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Using Our E-mail System

Updated August 1, 2003

The Business School uses Outlook 2000/XP software to access the Exchange data. The full email address to this mailbox is the individual's uniqname@bus.umich.edu. When this address is registered as a forwarding address in the Online Campus Directory, mail sent to the individual at their uniqname@umich.edu also arrives in this account. We recommend using this campus-wide address to keep the campus standard and to avoid having to update your address with others in the future if you should move or our server name should change.

See the Introduction to Using Outlook document (PDF file) for basics in using Outlook as it relates to the Business School. There is an Outlook skill checklist in the "What We Believe You Already Know" Outlook topic linked below.

E-Mail Guidelines

You are not able to send or receive EXE files through the system for security purposes.
Please contact the Helpdesk if you need to make special arrangements.
Be sure to empty your Deleted Items folder.
Archive your older messages regularly.

Related Topics:

Please see the Outlook section in What We Believe You Already Know for a list of basic skills.
Please see The Role of the Online Directory in E-Mail Delivery in E-Mail Delivery below, for further explanation of the addressing system mentioned above and the Directing Your E-mail page in our Email section of the Technology Web site.

Using Outlook's Meeting Scheduler Tool

Pick the best time to plan a meeting with co-workers using Outlook's Meeting tool.

You can conveniently schedule meetings using Outlook's Meeting feature which is part of Outlook's Calendar. You can check free and busy times for Business School staff and faculty who keep their calendar in Outlook. You can automatically send an e-mail meeting invitation to everyone, even outside participants, to which participants can easily respond and you can track responses.

Begin by picking any start time on your calendar.
Double click to open the appointment,
Click on the "Attendee Availability" tab.
Enter the names of those you wish to invite, just as you would address an email. Individual calendars which show Free/Busy/Out of Office times will appear for Business School exchange users invited. If it is an external user, a barred line will show in place of their calendar.
Browse for the best time based on when everyone is free, then click on the time slot to select it.
On the Appointment Details tab, you can enter e-mail text, enter a location and subject line, then click the Send button.

For more details, see Using Outlook's Calendar. (PDF format).

Using Outlook's Out of Office Wizard

Outlook offers a very simple Out Of Office feature to automatically reply to each sender when you are on vacation or out of the office.

While in your Inbox, click on the Tools menu - Out of Office Assistant.
Type in your reply text, for example, "I am out of the office until this date. Please contact this person at this number for assistance."
Click on the button that says, "I am currently out of the office" to turn on this feature.
Click OK

Any incoming message that arrives in your Inbox will receive this reply. And it's smart! A sender will only receive one notice that you are out of the office, instead of multiple copies if they send you more than one e-mail.

The next time you open Outlook, you will be automatically notified that the Out of Office Assistant is on, and asked if you wish to turn it off. Checking your e-mail from Webmail or other means will not affect its function. To turn it off, simply return to this screen and select, "I am currently in the Office." (In Webmail this feature is controlled under the Tools icon.)

For more details, see Using Outlook's Out of Office Assistant. (PDF format).

Archiving and Message Management

Delete as You Go

There are many replies, such as "thank you" or "ok" that you won't need to keep forever. You will especially appreciate this if you need to access this folder using Webmail!

Remember when you delete any item, such as an email message, calendar appointment, contact, or task, it is moved into your Deleted Items folder. Deleted items stay on the server until you empty your deleted items. If your goal is to clean up your account, this does not save any space until you empty this folder. For example, even if you delete a virus-infected e-mail, it still remains on the server in your account until you empty it from this folder.

To empty these items and permanently delete all of the items, right click on the Deleted Items icon on Outlook's Toolbar and choose "Empty Deleted Items Folder." To delete some of them, open the deleted items folder, select the message(s) then press the delete key. To recover an item, drag it from this folder to another folder.

You can recover a permanently deleted file within 30 days of the date of deletion. Open the deleted items folder, go to the Tools Menu, and choose Recover Deleted Item.

Tip: To keep down the size of your Deleted Items folder, you can permanently delete items immediately such as an Out of the Office reply or a virus-infected message. Select the message(s) and hold the Shift key down as you press the Delete key.

Archiving, or PST Files

Outlook creates archives in a "personal folder" format known as a .pst file. Messages are compressed and saved on your hard drive or personal network space in a .pst file rather than on the e-mail server, but these files are displayed in Outlook's folder list and these messages are easily accessed in Outlook - they appear and act like on-line messages. Messages that you want to keep but infrequently access should be archived regularly. The only messages that you need on the server are those you may need to access through another computer using Webmail.

Manual Archiving

Manual archiving gives you complete control of which messages are moved and when. To manually archive your messages, choose File - New - Personal Folder. Name it and choose where to save it. If saved on your hard drive, you will be able to access this archive from that computer, but no other computer. If saved on the network, you will be able to access it from school but not outside of school. This folder shows up in your File list under "Personal Folders." Select messages from your Inbox, Sent Items, and other folders then drag them into this new .pst folder. It can be opened and closed under Outlook's File menu.

Tip: To quickly move your messages off the server, create a simple archive structure such as "Inbox 2001, Inbox 2002" and drag your old messages together into these folders.)

Automatic Archiving

Outlook creates a folder structure offline identical to the online folder structure, and moves into the archived folders all items older than a certain time period/date that you have specified. Each folder has a Archive Properties that are set to work with Auto Archiving. Some folders may not be set to Auto Archive. Be sure you have your biggest folders (such as your Inbox and Sent Items) set to Auto Archive.

To automatically archive your messages, go to Tools - Options - Other tab and click on the Auto Archive button. Choose your settings. You will be prompted to archive based on these settings.

