Email FAQ

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Last updated: Aug 07, 2024 by Palak Chauhan
6 min read

How do I access my email from home?

For most Undergraduate students, Graduate students, Faculty and Staff

  1. Go to Microsoft 365.

  2. Enter your email address as yourUWuserid@uwaterloo.ca (See Student Email Migration for assistance).

  3. Enter your WatIAM password.

  4. Click Sign in.

Connect users

Some university employees and grad students have email on the Connect server. To access your email from anywhere around the world, including on campus, you can use a web browser such as Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox.

  1. Go to Connect (Outlook Web Access).

  2. Enter your WatIAM/Nexus userid.

  3. Enter your WatIAM/Nexus password.

How do I set a friendly email address?

  1. Go to WatIAM User Access.

  2. Log in with your userid and password.

  3. Click Manage Email Settings .

  4. Under the Friendly Email Address field, select the radio button of the suggested email address.

  5. Click Submit. You will be directed back to the WatIAM homepage with the notification, “The email settings have been received, and are being processed”.

You now have a friendly email address that will forward to your uWaterloo email account!

How do I forward emails? 

For most Undergraduate students, Graduate students, Faculty and Staff

Microsoft 365 (undergraduate students)

Email forwarding can be done as an inbox rule from within Microsoft 365. Here are instructions on setting up forwarding from your Microsoft 365 email account.

How do I stop forwarding my uwaterloo.ca email?

If you have been forwarding all your incoming email to an off-campus account and now wish to use UW's email services, you need to remove any forwarding that has been set up for your account.

WatIAM

These instructions apply only to UW employees who are using Connect as their mail server.

First, check your WatIAM email settings.

  1. Sign into WatIAM.

  2. Click Update Profile.

  3. Look at the Email forward (delivery mailbox): field. If it contains your off-campus email address, change it to (replacing userid with your uwaterloo.ca userid):

    • userid@connect.uwaterloo.ca if you are staff or faculty

  4. Click Save at the bottom of the page.

  5. Click Logout at the top of the page.

Connect Users: Web Interface

These instructions apply only to UW employees who are using Connect as their mail server. 

The Connect server uses an additional set of filtering rules that can be accessed by its native web interface. To disable email forwarding at the server:

  1. Sign in to the Outlook Web Application.

  2. Click Options near the top of the page, then Create an Inbox Rule...

  3. If there are no rules on this page, the server is not forwarding your email on arrival. If there are rules, click on each rule in turn and read the description that comes up on the right side of the page. If any rule includes a Do the following that includes something like redirect the message to 'someone@example.org', click on the X above the rule list when that rule is highlighted. You will see a pop-up dialog that asks Are you sure you want to delete the Inbox rule "rule description"? Click Yes.

  4. There is typically only one forwarding rule on an account. Verify no remaining rules are redirecting email in ways you do not want, then click Sign Out at the top of the page.

Verify your email is being delivered to a uwaterloo.ca server

To verify that email forwarding has been removed from your UW email account:

  1. Send (or ask someone to send) an email to your userid@uwaterloo.ca account.

  2. Use your email client or one of the web interfaces mentioned above (WatIAM, myWaterloo, connect/Outlook Web Application) to read the messages in your UW email account (connect).

  3. If you do not receive it, re-check (using the steps above) to ensure forwarding is not set up.

How do I set up email on my mobile device?

Microsoft 365 (students starting in Fall 2016 or later)

To find out how to set up your mobile device using Microsoft 365, visit IST's page on mobile configuration. 

Connect/Exchange

Connection Type:

Exchange

Email:

youruserid@uwaterloo.ca

Server:

connect.uwaterloo.ca

Domain:

Nexus

Username:

Your WatIAM userid

Password:

Your WatIAM password

The screenshot below shows the connect settings for sample WatIAM userid, 'janedoe':

If you are still having problems configuring your email on your mobile device, you can consult Information Systems and Technology's (IST) page on mobile device support or contact the Arts Computing Office (ACO) Help Desk. 

How do I set a vacation message?

If you will be on vacation or out of the office, you can create an "autoreply" message that will be sent to anyone who sends you an email.

Learn how to set a vacation message

For most Undergraduate students, Graduate students, Faculty and Staff

The following instructions will guide you to set up and manage your autoreply messages through Microsoft 365 or myWaterloo.ca.

Setting up your autoreply message

  1. Log into your Microsoft 365 account.

  2. Click on the Mail icon. 

  3. Click on the Settings icon at the top bar. 

  4. Click on Automatic replies.

  5. Click on Send automatic replies and fill in the details. 

  6. Once you're done, click on OK (at the top on the section).

Setting up your autoreply message through Outlook:

Detailed instructions are available from Microsoft's page on how to use the Out of Office Assistant in Outlook.

Setting your autoreply message through the web interface:

  1. Log into the connect/exchange server, through the Outlook Web App.

  2. Select Options in the upper right corner, and then choose Set Automatic Replies… from the dropdown menu.

  3. Select the Send automatic replies radio button.

  4. Fill in the details (you will need to scroll down for all of the options).

    1. For more information on the various settings, see How to Use Outlook Web Access to Turn On and Turn Off the Out of Office Feature.

  5. Select Save in the lower right corner.

How do I add a shared mailbox?

Which email protection tool does Microsoft 365 use?

As of January 25, 2021, Microsoft 365 will transition from Proofpoint to using Cisco's Email Security (CES) solution.

What is the impact?  

  • This change only applies to Exchange / Microsoft 365 accounts.

  • Student email accounts will also be scanned by the new CES solution. 

  • SPAM email message management will change from the current "quarantine" approach to a "tag and deliver" method:  

    • Quarantine 

      • SPAM messages are sent to the recipient's personal quarantine, not their email account. 

      • There the user can review and release quarantined messages and manage their blocked/safe sender lists.

    • Tag and deliver ​​​​​​​

      • Identified and suspected SPAM messages will be delivered to the recipient’s Junk Email folder.
        Note: Recipients should now check their Junk Email folder when looking for missing or expected email messages. If a message is marked as SPAM in error, the recipient can move the message to their inbox.  ​​​​​​​

      • SPAM tags may be added to the email subject line depending on the nature of the email message, e.g., [SUSPICIOUS]. Visit  Cisco Email Security solution page to view a list of tags and their definitions, known impacts, and other considerations.

 
Why is this change taking place? 

  • Simplified email transit 

  • Consistent SPAM actions for all mailboxes 

  • A single place to check for all email and add/remove safe/blocked senders 

  • Reduced points of potential failure/email outage 

  • Approach is consistent with that used by many popular email systems (e.g., Gmail)  


Action you may need to take after CES is implemented

  • Safe/blocked sender lists previously created in Proofpoint will need to be recreated and managed in Outlook or Outlook Web App (OWA) 

  • You will have access to your personal Proofpoint quarantine until February 28, 2021 

  • You may wish to review existing Outlook rules for SPAM, revising or deleting as appropriate