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The common exchange formats for email are MIME (.eml) and Mbox (.mbox) which are both supported for import.
One or multiple files with either MIME or Mbox data can be uploaded to add email messages to the currently selected folder:
Messages from your inbox or any other folder can be downloaded to your computer for archiving or backup. When exporting, messages will be saved as single .eml files.
To download an email message, first select a message in the Messages List and then choose Download (.eml) from the More menu in the toolbar. Choose where to save the exported .eml file if prompted, otherwise find the file in the “Downloads” folder on your computer.
Multiple messages will be packed into a Zip file for downloading. Select individual messages in the Messages List and then follow the instructions for downloading a single message. You need to unpack the downloaded .zip archive to access the individual message files.
For archiving purposes all messages from a folder can be downloaded as .zip archive without first selecting them in the list.
Switch to the folder you want to export and then select Download folder from the Folder actions menu behind the gear icon in the folders list footer.
The folder list in the email view lists all folder that can be used to sort emails into for temporary or final storage. You manage the folders in the settings section and freely choose the hierarchy of the folder tree.
Some of the folders have a special meaning and are used by the system to place messages in. These special folders are indicated with an individual icon in the list and usually cannot be deleted or renamed.
The assignment of special folders can be changed in Preferences > Special Folders.
Filing messages to specific folders is as simple as dragging a message from the list with the mouse and dropping it on the folder you want it moved to. That also works with multiple messages selected.
If the target folder is a subfolder and not currently visible, just hold the mouse over the parent folder while dragging and it’ll expand automatically after two seconds. Move the mouse (while dragging) over the folder list footer to let it scroll until the target folder moves into sight.
There’s also the possibility to copy a message into another folder instead of moving it there. Holding down the Shift key on the keyboard while dropping one or multiple messages on the destination folder will open a menu where you can choose to either Move or Copy them.
When reading a message in the full message view screen, you’ll find a drop-down menu labelled Move to... in the toolbar on top. Select a folder from that menu and the message will be moved there. The message view screen will then load the next message in the list of the current folder.
If your webmail system has the Archive plugin installed, a button labelled Archive appears in the toolbar email task. This button moves the selected message(s) to the archive folder with one single click.
You can configure how the archive folder is organized and divided into subfolders either by date, sender or originating folder.
Note
In order to activate the archiving functions you first need to select a folder as archive in the Preferences > Special Folders settings.
The selected message(s) can be deleted from the current folder by clicking the Delete icon in the toolbar or by hitting the <Del> (or Backspace on Mac) key on your keybaord. This will by default move the message to the Trash folder and not delete it right away unless you do this for messages in the Trash folder. In order to immediately delete the message in first place, hold down the Shift key on your keyboard while clicking the Delete button or when pressing <Del>.
There’s a preference in Settings > Preferences > Server Settings where the default behavior of message deletion can be changed.
For searching email messages, first select the folder you want to search in the Mailbox folders list on the left. Then enter the search term into the search box above the message list and press <Enter> on your keyboard to start the search. Search results will be displayed in the message list.
Reset the search by clicking the Reset search icon on the right border of the search box. Switching to another folder will also reset the search and clear the search box.
Open the search options menu by clicking the search icon left in the search box. You can select which parts of the message should be searched for the entered term. Check Entire message to search them all.
You can also type specific search criteria directly into the box, such as “from:Scott” or “subject:Conference.” Supported criteria keywords are:
Also located in the search options menu, the “Scope” selector controls whether messages are searched in the currently selected folders, including subfolders or accross all folders. If a search query is already active, changing the scope in this menu will immediately execute the search again and update the results in the message list.
The drop-down menu next to the search box offers some predefined filters to quickly reduceg the messages listed to their status or priority.
The filter rules selected here are applied in addition to the search term entered in the search box. For example you can choose to only list unanswered messages from Paul by selecting the filter Unanswered and enter “from:Paul” in the search box.
The message filters also depend on the “Scope” selected in the search options menu. Change the scope if you want to expand the active filter to list matching messages from all folders.
Click on the Compose toolbar icon opens the message compose screen. Depending on your settings it opens in the current browser tab or in a new window.
Enter at least one recipient address or select them from the address book, type in a subject and the message text and click the Send button in the toolbar when you’re ready to send the message.
Save it as Draft (toolbar icon) if the message is not yet complete and you’d like to finish and send it at a later time. The email will be stored in the Drafts folder and can be double-clicked there in order to resume composition.
Note
While composing a message, copies are periodically saved to the drafts folder to avoid unintentional loss. In case the session terminates unexpectedly or your computer or browser crashes, you’ll find a copy of the message on the Drafts folder. You can configure the automatic saving interval in the User Preferences.
Messages can also be forwarded to somebody by clicking the Forward button in the toolbar. The compose screen will contain the message text and all attachments already added. You can still add more attachments or remove some you don’t want to forward.
The Forward toolbar button offers the following options:
The recipients of the composed message can be freely entered into the To or Cc fields in the header section of the compose screen. Separate multiple addresses with a coma (,). Make sure you enter full and valid email addresses.
While typing a recipient address, the app continuously searched your address book and suggests matching entries right below the input field. Use the cursor keys (up/down) on the keyboard to select one and then hit <Enter> or <Tab> to copy the highlighted address into the recipient field.
If you prefer to select recipients from a list of contacts, use the address book widget on the left side to look them up. First, select the address book to browse on the upper part of the widget and see the contacts listed below. Only a limited number of contacts is displayed at a time so use the arrow buttons in the widget header to jump to the next page of contacts.
Select one or more contacts in the list and then click either one of the buttons below (To+, Cc+, Bcc+) in order to copy the selected contacts to the according recipient field. Double-click a contact in the list to have it added to the To field immediately.
In order to attach files to the message, click the Attach button in the toolbar and then select the file on your computer using the file picker dialog that opens. Attachments to be sent with the message are listed on the right and can be removed again by clicking the Delete icon of the according file.
If your browser supports HTML5, you’ll see the file-drop icon at the bottom of the attachment list. That means you can drag a file from your computer’s file explorer with the mouse onto that icon in order to attach it to the message.
Depending on your settings, the compose screen shows a simple text field to enter the message or a rich text editor with a toolbar that enables text formatting, bullet lists, image embedding and more.
You can toggle the composition mode between plain and rich text (HTML) with the Editor Type selector which is hidden in the sending options bar. Expand the Sending Options by clicking the down-arrow on the left border of the message headers block.
When in HTML editor mode, you can embed images right into the message text. And here’s how to do that:
Saved responses can be handy when repeatedly writing emails with the same text, e.g. when answering support requests or sending invitations with always the same introduction.
The Responses button in the compose screen toolbar holds your personal set of “canned responses” which can be inserted into the message body by a single click. Note: these are only text snippets that can be inserted anywhere and not message templates with subject, text or attachments.
Clicking the Responses button opens a menu that lists all the saved boilerplate texts by name. Simply click on one and the saved text will be inserted into the message at the position of the cursor, exactly where you stopped typing. If you selected some part of the message text with the mouse before, the saved response text will replace the selection.
When typing the same text for the second time already you might want to store it for future email writing. In order to save a new response, first select the section of the message text that should be saved with the mouse and click Create new response from the menu behind the Responses button. This will open a dialog where you can review the text before saving. Give the new response a snappy name and click Save. It’s now added to the list of snippets to be inserted.
Switch to the Settings section where you can manage all the saved responses.
The message sending options are hidden by default and first need to be expanded by clicking the down-arrow on the left border of the message headers block.
There you can switch the editor type to compose html messages and adjust other settings concerning the message delivery.
Double-clicking a message in the list opens it in full size or in a new window, depending on your message display preferences.
The header block now shows all message headers including a photo of the sender if one is found in your address book.
While looking at a message in the preview pane, it can be opened in a new window by pressing the button.
When opening a message in full-size view, the toolbar above shows buttons for possible actions to choose for this message.
Use the drop-down list on the top right of the toolbar to move the current message to another folder. When a folder is selected from that list, the message is moved there right away and the window will display the next message in the list.
Use the arrow buttons on the right side of the headers box to jump to the next or previous message on the folder. If there’s no next or previous message, the buttons will be disabled.
Every email address referenced in the current message, either as sender or recipient, can be saved to the address book with a single click on the Add contact icon right next to it. Of course it won’t be saved twice if a contact with that email address already exists in the address book.
If the opened message has any files attached, these are listed on the right, next to the message text. Click on the file name to open or download it. If the file can be displayed directly in the web browser, a preview window will be opened showing the attachment. This will happen for images, text files and PDFs if your browser indicates being able to display them.
Otherwise clicking the file name will initiate the download process and a dialog will most likely appear, asking you where to save the file. If that doesn’t happen, check the default “Downloads” folder on your computer for the attachment file.
For files being opened in the browser directly, you can force download by either clicking on the Download link in the preview window or by right-clicking the attachment file name in the message view and then choosing “Save Link As...” from the browser’s context menu.
