Amazon WorkMail
Amazon WorkMail is a managed email service. It runs on top of Amazon's SES or
Simple Email Service, but it's a fully managed tool where you don't have to do a lot of low-
level setup yourself. It gives you a webmail interface that you can log into, a GUI where
you can manage users, groups, organizations and attach domain names to your email
service. It also is relatively affordable. It's about four dollars per user per month. If you
take a look at the pricing you'll see that it's currently available in three regions and in all
three of those regions the price is the same. So, in Oregon, North Virginia and Ireland, the
three available regions right now, it is four dollars per user per month for 50 gigabytes of
mailbox space for each user.
You should be able to create a new work mail organization and once you’ve done that you
can bind it to your domain name and don't worry if you don't have your own domain
name you can still use WorkMail as a standalone product by default. WorkMail will supply
you with a domain name that you can use for sending and receiving mail. Also, this
domain name endpoint will work with existing tools like Microsoft outlook, email clients
that are built into android and IOS devices and of course Amazon provides you a
WorkMail webmail interface that you can log into as well. There's also a calendar built in.
So, it's not just an email service there's calendaring as well. So again, you can use an
external domain if you want. You can register a new domain when you set up the service
or you can use one of the free testing domains that comes with the service and then add
your custom domain later.
Amazon WorkMail concepts
The terminology and concepts that are central to your understanding and use of
Amazon WorkMail are described below:
Organization
A tenant setup for Amazon WorkMail.
Alias
A globally unique name to identify your organization. The alias is used to access the
Amazon WorkMail web application (https://alias.awsapps.com/mail).
Domain
The web address that comes after the @ symbol in an email address. You can add a
domain that receives mail and delivers it to mailboxes in your organization.
Test mail domain
A domain is automatically configured during setup that can be used for testing
Amazon WorkMail. The test mail domain is alias.awsapps.com and is used as the
default domain if you don't configure your own domain. The test mail domain is
subject to different limits. For more information, see Amazon WorkMail quotas.
Directory
An AWS Simple AD, AWS Managed AD, or AD Connector created in AWS Directory
Service. If you create an organization using the Amazon WorkMail Quick setup, we
create a WorkMail directory for you. You can't view a WorkMail directory in AWS
Directory Service.
User
A user created in the AWS Directory Service. The user can be created in
a USER or REMOTE_USER role. When a user is created and enabled with as USER role,
they receive their own mailbox to access. When a user is disabled, they can’t access
Amazon WorkMail.
User created and enabled with a REMOTE_USER role is listed in the address book but
do not get a mailbox in Amazon WorkMail. The REMOTE_USER can have the mailbox
hosted outside Amazon WorkMail but will still be listed as any other user with
mailbox in the Amazon WorkMail address book and can look up each other’s calendar
to find free or busy information.
Group
A group used in AWS Directory Service. A group can be used as a distribution list or a
security group in Amazon WorkMail. Groups don’t have their own mailboxes.
Resource
A resource represents a meeting room or equipment resource that can be booked by
Amazon WorkMail users.
Mobile device policy
Various IT policy rules that control the security features and behavior of a mobile
device.
***
Signing in to the Amazon WorkMail web
client
Amazon WorkMail has a web-based client that you use to access your Amazon WorkMail
account from a web browser. The Amazon WorkMail web client includes integrated
applications, such as Mail, Calendar, and Contacts. To get started with the Amazon
WorkMail web client, you need a broadband internet connection and the latest version of
one of the following web browsers:
• Google Chrome – Version 22 or later
• Mozilla Firefox – Version 27 or later
• Safari – Version 7 or later
• Internet Explorer – Version 11
• Microsoft Edge
Your Amazon WorkMail system administrator provides you with your initial sign-in
credentials, which consist of a user name and a password. To recover a lost or forgotten
password, contact your administrator.
Your administrator also provides you with a unique Amazon WorkMail web client URL.
This URL contains a unique alias set up by your Amazon WorkMail site administrator. The
web client URL looks like this: https://alias.awsapps.com/mail. Replace alias with the
alias you received from your site administrator.
To sign in to the Amazon WorkMail web client
1. In your web browser, enter the web client URL provided by your Amazon WorkMail
administrator. For example, https://alias.awsapps.com/mail.
2. For Username, enter the user name provided by your Amazon WorkMail administrator.
Note:
Don't enter your full email address. User names are case-sensitive.
3. For Password, enter your password.
4. Choose Sign In.
Changing Amazon WorkMail web client settings
You can change many of the default settings for the Amazon WorkMail web client.
To change the Amazon WorkMail web client settings
1. In the Amazon WorkMail web client, on the menu bar, choose Settings (the gear icon).
2. In the navigation pane, select the General tab, Email tab, Email Rules tab, Automatic
response tab, or Calendar tab to update setting in each category.
