WebAsyst Mail at a glance

Here is your WebAsyst Mail main window:

1. Toolbar: Click a button (e.g. Folder, Message, View, Tools) to open a pull down menu and access main functional buttons to compose/send/copy/move messages, customize view options, etc.
2. Folders pane: Lets you organize your messages in folders. Click a folder to open a list of messages contained in this folder. Double click folder name to change it. Drag and drop folder to copy/move it in the folder hierarchy. Click Folder button in the toolbar to add new folder or customize access rights to existing folder.
3. Message list: Shows a list of messages contained in selected folder. You can expressly customize visible columns in the list. Click a message to open/edit this message. Click column title to sort message list by this column, click again to reverse sorting order.
4. Selector: Select messages for bulk copy/move/send operations.
5. Status: A message can have one of the following statuses: "Draft", "Pending", "Sending", "Sent", or "Template".
6. Pending: Sheduled message to be sent at a specified date/time in the future.
7. Search box: Enter keyword or a phrase (e.g. "special offer") and click Go to see the list of messages where the search word is found in subject or body.

Creating messages

To create a new message, click Message -> Compose from the toolbar.

Compose Message page opens where you can add subject and text using simple HTML editor:

WebAsyst Mail built-in HTML editor does not require any prior HTML experience and allows you to create messages in WYSIWYG mode (What You See Is What You Get).

Click Text tab if you want to create an alternative text version of the message. Otherwise text version will be created automatically from HTML version.

Adding images and attachments

In order to insert an image inside your message body, you need to add this image first to the Image pane (1). Use Add button (2) to add image. Once you have added your image, its thumbnail should be displayed in the Image pane. Click inside your text where you want to place the image, and then click an image thumbnail to place the image inside your message body (3).

To add a file attachment to you message, click Attachments tab (4). Browse and attach one or more files to your message.

NOTE: Attaching large files is not recommended. If you send bulk email to multiple recipients, every message will include these large file attachments and overload your mail server. Instead of using file attachments we recommend you to use links to files uploaded to your WebAsyst Files account.

Sending messages

1. In Compose Message form click Send... -> Send from the toolbar. Only messages with Draft status can be sent out.
2. In Send Message form indicate a priority (Low, Normal, High), choose an email sender and email recipients. Your recipients must be selected from the available lists and folders of WebAsyst users and contacts.
3. Indicate whether you want your email to be sent out immediately or on a later date and click Send to finish. If you send immediately (Send Now), then your message will be forwarded to the mail server and it's status will change for "Sent". If you decide to send it later, then your message will receive "Pending" status and placed in a queue for scheduled sending.

NOTE: Before sending a message to your real recipients, you can send it as a test message to yourself to see how it appears in your mail program. To do so, click Send... -> Send Test from the toolbar. This operation does not change message status.

Customizing Email Sender

Your Name and Email address are used by default as your message properties, e.g. From, Reply-To, Return-Path. WebAsyst Mail allows you to customize this information and add more optional senders.

Click Tools -> Customize Email Sender. Click Add Sender button to add new sender. If you already have previously created senders, click on a sender from the list to modify it's properties. In Add/Edit Sender form indicate following parameters:

• From Name: will appear in your recipient's mailbox as the name of your message sender.
• From Email: will appear in your recipient's mailbox as an Email address where your message was sent from.
• Reply-To: will be used when your recipient will click Reply button in his/her mail program.
• Return-Path:  will be used to return an error status if your message is not delivered for some reasons.
• Language: used to display "Unsubscribe" notice that appears at the bottom of every sent message.
• Encoding: specify an encoding of your message (iso-8859-1 is default).

NOTE: Once you have multiple senders specified, you can expressly select a sender every time you send messages.

Scheduled sending

In WebAsyst Mail you have an option of scheduling a date and time in future when you want your message to go out. In Send Mail form select "Send Later" option and indicate sending date and time in future:

Your message receives "Pending" status and stays in your mailbox untill it is sent out at indicated time.

Sending bulk emails

Bulk Email communications (sending Email to multiple recipients) are used widely in marketing campaign, newsletter distribution, company internal communication, etc.

To send out bulk Email, you must have WebAsyst Contacts service installed and available in your WebAsyst account. Before sending bulk communication, go to WebAsyst Contacts and create a contact list which can include recipients from one of many contact folders, and/or expressly selected contacts. While sending a bulk message, select a contact list in Send Message form. The list of recipients will be populated from your contact database.

NOTE: It is recommended to use “Send Later” option for bulk email messaging with large recipients list (over 100 recipients).

Using message templates

Every message can be saved as a template. It makes easier to create a new message with the same or similar content next time.

To save message as a template, open it from the list of messages and click Message... -> Save as Template button. Select a folder where you want to keep this template and click Save button.

Messages with Template status (they appear in blue in the message list) cannot be sent out directly. Instead you must use Message... -> Compose from Template menu from the main window toolbar to create new message from a template and then send it.

Your WebAsyst Mail account includes a collection of message templates that can assist you in creating holiday greetings, announcements, acknowledgements, notices and others. Open Templates folder to see the list of all available WebAsyst Mail templates:

Composing from a template

There are two ways to compose your message from a template:

1. Click Message -> Compose from Template and select a template. A standard “Compose Message” form opens up with the template name in the subject line and the template content as the message body. You can modify or add message content, subject, and include your recipients list. Save your new message to give it Draft status and send it to its recipients list.
2. Open a template, click Template -> Create Message, and select message folder. You can now modify and save "Compose Message" form which includes template message body.

