What is my address book used for?

Your Mailshell address book is where you manage all your non-Mailshell addresses: contact information (like a traditional email address book), blocked/allowed addresses, and forwarding addresses. You can view your address book by clicking the "Address Book" link in the dark blue navigation bar in My Mailshell.

What is my contact list used for?

Your contact list, located in the Address Book section of My Mailshell, is where you can store email addresses of friends, family, colleagues, and anyone else you may send email. When you compose messages, you can use your address book to address the message without having to type in all of the email addresses manually.

Currently, Mailshell's contact list only lets you store a first name, last name, and email address.

How do I add a new contact?

In the Address Book section of My Mailshell, enter your contact's information in the fields provided, then click the "Add" button. The only field that is required to add a contact is an email address. The contact will appear in the list, alphabetized by last name.

If you already have a contact list with another email account, you can also import that address book.

How do I edit a contact?

In the Address Book section of My Mailshell, you can edit the information for any contact by clicking the "edit" link on the right side of that contact. Change the information however you like, then click the "Save" button.

How do I delete a contact?

In the Address Book section of My Mailshell, you can delete any contact by clicking the "delete" link on the right side of that contact.

How can I find a specific contact in my list?

If you are looking for a specific contact, just click the appropriate letter link for that contact's last name. A list of all contacts whose last names begin with that letter will appear.

How many contacts can I have?

You can have up to 5,000 contacts.

How can I compose a message to a contact?

There are two ways to compose messages to your contacts:



• From the Address Book section of My Mailshell, click the email address of the contact you would like to compose to. You'll be taken to the Compose page with the email address already entered.
  
  
• From the Compose section of My Mailshell, click the "Address Book" link or any of the "To," "Cc," or "Bcc" links. A window showing your contacts will pop up; check the appropriate boxes next to the contacts you wish to include, then click the "Done" button.

How can I import my address book from another email account?

To save you the trouble of typing in all of your contacts manually, Mailshell lets you import existing contacts from several commonly used email clients: Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express, Netscape Messenger, and Yahoo. To do so:


• Export your contacts from your existing email client to a file.
  
  
• Click the "Import Address Book" link in the Address Book section of My Mailshell.
  
  
• Use the pull-down menu to select the type of file you will be importing.
  
  
• Enter the location of the exported file or click the "Browse" button to find and select the exported file.
  
  
• Click the "Import" button.

Your contacts will be uploaded and added to your address book. (Any information not supported by Mailshell's address book--phone numbers, street addresses, etc.--will not be will not be included, and any entries for email addresses already in your contact list will not be added.) Please note that you cannot upload an import file larger than 1MB.

If you need more help with this function, click the appropriate tutorial below for detailed instructions:

• Microsoft Outlook tutorial



• Microsoft Outlook Express tutorial



• Netscape Messenger tutorial



• Yahoo tutorial

How do I block unwanted senders?

You can block mail from unwanted senders by clicking the "Blocked/Allowed Addresses" link on the gray navigation bar in the Address Book section of My Mailshell. From this page, you can see all the senders you are currently blocking and add or remove senders from that list.



• To block a new sender, type the email address in the field provided under the "Blocked Email Addresses" bar and click the "Add" button.
  
  
• To unblock a sender, select the email address from the list in the "Blocked Email Addresses" box and click the "Delete" button.
  
  
You can also block senders from within a folder or message:


• From within a folder, check the box next to the name of the sender you wish to block, then click the "Block Sender(s)" button.
  
  
• From within a message, click the "Block Sender" link next to the "From" field.

What happens to emails sent to me by senders I have blocked?

Emails sent to you by senders you have blocked will be deleted by the system; they will not bounce back to the sender.

What are Allowed Addresses?

Depending on your Block Spam setting, some non-spam messages may occasionally be identified as spam even though they are not. Allowed addresses are senders whose messages will never be identified as spam by Mailshell's automatic spam filtering--you may wish to add friends, family, colleagues, and other people who email you regularly to this list to ensure that their messages are always delivered properly. You can see your list of allowed senders by clicking the "Blocked/Allowed Addresses" link on the gray navigation bar in the Address Book section of My Mailshell.



• To allow a new sender, type the email address in the field provided under the "Allowed Email Addresses" bar and click the "Add" button.



• To remove an allowed sender, select the email address from the list in the "Allowed Email Addresses" box and click the "Delete" button.

What are forwarding addresses?

