To access GWMail for Students and Alumni, go to http://mail.gwmail.gwu.edu/

From the Inbox, you can perform the following message management tasks:

• Getting New Messages
• Reading Messages
• Deleting Messages
• Undeleting Messages
• Expunging Messages
• Composing a Message
• Sorting Messages
• Filing Messages
• Viewing Attached Files
• Saving Attached Files
• Searching for Messages

To receive new messages, click Get Mail icon. Colonial Mail lists messages in the Inbox window. Messages are displayed in a list that shows the sender's name, subject, date of receipt and size of the message. Messages that have an envelope next to them have not been read. The number of unread messages, displayed at the lower-left of the Inbox window, changes to include new messages.

Reading Messages

From the Inbox, Sent Mail, you can open all messages received or sent by you. The Draft Tab displays drafts of your message that you have saved. The Folder tab, Trash tab displays filed messages in these folders.

1. Click the Inbox tab to see a list of messages.
2. Click the Inbox, Sent Mail, Drafts tab to see messages in the respective window.
3. Click the Folder tab to see folders where messages are filed. For more information about folders, refer to Managing Folders.
4. To open a specific message, click its subject. For more information on how to reply to the message, forward the message, delete the message, add the senders email addresses to your address book, refer to Working with Messages.
5. When you finish reading the message, click on a tab to go to the selected tabs Window or click the Close icon.

Deleting Messages

Depending on the Delete Options you set, you can delete messages temporarily or permanently from the Inbox, Sent Mail, Trash and Draft windows. For more information about setting these options, refer to Settings.

• If your Delete option is set to "Move Deleted Messages to the Trash," when you click Delete, the deleted message is moved from the current folder to the Trash Folder.
• If your Delete option is set to "Mark Messages Deleted," when you click Delete, Colonial Mail marks each selected message for deletion. When you click Expunge, messages are permanently removed without saving a backup copy of the message.

To delete messages from the Inbox or other folder (except the Trash folder):

1. Click the Inbox, Folder, Drafts or Sent Mail tab select the message(s) you want to delete.
• To select a single message, click its checkbox.
• To deselect a message, click its selected checkbox.
• To select all messages, click Select All.
• To deselect all messages, click Deselect All.
2. Click Delete.
3. The message(s) are sent to the Trash Folder or marked Deleted.

1. Click the Folder tab to see the list of your folders.
2. Click Empty Trash to clear the entire contents of the trash folder.

Or:

1. Click the Trash Folder to see your deleted messages.
2. You can also select specific messages you want to delete:
• To select a single message, click its checkbox.
• To deselect a selected message, click its selected checkbox.
• To select all messages, click Select All.
• To deselect all selected messages, click Deselect All.
3. After you have made your selections, click Delete.
4. The message(s) are deleted from the Trash Folder. A backup copy is not saved.

You can undelete any message marked for deletion in the Inbox, Drafts ,Trash or Sent Mail tab.

To undelete a message or messages:

1. Click the Inbox, Drafts , Trash or Sent Mail tab and select the message or messages you want to undelete.
• To select a single message, click its checkbox.
• To deselect a selected message, click its selected checkbox.
• To select all messages, click Select All.
• To deselect all selected messages, click Deselect All.
2. Click Undelete. Undeleted messages no longer have X marks next to them.

Expunging Messages

Use the Expunge icon to permanently delete messages.

1. Click the Inbox, Sent Mail, Drafts or Trash tab.
2. Select the message or messages you want to erase permanently.
• To select a single message, click its checkbox.
• To deselect a selected message, click its selected checkbox.
• To select all messages, click Select All.
• To deselect all selected messages, click Deselect All.
3. Click Expunge.
4. The selected messages are permanently removed from the Inbox, Sent Mail, Drafts or Trash windows.

Composing Messages

For instructions, refer to Composing a Message.

