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Home > Documentation > Email > Webmail > Opening and Reading a Message

Documentation - Email - Webmail

Email Documentation Home | Clients: Configuration, Pine, Thunderbird, Webmail | Operating Systems: Mac, Windows | Junkmail | xMail

Webmail: Opening and Reading a Message

You can open a Webmail message in any of the following ways:

  • Select the Subject link to display the message header and contents.
  • In the Go to text box, enter the number of the message you want to read.
  • Select Prev to read the message before the message that is currently selected.
  • Select Next to read the message after the message that is currently selected.

Using the Open link

When you are viewing a message in Webmail you can use the Open link at the top of the message to cause a new window to open with the message contents (described below) displayed in text, including any HTML code used.

About message contents:

  • The header of a message contains information about the message, such as:
    • Return Path: Identifies a path back to the originator of the message.
    • Received: Identifies the various mail servers that the message traversed.
    • Date the message was sent to you.
    • From: The text entered on the From line.
    • Subject: The text entered on the Subject line; in general, short description of the of the message.
    • To / Cc: The text entered on the To and/or Cc lines; in general, the addressed message recipients. Note: Text entered on the Bcc line does not display.
    • X-Mailer: Identifies the email application used to send the message.
    • Mime-Version: Identifies the version of MIME encoding used.
    • Message-Id: An integer assigned by the receiving system.
    • Content-Type: The MIME type(s) contained in the message; for example, text/plain, text/HTML, multipart/related, multipart/alternative, image/gif, and so on. For information on MIME, see About MIME and Filtering Attachments.
    • Encoding: The different types of encoding that the message, including attachments, uses.
    Internet RFC 2822 defines the format of e-mail headers. Additional headers may be displayed as well; in particular, headers that include "X" as the prefix, may be added by various servers or mail applications.
  • The body directly follows the header and is the main contents of the message. If the message is too long to fit in the text window, use the scroll bar on the right to view the entire contents.
  • If there is an attachment to the message, you can either view the attachment directly following the message body, or click Open Attachment to open and view the attachment.

Tips:

  • For information on how to set your Webmail display to optimize your ability to read and reply to messages, see Setting Preferences.
  • Once your message opens, you can use the Add To Address Book link to open the Add/Edit Contact page of Address Book with the sender's information populated in the fields. Just click Done at the bottom of the page to add the contact and redisplay your message.
  • Right-click to open a message in a new window.

For information on how to search for a particular message, see Searching for a Specific Message.

Return to Webmail Documentation Home.

Last updated: 7/15/08