If you want to archive more than 100 messages at a time (This option is only available for paid accounts)

(This method is best if you want to archive more than 100 messages at a time, and is generally recommend as a much more convenient way of downloading emails to your computer.)

Set up a mail client (such as Outlook, Thunderbird, or Mac Mail) to connect with your account via IMAP. If you are not sure how to do this, this article will help you.

Once you have your email account set up, just drag and drop the chosen messages to a local folders file on your computer. At this point you will want to make sure your computer is backed up, as those files will no longer be on our servers.

Some account packages come with access to IMAP/POP/SMTP, which allows them to be added to an Email Program or App. If you are unable to send or receive emails from your Account on an email program or app, please follow the troubleshooting steps below.

Check your account package

If you are repeatedly informed that your username/password is invalid despite it being entered correctly, it could be that you have an account without IMAP/POP/SMTP access.

You can find out if your account has this enabled by logging in to the My Account dashboard. If you click on Email Accounts on the left, you will see details of your email account and what Package it is currently using. It will also list if your account has access to IMAP/POP/SMTP.

If you do not have access to IMAP/POP/SMTP, it will be shown as Webmail access only:

If you wish to upgrade your account to include this feature, you can do so by clicking on the See Upgrades button on the same page.

Check the settings of your email program or app

If your Account is set up with IMAP/POP/SMTP access, you will have to check the settings for your Account in your Email Program or App. If you are unable to find where these settings are, please refer to the help guides that came with the Email program or app you are using.

The settings will need to be set up as follows, depending if you are using IMAP or POP, and if you wish to use Secure or Standard connections:

Check username and password fields even where 'optional'

In your client's account settings, you need to make sure the username and password are filled in even if it says the information is optional. You will need to enter your full email address in to the username field.

Change port number 

If you can receive emails but are unable to send them, check your outgoing server settings. If the port is 25, try changing it to 26. Some ISPs block port 25 to try and cut down on the amount of spam sent from their networks. Changing it to 26 usually circumvents this, though in some instances port 26 will also be blocked, and port 587 should be tried instead.

Please refer to the settings above for details of the different configurations that can be used to set up your email address.

Contact us 

If none of the solutions here have worked for you, please contact our helpdesk at help@aluminati.net with your email address, the full error message you are receiving, and as much information as possible about what issue you are experiencing.

Files attached to an email on the ed-alumni.net service must not total more than 25MB. 

The main reason for this file size limit is security. Without these limits it would be possible for malicious users to bombard email servers with huge email attachments and ultimately crash the servers. Even if we were to increase the file size limit on our end, there is no way of ensuring that a recipient's server would accept a file of that size.

If the file attachment size is too big, and rejected by the recipient's server, you will usually be notified with what is known as a bounce message. These exist primarily to inform users that their email has not been received, and provides a brief reason why.

Should you wish to send a file to a recipient that is over 25MB in size (or has otherwise been rejected by their mail server) there are two alternatives available that would allow you to work around these limits:

- Using a cloud storage or FTP link (a solution such as Dropbox, Google Drive, etc.) can provide users with a link to download the file, this can then be inserted into an email.

- Using file compression software (such as Winzip, or the native functionality built into most operating systems) to make the file smaller for the purposes of attachment.