Read, search and filter mail in webmail

This guide covers everything about reading: opening messages, attachments, images, meeting invites, read receipts and quick summaries. The second half shows how to find a message fast with search operators.

Before you start#

Sign in to webmail. The Webmail guide names the areas of the screen used below.

Read a message#

1. Click a folder in the sidebar (for example Inbox).
2. Click a message in the list. It opens in the reading pane and is marked as read.
3. Use j and k on the keyboard to move to the next and previous message, and u or Esc to close it.

To mark it unread again, click Read / Unread on the ribbon or right-click → Mark unread.

What the reading pane shows#

• From, To, Cc and the date (times are shown in India Standard Time).
• Trust chips next to the sender: Verified (passed SPF/DKIM/DMARC), Failed auth, Caution (possible impersonation) and External sender (outside your domain). See Security and privacy.
• Unsubscribe for newsletters that support one-click unsubscribe. Click it to stop that mailing list.
• Conversation: other messages with the same subject are listed below the message. Click one to open it.

Attachments#

Attachments are listed above the message with their size.

• Download saves the file.
• Open preview shows images and PDFs in a viewer inside webmail, without downloading. Press Esc to close it.

Images in messages#

To protect your privacy, pictures loaded from the internet are not shown automatically. That stops senders from tracking when you open their mail. Click Show images above the message to load them for that message only.

Meeting invites#

When a message contains a calendar invite (an .ics file), a bar says "This message contains a meeting invite". Click Add to calendar to put the event in your webmail calendar.

Read receipt requests#

If the sender asked to be told when you read the message, a bar offers Send read receipt or Not now. Nothing is sent unless you click Send read receipt.

Quick summary#

Click Summarize above the message for a short overview of the key sentences. On FiniteHost this is a quick automatic extract, not an AI-written summary, so always read the message itself for anything important.

Category tabs#

In the Inbox, the tabs All, Primary, Updates, Social and Promotions sort incoming mail automatically, based on the sender and subject. All always shows everything. Categories only change what you see; they do not move messages between folders.

Search#

1. Click the search box at the top (or press /).
2. Type words from the sender, subject or message, and press Enter.
3. Click the × in the search box to clear the search.

By default the search looks in the current folder. Click All mail next to the search box to search across Inbox, Sent, Archive, Spam, Junk and Trash at once (up to the 100 newest matches). Click it again to go back to folder search.

Search operators#

Combine words with these operators. Spaces separate terms; every term must match.

Examples:

from:sharmatraders subject:invoice has:attachment
is:unread to:priya
subject:vendor review

The last example finds messages whose subject contains "vendor" and that mention "review". Operator values are single words: write subject:vendor, not subject:"vendor review".

All inboxes#

If you are signed in to several mailboxes (Multiple mailboxes), View → All inboxes shows the newest mail from all of them in one list.

Troubleshooting#

What's next#

• Organise your mail
• Rules, filters and saved searches
• Write and send mail