WebCT

Using Email in WebCT

Demo: View and Send Mail

The Mail tool in WebCT enables you to communicate with your fellow classmates and your instructor directly in your online course.  (Note: Attachment size can not total more than 1mb.)

• Mail Overview
• Manage Mail Folders
• View Messages
• Compose Messages

Mail Overview

The Mail tool in WebCT is an email program limited to use within the online courses and cannot be used to exchange messages with external mail accounts over the Internet. You cannot send an email from an external email account to your WebCT mail account, nor can you send mail from one course to another. It is designed for course communication. The Mail tool includes features common to most standard email programs, including

• Compose messages with carbon copy or blind carbon copy
• Add a priority indicator to messages
• Add attachments to messages
• Search, compile, and organize messages into folders

The Mail tool appears

• As an icon on the My WebCT toolbar (access global mail for all WebCT courses) (figure 1)
• As an icon on the Course Toolbar (access mail in the specific course section) (figure 2)

Figure 1: Access Global Mail from MyWebCT

Figure 2: Access Course Mail from Course Toolbar

↑ Top of Page ↑

---

Managing Mail Folders

The Mail tool provides a single page on which you can view and manage folders and all of your messages (figure 3). Folders are listed in the left frame of the Mail view. The number in parentheses is the total number of messages in that folder. The number outside the parentheses is the number of unread messages in that folder.

Figure 3: Mail Folder View

• Folders may be collapsed into a drop-down list. The frame is removed and a drop-down list appears above the mail messages.
• Create, rename, and delete custom folders

↑ Top of Page ↑

---

Viewing Message List

Messages are viewed by clicking on the message title in the Subject column. Unread messages appear in bold and are also indicated with a closed envelope icon to the left of the message title. Messages that have been read appear in a lighter typeface and are indicated with an open envelope icon to the left of the message title (figure 4).

Figure 4: View Mail Messages

• Sort message list by clicking on the column heading. You can choose ascending or descending order by clicking on the up-down arrow next to the sorted column heading.
• Choose to Show All or Unread Only messages or Mark Read or Unread from the View messages drop-down list
• Refresh your message list manually or automatically every couple of minutes
• Search message text and display results
• Forward WebCT mail to an external email account (Note that you cannot send mail to or from an external account, but you can forward mail)
• Change your page viewing options
• Delete messages individually or by selecting multiple messages

Compiling Messages

From the message list, click the check box next to each message you want to compile, or click the check box at the top of the column to select all messages. Click the Compilebutton. All of your messages will be compiled and opened in a separate window. Click the Print button to print to your local machine, or click the Save as file button to save as either an HTML or TXT file to your local computer.

Viewing Messages

Click on the message title in the Subject column of your mail list to open the mail message (figure 5). You can reply to the message, forward it to another user, print it, or delete it. The View Attachments link opens a window from which you can view the file or save it to a folder in your File Manager. Click the Previous and Next links to move directly between messages.

Figure 5: Open Mail Message

When replying to or forwarding a message, the Compose Message window opens and you can edit any of the fields (see the "Compose Message” section below for details). You also have the option to “quote” from the original message, as it appears in the body of your reply (figure 6).

Figure 6: Reply to Message

↑ Top of Page ↑

---

Composing a New Message

As with most standard email programs, you can send messages to one or more recipients. Click the Compose Message button above or below your list of mail messages and enter the desired information in the boxes provided (figure 7).

To easily add formatting to your mail message, invoke the HTML editor. You can add text attributes, such as bold, italics, and underline, as well as images, hyperlinks, and tables. And, before you send, you can spell-check your text. For more details on the HTML editor, refer to that section later in this guide.

Figure 7: Compose New Message

Other options for a new mail message include

• Insert math or symbolic expressions in your message with the Equation Editor
• Add attachments to your message
• Preview your message before sending (especially helpful if you have not used the HTML editor to create your message)
• Save your message as a Draft to edit at a later time

↑ Top of Page ↑

Content Developer: Beverley Hoerig