E-mail & E-Sharing

UConnect - Students

UConnect is the official student e-mail service at the university. It is a Microsoft exchange service, which means you can access it anywhere you have Internet access. And UConnect is more than just e-mail; you can manage and share your calendar, contacts, files, etc. – all within one product.

Student government chose UConnect as their e-mail service not only for the list of services it provides (see list below), but also because 80 percent of companies currently use Microsoft exchange. So, chances are when you graduate from UC, you’ll already know how to use the advanced functions of Exchange required of your first professional job.

Benefits of UConnect

E-mail - 10 gigabytes of e-mail storage per mailbox, 20 megabytes attachment size allowance, extensive mailbox search capabilities and document viewing capabilities (even though you may not have the application loaded on your workstation), premier anti-virus and anti-spam protection on your e-mail, the ability to check other mailboxes such as Yahoo and Gmail via a single mailbox interface, accessibility of your e-mail through all clients and protocols (POP, IMAP, MAPI, and clients such as Entourage, Mozilla Thunderbird, Mac Mail, or Outlook), automatic encryption with SSL security (HTTPS)

Contacts/Address book - View of all faculty, staff, and student contacts in global address books

Calendar - Shared calendar capabilities with other students and eventually with faculty and staff

File Storage and Shared Workspaces - A 7 gigabyte SkyDrive (a file storage and sharing service that can be accessed anywhere with internet), 5 gigabytes of Office Workspace for shared project work

Sync - Mail, Calendar, and contact synchronization via Active Sync for Windows Mobile and iPhone devices

As soon as you're admitted to the university, an e-mail address is created for you. And that address is yours to use even after you graduate.


How do I request a new UConnect account? 

Your UConnect account is created when you are officially admitted into the university. So, if you are a current student, go to http://mail.uc.edu and follow the instructions for a first time login. You should receive a welcome message and further instructions. If this doesn’t happen or you still have questions, please call our Help Desk at 513-556-4357 (HELP).

Current UC employees who register as students need to call the Help Desk (556-4357) and request that a UConnect account be created manually. Recent alumni (those who still have a Central Login service user ID and password) can request that a UConnect account be created by calling the Help Desk.

How do I change my password? 

Password Self Service (PSS) will synchronize your passwords on various systems (such as Blackboard, Exchange Labs, and OneStop), so you can use a single password for accessing almost all UC-related services. Click on https://www.uc.edu/PSS for instructions on how to reset your password.

How do I get my UConnect student e-mail on my smartphone/device? 

We have instruction guides for the following:

Android

iPhone, iTouch, iPad

BlackBerry

If you have another type of smartphone/device and need help, please call our Help Desk at 513-556-4357.

Does UConnect support Mac access? 

Yes. Please see http://help.outlook.com/en-us/140/cc875974.aspx. You'll be asked to log in first, then you will be directed to the Mac help page.

How do I set up my mail client (Outlook, Entourage, etc.) for UConnect access if I do not want to use the Web interface? 

Please see http://help.outlook.com/en-US/140/cc875966.aspx?s=EDU_Org_Own_E14_R4. (Note that using POP or IMAP requires users to connect directly to Exchange Labs, bypassing the single sign-on for authentication.)

Our POP3 service requires that you use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) with the POP and SMTP connection and use SMTP authentication. This ensures that your e-mail address and password are not subject to tampering.

For Outlook, if you are using an Exchange (MAPI) account to connect to Outlook Live, go to Tools -> Account Settings and select the "E-mail" tab. Use the “Repair” button on the account to initiate Outlook’s server discovery process. During this process, you may be prompted to receive server configuration from https://autodiscover-s.outlook.com/autodiscover/autodiscover.xml. You should accept. After completing this process, restart Outlook. If this process doesn't work, please call our Help Desk at 513-556-HELP (4357).

Can I automatically forward my e-mail to another account?  

Yes, but we don’t recommend it. The university strongly urges you to use your UConnect account because we cannot guarantee delivery to external mail sites. E-mail is the primary method of communication between the university and students, and you, as a student, are responsible for reading and responding to e-mails sent to your UConnect address.

However, if you still wish to forward your e-mail:

  • From your Contacts view, set up a new contact for your external e-mail address. (All it needs is the e-mail address and a name.)
  • Go to "Options," and click on the "Organize E-mail" link on the left side of the screen.
  • Delete your existing "Forwarding" rule (if applicable).
  • Click on "New."
  • Select “Apply to All Messages” under “When the message arrives, and…”
  • Select “Redirect the Message to…” under “Do the following…”
  • A Contacts selection window will appear. Click on the "Contacts" view under “My Contacts”  
    on the left side.
  • Select the contact you created in step one, and click the “To” button at the bottom.
  • Click "OK."
  • Click "Save."

