Using Email
Introduction
This is a little bit of a lot of topics on Email. Some of us just take our email for granted but maybe, after reading
this, you will have more appreciation of what goes in the mysterious email world.
Types of Email
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Desktop email
 Windows Live Mail
 Microsoft Outlook
 Thunderbird
Web-based email
 Gmail
 Yahoo
 AOL
 Outlook.com
A Desktop Email Client May Be Best For You If:
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You have multiple email addresses with different domains, and enjoy checking, reading, and
responding from each one as each address, all in one place.
You need access to email offline.
You prefer to back up your mail regularly, or have limited storage with your email provider.
You use security features like digital signing, public key infrastructure (PKI), or encryption.
You use advanced mail rules and filtering based on multiple factors (words, senders, subjects, headers,
etc.)
Your email provider's webmail client sucks, or is non-existent.
Your email provider uses Microsoft Exchange or another mail solution with special perks for desktop
users.
You enjoy integration with desktop apps like Dropbox, Cloudapp, your calendar, or other tools.
Webmail May Be Best For You If:
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You prefer a single, unified inbox of all of your accounts.
You only have a few email accounts anyway, and you prefer to forward them all to one inbox.
You're a Gmail ninja, are addicted to Gmail Labs, or can't imagine using anything else for email.
You prefer web apps and web services to downloadable applications (or you can't install software on
your work or school computer.)
You enjoy integration with web services or plugins like Google Calendar and Tasks, Boomerang, Sartre
or, Rapportive.
You feel more secure keeping your mail off of your computer and all-online.
You prefer to keep all of your mail rules and filtering on the mail server, as opposed to running them
on your desktop.
Add a Gmail account to Outlook
To setup your Gmail account to use IMAP, sign in to your Gmail account and go to Mail. Click the Settings
button in the upper, right corner of the window and select Settings from the drop-down menu. On the Settings
screen, click Forwarding and POP/IMAP. Scroll down to the IMAP Access section and select Enable IMAP.
Click here for step-by-step instructions.
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POP versus IMAP
There are two ways your devices and clients can communicate with Gmail:
1. A one-way communication path (POP). Your device asks us for data and pulls it from our servers -- but that's
it. Things you do on your device have no effect on the server. If you read a message on your phone, then log in
to Gmail, you will see that same message marked as unread. It may start to feel like Groundhog Day.
2. A two-way communication path (IMAP). Unlike with POP, your devices talk back to our servers and sync your
changes automatically with IMAP. When you sign in to your Gmail account in a web browser, actions you've
taken on your email client or mobile device (like putting a message in a 'work' folder) will also appear in Gmail
(your message will already have a 'work' label on it). This all happens automatically once you set up IMAP, so
you don't have to read or sort all your mail twice. This is really helpful when accessing Gmail from multiple
devices.
Here's a quick rundown of the key differences between IMAP and POP:
If you're trying to decide between using POP and IMAP, it is encouraged that you to use IMAP.
Unlike POP, IMAP offers two-way communication between your web Gmail and your email client.
This means when you log in to Gmail using a web browser, actions you perform on email clients and
mobile devices (ex: putting mail in a 'work' folder) will instantly and automatically appear in Gmail
(ex: it will already have a 'work' label on that email the next time you sign in).
IMAP also provides a better method to access your mail from multiple devices. If you check your
email at work, on your mobile phone, and again at home, IMAP ensures that new mail is accessible
from any device at any given time.
Finally, IMAP offers a more stable experience overall. Whereas POP is prone to losing messages or
downloading the same messages multiple times, IMAP avoids this through two-way syncing
capabilities between your mail clients and your web Gmail.
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What does all of this POP & IMAP stuff mean?
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In most cases you do not have to worry about this
According to Cox they support both and the configuration is automatic
Use IMAP with Gmail, especially if you want to connect it to Outlook.
If you use an iPad or iPhone to read your Cox mail it is most likely IMAP
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With IMAP your account is basically sync’d between all of your devices. If you delete an email on your
iPhone, it will not show next time you check your mail from your Desktop or iPad.
Using Outlook.com
You can log in to Outlook.com with your Microsoft Account which can be the same credentials that you use to
log into your Windows 8 device. You can also bring other accounts link Gmail into Outlook.com. You can also
click the menu as shown below to get to other places.
Using iOS Mail on iPhone or iPad
This setting is for accounts like Cox, not Gmail which is set up as IMAP account.
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By default, Mail will only delete messages from the server one week after deleting the message from
the device. This gives you time for other mail clients such as Mail on your Mac to download a copy of
the message. You can make adjustments to these settings by following these steps.
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Tap Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars.
Tap the email account you want to change.
Tap your email account name.
Tap Advanced.
Tap Remove.
