Communicator Help: Using AOL<sup><font size=-2>®</font></sup> Communicator Mail

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Using AOL Communicator Mail

Mail Account Settings

These sections describe how to view and edit the settings associated with each of your mail accounts:

Account Settings Window
Mail Settings Tab (AOL Account)
Options Tab (AOL Account)
Advanced Options (AOL Account)
Sending Mail Tab (IMAP & POP Accounts)
Outgoing Server Settings (IMAP & POP Accounts)
Advanced Options (IMAP & POP Accounts)
Receiving Mail Tab (IMAP Account)
Receiving Mail Tab (POP Account)
Security Tab

Account Settings Window

The Account Settings window lists all the accounts that are currently set up for use with Communicator Mail.

If you are not already viewing the list of accounts, open the Edit menu in Communicator Mail and choose Account Settings.

To create a new account, click New.

To perform any of the following actions, select the account you want to modify and click the button:

- Edit: Opens the Edit Account window for the selected account.
- Delete: Deletes the selected account.
- Up: Moves the selected account up in the list.
- Down: Move the selected account down in the list.

The order in which accounts are listed in the Account Settings window is also the order in which they are listed in the main Mail window.

Click OK to confirm your choices.

Related topic

Setting Up Mail Accounts

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Mail Settings Tab (AOL Account)

The Mail Settings tab in the Edit Account window displays the settings for an AOL account.

If you're not already viewing your mail settings, open the Edit menu in AOL Communicator Mail, choose Account Settings, and double-click the AOL account whose settings you want to view.

- Description: The description at the top of the window identifies this account in the Account Settings Window. You can type anything you want here.
  Examples: John's AOL Account or mr1smth@aol.com
- Your Name: The name listed here shows up as one of the names you can select in the From field when you write a new mail message.
- Screen Name: Your AOL screen name.
- Password: Your AOL® password.
  Password quality: Passwords that can be easily guessed have little value.
  The password quality meter gives you a rough idea of the relative quality of your password as you type it based on factors such as length and the use of uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols.
  For more information, see Using the Password Quality Meter.
- Remember password: Leave this option selected if you don't want to be prompted for your password every time you launch AOL Communicator.
  Note: If you leave the "Remember password" selected, other people with physical access to your computer may be able to access your AOL account.
- Reply-to Address: Enter a reply-to address only if it is different from the e-mail address specified above.
  The reply-to address appears in the To field when a recipient of a message sent from this account clicks Reply.
- Organization/Institution: An appropriate organization name, if any, that you want to associate with this account.
- Signature Text: Specify the signature (if any) that you want to append to every message you send from this account.
  If you want your signature to appear in HTML, you must include the appropriate tags manually. Here's an example:

<b>Your Name</b><br>
Your Company<br>
Your Street Address<br>
Your City, State, Zip<br>
Your Phone Number<br>
<em><center>any little quote you'd like to include</center></em><br>

- Set Mail Away Message: Click this link to launch the AOL client software and open the Mail Away message settings for this account.
  While your Mail Away message is turned on, anyone who sends a message to this account receives a one-time notification that you are not currently available to answer your mail.

Related topics:

Setting a Mail Away Message

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Options Tab (AOL Account)

The Options tab in the Edit Account window displays the following settings for an AOL account:

- Check for new mail on startup: Select this option if you want to collect messages for this account automatically when you first launch Mail.
- Check for new mail every __ minutes: Select this option if you want to collect messages for this account at regular intervals.
  For example, if you select the checkbox and type in 10, Mail will check for new messages every 10 minutes.
- Store messages locally for offline computing: When this option is selected, messages stored on the AOL® server are downloaded to your computer so that they're available when you're not online.
  Lots of messages take longer to store: If you have a lot of stored messages, the initial download process can take some time.
- Keep my old mail online __ days after I read it: Use the arrows beside the number field to increase or decrease the value. Messages will be deleted after this interval.

Account Style:

- AOL Classic: Displays your messages in folders that correspond to the mail tabs in AOL client software: New Mail, Old Mail, and Sent Mail.
- Internet Mail: Displays New Mail and Old Mail together in the Inbox folder.

Advanced Options: Click this button at the bottom of the window to view or change your draft message folder setting, Bcc settings, and directory settings.

When you have adjusted the mail settings to your liking, click OK.

