GCI’s preview launch of Webmail is a full featured mail application that can be accessed from anywhere you have a web connection.

Here are just a few features:

1. Easily import your contacts
2. Quickly preview emails without waiting for the webpage to reload
3. Drag and drop emails, addresses, and folders for easy message management
4. Spell check emails before you send them
5. Auto-complete lets you start typing the first few letters of a name in your address book and the application will do the rest
6. Right click to access common functions, just like a desktop application

We hope that you will suggest ways to improve the functions and features so we can continue to improve it.

Give us your feedback: mygci@gci.com

GCI is currently working on improving the following functions:

1. Currently, after you import contacts you must log out and then login again to see your imported contacts.
2. Additionally, contacts lists exported from Outlook Express 6 are not able to imported at this time.

We are working to enhance these function as soon as possible.

Webmail includes access to your email, address book (contacts), and Email Guard. The buttons to access any of these options are located above your email messages and to the left. Email and contacts are presented in separate windows in the same application. Once you login to Webmail, only email will be displayed.

To open your contacts, click the Contacts button. Opening contacts will cause the mail window to resize and your contacts will expand on the left of mail screen. You can drag your contacts to the right side of the screen if you prefer that position. To minimize, also known as docking, the contacts window, click on the dock icon in the upper right corner of the window.

To open your Email Guard, click the Email Guard button. A separate browser window will open. If you have a pop-up blocker, you may need to configure it to allow for pop-ups on this web page. Once you are finished reviewing your quarantined emails, simply close that new browser window.

The Dock contains links for your contacts, the email interface, and Email Guard. This is where your main webmail menu is located. If you are unable to find your contacts, most likely you will find them in the dock.

Dock Controls

Contacts - allow you to undock (or maximize) the contacts, add a new contact or contact group.

Email - allows you to undock your message center, compose a new message, modify email preferences, and access your email drafts.

There are three main areas in the email portion of the application.

1. Message List




2. Preview Panel




3. Side Panel

Message List

The message list is where you will find a list of individual emails in the currently selected folder. This is a summary of information about the messages. The number of messages that display will vary depending on the size of your browser and screen. Using the scroll bar located to the right of this panel, you may preview any additional messages.

1. Sorting
Messages may be sorted by clicking the column headers (such as from, subject, date, etc.). Clicking the column header again will toggle between ascending and descending order.
2. Resizing Columns
The width of the From, Subject, Date and Size columns in the message list can be resized by dragging the column divider.
3. Moving Messages
Select the message you would like to move by clicking on the message and then drag it to the folder where you would like to store it. Drop the message by releasing the mouse button.
4. Right-click


Right-clicking on an email will allow you to do the following actions:; reply, reply to all, forward, delete, print, create a filter, and mark the message read or unread.

back to mail panels

Preview Panel

This is where the contents of your selected message will display.

You will find two buttons in the middle right corner of the preview panel. Add Contact button allows you to add the sender of the email as a new contact. The Options button allows you to view some advanced features such as view the source, open the message in another browser window, mark the message unread, and create an email filter. Click the ‘X’ to close the Preview Panel.

back to mail panels

Side Panel

This panel gives you the ability to search the content of your messages as well as view and organize your mail folders.

1. Search
Webmail preview launch brings you the ability to search the "To", "From", "CC" and "Subject" fields, as well as elect to search just the inbox or all of your folders and messages.
1. Basic Search
Simply click in the search box in the side panel, type your search query and either hit your "enter" key or click the magnifying glass next to the search box.



2. Advanced Search
If you want to narrow or widen your search, simply click the circle with the cross in it, just to the left of the search box and choose how you would like to search.





2. Folders

Your email folders are also in the side panel, located just under the email search bar. You will see four system folders: Inbox, Drafts, Sent and Trash. You cannot delete these folders. In addition to the system folders, you can organize your email by creating your own folders.





Create New Folders: either right click and choose "New Folder" or click the new folder icon (folder image with +) at the bottom of the side panel.

Deleting Folders: either right click and choose "Delete Folder" or click the delete folder icon (folder image with -) at the bottom of the side panel.

Moving Folders: simply drag and drop that folder into any other folder. The folder you moved is now a subfolder.

back to mail panels

The toolbar pictured above is common to the Inbox and custom folders, and is used to perform standard operations on incoming email messages, such as creating a new email message. Webmail provides a number of quick ways to create a new email message:

1. Click the New button in the toolbar.
2. Select New Message from the Email menu in the Dock
3. Click the mail icon on a specific Contact (or Group). This icon will automatically appear when you mouse-over a contact in your address book.
Email Dock

Contact List

When you create a new message, a window opens, as shown to the right, with To, Subject, and content fields. After you have filled them in, you can click Send or Save as Draft.

