E-Mail-Account

General information

At the TH OWL there are two basic patterns for the structure of the university email-address. These standards may differ in special situations, for example in the case of double names.

• Standard students: first name.last name@stud.th-owl.de
• Standard employees: first name.last name@th-owl.de

If you do not know what your e-mail address is, please contact the S(kim) Service Point.

Protocols and encryption

Protocols: The TH-OWL offers several protocols in different variations for using the e-mail service.

Comparison of MAPI (Messaging Application Programming Interface) and IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol).

• MAPI - MAPI is the central interface of the Microsoft Exchange Server and is also supported by Microsoft Outlook.
• IMAP - The Internet Message Access Protocol is a network protocol that provides a network file system for e-mails.

Encryption: Mails are encrypted using SSL (Secure Sockets Layer). As soon as you send the messages via the encrypted ports using SSL, it is not possible for potential hackers to read your messages. Unencrypted messages are transmitted in plain text and attackers would have an easy time of it. If your mail client supports SSL, we recommend that you use this option.

All standard ports and encrypted ports are listed below:

• Mail request:
• IMAP Port: 993 (encrypted)
• Mail delivery:
• SMTP Port: 587 (with authentication)​

Interactions with Ilias

The ILIAS-eCampus, the learning platform of the University, has his own mail system to make it possible for teachers and students to contact each other by using the learning platform. This system is set up  that e-mails sent from the eCampus are automatically forwarded to the inbox of the university-email-address (max.mustermann@stud.th-owl.de).
 
However, the e-mail system in ILIAS eCampus and the university-email-system (webmail) are different systems. You will receive e-mails sent from the eCampus via your university email address, but not the emails sent to your university e-mail address in your inbox on the learning platform.
 
You are familiar with this principle from your dealings with social networks. Although you receive status updates from the networks in the inbox of your private email address, you cannot read the emails sent to your e-mail address in the social network.

General

At TH OWL, a policy governs the use of work email addresses. It includes many points that most users would consider self-evident. At the same time, it also contains regulations that you may never have consciously considered in your day-to-day work and which may therefore be new to you. Employees should therefore be sure to read the policy:

• Guideline on the Use of Work Email Addresses (accessible only from the university network)

This guide supplements the policy with practical tips. It demonstrates how the guidelines can be implemented in daily work without additional effort.

Attachments and Links

What does the policy say? Attachments or links in emails can pose a significant security risk. If there is any doubt about the trustworthiness of an email, it must be checked or evaluated by the central service unit S(kim) before being opened.

Why is this rule in place? Attachments and links are a common attack vector:

• Malware can be introduced via file attachments.
• Links can lead to fake websites that can steal login credentials or inject malicious code (“drive-by download”)

Here’s how you can still reach your destination as the recipient: 

• Familiarize yourself with how to recognize phishing attempts or potential email attacks involving malware. Use the SecAware online training for this purpose.
• If in doubt, forward suspicious emails to S(kim) Support (support@th-owl.de) and only open attachments or links after approval.

Here’s how you can still achieve your goal as the sender: 

• Before sending, check whether an attachment is really necessary. Use the university’s own cloud service “Sync&Share” to share files.
• Instead of attaching images or banners, consider whether the information can be presented directly in the email text. Please keep in mind that attachments, images, and banners are often blocked by security software on the recipient’s end.

Helpful links:

• Link to the SecAware online self-study module
• Link to the S(kim) documentation for Sync&Share

Recipient groups

What does the policy say: When sending emails—especially to groups of people—you must comply with applicable data protection and information security requirements. You must also take into account the content of TH OWL’s awareness training sessions.

Why is this rule in place? The protection of recipients’ privacy is the primary concern:

• Data Protection (GDPR): Disclosing email addresses without consent constitutes a transfer of data that is problematic under data protection law and may violate the GDPR.
• Prevention of data leaks: Prevents a compromised address (e.g., due to a hacker attack) from immediately gaining access to all other addresses in the distribution list.

Here’s how to reach your goal anyway

• When sending to multiple recipients, use distribution groups. The distribution groups set up at the university usually begin with “VT: ”
• Use the “CC” field only if the recipients are permitted to see the email addresses of the other recipients, or if all of them have consented to the forwarding.
• If in doubt, it is better to use the “BCC” field

Prevent a lockout

What does the policy say? Upon termination of employment, access to the work email address is automatically blocked, unless there are work-related matters or other rights that prevent this.

