How do I prepare my IU email accounts for an extended absence?
The university uses your Indiana University email address for official communications, and you are expected to check your IU email consistently, even during the summer; see At IU, what is the policy about official communications from the university to students? When you're away, if you have access to a computer with an Internet connection, you can easily continue to read your mail and maintain your IU accounts.
If you will be accessing your IU email infrequently while away, consider the following precautions to ensure that your accounts remain secure and stable in your absence:
- Delete unneeded files and email messages
- Opt out of the spam quarantine
- Change your passphrase
- Suspend IU List and other mailing list subscriptions
Delete unneeded files and email messages
Deleting unneeded files saves time and resources, and also frees up valuable disk space. You'll start with a cleaner slate when you return.
Opt out of the spam quarantine
The spam quarantine service analyzes all incoming mail to your
Cyrus/Webmail or IU Exchange account. Spam is quarantined in a
Spam or Junk E-mail folder for five days and
then deleted. If you will not be able to monitor this folder and
are concerned about losing legitimate email that is incorrectly
identified as spam, you can opt out of the spam quarantine service;
see At IU, how do I opt out of the spam quarantine service?
For tips on reducing the amount of spam you receive, see What can I do to avoid receiving spam email?
Change your passphrase
To protect your account, in addition to changing your passphrase regularly, you should change it just before you leave for a longer absence. Be sure to pick a passphrase you'll remember upon your return. For help, see At IU, how do I change my Network ID passphrase?
Note: Beware that if you change your ADS domain account password while you are logged into another computer with the same ADS domain account, you will be locked out of your account. For more information, see At IU, why is my ADS domain account locked?
Suspend IU List and other mailing list subscriptions
Messages from IU List and other subscription lists can fill your storage space and keep you from receiving other, more important, messages. To prevent this, you may wish to suspend these subscriptions while you're absent.
Use the IU List web interface to manage your subscriptions and temporarily suspend delivery to your address. See On IU List, how do I manage my list subscriptions? For an outside mailing list, consult the help or welcome messages from that list to determine how to temporarily suspend delivery.
Note: To suspend your subscriptions, make sure to
send the request from the account that is subscribed to the list;
otherwise, you will not successfully suspend your subscription. For
example, you cannot suspend your subscription for your
indiana.edu address if you send the request from your
hotmail.com address.
Last modified on January 31, 2013.







