Community Knowledge Base

Managing Users

This settings page is only available to system administrators and domain administrators.

The Users section is where system and domain administrators can add, view and modify users on a domain, where each user represents a person's actual mailbox and email address (ex: jdoe@example.com). Administrators can modify basic configuration options for a user, including their password method, features they can access, reply-to addresses, webmail preferences and more.

For a better understanding of the actions that can be performed in the Users section, see the Users Overview page.

When viewing or editing a user, the following cards are available:

User Actions (⋮)

When viewing a specific user from the Users page, several actions can be performed by clicking the Actions (⋮) button. These include:

  • Impersonate User - If domain administrators have permission to impersonate users, when a user is selected and this action is taken, the domain administrator will log into the user's account and be able to see their entire account.
  • Rename - Allows a domain administrator to change the username.
  • Change Password - This allows the domain administrator to change the password for the user (or on the user's account). This option is not available when using Active Directory authentication.
  • Expire Password - This removes the user's SmarterMail password, forcing them to change it on their next login to webmail. This option is not available when using Active Directory authentication.
  • Reindex - Improves the search functionality for a user by reindexing their account.
  • Recalculate Disk Usage - Recalculates the disk usage for the user.
  • Resync Devices - This option can be used to help potentially resolve an issue that's seen by the user when using a particular client. (I.e., Microsoft Outlook, eM Client, etc.) For example, the user may see an issue receiving new emails in Outlook for Windows, which uses the MAPI protocol. The issue they're seeing may be the result of something hung in a different client: iOS Mail that uses EAS, eM Client that uses EWS, Gmail that is using IMAP. To help resolve this issue, a resynchronization of all clients across all protocols may clear up any issue regardless of which protocol is affected.

Account

  • User - The identifier the user uses to log in to SmarterMail. To change an account's username, click on the Actions (⋮) button and then Rename.
  • User Status - Domain administrators can change the status of a user to limit their access as needed. For example, if a user leaves the company, either voluntarily or not, a domain administrator can suspend the user pending further review by company management. Options include:
    • Enabled - The mailbox is in use by the user.
    • Disabled and allow mail - The mailbox continues to receive email but the user is unable to access their mailbox.
    • Disabled and don't allow mail - The mailbox no longer accepts incoming messages and the user is unable to access their mailbox.
  • Display Name - The friendly name that is displayed on outgoing messages.
  • Authentication Mode - The authentication method used to log in: SmarterMail or Active Directory. To change a user's password when using SmarterMail verification, click on the Actions (⋮) button and then Change Password. When using Active Directory, changes to a user's password must be done in the directory itself.
  • Active Directory Username - If Active Directory is selected for the Authentication Mode, this field will appear. Enter or adjust the Active Directory username to authenticate against for Active Directory authentication.
  • Domain - If Active Directory is selected for the Authentication Mode, this field will appear. Enter or adjust the Domain to authenticate against for Active Directory authentication.
  • Mailbox Size Limit - The maximum size of the mailbox. By default, the maximum mailbox size is 100 MBs. However, domain administrators can change this to whatever they like to correspond to company limits. For unlimited disk space, type in 0.
  • Domain Administrator - Enable this setting to make this user one of the domain administrators for the domain, which allows the user to create new users and edit domain-wide settings.

