word processing documents, spreadsheets, text files, ZIP files, images, executable applications, or any other type of computer file that resides on the sender's computer network. Messages that contain attachments display a paper clip next to the subject.

Some types of files, such as JPEG images or text files, can be opened on almost any computer system. Others, such as Microsoft Word documents, must be opened using the same application that created them.

When you receive a message containing file attachments, you can double-click on the item in the attachments section of the message header. A dialog appears asking whether you want to open or save the file first.

If you choose to view the attachment, you must have an application on your workstation that can read that type of file.
If you choose to download the attachment, a browse dialog appears showing your current file system. Choose an appropriate location and save the file. You can open the file at a later point outside of your email client.

View Attachments as HTML

You may have the feature to view attachments as HTML. This allows you to open an attachment even if the corresponding application is not installed. Click view as html to view the content of the file.

Virus Safety

Computer viruses can spread through email attachments. It is considered standard practice for mail administrators to implement virus filtering for incoming mail as well as virus scanning for personal computers. However, there is always a chance that something could get through.

In the case of email viruses, the majority of them are activated when a file attachment containing the virus is opened or viewed. Many of these viruses have been known to spread themselves using entries in users' address books. Therefore, we recommend that you use care when opening file attachments, even from senders who appear to be known to you.

Printing a mail message (Back to Top)

To send a message to the printer:

Open the conversation, select the message, and click Print.

The selected message appears in a separate window, along with a standard print dialog.

In the dialog, choose a printer and click Print to send the message to the selected printer.

You can also select an entire conversation for printing. You cannot, however, select multiple individual messages within a conversation for printing.

Do not use the browser's File>Print feature. The page will not be well-formatted, and your message may be difficult to read.

Undeliverable mail (Back to Top)

Sometimes a message "bounces", meaning it cannot be delivered for some reason, such as:

Recipient is not a valid or existing email address. Verify that you have the correct email address.
Recipient's mail system rejects the mail for one reason or another
Recipient's mailbox is full

If a message is rejected, you will receive a "Mail Delivery Failure" message, with at least part of the contents of your original message plus some system-generated error messages that provide more information as to why the mail has bounced. Try to correct the problem and re-send the email.

If the mail bounces due to a bad email address, but you are certain that the address is valid, you will have to contact the recipients using other means, and have the recipients resolve the issue with their system administrators.

Contact technical support if:

Every mail message you try to send is rejected
You start receiving bounce messages for mail you never sent