Desktop Email Clients for Your CITES Express Email Account

This page contains information about which desktop email clients can be used with CITES Express Email at the University of Illinois.

Your CITES Express Email account can always be accessed from the Express Email web interface, which is helpful when you travel or need to check your email from multiple computers. If you have a personal or office computer, you might want to consider using a desktop email client for additional functionality and convenience. This web page will help you find important information on choosing and setting up a desktop email client.

Choosing a desktop email client

You have two decisions to make when it comes to choosing a desktop email client:

Which desktop email client?

The term desktop email client refers to the program that you will use to access your CITES Express Email account. A variety of desktop email clients are available; however, most offer the same basic functions. Many, if not most, email clients are capable of connecting to your CITES Express Email account. Here is a partial list of email clients known to work with CITES Express Email:

Information about these email programs and how to obtain them can be found on the web. Microsoft Outlook is available with the Microsoft Office software package and Apple Mail is already installed on most Mac computers. As you consider your options, please note that the CITES Help Desk supports Microsoft Outlook, Apple Mail, and Mozilla Thunderbird, and is best equipped to address technical issues if you are using one of these email clients. Detailed directions on configuring these clients are available below.

Which email protocol?

The term email protocol refers to how your desktop email client will interact with the CITES Express Email server. Two protocols are available: POP and IMAP. You choose which one you would like to use when you set up your desktop email client for the first time.

POP will send your messages to your inbox and leave them on your hard drive; this will allow you to read messages when your computer is not connected to the Internet. You can also select for POP to leave a copy of your messages on the server for a certain number of days, allowing you to access messages still in your inbox from other computers.

IMAP gives you access to messages in your inbox and other folders, but retains the messages on the server. This option allows you access to all your folders from any computer with an Internet connection. Because the messages stay on the server, you will eventually run out of space in your account unless you periodically delete messages and empty your trash, or save them to your local computer. Desktop email clients usually allow you to simply click and drag messages from your folders on the server to folders stored locally on your computer so that your messages do not take up space on the server.

Note to those new to IMAP: When you use an IMAP client, you are accessing your email directly from the server (unlike with POP). If you delete messages from inside your desktop email client and empty your trash, they are permanently deleted from the server. Similarly, if you log in to the Express Email web interface and delete messages, they will no longer appear in your deskop email client because they are not on the server. Use caution when deleting your email messages, as they might be the only copy you have. You can click and drag messages from your server folders to your local folders if you want to archive your email and free up space in your account. Please view Managing Your Quota after you've configured your desktop email client for information about safely archiving your email.

If you are unsure which email protocol is best for your needs, see the interactive guide Choosing How to Access your CITES Express Email Account.

Configuring your desktop email client

Once you've chosen your desktop email client and decided which email protocol to use, you will need to configure the client to access your Express Email account.

Instructions for supported email clients (Apple Mail, Microsoft Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird)

Those who are using an email client supported by the CITES Help Desk can follow specific configuration instructions:

For Mac OS:

For Windows:

Note: Eudora is no longer supported by the CITES Help Desk. However, archived configuration instructions are available:

Instructions for other email clients

Because of the abundance of email programs available on the web, CITES does not offer specific configuration instructions for email clients not supported by the CITES Help Desk. However, the required information that needs to be entered when you set up your email client (including those of handheld devices such as PDAs and smart phones) to access your CITES Express Email account is as follows:

If the email client asks for... ...then enter the following:
Your username, user id, or login Your NetID
Your password Your CITES Express Email Password
Your email address Your NetID@illinois.edu email address
Your incoming mail server express.cites.uiuc.edu
Your outgoing SMTP server The outgoing SMTP server of your computer's Internet service provider (if you are using a campus computer, UIUCnet Wireless, or VPN, then it's express-smtp.cites.uiuc.edu)
Your security settings: Secure Socket Layers (SSL) Enable Secure Socket Layers (SSL) for your incoming mail server only.

Note: The email client must support secure POP or IMAP to connect to CITES Express Email.