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Technology Tips Archive:

Eudora Email

OSU Webmail

 

Have you ever received an email from someone with a nice little blurb about him or her at the bottom? Furthermore, do you wonder if they have to type that information every time they send an email? The short answer is no. Rather, they created a signature file in their email software client. Every email client I know of has the ability to create and set a signature. Since Eudora is the preferred email client on our campus the steps that follow explain how to create your signature file and then set the signature file to be included in your email.

Creating a signature file in Eudora:

  1. Click the Tools menu and select Signatures.
  2. In the column on the left side of your screen you will see a file called Standard – double-click that file.
  3. Now in the main window you will have a mini word processor of sorts. In that window you can type the information you would like to include in your signature.
  4. Click the File menu and select Close. Click Yes when you are prompted to save.

You’ve created the signature file now you must tell Eudora to include that file in your emails.

Setting you signature file in Eudora:

  1. Click the Tools menu and select Options.
  2. Click Composing Mail from the category list on the left.
  3. In the window next to the word Signature select Standard from the drop-down list.
  4. Click OK

That’s it, now when you send an email that information will be included at the bottom!

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Adding a Sender's Email Address to your Address Book
Did you know that you can easily add the email address from the sender of a message you've received to your Address Book?  Here's how:

  1. Open or select the message from your In box
  2. Click the Special menu
  3. Choose Make Address Book Entry

It's that easy!

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Sending a Message to Multiple Recipients using Send Again
Have you ever been in a situation where you want to send the same email to a number of people but you don't want to address it to everyone all at once (for whatever reason)? Did you know you can resend a message in Eudora to different recipients? So once you've written and sent the message all you have to do is resend it to each of the other people you want to receive it without having to retype it or cut and paste the text into a new message. Here's how:

  1. In Eudora, compose a message, address it and send it to the first recipient
  2. Open the Out folder and select the message you just sent
  3. Click the Messages menu and select Send Again
  4. Change the address to a different recipient and click Send

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Route Incoming Mail from Specific People to Separate Mailboxes
So do you receive a lot of mail from the same person? Would you just like to put it into it's own folder upon receipt? Well, Eudora can route incoming mail from specific people to separate mailboxes automatically. Here's how to set it up:

  1. When you receive a message from that person, select it
  2. Click the Special menu and select Make Filter
  3. Make sure "Transfer to new mailbox" is selected and that there is a name for the folder in the text box that follows
  4. Click the Create Filter button

The next time you receive email from that person it will automatically be put in that folder you just created.

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Using Eudora 6.0/7.0's built in junk e-mail (spam) filter
Eudora 6.0 and higher now features a built in junk mail filter (i.e. spam filter). The settings for this can be found by going to the Tools menu, then Options (Special, then Settings on a Macintosh), and then selecting the Junk Mail icon.

When Eudora believes a message is junk mail, it will move it into the Junk mailbox. If Eudora makes a mistake, you can select the message from the Junk mailbox, then go to the Message menu and select Not Junk. This will move the message back to the In mailbox.

Likewise, if a junk mail message is not filtered and stays in your In mailbox, you can select the message, go to the Message menu and choose Junk. This will move the message into the Junk mailbox.

Using the Junk and Not Junk menu items also trains Eudora on what messages you believe to be junk mail, making the filter more accurate over time. You can also adjust the filter's sensitivity by changing the slide bar in the Junk Mail settings mentioned above.

You should always monitor the Junk mailbox for legitimate messages, as the filter will never be 100% accurate.

You can see an example of these procedures by clicking here.

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Request a Return Receipt
A return receipt is a message that notifies you (the sender) that the recipient of your email has viewed the message you sent (nothing guarantees that they read it).  You can request a return receipt in Eudora with the click of a button.

When composing a message click the Return Receipt button in the message toolbar (circled in the picture below).  That’s it!

Request a Return Receipt

When your recipients open the message then close it, a dialog box appears asking them to create a notification message now, later, or never.

