How does folder sharing work?

The Cyrus IMAP server (which webmail uses to store email) supports shared folders. By default, a folder is accessible only by a single account. But, access can be added to any folder allowing another account to read, and/or write files in the folder. Shared folders are a good way to work on projects, or to allow multiple people to check and respond to email.

To share a folder click on the ``Folder Manager'' link. At the top (and bottom) of the page is a "Shared" button. Clicking it opens a folder access editor window.

To edit the folder access, select the folder from the drop down list. The current access will be displayed. If you have administrative access to the folder, either because it is one of your own folders or somebody else granted you administrator access, you can edit the current access.

To remove access, click the checkbox next to the RCS id and click the Apply button.

To add access, enter the RCS user id of the person who you would like to have access, and click the radio button for the type of access. Access types are:

Read:Read message in the folder.
Append:Read messages, and add new message to the folder
Write:Read messages, add new message and delete message. Note, deleted messages are removed from the folder. Write permission also allows creating sub-folders of the shared folder
All:All of the above, and change access permissions for the folder.

Once the RCSid and permissions are selected, click the "Apply" button. The list of "Current Access" will be updated to reflect any changes.

Note: The following will only work with accounts that are forwarded directly to the IMAP server.

Finally you can allow anyone to send email directly to a folder by checking the "Allow email postings to selected mailbox" checkbox, and clicking the "Apply" button. This will add an "Anyone post" permission on the mailbox.

Anyone post permission allows so-called "plus" addressing to send email directly to a folder without defining a filter. For example, if Professor Jane Smith (rcsid smithj) would like her class to send assignments directly into her "math2800" folder she would first create the folder, and set "Allow email postings..." using the "Shared" popup. Once permissions are set, email addressed to: smithj+math2800@rpi.edu would be delivered to the "math2800" folder.

If Professor Smith tought several courses, and wished to file them under a "courses" folder, she can make, for example "courses.math2800", "courses.math2940", and so on. The email addresses would then be: smithj+courses.math2800@rpi.edu, etc.

Note: The folder names must be all lowercase for plus-address filing to work.. Also, as noted above, this only works if your email is delivered directly to the IMAP server, instead of the POP3 server. See: Can I use Outlook (or another email client) to read my WebMail email? for details on forwarding your email directly to the IMAP server. (Delivery to IMAP will be the default when the POP3 server is retired.)

Last modified: January 31, 2006