Email Overview

SmarterMail users can send and receive email messages, view their calendars and create appointments, create or review tasks and more, from anywhere in the world, using any computer or mobile device and a simple web browser. In addition, SmarterMail is fully compatible with any desktop email client such as Microsoft Outlook or Apple Mail, or mobile email, contacts and calendar apps on Android and iOS. To log in to SmarterMail simply use the link to the webmail interface login page provided by whoever set up your SmarterMail mailbox. Once on the login page, type your full email address and password in the appropriate fields to access your account.

This page covers a number of areas pertaining to email, in general, and the webmail interface. These include:

Default and Custom Folders
Messages View
Selecting Messages
Searching Messages
Sorting Messages
Filtering Messages
Email Actions

Navigating Email

When you go to the Email section of SmarterMail you'll generally start with your Inbox as it's the primary location all new email resides. While you can have content filters set up that route email to different folders or locations, your Inbox is, by default, the starting point for anyone using webmail. Once here, you'll see that the interface is separated into various sections.

Show/Hide Icon

At the top of the folders view you'll see the show/hide icon. This allows you to hide or show your list of folders, which is extremely beneficial when viewing your Inbox on smaller devices, such as tablets and phones.

Default and Custom Folders View

The left side of the interface displays your folders. Here, you'll see the default folders listed at the top: Inbox, Deleted Items, Drafts, Junk Email, and Sent Items. These folders are created for every mailbox within SmarterMail.

Below the default folders are the custom folders that a user creates. If additional folders are embedded within a main parent folder, an icon is displayed to the left of that folder's name. Clicking the icon will expand that folder and display the additional, embedded folders. Clicking it again will hide those folders.

At the bottom of the custom folders list is the Shared With Me area. Here you'll be able to see any folders other users have shared with you. As for your own shared folders, these are denoted by a sideways V shape to the left of the folder. Folders shared with you are always displayed in the Shared With Me area, while folders YOU share remain in their natural order -- they simply have a sharing symbol next to them.

Read more about Managing Folders in SmarterMail.

Messages View

To the right of your folders is the Messages view. Here, you'll see a list of all of the messages in your inbox or that reside in whichever folder you're currently in.

At the top of the messages view are buttons or icons representing various ways to interact with the messages in your 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 have multiple different options.

Selecting Messages

It's possible to select/deselect individual messages, all messages, or even all concurrent (one-after-the-other) messages. You can do this using the options below, or by using keyboard shortcuts. For example, holding the Ctrl key (on Windows) or the Command key (on MacOS) allows you to select individual messages. Using the Shift key allows you to select multiple concurrent messages. However, you can also use the select options from the dropdown:

Select All - Selects all messages in the All Messages view.
Deselect All - If any or all messages are selected in the All Messages view, this unselects them.
Enable Select Mode - This allows users to select multiple different messages, individually, one at a time. Use this method for selecting different messages that are separated or scattered throughout your messages list so they can be moved, deleted, or otherwise handled the same.

Searching Messages

Using the standard search of your list of messages allows you to type in a domain name, full email address, or keywords to quickly find information. SmarterMail also offers an advanced search option. For more information, see Searching Email Messages.

Sorting Messages

To sort messages, click on the Sort icon and select the field, or fields, you want to use for the sort order for your messages. For example, clicking the Sort icon and selecting "Size" will sort items in order of their size. (This includes the size of a message plus attachments.) To change the "direction" of the sort, either Ascending or Descending, select that option from the Sorting icon menu as well.

In general, the following sort options are available:

Date - The date and/or time the mail system received the email.
From - The sender of the email message.
Subject - The subject of the email message.
Size - The size of the email in kilobytes.
Reverse Order - This reverses the sort order to either Descending or Ascending.

Filtering Messages

This includes read status (Read vs. Unread), whether or not you've replied to a message, whether a message is flagged, linked to a task, or has an attachment. It's also possible to filter messages based on message Category. Think of using a filter as a way to display only those messages that correspond to the criteria you've selected. If you filter messages with attachments, ONLY messages with attachments will be displayed.

Using a filter allows you to organize messages in your list based on specific criteria, ore one or more Categories. Whereas sorting arranges ALL of the messages in a folder based on the criteria selected, filtering only displays messages based on the criteria or categories that are selected. It's then possible to sort those messages using one of the sorting options, mentioned below.

Filters offers the following options:

All - Will display all messages. (The default filter.)
Unread - Will display only messages marked as Unread.
Read - Will display only messages marked as Read, hiding any unread messages.
Replied - Will display only messages that have been replied to.
Not Replied - Will display only messages that have no replies.
Flagged - Will only display messages marked for follow up, or "flagged".
Linked to Tasks - Will only display messages that are associated with Tasks.
Attachments - Will only display messages that have one or more attachments.

Below these options is a list of categories that are available for filtering. All Categories is checked, by default, but it's possible to limit the filter to one or more specific categories as needed.

Manage Categories

You can also manage your categories from the Filtering menu. Clicking Manage Categories opens a modal window with all current categories listed. It's possible to do things like change a category name, change its associated color, or even add new categories using this modal. Once categories are changed or modified, those changes or modifications are carried over to any area categories are available. (E.g., Calendars.)

Email Actions

Using the Actions (⋮) button allows you to perform the following:

Reply - Selecting Reply means you will reply to the sender only.
Reply All - Selecting Reply All addresses a response to the sender and everyone else who received the message. This includes all email addresses listed in the To and Cc fields, except your own email address.
Forward - Selecting Forward allows you to send the message to an address other than what's in the To and Cc fields. It is also possible to add email addresses to the To and Cc fields when you Reply or Reply All to a message. In addition, it's also possible to forward multiple emails to other addresses. To do this, simply select the messages from the messages list, then use the Forward option. This will create a new message with the selected emails attached as EML files.
Move - Moves the selected message(s) to any available folder. Note: You can also drag-and-drop messages to an available folder.
Flag / Unflag - Either marks or unmarks the selected message(s) for follow-up and changes the color of the follow-up flag appropriately. Alternatively, users can click on the flag icon next the message to add or remove a flag.
Mark Read / Mark Unread - Marks the selected message(s) as read or unread and changes the status indicator appropriately.
Move to Junk - Moves the email to your Junk Email folder, and also helps the system recognize the sender and message contents as possible spam.
Trust Sender - Adds the address to your Trusted Senders list, meaning any future emails from this address will bypass most antispam options enabled for the server. (NOTE: SPF and DKIM still run against any address in the Trusted Senders list to prevent phishing.)
Untrust Sender - Only available of the sender is on your Trusted Senders list; This removes them from that list.
Block Sender - Prevents the sender of the selected message(s) from sending any more messages to the account. When you block a sender, a new Internal Blocked Senders Content Filter is created. Any user you block is added to that list, and their email is, by default, deleted.
Unblock Sender - Allows the sender of the selected message(s) to begin sending messages again by removing the address from the Internal Blocked Senders content filter.
Download EML - This allows you to download and preserve the message in the format it was received by the mail server. EML files can be used for troubleshooting delivery issues, or sent to others and opened using any desktop email client.
View Raw Content - Allows you to view the message in its raw, unformatted state and includes the header of the message. Viewing the raw content or just the header can assist with diagnosing potential issues with viewing the message.
Delete - Deletes the selected message(s).

There's much more to interacting with email apart from how you manage it from the All Messages view. So read more on: