Q What are the differences between an e-mail address, an e-mail account, and an e-mail client?

A An e-mail address is a string of letters and other characters that the Internet uses to route e-mails to the appropriate account. More information on properly formatted (Do you describe this?) e-mail addresses is available below.

An e-mail account is a file on a computer that receives e-mail for specific accounts and allows a user to log-in and retrieve that e-mail. It is possible to have multiple e-mail addresses which point to a single e-mail account (e.g., several staff members have their texasreading.org e-mail addresses redirected to their mail.utexas.edu accounts, or vice verse, so that they only have to check one e-mail account.

An e-mail client is the application that you use to retrieve your e-mail. Most e-mail clients reside on your computer as applications and can retrieve e-mail from multiple accounts (e.g., Mail, Eudora, First Class). Some e-mail clients are web-based and may be tied to one specific account (e.g., Hotmail, UT’s web-mail, and Yahoo mail.) Click for more information on e-mail clients.

Q I’ve seen several different kinds of e-mail addresses around here. What are the differences between them?

A The three most common e-mail domains used at the Center are:a. texasreading.org

This is your official e-mail address at the UTCRLA. It should look something like First-name_Last-name@texasreading.org.

b. teachnet(As a part of the College of Education,) you may also have received an address at teachnet.edb.utexas.edu. Teachnet is an online system that predates the wide-scale acceptance of the Internet. It provides e-mail service in addition to bulletin board services. (More) (Add something like: Because the Center support staff does not facilitate the teachnet server, we suggest that you have your teachnet address forwarded to your texasreading.org address.)

c. mail.utexas.eduThis is the e-mail address provided by the University through ITS. (Johnnie, what does ITS stand for?)

Q Which e-mail address should I use for Center business?

A You should use your texasreading.org address for Center business. If you already have an active e-mail account and don’t want to have to maintain

two, you can enter a support request to have your texasreading.org address forwarded to an existing account.

Q Can I have my mail.utexas.edu address forwarded to my texasreading.org address? What if I can’t access my mail.utexas.edu address?

A The UTCRLA support staff has no access to or control over the mail.utexas.edu account settings. You would need to contact ITS (Link) for issues with these accounts and addresses. They should be able to forward it for you.

Q What e-mail client (i.e., application) should I use?A There are several e-mail clients available.

1. MailThis is the e-mail program that comes with Mac OS X. It is also the recommended client for use at the UTCRLA. Mail is full-featured and very easy to use. It includes a built in junk-mail filter, automatic mail actions, and support for multiple accounts, among other features. If you want to switch to Mail from another e-mail client, just send in a support request. For more information on how to use Mail, go to the Apple support page: http://www.info.apple.com/usen/panther/mail/.

2. UT Web-MailThis is a web-browser based e-mail client available online at webmail.utexas.edu. It can only be used to access mail.utexas.edu and related accounts. This client is provided and supported by ITS.

3. EudoraEudora is a third-party commercial e-mail client that is site-licensed at the University. It was one of the earliest e-mail applications for the Macintosh and has been kept very up-to-date. Though not as user-friendly as Mail, Eudora has a very good set of features, such as ?.

4. EntourageThis e-mail program comes with Microsoft Office, which is also site-licensed.

5. First ClassThis e-mail client is only for use with teachnet. We suggest that rather than using First Class to check your teachnet address, you forward your teachnet messages to your texasreading.org address.

Q What do I do if I’m having trouble with my e-mail?A If you are having trouble with your texasreading.org or teachnet e-mail,

use the support request. Make sure and choose the appropriate category on the form, and give a detailed description of the problem. (Note:

teachnet requests will be forwarded to the teachnet help desk, as it is managed by the College of Education, not by the Center technical support staff). If you are having trouble with mail.utexas.edu e-mail, you will need to contact the ITS Helpdesk at 475-9400.

Q How do I access my work e-mail from home?AShould we talk about mail servers—how texasreading.org is our mail server, utexas is another, and teachnet is another—and who manages them…?