SmarterMail Help
Community Knowledge Base

Email Overview

SmarterMail users can send and receive email, view calendars and create appointments, manage tasks and notes, and more — from anywhere in the world, on any computer or mobile device, using a simple web browser. SmarterMail is also fully compatible with desktop email clients such as Microsoft Outlook, Apple Mail, and eM Client, as well as the native email, contacts, and calendar apps on Android and iOS. To log in to webmail, use the link provided by whoever set up your SmarterMail mailbox, then enter your full email address (e.g., jsmith@example.com) and password.

This page covers the primary areas of the webmail interface and how to work with your messages. These include:

Navigating Email

When you open the Email section of SmarterMail, you'll generally start in your Inbox, as it's the primary location where new email arrives. While you can set up content filters that automatically route messages to other folders, the Inbox is the default starting point for anyone using webmail. The interface itself is separated into three main areas: the folder list on the left, the messages list in the middle, and the reading (preview) pane on the right.

Show/Hide Icon

At the top corner of the webmail interface you'll see the show/hide icon. This lets you collapse or expand your folder list, which is especially useful when viewing your mailbox on smaller devices, such as tablets and phones, where screen space is at a premium. Hiding the folder list gives the messages list and reading pane more room; clicking the icon again brings the folders back.

Email Classification

Above your list of folders is the Show Email Classifications button. (The sparkle icon.) Clicking this button displays a list of email classifications above the folder tree in webmail: Primary, Transactions, Updates, and Promotions. Clicking on a classification filters your Inbox to show only the messages belonging to that class. This makes it easy to, say, review only your receipts and shipping notifications, or catch up on newsletters, without wading through everything else. Toggling the feature off removes the list of classes and displays all messages combined, just as a traditional inbox would.

The first time you enable classifications, a short tutorial dialog appears explaining the feature: "Your emails are automatically sorted into categories: Primary for important messages, Transactions for receipts and orders, Updates for newsletters and notifications, and Promotions for deals and offers."

The four classifications are:

  • Primary — Important, generally person-to-person emails that require your attention. This is the default, catch-all category: if a message doesn't clearly fit into another class, it's classified as Primary. For example, a project update from a coworker or a note from a family member lands here.
  • Transactions — Purchase receipts, shipping notifications, and delivery confirmations. These are transactional emails related to orders, payments, or account activity. For example, an order confirmation from an online retailer or a monthly billing statement.
  • Updates — News headlines, newsletters, and social media alerts. This includes subscription-based content, notification emails, and social updates. For example, a weekly industry newsletter or a "someone commented on your post" notification.
  • Promotions — Coupons, sales announcements, and promotional offers from retailers. Marketing and advertising emails fall into this category. For example, a "25% off this weekend only" email from a favorite store.

How Classification Works

When an incoming message is received, its content is analyzed and a classification is assigned. That classification is stored as a header on the message itself (X-SpamFoo-Classification) and is persisted, so it can be referenced whenever the message list is displayed — no re-analysis is needed each time you open a folder.

The system also learns from your corrections. If a message is classified incorrectly, you can reclassify it, and you're given a choice of scope: reclassify just this email, or reclassify all emails from that sender. Choosing the sender-wide option means all current and future mail from that sender will be assigned the new classification. For example, if a vendor's invoices keep landing in Promotions, reclassifying one of them as Transactions — and applying the change to the sender — ensures every invoice from that vendor is properly classified going forward.

Classifying Existing Messages

When classifications are enabled for an existing mailbox, a background process goes back through the Inbox and classifies messages that are already there, so the classification views are populated with existing mail, not just new arrivals. Whether that actually happens for a User's Inbox is determined by the "Max Inbox Messages for Classification" setting that's managed by the system administrator and, ultimately, domain administrators who can override the system setting.

For example, by default that's set to 20000 messages. What this means is that if the User's Inbox has more than 20000 messages, Email Classification will not be automatically enabled for that User. It will be disabled by default. Users UNDER 20000 messages will have Email Classification enabled and it will run. For those Users over 20000 messages, the domain administrator will need to enable Email Classification manually. Regardless of that setting, once Email Classification is enabled, all messages in a User's Inbox will be classified. If a User's Inbox is empty, Email Classification will not be enabled for that User.

