FAQs for Gmail

General

• How do I open UWF Gmail?
• What is my email address?
• Where can I search for student, faculty, and staff email addresses?
• How do I send an email to everyone in a department?
• How do I access a department or organization email account?
• Why do mail-to email links launch Outlook instead of UWF Gmail?
• Can I change my email display name? I want to be "Mike" instead of "Michael."
• Can I set an email alias? For example, my UWF email address is abc@students.uwf.edu and I want to receive mail at AdamCollier@students.uwf.edu.
• Can I receive desktop notification when I receive a new email message?
• Can I use my mobile phone or other mobile device with Gmail and Google Calendar?
• I see a green or orange dot next to a person's name, what does that mean?
• I'm getting too many results when I search in Gmail. How can I refine my search?
• Gmail does not support attachments larger than 20 MB. How can I send/receive larger attachments?
• How do I open an attached password-protected PDF file, like my UWF pay stub (Payroll Direct Deposit Advice)?
• How do I set up IMAP?
• Can I forward my email to another email account?
• I set UWF Gmail to "Get mail from other accounts" using POP3 (in "Settings" on the "Accounts" tab) and selected the option to "Leave a copy of retrieved message on the server." It isn't working.
• What are Google Labs and how do I turn them on?
  

Labels and Archiving

• What are labels and how do they work?
• How do I create a new label?
• Are label names limited to a certain number of characters?
• Can I drag a message to a label?
• I don't see all of my labels on the left side of the screen. Where are they?
• What is archiving?
• Where can I find archived messages?
• What is the difference between applying a label and using "Move to"?
  

Conversations

• Why are all of the responses to an email message grouped together?
• Can I turn off conversations?
• Why are some messages in a conversation expanded and some are collapsed?
• Can I label a single message and not the entire conversation?
• How does Gmail decide which messages to group into conversations?
• How do I forward a conversation? And, when I forward, do I have to include all the messages that make up the conversation?

Using the Outlook Client for Gmail

• When I accept event invitations they are going on my Outlook calendar, not my Google calendar. What am I doing wrong?
• When I respond to a meeting invitation from Outlook (using the Yes/Maybe/No links), I receive an XML error.
• Some of the features in Outlook aren't working?
• I'm receiving legitimate email in my Outlook "Junk E-mail" folder. What do I do?
• My email messages don't show the correct date/time and are not sorted in the order that they were really received.

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General

How do I open UWF Gmail?
Students: Log in at gmail.students.uwf.edu
Faculty and Staff: Log in at gmail.uwf.edu

What is my email address?
Students: Your email address is your ArgoNet username followed by @students.uwf.edu
Faculty and Staff: Your email address is your ArgoNet username followed by @uwf.edu

Where can I search for student, faculty, and staff email addresses?
You can use the search box on the contacts page or the Campus Directory app in MyUWF.

How do I send an email to everyone in a department?
When composing the email message, click the To link. Search for the department name, then select the entry that is followed by the word (Department).
Please be aware that the department email address should not be used for calendar invitations - see how to invite a department to a meeting.

How do I access a department or organization email account?
There are two options for sending and receiving email from a department or organization.

Why do mail-to email links launch Outlook instead of UWF Gmail?
Read more information and the fix for mail-to links.

Can I change my email display name? I want to be "Mike" instead of "Michael."
Yes. You can change your display name in the Gmail settings. This change will only appear in Gmail - not in other Google Apps.

Can I set an email alias? For example, my UWF email address is abc@students.uwf.edu and I want to receive mail at AdamCollier@students.uwf.edu.
Yes. In MyUWF, go to the My Account app, then, in the Email section, and select alias. Follow the on-screen instructions. You can choose from several pre-set alias options. Once an alias is selected, you will be able to receive email sent to the alias email address in addition to mail sent to your standard UWF email address.

If you want the alias you set in the My Account app to display as your "from" email address when you send messages, you must change a setting in UWF Gmail. In the upper-right corner of Gmail, click Settings, then the Accounts tab. Click Add another email address you own, then enter the alias email address you set in the My Account app and follow the on-screen instructions. Once you have verified your account, go back to Settings and on the Accounts tab click the make default link beside the alias.

