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Your Messages : Sending : Composing : Getting Started

Sending messages

Here's a guide to what you'll need to do in order to send a message in Virgin Media Mail :

The essentials

  • Click the Compose Mail link on any Virgin Media Mail screen (it's on the left, under the Virgin Media Mail logo).
  • Enter your recipient's email address. You can type the address in the 'To:' field, or find the address in your Contacts list.
  • Enter a subject for your message in the 'Subject:' field.
  • Write your message! Just click in the large field and type away.
  • When you're done composing, click the Send button (located just above the 'To:' field). You'll see a confirmation at the top of the window that your message was sent.

Extras

  • You can change the formatting, font, and colour of your message text using the tools located above the compose window. You can also attach files.
  • We suggest using the carbon copy feature when you'd like to include additional recipients whose responses are welcome but not required. Display this field by clicking Add Cc. The blind carbon copy field (click Add Bcc to display) lets you hide recipients' addresses and names from one another.
  • When you begin to type an address in the 'To:,' 'Cc:,' or 'Bcc:' fields, Virgin Media Mail will suggest complete addresses from your Contacts list.
  • As you compose a message, we'll automatically save drafts every few minutes so you can leave your message and come back to it later before sending it out. You can also click the Save Now button at any time to save what you've written.

Adding a signature

A signature is a bit of personalised text (such as your contact information or a favourite quote) that is automatically inserted at the bottom of every message you send.

To create a signature:

  1. Click Settings.
  2. Enter your new signature text in the box at the bottom of the page next to the Signature option. As you type, the radio button will shift from No Signature to the text box.
  3. Click Save Changes.

Virgin Media Mail adds your signature in grey at the very bottom of your message. Signatures are separated from the rest of your message by two dashes.

If you don't want your signature to appear on a specific message, you can delete it manually before sending the message. Just highlight the text and delete it before sending.

Virgin Media Mail does not support rich text formatting, graphics, or HTML in your signature.

Formatting, fonts, and colours

You can customise Virgin Media Mail messages with rich formatting, add colour to your greetings, underline key points, or make your words bold. Here's how to enhance your messages:

  1. Click Compose Mail at the top of any Virgin Media Mail page.
  2. Click the icon for the formatting feature you'd like to use in the formatting toolbar above the compose window. If you don't see any icons, click Rich formatting >> to display all formatting options.
  3. Type your message! (Please note that Virgin Media Mail doesn't recognise HTML tags inserted in the body of a message.)

If you decide you'd like to write a message in plain text format, just click << Plain text along the top of the compose window.

Virgin Media Mail's Formatting Options
BoldBold
bold all or some of your message
ItalicsItalics
italicise all or some of your message
UnderlineUnderline
underline all or some of your message
FontFont
select a special font
Font SizeFont Size
change the font size of all or some text
Font ColorFont Colour
change the colour of all or some text
Background ColorHighlight Colour
highlight the text of a message
Remove FormattingRemove Formatting
remove formatting from selected text
Hyperlink TextHyperlink Text
hyperlink the selected text
Numbered ListNumbered List
create a numbered list in your message
Bulleted ListBulleted List
create a bulleted list in your message
Indent LessIndent Less
move text closer to the left of the page
Indent MoreIndent More
indent text further to the right of the page
Quote TextQuote Text
format a block of text as a quote
Left AlignLeft Align
align text along the left side of the page
Centre AlignCentre Align
align text in the centre of the page
Right AlignRight Align
align text along the right side of the page
Right AlignRight to left*
changes the directionality of text composing
Right AlignLeft to right*
changes the directionality of text composing

Rich formatting is not available in Virgin Media Mail's basic HTML view or in your signature settings. At this time there is no way to save customised formatting options as a default Virgin Media Mail setting. If you are using Safari, you will not have rich text formatting features.

* Directionality controls are only available in the Arabic and Hebrew interfaces.

Auto-complete

When you type an address in the To:, Cc:, or Bcc: field of a message you're composing, Virgin Media Mail will suggest addresses from your Contacts list. Hit Enter to choose the name at the top of the list, or scroll down to choose a different address. If Virgin Media Mail doesn't suggest the address you want, just continue typing.

Virgin Media Mail will first suggest the addresses you send mail to most often. To view a complete list of your most frequently mailed contacts, click Contacts on the left side any Virgin Media Mail page, then click Most Contacted.

This feature is not available in Virgin Media Mail's basic HTML view.

Selecting contacts while composing

While Virgin Media Mail doesn't currently support the functionality to open your Contacts list while composing a message, we're testing many new features to improve our service.

Tip: Insert contacts with Virgin Media Mail's auto-complete feature.

Saving drafts

Don't worry about losing messages as you compose them -- Virgin Media Mail automatically saves drafts every few minutes. If you'd like to save a draft manually, just click Save Now above the message you're composing, or press Ctrl+S when your cursor is in any of the text fields (Cmd+S for Macintosh users).

To retrieve a draft:

  1. Click Drafts along the left side of any Virgin Media Mail page.
  2. Click the message you'd like to continue composing.
  3. Edit the message, and click Send, Save Changes, or Discard.

