Webmail is so powerful these days that it can virtually replace your email client completely. From anywhere in the world, you then easily log into the webmail using the internet browser.
However, we have figured out how to use webmail even more efficiently and have the following 5 tips for that!
Tip 1: Set display name, company name and signature
The first webmail tip is to set your display name, organization (company name), reply to address and signature correctly.
This will make sure that as soon as you send an e-mail to another person, your name will be shown as the sender and possibly complemented by your company name or organization.
Each e-mail will also be closed with your signature in which you can put, for example:
Yours sincerely,
Your name
The reply-to field is for setting another e-mail address to which the recipient will be sent when he presses the “reply” button. This does not need to be filled in, but may be useful if you would like to receive the replies to your e-mails in a different e-mail address.
Tip 2: Two factor authentication
Since security is nowadays priority 1, we always recommend to set up Two factor authentication and make sure your webmail is double secured.
You do not want that if your password is leaked somewhere, others can easily log into your webmail and possibly leak data.
Two factor authentication (2FA) is ideal for this, as it provides a second layer of authentication. This is because once you log in to the webmail with your login credentials, it asks for a unique code that you receive only on your device - often a smartphone.
Once you then enter this code, you will be logged in and can access all the emails in your webmail.
In the picture you can see that you can receive the code in several ways. For ease of use and security, we always recommend the Mobile app, since you are often the only one with your smartphone / phone in your pocket.
Tip 3: Create an archive folder
Since email is nowadays communication tool number one, you want to be able to find and read back your old emails at all times. In this case, as soon as you receive and read an e-mail, it is advisable not to throw it away, but to archive it.
This ensures that the e-mail will be in a folder other than the trash and thus always retrievable when you search for it via the search function.
As soon as you put it in the recycle garbage can, there is a good chance that the e-mail will be deleted because your e-mail or hosting provider empties the recycle garbage can automatically once every few days.
How do I create an archive folder?
Go to the settings of your webmail, click on “folders” and you will see an overview of the current folders. Here you will see a button called “New” at the top right. Once you click this, you can easily create a new archive folder meant for your archive!
Tip 4: Format your emails automatically with styling
Of course, besides having a specific writing style that you control, you also want to have a specific look in terms of styling in all your emails.
For this you can set the fonts, sizes and possibly whether your signature should be added by default or not.
You can also set rules as to what the webmail should do, for example, on a “reply to” command with which you reply to the email you receive. For example, you can choose to have the message quoted below your email, or not shown at all.
Where do I set all the webmail options?
To do this, go to “settings” in the webmail, then click on “settings” again on the left and then click on “compose messages”. You will then see the following screen where you can configure everything concerning the creation, styling and handling of your e-mail.
Tip 5: Create automatic filters and rules
Want to make sure your emails are automatically categorized, archived, deleted or even replied to automatically like a well-oiled machine?
Then automatic filters and rules are an ideal solution for you. With these, you can have a simple but very comprehensive way to have an email read and decide what to do with it based on certain recognitions.
For example, as soon as you receive an e-mail from info@domein.nl with “hi” as the subject, you can have it read automatically and then moved to the archive. This way, you have the e-mail, but it does not pass by in your inbox, nor does it stay on unread.
Where do I create webmail filters and rules?
To do this, go to “settings”, then click on “filters”, and then click on the “new” button which you will see at the top right.
Filtername
You will see a new screen where you can enter a filter name, this is the name you want your filter to be recognized by. You can then enable or disable the filter after saving.
Search range
The next field is the “search range”. Here you basically specify whether the rules below it must match all created rules, one rule, or simply apply to all messages.
Rules
Now we come to the real work, namely the rules. You can create 1 or more rules here and specify what an incoming email must meet after which you want to perform an action.
Suppose we want to achieve the example above, then indicate as a first rule that the sender contains info@domain. Then we click on a new line via the + sign.
I choose here that the subject is equal to “hi”. With this, I make sure that if info@domein.nl sends me an e-mail with hi as the subject, the action will be executed.
Suppose info@domein.nl sends an email with hi! (i.e. with exclamation mark) then the action will not be executed because the subject is not exactly equal to “hi”. In this case you need to change “is equal to” to “contains”. The rule will then be executed even if the word hi is in a broader topic.
Actions
Now that we have the rules set, we come to the actions it should perform once the rules are all hit. As I said earlier, I want the email to be read and moved to the archive folder.
For this I create the first action, namely “Add mark to message”, where I check read.
Then I create a new action with the + button and choose “move message to” where I choose the folder “archive” that I previously created as the archive folder.
Now we have achieved exactly what we wanted and emails from info@domein.nl with subject hi are automatically read and moved to the archive folder!
