FAQs

Related links

Managing mail

How do I re-direct or forward mail?

Forwarding: staff and research postgraduates

Members of staff and research postgraduates can use SmartSieve, the University’s mail filtering and management tool, to automatically forward all Bristol email to another email account. Please note: mail forwarding is available on all servers EXCEPT the student server.

The advantage of forwarding mail, rather than re-directing it, is that forwarding rules are active immediately, whereas re-directing takes 1-2 days to become active.

To find out how to set up a forward rule, please visit the Using SmartSieve to forward mail page

Re-directing: Staff

If you are a member of staff, you can apply to have mail sent to your Bristol email address re-directed to an external email account or another UOB email account using the form below. Before you request a re-direction, you must be aware of the potential disadvantages of doing so which are listed on the application form:

Request for external re-direction of a Bristol mailname

In preparation for our migration to Gmail in 2012, Students will not be able to set-up new redirections, but ones already in place will remain.

 

Back to top

How do I cancel an email re-direction?

If you have previously asked for your mail to be re-directed and want to request that it is restored back to your mail account on one of the central mail servers, use the form:

Request for restoration of Bristol email address

How do I cancel a forwarding rule?

To find out how to cancel a forward rule, please visit the Stop mail forwarding section of the SmartSieve user area.

Back to top

What if I'm not around to read email?

SmartSieve, the University’s mail filtering and management tool, can be used to send an automatic out-of-office, or vacation, message to anyone who mails you when the service is activated. These messages are intended to let correspondents know that you are away and cannot reply to their mail immediately: instructions on how to set up a new vacation message.

You may also wish to unsubscribe from any mailing lists you are subscribed to.

When you return to work you will need to disable the vacation message tool.

Back to top

What is an email 'quota'/ what does 'over quota' mean? How do I manage my mail in order to stay within my quota?

All users whose email is stored on the central mail servers have a limited amount of space, or 'quota', for their mailbox and folders. This can quickly be filled up if you keep a lot of email messages, particularly if these contain attachments.

'Over quota' means that there is no longer enough space in your email account to store messages. If your mailbox is full, you may be unable to do anything other than read and delete messages. At present new messages are delivered to you mailbox even if your quota has been exceeded.

Our mail server will notify you when you have 5MB of space on your account left (and will do so each time you open a mail folder or your inbox).

The default mail quota is 70meg for users who are staff or research postgraduates on registration, and 100meg for users who are undergraduates or teaching postgraduates on registration.

To check your quota in Mulberry, highlight your inbox and click on the 'details' button on the top nav bar. Select 'quota'.

If you are using another client and cannot find information on your quota, you can check this using the check quota on an imap server web form.

General advice for keeping within your email quota:

  • Delete any messages you don't need: don't keep email messages just to retain the sender's email account: Use Address books.
  • If you receive email with attachments and wish to keep the attachment, save it to a PC (hard or floppy disk) and delete the message. Even one message with an attachment can make a huge difference to your Post Office allowance.
  • If you are using Mulberry, see How do I delete attachments from messages?

Unix users should refer to the File management on Unix page for advice.

Back to top

What can I do about all this spam (junk mail) I'm receiving?

Please see How to deal with junk email (spam).

Back to top

Can I store messages in local folders?

You may be tempted to make use of local folders to store mail to avoid large messages counting against your mail quota.

We strongly discourage the use of local folders (and local address books) and we cannot offer any support if you have problems with them.

Local folders are more prone to problems and are a less reliable way to save mail. In addition, individuals are then responsible for the backing up of their data and its security.

If the risk is considered worthwhile, and users are willingly to be responsible for backing up the data themselves, then versions of Mulberry, which have the local folder feature, can be downloaded from the Mulberry area.

If you are still experiencing problems after reading the relevant FAQ, please contact the IT Service Desk:

email: service-desk@bristol.ac.uk
phone: (0117) 928 7870 (internal 7870)

Back to top