Sent Items

Remember to clean out, organize and archive your Sent Items folder, too.

For complete instructions, see Archiving and Managing Your Messages. (PDF format).

The Role of the Online Campus Directory in E-Mail Delivery

You have flexibility in determining to which accounts and mailboxes copies of your Email is sent.

The Online Campus Directory has a mail forwarding feature that works with your campus email address uniqname@umich.edu. This address is only an alias or shortcut that must be directed to a real mail account, such as your Business School Exchange mailbox or your campus ITCS mailbox. For new staff and faculty we typically enter your bus.umich.edu mailbox address as your default forwarding address when your account is set up. New students default to their ITCS mailbox.

Mail sent to you from outside of the internal Business School Exchange system, whether from elsewhere on campus or from anywhere else in the world is known as "Internet mail." Any message sent to you at your uniqname@umich.edu address is Internet mail - if someone on the Business School Exchange system uses this full address it will go through this Internet gateway. This Internet mail uses the forwarding address(es) registered in your Online Campus Directory entry to determine where to deliver your messages.

As part of your basic UM computing package you are also given a 50 MB mailbox on an ITCS server with the server address uniqname@*.imap.itd.umich.edu (where * is the first letter of the uniqname). Students rely on this mailbox and service, but Business School faculty and staff do not need to use this mailbox as the Exchange mailbox is bigger and has many more features.

You can have multiple mailboxes registered in the Online Directory that each receive a copy of your incoming mail addressed to you @umich.edu, for example you can also receive this mail in your AOL or Hotmail account.

Note that mail sent to you @bus.umich.edu, whether on the Exchange system or as internet mail, does not pass through the UM gateway and bypasses the Online Directory, so will only be received in your Exchange mailbox. To avoid this situation, only use your @umich.edu address.

For more information, see Directing Your E-Mail in the Online Campus Directory.

Using Webmail

Webmail is a web-based version of your Exchange account.

You can access over the web without any special setup your Exchange mailbox data instead of using Outlook to access your account. This includes not only your e-mail but your calendar and contacts. You can also choose to turn off or on the Out of Office Assistant.

From any computer in the world connected to the Internet with a relatively recent web browser, go to http://webmail.bus.umich.edu and login. Enter your uniqname then press the Enter key. When prompted enter your uniqname again and your Business School password.

You should know how to navigate pages, folders, move or delete messages, access your contacts and your calendar. More details are available on the Faculty and Staff E-mail page.

Using Outlook Remotely

An alternative to Webmail is to connect to Outlook remotely using the Virtual Private Network (VPN). Visit our Remote Network Access page for more information and instructions.

Creating an Outlook Profile

Outlook requires a profile on each computer used to access an Exchange mailbox.

Each Exchange account consists of a �mailbox� that contains the information stored in an individual�s account - all of the folders for the Inbox, Sent Mail, Calendar, Tasks, etc.

Outlook uses a �profile� on each individual computer to store settings for each user. When you log into Outlook it uses your profile to access your mailbox. This can be setup automatically, or with a prompt. For Business School users, their profile name and mailbox name match their uniqname. There are also profiles for generic departmental mailboxes, such as Helpdesk, KBAL, Facilities, etc. with access rights assigned to a managing user or group of users.

Each computer must have a profile set up for each individual(s) using that machine. Profile information is stored locally, on the hard drive of each machine. Please note that the web version can be accessed from any computer attached to the Internet with a browser without profiles or any special setup.

Most individuals may only use their one uniqname profile. One person using their own computer is straightforward - their single profile set up on their computer is all that they need. If you manage multiple accounts or wish to use Outlook 2000 on a computer that does not have a profile set up for you, see Creating a Profile for more information and instructions.

Setting Your Preferences in Outlook

Your individual preferences for Outlook are set under the Tools menu - Options dialog box. These settings are typically "client specific" - meaning the settings are stored in the individual copy of Outlook installed on the particular computer - these settings will not apply if you use Outlook on a different computer.

Common questions include:

How do I turn off the Blue Reply/Forward text? Go to Outlook's Tools menu - Options - Mail Format Tab. In the Stationary and Fonts section, select the Fonts button. (This button will be disabled if you are using Word as your Editor.). Click on the Choose Font button next to Replying and Forwarding field, and choose your preferred formatting. Tip: choose a color such as Black rather than Automatic, which can change color depending on circumstance.

How do I turn off my name inserted in editing messages? Go to Outlook's Tools menu - Options - Preferences Tab, click on the Email Options button. Uncheck the box at the bottom that says "Mark my comments with".

How do I manage read and unread messages using the preview pane? Set your options for the preview pane. Go to Outlook's Tools - Options - Other Tab and click on the Preview Pane button. There is a setting to �mark messages as read� after a certain number of seconds, so if a new message comes in, it would be the active message, even if you didn�t �click� on it. Then if two more new messages come in right after each other, the first would not have a long enough delay to be marked as read, but the second would. Based on this, you could get a list of new messages with some marked read, and others marked unread.

How do I create a Signature? If you are using Word as your e-mail editor, a signature is done through Word's Tools - Automatic text entry. Create a new Autotext entry, then insert it when you wish to use it. If you are not using Word, first create a signature by creating a new message, choose Insert Signature and follow the prompts. To use this for every message, go to Outlook's Tools menu - Options - Mail Format Tab, click on Signature Picker and select the signature you created. Note you must have already created at least one signature before the Signature Picker is able to be selected for use.

Using Our E-mail System

On this page

See Also:

Delete as You Go

Archiving, or PST Files

Sent Items