6. Select a time frame.
o Never: The email message will remain in place on all of your devices and email clients.
o After one day: One day after Mail reads the email message, Mail will remove the
message from the server. The message will exist only in Mail, not on any other clients.
o After one week: This setting works the same as "After one day", except that Mail waits
one week.
o After one month: This setting works the same as "After one day", except that Mail waits
one month.
7. Tap Advanced, then tap the name of the email account.
8. Tap Done to save your settings.
Experiments
1. I received an email on my Cox account
a. Fetched it using Outlook
b. Deleted it from my iPad
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c. It is still in Outlook
2. I received an email on my Cox account
a. Fetched it on my iPad
b. Fetched it using Outlook
c. Deleted from iPad
d. No longer in Gmail
e. Still in Outlook
3. I opened an email on my iPad
a. Next, I opened Gmail on my Desktop
b. The message that I opened on my iPad told me that it had been already read
Configure Outlook to leave mail on the server – or not
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Click File, Office Account, Account Settings
Double-click the account
Click More settings
Click Advanced to configure when to delete messages
I like the settings as shown above.
Configuring Gmail to read Cox mail
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Go to Settings
Accounts and Import
Click Add a POP3 mail account
For existing accounts
 Click Edit next to the email address you want to change
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See the settings below
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I recommend not leaving the message on the server. You will have to enter your password to
make changes.
Using Pop Peeper
This is a free utility available at http://www.poppeeper.com. Its major feature is that you can clear out an
account like Yahoo with a few clicks instead of going through page after page on email messages. Essentially, it
can read many email accounts at the same time.
This will be demonstrated in class.
Misc. Tips
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With Desktop email if your PC crashes all of your messages and contacts may be lost
With Web-based email your messages and contacts are from anywhere with an Internet connection
Some Web-based servers such as Yahoo change their
Desktop email can be connected to multiple accounts but so can iPad Email
You can add other email accounts to Outlook.com
You can sign in to Outlook.com with your Microsoft account credentials
Use Outlook with Gmail by following the directions here
If you don’t clean out Web-based servers such as Yahoo you will end up with a gazillion messages
iPad email can read Gmail and Cox accounts at the same time
You can sync Outlook between multiple devices. Read more here.
Use Pop Pepper to clean up multiple accounts simultaneously
Windows Mail App in Windows 8 uses IMAP
Gmail can read several accounts in addition to the Gmail account including multiple Cox accounts
Outlook email accounts can be configured through the Windows Control Panel
Gmail can access Yahoo Mail if you have a Yahoo Plus account
You can use Gmail as an RSS Reader see info at http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-use-gmail-asan-rss-reader/
You can test how your PC behaves when clicking an email link here. If you set the default mailto protocol to
Google Chrome, Gmail will open when you click a link. See how to do this here.
Gmail tips
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You can add up to five other email accounts
You can send as Gmail user or other account user
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For a complete guide go to http://www.howtogeek.com/school/gmail-guide/lesson9/
Yahoo tips
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Yahoo and Dropbox – see info here
 This lets you attach a file from your Dropbox account
More Yahoo tips at http://email.about.com/od/yahoomailtips/tp/popular_tips.-0Au.htm
Windows Live Mail tips
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Access Gmail account info at http://email.about.com/od/livemaildesktoptips/qt/et_get_gmail.htm
More help at https://wlmail.wordpress.com/
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Conversation I had with Cox
Note: the agent told me that it was impossible to use Gmail to read my Cox mail.
Thank you for choosing Cox Communications. A representative will be with you shortly.
You are now chatting with 'Nicole J.'.
Nicole J.: Welcome to Cox Online Technical Support. I will be assisting you throughout this chat session. Please
allow me a moment to review your inquiry.
Nicole J.: I understand that you are having questions regarding your Cox e-mail account. Is that correct?
ed: yes
Nicole J.: It will be my pleasure to assist you in this matter. Your account can be set up as either pop or imap, it
depends on your needs.
Nicole J.: What do you use to view your emails/
Nicole J.: ?*
ed: how do I tell what I have now?
ed: I use Gmail to read my cox account
Nicole J.: Do you use an email client like Outlook or Mac Mail to view the emails?
Nicole J.: That is not possible, you may be using an email client or Webmail perhaps.
Nicole J.: Or you could mean that you are using Webmail to forward your Cox emails.
ed: I have been using it for years.
Nicole J.: What is your email address?
ed: [email protected]
Nicole J.: Thank you.
Nicole J.: Do you use Webmail to view your emails? If you do your account works as both pop and imap, of you
can receive your email on your phone and delete them with the information synchronized this means it is set
up as imap
Nicole J.: If not then it is set up as pop
I subsequently called Cox and received better support.
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