Easy way:
Go to My Stuff -> Email Forwarding/Vacation Message or click here to get there.
Brower Way:
You now have new vacation tool
http://www.stat.ubc.ca/Computing/
Email forwarding and vacation message (login first)
Notes: You must Login first AND supply passwd one more time
at the bottom "Do It" button
There are 3 category
1) Remove any previously set Email vacation/forwarding
When you come back from vacation, you need to do this
2) Set up your auto-reply message
Before you go on vacation, you need to do this
3) Forward your Email to another address
If you don't want to use our email, (external mail providers: gmail, yahoo...)
You need to do this. Do not "Keep a Copy" since you need to
clean up sometime to avoid email rejection due to "Over quota"
Manual Setup Forwarding Email:
Check if there is a file named ".forward" in your home directory.
$ls -l .forward
If there is no such file, then use any text editor (e.g. vi, emacs) to create the ".forward" file in your home directory.
Log into StatNet server.
$ ssh your_email@stat.ubc.ca
# If you want only forwarding, and don't want a local copy of the message
At your home directory, use any text editor to create the ".forward" file..
$ emacs .forward or vi .forward
your_other@email.address
OR simply run this command
$ echo 'your_other@email.address' >~/.forward
# If you want forwarding, and also keep a local copy of StatNet message. NOT recommended,
$ echo '\user_name,your_other@email.address' >~/.forward
NOTE: the '\' character is important: it disables any aliasing and prevent Email loops.
If there already exists the ".forward" file in your home directory, then it means you already setup e-mail forwarding. You can use any text editor (e.g. vi, emacs) to change the destination e-mail address.
For example, if the destination address in the ".forward" file is abc@gmail.com, and you want to change
the destination address to abcyahoo@yahoo.com. Then you can use any text editor to open the ".forward" file.
Then replace
abc@gmail.com
with
abcyahoo@yahoo.com
To deactivate, remove the above file:
$ rm ~/.forward
Email auto-replies are useful in some circumstances, but the use of this facility is not without risk. If you install an auto-reply to your Email address, please be aware of the following outcomes which you may not have considered.
The main problem associated with auto-reply systems are that they indiscriminately reply to the purported sender. Email is notoriously prone to fraud, and the sender information is frequently forged (or spoofed) by spammers, phishers, Email worms and viruses, and other ne're-do-wells. The result is that your messages could be sent to
- innocent third parties who have had their Email addresses forged;
- Email addresses that collect replies to phishing targets;
- spammers who may collect replies to confirm a working Email address;
- spamtrap addresses owned by blacklist operators -- this is a malicious attempt by an attacker to try and put a mail system onto a public blacklist to cause mail delivery problems.
- a mail domain that is a target of a denial-of service: a malicious party could generate Emails from
Such unintended replies are sometimes called "outscatter" or "backscatter"
Furthermore, even legitimate auto-replies may cause problems, such as
- mail loops: under rare circumstances, two auto-reply systems could lock themselves into a mail loop replying to each other's Email and causing one, or the other's, Email INBOX to fill up.
- mailing list: your reply notice may be sent to a mailing list yuo are subscribed to, and hundreds or thousands of other people who don't care may see your auto-replies.
There are some systems in place, both on our Email system and other mail system, that mitigate these risks:
- an efficient spam/virus filter that drops Email before they can be responded to;
- a sender tracking system that limits auto-replies to a particular Email address to (default) once per day.
- mail loop detectors;
- most blacklist operators are aware of unintentional auto-replies and will consider that before adding to a blacklist;
However, you can further reduce the risk of unintended consequences by
- realistically assessing the nature of Emails you receive and evaluating whether it is of enough importance to necessitate an immediate auto-reply (as opposed to dealing with the Email when you can get to it).
- Using some other mechanism such as Email forwarding or web notice to disseminate your intended notice.
- narrowing the scope of when auto-replies are invoked, such as only during the times when it would be useful, or only to certain senders. Contact the IT staff on how you can achieve this.
- recognizing special circumstances that would make an auto-reply system risky (target of much spam or many mailing lists) and weighing those factors against the benefits of installing an auto-reply.
For anyone has INBOX quota issue, follow these steps to archive/move the entire INBOX to their $home/mail folder so they can deal with it later. The INBOX default quota is 1Gb and the $home default quota is 10Gb.
- Quit all of their email clients (Outlook, Thunderbird, Apple Mail, Webmail etc.)
- Use VPN if user is working outside UBC. Login be.stat.ubc.ca using ssh username@stat.ubc.ca
- We have 2 separate quotas: one for user's $home directory and the other quota is for /var/mail/username (Inbox)
After ssh login, type the below command after the $ sign prompt in red text
Check inbox quota:
Assume user name is daniel:
$ ls -lh /var/mail/daniel
-rw------- 1 daniel faculty 1022M Feb 7 15:29 /var/mail/daniel
The Inbox is 1.2G, over quota of 1GMake sure user has enough $home quota:
$ pwd
/home/staff/username$ du –h .
1.0M ./mail/blah1
112K ./mail/blah2
196K ./mail/blah3
200K ./mail/blah4
1010M ./mail
1010M .This user only uses 1Gb disk for $home and most of the data are in the mail folder so they are OK to do the next step archiving (move) the Inbox.
- Move their INBOX, it will take awhile so be patient. Assume the current date is Jan 23, 2023:
$ mv /var/mail/username mail/Inbox-Jan23-2023
The Inbox should be empty once you move it to Inbox-Jan23-2023. It will NOT show in your email client on the left pane until you do the next step. - Start their email client and subscribe to the new "Inbox-Jan23-2023" and check it to make sure they can see it.
