General Email FAQ & Tutorials

General Email FAQs

 What is my email address?

If you are a student visit our student email address page to learn about your email addresses. If you are a faculty/staff member visit our faculty/staff email address page.

 Can I connect my personal device to my UWSP email account?

Yes, setup instructions are available on our Email Setup Tutorials page.

 How can I set an Out of Office Reply for when I'm out of the office?

When you are out of the office, Outlook's Automatic Replies (Out of Office) allows you to send automated responses to emails you receive from both on and outside of campus.

For the Outlook Desktop App, see Microsoft's documentation to send automatic out of office replies from Outlook.

In the Outlook Web App (OWA),  visit their out of office replies page and select the Web tab.

​​

 How do I include an email message as an attachment?

Outlook 365 Desktop App

Before sending your email, click Attach Item on the Message ribbon. Select Outlook Item. Select the email you want to attach and click OK to add the email as an attachment.

Outlook 365 Web App

Drag the email from your OWA email list onto the message body of your new email.

To do this,

At the upper-right corner of the email that you intend to send, click the Edit in a separate window button.


Position your email (now open in its own window) and OWA side by side on your screen.

In OWA, left-click and drag the email you would like to attach onto the message area of your email.

 

Complete your email message and Send.

 Pictures are not displaying on some of my email messages?

Visit Microsoft's website to learn about blocking or unblocking automatic picture downloads in email messages in Outlook.

 Can I schedule calendar meetings with other campuses?

Yes.  Below is a list of organizations federated with our campus allowing organization members to share Free/Busy calendar access to schedule meetings.

Calendar Federation

The following organizations allow you to share Outlook Free/Busy calendar information to schedule meetings between organization members.

uwsa.edu
wisc.edu​ academiccolab.org​
learn.uwsa.edu​ uwex.edu​ wenportal.org​
uwc.edu​ ces.uwex.edu​ wisconsinhumanities.org​
​students.uwc.edu
conted.uwex.edu​ wisconsinmasternaturalist.org​
uwec.edu​ ecc.uwex.edu​ wiscontext.org​
uwgb.edu​ ics.uwex.edu​ wpr.org​
uwm.edu​ uwex.uwc.edu​ wpra.org​
uwplatt.edu​ vilas.uwex.edu​ wpt.org​
uwrf.edu​ wgnhs.uwex.edu​ Microsoft.com​
uwstout.edu​ cvtv.edu​


​Problems Sending Email

 I can't send messages?

You may not be able to send messages for a variety of reasons:

  • As a student you may have violated the email policy and restrictions on your account may prohibit you from sending messages for a period of time (you would have received a specific email message detailing the violation and the length of restriction [which is normally one week]).

  • If you receive an error message in response to an email(s), you may have reached a specific limit in the email system. Please contact the Service Desk if you have questions regarding the error message.

  • You may be trying to send a message to a restricted list from an account not authorized to send to the list. For example, you may be attempting to send the email from your personal account and only your department account is authorized to send to the list. Click here to create a new message addressed to UWSP's Postmaster.  Please include the exact error message you received.

If none of the above apply, please contact the Service Desk.

 Is there a limit on how many recipients I can send to in a day?

Yes, Microsoft Exchange allows a mailbox to send the following:

500 recipients maximum within an email’s To/CC/BCC lines.

If a mailbox attempts to send to more than 500 individual recipients in a message, it will receive a Delivery Status Notification (DSN).  The message will need to be resent with fewer recipients.

A total of 10,000 user accounts emailed in a 24-hour period.

If a mailbox surpasses the 10,000 messages per day limit, it will receive a Delivery Status Notification (DSN) message.  No additional messages can be sent from that mailbox for 24 hours.

Note: Exchange Distribution Lists that display in the Outlook Address Book count as a single recipient.

 Email I sent was returned to me, what do I do?

The address you used could be wrong. Check and make sure you typed in the address exactly as it should be, or if you used an auto-filled address, look it up in the address book and try sending again.