Can I receive desktop notification when I receive a new email message?
Yes, you can receive notification by installing Google Talk. Log into Google Talk using your full UWF email address and your ArgoNet password.

Can I use my mobile phone or other mobile device with Gmail and Google Calendar?
Probably. See our instructions for common mobile devices, or go to http://www.google.com/mobile/ to see the Google services that work with your device.

I see a green or orange dot next to a person's name, what does that mean?
The colored dot means the person is available online in Google Chat.

I'm getting too many results when I search in Gmail. How can I refine my search?
With Advanced Search you can refine your search to return more exact results. The easiest way to perform an advanced search is to click the small Show search options link next to the search box. Another method is to use search operators. Search operators are words or symbols that perform special actions in Gmail search.

Gmail does not support attachments larger than 20 MB. How can I send/receive larger attachments?
Large attachments can be sent through an application called yousendit. Anyone can create an account to send files up to 100 MB for free. eLearning users can also transfer large files through the eLearning application. If you have a file transfer need that cannot be addressed with these applications, contact the ITS Help Desk for additional recommendations.

How do I open an attached password-protected PDF file, like my UWF pay stub (Payroll Direct Deposit Advice)?
Click the PDF icon - .

How do I set up IMAP?
Follow our instructions for Outlook 2010 or Entourage 2008.

Can I forward my email to another email account?
Yes, you can forward your email from within the Gmail settings. How do I do this? Please note that after you set up the forward, a copy of your forwarded messages will continue to be archived in UWF Gmail. This method will only forward to one other account - you can forward to up to ten other accounts with filters.

I set UWF Gmail to "Get mail from other accounts" using POP3 (in "Settings" on the "Accounts" tab) and selected the option to "Leave a copy of retrieved message on the server." It isn't working.
You are probably trying to retrieve messages from another UWF email account. If you are getting mail from another UWF account, Gmail will not leave a copy on the server even if you selected this option. As an alternative, you can forward email and keep a copy on the server. How do I do this?

What are Google Labs and how do I turn them on?
Google Labs are new features that haven't been officially released. Some are just for fun, while others can be really useful. Read our Google Labs page for more information.

 

Labels and Archiving

What are labels and how do they work?
Labels are Gmail's way of categorizing messages. They are similar to folders, except a single message can be assigned multiple labels. Learn more about labels.

How do I create a new label?
To create a new label, checkmark a message that should receive the new label, then click the Labels drop-down and enter a new label name. Another method is to click the Labels drop-down and then click Manage labels. Be aware that applying a label does not remove the message from the Inbox. To remove the message from the Inbox, it must be archived.

Are label names limited to a certain number of characters?
Yes, Gmail labels cannot be set to more than 40 characters.
Note: If an Outlook folder was copied to Gmail, the label name may be longer than 40 characters; however, if you attempt to edit the label name, the new name cannot exceed 40 characters.

Can I drag a message to a label?
Yes, to drag a message click and hold on the dots on the left side of the message.

I don't see all of my labels on the left side of the screen. Where are they?
To help keep your list of labels from getting too long, Gmail hides some of your labels in the "more" drop-down (also on the left side of the screen). To change which labels are shown/hidden, click Manage labels (which may also be hidden in "more"). Then, use the show and hide link next to each label to indicate if you want the label to appear on the left side of your screen.

What is archiving?
Archiving simply removes an email message from your Inbox - that's it. It doesn't mark it for deletion or remove labels; it just takes it out of the Inbox. If you like to keep your Inbox clean, you need to use archiving. To archive a message, checkmark it, then click the Archive button. If you archive a message and then receive a new response to the message, the entire conversation will be returned to the inbox. Learn more about archiving.