Webmail preview launch supports you composing multiple messages at once.

Entering Email Addresses

There are two ways to enter an email address in the To, CC, or BCC fields by typing in an email address or using the address book.

Entering an email address

In the To field, type in the email address using a standard email format such as, support@gci.net. Separate multiple email addresses with a comma. If an email address already exists in your address book, Webmail preview launch will present you with a list of suggestions based on the partial email address that you have typed. You can select an address from the auto-suggest list using the mouse or keyboard.

Auto Suggest in action

Using the Address Book to enter an email address

To select one or more people from your contacts list,

• If Contacts is not visible, bring it forward by clicking on the Contacts button in the Dock.
• Click the name of the person(s) you want.
• Click the right mouse button (Windows) or Ctrl-Click (Mac) and select To, CC or BCC.

Note that you can use Shift-Click to select a range of contacts or use the CTRL/CMD key to select a number of individual contacts.

Rich Text and Plain Text

The toolbar contains a button that toggles between Rich Text and Plain Text message composition. The default state when composing a new message is plain text editing. In this mode, the Rich Text Composition toolbar is hides and the button displays the words Rich Text. Clicking the Rich Text button will display the formatting toolbar and permit text, color and styles changes on the message text. The button will toggle the display between plain and rich text. Selecting plain text while in rich text mode will display an alert warning you that this action will discard any formatting and offer to cancel the action.

Here is a list of the different types of formatting that you can do in Webmail preview launch:

• Bold, Underline, Italics
• Font and size
• Text color
• Create Hyperlink
• Remove formatting - removes all text formatting from the message

Spell Check

Select Spell Check in the Toolbar to perform a spell check when composing an email message. This will replace the Rich Text Editing composition bar with the Spell Check Bar. Utilize Spell Check for any message that you are composing. Note that when in use it disables the message body, graying out all correctly spelled words and highlighting all misspellings. The "current" misspelled word highlights in bold blue and shown in the Spell Check bar. Other misspellings are in bold red. You have the option of replacing the word with the first suggestions (in the drop-down), selecting an alternate suggestion or ignoring the word. Use the arrow buttons to go to the next word or go back. When you have finished using this tool, just simply click done.

Sending Messages with Attachments

To send an attachment, click the Attach button. A dialog box appears where you may select one or more files to attach to your message.

Including a Signature

You can include a pre-defined "signature" with each message you write. To include a signature, click the Insert Signature button. You can define as many signatures as you like. See Preferences for instructions on how to create signatures.

Forwarding Messages

To forward an email message, click the Forward button and enter the recipient or recipients, or select from your contacts. Printing Messages Select a message you wish to print and click the Print icon in the toolbar.

Printing Messages

Select a message you wish to print and click the Print icon in the toolbar.

Deleting Messages

To delete a message, click the delete (trash bin) button either while selecting the message, or drag it to the Trash folder. Deleted messages stay in the Trash folder until you click the delete icon while selecting the message or when you empty the trash by clicking the empty trash button.

Receiving Mail

All incoming mail goes to your Inbox folder.

The leftmost column in the folder pane indicates whether you have read, responded to or forwarded a message. If the message is unread, the envelope flap is in the sealed position and the message is in bold text. If the message is read, the envelope flap is in the open position. If you have replied to a message, the envelope icon is replaced by a left-pointing arrow, the reply icon.

The Envelope Icon

The envelope flap is in the sealed position, and it remains that way until you reply to it, or until you click another message.

• Unread messages are in bold and have a sealed envelope icon.
• Read messages are in plain typeface and have an open envelope icon.
• Reply The icon changes to a reply icon when you have replied to a message.

Receiving attachments

When you receive a message that has an attachment, a paper clip icon will appear in the column to the left of the From field. In the header of the message there will a line that gives the name of the file, including filename extension that is attached to the message.

To access the attachment, click it. When the attachment is an image, a new browser window will appear with the image displayed in it. If the file is an executable (.exe extension) or an unrecognized file type, a dialog box will appear, allowing you to save the file.

Checking for New Mail

You can control how frequently Webmail automatically checks for new incoming messages. Options range from every minute to hourly. This can be changed via the Preferences button located in the side panel.

