Solution:

Email management is really a matter of choosing what combination of storage location and user interface best suits your needs. In order to develop a strategy to manage email an examination of the strengths and weaknesses of the access methods available is probably the best place to start:

POP (Post Office Protocol)	Advantages: Mail is stored on client machine which generally has more storage space available instead of on the server where it would be subject to quota restrictions. Most POP clients provide the option to leave mail on the server, and delete when a predefined period has elapsed, or when the messages are deleted from the local trash.
	Disadvantages: Once mail is removed from the server it cannot be viewed from locations where it was not already downloaded. No warnings are issued through this protocol if the account is over quota on the server.
IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol)	Advantages: Mail can be organized into folders on the server and viewed consistently in the same mailboxes from multiple locations.
	Disadvantages: Messages must be deleted or space will become a problem on the server.
Webmail	Advantages: Mail can be read and sent from any 128bit browser. Mailboxes are the same as in any IMAP client.
	Disadvantages: It has a smaller feature set than most specialized clients (No filtering, limited search capabilities, slower navigation, support for fewer mail formats)

To make these choices a bit easier we have developed several scenarios which describe the way most people use their e-mail. Click on the one that best describes you, and you will find a description of how to configure your system to suit your needs.

"Mostly I check my mail from the same computer in my office/dorm room. I like to keep a copy of most of my messsages so that I can refer back to them later. I occasionally travel, and want to use the web to see the messages that have come in while I'm gone."

"I like to use filters/rules to automatically sort my mail into mailboxes that make sense to me. I want to be able to check my mail from several locations and see the same messages in the same mailboxes. I'm willing to take the time to clean out my mailbox occasionally."

"I've been using pine/mutt/elm for years. I don't see any reason to change now."

POP mail with optional Web:

This scenario is the most common. Most people have just one or two places where they usually check their mail (ie. office and home), and want to keep a long term record of mail they have sent and received. The POP protocol is well suited to this situation since it provides a way for the server to hold mail until it can be transferred to the harddrive on the users own PC. Most POP client programs provide an option to leave mail on the server with an additional option to delete it after a fixed period of time or when it is emptied from the local trash. This time window allows mail to be downloaded to several machines before the time period has elapsed, so that a copy of those messages will be stored on the harddrive of each machine.

To configure Eudora 5.1 for Windows so that messages are removed from the server as described above select Options... from the Tools menu and scroll to the Category labeled Incoming Mail. The boxes labeled "Leave mail on server", "Delete from server after ___ day(s)" and "Delete from server when emptied from trash" should all be checked. The number of days can be adjusted to your personal preference. The setting of 10 days shown here works well for most people.

IMAP with optional Web:

In order to organize messages into folders and mailboxes which are displayed with a consistent structure from all locations IMAP provides the ability to create mailboxes on the server and move mail between them from within the client program. Most mail clients provide a mechanism for creating rules or filters which can be used to automatically sort mail and establish a priortizing scheme which is customized to suit the user. Since these mailboxes are on the server any message transfers from one mailbox to another will be reflected no matter where it is viewed. Since the WebMail interface also uses IMAP as its underlying protocol mailboxes that are displayed there both reflect changes made in other IMAP clients, and allow the same type of manipulation (transfer and deletion of messages)

To configure Eudora 5.1 for Windows to use IMAP for mail reading select Options... from the Tools menu and scroll to the Category labeled Incoming Mail. Select the IMAP button as shown here.

Unix Mail clients:

Pine and Mutt can be configured to use IMAP for mail transfers, and hence can be used to check mail from the GT Spectrum Mail server. In order to specify an IMAP mailbox address the server name is use surrounded by curly braces {imap.mail.gatech.edu}

Feel free to submit a request for help for any of the following reasons: