Outlook Web Access: Getting Started From the Skills Team, University of Hull Outlook Web Access (OWA) is the web version of the University’s email client. It is accessed over the internet so wherever you have access to a computer with internet access you can login and check your email account. This is especially useful for students because your teaching staff will use Outlook to contact students. OWA has been designed to work with MS Internet Explorer v6 on Windows 2000 onwards. If you are using a different browser such as Google Chrome, Netscape Navigator or a Macintosh computer the OWA Basic Client is pre-selected. See below for more information about clients.



Type in your campus userid and your password. (If you are accessing Outlook from off campus you may have to type in [email protected] .)



Click on the Log On button.



Open your web browser



Type in this URL: http:/owa.hull.ac.uk

This area holds your email folders, Inbox, Drafts Calendar, Contacts, and Tasks etc. The larger section displays all email messages stored in your Inbox.

On the login screen there may be two client versions available: (a) Premium Client

(b) Basic Client.

Premium Client is recommended when you are working on campus or if you have a broadband link. It will only function properly on a computer that is running Internet Explorer v6 and Windows 2000 onwards. Basic Client is recommended for Macintosh users, users of web browsers other than Internet Explorer and anyone with an older version of Windows. For more information about both clients click on the “What’s This” link from the Log On screen.

Outlook automatically shows your current messages in the In-box when you login. The screen spits into two sections. The left section is known as the Navigation Pane and the right section shows your messages.

Outlook has a Toolbar at the top of the screen, with functions that will help you customise and manage your mail.

Move/copy

New email

Reply

Delete

Forward

Reply to All

Check for new messages Address book

Search

Show/Hide Reading Pane

By default on the login screen the Premium option will be selected.

Web: www.hull.ac.uk Email: [email protected]

Email addresses can be selected from your Contacts List or from the Global Address List. (The Global Address List shows all email address for all students and staff at this University).

Reading your email messages 

With your inbox selected in the Navigation pane, double click on a message in the right pane to open it.



Enter either the last name or first name, or both if you know them.



Click the Find button.

If you prefer you can set up the reading pane option to view your messages, rather than double clicking to open them: 

Click once so the message is highlighted.



Click the Show/Hide Reading Pane icon on the toolbar. This will display the options available for the reading pane. You can choose to have the reading pane at the right of the screen or the bottom of the screen.

Click the New toolbar button open a new mail message window.

Click once on the name of the person in the search results screen to select it.



Click on either the To; Cc; or Bcc buttons; this will place the email address into the relevant field.



Click the Close button to return to the compose screen.

A guide to what the To:, Cc: and Bcc: fields mean: To:

Email address in this field is the original receiver

Cc:

A copy of the email goes to the email address entered in this field and the original receiver can see who else has a copy.

Bcc:

A blind copy of the email goes to the email address in this field. Blind means the original receiver doesn’t know that a copy has been sent out to the email address in Bcc.

, this will

The cursor will be positioned within the To: field; ready for you to enter the full email address. 



If you need to add another email address, delete the details you have searched for and start again. You can add as many people as you need.

Composing and sending an email message 

Click here

Outlook will return the details of the search in the results screen. (If no names appear, refine the search criteria and try again).

Alternatively click on the To: button, to open the Find Names Web Page dialog box.

2



Enter a Subject heading



Position the cursor within the blank body area and compose your message.

Your email might look like something like this graphic. 

If you would like to be notified when an email has been read, you will need to select the Read Receipt option. The receiver of the email will receive the message shown here, given them the option to send the receipt or not.

Click the Send button when you are ready.

Outlook sends a message like this back to you with details of when the message was read.

Outlook will automatically return to display the contents of the Inbox. A copy of the email will be automatically stored in your Sent Items folder.

Requesting a read or delivery receipt

If you want to send an email to more than one email address you need to separate the email addresses with a semi-colon (;) not a comma (,) and no spaces between each email address. Either enter the full address yourself, or use the To: field to search for the address.



Click the New toolbar button to compose the email message.



Click on the Options icon on the Toolbar. This opens the Message Option Web Page Dialog box.

High and low importance Outlook gives you the option when sending an email to send it as either High Importance or Low Importance.



If you want to send an email message with a High Importance click on the icon on the Toolbar, or for Low Importance, click on the blue down arrow icon .

In the Tracking options, check the appropriate box for either a delivery or read receipt (or both). (By default the Importance and Sensitivity settings are set to Normal, use the down arrow to change this if required).

