Staff Email
- Accessing Email from Home (or from a Remote Location)
- Email How-Tos
- Password Change Utility
- Auto-Reply/Auto-Forwarding
- Spam Filtering / Junk Mail Filtering
- Listservs
- Quota
- Email Backup
- Leaving HLS
Accessing Email from Home (or from a Remote Location)
All new staff members will receive their new, HLS computer with Microsoft's Outlook or Entourage email client installed, configured, and ready to use. Because our email environment uses Microsoft Exchange, configuring another email client on a home machine machine is not necessary. Using the email web client at http://email.law.harvard.edu provides our staff with the ability to check email, calendar, contacts, and tasks from anywhere with an Internet connection. Anything that is done via the email web client will then be synced with the Outlook/Entourage desktop client.
If however, a staff member would like an additional install of the Outlook or Entourage desktop client on his/her HLS-owned laptop, please bring this laptop to the Faculty-Staff Help Desk in Hauser 020 between 8:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. Staff are also welcome to read the configuration instructions:
Outlook 2003/Exchange Configuration Instructions
Entourage 2004/Exchange Configuration Instructions
Email How-Tos
Instructions on how to use Outlook with Exchange
Password Change Utility
It is recommended that people log into the email web client to change their AD password. This will change your email, WINDOWS computer login, network password. To change your password:
- Log into http://email.law.harvard.edu.
- Login with your username (what precedes @law in your email address) and your current email password.
- Click OPTIONS on the left navigation bar.
- Scroll down the page and click CHANGE PASSWORD.
- The "Domain" is "hls" (all lower case and without caps); your account is the first part of your email address (e.g. jharvard); type your old password and then type your new password twice.
- Click OK.
Auto-Reply/Auto-Forwarding
An out of office message is ideal for staff who are unable to check email for a long period of time. This pre-created notice will automatically be sent to anyone who sends an email to your email account.
Create an auto-reply instructions
Mail forwarding is ideal for staff who wish to have email directed to another email account. If you would like to have your mail forwarded to another email account, please contact the Faculty-Staff Help Desk. Please let the help desk know what account you would like you email forwarded to and also if you would like to leave a copy of your mail on the HLS server. If you leave a copy of mail on the HLS server, you need to monitor this account so it does not go over the 250MB quota. To manage your email via the web email client, please visit https://email.law.harvard.edu.
Spam Filtering / Junk Mail
With Exchange, there are two spam filtering features.
The first feature is a built-in junk mail filter within Outlook. By default, this filter is set to a low setting designed to catch the most obvious junk e-mail messages. Messages caught by the filter are moved to a special Junk E-mail folder, where you can access them later. If you want, you can make the filter more aggressive (perhaps mistakenly catching more legitimate messages), or even set Outlook 2003 to permanently delete junk e-mail messages as they come in. To change junk e-mail settings in Outlook 2003:
- On the TOOLS menu, select OPTIONS.
- In the Options dialog box, in the E-mail section, click Junk E-mail.
- Choose the level of junk e-mail message protection you want. Click OK
Another spam feature at the Law School is labeling potential spam messages. When problematic spam is identified, the words "Possible Spam" will appear in the message's subject. It is recommended by ITS that staff create a rule that will move the messages marked as spam to the Junk Mail folder. To create this rule:
- Select Rules Wizard from the Tools menu.
- Click the New button. The Rules Wizard dialog box will open
- Verify that the rule type “Check messages when they arrive” is selected (default) and press the Next button.
- Scroll through the items in the “Which condition(s) do you want to check?” box until you find “with specific words in the message header” Select the check box next to this item.
- In the lower window, click on the link that says specific words. A dialog box will open, where you should type "Possible Spam". After you have entered this information, press the Next button.
- Check the first option “move it to the specified folder” in the “What do you want to do with the message?” option box.
- In the “Rule description” box, select the link which says “specified”. You will be presented with a window which allows you to choose which folder you would like Spam filtered to. Choose the Junk Mail folder.
- Press the Next button to go to the exceptions window; you do not need to enter anything here, so press the Next button again.
- You will be returned to main Rules Wizard window. You should see the rule defined and selected. Press OK to exit.
Listservs
Listservs, also called mailing lists, are a way of communicating via email to a specific group of people on various topics of interest. Faculty, staff, and students take advantage of listservs when they want to communicate a message (usually about a specific, pre-established topic) to a group of people. The people receiving the message have the option to stay "subscribed" to the list or to "unsubscribe" if they do not want to receive future emails.
If a staff member would like a listserv created, he/she can visit the listserv creation tool or he/she can contact the Faculty-Staff Help Desk. From the web site staff members can view what HLS lists they are currently subscribed to, what additional HLS lists they would like to subscribe to, or request to have a new list created.
Quota
Staff will have a 250MB quota limit. If you are approaching this limit, an email will be sent warning you that you are already at 80% of your limit. This email will be sent daily until you are below 80%. It is important to take this notice seriously to prevent an interruption in mail service. Suggestions to keep email under quota is to delete items in the junk mail and deleted items folders often.
Email Backups
When you were migrated from CAMail to Exchange, the Technical Analyst created an email back-up that will run every two days. This back-up will be stored on your Home drive. This back-up only includes your Outlook .pst file. If you create other pst files that need to be backed up, please contact the Faculty-Staff Help Desk.
Leaving HLS
Before you leave HLS, please turn on the auto-reply and/or auto-forwarding features. If these features are enabled before your email account expires, the auto-reply and auto-forwarding will work for 30 days past your email account expiration date. Please note the following information is for people who are in the Exchange email system.
Auto-Reply Message While still an Active Employee at HLS: www.law.harvard.edu/administration/its/how-tos/email.php#autoreply. Please note that this auto-reply message will be sent to anyone who sends you an email BEFORE YOUR LAST DAY AT HLS.
Auto-Reply Message AFTER you Leave HLS: This auto-reply message is for email messages you receive AFTER YOU LEAVE HLS. This option can ONLY BE CONFIGURED ON YOUR LAST DAY OF EMPLOYMENT WITH HLS. To have an auto-reply message sent AFTER you leave HLS:
- Visit https://mymail.law.harvard.edu.
- Login with your username and password.
- Click OPTIONS in the upper-right corner.
- Click MAIL PREFERENCES.
- Click AUTO-REPLY MESSAGE.
- Configure your auto-reply and then scroll down the page and click SAVE.
Mail Forwarding: Like your auto-reply, mail forwarding can ONLY BE CONFIGURED ON YOUR LAST DAY OF EMPLOYMENT WITH HLS. To configure mail forwarding:
- Visit https://mymail.law.harvard.edu.
- Login with your username and password.
- Click OPTIONS in the upper-right corner.
- Click MAIL PREFERENCES.
- Click MAIL FORWARDING.
- Configure mail forwarding and then scroll down the page and click SAVE. Please make sure to select NO next to "Keep Copy in My Inbox ".
For more information about leaving HLS, please visit the ITS Staff Leaving Page.