If enabled in the Preferences images attached to the message are listed as previews (aka “thumbnails”) right below the message text. Each image has links right next to it which let you either open the image in full size (Show) or Download it to your computer’s hard drive.
If enabled, the preview pane below the message list displays the currently selected message right in the main email view. In order to open it, click the toggle icon in the message list footer. Clicking the same icon again will hide the preview pane.
In the upper right corner of the preview pane are buttons for often used actions like reply or forward the message.
The rightmost icon will open the message in a new window to have a full-size view on the entire message.
The preview pane is meant to give you a quick view of the message. Thus only important message fields such as sender and date are displayed right away. The header part of the preview can be expanded with click on the down-arrow at the left of the header.
On the left side you see a hierarchical list of all folders in your mailbox. Folders can be used to file email messages by topic, sender or whatever you choose for organization.
Incoming messages usually appear in the Inbox folder which is the first item in the folder list. There are some special folders which are used by the system to store sent (Sent) or deleted (Trash) messages and where not-yet-sent message drafts (Drafts) are saved. These system folders are indicated with special icons.
The number of unread messages in each folder is displayed at the right border of the folder list.
Click a folder in the list to show the contained messages in the message list on the right. The currently selected folder is highlighted in the list.
Folders with hidden subfolders are indicated with a small [+] icon which can be clocked to expand or collapse the folder tree.
In the footer of the folder list, the Folder actions icon shows a list of folder-related actions when clicked. Most of the actions in the menu affect the currently selected folder.
If your mailbox is limited by a maximum size, the quota display located in the footer of the folder list indicates the current usage of the available disk space. Move the mouse pointer over the percentage display to see the real numbers of your quota usage.
This part of the screen is displaying the list of all messages in the currently selected folder. The number of messages displayed in the list and the total number of messages in that folder is stated right below the list. According to your settings, this list only displays a limited number of messages at a time. Use the allow buttons below the list to browse through the multiple “pages”.
The application periodically checks for new messages and will update the display if new emails arrived. You can force this check manually by clicking the Refresh button in the email view toolbar.
If the Preview Pane is visible, a single click on a message will display it in the preview right below the list. In order to open a message in full view or a new window (depending on your settings), double-click it with the mouse. Another way to open a message in a new browser tab or window is to right-click on the subject and then choose “Open Link in New Tab/Window” from the browser’s context menu.
Selecting a message in the list will also activate toolbar buttons that offer further actions related to the selected message, such as replying, forwarding or deleting it.
When opening an unread message for reading it’ll automatically be marked as read. This can also be done directly in the list by clicking the unread star in front of the subject. Click it again to mark the message as unread.
If the flag column is visible (see Change message list columns) you can flag/unflag a message by clicking on the flag column of the message row. Furthermore there’s the Mark menu in the toolbar that allows you to flag all selected messages with one click.
The sorting order of the messages can be changed by clicking the column in the list header which you’d like the messages being sorted by. Click it once more to reverse the order. The column used for sorting is highlighted in the list header.
Instead of sorting messages by their date or subject, conversations spawning multiple messages can be grouped together as “Threads”. Use the switch buttons on the left in the message list footer to toggle between List or Threads view. When in thread mode, groups of messages can be collapsed or expanded using the arrow icons in the leftmost column of the message list.
The columns displayed in the list can be adjusted by clicking the List Options icon in the leftmost column of the message list header. This opens a dialog where you can select which columns to display and how to sort messages. Click Save to apply the changes and to close the dialog.
Note
The “From/To” column is a magic column that displays the sender of the message or the recipient when you switch to the Sent or Drafts folder.
The position of the columns in list can also be adjusted by dragging the header of a specific column with the mouse and dropping it at where you’d like it to appear.
With a single click on a row in the messages list, the according message is selected and highlighted. By pressing either the Shift or Ctrl keys on your keyboard while clicking on a message, you can select multiple messages or unselect them.
There are also selection helpers hidden in the Select drop-down menu located in the message footer. The menu allows you to select all unread or flagged messages at once or to invert or reset the current selection.
Contacts can be imported into the Roundcube address books from vCard and CSV files.
The next screen will display the results of the import process. Click Done to get back to the address book view and see the imported contacts.
Contacts from Roundcube address books are exported in the vCard format only.
The Export toolbar button offers the following two options:
For searching contacts enter name or email address into the search box above the in the toolbar area and press <Enter> on your keyboard to start the search. Search results will be displayed in the contact list in the middle. The number of contacts mathing your query is displayed in the footer area of the contact list and in case the results span multiple pages, use the arrow button in the list header to brwose through them.