Any email message sent with High or Low importance will show one of these messages.



Compose the email, click on Send to finish.

Checking for New Messages Read and delivery receipts

Outlook automatically updates your inbox at set time intervals, but if you are waiting for an email to arrive, you can force Outlook to check for new messages. If there are any messages waiting to display in the inbox, this could speed the process.

If you would like to know when an email has been delivered into the receiver’s email account you should choose the Delivery Receipt option.



Click on the Check for New Messages icon on the toolbar. Any emails waiting to drop into the inbox will do so now.

Outlook then sends a message back to you, giving details of when the message was delivered. 3

Attachments



Most types of file can be attached to an email message. These include Word documents, PowerPoint presentations, photographs etc.

Removing attachment(s) You can remove any of the attachments before sending the email. This is not deleting the file as you have the file stored elsewhere.

Sending an attachment 

Compose the email message in the usual way.



Click on the attachment button on the toolbar. This opens the Attachments dialog box.



Click the browse button. You will need to navigate to where the file is saved i.e. G:\, C:\drive.







Click the Attachments button. This opens an Attachments dialog box, displaying the attached file.



Double click the file to choose it. The name and pathname of the file will now be displayed in the Choose file to attach field. (At this point the file is selected but not attached).



Click the Send icon to send the message with the attachment(s).

Click in the box to the left of the attached file name you want to remove, a tick shows to highlight this file is selected. The Remove button at the right of the box will now be active.



Click on the Remove button. Outlook keeps the Attachments dialog box open, where you can attach a different file or use the steps above to remove all the files as required.



Click the Attach button at the right of the dialog box this will attach the file to the email. You will see the filename shown in the Current file attachments box at the bottom.

Click the Close button to return back to the compose email screen.

Reading attachments You will be able to identify email messages sent to you with one or more attachment by looking for the paper clip symbol next to the message. 

Click the Close button to return back to the email message screen.

Double click to open the email. You can see the file name(s) of the attachment below the Subject Heading.

If you need to send several attachments, attach the first file, then click on the Browse button again and repeat as detailed above until you have all the files attached, then click on the Close button to return to the email message 

Your email might look something like this, which has an MS Word file attached.

4

Click on the filename of the attachment, this will open the File Download box. You need to choose to either Open or Save the attachment.

Virus checking attachments

days, (contact the Help Desk for more information on this). If you find after emptying the Deleted Items folder you need to recover an item, you can if it is within the timescale recover the item.

All mail is virus scanned on arrival to the Mail Server, so you do not need to independently virus check attachments. If you think there is a need to virus check a file before opening it, then Save the attached file to a drive and use the virus checking on the University network, or the virus checking system you have on the computer.

You should always ensure you are completely happy for all items in the Deleted Items Folder to be removed before you choose this action. Do not rely on recovering them from the mail server as this is not always possible.

Deleting email messages

To Recover a deleted Item

You should regularly delete both received and sent emails that you no longer require. This will help to ensure you do not run out of space on the University’s network and also help you to keep your email account organised. Deleting mail  

Click on the required email so it becomes selected.



Click the Options button in the Navigation Pane.



Scroll down the screen until you see Recover Deleted Items.



Click the View Items button. You will see all the items from the Deleted Items Folder.

Click on the Delete icon on the toolbar to remove the email from your Inbox. Alternatively



With the email selected, click on the right mouse button to display a list of shortcuts.



Choose Delete.



Highlight the item(s) you want to recover back to the Deleted Items Folder.



Click the Recover button at the top left of the screen.

When you delete email messages, they are removed from your Inbox or Sent Items folder and placed in the Deleted Items folder.

This automatically moves the selected items back into the Deleted Items folder. Where you can then move the item(s) to another more permanent folder.

Emptying the Deleted Items folder

Printing messages

You need to empty this folder regularly. This folder holds all deleted items from your Outlook account, so this could be Contact details, emails, calendar entries, tasks etc.

Sometimes you may want to print out email message(s), you can only do this by opening the email first. If you are using the Reading Pane to read your messages, you have not actually opened the message so double click on the message in the Inbox.

 



Click on the Deleted Items folder in the navigation pane. Click on the right mouse button to see the list of shortcuts available.



Double click to open the email message you need to print.



Click the Print icon button the top of the window.

on the toolbar at

The Print Dialog box will open, select the print options you require.

Click on the option for Empty Deleted Items.

When you have emptied the Deleted Items folder, all the items are removed from the message store, and stored on the mail server for a limited number of 5



Click the Print button.