Related topics:

Account Style Options and Message Retention
AOL Mail Expiration and AOL Communicator

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Advanced Options (AOL Account)

To open the Advanced Options window for an AOL account, click Advanced Options in the Options Tab (AOL Account).

Copies and Folders

- Save Drafts of messages in: When you click Save Draft while writing a message to be sent from this account, the draft is stored in the folder you select here.
- Bcc this address on all outgoing messages: Select this option and type an address to which you want to send a blind copy of every outgoing message, without showing up on the list of recipients.
- Automatically Bcc "your_screen_name" on all outgoing messages: Select this option to send a copy of every outgoing message to yourself, without showing up on the list of recipients.

Addressing Mail

You can set up your account to make use of an online directory. This allows you to

- Fill in names and addresses from the directory automatically when you address a message.
- Use your Buddy List® window to check for recent mail from anyone listed in the directory.
  Whenever you receive a message from someone listed in the directory, a green envelop icon appears beside their name in your Buddy List window. You can double-click the icon to read that person's most recent message.

These options control your directory settings:

- For this account, use a directory for type-down addressing: If your organization has an LDAP directory, select this option.
  If you have previously configured any directories, you can select the one you want from the drop-down list.
- New. If the directory you want to associate with this account is not available in the drop-down list, click New to set it up.
  If you don't know your organization's directory settings, ask your system administrator.

Related topics:

Setting Up a New Directory

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Sending Mail Tab (IMAP & POP Accounts)

The Sending Mail tab displays outgoing mail settings for an IMAP or POP account.

If you're not already viewing the Edit Account window, open the Edit menu in AOL Communicator Mail, choose Account Settings, and double-click the account whose settings you want to view.

- Description: The description at the top of the window identifies this account in the Account Settings Window. You can type anything you want here.
  Examples: John's AOL Account or mr1smth@aol.com

Personal Information

- Your Name: The name listed here shows up as one of the names you can select in the From field when you write a new mail message.
- E-mail Address: The e-mail address for this account.
  Example: jnm@example.net
- Reply-to Address: Enter a reply-to address only if it is different from the e-mail address specified above.
  The reply-to address appears in the To field when a recipient of a message clicks Reply.
- Organization/Institution: An appropriate organization name, if any, for this account.
- Signature Text: Specify the signature (if any) that you want to append to every message you send from this identity.

If you want your signature to appear in HTML, you must include the appropriate tags manually. Here's an example:
<b>Your Name</b><br>
Your Company<br>
Your Street Address<br>
Your City, State, Zip<br>
Your Phone Number<br>
<em><center>any little quote you'd like to include</center></em><br>

Outgoing Server

- Outgoing SMTP Server: In many cases, this is the same name as the corresponding Mail server.
  Example: mail.example.net
  You can select any server from the drop-down list.
- Add Server: Click this button to set up a new server and add it to the drop-down list.
- Edit Server: Click this button to edit the currently selected server.

Advanced Options: Click this button at the bottom of the window to view or change your draft message folder setting, Bcc settings, and directory settings.

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Outgoing Server Settings (IMAP & POP Accounts)

To edit outgoing server settings, open the Sending Mail Tab (IMAP & POP Accounts) and click Edit Server or Add Server.

- Server Name: In many cases, this is the same name as the corresponding Mail server. Example:
  imap-server.example.net
  The server name must be spelled correctly or you will not be able to send any messages.
  To specify a nonstandard port number (required by some ISPs), type a colon after the server name, followed by the number:
  Example: imap-server.example.net:123
- Use secure connection (SSL): A secure connection means that all communication between your computer and the mail server is encrypted. A secure connection does not protect your outgoing messages after the server directs them to their recipients.
  If you select Always, your messages will be sent only if an encrypted connection is available.
  Not all servers support SSL. If you're not sure about your server, check with your system administrator or select "When available" or "Never".
- Use authentication when sending mail. Select this checkbox if the outbound host server requires name and password authentication each time you send mail. If you're not sure, check with your system administrator.
- SMTP User: Your SMTP user name is typically everything to the left of the "@" sign in your e-mail address.
  Example: If your e-mail address is jnm@example.net, your user name could be jnm or jnm@example.net
- SMTP Password: Your password for the SMTP user specified above.
  You can't provide a password unless you also select "Remember SMTP password" below.
- Password quality. Passwords that can be easily guessed have little value.
  The password quality meter gives you a rough idea of the relative quality of your password as you type it based on factors such as length and the use of uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols.
  For more information, see Password Quality Meter.
- Remember SMTP password. Select this option if you don't want to be prompted for it.
  Note: If you leave this option selected, other people with physical access to your computer may be able to access your ISP account.
  If this option is not selected and the option "Use authentication when sending mail" above is selected, you will be prompted for the password the first time you send mail after launching AOL Communicator.