This will automatically redirect any incoming messages to the address you specified in step one, leaving the original header information (sender, subject line, etc.) intact.

Be aware that it still leaves the message in your inbox. This could result in your UConnect e-mail box eventually going over quota and going over quota will cause your mailbox to stop receiving e-mail. For more info, click http://help.outlook.com/en-us/141/ms.exch.ecp.learnredirectto.aspx?r=ia 

 

Must I use the Web interface to access my e-mail or can I use other clients, such as POP and IMAP? 

All protocols are currently supported on Outlook Live so you can continue to use your current e-mail client. UCIT recommends that you use the Web-based access to ensure that you do not lose any feature sets available through the GUI (Graphical User Interface). Note that using other desktop clients may result in the loss of some features.

How do I report spam or other abusive e-mails? 

Report abusive emails to Microsoft using this form.

I accidentally deleted my e-mail. How do I get it back? 

UConnect has a retention period of deleted items for 15 days. But 15 days after you delete mail, it is not recoverable. In Outlook Web Access (OWA), highlight deleted items, right click and select “recover deleted items” (last entry on the list).

When I leave the institution, will I lose my e-mail account?  

No. The current policy permits alumni accounts to remain on UConnect.

I’m an employee at the University of Cincinnati. May I have a UConnect account? 

Currently, UConnect mailboxes are designated for eligible student use only. Contract restrictions limit enrollment. Faculty and staff can get free UCMail accounts.

If you are an employee who has just enrolled as a student, call the Help Desk at 513-556-4357 to set up a UConnect account.

Will my account be deleted? Can I request to have my account Deleted? 

We do not actively delete email accounts. We advise you to disable any forwarding rules, or any access from an email account such as GMAIL where you pull the UConnect email into it. Once you have not logged into the account for 6 months, Microsoft will purge the contents to reclaim storage space if the account has not been accessed in a six (6) month period. We advertise these email account as "for life" so by policy we do not delete even upon request.

If I change my password while in UConnect, will it change my access to other services at UC? 

No. Presently (November 2009), password changes on UConnect do not go to the Central Login Service system. Instead, you should initiate password changes using the Password Self-Service site (PSS) at https://www.uc.edu/PSS to ensure password synchronization across UC core systems (Blackboard, OneStop, UConnect, etc.).

Why am I being asked to set up additional account verification information after I already logged in through mail.uc.edu? 

The "mail.uc.edu" is a portal maintained by UC. It redirects a user after you have authenticated to Microsoft Outlook Live for the purpose of a single sign-on. Microsoft Outlook Live requires a user to register the first time you access the account. This is only required once for each user.

How do I get to my SkyDrive so I can use the 25 GB storage? 

Access your SkyDrive from any Web browser by connecting to http://skydrive.live.com. Use your username@mail.uc.edu and central password to access your account.

In Outlook Web Access, I keep getting a light version even though I do not check it. How do I fix this?  

Browsers that are limited to the light version include Safari on Windows, Internet Explorer 6 and earlier, and any browser not on Windows XP, Windows 2003, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, or Mac OS X. To use the complete set of features available in the Outlook Web application, you need to use Internet Explorer 7 or Internet Explorer 8. Most features are also supported in Firefox 3.0.1 on computers running Windows XP, Windows 2003, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, and Windows 7 operating systems, and Safari 3.1 on the Mac OS X operating system.

If you are using a supported browser and still experience problems, go to Options -> Settings -> General. Under "Accessibility," ensure that you have not checked “Use the blind and low vision experience.”

What limits are assigned to my mailbox that I should be aware of? 

Messaging Limits:  
Message Size Limit 25 MB
File attachment size limit 18 MB
File attachment limit 125 attachments
Subject length limit 255 characters
Multipart message limit 250 parts
Embedded message depth limit 30 embedded messages
   
Mailbox Limits:  
Mailbox Quota 10 GB
Mailbox Quota Message 9 GB
Prohibit Send 9.668 GB
Prohibit Receive
9.668 GB
   
Recipient & Sender Limits:  
Recipient limit 100 recipients
Message rate limit 30 messages per minute
Recipient rate limit
250 recipients per day
   
Retention Limits:  
Deleted Items folder retention period Unlimited
Recovery period deleted items 14 days
Junk E-mail folder retention period 30 days

 

How do I report comments or suggestions regarding UConnect features?  

Please send e-mail to technician@uc.edu. We will review your messages and send them on to the Microsoft developers when appropriate.

Still have questions? 

If you are having a problem, please call our Help Desk at 556-HELP (4357) or HelpDesk@uc.edu.


Or, if you a suggestion or comment regarding our service, e-mail us at technician@uc.edu.

  • University of Cincinnati Information Technologies
  • 400 University Hall
  • P.O. Box 210658
  • Cincinnati, OH 45221