In addition to the traditional email clients, WebSTAR Mail provides an interface for users to read their mail via web browsers. While users can accept and download attachment files, they cannot upload and send attachments.
The browser mail interface is compatible with all standard browsers. It does not use any advanced features such as DHTML..
To use the web browser mail interface, have your users login to your mail server with a page URL that incudes a .mail suffix, for example:
http://www.domain.com/web.mail
(replacing www.domain.com with your server's host name)
The WebSTAR Web Server will recognize the .mail suffix and bring up the web mail login page.
You'll see a very simple login page. Enter your email address and the password, and click Login . Some browsers, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer allow you to press the Return key to submit your name, while others such as Netscape's browser, require the Tab key.
If your email address is unique on the server, you can just enter the name part without the host or domain name.
As soon as you log in, you can see the list of messages, read and delete messages, download attachments, and write new messages.
To create a message, click on the Send Email link in the message listing page. You'll see the message form.
This form has several fields for message headers, and a body field to enter your message.
To go back to the message list without sending anything, just use the Back button or menu item in your browser.
For people on the same mail host, you can just type the first part of the address: you don't have to type the host name.
Type the body of your message in the scrolling text field. It can handle about 32,000 characters and uses the font you specify in your browser's monospaced font preference.
You can't upload any attachments or enclosures when you send messages using browser-based mail. You must use a POP or IMAP client to send enclosures.
When you're finished with your message you can click the Send Message button. This will send the message to the server and take you back to the message list page.
Click the Check Messages link to bring up the listing of messages, or refresh it to be sure you see all incoming messages, just like when you log in. To reply, forward or delete messages, click on the message to view it, then click on one of the command links in the message page.
After reading messages, the links will be marked as viewed, using the browser preference setting.
To read a message, click on the date, sender or subject in the listing page. You'll see the message header, with the main recipient (indicating mailing lists, for example), the sender, and the subject, followed by the body of the message.
If there are any enclosures, they are listed after the text of the message. When you click on the enclosure link, the browser will automatically start to download the file. In some cases, it will bring up a dialog allowing you to specify where on your local system to save the enclosed file.
All messages are retained until you delete them or download them to an email application that uses the POP protocol, which will delete them unless you override that option.
When you click the Reply link, you'll see a Message Form Headers . The To field is filled in with the sender's address, and the Subject field has their subject. The original message is already entered into that field.
The body area contains the original message, with message quote marks (>) on the left side. When you type your new text into the field, start the line without the message quote, to show that it's your reply and not the original words.
When you're finished with your message, you can click the Send Message button, or Send And Delete Original . This will send the message to the server and take you back to the message list page.
Clicking the Forward link is much like Reply . The Message Form Headers has the subject and body fields filled in, but the To field is blank, so you can enter a new recipient's email address.
When you're finished with your message, click the Send Message button or Send And Delete Original . This will send the message to the server and take you back to the message list page.
To delete a message, you must view it and click the Delete button. There is no confirmation, and no way to get a message back if you change your mind, so be careful when you delete messages.