Forwarding addresses are outside email addresses where you can have messages forwarded from Mailshell. You can see your list of forwarding addresses in the Address Book section of My Mailshell by clicking the "Forwarding Addresses" link in the gray navigation bar. Basic users can add addresses to their list but can use only one address at a time; Premium users can use multiple forwarding addresses. Additional forwarding addresses gives you much greater control over where you receive your email: you could, for instance, have some addresses forward to a home email address and others forward to a work email address, depending on what you are using each email address for.

When you first join Mailshell, the email address you used to sign up is automatically active as your forwarding address; if you wish to add a new forwarding address, you must first verify it before you can forward messages there.

This list of forwarding addresses is also used with the "Restrict Addresses for Remote Compose" feature. When that feature is turned on, only addresses you have added to this list can send messages using your disposable Mailshell addresses.

How can I add a new forwarding address?

To add a new forwarding address, first click the "Forwarding Addresses" link on the gray navigation bar in the Address Book section of My Mailshell. Enter the email address you wish to add in the field provided and click the "Add" button. You must first verify the address before you can forward messages there.

What does it mean to "verify" a forwarding address?

Verifying a forwarding address means that you have confirmed that you have access to that address by using the Verification Key. An address must be verified before messages can be forwarded there.

How do I verify a new forwarding address?

If you are a basic user, when you add a new forwarding address to your list in the Address Book section of My Mailshell, an email is sent to that address containing a link and a Verification Key. Once you receive the email, there are two ways to verify the address:



• Simply click the link given in the email. You will be taken to the Address Book section of My Mailshell and the address will be verified.
  
  
• You can also click the "verify" link next to the address on the Forwarding Addresses page. This will take you to a page where you can enter the Verification Key that was emailed to the address.

After you have verified the address, you will be able to forward messages there.

How can I change my forwarding address?

If you have the basic Mailshell service, you are limited to using one forwarding address at a time, and all messages forwarded through Mailshell must go to the same address. To change that address:



• Click the "Forwarding Addresses" link on the gray navigation bar in the Address Book section of My Mailshell.
  
  
• Use the buttons on the left side of your forwarding addresses list to select the address you wish to forward messages to. (Only verified addresses can be selected.)
  
  
• Click the "Select Active" button.


All forwarded messages, including password changes and new message alerts, will now be sent to the selected address.

If you have the Mailshell Premium Service, you can select a different forwarding address for each Mailshell address. Once you have added and verified an address, it will appear in the "Deliver to" drop-down menus on the Manage Domain page. To change the forwarding address for a specific address, simply select it from the menu and click the "Save Settings" button.

Please note: For basic users, the email address used to sign up for your Mailshell account is treated as verified only as long as you do not switch to another active forwarding address. If you choose another forwarding address, you will need to verify your sign-in address before you can use it again.

Will my sign-in name change if I change my forwarding address?

No, your sign-in name will never change. If you are unsure of which address you use to sign in, it's listed above your forwarding addresses on the Forwarding Addresses page in the Address Book section of My Mailshell. (If you do not wish to use this email address to sign in, remember that you can also sign in using your domain or subdomain.)

If I reply to a message I have received at a forwarding address, will my address still be protected?

Yes, unless you are a Premium user and have turned off the Email Address Redirection feature. As long as that feature is turned on, Mailshell automatically formats the sender's address so that when they receive your reply, it appears to come from the appropriate Mailshell address. For example, if you receive an email at your Yahoo account that has been forwarded through amazon@yourdomain.com and you then reply to that email, the recipient will see the message as coming from amazon@yourdomain.com rather than the Yahoo address.

What happens if an email message bounces from my forwarding address?

Messages forwarded to an outside email address may occasionally bounce due to server crashes or other technical problems at that outside address. To ensure that you don't miss any of these messages, they will be returned to Mailshell and saved in your Inbox folder.

If you are over your storage quota, however, bounced messages will be deleted. If forwarded messages continue to bounce and your account continues to remain over-quota, all incoming messages will be deleted and the account will be suspended. You must delete some of your saved messages and reverify your forwarding address to reactivate the account.

How do I remove a forwarding address?

You can remove a forwarding email address from the your list in the Address Book section of My Mailshell by clicking the "delete" link next to that address. You will then be shown which email addresses are currently forwarding messages to that address. Removing the address will cause these addresses to be delivered to your Inbox. Once you are certain you want to remove this address, click the "Remove Forwarding Address" button. If you change your mind, click the "Cancel" button.