Using IMP

IMP is the IMAP webMail Program (aka, Internet Messaging Program), and provides a secure, web-browser based means for accessing your C.S. e-mail from outside (or inside) the department via secure HTTP and IMAP. IMP provides a simple and attractive interface to your INBOX and other mail collections, and can be used for both reading and sending e-mail.

Features

IMP is not as feature-rich as some mail clients, but it can provide a useful and secure connection to your e-mail when all you have available to you is a graphical web browser, such as Netscape Communicator or Internet Explorer, which supports an encrypted (ie, secure) connection.

IMP supports the following features:

Folder and mailbox browsing
Message compose and send
Compose spell checker
Contacts (address book)
Folder management
Preferences
Various languages

The only storable preferences currently supported are: full name, e-mail address, language, and signature.

Sent mail (messages that you send) is saved in a mailbox named sent-mail in the selected mail folder collection (a directory, usually mail/ If you have selected a different folder collection, the sent-mail mailbox will be created or appended in that directory. Currently, IMP does not provide a preference selection for the name or location of the sent-mail mailbox. If you prefer to use a different name such as outbox you can make sent-mail be a symbolic link to outbox, and sent messages will be appended to that mailbox. For example:

	% cd ~/mail
	% ln -s outbox sent-mail

Requirements

To run IMP, you will need:

A GUI web browser that supports tables, JavaScript, and SSL (Secure Socket Layer)
JavaScript enabled (set in your browser Preferences)

Usage

To use IMP, you can go to http://www.cs.duke.edu/login, and click on IMP. Or, go directly to https://login.cs.duke.edu/horde/imp/. You will then need to login with your CS UNIX username and password.

If the CS IMP server is not accessible, you can also use https://my.duke.edu/, and select Computer Science in the pull-down Server menu. This provides a secure connection to the CS IMAP mail server, with an identical interface. You will also here need to login with your CS UNIX username and password in order to access the CS IMAP server.

Please refer to the IMP New User Introduction page for additional information.

If you prefer to use a familiar, text-oriented e-mail client such as pine, elm, or Mail, you can run these via a MindTerm ssh window. For more information, please see the Using MindTerm FAQ.

Troubleshooting

Windows such as those for composing messages do not open.
Make sure that JavaScript is enabled.

The messages listing often takes a long time to refresh.
This might be because you have many mailboxes or a complex mail folder setup (with lots of subdirectories). One way around this is to enter something like tmp/ in the Folders field of the IMP login dialog box. (If you do this, you won't be able to access your other mailboxes.)

Details

We are currently running IMP version 2.2.7. More information is available at http://www.horde.org/imp/.

Our IMP installation is configured to only allow connection to the CS IMAP e-mail server.

IMP is written in PHP, and uses a mySQL database back end.

If you have any questions please contact the Lab Staff.