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Frequently Asked Questions about UMass Boston Email
Following are some frequently asked questions about using the UMass Boston Office 365service. If you are a UMass Boston student, faculty member, or staff member and do not have an email address, contact the IT Service Desk.
1. What services are included with my UMass Boston email account?
In addition to 50 GB of email storage, a shareable calendar, and contacts, you get access to 1 TB (1,024 GB) of online storage and collaboration with OneDrive and Office apps online, OneDrive apps for Mac, Windows, and iOS, the Office suitefor Mac and Windows, Office apps foriPad (available at the Apple app store), group collaboration tools such as Groups and Teams, andSkype for Business (formerly Lync). To learn more about these services from Microsoft, see Office 365 Education Plan.
In addition, your UMass Boston email username and password gives you access to WISER, Blackboard,LinkedIn Learning,Wi-fi on campus(eduroam), printing, Healey Library electronic resourcessuch ase-books, e-journals, streaming media, databases and indexes (for current students, current staff and faculty, and retired faculty only), the UMass Boston blog platform, OneDrive cloud file storage and sharing, and HR Direct (current employees only).
2. How do I log on to web mail?
You can find the login link to webmail by clicking the "Email" link at the top of UMass Boston web pages, or by going directly to webmail.umb.edu in your web browser.
If you have never logged in to your UMass Boston email before, please follow these instructions for students or these instructions for faculty & staff.
If you need to look up your email address, you can use our Email Lookup Tool.
If you need help, call (617.287.5220) or visit the IT Service Desk. We are on the third floor of the Healey Library Monday through Friday (except holidays or days the Healey Library is closed) from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. (fall and spring semesters) or 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. (winter and summer semesters).
3.What is my email username and display name? Can I change them?
Your display name is generally your legal name as entered in HR (for employees) or WISER (in the “Primary Name” field). Your username (the part before the @ sign) is usually your first name + a dot (period) + your last name followed by three numbers (for students). Example: Sandy.Beach001. In some cases, this would be too long, so we use just your first initial in place of your first name.The system has a limitation of 20 characters before the “@umb.edu” part of the address.
For information on name changes, including having your "chosenname"used on class rosters and our email system, please see the University's official Change of Name page on the Office of the Registrar's web site.
4. How do I resetmy password?
Visit theUMass Boston Self-Service Password Managementpage to reset your password.
5. What is the new “Clutter" feature for? How do I turn it off?
Clutter is similar to Junk (spam) in that it filters and prioritizes items in your inbox. We have disabled this feature and Microsoft appears to be phasing it out. To learn more, including how to turn it off, see Using Clutter to prioritize your inbox.
6. How do I set up email on my phone?
See one of the following:
Set up a mobile device using Office 365
Set up email on an iPhone or iPad
Set up mail on an Android phone or tablet
7. How do I set up the email program on my computer?
See one of the following:
Set up Microsoft Outlook for Windows
Set up email in Mac OS X Mail
Set up email in Outlook for Mac
Use POP or IMAP to connect to Office 365
Note:We recommend using Exchange mode in Outlook or Apple Mail because the setup is much easier:sending and receiving mail, contacts, and calendar setup are all done in one step.
8. How do I avoid scams sent to my email?
See our phishing pagefor tips and see our Phishing Wall of Shame for examples of actual scam emails received at UMass Boston.
9. How much space to I have on the server? What other limits are there? Can UMass Boston change these?
Here are the current limits forOffice 365 email. These are set by Microsoft and we cannot change any of them.
- Mail storage: 50 gigabytes (more than 50,000 megabytes!)
- OneDrive storage: 1 TB (1,024gigabytes, or one terabyte)
- Maximum size of attachment sent/receive: 25 megabytes
- Maximum number of recipients per message: 500
- Maximum number of recipients per day: 10,000 (e.g. 20 messages with 500 recipients each)
These are very high limits, but in a few rare cases, you may encounter one of them, especially if you frequently send emails to large numbers of recipients. If you reach 10,000 recipients in a day, your email will be locked for 24 hours by Microsoft and we will not be able to unlock it!
If you need more functionality than a distribution list, such as the ability to include a non-UMass Boston email address, you can create anOffice 365 Group.
If you need more information, please contact the IT Service Desk regarding alternative methods of sharing large files (OneDrive) or sending large numbers of email messages.
10. Can I forward my email to another address?
Yes, but we do not recommend it. Some email providers (e.g. Gmail) have very strict junk mail filtering and will sometimes treat important messages forwarded from the UMass Bostonemail domain (umb.edu) as junk or delete them completely. We can only guarantee delivery of your umb.edu email if you leave it in your UMass Boston inbox. In the same way, if something goes wrong, we can only trace and troubleshoot email delivery if it is from umb.edu to umb.edu. If it leaves our domain, we have no control over it and no ability to see what happened to it.
To set up forwarding, follow the instructions here: Forward email to another email account. We recommendthat you keep a copy in your UMass Boston inbox in case the destination blocks or deleted the message.
Please test to make sure the forward is working, as Microsoft does not verify the account you entered!
If you do set up forwarding,don't forget your username and password, as you will continue to need those for Wiser, Blackboard, etc.
11. I am graduating. Can I keep my account?
Graduates keep their email accounts for two years (some international students in STEM fields keep them for three years for U.S. government reporting purposes)so they can log in to WISER to check GPA, request transcripts, etc., after which the account is deleted. (But you can still request a transcript by mail or fax.)
If you want to keep your email address, you can request an Alumni Forward. This allows you to keep your UMass Boston email address so that mail sent to that address can be forwarded to another address you own. Be sure to back up any mail you want to keep before requesting this! (See instructions.)Alumni forwarding only gives you the address, not the inbox or any other service provided by UMass Boston, such as Microsoft Office or OneDrive storage.
How to request an Alumni Forward
12. I am retiring. Can I keep my account?
Yes. just contact the IT Service Desk before your last day so we can arrange for this before your account is deleted. You will still lose access to some UMass Boston services for active employees, but keep your email address, inbox, mail, etc.
13. Can I share my calendar or have someone else manage it for me?
Yes, seeSharing your calendar in Outlook Web Appor Allow someone else to manage your mail and calendar.
14. Where can I learn more about using the features of Office 365 and Microsoft Office?
Microsoft has many tutorials on using their products and services here:Office training and tutorials.
In addition, UMass Boston users have access to video-based training at LinkedIn Learning. Log in with your fullUMass Boston email address and password, and you'll find tens of thousands of videos on numerous topics.
For more information about Skype for Business (formerly Lync) see: Skype for Business FAQs.
