Email for Students

All students of the University are offered a free email account with a 40MB quota. The University will use email to contact you so it is important that you activate your email account and check it regularly.

Before you activate your account you should read and understand the Rules relating to the use of University Computing and Network Resources. The relevant University Rules and Regulations (Regulation 8.1.R7) can be found at http://www.unimelb.edu.au/ExecServ/Statutes/r81r7.html

Summary of Settings

Although webmail and Eudora are the officially supported ways of accessing the student email system, users with technical skills or local support are able to use the email client of their choice. Please note that you will not be able to receive support from the IT Service Desk for any desktop client other than Eudora.

Secure connection

Clients are now required to make a secure connection to the student email server. You can either use APOP and CRAM-MD5 to encrypt only the username and password transmission, or use POP3 or IMAP via SSL to encrypt all data transferred including your email messages.

Access from outside the University network

If you are connecting from off-campus (e.g., via an ISP) you must enter your ISP's SMTP server for sending mail. E.g., mail.bigpond.com rather than smtp.unimelb.edu.au.

IMAP or POP?

These are two different ways your computer can access your mail.

1. IMAP - your mail stays on the mail server and you can access it from anywhere, including webmail. You can only store as much mail as your quota allows.
2. POP - your mail is downloaded to your local computer and can only be read from there. You can store as much mail as you have space for, but if your computer crashes the mail is lost.

Using a desktop client

Eudora is the preferred and supported desktop client for both the Windows and Macintosh platforms. The University has a license agreement that allows staff and eligible students to install a copy on their computer (at home as well as at the University) for use with the University network only.

Guides to downloading, installing and configuring Eudora are available from Computer Supply and Support's email infosheets page.

Microsoft's website contains guides for configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003 and Microsoft Entourage 2004.

Using webmail

The student webmail interface allows you to access your email messages from anywhere in the world using only a web browser. More information is available in the webmail users' guide.