Internal Mail

In Blackboard, the internal email feature is called Messages. However, your professor may use the name of Mail or Blackboard Mail on the Course Menu to use Messages tool. For internal email in Blackboard, you can only send and receive mails from your professor and fellow students in the class.

The Internal Mail (Messages) is commonly used for private conversations with your professor or students in your class. Like an Internet email (yahoo or gmail), it allows you to send, receive, reply, and forward mail messages. You can also create folders to organize messages in Inbox.

Your professor may use Internal Mail (Messages) for sending your class assignments, summary, or notes. Students may be asked to submit their assignment as an attachment in Internal Mail.

- We highly recommend that students and professors to use Blackboard Internal Mail for email communication.

External Mail

This feature is usually disabled for students for sending an email to professor in Blackboard course. However, your professor may use External Email feature to send an email to your College Email address. We recommend that students check their college email regularly. The instruction on how to access student college email can be found at this page. (Scroll down to College Email section).

Video - Blackboard Messages - Internal Mail

In Blackboard, the Internal Mail to which only registered students and your course professor can access is called Messages.
1. In the Messages page, two mail folders are listed:

Inbox: contains all messages that you have received.

Sent: includes all messages that you have sent.
In each of the folders, it indicates a number of Unread messages and Total messages.

2. In the Inbox, the  icon identifies a message that you have not read. The icon identifies a message that you have read. The icon  identifies a message that includes attached files.

Video - Read and Reply a Mail in Messages - Internal Mail

To access Blackboard Messages tool, click on the Messages link on the Course Menu (The Messages tool may also be labeled as Course Mail, Mail, etc.). You will see two folders: Inbox and Sent. This page also indicates a number of Unread messages in Inbox and a number of Total messages in Inbox and Sent.

Read

1. To access a message you have received, click on Inbox. You will see the messages displayed in a chronological order with the most recent message at the top.
2. Click on the message Subject to read the message.

Reply

1. To reply to a message, go to Reply, select Reply to Sender. This opens a new message window.
2. Type your message.
3. When you are ready, click on Submit to send. The new message will be delivered to the recipient's Inbox on the Messages page on Blackboard.
4. To verify that your message has been sent, go to Sent folder. You will see that the message you just sent is stored in the Sent folder.

Video - Send a Mail in Messages - Internal Mail

On Blackboard, we highly recommend that students use Internal Mail, the Messages tool to communicate with your professor and fellow students.

1. To access Blackboard Messages tool, click on the Messages link on the Course Menu (The Messages tool may also be labeled as Course Mail, Mail, etc.). If you do not see the Messages link (or other link to access Internal Mail) on the Course Menu, it means that you will use your college email to communicate with your professor. In this case, we recommend students check the course syllabus to find out their professor's email address.
2. When you are on the Messages page, click on Create Message to open a new message window.
3. To find the person to whom you would like to send a message. Click on To box. You will see the list of students and your professor in the left box. Select the person to whom you will send the message and click on the right-arrow to bring the person to the Recipients box.
4. Enter the message subject in the Subject box.
5. Type the message in the Body - Content Editor box. Review your message.
6. When you are ready, click on Submit.
7. To verify that your message has been sent, go to the Sent folder. When you see the message you just sent in the Sent folder, it confirms that your message has been sent successfully.

Video - Attach a File to a Mail in Messages - Internal Mail

This tutorial shows you how to attach a file to a message using Blackboard Internal Mail -Messages tool.

1. To access Blackboard Messages tool, click on the Messages link on the Course Menu (The Messages tool may also be labeled as Course Mail, Mail, etc.).
2. When you are on the Messages page, click on Create Message.
3. To find the person to whom you would like to send the message. Click on To. You will see the list of students and your professor. Select the person to whom you will send the message and click on the right-arrow (move to list of selected items) to bring the person to the Recipients box.
4. Enter the message subject in the Subject box.
5. Type the message in the Body - content editor box.
6. Click on Browse under Attachment. Locate the file. Double-click on the file.
7. In the ATTACHMENT, you see the file name. Click on Submit to send your message with the file.
8. To verify that your message has been sent, go to Sent folder. When you see the message you just sent in the Sent folder, it confirms that your message has been sent successfully.