Setting up your email programs

Email clients

These are the officially supported email clients. Click on one and you will be taken to its setup instructions:

• Apple Mail
• Microsoft Entourage
• Microsoft Outlook (not Outlook Express)
• Mozilla Mail Suite
• Mozilla Thunderbird.

Settings quick reference

Like to do it yourself? Want to use something else we don't officially support? Here's what you need to know.

• Server type: IMAP for incoming, SMTP for outgoing
• Server address (both incoming and outgoing): mail.cis.rit.edu
• Login: your CIS username and password - please make sure your email client logs in both when it sends and receives email

Getting an email client

There is a comprehensive list of IMAP clients on the IMAP website. We don't support most of them, and we'd prefer if you use one of the ones we recommend, but you can browse what's out there.

Free clients

• Microsoft Outlook Express is a free download from the Outlook Express website, but you have to download Internet Explorer to get it.
• Mozilla Thunderbird is a free download from the Thunderbird website.
• Mozilla Mail is part of the free Mozilla Suite.

Commercial clients

• Microsoft Outlook can be purchased by itself. It also comes with the Standard edition of Microsoft Office and all the more expensive editions. Outlook is not included in the less expensive student/teacher edition. For more information, see the Outlook website.

Setup instructions

Apple Mail

To set up Apple mail:

1. Open up the Mail program.
2. Go to Mail -> Preferences tab in the menu bar.
3. Select the Account tab.
4. Click the "+" button to add an email account to the program.
5. The wizard will now begin to guide you through the setup process.
6. Select IMAP from the drop down menu.
7. Input a name for this profile and then input your CIS email address.
8. Click Continue.
9. The incoming mail server is: mail.cis.rit.edu
10. Input your password.
11. Click Continue
12. The outgoing server is the same as the incoming server.
13. Do not use authentification.
14. Click Continue
15. Check to make sure the information is all correct.
16. Click Continue
17. Click Done to complete setup.

Microsoft Entourage

Can someone who uses this write a nice how-to article on it?

Mozilla Mail Suite - clean install

Download and install the Mozilla Suite. Mozilla will launch after Setup finishes. If it doesn't, just open Mozilla.

1. Open the Window menu and select Mail & Newsgroups.
2. The Account Wizard will pop up. Select Email account and click Next.
3. Enter your name and email address, then click Next.
4. Select IMAP, and enter mail.cis.rit.edu in both fields, then click Next.
5. Enter your CIS username then click next.
6. Enter a nice friendly name like "CIS Email" or your email address in the Mail Account field, then click Next, then click Finish.
7. A window may pop up asking you if you want to use Mozilla as the default mail application. Click Yes if you would like Mozilla Mail to handle all email links on websites.
8. Mozilla Mail will try to connect to the mail server. You will be prompted for your password. At this point, you're done!

Microsoft Outlook Express

Please do not use Outlook Express. Get Office and install Outlook, or download Thunderbird for free.

Microsoft Outlook 2003

If you are using Outlook for the first time since it was installed, it should bring up the add account screen automatically, so you can probably skip steps 1 and 2.

1. Open the Tools menu and select E-mail Accounts.
2. Select Add a new account and click Next.
3. Choose IMAP.
4. Enter your name and CIS email address in the User Information section.
5. Fill both fields in the Server Information section with mail.cis.rit.edu.
6. Fill in the Logon Information fields with your CIS username and password.
7. Click More Settings.
8. Enter a nice friendly name like "CIS Email" or your email address in the Mail Account field.
9. If you would like your reply-to address for mail sent using this account to be something other than your CIS email address, set it here.
10. Click OK.
11. Click Next, then click Finish.
12. If this is a clean install of Outlook, it may prompt you about being the default mail program. You can choose whichever option you want here.

Microsoft Outlook 2000 - clean install

1. Start Outlook.
2. Click Next.
3. Select Internet Only and click Next.
4. Enter your name and click Next.
5. Enter your CIS email address and click Next.
6. Where it says My incoming mail server is a POP3 server, drop down the menu and choose IMAP.
7. Enter mail.cis.rit.edu in both fields and click Next.
8. Enter your CIS username and password and click Next.
9. Select Connect using my local area network (LAN) and click Next.
10. Click Finish. Windows Installer will finish setting up Outlook at this point.
11. Outlook will prompt you: Outlook is not currently your default manager for Mail. Would you like to register Outlook as the default manager? You should click No if you plan to use Thunderbird or another program for your email. Click Yes if you'd like to use Mozilla Thunderbird as your default email program (the one that comes up when you click an email link on a website.)

Mozilla Thunderbird 1.5 - clean install

For a clean install of Thunderbird with no existing email accounts set up:

1. Download, install, and launch Thunderbird. This is fairly straightforward, and you can pretty much just click Next until it's done.
2. First startup only: If you have an existing email client, you can import settings from that client. These instructions assume you selected Don't import anything. If you do import settings, you may have to go to the set of instructions for an existing install.
3. Select Email Account and click Next.
4. Enter your name and CIS email address and click Next.
5. Select MAP, enter mail.cis.rit.edu in both boxes, and click Next.
6. Enter your CIS username and click Next.
7. Enter a nice friendly name like "CIS Email" or your email address, and click Next.
8. Click Finish.
9. If you are asked, select Yes if you'd like to use Mozilla Thunderbird as your default email program (the one that comes up when you click an email link on a website.) Select Do not display this dialog again if you don't plan to install or use another email program.
10. Enter your password and click OK. You're done!

Mozilla Thunderbird 1.5 - existing install

For an install of Thunderbird with an existing email account set up:

1. Open the Tools menu and select Account Settings.
2. Click Add Account.
3. Select Email Account and click Next.
4. Enter your name and email address and click Next.
5. Select IMAP, enter mail.cis.rit.edu, and click Next.
6. Enter your CIS username and click Next.
7. Enter a nice friendly name like "CIS Email" or your email address, and click Next.
8. Click Finish

These next few settings are optional if you already have another working email account set up.

1. Select your user account in the list on the left side of the Account Settings window and expand it if there is a + sign on the left
2. Set your reply-to address if you want replies to go to a different account.
3. Select Outgoing Server (SMTP) Settings all the way at the bottom.
4. Enter mail.cis.rit.edu as the server name, make sure port 25 is specified, check Use user name and password, and enter your CIS username.
5. Click OK, and you're done!

-- DanLiberatore - 30 Mar 2006, last revision 06 Apr 2006