Sorting Messages

Messages in the Inbox, Sent Mail, Trash and Draft windows can be sorted in the decending or ascending order, by date displayed as "Received" or "Sent", sender or recipients name displayed as "From" or "To", message Size, Subject, or by the read or unread status. The envelope column displays the read or unread message status.

By default, messages are sorted with the latest message at the bottom, and oldest message at the top.

To change message sort order, click Received or Sent, From or To, Size, Subject, the (envelope) Status Icon, the Attachment icon or the Priority icon.

• Received or Sent sorts the messages by date. The latest message appear first on the list. Clicking Received or Sent again sorts the messages by date, oldest message appears first on the list.
• From or To sorts the messages alphabetically by sender's or receiver's name. Clicking From or To again sorts the messages by name in reverse alphabetical order.
• Size sorts the messages by size, in the ascending order. Clicking Size again sorts the messages in the reverse order.
• Subject sorts the messages alphabetically by subject on the Subject line. Clicking Subject again sorts the messages by subject in reverse alphabetical order.
• Status Icon sorts the read messages from the unread messages.
• Attachment Icon sorts all the messages with attachment and groups them together
• Priority Icon sorts the messages by the degree of importance namely Urgent, Non-Urgent and Normal

Filing Messages

To file or move messages from one folder to another:

1. Click the Inbox, Sent Mail, Trash, Draft or Folder tab.
2. Select the message or messages that you want to file.
• To select a single message, click its checkbox.
• To deselect a selected message, click its selected checkbox.
• To select all messages, click Select All.
• To deselect all selected messages, click Deselect All.
3. From the "Move messages to Folder" drop-down list, select the folder in which you want your message to be filed.
4. Your message is filed in the folder you selected.

Viewing Attached Files

To view a file attached to a message:

• In the message, click the name of the attached file, next to Attachments in the header section of the message. A dialog box appears.
• You can view the file from its current location without downloading it. Alternatively you can save the attachment into a selected folder.

Saving Attached Files

If you receive an attached file, such as a GIF or JPEG file, you can save it to your local disk.

To save an attachment:

1. Use the Save As function of your browser to save the attachment.
2. Or Right click the name of the attached file, in the message header next to Attachments (In the case of GIF or JPEG files, which are displayed inline, you will need to right-click on the image).A menu appears.
3. From the menu, choose Save Link As. The "Save As" dialog box appears.
4. In the File Name field enter the name of the attachment to be saved.
5. Click Save.

Searching for Messages

You can search for a specific message using the search criteria and keywords you enter. For example, you can search for a message in a folder by subject, sender, recipient or text.

1. Click the Inbox, Sent Mail, Trash or Drafts tab.
2. Click the Search icon.
3. Narrow the scope of your search by selecting a folder where the message resides from Search drop-down list.
4. Specify the search conditions by selecting a criteria from each of the drop-down lists on the next line, then enter a word or phrase in the blank text field. For example:
• From the left drop-down list, select the part of the message that you want to search. For example: Sender, Subject, Body or Recipient.
• From the middle drop-down list, select whether you want to search for something that is a part of the message you just selected (select "contains" for this); or "does not contain" to search for something that is not a part of the message you selected.
• In the right text field, type the word or words you want searched.
5. Click the Search button.
6. The messages that match the search criteria are listed in a tabular format.
7. Click Select All to select all messages for Deletion, Undelete messages previously marked for deletion, or Expunge the selected messages. You can also move the selected messages to a folder selected from "Move messages to folder "drop-down list.
• To delete all messages click Select All and then the Delete icon. The messages are marked for deletion.
• To undelete messages selected for deletion, click Undelete icon.
• To permanently remove messages marked for deletion, click Expunge. The messages that are marked for deletion are permanently removed without saving a backup copy.
• To move the selected messages to the folder selected from "Move messages to folder" drop-down list; Click Select All and then select a folder from "Move messages to folder" drop-down list. The messages are moved to the selected folder.
• Click Deselect All to clear selection.
8. Click the Subject of the message that you want to open.
9. When you finish reading the message, click on a tab to go to the selected tabs Window.