For Thunderbird How to: click here
For Outlook How to: click here
If anyone has trouble having their alias FASmail account forwarded to @stat.ubc.ca, here's user experience reported:
1. Ask UBC IT to created an alias Firstname.Lastname [at] ubc.ca (I didn't want my CWL [at] mail.ubc.ca address distributed widely, since that's my CWL id, and I don't like it being out on the interwebs too much). Make sure you have added the email address you want to forward to into your contact list: after logging in at https://www.mail.ubc.ca using your CWL account, access People menu from the top left Menu icon, then add a new entry for "Your contacts"
2. Created an Inbox rule (go to the little gear wheel on the top right of the web interface www.mail.ubc.ca) to have my FASemail forwarded to @stat.ubc.ca *BUT* there is a trick! Here's what took IT central 2 weeks of emails back and forth to figure out:
3. Split the rule into two: one to forward emails only, and another one to delete the forwarded emails, and make sure the "delete" rule is set up after the forward one.
4. If you don't do 3 above, you will have your "alias" email forwarded, but email to your CWL [at] mail.ubc.ca will disappear in thin air
5. With 3, all my FASemail (those sent to CWL [at] mail.ubc.ca and also those sent to Firstname.Lastname [at] ubc.ca) get forwarded to @stat.ubc.ca
Here is the UBC IT Howto: https://web.it.ubc.ca/forms/fasmail/
Browser way:
Go to My Stuff -> Email Forward/Vacation Message
Notes:
- If you are from outside of UBC you will need to use UBC VPN.
- You must Login first AND supply passwd one more time at the bottom "Do It" button
- If you see a button to enable "TLS 1.0 and TLS 1.1 ..." please click to proceed.
There are 3 category
1) Remove any previously set Email vacation/forwarding
When you come back from vacation, you need to do this
2) Set up your auto-reply message
Before you go on vacation, you need to do this
3) Forward your Email to another address
If you don't want to use our email, (external mail providers: gmail, yahoo...)
You need to do this. Do not "Keep a Copy" since you need to
clean up sometime to avoid email rejection due to "Over quota"
Manual way:
If you are using Bogofilter for spam filtering, read the bogofilter FAQ.
The unix command
vacation
is used to setup automatic response to e-mail sent to you.
The "vacation" command will generate two files in your home directory:
.vacation.msg
and
.forward
The file ".vacation.msg" contains the message which will be automatically sent out. The file ".forward" activates the vacation program.
If you already have the ".forward" file, then you need to rename it since the "vacation" command will overwrite the current " .forward" file.
The followings describe the procedure:
- Enter the unix command
vacation
- The unix will give the following information:
This program can be used to answer your mail automatically when you go away on vacation. You have a message file in /home/yourusername/.vacation.msg. Would you like to see it?
- Type the character "y" and the "Enter" key.
- The unix will give the following information:
Subject: away from my mail I will not be reading my mail for a while. Your mail regarding "$SUBJECT" will be read when I return. Would you like to edit it?
- Type the character "y" if you want to change the default automatic response message. Type the character "n" if you want to use the default message.
- It is customary to tell people either how long you will be gone or when you plan to return.
- Do not edit the lines beginning with the text "From:" or "Subject:".
- Leave at least one blank line between the "Subject:" line and the body of your message.
- Do not remove "$SUBJECT" text from the message.
- If you type "y", then the Unix will give the following information:
You have a message file in /home/yourusername/.vacation.msg. Would you like to see it?
- If you type "y" to the above question, then the Unix will give the automatic response message again:
Subject: away from my mail I will not be reading my mail for a while. Your mail regarding "$SUBJECT" will be read when I return. Would you like to edit it?
- Type "n" and the Unix will give the following information:
To enable the vacation feature a ".forward" file is created. Would you like to enable the vacation feature?
- Type "y" to enable the vacation feature. And the Unix will give the following information:
Vacation feature ENABLED. Please remember to turn it off when you get back from vacation. Bon voyage.
Now everyone who sends you an e-mail will receive the automatic response.
If you use "dtmail", then you can setup vacation feature easily.
- At unix prompt "$" type:
/usr/dt/bin/dtmail&
- From the Option menu, select the Vacation Message... submenu.
- A dialog window will pop up. Turn on the Vacation option and other features you like.
- Click the Ok button.
Easy way:
Go to My Stuff -> Email Forwarding/Vacation Message or click here to get there.
Brower Way:
You now have new vacation tool
http://www.stat.ubc.ca/Computing/
Email forwarding and vacation message (login first)
Notes: You must Login first AND supply passwd one more time
at the bottom "Do It" button
There are 3 category
1) Remove any previously set Email vacation/forwarding
When you come back from vacation, you need to do this
2) Set up your auto-reply message
Before you go on vacation, you need to do this
3) Forward your Email to another address
If you don't want to use our email, (external mail providers: gmail, yahoo...)
You need to do this. Do not "Keep a Copy" since you need to
clean up sometime to avoid email rejection due to "Over quota"
Manual way:
To turn off the vacation feature, just re-run the "vacation" program.
- Type the Unix command:
vacation
- The Unix will give the following information:
This program can be used to answer your mail automatically when you go away on vacation. You have a message file in /home/yourusername/.vacation.msg. Would you like to see it?
- Type "n" and the Unix will give the following information:
Would you like to edit it?
- Type "n" and the Unix will give the following information:
You have a .forward file in your home directory containing: yourusername, "|/usr/bin/vacation yourusername" Would you like to remove it and disable the vacation feature? - Type "y" to disable the vacation feature. The Unix will show the following information:
Back to normal reception of mail.