Saving and forwarding your 08 email!

You are a Senior about to graduate. Before that happens you may want to do a couple of things with your email:

1. Save your existing mail so you can view it after your account is deleted in June.
2. Get a new email account like Yahoo, Google or Hotmail.
3. Set up the alumni forwarding so you have a Williams alumni email address (note this can be your current 08abc@williams.edu address - But not your Abigail.B.Connor@williams.edu address).  Make sure all of your friends, professors, potential employers, acquaintances, etc. know about this transition so that they may update their address books with the 08abc address.

The absolute first thing you need to do is to get another email account. There are lots of free ones (Hotmail, Yahoo, Google). There is one advantage to Yahoo mail in that it has the ability to check your current Williams mail, which could be useful.

There are several ways to save your email so that it is not deleted when your account is deleted. The easiest way is to move the mail from the mail server down to your computer's harddrive. Any email client can do this except IMP and Pine.

Outlook Express and OSX Mail come free on Windows and Mac computers, so you could use them easily. If you want to use Outlook, Thunderbird, Entourage or whatever, feel free.

Saving current mail:

Scenario 1: The only email you care about is in your inbox. This is easy. Just set up the email client in POP mode. Incoming server is studentmail.williams.edu. Check mail, enter your password and all your mail will download to your computer. If you are going to keep checking mail using IMP up until the day your account expires then look for a checkbox that says "leave mail on server" otherwise your mail will only exist on your harddrive from this moment on.

Scenario 2: You have mail all over the place in multiple folders or you want your sent mail as well as your inbox. Set up the email client in IMAP mode. If you have ever checked mail using a program other than IMP or Pine then you probably already have this set up. While viewing all your network mail folders, create new "local" folders. In Outlook Express, right click the Local Folders and Create. Then move (drag) email from your network folders to the local folders. The email then exists on your harddrive.

Scenario 3: You do not have a computer to move the mail down to. You can either follow the steps above using someone else's computer (including public lab computers) and then burn the email files to a CD or you can create a Yahoo account and import your mail into the Yahoo system (other free web accounts may do this but the only one I know of is Yahoo). If you are going to burn the mail files to CD we recommend you use Thunderbird since it keeps mail folders in a format that is very easy to import and move. If you are going to use Yahoo to get your Williams mail here is how to do it:

1. First, using IMP or Pine move ALL the mail you care about into your inbox. Yahoo will only check your inbox.
2. Log in to mail.yahoo.com after you get the yahoo account.
3. Click Add next to the Folders list.
4. Name the new folder Williams inbox
5. Click the Options link way over on the right.
6. Click Mail Addresses under the Management list.
7. Click Add. Account name is Williams email. Continue.
8. Mail server is studentmail.williams.edu, username is your 08xxx and password.
9. Click Setup Mail server button. You'll see the new Williams account below the Yahoo Mail account. Select it and click Edit.
10. In the Receiving mail section, change the Deliver To folder to be Williams inbox. Make sure Leave Mail on Server IS checked. Save changes.
11. Back at the main mail screen you'll see an option to Check Other Mail. Select that link and it will get your Williams mail. It will take a few minutes, so just click and let it go for a while.

Set up alumni email forwarding:

For reference, here are the directions provided by the Alumni Office for setting up email forwarding, which you must follow before graduation if you do not want to lose any emails sent to your 08abc address. We suggest you take the few minutes to set it up now.

1. Go to http://www.williams.edu/alumni/services
2. On the Alumni Services page, select "Permanent Email" from the navigation bar to your left.
3. If you have visited this page before to search for alumni career mentors and remember your password go to step 4.
   • If you do not know your password, click "Password Help" on the navigation bar to your left and follow these instructions:
   • Click on "request a password reminder". Follow the instructions on the site and enter your login 08xxx. Your password will be sent from alumni.relations@williams.edu to your Williams email account. Once you have received your password go to step 4.
4. You will be asked for your username and password. Enter 08xxx and either the password that you know or the one that was emailed to you in step 3.
5. You should be at a page entitled "Email Forwarding". Enter an active email account that is not your williams.edu account. You will get a message confirming that your email will be forwarded immediately. Don't be alarmed! It will not be activated for seniors until Graduation Day.