Reset the search by clicking the Reset search icon on the right border of the search box.
Searching covers all directories and the results are mixed together from all sources. Which directory a particular contact belongs to is displayed at the top of the contact properties box, right above the contact’s picture and name.
Open the search options menu by clicking the search icon on the left side within the search box. You can select which properties of a contact should be searched for the entered term. Check All fields to search them all.
While the simple search box in the toolbar area just searches for the entered words across all contact properties, the advanced search function allows a more specifc query on the address book.
Click the Advanced toolbar button and the search form appears in the contact area on the right. Here you can enter search parameters for the individual contact fields. For example you can search for all contacts named “Paul” (First Name) who are living in “New York” (Address).
Start the search by pressing the Search button below the form. The contact list in the middle will show all contacts matching all the criterias entered. If none is listed, the Status Display will display an according message.
When having access to huge address directories, searching is probably the preferred way to navigate through them. Beside organizing contacts in groups, you can also create filters aka “saved searches”. Such a filter remembers the parameters used when searching for contacts and executes that search again when recalled.
Select a contact from the contacts list and then press the Edit contact button in the contact properties area on the right to start editing it.
In the upper part of the contact edit area are the name and organization fields as well as the contact picture to be uploaded.
The lower part shows the same groups of contact properties as the Contact Details structured with tabs and boxes.
Some properties have a type selector drop-down where you can select what type of email address (e.g. home or work) this is. Remove a contact property by either clearing the input field(s) or by clicking the Delete icon right next to it.
When done with editing, save your changes by clicking the Save button below the form. Abort editing and discard your changes with the Cancel button.
To add another property field, select one from the Add field... drop-down menu located below the form. The similar drop-down below the name fields in the header lets you add more name-related fields.
Note
depending on what directory the contact belongs so, the list of properties you can add to a contact can differ.
Contacts have have a picture assigned which is also displayed in the email task of the application if the sender of the message is saved with a picture in one of your address books.
To add or replace a contact picture, click the Add (or Replace if the contact already has a picture) button right below the picture placeholder in the edit form. Then select an image on your computer using the file picker dialog that appears. Once selected, the picture will be uploaded and shown immediately as a preview. Note that the new picture will be stored with the contact only after you saved the contact.
In order to remove the currently assigned picture from a contact, use the Delete button right below the picture and save the contact to apply the changes.
A new contact can be added to the currently selected address directly by clicking the Create new contact button (+) in the footer of the Contacts List. The form to add names and properties is the same as for editing. Finally create the new contact by clicking the Save button below the form.
The full details of a contact are displayed in the rightmost box of the address book screen. Select a single contact in the list in order to see the details here. Contact properties are structured with tabs and boxes grouping similar properties like phone numbers, postal or email addresses.
The groups tab allows direct assignment or removal for the contact to/from contacts groups.
The contacts of the selected address directory or group are presented in this list with their names. The total number of contacts in the particular directory or group is stated right below the list as well as the set that is currently displayed. Use the arrow buttons in the list header to navigate through the pages.
Note
you can change the way and order the contacts are listed here in the Address Book section of the user preferences.
The footer of the contacts list provides buttons that operate on the list or the current selection of contacts relatively:
The address book is not only to manage your contacts but you can also search and select contacts you want to write a new email message to. The Compose icon on the toolbar above is activated as soon as you selected at least one contact or a contact group. Click it to open the compose screen with the selected contacts filled in as recipients.
To start writing an email to a single contact, you can also click the email address in the Contact Details area on the right.
Contacts can be copied from one directory to another in a similar way as assigning them to groups. Simply drag one or multiple selected contacts with the mouse and drop them onto the target directory. Please note that some properties might be saved into other fields or not be copied at all if the address directories have different schemas.
The leftmost pane displays a list of address directories and contact groups within each of the directories. Depending on your server configuration and installed plugins you might see multiple directories but there’s at least one directory which contains your personal contacts.
Contact groups are handy to organize your contacts. They can also be selected when composing an email message and will enter all members as a recipient. Groups will also appear in the auto-completion list when you start typing in the recipient field. A contact can be assigned to multiple groups.
Click a directory or a group in the list to show the contained contacts in the list on the right. The currently selected directory or group is highlighted in the list.
In order to create a new contact group, first select the directory you want the group being created in. Then use the + icon on the groups list footer to get you an input field for the group name. Enter a unique name for the new group and hit <Enter> to finally create it.