If you'd like to delete a draft:

  1. Click Drafts along the left side of any Virgin Media Mail page.
  2. Check the box next to the message you'd like to delete.
  3. Click Discard Drafts near the top of the page. Your draft will be permanently removed.

Replying to messages

Click 'Reply' to reply only to the message sender, or 'Reply All' to reply to everyone who received the message. To reply to a message in the middle of a conversation, click on the 'Reply' link at the bottom of the message's card.

Your Messages : Sending : Composing : Learn More

Adding a custom 'From' address

Virgin Media Mail's custom 'From:' feature lets you send messages with another address in place of your Virgin Media Mail address, making it easier to manage multiple accounts from the Virgin Media Mail interface.

To add a custom 'From:' address:

  1. Make sure you can sign in to the account you'd like to add. You'll need to access the account before Virgin Media Mail will let you send from it.
  2. Please note: If you'd like to send from another Virgin Media Mail username, make sure you have set up this account in Selfcare first.
  3. Sign in to your Virgin Media Mail account.
  4. Click Settings along the top of any page, and open the Accounts tab.
  5. Under Send mail as, click Add another email address.
  6. In the Name field, enter your full name.
  7. In the Email address field, enter the email address you'd like to send from.
  8. (Optional) When someone replies to a message you sent using a custom 'From:' address, the reply will be delivered to the 'From:' address rather than your Virgin Media Mail address. If you'd like replies to be delivered to Virgin Media Mail or a third account, you'll need to enter a 'reply-to' address. To do this, click Specify a different reply-to address and enter the email address you'd like.
  9. Click Next Step >> and then click Send Verification. Virgin Media Mail will send a verification message to your other email address to confirm that you own it.
  10. Open your other account and either click the link in the message Virgin Media Mail sent or enter the confirmation code in the Accounts section of your Virgin Media Mail account settings.

To use a verified custom 'From:' address when composing a new message, pick your desired address from the drop-down menu in the 'From:' field. If you're replying or forwarding, click change next to the 'From:' field first.

To edit the name or reply-to address for an existing entry, click edit next to the address on your Accounts tab. To delete an address, just click delete.

Note: when you're sending with a different 'From:' address, your Virgin Media Mail address will still be included in your email header's sender field, to help prevent your mail from being marked as spam. Most email clients don't display the sender field, though some versions of Microsoft Outlook may display "From yourusername@virginmedia.com on behalf of customaddress@mydomain.com."

Changing the 'From:' address when replying or forwarding

To change your custom 'From:' address when replying or forwarding, follow these steps:

  1. Log in to your Virgin Media Mail account.
  2. Open the message.
  3. Click Reply, Reply to all, or Forward.
  4. Click change next to your address in the From field to select the address you'd like to use to send the message.
  5. Compose and send!

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Tip: Once you've added more email addresses to your Virgin Media Mail account, set your other accounts to auto-forward your messages to Virgin Media Mail. That way, you can easily manage your other email accounts from your Virgin Media Mail account.

Maximum message size

You can send and receive messages up to 20 megabytes (MB) in size, including attachments. Incoming messages over 20 MB will be returned to the sender without being delivered to you.

Hiding addresses when sending to multiple recipients

If you're sending a message to several people and want to hide each recipient's email address, you can use the blind carbon copy feature. Simply enter the email addresses that you do not want to display to the recipients in the Bcc field of your composed message by clicking Add Bcc.

If you don't want any of the email addresses to show up to the recipients, common practice is to include your own email address in the To field, and all of the recipients' addresses in Bcc.

Using spell check

It's easy to check your spelling while composing Virgin Media Mail messages. Here's how:

  1. Click 'Check spelling' along the top of the message you're composing.
  2. Click the misspelled word (highlighted in yellow) to see Virgin Media Mail's suggestions for similar words.
  3. Select a suggested word from the list to replace the misspelled word.
  4. Click 'Done' along the top of the message to continue composing, or click 'Send' to send your message.

Virgin Media Mail's spellchecker operates in the same language you've selected for your interface. If you compose a message in a language other than your interface language, you can check the spelling of that message, too -- just click the arrow next to 'Check spelling' to select the appropriate language.

This feature is not available in Virgin Media Mail's basic HTML view.

Sending web links

You can send hyperlinks such as 'http://www.virginmedia.com/' in Virgin Media Mail messages. To send clickable hyperlinks, include the full web address, along with http://, in the body of the message.

Web addresses will not appear to be hyperlinked while you're composing or forwarding a message. Web addresses become clickable once a message reaches its destination.

Changing the text direction to Right to Left

If your Virgin Media Mail interface language is set to Arabic or Hebrew, you'll be able to select either Left to Right or Right to Left directionality when composing a message. A message can contain any combination of right-to-left and left-to-right paragraphs. By default, Virgin Media Mail starts composing a message with the Right to Left button active in Hebrew and Arabic interfaces.

To change the text direction:

At the beginning of a message or new paragraph:

  1. Click the Left to Right button in the formatting bar of the compose window. The cursor will move to the left side of the compose pane.