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Advanced Options (IMAP & POP Accounts)

To open the Advanced Options window, click Advanced Options in the Sending Mail Tab (IMAP & POP Accounts).

Copies and Folders

- Save drafts of messages in: When you click Save Draft in any new message sent from this account, the draft will be stored in the folder you select here.
- When I delete a message, move it to: For most people the default Trash folder is fine as a destination for deleted mail. If you want, you can use the drop-down list to select a different folder.
- Save a copy of all outgoing messages to: Select this option to send a copy of every outgoing message to the account and folder you choose from the drop-down list.
- Bcc this address on all outgoing messages: Select this option and type an address to which you want to send a blind copy of every outgoing message, without showing up on the list of recipients.
- Automatically Bcc "your_e-mail_address" on all outgoing messages: Select this option to send a copy of every outgoing message to yourself, without showing up on the list of recipients.

Addressing Mail

You can set up your account to make use of an online directory. This allows you to

- Fill in names and addresses from the directory automatically when you address a message.
- Use your Buddy List window to check for recent mail from anyone listed in the directory.
  Whenever you receive a message from someone listed in the directory, a green envelop icon appears beside their name in your Buddy List window. You can double-click the icon to read that person's most recent. message.

These options control your directory settings:

- For this account, use a directory for type-down addressing: If your organization has an LDAP directory, select this option.
  If you have previously configured any directories, you can select the one you want from the drop-down list.
- New: If the directory you want to associate with this account is not available in the drop-down list, click New to set it up.
  If you don't know your organization's directory settings, ask your system administrator.

Related topic:

Setting Up a New Directory

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Receiving Mail Tab (IMAP Account)

The Receiving Mail tab of the Edit Account window displays these incoming mail settings for an IMAP account:

- Inbound IMAP Host: Fill in the complete name of the server. Example:
  mail.example.net
  To specify a nonstandard port number (required by some ISPs), type a colon after the server name, followed by the number:
  Example: mail.example.net:123
- Use a secure connection (SSL): A secure connection means that all communication between your computer and the incoming mail server is encrypted.
  Before they reach your mail server, messages sent to you are not necessarily protected by a secure connection.
  Not all servers support SSL. If you're not sure about your server, check with your system administrator.
- IMAP Folder Path: Not all servers require this information. Check with your system administrator.
  User Name: Typically, this is everything to the left of the "@" sign in your e-mail address. For example, if you e-mail address is jnm@example.net, your user name could be jnm or jnm@example.net
- Password: Your IMAP password.
  Password quality: Passwords that can be easily guessed have little value.
  The password quality meter gives you a rough idea of the relative quality of your password as you type it based on factors such as length and the use of uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols.
  For more information, see Using the Password Quality Meter.
- Remember password: Leave this option selected if you don't want to be prompted for your password every time you launch AOL Communicator.
  Note: If you leave this option selected, other people with physical access to your computer may be able to access your account.

Options

- Check for new mail on startup: Select this option if you want to collect messages for this account automatically when you first launch AOL Communicator.
- Check for new mail every __ minutes: Select this option if you want to collect messages for this account at regular intervals.
  For example, if you select the checkbox and type in 10, Mail will check for new messages every 10 minutes.
  Unless you enter your password in the Password field above and select "Remember password," you will be asked for your password the first time AOL Communicator Mail checks mail after launching (or whenever your Internet connection is restored after you've been offline).
- Store messages locally for offline computing: When this option is selected, messages stored on the server are downloaded to your computer so that they're available when you're not online.
  Lots of messages take longer to store: If you have a lot of stored messages, the initial download process can take some time.
- Show only subscribed folders: Some IMAP client software uses a "subscription" model that allows you to subscribe to certain folders (which show up in your list of folders) and not others (which don't show up).
  If you want only folders to which you have subscribed to show up in the list of folders in the left pane of the main AOL Communicator Mail window, select this option.
  If this option is not selected, all folders on the IMAP server show up.

