Your Inbox
- Viewing messages
- Sorting messages
- Deleting messages
- Saving messages to a folder
- Icons
- Marking messages with stars
- Reporting messages as spam
- Emptying trash
- Drag and Drop Shortcuts
When you first log in to your mail account, you see your Inbox. Your Inbox stores and displays your mail messages.
The main body of the display consists of one line per message. By default, your Inbox displays 25 messages on each page. Use the arrows at the right end of the menu bar or at the bottom of the browser window to move from page to page in the list.
To change the number of messages displayed per page, see Settings.
There is a checkbox at the start of each message line. To select a set of messages on which to perform an action (for example, Deleting) click in the checkbox. The checkbox at the top of the column selects/unselects all of the messages on the page.
Viewing messages
To read a message
- Click the Subject of the message.
To read messages in other folders
- Click the desired folder in the left pane.
Sorting messages
By default the message index is sorted by Date, with the most recent messages coming first and the oldest messages at the bottom of the index. You can change this default sort order in Settings
- Sort by columns on the list. Click a column heading, such as From, Subject, or Date to sort by that field. Click on the small triangle next to the sort heading to reverse the sort order.
- Group by Thread. Groups all messages in the same conversation together, in a a tree view. This option is available in the Arrange menu bar above the column headings.
- Group by Subject. Groups all messages with the same subject together. This option is also only available in the Arrange menu.
- Sort by Arrival. Sometimes it is convenient to sort in the order that the messages were added to the folder instead of by the Date, which is usually similar but a little different. Select this option from the Arrange menu.
Deleting messages
- Select the messages you wish to delete by checking the boxes to the left of the messages.
- On the menu bar, click Delete.
When you click Delete, the selected messages are moved to the Trash, where you can delete them later.
Saving messages to a folder
You can move or copy messages from the Inbox to a folder. Moving a message removes it from the Inbox while creating a copy in the designated folder. Copying a message leaves the message in the Inbox while creating a copy in the designated folder.
- Select the box to the left of the message or messages that you wish to put in a folder.
- On the menu bar, locate the Move or Copy button. Skip this step if the one you want is already displayed. If necessary, click the button and pull down the menu to select Move or Copy.
- On the menu bar, click to Folder and select the target folder from the list, or select More Folders to see a list of all folders. If you select More Folders, click the target folder in the list, and then click Copy or Move.
Icons
Several informative icons may appear to the left of the From column.
Icon | Meaning |
---|---|
New message | |
The message includes an attachment | |
You have replied to the message | |
You have forwarded the message | |
The message is addressed directly to you | |
The message is cc'd to you |
In addition, messages that have not been read are displayed in bold text.
Marking messages with stars
You can mark messages with stars that appear in the far right column of the list. The stars can indicate anything that you like. For example, you might mark the most important messages with a star.
To mark a message with a star
- Click in the rightmost column of the list on the row for that message or select Set Star from the More Actions menu in the menu bar.
Reporting messages as spam
If you get a message that you think should have been identified by the spam detection processes but wasn't, you may submit it for review, which may help improve the effectiveness of spam detection.
To report spam
- Select the message or messages that you wish to report as spam by checking the boxes in the left column.
- On the menu bar, click Report Spam. A copy of the message is sent to the University of Washington spam detection process and the message is moved to your Junk folder.
Emptying trash
When messages are deleted they are actually moved to the Trash folder and not immediately deleted. To permanently remove the messages you must empty the trash.
To empty the entire contents of the trash
- Find the Trash folder in the left pane. If there are messages in the Trash folder you may click on the word Empty next to the Trash folder to empty it. This is also true of the Junk folder, which may be emptied in the same way.
To permanently delete selected messages from the trash
- In the left pane, click Trash.
- Select the box to the left of the messages that you want to delete.
- On the menu bar, click Delete Forever. Be sure that you have selected the right messages; there is no confirmation screen for this action.
To recover messages from the trash
- In the left pane, click Trash.
- Select the box to the left of the messages that you want to recover.
- On the menu bar, locate the Move or Copy button. Skip this step if the one you want is already displayed. If necessary, click the button and pull down the menu to select Move or Copy.
- On the menu bar, click to Folder and select the target folder from the list, or select More Folders to see a list of all folders. If you select More Folders, click the target folder in the list, and then click Copy or Move.
Drag and Drop Shortcuts
You may grab a message by its From field and drag it over a folder in the left pane in order to move it to the folder. Alternatively, if you drag it to the Contacts list in the left pane and drop it there the From address will be added to your list of Contacts.