Email Programs

CUbhis highly recommends that anyone with a Columbia email account use a program such as Thunderbird, Outlook or AppleMail on their primary computer, rather than only accessing your messages via CubMail. This allows you to used advanced email tools such as sorting and storing messages on your computer's hard drive, and the ability to send larger attachments with a message.

The Columbia mail servers are managed by CUIT on the Morningside campus, however CUMC Faculty, Staff and Students should still contact the Information Commons with any questions or problems regarding their email. We have the necessary information and access to troubleshoot email problems, and are also aware of any special issues that may effect accounts at CUMC. For more detailed information on Columbia email including how to configure and use an email program on your computer, please select the appropriate link:

If you are still not sure about using an email program, please read the following responses to common concerns:

• I need to access my email from multiple computers.
  We recommend that you use an approved email program on your primary computer and set it up as an IMAP account. By default, IMAP leaves messages on the mail server, which means you can access them from other computers via CubMail or by an email program on the other system that is configured for your account. You can also set up your email as a POP account; by default POP removes your messages from the Columbia mail servers and downloads them to your computer, however there are configuration options that you can set to have the program save copies of your messages on the mail server as well.
• CubMail has all of the advanced features that I need, such as an address book, filters, and folders.
  True, but the features are not as advanced. Backing up your email messages and sending large attachments (CubMail allows a message plus its attachment to be up to 3MB, while using an email program allows for up to 10MB) are not as easy with CubMail, which is not intended to be a full-featured email program.
• I don't have time to learn to use an email program.
  While learning to use a program can initially be time consuming, the access to extra features tend to make up for any learning curve. A lot of email programs function in similar ways, so much of what you learn will translate to other programs. There are also a number of great tutorials available for Columbia's approved email programs, and the Information Commons can work with you to schedule free specialized classes for any group of 5 or more CUMC Faculty, Staff or Students that want to learn a specific program.
• I'm not sure what email program to use.
  There are a number of supported email programs guaranteed to work with Columbia's mail servers. Free programs include Thunderbird and Outlook Express. If you've used Netscape before, Thunderbird is almost exactly the same. If you're more familiar with Microsoft programs such as Word, you may be more comfortable with Outlook. AppleMail is free on Macintosh computers and is very intuitive and easy to use. If you have the Microsoft Office Suite of programs, Outlook Professional is usually included in this. Outlook Professional's calendar can also be used as the program to connect to your Oracle Calendar if you have an Oracle account.
• I was already using Netscape / Mulberry and heard it's no longer supported, what should I do?
  Both Netscape Communicator (the email client) and Mulberry are not supported because their parent companies no longer produce or support the programs. If you were using Netscape, you can switch to Thunderbird which is very similar. We'd also recommend Thunderbird for anyone previously using Mulberry, however please read the information immediately above for more details.
• I'd like to use an email program that's not officially supported by CUIT.
  We strongly recommend that you use one of CUIT's supported programs. CUIT manages the Columbia mail servers and tests to make sure that officially supported programs will work when any upgrades or changes need to be made on the servers. The Information Commons help desk may offer limited troubleshooting assistance if you decide to use an unsupported program, but you may run into problems caused by the fact that the program you've chosen does not work well with Columbia's servers.li>