Faculty and Staff FAQs - Email
How do I get a Columbia email account, or UNI?
If you are a new faculty or staff member at Columbia University Medical Center, your email account will be created subject to
Human Resources and Office of Faculty Affairs guidelines. Your Columbia email account requires that you receive a UNI, or University
Network ID, which will then be the first part of your email address.
Your Department Administrator (or other qualified person in your department) must request a UNI for you via their access to Delegated Identity Administration within Peoplesoft. Please speak to your supervisor if you do not know who this person is.
Once I receive my UNI for my email account, can I start using it right away to send and receive email?
No. The UNI you receive has to be activated and you must pick a password for it before you can use your email. If you know
what your UNI is, then proceed to Columbia's myUNI
site and select the link to activate a new UNI account. If you do not know your UNI, you can enter your name in the the "Forgot
your UNI" field to look up your UNI at the myUNI web site.
How can I change my password?
You can change your password online at the myUNI site: http://uni.columbia.edu
Select the "Logon to Manage Your UNI Account" link at the top of that page, and logon with your UNI and current password. At the next page,
enter your current password, then enter the new password you've selected in each of the two bottom fields.
Be sure to observe qualifications in bold at the top of the "Change Your Password" page when you select a new password. You will receive a
message stating if the change was successful or not; if not please note the exact error message and contact us if you would like assistance.
Regarding passwords:
Use them like a toothbrush. Change them often, and don't share them with friends. -Clifford Stoll
Can I read my Columbia email from any computer?
Yes, as long as the computer has an Internet connection. Columbia University uses
CubMail, a web-based email program that allows you to access your email
through a web browser.
-For more information on CubMail and its many features, please see the
CubMail homepage
How can I set up an email program on my own computer, like Thunderbird or Outlook?
Instructions on configuring supported email programs for your Columbia email account are at:
http://www.columbia.edu/acis/email
You are welcome to contact the CUMC IT Service Desk if you have any specific questions regarding configuring
an email program.
What is the difference between POP and IMAP email?
When you first configure your email address in a program such as Thunderbird or Outlook, you will be prompted to use either a POP or IMAP account.
IMAP keeps your mail folders on the server. It is compatible with using CubMail. You can switch between different computers, mail programs, and CubMail,
and they will all show the same mail folders and have the same messages marked as seen. If you want this flexibility, use IMAP.
POP keeps the mail folders on the PC. This has some advantages for speed and offline use, but requires that you always read mail with the
same PC, which may be true if you carry a laptop around, or always read Columbia mail from the office.
However, it is possible to configure both types of email accounts to store messages differently.
read more...
How can I forward my Columbia email account to my Yahoo or other email account?
You can forward your email account to another account by logging into the myUNI web site:
http://uni.columbia.edu
Once you log in with your UNI and password, you will see a list of options for your account. Select the "Mail Forwarding" link under the
"Configure Email Settings" heading, and follow the instructions listed. You will have the option to forward all email without keeping any in
your Columbia account, or have copies in both accounts. If you choose to keep copies in your Columbia account, make sure you log in to it
regularly to move and delete email messages and avoid hitting your account quota.
How can I send automatic replies when I am on vacation?
You can set up an automatic vacation or away message by logging into the myUNI web site:
http://uni.columbia.edu
Once you log in with your UNI and password, you will see a list of options for your account. Select the "Vacation" link under the
"Configure Email Settings" heading, and follow the instructions listed.
When you want to change or remove the Vacation message simply return to the same web site.
How do I filter my email messages?
If you have set up an email program on your main computer, for example Thunderbird or Outlook, there are instructions in that program's Help
menu on how to filter email messages within the program. You can also log in to the myUNI
web site and select the "Email Filtering" or "Set Your Personal Spam Filter" links under the "Configure Email Settings" heading to sort your
email or filter out any spam messages you may be receiving.
What can I do if I forget my password?
If you forget your password you can come to the CUMC IT Service Desk with your Columbia ID to have us
reset your account, or you can call us for assistance at extension 5-Help (212-305-4357).
How can I send an attachment through CubMail?
To send an attachment through CubMail you need to start composing your message, then scroll to the bottom of the page and click on Browse to
select the attachment(s). Once you find your attachment click on Open, and be sure to click on the Attach button to the right of the Browse
button, or your file will not be attached.
How can I view an attachment through CubMail?
To view an attachment within CubMail, open the message and then open or save the attachment by clicking on the small floppy disk icon next to
the attachment.
Are there limits on the size and types of email attachments?
CubMail allows any email to be a total size of 10MB including attachments. If you use an email program such as Thunderbird, Outlook or Apple Mail rather than CubMail, you will be able to send up to 30MB total per message. Please note that a file can increase by as much as 30% in size when sending it as an email attachment, so you may only be able to attach up to 21MB (7.5MB if using CubMail).
Most types of attachments other than .exe files are now allowed. Zip files are allowed, since the Columbia mail filter is able to examine the types of files inside zip files, and will allow it if it is not found to contain a virus or other malware.
Why have I stopped receiving new email in my Columbia account?
If you have reached your quota limit for your Columbia email account you will stop receiving new emails. See the FAQ immediately below regarding
resolving this problem; any emails that have been sent to you but not received will appear after you have more space on your account. If
there seem to be other problems with your account, please contact the Service Desk.
How can I free up space in my email account?
If you know you have run out of space in your email account, or you have stopped receiving new messages, please log into the
myUNI site and select the "Check Your Space Quota" link under the "Configure Email Settings" heading. If you are at
your quota you will be able to grant yourself a temporary increase by clicking on the button at the bottom of the page. If you have further problems
or questions you can come by the help desk or contact the CUMC IT Service Desk at extension 5-Help (212-305-4357).
Due to limited space on the Columbia mail servers, we highly recommend that anyone with a Columbia email account set up a supported program like
Thunderbird, Outlook or Apple Mail on their main computer. This will allow you to save email on that specific computer using "Local Folders"
or a similarly named feature depending on the program. You are still able to keep email messages on the Columbia mail servers to access from
other computers.
To set up an email program on your computer, please see the instructions here.
To set up local folders in one of the Columbia supported mail programs, please select the link below for the program you are using:
Once I receive my UNI for my email account, can I start using it right away to send and receive email?
After activating your UNI by selecting a password, your email account will be available within 24 hours. You can test this by logging into
Columbia's web-based email program, CubMail.
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Last updated 8/24/2008
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