Email Readers

The quickest way to start reading your Columbia mail (Lionmail) on a computer, is through the web interface which you can get to at ​http://lionmail.columbia.edu/.

Some people, however, prefer to read their email on a computer using a mail reader. This page has directions for how to read your Columbia mail using ​Thunderbird, ​Apple Mail (included with MacOS), and ​Outlook (part of Microsoft Office).

Preliminaries: Enable IMAP protocol

In order to use the email readers described below, you need to enable IMAP protocol on your Lionmail account. To do that:

• Log into your Lionmail account on a web browser (​http://lionmail.columbia.edu/)
• Click on the "Settings" (gear) icon in the upper right corner of the screen
• On the menu that drops down, click on "See all settings"
• Among the tabs across the top, under the heading, "Settings", click on "Forwarding and POP/IMAP"
• In the "IMAP access:" section further down, under "Status", select "Enable IMAP"
• Click on "Save changes" at the bottom of the screen

This only need to be done once for your account. In the sections below, you need to follow the directions for each installation you have of the email readers you are using.

Thunderbird

• In the "Account Settings" window, choose "Add Mail Account..." under "Account Actions" on the left side near the bottom of the window (with a completely new installation of Thunderbird, this won't be necessary because it will automatically go to the window below)
• in the "Set Up Your Existing Email Address" window, enter the following:

  Your full name: [full name]
  Email address: [UNI]@columbia.edu
  

• Unclick "Remember password"

• click on "Configure manually" and enter the following:

  Incoming Server:
  Protocol: IMAP
  Hostname: imap.gmail.com
  Port: 993
  Connection security: SSL/TLS
  
  Outgoing Server:
  Hostname: smtp.gmail.com
  Port: 465
  Connection security: SSL/TLS
  

• Click on "Advanced config"
• On the left side, "Server Settings" (just underneath "[UNI]@columbia.edu") should be selected (and select it if it isn't)
• On the right side, for "Authentication method", choose "OAuth2"

• Click on [UNI]@columbia.edu on the left side
• On the right side, enter:

  Account Name: Columbia
  

• Click on "Outgoing Server (SMTP)" on the left side
• On the right side:
• Click on "[UNI]@columbia.edu - smtp.gmail.com
• Click on "Edit..." and enter the following

  Description: Columbia
  

• For "Authentication", choose "OAuth2"
• Click "OK"

If you have any aliases (other addresses that forward to your Lionmail account) and would like to send outbound mail with that alias address as the Sender:

• Click on "Columbia" on the left side
• On the right side:
• Click the "Manage Identities..." button (near the bottom)
• In the "Identities for Columbia" box, click "Add..." and then enter the following information:

  Your Name: [full name]
  Email Address: [alias email address]
  

• Click OK

If you want to make your alias address the default, click on it once to select it and then click on the "Set Default" button