IMAP Mail
What is the College IMAP Server?
The College of Engineering provides an IMAP mail server that is available for anyone with an ENGR NetID. Mailboxes on the IMAP server are created automatically whenever an ENGR NetID is created.
The College IMAP Server is also called CLUE Mail.
What is IMAP?
The Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) is a system for accessing e-mail on a mail server. It has several features that make it very appealing:
- Your messages are only stored on the mail server, not your client machine.
- Your mailbox is always in a consistent state from wherever you are.
- Unlike POP, mail is only copied to your mail client program when you read it.
- Folders for sent mail and trash are always stored on the server.
- IMAP is supported by dozens of mail clients, so you can use whatever mail client program you feel comfortable with.
ISU Webmail and ENGR IMAP
Your NetID@iastate.edu email will always be delivered to your ISU Webmail mailbox unless you take action to forward your email yourself. ENGR IMAP is an added service that you can choose to use or not to use. The College IMAP server (CLUE Mail) accepts mail sent to username@eng.iastate.edu. If you want to forward ALL of your ISU e-mail to your IMAP account, you need to forward your ISU e-mail to your @eng.iastate.edu address. This can be done via the ITS ASW website.
IMPORTANT!! If you forward your ISU e-mail (username@iastate.edu) to username@eng.iastate.edu, you should still advertise username@iastate.edu as your actual e-mail address.
How do I access my IMAP account?
To access your IMAP mailbox, you will need to use an e-mail client that supports IMAP over SSL. There are quite a few mail clients to choose from including: Microsoft Outlook Express, Apple Mail.app, Mozilla Thunderbird, Qualcomm Eudora and Gnome Evolution. The following settings should be in effect:
Incoming Mail Server: mail.eng.iastate.edu
Incoming Mail Server protocol: IMAP over SSL using plain-text authentication (IMAP over SSL uses port 993).
Advanced users: you can use newer clients that support kerberized IMAP (Thunderbird 1.5beta, Mail.app, etc) to access your mail. The ENGR IMAP server supports using your ISU NetID Kerberos credentials to access your mailbox. Use the Support Request Form to get more information on how to set this up.
Incoming Mail Server login: Your ENGR NetID account name.
Outgoing SMTP mail server: mailhub.iastate.edu ( on-campus users only). Off-campus users should use the outgoing SMTP mail server designated by their ISP (e.g. smtp.mchsi.com).
Outgoing mail server protocol: SMTP with no authentication.
Is there a Web interface to CLUE Mail?
Yes. The mail server has a web interface that is quite useful:
How can I set up Spam filtering on my account?
The ISU mail system utilizes anti-spam tools that tag suspected spam messages with special tags in the mail headers that indicate the likelihood the message is spam. This mail header is called "X-Perlmx-Spam". You can then utilize filtering tools in the SquirrelMail system to tell SquirrelMail that mail with a X-Perlmx-Spam with a "Gauge=XXXX" value (more X's mean the mail is more likely to be spam.
To set this up, log in to https://mail.eng.iastate.edu
Select the Filters link at the top of the page.
Then select the "Add a New Rule" link at the bottom of the page.
When it asks you what type of rule you would like to add, select "Header Match".
Select the "Move to step 2" link at the bottom of the page.
Create a rule something like this:
The header X-Perlmx-Spam contains
Gauge=XXXX
(4 X's means that messages that have a likelihood of 40% or higher will be marked as spam. 5 X's means a 50% or higher likelihood, etc.)
Select "Move to Step 3" at the bottom of the page.
On the next page, decide if you want to Keep, Discard Silently, or Reject the message. Alternatively, you can choose to move the message to a folder. Most people will have the spam saved to a folder called "SPAM".
Select "Move to Step 4" at the bottom of the page.
You will be asked to confirm the filter rule you just created. If you're satisfied with it, select the "Finished" button at the bottom of the page.
But you're not finished yet!
On the next page, you can move this filter rule up or down (before or after) relative to other filters you have created. Many people position the spam filter rule to the end of the filter list. Where you place it will depend on what other filters you have created.
Now you would think that once you've done that, that you're done. But you're not! You still have one final step before your filter rule will be saved. You must select the "Save Changes" button at the bottom of the page. If you fail to select the Save Changes button your filter rule will not be added to your filters.
But after you save your filter, the filtering rules will be applied to all your incoming mail. Once you get some practice creating filters for your mail, you can make some very handy filtering operations. For instance, you might have mail sent to a particular mailing list saved into a dedicated folder for that list.
The good thing is that mail filters of this type are processed by the mail server itself, so you don't have configure your mail client to do the filtering.
