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Forwarding UCI Email

Step 1 - PhUpdate (Everyone)

PhUpdate allows you to change your @uci.edu delivery point. This means that all mail that is sent to your @uci.edu address will be automatically rerouted to whatever email address you choose. To make this change, you will need to have access to the World Wide Web via Netscape or Internet Explorer. Follow the Directions below:

  1. Launch your Web browser.
  2. Go to web page: http://www.uci.edu/phupdate/
  3. Type in your UCInetID and password as requested. Press "Login"
  4. Locate the field that says "email"
    (Do not confuse this with the field called email_address). The address in the "email" field is the location where all of your @uci.edu email is presently being delivered. Most students, who have their email delivered to their UCI account, will have a delivery point of ucinetid@ea.nacs.uci.edu. To change the location where your @uci.edu email is forwarded to, simply type the new address in the box. For example, qsmith@aol.com
  5. Type in your new email address and click on the "Submit Change Request" button when finished. This will save your changes.
  6. You will receive confirmation of the change. If the address is incorrect, follow the instructions again.
  7. To test the @uci.edu forwarding, send a letter to your @uci.edu address and if it appears in your forwarded email account, then your mail forwarding is working. If the mail does not appear in your forwarded mailbox, try following the directions again, or call Network &Academic Computing Services at (949) 824-2222.

Step 2 - Creating A .forward File (For Students With EA Accounts)

In order to ensure forwarding of all email, you should create a .forward (commonly called a dot forward) file in your account. To do this, follow the directions below:

  1. Login to your EA account.
    1. If you are using a computer with a Microsoft Windows operating system follow the instructions on the page: Setting Up Putty for Windows (SSH).
    2. If you are using a Macintosh with OS X, use the instructions: SSH (Secure Telnet) with Macintosh
  2. At the ea> prompt, type pico .forward and press return.
    Make sure to include a space between pico and .forward.
  3. You will be taken into the Pico editor in a file called .forward. On the first line, type your new email address. Do not type anything else on the screen. If you make a mistake, use the arrow keys to direct the cursor and the backspace or delete key to remove any unwanted text.
  4. When you have typed the correct address in the upper left corner, press control-x (the control key at the same time as the x key) to save the changes.
    You will be asked to confirm that you would like to save the changes, type y.
    You will be asked "File Name to write : .forward", do not change this line, just press the Return or Enter key. Your email is now being forwarded.
  5. To change the forwarding address again, follow the directions again from the beginning.
  6. To test your .forward file, you may send a test email from your EA email account to yourself.
    At the ea> prompt, type pine and then your UCInetID. For Example, if your UCInetID is "qsmith", you would type pine qsmith at the ea> prompt and press return. This will open Pine with a new message being sent to you at ea.nacs.uci.edu. Type Test message on the subject line and press control-x to send. If you receive this message at your new forwarded address, then your mail forwarding is working correctly. If you do not get the mail message at your new forwarded address, delete the .forward file (See the next section) and repeat Step 2.

To completely remove the .forward file:

  1. Login to your EA account.
    1. If you are using a computer with a Microsoft Windows operating system you would do this by following the instructions on this page: Setting Up Putty for Windows
    2. If you are using a Macintosh with OS X, use the instructions: SSH (Secure Telnet) with Macintosh
  2. At the ea> prompt, type rm .forward and press return.
    Make sure to include a space between rm and .forward
    The .forward file will now be removed. If you would like to completely remove your mail forwarding, follow Step 1 and set the "email" field to your ucinetid@ea.nacs.uci.edu. For example, if your UCInetID is qsmith, the "email" field should be set to qsmith@ea.nacs.uci.edu.