A Simple Guide to Getting Started with Horde

Here are a few screen shots to help you make the transition from SquirrelMail to the new centermail webmail server (Horde). These screenshots were produced using SeaMonkey as a browser running under Windows XP. Your mileage may differ. The first thing you’ll see when you login to centermail.iit.edu is of course a login screen:

If you’re using Horde as a webmail viewer, you’ll probably want to make email be your primary application. So irrespective of the form of your first screen, in the left panel you’ll see a choice of applications and options. Click ‘Options’ open and choose ‘Global Options’ to get the screen below:

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From this screen you may want to choose at least 2 options: Personal Information:

and enter your name and email address. You may have multiple identities to have mail responses routed to different email servers, but let’s keep it simple to start. Again, if you’re using Horde primarily for email, go back and also open ‘Display Options’:

and choose ‘Mail’ as your primary application. Then you can customize the display to your heart’s content. When, for the first time you click ‘Mail’ in the left panel, or after you login after setting Mail as your primary application, you’ll get the email window:

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If, as was I, you’re happy with the way things look, you’re ready to go with one possible exception. You may find it convenient to click the + sign next to Mail in the left panel, which will open a list of your email folders giving you:

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Horde will remember the state of the left panel, and there are lots of customizations of the email application window. What you see here is pretty close to the defaults.

If you haven’t used an address book with SquirrelMail but have one in Thunderbird or elsewhere, export it as an LDIF (best, but other formats like comma-delimited are supported although not as ‘automatic’) and then import it by clicking on Address Book either in the left panel or at the top of the mail window, followed by ‘Import/Export’:

Enter the name of the saved file and specify the format and then import.

Another configuration item is to enable the spam filter, which is much superior to that available in SquirrelMail. From Mail, go to Folders at the top of the screen. Then click the ‘Choose Action’ drop down list and select ‘Create’ and enter Junk in the field that opens up.

Then go to Filters (either at the top, or from the sidebar if you have opened the folder list) and click on ‘Spam Filter’. The default Spam Level of 5 seems to work really well, but if one is feeling really cautious it can be bumped up to 6 or 8. Then on the ‘Folder to receive spam’ drop-down list select ‘Junk’. Click ‘Save and Enable’, and ‘Return to Rules List’. Now everything flagged as lvl5 spam or higher will go to the Junk folder instead of the inbox.

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If you were forwarding mail previously, you will also want to set up a forward rule from the 'Filter' menu. If you were doing it with a .mailfilter file it should continue to work. If you were using a .courier file it might not work. A .forward file should work but hasn't been tested extensively.

If you are receiving mail from John the Ripper that your password is not sufficiently strong but you haven't known how to change it, go to ‘My Account’ in the sidebar and click the ‘Password’ icon. Fill in the fields, (don't change the default ‘Change password on:’ field) and click ‘Change Password’. The password has been changed.

I think this should get you started. As mentioned there are lots of customizations you can do, and there are several groupware applications which you can explore on your own.

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