There could be a server down at the "other end." Try sending again - after verifying the correct address. 

If you have tried to send to a particular address multiple times and have verified that the address is correct, but you still are receiving undeliverable messages, forward the "Undeliverable" message to the IT Service Desk and they will attempt to troubleshoot.

If you are unable to send an email and are receiving an error message saying "Access denied, spam abuse detected", contact the IT Service Desk.

​Shared Mailbox

Departments, units and services are strongly encouraged to use an additional, shared email mailbox for office and role-related correspondence - instead of individual UWSP accounts.

To access a shared mailbox you must first have permission from the mailbox manager, or "owner".  If you do not know who the owner of the mailbox is, see How do I find a mailbox owner? below.  If you are unsuccessful in identifying the shared mailbox owner, contact the IT Service Desk for help.

​ It is your responsibility to contact the mailbox owner to request ​access to a shared mailbox or calendar.​

 How do I share my calendar?

Outlook Desktop app

From your calendar's Home tab click Share Calendar and select your Calendar from the dropdown menu.


In the Calendar Properties box, on the Permissions tab click Add.. and add the person from the Outlook Address Book.

Select the type of permissions you intend to grant.


Click OK.


Outlook Web App

In the Outlook Web App calendar click Share and select Calendar.


Under Share this calendar, begin typing the logon name or last name of the person who needs access to your calendar.  Select the person from the list that appears.


At the right, select the type of permissions you want to grant the person you added.


Click Share to send an email with a sharing invitation.

 Can I add a shared calendar in my Outlook mobile app?

Yes you can!  Here's how from Microsoft Office support!

 How do I add a shared mailbox in Outlook?

Add a Shared Email Mailbox Through Outlook 365 Desktop

  1. Log into your computer as yourself and start the Outlook Desktop app.

  2. Choose the File tab on the ribbon.

  3. Under Account Information click Add Account.

  4.  

  5. In the window that opens, type the email address of the mailbox you want to add and click Connect.

  6.  

  7. In the Sign in with your UWSP account box that opens, enter your own username and password, then click Sign In


 Close and reopen Outlook if the shared mailbox does not immediately display.


Add a Shared Email Account Through OWA

  1. Log in to your mailbox using OWA.

  2. At the left, right-click Folders, and select Add shared folder...


  3. In the Add shared folder dialog box, type the email address or name of the mailbox and click Add. ​

​​​The added mailbox will display in your Folder list.

Note: If you have only been provided access to specific folders in the other user’s mailbox, you will only see the folders for which you have been granted access.

If you no longer need the additional mailbox to display in your Outlook Web App, right-click the folder, and select Remove shared folder.​

 How do I send an email from a shared mailbox Address?

Send email from a shared mailbox in Outlook's Desktop app

Click From name in an open email to select from your shared mailbox list.

 

 

Send email from a shared mailbox in OWA

In an open email,
  1. Click Options on the menu and check Show From. This displays the From field in your open email.

  2.  Click From.

  3. Select the shared mailbox from the From list.

 ​

 What do I need to know about adding student staff to our department mailbox?


Student accounts should not be used for department work.  Staff accounts should be created in DIMS for all new student employees.

Go to the Information Security Office Account Requests page for information on requesting student staff accounts.

Add student staff to a department mailbox

Two things must be completed first.

  • Your student worker must activate their Student Staff account.

  • You must add the student staff account to the MB Access group that that has permissions to your department mailbox.

Once the student staff account is activated and it has been added to the department MB Access group the student staff person should,

  1. Log in to their department work computer with their student staff account – NOT their student account.

  2. Open the installed Outlook desktop application (not OWA) and add the department mailbox to the student staff mailbox by selecting File at the upper-left in Outlook, then click Add Account and enter the full mailbox name, e.g. oie@uwsp.edu.


Student staff accounts which have not yet been activated

If you have students who have not yet activated their student staff accounts, the account may very likely have an automated Abandoned Mailbox Policy applied.  Your department DIM and their abandoned student staff account would both have received an email to this effect at the time.

