Email Frequently Asked Questions

Home Customer Support Email Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently asked questions may help you solve a problem. If not, please give us a call at support.

Receiving Mail

I'm receiving the same message(s) over and over. What should I do?

Multiple receipts, especially with Outlook, normally means that one of the messages on the server is not being completely downloaded to the Email program. One way to relieve this symptom is to remove the offending message.

1. With your web browser, log in to your Web Mail account and delete the oldest message(s) from your InBox, up to and including the last message you received.
2. With your Email program, retrieve mail.
3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 as needed until the mail starts flowing normally.

Problems with downloading a message can also indicate that network communication between your location and our mail server is restricted. The restriction could be anywhere in the network, from your computer to our server. If this symptom persists, give us a call and we will help you analyze where the network restriction is located.

My mail program started reporting that it could not connect with the email server.

I can access Web Mail, and see my messages. I've restarted my Email program and my computer, but nothing helps. What should I do?

Failure to connect messages, especially with Outlook, normally means that the program has gotten confused and is actually refusing to communicate with the mail server.

1. Locate the mail account properties, for this specific account, in your Email program.
2. Record all the properties, and then remove the account.
3. Quit your Email program and re-launch it.
4. Re-install the Email account, being careful to duplicate all of the prior settings.
5. Retrieve mail. The problem should be gone.

Problems with connecting to the POP server can also be an indicator that network communication between your location and our mail server is restricted. The restriction could be anywhere in the network, from your computer to our server. If this symptom persists, give us a call and we will help you analyze where the network restriction is located.

I'm setting up a new Email account (or program) and I can't retrieve mail.

My Email program asks for the password repeatedly, but no mail is received. What should I do?

Repeated password requesting indicates that the password isn't matching the one that the mail host has for you, or that something is wrong with the account name that you are attempting to use.

1. Verify that the account name in your Email program is your entire Email address, eg. name@yourdomain.com.
2. Verify that the shift lock key on your keyboard isn't accidentally depressed.
3. Send a message to support@webvalence.com or call 503-335-3442 and ask the support desk to reset your password.
4. When you receive a response from the support desk, retrieve mail again. This usually solves the problem. If not ...
5. Your Email program could be confused about different passwords for sending and receiving. WebValence always uses the same password for both sending and receiving. Check the Email account properties for both send and receive to ensure that they are the same.

People are having trouble send to me: mail tounces back to them.

I've received reports that mail to me is bouncing back to the sender; what should I do?

Bounced Email most commonly occurs because your Post Office box on the mail server is full. If you don't have a post office box on WebValence servers, and all Email is forwarded to your ISP, then the most common problem is that your ISP has temporarily black-listed the WebValence mail server.

It's important to find out why your Email is bouncing. Bounce messages will normally include some reason for the bounce. If practicable, ask someone who has tried to send you mail to forward a bounce message to you, so you can see for yourself why the mail is bouncing.

If bouncing mail refers to "exceeding a mail quota," or words to that effect, you know that your Post Office box on the mail server is full. To make room in the mail server Post Office box:

1. View your account settings or properties, (normally part of the "advanced settings" tab in your Email application).
2. Ensure that your Email program is set to either delete mail on receipt, or delete mail within 5 days of receipt.
3. Check for mail, ensure that ensure that your new settings are enacted.
   

If you are attempting to setup a new user account, contact support@webvalence.com. Bouncing mail from a new account normally indicates that a spam and virus account has not yet been created.

Sending Mail

My mail program reports that it cannot connect to the outgoing SMTP mail server.

Outgoing Email isn't sent.

Failure to connect to the outgoing SMTP mail server is usually caused when ISP's begin blocking outgoing mail that is not sent through their own Email servers. We normally are able to work around this block by sending Outgoing mail traffic on port 587 rather than port 25.

1. Open your Email account properties. Recheck the outgoing SMTP server settings.
2. Outgoing SMTP server: mail.yourdomain.com
3. Outgoing SMTP server port: change from 25 to 587
4. Outgoing SMTP server requires authentication
5. Authentication uses same password as Incoming server
6. Outgoing SMTP server does NOT use SSL

Outgoing mail remains in the out box, despite repeated attempts to send it.

