Receipts, priority, confidential mail, invites and mail merge

Beyond a normal message, FiniteHost Mail can mark priority, ask for receipts, send a confidential message as a secure link, send a calendar invitation, and send one personalised copy to each person on a list. This guide explains each, and what it can and cannot do once the message leaves your mailbox.

Before you start#

You know how to write a message (Write and send mail). Most options here are in the advanced mail options bar of the compose window. To show it, click ↗ (full-screen compose) or right-click inside the compose window → Advanced mail options.

Priority#

In the advanced options bar, choose Normal, High or Low priority. High priority adds the standard "Importance: high" marking, which Outlook and many other apps show as a red exclamation mark. It does not make the message travel faster. Use it sparingly; recipients learn to ignore senders who mark everything urgent.

Read receipts and delivery receipts#

• Read receipt asks the recipient's mail app to tell you when the message is opened. The recipient's app usually asks them first, and they can say no; many apps (including Gmail) do not support it at all. A missing receipt does not mean the message was not read.
• Delivery receipt asks the receiving server to confirm delivery. Most servers today ignore this request.

To request either, click its button in the advanced options bar before sending. Receipts arrive as normal messages in your inbox.

When you receive a message that requests a read receipt, webmail asks: Send read receipt or Not now. Nothing is sent unless you agree.

Protection flags#

The advanced bar also has Encrypt, No reply, No forward, Premium mail, Password protected view (with a Password hint field) and Privacy reveal view.

Confidential messages (secure link)#

A confidential message is not sent as normal email. The recipient gets a short email with a secure link; the content stays on the FiniteHost webmail server and can expire. It works for any recipient, including Gmail and Outlook users.

1. Press Ctrl+K (or Cmd+K) and choose Confidential message.
2. Enter the Recipient email, a Subject and the Confidential message text.
3. Optional: set Expires to a date and time. After that, the link shows "This secure message has expired".
4. Click Send secure link.

The recipient receives "priya@acme.in sent you a confidential message" with a link starting https://webmail.finitehost.com/m/s/. Opening the link shows the message in the browser.

Meeting invites#

Send a calendar invitation that works with Google Calendar, Outlook and Apple Calendar:

1. Press Ctrl+K → Meeting invite.
2. Fill in Meeting title, Attendee email, Starts and Ends, and optionally Location or meeting link and Notes.
3. Click Send invite.

The attendee receives an invitation they can add to their calendar. When someone sends you an invite, open it and click Add to calendar (Calendar, notes and tasks).

Mail merge#

Mail merge sends one personalised copy per recipient, for example a monthly statement addressed to each customer by name. Each recipient sees only their own address.

1. Press Ctrl+K → Mail merge.
2. In Recipients, either type one email address per line, or paste a CSV whose first line is a header that includes email (example below).
3. Write the Subject and Message. Use {{column}} tags to fill in values from your columns, such as Invoice for {{company}} and Hi {{name}},.
4. Click Preview first and check a few recipients' versions.
5. Click Send merge. The status bar counts progress.

A recipient list in CSV form, with columns you can use as {{name}} and {{company}}:

email,name,company
asha@acme.co,Asha,Acme
ravi@globex.in,Ravi,Globex

Up to 200 recipients per merge. Merged messages are sent as plain text.

Troubleshooting#

What's next#

• Undo, schedule and Outbox
• Contacts, groups and directory
• Security and privacy in webmail