Email FAQ

• Getting Started with Mail & Calendar (M+Google)

• Mail & Calendar Additional Learning (M+Google)

• Google Resources (M+Google)

You can create groups in the MCommunity Directory. that anyone can send mail to or that only the members can send mail to. Other settings let you control visibility of the member list, whether the group is joinable, and more. Groups in MCommunity are synchronized to Google UMICH, so you can use them for email and for sharing Google resources. See Managing Groups that You Own in the MCommunity Directory (S4382) for instructions.

Instructors can create groups for their classes in the MCommunity Directory that are synchronized to Google UMICH. The groups can be used for sending email and sharing Google resources. See Course Groups in MCommunity and Google (S4390) for instructions.

If the person is affiliated with the University of Michigan, check the MCommunity Directory. Most members of the U-M community have their email addresses registered there.

The best way to send email to people registered in the directory is by sending it to uniqname@umich.edu, where you have substituted the person's uniqname for uniqname. For example, if Barbara Jensen's uniqname were bjensen, you could send email to her at bjensen@umich.edu. By definition, uniqnames are unique, and there will be no confusion as to who the mail is intended for.

You can forward mail sent to you at your @umich.edu address to any email address you choose. To learn how to set up or change your mail forwarding, see Forwarding or Redirecting Your U-M Email Using the MCommunity Directory (S4384).

• Students. Students who became alumni in December 2011 and later can keep their Google UMICH Mail account. Students who became alumni before that time, and therefore did not use Google Mail when they were students can use mail forwarding.

  U-M offers email forwarding to all alumni, for as long as they choose, at no charge. This means you can keep your @umich.edu address and have mail sent to that address forwarded to any email address you choose. To learn how to set up or change your mail forwarding, see Forwarding or Redirecting Your U-M Email Using the MCommunity Directory (S4384).

• Faculty & Staff. Retirees and emeritus faculty retain use of their Google Mail. Faculty and staff who leave the university without retiring lose access to their U-M mail.

• More Detail. For more, see What Happens to Your Uniqname, Directory Profile, and Computing Services After You Leave U-M.

If you think your email account is compromised, please see Compromised Accounts.

Full headers help you see the path a message took from its origination to your mailbox. If you forward a message you are concerned about to the ITS Service Center for help, it is best to include full headers so Service Center staff have all the information they need to help you.

Instructions are provided on the U-M Safe Computing website.

See Managing Your Membership in MCommunity Directory Groups (S4381) for instructions.

We recomment that you use the MCommunity Directory to set an Away Message. To set the away message, follow these instructions. Be sure to turn off your away message when you return.

The away message sent by the directory in response to mail sent to you is actually, at the machine level, a "bounce" rather than a "reply." This has the effect of de-confirming addresses that spammers use. So, you can use the away message secure in the knowledge that this will not generate additional spam by confirming an active email address to spammers.

Report email harassment, inappropriate use of email, and other email problems—for email coming to your @umich.edu account, or originating from an @umich.edu account—to the Information Technology (IT) User Advocate by sending email to abuse@umich.edu. For more information, see the IT User Advocate page on the Safe Computing website.

The ITS Service Center can answer your questions about email.

To report email that you suspect is in violation of the university's Proper Use Policy, send email to the Information Technology (IT) User Advocate at itua@umich.edu. See the User Advocate page on the Safe Computing website for more information.

These services are available to members of the University of Michigan community only.