The creation action can be aborted by pressing the <Esc> key while entering the group name.
Contacts can be assigned to groups by dragging & dropping them with the mouse. Select one or multiple contacts in the list and drop them onto the desired group. It’s a simple as that.
List mode:
Single mode:
Also in the footer of the groups list, the gear icon shows a menu with actions related to the selected directory or group.
This settings section lets you manage your personal boilerplates (aka “canned responses”) which are handy when replying to messages with prepared responses.
The middle pane displays a list of saved responses. Select one to see its name and text in the form on the right. You can right away edit both and save the changes by clicking the Save button.
Note
If the fields are not editable and there’s no Save button below, this is a global response defined by the system administrator which cannot be edited.
Click the + icon in the response list footer to create a new response. Give it a name, enter the response text and finish with clicking the Save button.
The Delete button also located in the response list footer will delete the currently selected item after displaying a confirmation dialog.
The button may be grayed out for global responses managed by the system administrator.
The settings here control the name(s) and email address(es) stated as sender when you send out email messages. Depending on the server configuration, you can define multiple sender identities or only adjust the name and other control fields.
This first block contains general properties for the selected sender identity:
Note
The Email field might not be visible or editable. This is no malfunction but a restriction set by the server administrator to prevent users from sending email with faked sender addresses.
Every sender identity can have its own signature text which will be appended to the message text when you start writing a new email message. Visit Settings > Preferences > Composing Messages to configure when and how signatures are inserted.
HTML formatted signatures also allow to embed images which are sent with outgoing messages. To add an image to your signature, first check the HTML signature box. Then find an image file on your computer and drag & drop it into the signature box. The image can be moved around or resized within the editor box using the mouse.
Note
Instead of pulling and image file into the editor, you can also paste an image from your clipboard after copying it from another application or browser window.
Open the image in an image viewer or browser window, then press Ctrl+C to copy it, click into the signature text box at the position where you want the image to appear and press Ctrl+V to insert it from the clipboard.
Unless restricted by the server administrator, the identity list has control buttons for adding and deleting sender identities. If present, click the + icon in the identity list footer to create a new identity. Fill out the form and click Save to create it. The new identity is now added to the list and can be edited or deleted from there.
The Delete button also located in the identities list footer will delete the currently selected identity after displaying a confirmation dialog.
This section of the settings task allows you to manage the tree of mailbox folders.
The hierarchical folder tree is displayed in the middle list widget where you can select a single folder by clicking it. Folder information and some settings then appear in the right properties pane.
There might be folders which are grayed out and which cannot be edited nor deleted or renamed. Such folders are “virtual” folders which are only there for structuring but which cannot contain any messages.
Some Special System Folders cannot be renamed or unsubscribed because they have special purposes and are used by system processes.
In the folder list, the right column indicates whether a folder is subscribed and by clicking the checkbox, the subscription for that folder can be changed.
Subscribed folders appear in the email view whereas unsubscribed ones are hidden and only visible here.
Note
The Parent folder field is already pre-selected whith the folder currently selected in the folder list on the left.
Folders can be nested to build a hierarchical structure to store your emails. Even an existing folder can be made a subfolder of another one or moved to the top level.
To move a folder simply drag & drop it with the mouse from the list onto the desired parent folder.
Alternatively the parent folder can be selected in the property form in the right and by hitting Save the currently selected folder is moved to its new parent.
If the list of folders happens to be very long, a search box can be unfolded from the magnifier glass icon in the header of the folder list. The folder tree is reduced to matching folders as you type in the search box.
Right above the search box, a drop-down menu provides ways to reduce the folder list to common scopes (aka “namespaces”) like “Personal”, “Shared” or “Other users”. The selection may vary with the capabilities of your email server.
The user preferences let you adjust various options and settings that control the behavior and the UI of the webmail application. The numerous settings are grouped by the following sections:
Note
After changing preferences, don’t forget to save them by clicking the Save button below the settings form.
Some folders have special purposes and are used by system processes to store messages. This form allows you to choose which folders are used to store Drafts, Sent or deleted messages (Trash).
When hitting the Archive button in the mail view, the selected messages are moved to this folder.
This option allows you to organize your archive folder in various ways. The selected message(s) can be filed into sub-folders of the archive according the sent date, the sender’s email address or the folder the message is moved from.
When set to None, all messages will be stored in the Archive folder without any sub-folders being created.
This section provides more advanced settings that control how messages are treated by the email server.