Default and Custom Folders View

The left side of the interface displays your folders. The default folders are listed at the top:

  • Inbox
  • Drafts
  • Deleted Items
  • Junk Email
  • Sent Items
  • Scheduled

These folders are created for every mailbox within SmarterMail. The Scheduled folder is a bit different: it only appears once you've scheduled an outgoing message or reply to be sent at a later date and time, and it holds those messages until they're sent.

Below the default folders are the custom folders that you create — for example, a "Receipts" folder for order confirmations, or a "Projects" folder with subfolders for each client. If folders are nested within a parent folder, an icon is displayed to the left of the parent folder's name. Clicking the icon expands the parent and displays the nested folders; clicking it again hides them.

At the bottom of the folder list is the Shared With Me area. Here you'll see any folders other users have shared with you — for example, a departmental "Support" inbox that several team members monitor together. Folders shared with you always appear in the Shared With Me area, while folders you share with others remain in their natural position in your folder list and are simply denoted with a sharing symbol next to the folder name. When you're viewing a folder that's shared, a notice appears above the messages list indicating the folder is shared and your level of access to it.

Read more about Managing Folders in SmarterMail.

Messages List View

To the right of your folders is the messages list. Here you'll see all of the messages in your Inbox, or in whichever folder you're currently viewing. Each row displays the sender, subject, date, and indicator icons for things like attachments, flags, and categories. At the bottom of the list, a footer displays the folder's unread count alongside its total number of items, so you always know where you stand.

At the top of the messages list are buttons and icons representing the various ways to interact with the messages in the list:

  • Select
  • Search
  • Sort
  • Filter
  • Actions (⋮)

Email Interactions

There are a number of different ways to interact with messages in SmarterMail. Buttons such as New are fairly self-explanatory, but others offer multiple options, which are detailed below.

Selecting Messages

It's possible to select or deselect individual messages, all messages, or a consecutive range of messages. You can do this with keyboard shortcuts — holding the Ctrl key (on Windows) or the Command key (on macOS) lets you select individual, non-adjacent messages, while holding the Shift key selects a consecutive range — or by using the options in the Select dropdown:

  • Select All — Selects every message in the current messages list.
  • Deselect All — If any or all messages are selected, this clears the selection.
  • Enable Select Mode — Turns on a selection mode that lets you select multiple messages individually, one at a time, with a single click or tap each. Use this for gathering scattered messages throughout your list so they can be moved, deleted, or otherwise handled together. This is particularly handy on touch devices, where Ctrl- and Shift-clicking aren't available. When Select Mode is active, the button displays a running count of how many messages you've selected, and clicking the X next to it exits Select Mode.

Once messages are selected, any action you take — Move, Delete, Mark Read, and so on — applies to the entire selection. For example, you could enable Select Mode, tap five newsletters scattered across your Inbox, then use Actions and Move to file them all in a "Newsletters" folder in one step.

Searching Messages

Clicking the Search icon opens a search bar above the messages list. Standard search lets you type in a domain name, a full email address, or keywords to quickly find what you're looking for — for example, searching "example.com" surfaces messages from anyone at that domain, while searching "quarterly report" finds messages containing that phrase. SmarterMail also offers an advanced search option for more precise queries. For more information, see Searching Email Messages and Using Advanced Search.

Sorting Messages

To sort messages, click the Sort icon and select the field you want to use for the sort order. A checkmark indicates the active sort field. For example, selecting "Size" arranges messages by their size — which includes any attachments — making it easy to find the large messages eating up your disk space. The following sort options are available:

  • Date — The date and time the mail system received the message. (The default.)
  • From — The sender of the message.
  • Subject — The subject of the message.
  • Size — The size of the message, including attachments.
  • Reverse Order — Flips the current sort direction between descending and ascending. For example, with Date selected, reversing the order switches between newest-first and oldest-first.

Filtering Messages

Filtering displays only the messages that match the criteria you select, temporarily hiding everything else. This is different from sorting: sorting rearranges ALL of the messages in a folder, while filtering narrows down which messages are displayed in the first place. The two work together — you can filter your list to just Unread messages, then sort those results by Size, for instance.

