Email for all D-E students, faculty and staff changed from GroupWise to DEmail (D-E's version of Gmail) in March 2011. Information below may be helpful to those who have not used Gmail in the past.
For information on other Google services at D-E, see the Google Apps page.
You may access DEmail by typing in the address mail.d-e.org into any web browser (such as Mozilla Firefox). You will sign-in using your standard D-E username and your D-E network password. To do that you may be redirected to the My DE website (aka Whipple Hill) to enter this information. This is normal as your My DE login is connected with the DEmail login.
New Interface
Google introduced a new email interface and changed the look in late 2011. The first five minutes of the video below shows where commonly used features are located in the new interface. The last minute mentions some of the improvements in the new interface.
You can also access Google's "New look for Gmail" page for additional information.
Unique Features
Conversations (a.k.a. threads)
One major difference between DEmail and some email systems is that all messages with the same subject line are grouped together in a bundle called a conversation. Therefore, if you are part of an email discussion where 20 different replies are passed among a group of people, you will not see 20 individual messages in your mailbox. Instead, you will see one conversation listed. When you open that conversation all of the individual messages with that subject line will be stacked together and sorted by date so you can read through the thread all at once without having to weed through unrelated messages.
For more information see "Conversations" at Google's Gmail help Center.
Conversations may take a little getting used to, but they have a lot of organizational advantages, and we strongly suggest that you give it some time before deciding you don't like it. But if you REALLY don't care for the way that Google organizes your mail in conversations, you can turn this feature off by going to your email settings. (To access settings, click the little sprocket icon next to your email address in the upper right corner and select email settings). On the General tab which is open by default, is a Conversations section about half-way down. Just turn it off here.
Inbox vs. All Mail
When mail is delivered, it goes into your inbox. Once you have read a message, you can leave it in your inbox, delete it, or archive it. Note that if you drag an item to a label or several labels, this does not remove it from your inbox the way messages in some email systems move FROM the inbox INTO the destination folder. It stays in your inbox until you delete it or archive it. If you delete it, it will go into the trash and eventually be deleted forever. If you archive it, however, it leaves your inbox and is out of sight until you search for it again. If you want to see ALL of your mail including things that you have archived (but not deleted), you can click on "All Mail." (You may have to look under more in the label list to find All Mail.)
Folders = Labels
Instead of folders, DEmail has labels. Labels can be used like folders with the extra feature that you can add more than one label to a conversation. For example, maybe you used to keep all of your subscription list messages in a folder called "subscriptions" and all of the messages you need to follow-up on in "to do". With labels you can tag a message with both the "subscriptions" and "to do" label so you will see that same message in both places. Think of this as attaching labels to an email message like you would put a sticky note on a piece of paper.
One important difference between labels and folders is that you have only one copy of an email message even if it is tagged with multiple labels. Therefore, if you delete the message it disappears from everywhere not just from the label you are looking at when you delete the message.
For more information, see "Using Labels" at Google's Gmail Help Center or watch this two minute video:
If you are still a little confused about the difference between labels and folder, try reading more about the sticky note analogy here.
Sending Attachments
You may email files to others by clicking on "Attach a file" under the subject field while composing a message.
Restrictions
Files over 25 MB are prohibited. The maximum email message size is 25 MB including all attachments.
Some file types are blocked: Files that can be executed (such as files ending in .exe, .com and .vbs) are blocked as a security measure. A list of prohibited file types is here.
A video that shows how to attach a file and summarizes the restrictions is available here.
Viewing Attachments
There are multiple ways to view files emailed to you. Some only work for specific file types. For step by step details about each of these options see "Viewing attachments" at Google's Gmail help Center.
Viewing option
Compatible file types
Download
all file types
You will prompted to Open or Save the file. Both will save the file to your local computer. Choosing Save will allow you to choose where to save it. Open is not recommended as it may save the file in a temporary location where it will be automatically deleted eventually.
Document will be quickly displayed in your web browser using Google Docs. You do not need any other software on your computer. (For example, you do not need Microsoft Word to view a Word document with this method.)
