Now that we have a new e-mail server we also have a new way of accessing e-mail. It’s called Outlook Web Access.  Here are some instructions on how to use it.

1) Start your web browser and go to:

https://asmail.ucdavis.edu/exchange

IT'S VERY IMPORTANT THAT YOU DON'T FORGET THE "s" ON https AND THAT YOU DON'T FORGET THE "/exchange" AT THE END. IT WON'T WORK WITHOUT THEM! You can visit this web site from both outside and inside the department. So, it's a handy tool if you are away from your desk and want to check your mail. All you need is a web browser.

2) A logon screen will come up prompting you for your "Domain\username" and "password." You can ignore the part about Domain. Enter the same username and password as you would to log on to your computer at work. Below the logon prompt there are options for Client and Security - just leave them at "Premium" and "Public or shared computer". After entering your username and password press Enter or click on the "Log On" button.

3) If you have Internet Explorer version 7 there will be a yellow bar across the top right above the wide blue bar that says Outlook Web Access. If you don't have this bar right away, you will eventually get one and should deal with it as follows. When you get the yellow bar that says "Pop-up blocked. To see this pop-up ...click here", click on the bar and select "Always Allow Pop-ups from This Site...". You are then prompted "Would you like to allow pop-ups from 'asmail.ucdavis.edu'? Click Yes on this prompt.

You will now have web access to your mail that looks quite a bit like the Outlook you use in your office. You have access to your Contacts, Calendar, Tasks and all your e-mail folders. You will not have access to any personal folders or archives you may have stored on your work computer. I have had instances where some messages could not be displayed. These were usually spam messages so that was probably a good thing.

Spam filtering of the type you may have in Outlook is not available.

Here are a few additional tips.

1) There is an icon on the top that allows you to manage the reading pane. It's the 5th icon to the right of the "New" icon. It looks like a piece of paper with vertical and horizontal lines on it. If you click on this icon, it presents you with the reading pane options: off, bottom and right. Many of you use the "bottom" option with your Outlook at work. You can select whichever of these you prefer.

2) In the lower left corner of the window there is an Options bar. If you click on that bar you can turn on spell check, set your out of office reply and many other things.

3) It's sometimes difficult to tell what an icon is used for. If you hover your mouse over the icon for a few seconds, it will often pop up some text that describes its use: forward, reply, ....

4) Keep in mind, if you are using a public computer, the information you download from Outlook Web Access could be stored on that computer even after you exit Outlook Web Access.  For that reason, you should use caution about confidential material on a computer that other people may have access to.

5) Closing the web browser will log you off but changing web sites will not log you off. If you want to log off, there is a yellow logoff icon in the upper right hand corner under the blue bar.

6) If you have subfolders (folders within folders), in order to see the lower level folders you have to click the + sign in front of the top-level folder.

7) There are certain characters and character combinations that are blocked by the web server.  They are:

   ..

   ./

   \

   %

   & 

If you have an e-mail message that contains one of these characters or character combinations in the subject line, you will not be able to view the message via Outlook Web Access.  If you have a folder in your mailbox that contains one of these characters or character combinations you will not be able to display the messages within that folder via Outlook Web Access.  If you rename the folder using Outlook you will be able to view the folder with Outlook Web Access.  You cannot rename the folder with Outlook Web Access.

8) If you miss Geckomail after using Outlook Web Access, feel free go back and use it. Geckomail is still available!

• Point your browser to:
  http://geckomail.ucdavis.edu/
• Click the "Enter Geckomail Now" button
• Enter your Campus username and password. These are different than your Department username and password
• Do not pay attention to the error message and scroll down to the section titled Departmental Email Users
• In the "Email LoginID" box enter your departmental username, followed by @asmail.ucdavis.edu. For eaxmple:
  rjGreenhead@asmail.ucdavis.edu
• In the "Password" box, enter your departmental password.
• Click the Login button. A new window appears listing your email messages.