Why is this rule in place? The automatic block is intended to protect sensitive information and ensure the university’s IT security.

Here’s how to still achieve your goal

• A smooth transition is ensured through cooperation between supervisors and Department III.
• If this is not possible in individual cases, please contact S(kim). This allows for a review of work-related requirements and, if necessary, the identification of suitable interim solutions.

Provisions Regarding Deputies

What does the policy say?

Access to your work email account must not be granted to third parties—not even to supervisors, colleagues, family members, or friends.

Why is there this rule?

• Protection of personal data
• Clear responsibilities
• Traceability of communication

Here’s how to achieve your goal anyway

• For work contexts involving multiple participants, use a functional email address (e.g., for organizational units, projects, or functional mailboxes).
• The S(kim) supports you in setting up and using such addresses.

General information

For the email addresses you use, you can create one or more signatures that are automatically attached to your emails. This signature should contain your contact details (e-mail address, telephone number, postal address or website if applicable). You can also use text or images to convey messages, such as banners to draw attention to upcoming events.

It may make sense for you to work with several signatures. For example, if you belong to several teams as an employee or if you want to use different signatures to communicate with fellow students or other people as a student. Please note that only one standard signature can usually be assigned to an e-mail account. Decide on the variant you use more frequently and select the other one manually if necessary.

Good to know: You can already enter a farewell phrase in your signature (best regards or similar). However, this also harbours the potential for errors. On the one hand, it often happens that emails are signed twice. Secondly, the standardised farewell phrase may not always be appropriate for the occasion: ‘I hereby cancel my registration for the exam because my grandmother has died. With sunny regards...’

You can find out how to create signatures in Microsoft Outlook in the section: Setting up Outlook. TH OWL employees can jump directly to the section ‘Guidelines for employees’.

Setup in Outlook

We recommend that TH OWL employees use the instructions and template provided by the Department of Marketing & Communication. You can jump directly to the ‘Guidelines for employees’ section.

All others can proceed as follows:

1. Start Microsoft Outlook and call up the ‘Options’ entry under the ‘File’ menu item. You will find this at the bottom of the vertical blue menu bar.
2. Go to the ‘E-mail’ entry and then click on the ‘Signatures’ entry (usually the third menu item from the top).
3. Click on ‘New’ in the next menu and assign a name for the signature (e.g. Standard)
4. Now you can insert the contents of the signature in the ‘Edit menu’ field, then click on ‘Save’.

Set default signature:

1. In the ‘Select default signature’ area, select the email account for which you want to set the default.
2. Select the default signatures for both ‘New messages’ and ‘Replies/forwards’. The drop-down menu contains the signatures that you have previously created.

Good to know: Please always start a signature with two hyphens. Some email clients interpret these hyphens as the start of a signature and automatically remove them when the reply function is used within an email communication. This provides a better overview of the mail traffic.

Guidelines for employees

The Department of Marketing & Communication has developed a standard signature for employees of the TH OWL that should be used in the university environment. You can find out what this should look like and how to store it in your Outlook client on the intranet. The page can only be accessed from the university network.

German Content: Link zum Info-Bereich des Dez. V zur E-Mail-Signatur

Good to know:Even if you do not like the look of the two hyphens at the beginning of the signature template, please do not remove them.Some email clients interpret these hyphens as the start of a signature and automatically remove them when the reply function is used within an email communication. This provides a better overview of the mail traffic.

General information

The display of the calendar and the functions may vary depending on the end device and client. In the following, we explain the calendar functions using the browser-based webmail interface, as this is available to all members of the university. You can access this interface by going to https://webmail.th-owl.de in your browser.

First you will see the view of your e-mail account. To access the calendar view, depending on your device and browser, simply click directly on the "Calendar" entry at the bottom of the page or select it via the application menu (9 white dots arranged in a square).

Good to know: In these instructions, we will only introduce you to the basic functions of the calendar. Especially for TH-employees who are provided with Microsoft Outlook, more in-depth training is worthwhile. You can find more information on the S(kim) training page: training website

Add calendar

Depending on your status (employees of certain organizational units, students), you have permissions to view different calendars. Not all calendars for which you have permissions are visible from the outset. General calendars must first be added to your view. To do this, proceed as follows:

• Select "Add calendar" and "From the directory"
• Start typing the name of the calendar and, if necessary, click on the magnifying glass to search the university register
• Click on the desired calendar and then on "Open"

If the calendar is shared with you, it will now be added to your view. If you do not have permission to view the calendar, you will receive an error message. You can read more about this in the next tab.