  • Click Now to queue the notification message in your Out mailbox: it will be sent the next time queued messages are sent.
  • Click Later to close the message without sending a notification.
  • Click Cancel to dismiss the notification request from the screen while the return receipt message is open; however, each time you open the message and then close it (or if you try to delete it), the notification request will appear until you click either Now or Never.
  • Click Never to cancel the notification request without ever sending a notification message.

If a recipient chooses to create a notification message, it is sent to you and tells you when the recipient displayed your message.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The Return Receipt options may work differently than described, depending on your recipients’ email software (i.e. the return receipt may not work if they are using something other than Eudora).

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Creating a Group Email List in the Eudora Address Book
Do you regularly send emails to groups of people?  Perhaps you would like to send an email to your entire class, department, or research cohort.  In Eudora, you can create an email list for a group of individuals by creating a nickname and then adding the email addresses or nicknames (if already set up in your address book) of everyone in the group to that address book entry.  To create a new email list in your address book, do the following from within Eudora:

  1. From the Tools menu, choose Address Book
  2. In the Address Book, click the New button at the bottom of your list of addresses/nicknames.
  3. Type the name in the Nickname text field on the top right side of the window, for example "Tech Services." The nickname entry appears in the list, and you can now add information for this entry.
  4. Click in the Full Name field, type a descriptive or an informal name for the email list. If the person you are sending the message to is also using Eudora, this name is included in the "To" field for your recipient to see.  If they are not using Eudora, they will see the email addresses for everyone on the list.
  5. In the This nickname will expand to the following addresses text field, type the complete email address for each person included in the group. Separate multiple addresses with commas or returns (this is the only place you can use a return to separate addresses). You can also use nicknames in this field, but be sure that any nicknames you use are defined by their own entry. You can use a mixture of nicknames and complete email addresses. Make sure this field contains no other information except addresses and nicknames, or your messages will be addressed incorrectly.

You can see an example of these procedures by clicking here.

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Sending a Message to a Group Email List in the Eudora Address Book
Since there is no guarantee that the recipient of your message is using Eudora, you should probably take a different approach to using a group email list.  Using Bcc hides the email addresses everyone on the list.

  1. Compose a new message
  2. Enter your email address in the To: line
  3. Enter a subject
  4. Enter the group’s nickname in the Bcc: line.  Bcc stands for Blind Carbon Copy and, as it’s name implies, prevents the recipient from seeing who else received the message.  Therefore if you send the message to a group of students, they won’t see who else got the message and thus won’t see those individuals’ email addresses.
  5. Click Send

To see an example of how it’s done, watch the movie linked here.

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Setting up an Out of Office Auto-Reply/Vacation Message (Using OSU Webmail)
We've all sent email to a colleague or friend and received a nifty little reply stating that they are out of the office for one reason or another.  You ever wonder how they do that?  Well, it differs depending on which email client you use. For our purposes, setting it up in the OSU Webmail client is the easiest.

  1. Log on to your OSU Webmail
  2. Click Options along the toolbar near the top of the page
  3. Click Vacation Message from the menu on the left
  4. Complete the form keeping the following tips in mind:
    • When entering the start and stop dates you must use a 2-digit day, 2-digit month, and 4-digit year (dd/mm/yyyy).  So for instance April 1, 2007 must be entered as 04/01/2007.
    • You cannot enter the current date (i.e. today's date) as the start date. If you do, your vacation message won't turn on and therefore won't work. The system activates vacation messages every day at midnight. So, for example, if you want your vacation message to start on April 14 you must set it on or before 11:59 pm April 13. If you wait until April 14 it won't work.
    • The system automatically generates a subject and message for you.  You can change either just by clicking inside the boxes and editing them.
    • Internal senders refers to anyone sending you email from an osu.edu email account.
    • Finally, your email will not reply to itself (i.e. if you send a message to yourself you won't get a reply). If you want to test your vacation message send an email from a different email address to your OSU email or have a friend/colleague do so.
  5. Click Save Settings and then log out

To see an example of how it’s done, watch the movie linked here.