Creating a new template

You can create new templates and use them to compose mail messages. You can choose one of the two following ways to create a new template:

• Create a copy from existing template, edit it and then save as a new template.
• Create a new message or open any message from your message list and click Message -> Save as Template.

You can add image to your new template and attach a file. Your newly created template receives Template status and is ready to be used for composing emails.

Personalizing email messages

WebAsyst Mail lets you personalize your outgoing emails by inserting recipients’ individual information (names, titles and other details) in messages addressed specifically to them. This is accomplished with the use of personalization variables; i.e. placeholders that are added to a message and are dynamically replaced by the actual values stored in your recipients database. This feature is especially useful in bulk messaging – you just need to compose one message and send it out to any number of recipients as if it were written only to every one of them individual.

To personalize your message, open Compose Message form and open a lists of contact variables - use show link in the following sections below the message body area: Recipient Contact Variables, My Contact Variables, and Company Variables. Click inside your message body and then click a variable from the list (e.g. {C_FIRSTNAME} {C_LASTNAME}). When the message is sent out, {C_FIRSTNAME} {C_LASTNAME} will be substituted with first and last names of every recipient from the list (e.g. Ann Smith, Jeff Brown).

The picture below illustrates the feature:

Adding an Unsubscribe option to outgoing emails

You can add a link to your message to allow subscribers to manage their subscription. This link must contain {MANAGE_YOUR_SUBSCRIPTION_URL} variable. Clicking the link which refers this variable will redirect email recipients to the subscription management page, where they can update their profiles and unsubscribe from mailing lists.

Sample of HTML code you have to add:

You can also use "_update profile or unsubscribe" template in your WebAsyst Mail account to copy this code and paste it in your templates or messages.

Organizing your mailbox

Messages are organized in folders and subfolders. Click "Available Folders" in the Folders pane to display a list of all folders that you have access to. For every folder you can see your access rights, number of messages containing in this folder, and “Shared” flag indicating whether this folder is shared with other users.

Click a folder name to navigate to this folder. Depending on your access rights you can compose new messages, copy/move/delete messages, or create new subfolders, copy/move/delete this folder, or customize access rights for other users to this folder and its subfolders.

Most common operations with folders and messages are outlined below.

Folders

To add new folder, click Folder -> Add Folder in the toolbar and enter new folder name. New folder will be created as a subfolder to your current folder. If you want to create a new root folder, navigate first to "Available Folders" section and then click Folder -> Add Folder from the toolbar.

To copy or move a folder, navigate to this folder and simply drag and drop it to new location, or click Folder -> Copy Folder / Move Folder from the toolbar.

To delete folder, click Folder -> Delete Folder from the toolbar.

NOTE: You must have F(Folder) access rights in the destination folder, and in the source folder from which you want to move or delete current folder.

Message status

Every message can have one of the following statuses:

• Draft: Messages with this status were composed but neither sent nor scheduled for sending. They can be modified, scheduled for sending, copied, moved, deleted, and saved as a template.
• Pending: Messages with this status were composed and scheduled for sending, but not sent out yet. They can be viewed, copied, moved, deleted, and saved as a template. However, they cannot be modified. You can also cancel scheduled outgoing time, in which case the message will obtain Draft status.
• Sending: This status is applicable only for scheduled messages for which the process of sending has been already started by a mail server but is not completed yet.
• Sent: Messages with this status were already sent out. They can be copied, moved, deleted, and saved as a template. Messages cannot be modified or sent out.
• Template: Messages with this status are used as templates to create new messages. They can be viewed, copied, modified, deleted, saved as a new template or as a message with status Draft. They cannot be sent out.

Copying/Moving/Deleting messages

Select a message in the list and click it. In Compose/View Message form click Message -> Create Copy. Select folder where you want to save new copy and click Save button. New message with "Draft" status will be created in selected folder.

To move or delete messages, select them from the list and click Message -> Move from the toolbar to move messages to another folder, or click Delete to permanently remove messages from the current folder.

Message summary and sending report

Click on a message to open Compose/View Message form.

Click on Summary tab to access a detailed information about message, e.g message ID, author, create and modify dates, etc.

For messages with Pending, Sending and Sent statuses you can access sending report. Click Sending Report tab to view number of recipients and complete recipient list, sending date, sender, etc.

Customizing message list view

You can customize an appearance of your messages list by clicking View -> Columns from WebAsyst Mail toolbar. Indicate visible and hidden columns for your list and number of messages on one page.

Giving other users access to your messages

Sharing your mail messages with other WebAsyst Mail users and user groups is done by setting access rights to a message folder by a user with administrative privileges. Select a folder and click Folder -> Modify Folder. Click on Users and Groups tabs to set/modify access to the folder for users and user groups.

The following are available levels of access to a folder:

• Read (R) – a user (user group) can list and read messages in this folder
• Write (W) – a user (user group) can add/modify messages in this folder
• Folder (F) – a user (user group) can add/modify messages, folders & permissions

When setting access level to a folder, the combination of personal and group access rights will be applied, e.g. if user Ann belongs to a group which has R (Read) access rights, then Ann has an effective permission as in the table below:

Personal Permission	Group Permission	Effective Permission
-	R	R
RW	RW	RW
RWF	R	RWF

NOTE: Access rights to a folder do not automatically apply to its subfolders. They need to be set manually by the process described above. Setting access rights to a folder can be done by a user who has F (Folder) access level to this folder or by an account administrator in "Users & Groups" window.