UMass Boston Email FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions about UMass Boston Email
Following are some frequently asked questions about using the UMass Boston Office 365 service. If you are a UMass Boston student, faculty member, or staff member and do not have an email address, contact the IT Service Desk.
1. What services are included with my UMass Boston email account?
Your email account at UMass Boston provides several online resources and tools. These include:
- OneDrive for cloud storage and file sharing.
- Microsoft 365 (Office) apps accessible online.
- OneDrive applications compatible with Mac, Windows, and iOS.
- The complete Office suite for both Mac and Windows.
- Office applications specifically for iPad, which can be downloaded from the Apple App Store.
- Microsoft Teams is a collaboration app.
In addition, your UMass Boston email account gives you access to WISER, Blackboard, LinkedIn Learning, wifi on campus (eduroam), printing, Healey Library electronic resources such as e-books, e-journals, streaming media, databases and indexes (for current students, current staff and faculty, and retired faculty only), the UMass Boston WordPress platform.
2. How do I log on to webmail?
To access your UMass Boston email, open a web browser and navigate to webmail.umb.edu. Here, you'll be required to log in with your username and password, followed by a secondary authentication step for added security. For a step-by-step guide on setting up this Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) process, consult the available MFA setup documentation.
If you are unsure of your email address, you can use our Email Lookup Tool.
Can‘t log in? Call (617.287.5220) or visit the IT Service Desk.
3. What is my email username and display name? Can I change them?
Your display name is generally your legal name as entered in HR (for employees) or WISER (in the “Primary Name” field). Your username (the part before the @ sign) is usually your first name + a dot (period) + your last name followed by three numbers (for students). Example: Sandy.Beach001. In some cases, this would be too long, so we use just your first initial in place of your first name. The system has a limitation of 20 characters before the “@umb.edu” part of the address.
For information on name changes, including having your "chosen name" used on class rosters and our email system, please see the University's official Change of Name page on the Office of the Registrar's web site.
4. How do I change my password?
Use the UMass Boston Self-Service Password Management page
Log in with your campus user ID (your email address without the @umb.edu) and password
5. What is the new “Clutter" feature for? How do I turn it off?
Clutter is similar to Junk (spam) in that it filters and prioritizes items in your inbox. We have disabled this feature and Microsoft appears to be phasing it out. To learn more, including how to turn it off, see Using Clutter to prioritize your inbox.
6. How do I set up email on my phone?
See one of the following:
Set up a mobile device using Office 365
Set up email on an iPhone or iPad
Set up mail on an Android phone or tablet
7. How do I set up the email program on my computer?
See one of the following:
Set up Microsoft Outlook for Windows
Set up email in Mac OS X Mail
Set up email in Outlook for Mac
Use POP or IMAP to connect to Office 365
Note: We recommend using Exchange mode in Outlook or Apple Mail because the setup is much easier: sending and receiving mail, contacts, and calendar setup are all done in one step.
8. How do I avoid scams sent to my email?
See our phishing page for tips and see our Phishing Wall of Shame for examples of actual scam emails received at UMass Boston.
9. Why am I receiving a “Your Account Has Been Locked” error?
To enhance security and prevent unauthorized access, your account will be locked out for thirty (30) minutes after five (5) failed login attempts. This measure is crucial for protecting your personal and institutional data from potential fraud.
10. What are the limitations on my account? Can UMass Boston change these?
Here are the current limits for Office 365 email. These are set by Microsoft and we cannot change any of them.
- Mail storage: 50 gigabytes (more than 50,000 megabytes!)
- Maximum size of attachment sent/receive: 25 megabytes
- Maximum number of recipients per message: 500
- Maximum number of recipients per day: 10,000 (e.g. 20 messages with 500 recipients each)
These are very high limits, but in a few rare cases, you may encounter one of them, especially if you frequently send emails to large numbers of recipients. If you reach 10,000 recipients in a day, your email will be locked for 24 hours by Microsoft and we will not be able to unlock it!
If you need more functionality than a distribution list, such as the ability to include a non-UMass Boston email address, you can create an Office 365 Group.
If you need more information, please contact the IT Service Desk regarding alternative methods of sharing large files (OneDrive) or sending large numbers of email messages.
11. Can I forward my email to another address?
Yes, but we do not recommend it. Some email providers (e.g. Gmail) have very strict junk mail filtering and will sometimes treat important messages forwarded from the UMass Boston email domain (umb.edu) as junk or delete them completely. We can only guarantee delivery of your umb.edu email if you leave it in your UMass Boston inbox. In the same way, if something goes wrong, we can only trace and troubleshoot email delivery if it is from umb.edu to umb.edu. If it leaves our domain, we have no control over it and no ability to see what happened to it.
To set up forwarding, follow the instructions here: Forward email to another email account. We recommend that you keep a copy in your UMass Boston inbox in case the destination blocks or deleted the message.
Please test to make sure the forward is working, as Microsoft does not verify the account you entered!
If you do set up forwarding, don't forget your username and password, as you will continue to need those for Wiser, Blackboard, etc.
12. I am graduating. Can I keep my account?
Graduates can access their email accounts for two years, allowing them to log in to WISER for GPA checks, transcript requests, and more. However, international STEM students may retain access for three years to meet U.S. government reporting requirements. After this period, the accounts are deleted. To order transcripts please visit UMass Boston's transcript ordering page.
If you want to keep your email address, you can request an Alumni Forward. This allows you to keep your UMass Boston email address so that mail sent to that address can be forwarded to another address you own. Be sure to back up any mail you want to keep before requesting this! (See instructions.) Alumni forwarding only gives you the address, not the inbox or any other service provided by UMass Boston, such as Microsoft Office or OneDrive storage.
How to request an Alumni Forward
13. I am retiring. Can I keep my account?
Yes. just contact the IT Service Desk before your last day so we can arrange for this before your account is deleted. You will still lose access to some UMass Boston services for active employees, but keep your email address, inbox, mail, etc.
14. Can I share my calendar or have someone else manage it for me?
Yes, see Sharing your calendar in Outlook Web App or Allow someone else to manage your mail and calendar.
15. Where can I learn more about using the features of Office 365 and Microsoft Office?
Microsoft has many tutorials on using their products and services here: Office training and tutorials.
In addition, UMass Boston users have access to video-based training at LinkedIn Learning. Log in with your full UMass Boston email address and password, and you'll find tens of thousands of videos on numerous topics.