User

  • Language - The language selected for Users in SmarterMail is EXTREMELY important. That's because it's much more than simply what is seen in the webmail client when that User logs in. SmarterMail's language selection is the basis for everything: the things seen in the webmail interface as well as what's returned to an email client when connecting using Outlook, eM Client, iOS Mail and more. That includes things like settings labels, folder names, calendars and calendar appointment, contact groups, email message content, log files and essentially everything within SmarterMail. Therefore, it is extremely critical select the proper language for a User. For more information, see Languages, Protocols and Clients
    • Changing Language Settings: When a user tries to update their language, SmarterMail checks for potential conflicts prior to changing the language. For example, if a user is set to English and they have a folder named "Bandeja de entrada", if they try to change their language to Spanish, the change will not be saved and they will see a warning letting them know that the language wasn't updated to prevent an email folder name conflict. This is because "Bandeja de entrada" is the Spanish name for Inbox used in the default Spanish language translation file. If the change was saved, there would be 2 folders with the same name, which would cause issues.
  • Time Zone - The time zone to use for marking the sending and receiving date and time.
  • Reply-to Email Address - The email address used in the reply-to header of messages sent through webmail. This address will be used by receiving email clients when replying to a message. While it's possible to set the Reply-to address or a user, that user can change the Reply-to when composing a message or reply in an email client, such as Microsoft Outlook. Should they do this, that address will take precedence over what's set in the user's settings.
  • Recovery Email Address - The email address to which password reset instructions will be sent if the user forgets their password. This address should be separate from their SmarterMail address, such as a Gmail or Yahoo! address, or even the default email address of a domain administrator. Note: The backup email address can only be used if the system administrator has enabled password retrieval for the login page. If the user is protected by 2-Step Authentication, this address may also be used to retrieve the 2-Step verification code.
  • Plus Addressing - Plus addressing allows users to automatically sort incoming email without creating content filtering rules first. A major benefit of plus addressing is that it allows users to generate special email addresses if they do not want to give out their real address. For example, if user@example.com needs to provide a valid email address to sign up for a newsletter, he can sign up for the newsletter using the following address: user+technewsletter@example.com. When the newsletter is delivered, it can automatically be routed to the Technewsletter folder. If the folder does not already exist, it can be created automatically. Note: For plus addressing to work, the plus (+) sign is required AFTER the username but BEFORE the domain name. For example, username+foldername@domain.com.
    • Disabled - Select this option to turn off plus addressing for the account.
    • Move to Folder - If the target folder already exists, the incoming message will be placed into it. If the folder does not exist, it will be created automatically. Note: To prevent abuse, no more than 10 folders can be auto-created in this method during a six hour period.
    • Move to Folder (If Exists) - If the target folder already exists, the incoming message will be placed into it. If the folder does not exist, the email will be placed in the Inbox.
    • Leave in Inbox - The incoming message will be placed in the Inbox.
  • Disable password changes - Select this option to prevent the user from changing the login password. This setting overrides the password expiration found in Security settings. A user's password will not expire or be required to be changed if this setting is enabled.
  • Show in Global Address List - This setting is enabled by default and allows users to be displayed in the Global Address List, which is found in the Contact section. This option is useful for only displaying addresses that are tied to real people as opposed to addresses used by departments, such as support@example.com. Note: This option is only available when using SmarterMail Enterprise.

Service Access

This card can be used to adjust a user's access to the standard protocols that SmarterMail utilizes. For example, you can limit services like POP, IMAP and SMTP so that specific users are not able to connect their email accounts to external email clients. The following services can be managed for each user:

  • Webmail - Enable this option to allow users to log into SmarterMail from the webmail interface.
  • POP - Enable this option to allow users to download mail to an email client using POP3.
  • IMAP - Enable this option to allow users to create a two-way email sync between SmarterMail and an email client using IMAP.
  • Inbound SMTP - Enable this option to allow users to receive email from external senders. That is, any user outside their own domain. (So, from Gmail, etc.)
  • Outbound SMTP - Enable this option to allow users to send email to external recipients. That is, any user outside their own domain. (So, to Gmail addresses, etc.)
  • Chat (XMPP) (Enterprise Only) - Enable this option to activate SmarterMail's included Chat feature for users.
  • WebDAV - This will give users the ability to set up accounts to sync calendars (calDAV) and/or contacts (cardDAV) to various mobile and desktop clients that support this protocol.
  • EAS (Enterprise Only) - This will give users the ability to set up Exchange accounts on mobile email clients, contacts and calendar apps, etc.
  • MAPI/EWS (Enterprise Only) - This will give users the ability to set up Exchange accounts in Microsoft Outlook for Windows, Outlook for Mac, Apple Mail and eM Client.

Temporary Password

NOTE: This setting is reserved for system administrators who are managing and/or impersonating a user.

This option allows system administrators to create an additional, temporary password in order to troubleshoot issues. A user's actual password will rarely be shown to system administrators, and creating and using a temporary password does not disable the user's standard account password or impact their ability to log in or access webmail. Creating a temporary password, rather than impersonating the account, may be required when it's necessary to log into a user's email or IM client where impersonation is not available. In addition, administrators will find that some behavior in webmail may be slightly different when an account is impersonated versus when they're logged in directly.

When using Temporary Password, the following options are available:

  • Generate - Clicking this button will automatically generate a temporary password for the account. Only one temporary password may be created at a time, and on creation, will be available for 24 hours.
  • Revoke - Revoking a temporary password invalidates it immediately. Therefore, a new temporary password will need to be generated as needed.
  • Extend - Choosing to extend the password will add 24 more hours to the remaining time.