The Abandoned Mailbox Policy:

  • deletes all messages over 30 days old in the mailbox, and

  • sets up an out-of-office message.

Once the account is activated, the abandoned account notifications will stop.  The Out of Office message reporting the account is unmonitored will not stop until the student removes the Out of Office from the Student Staff mailbox.  That account will receive an email with information that the Abandoned Mailbox Policy has been removed, and that the Out of Office message must be removed manually.


Student staff who are currently using their personal student email for Department work

If you have student workers who are currently using their personal student email for their work in your office, have them:

  • Add their Student mailbox as a second mailbox to their Student Staff mailbox.

  • Move all work-related email from their Student mailbox to their Student Staff mailbox.

  • Ensure that all work-related email is removed/deleted from their Student mailbox.


UWSP policy for Student Staff accounts

Our Information Security Office is working on defining a UWSP policy for Student Staff accounts that supports Regent policy on Information Security.

Some of the most important reasons for this policy are:

  • Student mailboxes containing department information can become subject to Open Records Law searches.

  • Student logons should not be given access to FERPA-related information – this should be taken into account as well when assigning them permissions to applications, SharePoint and shared folders.

  • Work correspondence that originates from and comes into a Student mailbox is lost to the department if the student’s employment ends.

  • Work correspondence that originates from a Student mailbox looks less official and does not represent our University well.

  • Work correspondence conducted through a Student mailbox will leave department-related emails in the student’s mailbox well after a student leaves your employment.

 How do I find a mailbox owner?

  1. Open Outlook's Address Book and locate the mailbox.

  2. Scroll to the right to the Alias column. You will use the Alias of the mailbox for the next step.


  3. Open/start a new email.

  4. In the Subject line, type the Alias of the mailbox.

  5. In the To... field type Info Tech Return Ownership.  Press Ctrl+K to resolve this to an email address (You can also type in InfoTechReturnOwnership@uwsp.edu).


  6. Add nothing else to the email and click Send.

  7. You will soon receive an automated email from the Postmaster listing the Owner(s) of the mailbox and which person or list can be emailed to request to be added to the list membership.


​Email Housekeeping

 My Outlook Address Book is out of date?

The UWSP Offline Address Book is updated automatically every hour.  To manually update the address book:

  • In Outlook 365 Desktop App select the Send/Receive tab

  • Click the drop down arrow next to Send Receive Groups

  • Click Download Address Book

  • Click Ok

 What is my mailbox size?

Information about the size of faculty, staff and student mailboxes as well as information to help you best manage your mailbox can be found here.

 How do I set up rules to automatically manage my email?

Rules can do additional tasks such as automatically forwarding certain types of messages. For example, emails sent from a specific person or with a specific word in the Subject can be forwarded to a co-worker.

To create mailbox Rules in the Outlook 365 Desktop app.

To create mailbox Rules in the Outlook 365 Web app.

 Remove cached email addresses from Auto-Complete cache

Remove individual email addresses from your Outlook Auto-Complete cache:

  1. Begin addressing your email.  

    Your Auto-Complete will display a list of possible address matches.

  2. Click the "X" to the right of the address to remove it from your Auto-Complete's memory.


Remove all cached emails from your Auto-Complete.

  1. In your installed version of Outlook click File at the upper-left, then select Options.

  2. At the left of the Outlook Options box, select Mail.

  3. At the right in the Send messages section, click Empty Auto-Complete List.

  4. Click OK.

 

For more information see Microsoft's support article, "Manage suggested recipients in the To, Cc, and Bcc boxes with Auto-Complete".

​I'm Graduating

 How long can I keep my UWSP account if I graduate or no longer take classes at UWSP?

Please read our Student Account Removal page for information on how long your UWSP email and other services will remain available after you graduate or are no longer taking classes.

​Cached Mode

 What is Outlook Exchange Cached Mode and Online Mode?

