Email and Mailing Lists
Spam
Reduction in phishing (electronic scam messages) and spam
Global mail aliasing allows you to receive mail from all Rice subdomains
Going On Vacation?
You can set up an automatic reply message using the Mail WebTools. For instructions on how to set it up, see the FAQ page about vacation messages.
Got Mail? Check WebMail
Access your e-mail account through the WebMail Login page.
Got Spam?
Learn about anti-spam tool testing and what individuals can do to decrease the chance of attracting spam
Web Email using IMP
Check your email online from anywhere in the world using the webmail page http://webmail.rice.edu. Web e-mail is available for accounts on these servers: Sparta, ECE, CS, Math, MEMS, BIOC, CAAM, STAT.
Email Tools for Rice Mail
Away for a few days? Too much SPAM? E-mail accounts on the Rice Mail servers have a web option to set up an automatic response to all in-coming e-mails or set up filters to sort mail into separate folders for easier manageability. Go to http://www.ricemail.rice.edu/ for these and more options.
Email Software
Any standard email software can be used to access your email. Common programs include Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express (Windows), Thunderbird (Windows & Mac), Mail (Mac), and Pine (Unix & Linux). Information on how to set up your email software can be found on the Setting Up Your Email Program Page. For additional help with setting up your software please contact your appropriate consultant.
Email Alias (also known as Vanity E-mail Address)
Anyone with a Rice e-mail account can set up to three aliases or vanity email addresses by going to http://apply.rice.edu/. Furthermore, departments can request an extra email alias from the Help Desk to be for mail to a specific person in the department. For example, the history department can request to create histdept@rice.edu for email to be sent to the department administrator.
Sending Email to groups of recipients
Email can be sent to an individual address, or to multiple addresses separated with commas (,). Most standard email software has an option to store a list of addresses as a single groupname. Email is sent to the entire group when the group name is entered as the recipient.
The Rice Mail outgoing mail server will not accept a message with more than 50 recipients.
Bulkmail users may use the bulk mail web tool to send. In order to use the tool, you need to have your bulkmail account authorized to use it. You can request authorization by going to http://helpdesk.rice.edu and logging a problem. Once your account has been authorized, please go to http://www.ruf.rice.edu/webbulkmail.html. Once there, you must log in with your NetID and NetID password.
Normally everyone who receives an email can see a list of the other recipients (those in the To: and CC: fields). However, those recipients who are placed in the BCC: field are not displayed to any other recipients (all recipients may be placed in the BCC: field). Please call the Help Desk at 713-348- 4357 (HELP) for more information on email options.
Email Attachments
Rice mail maintains the same limitation for attachments.
- Outgoing: 100MB messages (after encoding attachments)
- Incoming: 100MB messages (after encoding attachments)
Please note that encoding your attachments into a file that can be transmitted via email will make your attachment grow in size, so realistically, you don't want your attachments to be larger than:
- Outgoing: 80 MB
- Incoming: 80 MB
Although you may be able to send large attachments, your email recipients may not have a generous attachment allowance or a fast enough connection for downloading the attachment.
WebFile
This option allows you to share files with other remote users without over burdening the email system with big file attachments or managing an FTP server. It allows you to upload a file and a list of recipients and it emails the URL to the file to each person so that they may download the file when they need it. To access this feature, go to http://www.mail.rice.edu/
Mailing Lists
E-mail mailing list are used to facilitate communication. Common usages are Announcements, Discussion and Funnels. For instance, professors may create mailing lists, which would have a specific e-mail address, such as Class101-l@rice.edu for discussions. Many Departments use lists to announce events or distribute email to specific groups such as graduate
students or alumni. The Funnel configuration is usually used as an alternative to a departmental email address. Each list must have at last one person to serve as the administrator of the mailing list. Anyone can receive configuration help at the Help Desk.