When you have adjusted the settings to your liking, click OK.

Related topics:

Controlling Your Passwords

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Receiving Mail Tab (POP Account)

The Receiving Mail tab of the Edit Account window displays incoming mail settings for an IMAP or POP account.

- Inbound POP Host: Fill in the complete name of the server. Example:
  mail.example.net
  To specify a nonstandard port number (required by some ISPs), type a colon after the server name, followed by the number:
  Example: mail.example.net:123
- User Name: Typically, this is everything to the left of the "@" sign in your e-mail address. For example, if you e-mail address is jnm@example.net, your login would be jnm
- Password: Your POP password.
  Password quality: Passwords that can be easily guessed have little value.
  The password quality meter gives you a rough idea of the relative quality of your password as you type it based on factors such as length and the use of uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols.
  For more information, see Using the Password Quality Meter.
  Remember password: Leave this option selected if you don't want to be prompted for your password each time you launch AOL Communicator (or whenever your Internet connection is restored after you've been offline).
  Note: If you leave the "Remember password" option selected, other people with physical access to your computer may be able to access your POP account.

Options

- Check for new mail on startup: Select this option if you want to collect messages for this account automatically when you first launch Mail.
- Check for new mail every __ minutes: Select this option if you want to collect messages for this account at regular intervals.
  For example, if you select the checkbox and type in 10, Mail will check for new messages every 10 minutes.
  Unless you enter your password in the Password field above, you will be asked for your password each time Mail collects messages.
- Leave messages on POP server: Optional. Leaving messages on the server can be sometimes be convenient; for example, if you want to be able to read messages from other locations after you download them to this installation of Mail.
  Delete messages on server when they are deleted locally: This setting gives you a way to delete individual messages that you've left on the server.

When you have adjusted the settings to your liking, click OK.

Related topic:

Controlling Your Passwords

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Security Tab

The Security tab of the Edit Account window allows you to select two certificates that identify you:

- The e-mail certificate you want to use for signing mail messages you send to other people.
- The e-mail certificate you want other people to use when they encrypt messages they send to you.

Before you can select certificates from this tab, you must obtain one or more certificates. For details, see Setting Up Secure Mail.

Depending on the policies of the certificate authority (CA) that issues your certificate(s), you can use one certificate for both purposes or two different certificates. Even if you use just one, you must specify it twice, once for digital signing and once for encryption.

The certificates you select here are included with every signed message you send. These certificates allow your recipients to verify your digital signature and to encrypt messages that they send to you.

Digital Signing

You can use the Digital Signing area in the Security panel to specify how you want to sign your e-mail messages:

- Digitally sign messages by default: Select this checkbox if you want to digitally sign all the messages you send.
  A personal certificate must be specified below before you can select this checkbox.
  This option controls the default setting. You can change your mind about whether to digitally sign an individual message.
- Use this certificate to digitally sign messages sent from this account: If this field is empty or displays the wrong certificate, click the triangle to choose another certificate from the drop-down list.

Encryption

You use the Encryption area in the Security panel to specify how you routinely want to use encryption when sending your messages:

- Encrypt messages by default. Select this checkbox if you want to encrypt all the messages you send.
  This option controls the default setting. You can change your mind about whether to encrypt an individual message.
- Use this certificate to encrypt and decrypt messages for this account: If this field is empty or displays the wrong certificate, click the triangle to choose another certificate from the drop-down list.
  Import Certificate: Click to import a certificate backup file that already exists on your hard disk.

Manage Certificates: Click to open AOL® Communicator Identity Manager, where you can view and change preferences and settings for your certificates.

Refresh Certificates: Click to force an immediate refresh of the certificates available in the drop-down lists.

Related topics:

Getting Started With Identity Manager
Getting Your Own Certificate
Managing Certificates

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The sections in this document that discuss security, encryption, and privacy are provided by AOL for your information only. They may help you take certain steps to protect the privacy and security of your personal information on the Internet. This document does not, however, address all online privacy and security issues, nor does it represent a recommendation by AOL about what constitutes adequate privacy and security protection on the Internet.

© 2002-2003 America Online, Inc. All rights reserved. Trademark Information

Last Updated September 16, 2003