To force an immediate check for new mail, click the Check Mail button in the toolbar.

Preferences

To manage preferences, click the Preferences button in the lower left of the side panel. There are four tabs available General, Signatures, Filters and Vacation.

The following settings may be modified within the General tab:

• Real Name - The name that will appear in the From field in your outgoing email messages.
• Auto-Check Mail - Use this field to specify how frequently Webmail should check your mail server to see if new messages have arrived. You can manually force a check at any time by clicking on the Check Mail button on the home screen.
• Reply-To Address - The email address that will appear in the From field in your outgoing email messages.
• Reply Quoting - When this field is checked, the complete text of the message to which you are responding is included with your response. When it is not checked, the response template is empty.
• Save Outgoing Messages - When this field is checked, a copy of your outgoing messages is saved in the Sent folder. If you uncheck this, saved messages remain saved, but new messages will not be saved.
• Sound - When checked, a sound will play when new email arrives.
• HTML Privacy Protection - When this option is checked, external images are automatically blocked from being displayed in the email message.

On the Signatures tab, you can create as many distinct signatures as you like to use in different types of messages. For example, you might have one signature that you use on professional correspondence and another for personal letters. To create a signature, type the name you wish to associate with the signature in the left panel, and the contents of the signature in the preview pane. The name of the signature does not appear in the message; it is just a way for you to order your signatures.

When you have specified one or more signatures, a signature selection menu appears at the bottom of the compose message window. By default, your default signature will be included, however, use this menu to select alternative signatures.

On the Filters tab, sometimes called rules, you can setup a set of conditions and actions that can process and organize incoming messages. You can add a new filter or set an existing filter to be active (or not). Filters can also be duplicated or deleted.

Each filter consists of two parts: one or more conditions that specify which messages the filter applies to and one or more actions that specify what should be done with messages that meet the criteria. For example, you can create a rule that automatically moves all of the messages you receive with the subject Word of the Day to a separate folder called New Words.

With the Vacation tab, you can setup an automatic reply to new messages when you are going to be away from your email for an extended amount of time. Just type your message in the field and Automatic Vacation Response. The new message will be in your Inbox awaiting your return.

Contacts provide a summary view of all contacts displaying the first name, last name, and default email address. You may also define groups that appear in the Contacts list. Selecting a contact or group allows you to either compose a new message or view the respective details.

Creating Contacts

There are a number of ways to create a new entry in your contacts list:

• When a message is displayed, click the Add Contact button in the upper right portion of the preview pane. This will create a new contact, populate it with the name, and email address of the message's sender.



• Select New Contact from the Contacts Menu in the Dock.
• In the Contacts window, click the New button. located on the lower left corner of the Window.

When you create a new contact, a panel with several sections appears. Fill in the information you wish to save for the contact.

Additional fields can be created for storing information beyond the default fields provided. For instance, fields for additional telephone numbers may be created. Click the + next to Phone. A new field under Phone is created with a blank label. Label as appropriate and enter your information. New fields may be created under any of the categories with the + icon. User created fields may be removed by clicking the - icon.

Click Save to save the information; click Close to dismiss the screen.

To close without saving the information you have just entered, click on the Cancel button in the lower right of the panel.

Organizing Contacts

You can choose to have your contacts listed alphabetically by first name, last name, or email address using the drop-down menu located underneath Search. Correspondingly, you can choose forward or reverse alphabetical order.

Deleting Contacts

Contacts can be deleted one by one or as a block. Select the contacts you wish to remove by clicking an individual contact, or holding the Shift key to select a range of contacts or the Ctrl/CMD key to select a number of individual contacts. Once selected, click the Delete button in the footer of the Contacts sidebar.

Creating Groups

Click the New Group icon in the footer of your contacts list and a panel will appear to allow you to populate with people from your address book or simply add an address manually. To add contacts to a group:

• Drag existing contacts into the group panel, or
• Begin typing the name or email address of the person you wish to add. If the person is in your address book the auto suggest feature will display any number of matches to select.

Importing Contacts

Webmail preview launch will let you import your contacts as a .csv file. It’s easy. First, you must export your contacts from your other email service and save it as a .csv file. Please refer to your email service’s help section for more instruction. Within the Contacts bar, click on the index card icon. Open the .csv file. Webmail preview launch will take care of the rest. When the import is completed, an alert will appear explaining how many contacts have been imported.

If a contact’s email address is not populated, it is an incomplete entry.

GCI Webmail Preview Frequently Asked Questions - August 2008