3. Press the F5 key to refresh and activate the new settings.
General settings
View mailbox usage and set your password, preferred language, and default address book
from the General tab using the following settings:
Change password
To change your password, choose Change password, and then follow the instructions
on the screen.
Note:
If Amazon WorkMail is integrated with your corporate directory, you might have to
change your password using Microsoft Windows or corporate password management
tools. Contact your Amazon WorkMail administrator for details if you are unsure.
Language
To change the language in which Amazon WorkMail is displayed, select a language from
the list. To change your date format and time format, select a format from the list.
Mailbox Usage
Shows the current amount of storage space used. To reduce your mailbox size you can
empty the Deleted Items folder, delete older messages, or delete messages with large
attachments from your folders.
Address Book
To select a default address book, in Select Default Folder, select the address book to
use.
The default address book is loaded when choosing Address book from the main menu
bar, or when selecting the To, Cc, or Bcc field when composing a new email.
Email settings
Change email preview, formatting, font, and other options from the Email tab using the
following settings.
Display preview pane
You can choose to view a preview of items to either the right of the content pane or
below the content pane. You can also choose to turn off the preview pane.
Note:
Changing the view from the mail application using the View menu also updates
this Display preview pane setting.
Close email when responding
When selected, the original email closes when you reply to it. Deselect this setting to
compose replies in a separate tab from the original message.
Format
You can compose new mail messages as Plain text or HTML.
Default font
Specifies the default font used in all new email messages.
Default font size
Specifies the size of the default font.
Always request a read receipt
Select this check box to automatically request read receipts for every email message
you send.
Respond to read receipt
Select whether Amazon WorkMail should always send a read receipt, never send a read
receipt, or whether you should be prompted before sending a read receipt.
Signatures
You can create several signatures for different purposes. For example, you can create a
signature for business and one for private use, or create a long signature for new email
messages and a short signature for replies and forwards.
(Optional) After you create one or more signatures, you can also specify which one to
use for new email messages and which one to use for replies and forwards.
Email rules settings
Email rules can help you focus on important email messages and keep your inbox
organized. Rules are stored on the server so that they can filter the mail before it arrives
in your inbox.
You can create as many rules as you want. With each rule, you can set different conditions
to activate the rule. You can also set various follow-up actions to perform after the rule
has been activated.
You can construct complex rules to deal with large email volumes or complex workflows.
To create a new email rule
1. From the Email Rules tab, choose New.
2. In the New email rule dialog box, define the rule.
You can set a variety of conditions and actions that Amazon WorkMail performs on every
email message that meets your defined criteria.
Automatic response settings
Mark yourself in or out of the office from the Automatic Response tab. You can also
specify the message that is sent automatically in reply to all incoming messages while you
are away.
To prevent someone who is sending you several email messages per day from getting a
reply on each message, automatic responses are only sent once to any specific email
address. This also prevents a mail flood in case the person who sends you the email
message also has automatic responses turned on.
When Automatic response is enabled, and you sign on to the Amazon WorkMail web
client, a warning message is shown to remind you that the Automatic response is set.
The warning message also prompts you to turn automatic responses off.
Calendar settings
Set your calendar format, default reminder time, and other options using the following
settings:
First day of the week
If your week starts on a different day instead of Monday, you can change it to that day
using this setting.
First week of the year
Specify whether the calendar should count weeks from the first full week, or first
partial week, of a new year.
Start of workday, End of workday
Specify the part of the day that is marked as your workday. The calendar shows this
time period in a different colour so that you can see when an appointment or meeting
is scheduled outside office hours. The default values for office hours are 8:30 - 17:30
(8:30 AM - 5:30 PM).
Calendar resolution
If your appointments frequently start at times other than each half or whole hour, or
have a duration other than multiples of 30 minutes, then change this value to better fit
your needs.
Note:
Setting the value to less than 30 minutes makes the Amazon WorkMail web application
zoom in on the calendar. This may cause you to scroll more when accessing your
calendar on a smaller screen.
View multiple calendars
Specify how multiple calendars should be displayed by default in the Calendar. Side-
by-side displays all calendars next to each other. Overlay displays all calendars
transparently on top of each other, where each calendar has its own colour.
Note:
This setting has no effect when you are only displaying one calendar.
Default reminder time
Specify how long before the start of the appointment the default reminder should
occur. This setting can be overruled for any appointment by editing it manually in the
calendar. The default is 15 minutes.
Default all-day appointment reminder time
Specify the reminder time that is automatically set when you create a new all-day
appointment. The default is 18 hours. This setting can be overruled for any
appointment by editing it manually in the calendar.
***
