Contact Us Search Site Index About This Site Edit Decrease text size Increase text size Georgetown University main web site Contact Us Search Site Index About This Site
spacer spacer spacer
University Information Services at Georgetown University
Faculty Help Staff Help Student Help About UIS

GUMail: An Overview of How GUMail Works

back to GUMail: Index to Online Support Resources

 

E-mail Basics The GUMail system encompasses several components. The primary functions allow you to: 

  • Send e-mail messages
  • Receive e-mail messages
  • Forward e-mail messages to a different e-mail address
  • Store e-mail messages in an IMAP account

E-mail Services

Accessing and Managing Your GUMail

  • GUMail Messenger Express
  • E-mail Clent Software

E-mail Security

  • Secure Encryption
  • Attachment Filtering

E-mail Services

University NetID Services and GUMail GUMail is affiliated with our University NetID Services, which offers users a single NetID account and password to access nearly all of the technology services that are provided by UIS. These include e-mail, calendar, file, web, and directory services. The NetID service has two features that are directly connected to GUMail. The NetID routing service allows you to choose where your GUMail messages will be delivered. The NetID directory service allows you to search for other campus members in the GUDirectory. 

Routing your GUMail All users are given the capability to forward their GUMail to another e-mail address. The NetID routing tool is located here. Over 35,000 faculty, staff, students, and alumni use GUMail. About half of these accounts have e-mail directed to IMAP accounts. Approximately 20,000 accounts forward their e-mail to non-GUMail accounts. The number of users who forward their e-mail will increase as the alumni population increases each year.

E-mail for Alumni

All Alumni If you are a Georgetown alumni, you are eligible to keep your @georgetown.edu e-mail address for life. After you graduate, you can continue to use your @georgetown.edu e-mail address by forwarding your GUMail to another e-mail account.

Recent Graduates Alumni are no longer eligible to use their IMAP account to store e-mail messages after they graduate. The IMAP account will be closed 6 months after graduation. 

E-mail for Faculty, Staff, and Students

IMAP Accounts If you are a student, staff, or faculty member, you are eligible to store your messages on the GUMail system in an IMAP e-mail account. The IMAP account is an account that is hosted by Georgetown, with a limited amount of storage space, called a quota. If you use your IMAP account, Georgetown acts as your e-mail provider, sending and delivering your messages, and storing your messages on our e-mail system. If you do not use the IMAP account, then you can forward your GUMail to another e-mail account of your choice.

E-mail Storage Students, faculty, and staff are allowed to store a limited quantity of messages on the GUMail server. GU Alumni are not eligible for this service.

  • You can set your NetID routing service options to route your e-mail to imap.georgetown.edu. Your messages will be stored on the GUMail server.
  • You can set your NetID routing service options to route your e-mail to an external e-mail provider, such as youraccount@aol.com. Your messages will be stored (hosted) on AOL's mail server.
  • You can set your NetID routing service options to route your e-mail to both accounts.

Most faculty, staff and students use their IMAP account for e-mail storage. If you choose not to use the IMAP account, you can forward your GUMail messages to another account, such as Yahoo or AOL. This feature allows you to continue to use your old e-mail address after you get your new GUMail e-mail address.

E-mail Account Quota If you deliver your GUMail to your IMAP account, you are limited by your quota as to how much e-mail you can store on the GUMail server.

    • Faculty and staff may store up to 50MB of messages.
    • Student accounts may store up to 20MB of messages.

Accessing and Managing your GUMail

GUMail Messenger Express GUMail Messenger Express allows you to access your GUMail account from any computer that is connected to the internet with a web browser. Simply type http://imap.georgetown.edu as the URL or web address, and then login to your GUMail account with your NetID and password. GUMail Messenger Express also provides access to your e-mail account management tools.

E-mail Client Software E-mail client software offers several advantages over GUMail Messenger Express in using and managing your e-mail account.

  • Directory features allow you to connect to the GU Directory Service to search for Georgetown e-mail addresses. 
  • Addressing features allow you to create and edit your own personal e-mail addresses and lists.
  • Filtering features allow you to manage incoming mail by redirecting it to a folder.
  • Junk filtering features allow you to identify incoming SPAM and redirect future messages from this sender to the trash folder.
  • Local folders allow you to move your e-mail messages off of the GUMail server and onto your computer.

If you choose to use an e-mail client, you must install the software on your desktop computer or laptop. UIS provides recommended e-mail client software that has been tested as compatible with our GUMail system. Most recommended clients are free of charge, and all are supported by the UIS HelpDesk, with online help and documentation. Thunderbird and MS Outlook are the recommeded e-mail clients for Windows based computers. MacMail is the recommended client for Apple computers.

E-mail Security

Secure Encryption GUMail uses a secure protocol to transmit and receive messages. This ensures the privacy and security of your messages. E-mail transmissions are secure, even over a wireless network.

Attachment Filtering In March 2005, Georgetown began filtering and removing all e-mail attachments identified with file names that are potentially hazardous. The filtering system, called MimeDefang, checks each message to see if it has an attachment. If the message has an attachment that has been identified as a potentially threatening file, the attachment is removed and the original e-mail is delivered. The original sender is notified via e-mail that the e-mail message was delivered, but the attachment was removed. This feature helps to reduce the virus infection rate on campus and protects against future virus attacks. Please see Automatic Attachment Filtering for more information on the types of files that are filtered.

return to top of page
spacer