SerpieMail Frequently Asked Questions
For Officers and Volunteers with Serpentine Mailboxes
Click on a heading to jump down the page to the answers.
Getting Started
What is my email address?
How do I log on?
What if I'm at work and it doesn't work?
How do I change my password?
Webmail Features
What should I do when I log on for the first time?
How do I send an email?
How do I manage spam?
Can I receive email using more than one name?
How do I send email using different identities?
How can I get SerpieMail to check for new mail at regular intervals?
How do I get SerpieMail to add a "signature" at the bottom of each email?
Can I have different signatures for different identities?
Can I automatically forward my SerpieMail to another email account?
Can I set up SerpieMail to collect email from my other email accounts?
Can I set a vacation message?
Can I bypass the login screen?
How can I use the address book when I write emails?
Do I need to include "@serpentine.org.uk" for emails to other Serpies?
How can I add a group of names to the address book?
Collecting your SerpieMail on your home computer without using the web
Can I use Outlook Express or Eudora to manage my SerpieMail?
What are the settings for collecting SerpieMail using my ordinary mail programme?
Should I use POP or IMAP?
Can I collect my SerpieMail from another web-based email system?
Troubleshooting
I can't get to the login screen?
I can see the login screen but cannot log in?
Why do emails I send arrive without my name, only my email address?
I've created a folder but I can't see it on the left hand bar?
When trying to send email it says 'Relaying Denied'
Technical details
Is SerpieMail secure?
Is there a risk of viruses?
Is my mail backed up?
Who can I contact for more information?
Getting started
Congratulations on your new SerpieMail account. We hope it will meet your email needs while supporting the Serpentine Running Club.
What is my email address?
Your email address is username@serpentine.org.uk (where "username" is the name you chose when you signed up.)
How do I log on?
To use the webmail interface, go to "Getting Involved->SerpieMail" and click on the button at the foot of the page or go directly to SerpieMail. You will be asked for your login name (full email address) and your password. Enter these (your password will be displayed as asterisks, for security reasons). If you want to bypass the login screen in future, select "Remember my name and password". Then press the "Login" button. SepieMail now (since July 2012) uses a secure (https) connection but since the club only uses a self-signed certificate to encryot the connection your browser may warn you about 'an untrusted site' or 'a problem with site security'. This is normal. Just click 'accept forever' or whatever your browser requires to make it trust the site forever.
What if I'm at work and it doesn't work?
If you are using your work PC to connect to SerpieMail and find it doesn't work, you are probably behind a firewall which blocking the secure webmail portal. Please use the alternative SerpiMail portal which should be fine, although it is not encrypted.
How do I change my password?
Once you have logged in, the welcome screen contains an icon to allow you do do this before your proceed to the main webmail interface.
Webmail Features
What should I do when I log on for the first time?
When you log on for the first time, you should:
Go to Options | Personal Information and enter:
the name you want to appear on your emails
the email address you want your mails to come from
the reply to address you want your recipients to use when they hit reply
Usually, the email address and reply to will both be username@serpentine.org.uk (Later, you can set up multiple identities, and choose when you send an email which address you want it to come from – see below for instructions.)
Send yourself an email by choosing Compose on the top menu. (You can just type your login name in the "To:" box because you do not need to include the "@serpentine.org.uk" for SerpieMail addresses). Check that it arrives in your Inbox, and that your name is shown correctly. Press "Reply" to make sure your "Reply To:" setting is correct.
How do I send an email?
First, follow the instructions above for when you log on for the first time.
Go to "Compose". Enter the email address of the person or people to whom you want to send the email in the "To" box. Separate each address with a comma and a space. Then do the same for copy recipients in the "cc" box, and blind copy recipients in the "bcc" box (no recipients can see the names or addresses in the bcc box).
Enter the text of the message. If you want to attach a file, use the "attach" button at the bottom. Then press Send.
How do I manage spam?
SerpieMail uses an advanced spam filtering system which will check every mail and quarantine any it thinks are spam.
Can I receive email using more than one name?
Yes. It is possible to have a number of aliases which are delivered to the same email address. So for example, emails sent to postmaster@serpentine.org.uk are all delivered to admin@serpentine.org.uk. This can be useful if you have a particular function in the club, or if you have a name which is often misspelled.
You can setup your own aliases using your personal control panel. To login, enter your username, domain (serpentine.org.uk) and password. Click on "Manage Settings" then "Aliases" then "Add an Alias".
How do I send email using different identities?
You can set up different "identities" from which you want your email to be sent. These identities determine the sender's name and email address which appear on emails when they arrive.
For example, if you use SerpieMail to manage another email account, you may want to use SerpieMail to send emails "from" that address. Alternatively, you might want to send emails "from" your work address while you are travelling.
To set up multiple identities, go to "Options | Personal Information", and then choose "Edit Advanced Identities". Here you can create multiple identities, and select which will be the default identity for your outgoing email.
It is usually a good idea to make "Email address" and "Reply To:" the same, but they don't have to be. The first sets the email address that your mail will be shown as having come from; the second sets the email address that your recipients will use if they press reply.
When you compose a new email, you will now have a drop-down list in the "From" box from which you can select the identity you want that message to use.
How can I get SerpieMail to check for new mail at regular intervals?
