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WhitMail is our latest email system, powered by Google. Whitman College has partnered with Google to aquire an email service from Google (email processing, spam filtering, storage, etc.) while still using Whitman domains.
WhitMail allows us to increase capacity (larger mailbox sizes, larger attachment sizes) and provide a superior web-based mail system.
No. All Whitman email addresses, including WhitMail, follow the username@whitman.edu pattern.
The WCTS Helpdesk at x4976 or helpdesk@whitman.edu
Google has three objectives with this service. First, Google has its roots in education (Stanford University) and wishes to contribute to the educational world by offering its products with no out-of-pocket institutional expense.
Second, Google hopes to make lifetime Google users out of students. Their hope is that when graduates will continue to use their services and its associated products for the rest of their lives and perhaps even bring these products into their future business world.
Third, Google’s revenue flow is generated by delivering context-sensitive advertisements to the users of its products (e.g. Gmail and Google). When students graduate and if they choose to move to Google Gmail, context-sensitive ads would be delivered to them through the Gmail interface.
Whitman has signed a four-year agreement with Google to provide WhitMail as is. If, after four years, Google decides to change some or all of the service which might render it insufficient for campus needs and use, the College would reconsider.
WhitMail was initially launched for the incoming class of 2013. A group of volunteer students were migrated mid-August from Webmail to WhitMail with more groups to follow. Be on the lookout for more migration signup announcements!
Google’s (including its email) most salient feature is its fantastic searching ability. Google makes all of its components (email, calendar, etc.) searchable by the end-user. In order to deliver this feature, Google scans all email and calendar data and indexes the information to make it searchable by the end-user and only the end-user. During the searching and indexing, Google accumulates aggregate, non-personal information in order to provide better services.
Yes. In a nutshell:
For further reference, see
http://www.google.com/intl/en/privacypolicy.html
For a clearly-worded explanation of Google's privacy and security policies, see
http://www.google.com/support/a/bin/answer.py?answer=60762
You.
As with our current system, only you and WCTS System Administrators have access to your information. However, both Whitman College and Google are US law-abiding entities and should some legal action, initiated by local or federal law agencies, require access to user data stored on Google’s server (e.g. subpoenaed information), the College and Google will act or respond as required by law. This is no different than what we do now.
The web-based user interface will have the same look and feel of Google's Gmail. This includes automatically combining messages into "conversations." Google provides more information in their conversations support guide.
WhitMail also introduces a new feature they call labels. Labels are similar to folders except that you can apply multiple labels to a conversation. For more information, please review Google's labels support guide.
Important: When you delete a message (i.e. move it to the trash), either inadvertently or on purpose, WhitMail expunges the message after 30 days. After that 30 days, the user and WCTS are unable to retrieve that message.
No. All WhitMail users will have a username@whitman.edu address. While you can forward either your personal Gmail account to WhitMail or vice versa, we recommend keeping personal and college-related emails separate.
We highly recommend using the web interface to WhitMail to make best use of its features. However, WhitMail supports any POP or IMAP email client (e.g. Thunderbird, Outlook, Mac Mail, etc.). See Google's "accessing" support guide for more information.
No. Google allows you to search for (and create filters using) words but not parts of words. This feature has been requested and may be added in the future.
All filters are processed for each message. So, if you have two different filters that match a message, both filter's actions will be processed unless one of the filters is set up to delete the message.
To print a conversation, use the Print or Print all link on the WhitMail sceen. To print an individual message, click the context menu of the message and click Print.
You cannot use File -> Print to print email correctly.
You can also perform steps 2 and 3 while reading a message to apply a label to it.
For Macs (MacOS 10.4 or later), Google has Notifier which alerts you of new messages. When installed, a Gmail icon and Calendar icon appear on the right side of the menu bar. When a WhitMail message arrives, a translucent box tells you about that message. http://toolbar.google.com/gmail-helper/notifier_mac.html
For PCs, Google currently doesn't have a verion of Notifier that works with WhitMail and addresses that aren't listed as @gmail.com. We expect an update soon so that you can use your WhitMail address. Check back for more updates.
When you send a message to any mailing list you subscribe to, WhitMail automatically skips your inbox and archives the message to save you time and prevent clutter. The message will appear in your inbox if someone responds to it or if there is an error delivering the message. If you'd like to view your message, you can find it in Sent Mail or All Mail.
Yes. The banner is called web clips and can be disabled or customized by going to Settings -> Web Clips and choosing the options you want.
To help stem the flow of potential spam, Google will temporarily disable your WhitMail account if you send more than:
In addition to these limitations, Google will temporarily disable your WhitMail account if you send a message to more than 500 recipients or if you send a large number of undeliverable messages. According to the Google help center, you can only send a message to up to 100 people at a time if you use POP or IMAP.
The most likely problem is that Firefox is attempting to load old (cached) data. Go to Tools -> Clear Private Data then uncheck everything but cache. Click Clear Private Data Now. Then try reloading the page. If that doesn't work, try restarting Firefox.
If there is a "Use Basic View" link in the lower left-hand corner of the page, click it. Once the page loads, you can then click the "Switch to Standard View" link at the top of the page, and you will be able to continue working on your email as normal.
If none of these solution work, check with Google here: http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=8767
Yes, WhitMail provides a vacation responder in Settings > General. This will automatically respond to any e-mail sent to you. Be sure to turn it off once you are back on campus.
WhitMail doesn't search your notes in the address book. The notes are for your own personal reminders. To place your contacts in a group search for them in your contacts and click add to group.
WhitMail does not currently offer any kind of 'template' feature, but there are two work-arounds.
WhitMail will keep a copy of your sent mail in the Sent Mail label/folder. You can access it by clicking Forward and will then be able to modify the message as you wish.
Alternatively, you can save your "template" email as a draft, create a label called "Templates" and label the message with that. You'll then be able to find it there whenever you want to use it.
At present, there is no way to add a message to an existing conversation. You can only add to the conversation by replying directly.
The easiest way to take your mail with you when you leave the college is to set up a personal Gmail account (see http://mail.google.com to sign up) and then transfer your WhitMail messages to your personal Gmail account. Instructions for doing this can be found at https://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&ctx=mail&answer=21288
You can always use the following URL if WhitMail.whitman.edu is not working:
http://mail.google.com/a/whitman.edu
We have seen this error when trying to read WhitMail messages on Firefox version 1.0. We recommend upgrading to the newest version of Firefox at:
Yes. In the address, enter whitmail.whitman.edu
Please visit the following page for information about using Google Apps with your mobile device.
The convenience key is reprogrammed under
Options ->
Screen/Keyboard ->
Convenience Key Opens ->
Gmail (or Mail by Google)
The instructions for setting up an iPhone to sync Google Calendars are here:
http://www.google.com/support/mobile/bin/answer.py?answer=138740&topic=14252
The instructions provided above will synchronize your Default WhitMail Calendar. If you would like to sync multiple calendars, you must follow these steps:
This answer was found here:
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Google+Mobile/thread?tid=475c15917ceb3e73&hl=en
This is a problem on Google's end. We have no control over it. The messages should arrive to your Blackberry in short order.
If you can't find your question listed above, you can also check out these resources:
Adapted with permission from St. Olaf College
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