Frequently asked questions about e-mail (FAQ)

After closing your UGent account, you no longer have access to your UGent e-mail. We cannot give you a backup of this e-mail either.


Created: 31 January 2024
Last updated: 7 August 2025 12:46:57
At UGent, we enforce a strict no-tolerance spam policy. Therefore, to ensure successful delivery of your emails to our UGent users, you must comply with the guidelines below.

Important: Delivery issues will persist, and our support team will be unable to assist until the administrator of the sending email server takes action to fully comply with these guidelines.

Guidelines:
1. Ensure that your mail server and client have the correct time and date settings as specified in RFC 5322.
2. Ensure that the following email headers in your message are syntactically correct: Date:, From:, To:, Reply-To:
3. Ensure that the following headers in your email are limited to one each: Bcc:, Cc:, Date:, From:, To:, Reply-To:, Subject:.
4. Immediately remove hard-bounced email addresses from your mailing list.
5. Ensure that your mail server has a static IP address.
6. Maintain valid DNS records for your domain pointing to your IP address and valid reverse DNS records of your IP address pointing to your domain. You can check your DNS configuration at https://intodns.com/.
7. Verify that your domain has a correctly configured MX or A record. You can check your MX configuration at https://mxtoolbox.com/.
8. Confirm that your email server always sends a valid HELO/EHLO value (fully qualified domain name) as specified in RFC 5321. You can check your HELO at https://www.abuseat.org/helocheck.html.
9. Ensure that your mail server(s) IPs are not listed on any known spammers' lists, such as spamhaus.org.
10. Make sure that DKIM, SPF, DMARC, MTA-STS, and BIMI are correctly configured for your email domain. Refer to https://www.usebouncer.com/email-authentication-methods-the-basics-behind-spf-dkim-dmarc-and-bimi/ for more information.

Tools:
Currently, we recommend using these tools to verify that your mail configuration is correct:

https://mxtoolbox.com
https://www.mailhardener.com/

(Nederlandstalige versie: https://otrsdict.ugent.be/otrs/public.pl?Action=PublicFAQZoom;ItemID=349)
Created: 26 July 2023
Last updated: 4 August 2025 13:55:31

In the Outlook client on Windows

In the Outlook client on Mac

In the default Mail client of macOS it is not possible to add shared mailboxes, so use the Outlook client for shared mailboxes.

  • Choose "Preferences..." from the "Outlook" menu
  • Choose "Accounts"
  • Choose "New account..." with the + menu at the bottom left
  • Enter the email address of your shared mailbox in the search field on the next screen
  • Choose "Add"

The shared mailbox is now visible in the accounts column on the left.


Created: 7 July 2025
Last updated: 7 August 2025 11:59:22

If you need to create a private email address in Sap My Apps but you don’t have a private email address (from your provider, Google, Hotmail, etc.), you can create one using the following guide.

For creating a Gmail address, we refer to the information from Google itself as this information can change without us having any influence on it. See https://support.google.com/mail/answer/56256?hl=en

If you want to use an email account from MS, the procedure is below (this guide is also subject to changes by MS)

Creating an account Creating an account works like this: Go to login.live.com Click on ‘No account?’ on Create one

  • Click on Create New Email Address. (Do you want to link the address? Then type the existing email address that you want to link to the Microsoft account.)
  • Type the name you want to use for the new email address. The address ends with @outlook.com. This is already filled in. (If the email address is already in use, a message will appear. Then type a new email address and click Next again.)
  • Click on Next.
  • Think of a strong password and type the password.
  • Click on Next.
  • Microsoft wants to receive some more information. Type your first name.
  • Click on Last Name and type your last name.
  • Click on Next.
  • Click on the dropdown menus under ‘Date of Birth’ to fill in the day, month, and year of birth.
  • Click on Next.
  • If you are linking an existing email address, Microsoft will send a code to the email address that is linked to the account. Type the code from the mail into the ‘Enter Code’ field and click on Next.
  • Microsoft wants to make sure that a person is creating the account and not a robot. Therefore, you have to solve a puzzle.
  • Click on Next.
  • Click on the correct solution.
  • Click on Continue.
  • The email address and account have been created. You see the homepage of your new Microsoft account.

Created: 25 June 2024
Last updated: 4 August 2025 13:35:08

For example, at the end of a contract or study period, it may be desirable to save your e-mail for later use in another e-mail application.

Follow Microsoft's guidelines to export your e-mail to a .pst file that you can later import back into Outlook.


Created: 23 August 2024
Last updated: 4 August 2025 14:59:42
  1. Open your email in https://outlook.office.com/mail
  2. Click on the 3-dot menu (also known as meatballs / falafel menu).
  3. Choose the Save option to save the email as an eml file.
    Save mail as eml file
    Save mail as eml file
  4. Send an e-mail to spam@ugent.be with the eml file attached.

Created: 25 August 2023
Last updated: 4 August 2025 13:33:06
  • Go to https://outlook.office.com/mail and login with your UGent credentials.
  • Add the shared mailbox (procedure). You will be taken to the shared mailbox.
  • Click on the cog icon in the upper right corner (Settings) and select Account.
  • In the left menu, go to “Account” and then “Automatic replies”.

Created: 10 July 2025
Last updated: 4 August 2025 14:10:42
Incoming mail server:
  • Protocol: IMAP
  • Host name: outlook.office365.com
  • Port: 993
  • Connection security: SSL/TLS
  • Authentication method: OAuth
  • Username: your UGent email address
Outgoing mail server:
  • Host name: smtp.office365.com
  • Port: 587 or 465
  • Connection Security: STARTTLS (or 465 Connection Security: SSL/TLS)
  • Authentication Method: OAuth
  • Username: your UGent email address

Created: 12 August 2025
Last updated: 12 August 2025 06:04:02

Check the following things:

  • Your spam/junk folder: maybe the e-mail ended up there?
  • Your mailbox rules: check that you haven't set up any rules that automatically delete or move emails from this sender.
    • Via https://outlook.office.com/mail/, you can check this via Settings (cogwheel) > E-mail > Rules
    • Via the desktop client of Outlook, you can check this via File > Manage rules and alerts
  • Your junk e-mail settings: check that the sender is not unintentionally on the blocked sender list and add this sender to the safe sender list (see screenshot).
    • Via https://outlook.office.com/mail/, you can check this via Settings > E-mail > Junk e-mail
    • Via the desktop client of Outlook, you can check this via Start > Junk e-mail > Junk e-mail options

If you still cannot find the e-mail after the above information, be sure to include in a new comment relevant information such as dates (with time if possible), sender address, sender domain, subject, ... along with it.


Created: 26 July 2023
Last updated: 4 August 2025 14:38:46

The UGent mail servers allow e-mails of up to 25 MB to pass through. However, it is not recommended to send e-mails of such size. Keep the size of an e-mail as small as possible (e.g. by compressing it into a zip file) or make the file available in another way.


Created: 27 July 2023
Last updated: 4 August 2025 14:15:52