Using WebSieve for E-mail Vacation/Out of Office Messages, Forwarding, Filtering and Rules
WebSieve is a filtering tool that allows you to perform a variety of routine tasks with your e-mail. You can set up e-mail forwarding (with or without keeping a copy in your INBOX), various kinds of filters or rules, and you can set up automatic replies (also known as "vacation messages" or "out of office messages").
The advantage to using WebSieve is that it runs on the mail server -- automatically and immediately -- when mail is received by Rice for your account. You don't have to check your mail to activate the rules, and you don't have to maintain different copies of the rules in the different locations where you read mail.
Getting Started
To use WebSieve, open your Web browser and put this address in your Address or Location box:
You will be prompted to enter your Rice NetID name and password, then click the WebSieve link:
You will be prompted to log in again with your Rice NetID name and password. Now you are ready to use WebSieve!
Vacation/Out-of-Office Message
When you are away from the office and you want to set up a message for your correspondents, use the Vacation Settings link. Enter your automatic reply text in the Auto-respond text field. The other fields are set to reasonable defaults. When finished, click Save Changes then Enable.
When the auto reply is enabled, the word ENABLED will appear in green on the page.
To disable the automatic reply, return to the WebSieve interface, click Vacation Settings and the Disable link. The green word ENABLED will turn to DISABLED printed in red.
Click Logout in the upper left corner when you are finished with WebSieve.
Forward E-mail
To set up a simple forwarding rule, click the Forward E-mail link. Enter the forwarding address, and click the checkbox if you want to keep your own copy. Then Save Changes. You can use the links to Disable (turn off), Enable (turn on) or Delete the rule.
Mail Filter
WebSieve can be used to filter e-mail automatically into folders. For this example, we will implement the following rule:
If an e-mail is from billpay@rice.edu and contains the word ALERT in the subject line, file the e-mail into the Bills folder
WebSieve cannot create folders; you will need to create the folders you want to use in your e-mail software first. The first step is to create the Bills folder. You can use the e-mail software of your choice, but this example will use the IMP web mail reader. In IMP, click the Folders button.
Then select Create Folder from the Action menu, and enter a folder name.
Once the folder is ready, go to www.mail.rice.edu and click the WebSieve link, then click New Filter Rule. For this example, you would enter billpay@rice.edu in the From field, and ALERT in the Subject field. Then check the box next to File Into and select Mail/Bills from the list.
WebSieve rules may also forward or discard mail. By default, WebSieve will stop processing the rule list on the first successful rule. You can use the Check message against next rule also checkbox to create more complicated rule sets.
When the filter is saved and active, a green ENABLED tag will appear on the filter rule panel.
You can use the blue links at the bottom to save additional changes to the filter rule, disable it (turn it off), enable it (turn it on), or delete it.
You can see on your rules by clicking View All Rules at the top of the panel. On this screen, you Enable, Disable or Delete groups of rules by clicking the checkboxes on the left and the links at the bottom. You can change the order of the rules with the arrows on the right. When you are finished, click Logout to close WebSieve.
For More Help
For help with WebSieve, contact the Rice University IT Help Desk at
http://helpdesk.rice.edu/
and submit a request for help. You may also call xHELP (x4357) on your Rice phone, or 713-348-4357, or send e-mail to helpdesk@rice.edu.
Questions about this document should be directed to Carolynne White, cmwhite@rice.edu.