"Cached Mode" saves a copy of your Microsoft Exchange Server "cloud" mailbox to your local computer.  Your installed version of Outlook (the Outlook client) uses this local mailbox copy when reading and searching email. Your cached mailbox continually syncs changes with the Exchange cloud to keep your mailbox current.

Besides improving email performance, cached mode also allows you to continue work if your network connection is interrupted or unavailable, for example on an airplane. Once reconnected, your cloud and local mailboxes sync any changes that occur.

"Online Mode" directly accesses your cloud mailbox for all of your email work and searches. Since the Outlook client directly accesses your cloud mailbox in online mode, a spotty network connection can interrupt your work. A loss of connectivity means that your mailbox will be unavailable.

Disk space for the local mailbox file created by cached mode is typically not an issue with most computers.  Exceptions to this can be tablets which have limited storage capacity for a cached mailbox making online mode a better option.

Cached Mode is recommended and is the default at UWSP.

 Should I adjust my cached mode settings?

Cached Mode is recommended and is the default at UWSP.

If you do wish to adjust your cached mode settings, visit Microsoft's website to learn how to adjust cached mode connection behavior in Outlook.

Distribution Lists

 Where can I find information about UWSP's distribution lists?

 How can I request access to email an automatically maintained distribution list?

Many automatically managed distribution lists, such as department lists, have no restrictions on who can send email to them as long as the email is sent from a UWSP email address.

The following distribution lists require email permission from the department Resource Admins:

To request email permission for these lists:

  1. Create a new email.

  2. Click the To... button to open the Select Names dialog box.

  3. Open the Address Book dropdown and select Control DLs.

  4.  

  5. In Search, begin typing the department abbreviation.

  6. Select the Resource Admins list for the department, then click To to address the email.

  7.  

To request access to send to lists for all departments, contact the Registrar's Office.   

Visit our Distribution List Information page to learn more about the different types of automatically maintained lists and email permissions.

 I need a distribution list to be available in the Outlook Address Book?

For a distribution list to be available in the Outlook Global Address list, please submit an IT Work Order. Only global lists can be made available to all in the Outlook Address Book. A personal distribution list is different than a global list and is only available to you.

For information on creating a personal distribution list, see the FAQ, "How do I create a Contact Group", below.

 How do I edit a global distribution list (DL)

  1. From Outlook's Home tab choose Address Book. Verify the Search field is set to Name Only and the Address Book field displays Global Address List.
  2. In the Search text box type the name of the distribution list. 
  3. Double-click to open the list properties.
  4. Click Modify Members... to Add/Remove list members.

 How Do I Create a Contact Group (Personal Distribution List)?

Here are quick instructions for creating a personal Distribution List (i.e. Contact Group) from your Contacts and Address book entries.

Click here for information on how to use an Excel . csv file to bulk create accounts in your Outlook Contacts list prior to adding them to your personal Contact Group.

Managing Junk Mail

 What is UWSP Spam and Junk Mail Solution?

UWSP has adopted Microsoft Defender for Office 365 as its technology to help protect against both external and internal email threats such as phishing and targeted attacks.

 How do I access suspected junk email blocked by Microsoft Defender?

All email identified as Junk is routed by Microsoft Defender to Outlook's Junk Email folder.

For more information where to find your Junk Email folder and managing your junk email, see our page, Manage Your Junk Email with Microsoft Defender.​

 How long are messages retained in my Junk Email folder?

Email that is identified as Junk by Microsoft Defender and routed to Outlook's Junk Email folder is retained for 30 days before being removed.

 How do I block a sender that displays in my Inbox?

See our page, Manage Your Junk Email with Microsoft Defender for information on how to report a suspicious email and route future emails from the sender to your Junk Email folder or Deleted Items.​​

 Legitimate emails were quarantined. How do I allow a sender?

See our page, Manage Your Junk Email with Microsoft Defender for information on how to report a legitimate email found in your Junk Email folder as not junk.​​​

​Email Tutorials

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​Have questions?  Contact the Service Desk!