Webmail

  • Delete Email Action - To specify the action performed on deleted messages, select the appropriate action from the list. NOTE: This action only affects messages. If folders are deleted, the folder and its contents will always go to the Deleted Items folder.
    • Move to Deleted Items folder - Deleted items will appear in the deleted items folder, which will need to be regularly emptied.
    • Permanently Delete - Permanently deletes the message. Note: When deleted messages are purged, the action is final. You will not be able to retrieve these messages later.
    • Mark as Deleted - Flags the message for deletion, but it does not move messages to the Deleted Items folder and messages remain until the folder is purged.
  • Compose Font - Specify the default font for emails by selecting an option from the list.
  • Font Size - Specify the default font size for emails by selecting an option from the list.
  • Search Language Indexer - The language that the Lucene indexer will index against. In most cases, Generic Indexer is the best selection as it incorporates English and common umlauts. However, if the user views the interface in certain languages, such as Chinese, Japanese, or Korean, this setting should specify the language for better indexing results.
  • Use To: address for replies - When enabled, replying to a message via webmail will use that email's To: field as the Send From address of a reply, regardless of whether the message was sent to a specific SmarterMail email address or a domain alias, email alias, SMTP account, disposable address or plus address. For example, if an email is sent an alias, replies to that email via webmail will automatically use the email alias address of the Alias member as the Send From address. (This setting does not prevent a user from manually changing the Send From address when composing a message.)
  • Request read receipts by default - Select this option to automatically request read receipts for all outgoing messages sent via webmail. When this setting is enabled, all outgoing messages that are sent via webmail will request that the recipient(s) send a read receipt when the message has been read. If the read receipt is sent by the recipient(s), the user will receive a message from the system administrator confirming that the message has been read. Note: Users should be careful when enabling this feature and should only do so if required for business or compliance or regulatory requirements.
  • Request delivery receipts by default - Select this option to automatically receive delivery receipts for all outgoing messages sent via webmail and email clients. When this setting is enabled, the user will receive a message from the system administrator stating the status of their outgoing message. Note: Users should be careful when enabling this feature and should only do so if required for business or compliance or regulatory requirements.
  • Mark messages downloaded by POP as read - Select this option to mark all messages that are downloaded via a POP3 connection as read.
  • Show images from external websites - Enable this option to automatically display all in-line remote content when an email is viewed. (Remote content is considered to be any image, video, animated gif, etc. that has an external source and is contained in the message.) When this is enabled, the user will not have to manually display the remote content on emails they receive; it will be visible automatically. Note: Emails from trusted domains and senders will always display remote content automatically.

Forwarding

If this card is not displayed, your domain has not been permitted to utilize automated forwarding. To display these options, a system administrator must enable the Automated Forwarding feature for your domain. NOTE: These settings only affect webmail. If it's been disabled for your domain, forwarding may still occur when using Events and/or content filters, or when using an email client.

  • Allow automated forwarding - Select this option to allow the user to utilize the automated forwarding feature and to display the forwarding settings. If this setting is disabled, the Forwarding card will not be displayed in the user's Account settings.
  • Forwarding Address - The email address to which messages sent to the mailbox will be automatically forwarded. Note: Messages routed to other email folders via content filters or plus addressing will also be forwarded to this address.
  • Keep original sender and recipients when forwarded - When enabled (which is the default), an email is essentially re-routed to the new recipient and keeps its original "To" and "From" addresses. When disabled, the forward behaves as if the email was manually forwarded, so the "From" address is replaced with the address of the mailbox forwarding the message, and the "To" address is the mailbox listed in the Forwarding Address.
  • Delete messages when forwarded - Select this option to delete messages from the SmarterMail mailbox after they are forwarded.

User Groups

User Groups are used to give a specific subset of users on the domain permission to access shared resources. For example, if a business wanted to make it easy for members of its sales department to share their calendars with other team members, the domain administrator would create a user group for all the sales department employees.

If any User Groups have been created, they'll be listed here and can be set to On or Off for specific users.

Throttling

Throttling limits the number of messages sent per hour and/or the amount of bandwidth used per hour to send messages. Domain administrators can use this feature on a per-user basis to either delay or reject messages that exceed their desired limits, thereby ensuring users don't send out massive amounts of email throughout the day that can possibly get the domain blacklisted.

Note: For each threshold and action, you'll see "(Default = X)" which indicates the throttling policy that's put in place by the system administrator for the ENTIRE domain. It's important to consider the domain's throttling limits when modifying a specific user's limits. For example, if you set the user's throttling limit to the domain max, and that user sends that many messages in an hour, the WHOLE domain would be throttled. This means that outgoing messages from all users on the domain would either be delayed or rejected, depending on the domain's throttling action. (NOTE: If messages are already in the spool, from a user or a domain, when a throttling limit is reached, these messages are essentially delayed even if the throttling action is set to "reject" -- only new messages sent would be rejected.)

  • Outbound Messages per Hour (0 = Unlimited) (Default = 5000) - The number of messages sent by the user per hour.
  • Message Throttling Action (Default = None) - Select an action for SmarterMail to take once the particular throttling level is reached. Of course, administrators can elect to do nothing at all, or they can either Delay or Reject messages until the amount of mail being sent falls beneath the throttling limit that is set.
  • Outbound Bandwidth per Hour (0 = Unlimited) (Default = 100) - The total number of MBs sent by the user per hour.
  • Bandwidth Throttling Action (Default = None) - Select an action for SmarterMail to take once the particular throttling level is reached. Of course, administrators can elect to do nothing at all, or they can either Delay or Reject messages until the amount of bandwidth being used falls beneath the throttling limit that is set.