Where can I find archived messages?
Archived messages are available by clicking All Mail. As the name suggests, All Mail is all of your mail – archives, inbox, sent items, deleted items – everything. If you don't see the All Mail section it may be in the "more" drop-down on the left side of your screen. Keep in mind that if the message has a label, it can also be found by clicking on that label - archiving doesn't change that. The other way to find archived messages is to search.

What is the difference between applying a label and using "Move to"?
"Move to" labels a message and archives it in a single step - it takes the message out of your Inbox and categorizes it at the same time.

 

Conversations

Why are all of the responses to an email message grouped together?
In Gmail, all email responses are grouped with their original message, creating a single conversation. Learn more about conversations.

Can I turn off conversations?
Yes. Gmail offers the ability to switch between conversation view and the traditional message-based unthreaded view. If you switch to unthreaded view, messages are no longer grouped together into conversations, and each message is shown as a separate entry in the inbox. To turn off conversation view, open Settings from the upper-right corner of Gmail. Then, go to the new Conversation View section, change the setting to Conversation view off, and click Save changes.

Mobile Devices: The mobile web-based view of Gmail will still be threaded, as will the Gmail Mobile Client app. However, if you are using a Blackberry, Windows Mobile, iPhone, or Android device, you can access Gmail unthreaded in the native mail clients of those devices using Google's sync tools.

Why are some messages in a conversation expanded and some are collapsed?
Messages that you previously read are collapsed (unless they have a star), and new messages are expanded. When you open a conversation, scroll down and start reading at the first expanded message - that's where you left off. To expand or collapse a single message, click on the sender's name. To expand all the messages in a conversation click Expand all.

Can I label a single message and not the entire conversation?
Labels cannot be applied to a single message within a conversation. However, you can “star” a single message so that it is marked for easy reference. If you open the conversation again, the starred message will be automatically expanded.

How does Gmail decide which messages to group into conversations?
Gmail groups messages into conversations based on their subject line. So, if you get three messages titled "Project," they may be grouped into a single conversation even if the messages are about three entirely different projects. To avoid this problem, you should use specific subject lines when composing messages.

If you are responding to an email message and do not want the response grouped with the original message, change the subject line in your response. Click the Edit Subject link in the blue section above your response.

How do I forward a conversation? And, when I forward, do I have to include all the messages that make up the conversation?
To forward an entire conversation, open the conversation then click Forward all on the right. This will open a new message that contains the entire forwarded conversation. Before sending the forward you can delete any information that you do not want to include in the forward.

To forward a single message or just a portion of the conversation, expand the most current message that you want to include in the forward, and then click the Forward link that appears below the message. In the forward, Gmail will include all messages that were sent earlier in the conversation, but just like "Forward all," you have the opportunity to delete any information that you don't want to forward.

 

Using the Outlook Client for Gmail

When I accept event invitations they are going on my Outlook calendar, not my Google calendar. What am I doing wrong?
You are probably using the Accept/Decline buttons at the top of the invitation. Meeting invitations received in Outlook need to be responded to with the yes/maybe/no buttons in the body of the email. Do not use the Outlook accept/decline buttons - they will not communicate with Google Calendar. How do I do this?

When I respond to a meeting invitation from Outlook (using the Yes/Maybe/No links), I receive an XML error.
Even though you receive an error, the event will still be added to your calendar. You can prevent this error by changing a setting in Internet Explorer. How do I do this?

Some of the features in Outlook aren't working?
Because Outlook is being "powered by" Gmail, you can only use the Outlook features that Gmail supports. Basically, if it's not a feature in Gmail, it's not going to work correctly in Outlook.

I'm receiving legitimate email in my Outlook "Junk E-mail" folder. What do I do?
Some legitimate email messages may be going to your Outlook "Junk E-mail" folder. Since Google is already filtering using a "Spam" folder, the best thing to do is turn of Outlook's junk email filtering. How do I do this?

My email messages don't show the correct date/time and are not sorted in the order that they were really received.
This is a result of the transition of email from the old Exchange email system to UWF Gmail. It should only affect messages received before November 7, 2009. You can correct this problem by changing the View options for EACH FOLDER in the new profile. How do I do this?