E-Mail - Using and Configuring E-Mail
Submitted by admin on Thu, 2006-08-10 14:48.
The common settings for email programs are:
The incoming server is an IMAP server. (POP3 is available but not recommended)
SSL is required, and uses an alternate port (993).
The incoming server name is "physics.harvard.edu"
The IMAP server prefix is "mail". (If you don't see your folders check this)
Q: Why isn't POP supported?
A: While we strongly discourage it, you can retreive your e-mail using POP3 (POP3 over SSL). If you are trying to set up Gmail to read your Physics mail, this is the method you're likely trying. If you do choose to go down this path (and, again, we do not support or encourage it), you need to use SSL and you should use port 995. We also strongly suggest you set it to leave a copy of your mail on the server until you delete it.
About
Department affiliates have two completely independent and parallel email systems to choose from:
FAS: maintained by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS)
-or-
Physics: maintained by our administrators within the Physics Department.
There are advantages and disadvantages to each system; probably the biggest disadvantage to the FAS email system is their strict storage quota. Full Physics accounts have much more generous quotas. While it is true that some affiliates choose to use both, most users choose one and forward the other to it so that they need only check one inbox for new e-mail.
The common settings for email programs are:The incoming server is an IMAP server. (POP3 is available but not recommended)
SSL is required, and uses an alternate port (993).
The incoming server name is "physics.harvard.edu"
The IMAP server prefix is "mail". (If you don't see your folders check this)
The outgoing (SMTP) server name "physics.harvard.edu"
The outgoing (SMTP) server requires authentication (username & password).
The outgoing (SMTP) server port:
recommended port (587) using TLS (Encrypted Secure Connection),
or non-standard SSL port (465) using SSL,
or old smtp port (25) using TLS.
Forwarding
Either system can be configured to forward mail to the other, or both can be used simultaneously.
You can configure email forwarding from FAS to Physics at their account utilities page
-or-
You can configure email forwarding from Physics to FAS using our account maintenance page.
These are exclusive options; whatever you do don't set up a loop by forwarding each to the other!
Getting your Physics e-mail
TIP: You can always check your Physic e-mail no matter where you are via our WebMail System.
Physics department email can be retrieved using the IMAP/SSL or POP3/SSL protocols (we do not, however, encourage the use of POP3), and our SMTP (outgoing) server will relay mail from anywhere to anywhere provided that you supply a valid username and password combination when connecting. The system works well with most modern email programs we have tried. However, Eudora and Outlook produce less than desireable results in some cases and we do not recommend or support their use.
If you are having trouble sending e-mail because your ISP blocks port 25 (such as Comcast, AT&T, CERN, and others) please change your outgoing port to 587 (using TLS).
We recommend Mozilla Thunderbird as it is available on almost any platform, is stable, standards compliant and full-featured.
Instructions for some popular e-mail programs
Mozilla Thunderbird - Including Junk/Spam Filtering
(Mozilla Tunderbird is our recommended, supported e-mail client)
PC-Pine (limited support)
Macintosh OS X Mail (limited support)
Outlook Express (un-supported)
We do not support or recommend Outlook and provide this info only as a courtesy.
Please be aware that, due to how Outlook stores e-mail, you may lose mail and settings if your system fails while using Outlook.
Have Symantec/Norton? Can't send e-mail? (Norton Internet Security issue)
Webmail
The webmail server available at: https://physics.harvard.edu/webmail/
Q: Why isn't POP supported?
A: While we strongly discourage it, you can retreive your e-mail using POP3 (POP3 over SSL). If you are trying to set up Gmail to read your Physics mail, this is the method you're likely trying. If you do choose to go down this path (and, again, we do not support or encourage it), you need to use SSL and you should use port 995. We also strongly suggest you set it to leave a copy of your mail on the server until you delete it.
Q: I can't send e-mail when I'm at home/CERN/other.
If you are having trouble sending e-mail because your ISP blocks port 25 (such as Comcast, AT&T, CERN, and others) please change your outgoing port to 587 (using TLS).
Tools
Account Maintenance Page: For directions on e-mail forwarding, e-mail vacation messages or password changes.
LDAP directory settings - Settings for adding an LDAP address book.
Check your Mail and Disk quotas: Shows disk and inbox usage.
MacOS X Mail/Mail.app says it is locked - fixd
Unlock IMAP mailbox on server (Mostly concerns Pine users)
Set up a vacation message - Instructions