Failure to connect to an outgoing SMTP mail server can also be caused by an attempt to send a very long message that takes so long that communication times out. Are you trying to send an archive of images from your digital camera? In general you should not attempt to send files longer than 10 Megabytes through Email.

1. Open your Out Box and remove the very long message.
2. Upload the large file to your web site and send the URL to the file.

Mail sent to other people at my domain bounces back.

The bounce message contains the diagnostic that: "Relaying is not allowed: You should authenticate first".

The WebValence mail server bounces mail that is allegedly from your address, unless that mail has been received directly from you, together with an appropriate user name and password.

You have two ways to eliminate this problem.

1. Use the WebValence mail server for your Outgoing SMTP server. This is normally the best all-around solution.
2. Convert your mail account from a mail box to a forwarding address. Forwarding addresses don't provide the same level of protection, because they have no password. This may be the solution for people whose Email programs cannot work directly with our WebValence Email server.

Web Mail

I've logged into Web Mail, but I can't see any messages in my Inbox?

I'm leaving on a trip and I want to make sure that I can access my mail through web mail.

When you use web mail, the messages you are viewing will stay on the WebValence server until they are removed when you check your messages through the email program on your computer.

When preparing to be gone on a trip with plans to use web mail, follow these steps.

1. Be sure you know how to log in to your web mail.
2. Quit your mail program on your home computer so you can retrieve your mail at web mail.
   (or shutdown your home computer and energy!)

Your home computer mail program has a setting that effects what happens to the email on the server when you check your email. You may decide whether you want a messages to be deleted immediately from the server or some number of days after you downloaded the message. If your mail program is set to delete your email from the server immediately, you will not find any email in your in box at web mail when you have just checked your email on your desktop mail program. This is why you would want to shutdown your home computer before leaving on a trip.

How do I see Messages that I sent in Web Mail?

Web Mail can save a copy of outgoing messages sent via Web Mail, but cannot view messages sent from an Email program on your PC.

To save a copy of messages sent from Web Mail, follow these steps.

1. Add a new "Sent" box via the "Add" link at top right
2. Choose the Options icon from the tool bar to reveal the General Settings window
3. Under Default Mail Boxes, reset the Save Sent Messages drop down menu to select the "Sent" mail box you just created in step 1
4. Click the Small Save icon at the top left corner of the General Settings window to save the change you made
5. In the future, when you want to review your Sent messages, choose Sent from your list of mail boxes at top left.

Sent messages do use storage from your mail box. You can't save hundreds of sent messages without requesting a mail storage upgrade.

 

Password Issues

My mail program reports that it cannot connect with either the outgoing and incoming mail servers.

I'm using a Mac and I have recently updated my password and/or changed my Email account configuration.

The Macintosh sometimes gets confused about contradictory passwords stored both in the Mail program and on the Keychain. This symptom has been observed with the Mail application and it might also be seen with any application that stores keys on the Keychain.

1. Quit your Email program.
2. Launch the Keychain Access utility and remove old keys pertaining to Email. You may see more than one key for Email and you may discover old contradictory passwords.
3. Relaunch the Mail application and reenter the password that is known to be correct.
4. Your Mail application should now connect with the server.

Hand Held Devices

How can I send a copy of all of my incoming messages to my phone or other hand held device?

As PDAs and Phones become more capable, people are more commonly using them for Email.

Keep in mind that you don't necessarily have to send your hand held mail. Many hand helds are capable of retrieving mail from your WebValence mail box, using either POP or IMAP protocol. If so, this is generally your best alternative. Consult the literature or technical support for your hand held to determine its capabilities.

You Email administrator can easily update settings from your web mail to mirror messages to any arbitrary Email address. Send a message to support@webvalence.com requesting that we mirror a copy of all your messages to another address.

Acceptable Use Policy · Code of Ethics · Contact