The Filter menu offers the following options:

  • All — Displays all messages. (The default.)
  • Unread — Displays only messages marked as Unread.
  • Read — Displays only messages marked as Read, hiding any unread messages.
  • Replied — Displays only messages you've replied to.
  • Not Replied — Displays only messages you have NOT replied to. This is a great way to find messages that still need a response.
  • Flagged — Displays only messages marked for follow-up, or "flagged".
  • Linked to Tasks — Displays only messages that are associated with Tasks.
  • Attachments — Displays only messages that have one or more attachments.

Below these options is a list of your categories, which can also be used for filtering. All Categories is checked by default, but you can limit the filter to one or more specific categories as needed — for example, showing only messages categorized as "Urgent" and "Billing". While a filter is active, a bar appears above the messages list showing exactly what you're filtering by, along with an X that clears the filter and returns you to the full list.

Manage Categories

You can also manage your categories directly from the Filter menu. Clicking Manage Categories opens a window listing all of your current categories. Here you can rename a category, change its associated color, add new categories, or remove ones you no longer use. Any changes you make carry over to every area of SmarterMail where categories are available, such as Calendars, Contacts, and Tasks. For example, renaming a "Clients" category to "Customers" updates that category on every message and appointment it was applied to.

Messages List Actions

The Actions (⋮) button at the top of the messages list gives you the following options, which apply to whichever message or messages are currently selected:

  • Reply — Opens a reply to the original sender. (I.e., the address in the From: field.) Available when a single message is selected.
  • Reply All — Opens a reply to the sender plus all addresses in the To: and CC: fields.
  • Forward — Forwards the message to one or more addresses you specify.
  • Move — Moves the selected message(s) to a folder you choose. You can also simply drag and drop messages onto a folder in the folder list.
  • Flag / Unflag — Flags a message for follow-up, or removes an existing flag. Flagged messages can be quickly recalled later using the Flagged filter.
  • Mark Read / Mark Unread — Changes the read status of the selected message(s). For example, marking a message Unread is a simple way to remind yourself to come back to it.
  • Move to Junk — Moves the message to the Junk Email folder. When you're viewing the Junk Email folder, this option becomes Move to Inbox instead, so messages incorrectly marked as junk can be rescued.
  • Modify Classification — When Email Classification is enabled, and viewing the messages list in a specific Email Classification, this changes a message's classification (Primary, Transactions, Updates, or Promotions). The message's current classification is greyed out in the list and can't be selected. You'll be asked whether to reclassify just the selected email(s) or all mail from that sender — choosing the sender-wide option means all current and future messages from that sender are classified the new way.
  • Trust Sender / Untrust Sender — Adds the sender to, or removes them from, your Trusted Senders list. Mail from Trusted Senders bypasses most spam filtering checks. Note that email authentication checks, such as SPF and DKIM, still run against Trusted Senders to protect against phishing.
  • Block Sender / Unblock Sender — Adds the From: address to your Blocked Senders list, preventing future messages from that sender from reaching your Inbox, or removes a previously blocked address from the list.
  • Download EML — Downloads a copy of the message as an EML file (the standard file format for email messages) so it can be saved to your desktop or elsewhere. If multiple messages are selected, they're downloaded together as a single .ZIP file. There is a 1GB limit per download.
  • View Raw Content — Displays the message exactly as it was submitted to SmarterMail, including all header information and the unformatted message content. This is useful for troubleshooting delivery issues or verifying that a message really came from who it claims to be from.
  • Delete — Deletes the selected message(s). What happens on delete — moving to Deleted Items, being marked as deleted, or being permanently removed — depends on your delete settings. See Deleting Email Messages for details.
  • Undelete — Restores messages that have been marked as deleted but not yet purged.
  • Purge Marked as Deleted — Permanently removes any messages in the folder that are marked as deleted. This is only relevant when your delete settings mark messages as deleted rather than moving them.
  • Delete All in Folder — Deletes ALL messages in the current folder, not just the selected ones. Use this with care — running it while viewing your Inbox removes every message in the Inbox. It's best suited for clearing out folders like Junk Email or Deleted Items in one step.

Read More

There's much more to interacting with email beyond managing the messages list. Read more on:

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