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Sending Attached Files Using OSU Webmail
As with almost all e-mail programs, it is possible to attach one or more files to messages sent from OSU Webmail. To send attachments in OSU Webmail:

  1. Click the Attach button (resembling a paperclip) at the top of the Compose Message window.
  2. In the new Attach File window that appears, click the Browse button and locate the file you wish to send.
  3. Double-click the file to attach and you should return to the Attach File window, with the location of your file now listed next to the Browse button.
  4. Click the Add button to add it to the File Attachment list in the lower half of the Attach File window.
    NOTE: In the OSU e-mail system there is a maximum message size of 10 MB. This includes the attachment, the message itself, and encoding done on the attachment as it is sent. Messages larger than this will not be successfully delivered.
  5. If you wish to include additional attachments, repeat steps 2-4.
  6. Once you have added all the attachments you wish to send, click the Attach button near the bottom of the window.
  7. You will be returned to the Compose Message window, and you should now see a line for Attachments just below the Bcc: header.
  8. Proceed with addressing and composing your message normally, and when finished press the Send button.

To see an example of how it’s done, watch the movie linked here.

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Junk e-mail (spam) filtering in Eudora using OIT Central Server spam scores
So you've set up Eudora 6.0/7.0's built in junk e-mail (spam) filter (discussed in a previous Tech Tip) and it's left you longing for something more.  Well, OIT has a central spam service that assigns every email a score.  You can create a filter in Eudora that will use these scores to alleviate spam in your inbox.

Warning: Spam filtering will never be 100% accurate. You should routinely check the Junk mailbox (where you are placing the suspected spam) for legitimate messages that were incorrectly filtered.

To setup a spam filter that uses the OIT central server spam scores:

  1. Start Eudora, go to the Tools menu and select Filters (Window menu, then Filters on a Mac)
  2. Click the New button to create a new filter
  3. Select the check boxes for Incoming and Manual
  4. In the Header field, type X-Spam-Score:
  5. Contains should be selected in the next menu
  6. In the next text field, using asterisks, enter the score necessary for a message to be considered spam (e.g., *** or ****). See the example data below for how the score will affect spam filtering.
  7. In the Action section, select Transfer to from the first menu
  8. Set the Transfer to mailbox by one of the following methods:
    • PC: Click on the button next to Transfer to and select the Junk mailbox.
    • Mac: Click on the button next to Transfer to, then go to the Transfer menu and select the Junk mailbox.
    • Note: There is also the option of creating a new mailbox
  9. Your filter should show up at the left titled X-Spam-Score: *** depending on what you set the spam score to. Drag this filter to the bottom of the filters list. This will let any other filters you have act on messages before the spam filter does.
  10. Close the filters window and save the changes.

To see an example of how it’s done, watch the movie linked here.

Example spam scores and their effects on filtering (439 confirmed spam messages and 445 valid messages):

Spam correctly
filtered		 Spam not
filtered		 Valid messages
correctly filtered		 Valid messages
marked as spam
* 431 8 360 85
** 425 14 423 22
*** 417 22 441 4
**** 408 31 443 2
***** 383 56 444 1

The example shows that the fewer the *s, the more strict the filtering since 1 * filtered 85 valid messages as spam.  To retrieve those messages you would have to open your Junk folder and move them back to you Inbox.

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Sending an attachment in Eudora
We often have the need to include Word or PDF documents, PowerPoint presentations, or even pictures with the email messages we send to colleagues and friends. For those of us who have used Eudora for some time this may be old hat but those new to Eudora a demonstration is likely of value.

To see how to attach a file to an email message in Eudora, watch the movie linked here.

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Creating an Email Signature in Webmail
Many of us have email signatures set up in Eudora.  You know, that name, address, and other contact information included at the bottom of each of our email messages.  Many of us also use OSU's Webmail when we are at home or on the road.  However, when you send messages from Webmail you don't have that signature.  Well, like most email programs, Webmail lets you set up a signature too.

  1. Log into Webmail
  2. Click on Options near the top of the page
  3. Click Personal Information at the left
  4. Add the text in the box called Signature
  5. Check the box labeled "Include this text in each message you compose"
  6. Click Save Changes at the bottom

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