To change an existing paragraph:

  1. Highlight the paragraph to edit
  2. Click the Left to Right button in the formatting bar of the Compose window

The recipient of your email will need to have Right to Left support in their email client in order to properly read your email.

If you're not seeing the directionality buttons in Virgin Media Mail, it's likely because:

  • The directionality buttons are available when composing in Rich Text Format and plain text. However, plain text messages do not carry directionality information when they're sent.
  • Right-to-left support is only available in the Hebrew and Arabic interfaces. To change the language of your Virgin Media Mail interface:
    1. Log in to your Virgin Media Mail account
    2. Click Settings at the top of any Virgin Media Mail page.
    3. Select a language from the Virgin Media Mail display language drop-down menu in the Language section.
    4. Click Save Changes .

We also suggest using a display resolution greater than 800x600 for best results with the Right to Left interface.

Your Messages : Sending : Composing : Troubleshooting

Send button doesn't work

Unresponsive buttons are usually caused by your browser's settings or by security software that conflicts with Virgin Media Mail. Try closing your browser and opening a new one to see if this rectifies the problem

Some messages I send are returned as spam

Some organizations, like SpamCop and Sorbs, keep track of email spam so email providers and ISPs can use it to prevent spam from being delivered to their users. Occasionally, Virgin Media is listed by these organisations, perhaps because people are trying to use our network to send spam. Unfortunately, this can cause delivery problems for Virgin Media Mail messages because some email providers or ISPs reject all messages sent from services listed on SpamCop and Sorbs.

Neither SpamCop nor Sorbs intend for their lists to block all Virgin Media Mail messages. In fact, both organizations recommend that their lists are not used as 'stand-alone signals' in blocking spam, but unfortunately, this recommendation is sometimes ignored. As a result, some messages sent from Virgin Media Mail might be delayed, or even bounced back (in which case you would receive a failed delivery notification).

We take every measure to make sure that all valid messages are delivered, and we're working hard to keep delivery problems to a minimum. While we continue to address this problem, we ask that Virgin Media Mail users experiencing delivery delays or Virgin Media Mail users whose messages are bouncing back to their accounts, to please inform the recipient's mail provider about the issue.

You can clear your cache in Internet Explorer by going through the following steps:

In Internet Explorer 6.x:

  1. Log out of Virgin Media Mail. Close all other open browser windows.
  2. Click the Tools menu at the top of your browser, and select Internet Options.
  3. Click the General tab at the top of the dialogue box.
  4. Click Delete Files under Temporary Internet files.
  5. Select Delete all offline content by checking the box.
  6. Click OK.

In Internet Explorer 7:

  1. Log out of Virgin Media Mail and close all other open browser windows.
  2. Click Tools > Internet Options.
  3. Select the General tab.
  4. Click Delete under Browsing History.
  5. Under Temporary Internet Files, click Delete Files.
  6. Click Delete Cookies.
  7. Click OK.

Auto-complete isn't working

If auto-complete isn't showing results, please ensure you're using a supported browser.

If you are using a supported browser and are still seeing problems, please sign out of Virgin Media Mail, clear your browser's cache and log back in.

Rich text formatting isn't working

You might occasionally notice that rich formatting doesn't work exactly as you'd expect. Unfortunately, the limitations of most web browsers prevent rich formatting from working perfectly. We're looking for ways to work around these limitations, and in the meantime, we hope you'll find rich formatting fun and useful, even with the occasional quirks.

Rich formatting also isn't available in Safari browsers, or from Virgin Media Mail's basic HTML view.

Pasted text doesn't appear correctly

Text pasted from other programs into Virgin Media Mail messages will sometimes display funky characters. The Virgin Media Mail Team is working to fix this problem so that all pasted text is always displayed properly.

I did not request to add an email address to Virgin Media Mail. Why did I receive a verification message?

Virgin Media Mail users can customise the 'From:' field of messages they send by adding all of their email addresses to their Virgin Media Mail accounts. When a user requests to add another email address to send mail from, we send a verification message to the account the user wants to add. If you've received a verification message but didn't make the request, don't worry. No one can send mail using your email address unless you click the link in the message to verify that you would like to add your address to the listed Virgin Media Mail account.

Users often misspell their email addresses when entering multiple addresses to send mail from, so the confirmation message could be delivered to the misspelled address instead of the user's own address. You can simply delete the misaddressed mail to ensure that no one sends mail using your email address.

Is there a maximum number of messages you can send or maximum number of recipients for one message in Virgin Media Mail?

In an effort to fight spam and prevent abuse, Virgin Media will temporarily disable your account if you send a message to more than 500 recipients or if you send a large number of undeliverable messages. If you use a POP or IMAP client (e.g. Outlook Express), you may only send a message to 100 people at a time. If your account is disabled, it should be re-enabled within 24 hours.

If you send a large number of undeliverable messages, we suggest verifying your contacts' email addresses. It's also important that everyone you are sending mail to is willing to receive it.

Learn more about best practices for sending a large amount of mail through Virgin Media Mail here.

14-04-2009