FatCow Web Hosting & Domain Names

The difference between an email client and webmail client

An email client is a program that is used to access email. Email clients can be located either locally on a computer or on the internet (clients based on the internet are known as "webmail clients").

An email client typically provides more options for mail management than a webmail client, and also has the ability to work offline. Common email clients include Outlook, Apple Mail, and Thunderbird.

A webmail client allows you to access your mail from anywhere, requiring only an internet browser. Common webmail clients include AtMail, SquirrelMail, Gmail, Hotmail, and Yahoo Mail.

Check your email over the web

There are two ways to check your mail over the Web:

• Without logging into your control panel, or having any access to your hosting account:

1. Go to webmail.domain, where domain is any domain in your hosting account.
   
   Example: webmail.FlowersByLisa.info
   where FlowersByLisa.info is one of the domains in your hosting account
   
   
2. Log in:
   
   • Enter the specific mailbox (full address) - example: sales@FlowersByLisa.info
   • Enter the mailbox password (the mailbox password can be reset from MailCentral only)
   
   OR
   

• Access your mailbox through MailCentral in the hosting account control panel:

1. Log in to your control panel, and go to MailCentral
2. Select the mailbox you wish to check and click Edit. The Address management page is displayed.
   
3. Expand the Mailbox Delivery section, and click Webmail. The webmail client of choice (either Atmail or SquirrelMail) for this mailbox opens.
   

Both of these options will require you to log in to the actual mailbox. You need to use the specific email address that you're checking (or the mailbox name) along with its password to access webmail.

Switch between webmail clients in your FatCow hosting account

Included in most FatCow hosting accounts are three webmail clients: AtMail, SquirrelMail, and Open-Xchange. All include rich functionality and multiple features for accessing your email online in your control panel. Users have the ability to switch between these webmail clients to decide which is the best fit for their webmail needs.

NOTE: Recently created hosting accounts only feature the Open-Xchange webmail client.

To switch between available webmail clients:

1. Log in to your control panel.
2. Scroll down to the Email heading, then click the Mail Tool Settings icon.
3. Select the radio button next to the webmail client that you want to use, then click Change Settings to save your selection.

Alternatively, you can access the Mail Tool Settings page by clicking this link.

NOTE: Switching between webmail clients will not transfer address book or calendar information. Please refer to the Moving from AtMail/SquirrelMail into Open-Xchange knowledgebase article for more information on how to export this data when switching between webmail clients.

Switch to a 3rd party webmail client

To switch to using a 3rd party webmail client (such as Gmail, Yahoo Mail, or Hotmail) for managing your FatCow email, you can create a forwarding address to send all future mail to that new webmail client. Unfortunately, any existing email or calendar settings stored in your FatCow hosting account must be manually moved to the new 3rd party webmail client.

To forward mail to a 3rd person webmail client, please refer to the Creating an Email Forward Knowledgebase article .