Go to "Options | Folder Preferences" and choose "Auto Refresh Folder Interval". Set this to the frequency you want the inbox to refresh itself.
How do I get SerpieMail to add a signature at the bottom of each email?
Go to "Options | Personal preferences" and enter the text you want to appear at the bottom of your emails.
Can I have different signatures for different identities?
Yes. Go to "Options | Personal Information", and then choose "Edit Advanced Identities" and enter them.
Can I automatically forward my SerpieMail to another email account?
Yes. You can setup your own aliases using your personnal control panel. From the welcome screen click 'Forwarding Options' and follow the instructions.
Can I set up SerpieMail to collect email from other email accounts?
No. The new SerpieMail system does not have this facility.
Can I set a vacation message?
Yes. You can set a message to let people know you're on holiday or not reading your email for a while. using your personnal control panel. From the welcome screen click 'Auto responders' and follow the instructions.
Can I bypass the login screen?
No. You must login each time.
How can I use the address book when I write emails?
Go to "Compose" to create the new message. Then press "Addresses". An address book will appear. Click "TO", "CC" or "BCC" to add names to your email, and the addresses will be automatically added. Click the "Use Address" button at the bottom of the address book when you have added all the addresses you want to use.
Do I need to include "@serpentine.org.uk" for emails to other Serpies?
No. If you are sending mail to other Serpies, you can shorten the address to just the user name (eg "kathleen", "ros"). You do not need to spell out the whole address.
How can I add a group of names to the address book?
Create a new entry in the address book as usual. Then enter the names of the members of the group one by one, separated by commas.
Collecting your SerpieMail on your home computer without using the web
This is about how you can collect SerpieMail with other email programmes.
Can I use Outlook, Thunderbird, iMail, iPhone or Android to manage my SerpieMail?
Yes. SerpieMail can be accessed by most ordinary email software, including Outlook, Thunderbird, i-Mail (Mac) and Eudora. You can manage your SerpieMail using either POP (best for dial-up accounts) or IMAP (best for computers which are permanently connected to the internet).
What are the settings for collecting SerpieMail using my ordinary mail programme?
Please login using webmail (as above) and click on 'Configure Mail client' from the welcome screen where there are full instructions for the majority of common mail clients. The basic settings are listed below:
Protocol
Server name
Port
POP3
mail.serpentine.org.uk
110
IMAP
mail.serpentine.org.uk
143
SMTP
mail.serpentine.org.uk
25 (or 26 if port 25 is blocked by your ISP)
Username: use your SerpieMail login
Password: use your SerpieMail password
Should I use POP or IMAP?
If you are using a computer that dials in to the internet, you should use POP. This fetches mail from your SerpieMail Inbox, and transfers it to your mail programme on your computer to read while you are offline, and compose a reply (which will be sent when you next connect). Note that only mail in your Inbox will be collected – if you have transferred messages into another folder in SerpieMail they will not be collected.
If you have a computer that is permanently connected to the internet (eg in the office, or if you have broadband access at home) then you may prefer to use IMAP. In this case, the mail is stored on SerpieMail (instead of transferring it to your home computer), and you simply use your mail software to manage it. This means all your mail is stored only once, and is available to you whenver whether you access your mail from your computer, through the web, or from another computer using IMAP. But it does mean that if your internet connection is not working, your mail will not be available.
Can I collect my SerpieMail from another web-based email system?
Yes. It is hard to see why you would want to do this, but you can use another web-based email system (such as Yahoo! or Hotmail) to collect your SerpieMail. Simply use the settings above.
Troubleshooting
I can't get to the login screen?
This means you are not connecting to the login page on the Serpentine webserver. To confirm this, go to the Serpentine website, choose "Getting Involved" then "SerpieMail" and click on the button. If you still cannot get to the login screen, then please report the problem to the webmaster at webmaster@serpentine.org.uk.
I can see the login screen but cannot log in?
If you can see the login screen, then the SerpieMail server is working. If you can't log in, then either you have got the wrong user name or password, or there is something wrong with your account. Check your user name and password, and if you still cannot connect, please report the problem to the SerpieMail administrator at admin@serpentine.org.uk.
Why do emails I send arrive without my name, only my email address?
Make sure you have entered your personal information correctly. See the Getting Started section for details.
I've created a folder but I can't see it on the left hand bar?
Press "Check Mail" on the left hand bar.
When trying to send email it says 'Relaying Denied'
If you get an error stating 'Relaying Denied' when trying to send email then you need to ensure that you have the 'My server requires authentication' option ticked in your email software settings.
Technical details
Is SerpieMail secure?
Nothing connected to the internet is completely secure. However, we believe that SerpieMail is as safe as we can make it.
The SerpieMail server runs on a Linux operating system, which is safer than Microsoft Windows. This in turn is connected to the internet through state-of-the-art firewalls and spam filtering systems which block malicious attacks and unwanted probing from the internet.
The webmail connection is secured using https, and secure POP3S and IMAPS connections are available for those using 'real' mail clients.
Is there a risk of viruses?
All mail is checked by our hosting company's dedicated gateway before it reaches our server. This checks all mail for viruses, and quarantines any message which appears to contain a virus or which looks like spam.
Is my mail backed up?
Yes. The SerpieMail server is backed by our hosting company automatically.
Who can I contact for more information?
For more information, contact the SerpieMail Administrator on admin@serpentine.org.uk.