Close the email.

Sorting messages

Replying to and forwarding email messages

By default Outlook will show your emails by date order but you can choose to sort them by other properties.

Replying There are two options for replying to messages, you can reply to just the person who has sent you the message, or you can choose to reply to all recipients. 





If necessary double click to open the email message.

Alternative sort options will be displayed. 

Click on the Reply button on the toolbar.

Complete the email then click the Send button.



If the original message was sent to more than just you, and you want to include other recipients in your reply, click on the Reply to all option instead.

You can create a signature message that will be added to the end of every email message you send. This could include your name, department or room number or any information you would like other people to be aware of.

With the email open, click the Forward button. The message window is displayed containing the original sender’s email along with the email text. The cursor is positioned in the To: field ready for you to enter the person’s email address (or if you have the addressed stored as a Contact select from that list).



Type in any extra text you want to include.



Click the Send button.

You can also click on the column headings to sort messages.

Creating a signature

Forwarding 

Select the option you require. Sorting By Sender for example will show your emails in alphabetical order of the sender’s name. Whereas sorting by Subject will show the email messages sorted by the subject heading.

The message window is displayed containing the original sender’s email address along with the email text. The cursor is positioned within the body of the email ready for you to enter your reply. 

Click on the down arrow against the text Inbox (Two Line View) on the Outlook Web Access Toolbar.



Click on the Options button in the Navigation Pane.



Scroll down this screen until you see the Edit Signature button.



Click on this once. The cursor will be positioned in the signature area in the new window ready for you to enter the information you want for your signature.

When an email message is forwarded it shows in the receiver’s inbox with the text FW before the subject heading. 

6

You can change the font, font size or colour of the text by selecting the options from the Formatting Toolbar.



Click the Save and Close button at the top left of the signature dialog box. (If you click the Close button only it does not save typed text).



Click the Save icon on the toolbar.

Exit from the email message window.

Resending a message from the Drafts folder From the Navigation Pane, click on the icon for the Drafts Folder.



Double click to open the email message you want to send.



Complete any details as required.



Click the Send button.

on the toolbar.

You can search for a group of words in quotation marks, individual words, or both. Entering the phrase “lecture room” in quotes means that both words appear exactly as typed to meet the search criteria. If the quotation marks are not used this means that both of the words must be in the item, but not next to each other.

The number of draft message you have is shown in brackets alongside the Drafts folder in the navigation pane.



Click on the Search button

At the top of the screen you can see which Folder Outlook is going to search in. If you have selected the wrong folder, close the Search box and select the correct folder, then click on the Search icon again.

This will automatically save the email message to the Drafts folder. 



To search the subfolders of the current folder, check the Search Subfolders option.

If you have composed your email message but do not want to send it straight away, you can save the message to the Drafts folder, then send it from the Drafts folder when you are ready. Compose the email message in the usual way.

Highlight the folder you want to search in.

The Search dialog box opens; you need to enter the data that Outlook will search for.

Saving message(s) to the Drafts folder





Searching in the Subject line field To search for text contained in the subject line of a message, enter the text you want to search for in the Look in the Subject field box and click Find Now. Searching in the message body As above, but check the Also search message body option beneath the box.

The email message will be sent and automatically removed from the Drafts folder.

Searching by Sender

A copy of the email will now be stored in the Sent Items folder.

To search for items sent by a particular person you need to type in that person’s name in the From box and click Find Now.

Using the Search facility

Searching by Recipient

Please note the Search facility is only available if running OWA in Internet Explorer.

You can search your Sent Items folder for messages you sent to particular people – just use the Sent To box for your criteria instead.

Outlook Web Access allows you to search for messages, appointments, and other items in your mailbox. Searches can be based on one or more messages, characteristics, including the people who sent or received a message, or specific text in the subject line or body of a message. You can choose to search just the current folder or any subfolders within it.

Outlook returns any items that fit the criteria you entered for the search.

You cannot stop or interrupt the search until it has finished.

Double click to open an item. 7

If there are several items returned and it fills more than one page you can use the arrow keys at the right of the box to scroll through the pages. You can also sort them by clicking on a column heading in the Sort Results area. If no email messages are found Outlook displays the message “There are no item to be shown in this view”

Logging Off Always remember to log out of Outlook Web Access. 

Click on the Log Off button at the top right of the screen. This will close your session down and leave the log in screen on view.

It is important to Log Off properly on shared machines to ensure no-one uses your account.

Written by Trish Challans 8