Calendar sharing

To enable colleagues to view your calendar, you can share it with certain people. To do this, go to the "Share" area (ring symbol) in the vertical bar above the calendar in the calendar view.

In the window that opens, enter the name of the colleague you wish to share the calendar with in the "Share with" field. As soon as you have started typing the name, you will be given suggestions from the university directory, which you can search by clicking on the magnifying glass.

Once you have selected a name, you can define the authorizations for the person:

• Only availability: The person can look in your calendar and see when you have appointments. Neither the title of the appointments or details are displayed.
• Restricted details: The person can view your calendar and see the titles of your appointments. The detailed view by clicking on the appointment is not permitted.
• All details:The person can look at your calendar and view details of the appointments.
• Editor: The person can make changes to your calendar, for example create appointments.
• Deputy: The person has the authorizations of an agent and can also confirm or cancel appointments on your name.

Create dates

You can create an appointment by clicking on a free space in the calendar view. This will open a window in which you can define the parameters of the appointment. You can and should enter the following basic data:

• Titel
• Location or room
• Start- and end times

This data is used to inform the participants. It is not possible to book a room via the "Location or room" window. More on this in the next section.

Add participants: If you would like to invite other people to your event, click on the "People" or "Participants" area. When you start typing the name of a person you would like to invite, you will be offered suggestions from the university directory that you can accept by clicking on them.

Add notes: You can add notes in a text field, which the people you invite will also receive with the appointment request.

Repeat: You can define repeats of your appointment under this menu option. You do not have to set up a daily meeting individually for each day, you simply specify here that the appointment should be repeated daily. You must also specify how long this meeting should be set for each day. For example, until the end of the month or year.

Further options: Depending on the browser and end device, you will be offered further options to remind you of the created appointment. These are self-explanatory.

Finally: Click on "Save" or "Send" and the invitation to the meeting you have set will be sent to the other participants by e-mail. The other participants then these options:

• Confirm appointment: The appointment is entered in the addressee's calendar
• Reservation: The date will only be confirmed with reservation, the organizer will receive a message
• Reject appointment: The appointment will not be entered in the addressee's calendar, as the organizer you will receive a message
• Alternative time: The addressee proposes a different time to the organizer, which the organizer can accept or reject

Booking of rooms/vehicles

Room or vehicle bookings are not made in the TH OWL by specifying an event location in the information area of an event. These bookings are made by adding rooms or vehicles to the list of participants.

If you are adding a room for the first time, you must enter the room name or search for it in the directory. For further bookings, the last rooms or persons added will already be suggested.

After you have filled in the optional fields (title and location) and the required fields (time and room name as participant), press "Send". Depending on the room operator's settings, you will receive a confirmation or rejection either immediately or later. Please note that different booking rules may be stored for different rooms. For example, the maximum duration of a booking or how far in the future the booking can be made. The operators of the rooms can provide information on this.

General information

You can synchronize your calendar, which you manage via Microsoft Outlook or browser-based webmail (OWA), for example, with your Webex calendar. This means that appointments that you create in Outlook are also displayed in your Webex calendar. No matter if the appointment takes place as a video conference or not.

This synchronization works in both directions, of course: Appointments created via Webex are also displayed in Outlook.

Activation

To start synchronization initially, it must first be activated in the Identitymanagement (IDM). We cannot take this step for you, as you must agree to the data protection agreement in order to activate it.

To activate synchronization:

1. Log in to the IDM user portal with your user ID, password and the security code for two-factor authentication
2. Click on the "Webex calendar synchronization" button under the "Applications" tab
3. Agree to the data protection agreement using the checkbox and complete the process by clicking "Send"

Of course, you do not have to agree to the data protection agreement, but then you will not be able to use synchronization.

Note: The first synchronization takes a little time. So don't be surprised if not all appointments are visible immediately. In some cases, synchronization can take up to 30 minutes, restart Webex once if necessary.

Click here to go directly to the Identitymanagement (IDM):

• Link to Identitymanagement (IDM)

Practical features

The synchronization between Webex and Outlook offers even more practical features. When you create an appointment in Outlook, you can insert the terms specified in the table into the "Location" line in order to use the functions behind them.

Good to know: To link an appointment that you create in Outlook with a video conference, you can use more than just the method shown here. Alternatively, you can continue to use the extra tool "Scheduler". You can find more information on this in our instructions: S(kim) documentation Cisco Webex