Introduction to Webmail

What is Hermes Webmail?

Hermes Webmail is a service which allows users to access their email using a Web browser, so that it is accessible from any Internet-connected system anywhere in the world. The Cambridge Webmail system gives secure access to Hermes mail and provides a convenient alternative to the use of a dedicated mail program.

Comparison of Hermes Webmail and other ways of dealing with mail

Various administrative tasks to do with your Hermes account require you to use Webmail: for instance, changing passwords, or setting up mail forwarding, central spam filtering or vacation messages. However, for actually reading and sending mail you can choose between using a Mail User Agent (such as Outlook, Apple Mail, Eudora, Windows Pine) to read your mail, or using Webmail for everything. (It is also possible to log in via SSH to Hermes itself and use Pine on Hermes, but this is not generally recommended). You can switch back and forth freely between different methods; Mail User Agents remain the most efficient way of reading mail when you are in Cambridge, but Webmail is very convenient when you are away. Provided your MUA uses IMAP and not POP, which almost all MUAs can do, all the same mail folders are available whichever method you use. Note that your personal Webmail addressbook is separate from any personal addressbook you use with an MUA, though the University addressbook (Lookup) is available to both.

Advantages of Webmail

• Can be used securely from any reasonably modern Web browser anywhere in the world.
• Used in any case for changing passwords, forwarding or filtering mail, or setting up vacation messages.
• Functions as an IMAP client; that is, mail is kept on Hermes and not downloaded to the local machine. This is the same as most MUAs in use in Cambridge, but different from POP mail (as used by most commercial ISPs and available as an alternative with most MUAs). IMAP is generally more convenient than POP for users who do not always use the same machine to read their mail.

Disadvantages of Webmail

• Likely to be slower than an MUA
• Does not give access to your non-mail files stored on Hermes. This probably only matters if you normally use Pine on Hermes itself (and save attachments or export mail messages).

Starting up Hermes Webmail

Start up your Web browser (Mozilla, Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer, etc.) and go to URL

https://webmail.hermes.cam.ac.uk/

A login page is displayed asking you for your user identifier and Hermes password. Fill these in and select Login; you will then see an initial Welcome message with some information about the Webmail system.

Facilities within Webmail

It is important to note that the browser's own navigation buttons (Back and Forward) are not guaranteed to work everywhere within Webmail. The navigation buttons, arrows and icons provided on the Webmail pages themselves should be used in preference.

Across the top of the screen you will see a row of icons for most of the different tasks within Webmail. On every page is a Help button which will give you fuller details about the options and actions on the page.

To read your mail, select Message; this will show you the first unread message in your INBOX, and you can then move on to other messages using the triangular pointer icons above the message. You also have the option to reply to the message, or to copy it to another folder, delete or forward it, or to mark it for special action later.

To look at the whole of your INBOX (or other folder) select Mailbox. A list of messages is displayed; you can read a message by selecting it, or you can mark or delete it. You can also search within the mailbox for messages with a particular subject, sender, recipient, text content, date or status; messages found by a search will be marked.If you have marked messages, you can delete or forward them all at once or copy them all at once to another folder by using the pull-down menu just above the message list.

To compose a new message, select Compose. Normally this takes you straight to a screen for composing your message; if you have any postponed messages, you will first be asked whether you want to edit one of them or to start afresh. On the main Compose page, as well as the usual fields to fill in (To: Cc: Subject: and the main text), options are provided to import text files into a message, add attachments, spellcheck your message, and send it or postpone it. From the Compose page you can switch to Addressbook to locate an address from your personal addressbook, from the central University Lookup directory or from the list of all Hermes users, and when you have found an address you can add it to the To: or Cc: field. For long messages you may wish to switch to the Large option which hides some of the icons and gives you more space for your text.

To look at other mail folders, select Folders for a full list and click on the folder you want, or select it from the pulldown menu in the top toolbar (labelled Change to:). You can identify certain folders as "Favourites"; see the online help for details.

To manage your addressbook, select Addressbook. Your Webmail addressbook is separate from any addressbook you may have on your local computer system (e.g. for Outlook). You can add or delete entries, and you can import addressbooks from your local system (if the format is suitable) or from Hermes. Similarly you can export your Webmail addressbook. You can also add entries to your addressbook by clicking on the From: or To: header in a message display. You can also use the central University Lookup directory to look up addresses from within Webmail (go to Addressbook, type in a surname and select Search Directory).

To change your password, check your disk space quota, forward or filter mail, or to set up a vacation message, select Manage. This also allows you to set various user preferences and to set up alternative "roles" for yourself if you read and send email in different official or personal capacities. In particular, to filter out junk mail (based on a "spam score" provided by the central Computing Service mail switch), select Manage and then Junk Email, and follow the instructions on the page.

To close your session, select the Logout icon at the top right.

It is very important to log out of the system when you have finished dealing with your mail.

Last updated: September 2010 Last reviewed October 2011