In addition, the viewer provides you with buttons to "Save in Google Docs" or "Edit". In both cases, the attachment will be converted to a Google Doc and stored in your Google Docs account until you delete it. You may then access Google Docs to view or edit that copy at a later time.
Download all attachments
all file types (if there is more than one attachment)
Similar to download above. If you choose Save when prompted, a .ZIP file will be save to your local computer. That .ZIP file will contain all of the attachments.
The quickest way to print most attachments is to use View then go to the File menu in the Viewer and select Print (PDF). If the document does not seem to be formatted correctly, then use Download so you can save a copy to your local computer and open it with software installed on your computer.
Where did that message go? (Archiving vs. Deleting)
(This video refers to an old Gmail interface but the concepts are still correct.)
D-E system groups (system-wide address book)
Just as in the old GroupWise system, there is a centrally manged address book that has entries for everyone at D-E who has an email account. You can not list everyone in the address book, but if you start typing in someone's legal name or username in the To field of a message, you will get a list of everyone matching that name.
Shared groups (aka distribution lists) are also available in DEmail. Anyone at D-E can use them to email groups of students or staff (teaching and non-teaching staff). To use one, just start typing in the name. Some of the available groups are:
gradeX where X is a number from 4 to 12 - All students in a particular grade. (This replaces the old "Class_Of" groups.)
ls_students, ms_students, us_students - All students (with email accounts) in a particular division.
ls_staff, ms_staff, us_staff - All school employees associated with a particular division.
all_staff - All employees of the school.
all_school - Everyone (students and all staff) with a D-E email account.
google-gurus - Group of students, teachers and non-teaching staff (including Computer Services) who have volunteered to answer Google service related questions.
The full address for all groups is the name above with @d-e.org appended. For example, all_staff@d-e.org.
You can get a list of most system groups by going into contacts and searching for # (the pound sign).
Contact Groups (personal distribution lists)
View and Edit Contacts
If you would like to read more about Contacts, see Managing Contacts in Gmail help.
Create Contact Groups
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I switch between using my DEmail Google account and my personal Gmail account?
The least complicated choice is to use the Sign Out feature to leave one account and then login to the other account.
However, it is possible to enable the ability to sign-in to multiple Google accounts and quickly switch between them. See the help article from Google titled "Enabling multiple sign-in" for directions to enable that. Note that the multiple sign-in feature includes some restrictions and somewhat minor complications.
Why am I seeing advertisements in DeMail?
Technically, you are not seeing advertisements. The school disabled all commercial content at the system level. What you are probably referring to is a feature called "Web Clips." This is a small feed of headlines and news (some of which is pop-culture related) at the top of your DeMail window. If you don't want to see this feed at all, you can go to your mail settings by clicking on the sprocket icon next to your username in the top right corner of the screen and selecting "email settings." On the email settings screen find the tab labeled "Web Clips." Select this tab to turn them off.
How do I setup my cell phone to access DE mail?
The easiest but least elegant way is to just use your phone's web browser and access http://mail.d-e.org. However, you can better integrate using DE mail with your phone by following the directions at the article DeMail - Mobile Phone .
How do you us POP to fetch your DeMail into your personal account?
Log into your DeMail and go to the sprocket and select mail settings. Enable POP account access. Then log into your personal email. Add a POP account with the following settings:
Incoming Mail (POP3) Server - requires SSL:
pop.gmail.com Use SSL: Yes Port: 995
Outgoing Mail (SMTP) Server - requires TLS or SSL:
smtp.gmail.com (use authentication) Use Authentication: Yes Port for TLS/STARTTLS: 587 Port for SSL: 465
Account Name:
XXXXXX@d-e.org
Email Address:
XXXXXX@d-e.org
Password:
your network password
More Information
The information above addresses some of the non-intuitive differences between GroupWise and DEmail. You can find even more information using the resources below:
This address is monitored by the Google Ambassadors, which is a group of D-E students, faculty, and staff (including the Computer Services department) striving to get you a quick answer. Your questions are valuable and will help identify areas of this documentation that need to be clarified or expanded!
Comments (0)
You don't have permission to comment on this page.