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Buffalo Web Services | Website Design and Hosting, WNY

Buffalo’s original web hosting and website design experts. Recognized by Business First as one of Buffalo’s Top 5 Web Companies.

We build great sites that are easy to use so that you can get the most out of your website. Our modern, feature-rich sites include everything you’ll need to make your business a success on the web, and our state-of-the-art data center delivers your website to visitors at lightning-fast speeds.

You’ll love our personal approach to service and support! Give us a call now – let’s talk!

Putting Buffalo on the web since 2001

General Questions

About Websites:


Getting Started:


Working with Your Website:


Miscellaneous Questions:

About Websites

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What do I need in order to have a website?

In order to have a website that can be seen by others, you will need to have three basic components:
 

  1. Domain Name
  2. Website Design
  3. Web Hosting

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Domain Names

A domain name is your “address” on the internet that signifies your location on the world wide web. You need to register a domain name through any company (registrar) that is approved by ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) to do so. Registration of a domain name gives you exclusive rights to use a domain name on the web, for email addresses, etc. The cost of the registration varies between companies, and is renewable on an 1-year, 2-year, 5-year, or 10-year basis. Buffalo Web Services offers domain registrations for $15 per year (or less if you decide to register for a term longer than 1 year). Once your domain name has been registered, we assign your domain name to a numeric IP address (eg, 123.45.67.890) which is the “behind-the-scenes” actual address of your domain name. It will then take 24-48 hours for this domain information and IP number assignment to be “propagated” across the internet. Propagation is the process whereby every ISP (Internet Service Provider, eg, AOL, Earthlink, etc) updates their databases with the information we send to ICANN, so that their customers will be directed to the correct location when they type in your domain name.

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Website Design

Website design refers to the process of creating the pages which others will see when they go to your web address. There are many third-party software programs available which you can use to create the graphics and coding necessary for your site. Some of the more popular software packages available for creating web sites are FrontPage and DreamWeaver. Some webhosting companies also offer online site creation tools (such as Buffalo Web Services’s SitePro) which will allow you to create your website without having to understand HTML (hypertext mark-up language), the programming code needed to translate a web page on the world wide web.

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Webhosting

Once you have a domain name registered and a website created, you will need to rent space on a web server which can host your site. A web server is a high-performance computer that is located in a high-security, controlled environment, and is connected to the rest of the internet via multiple secure telecommunications lines. Pricing of web space will depend primarily upon the amount of web space you are renting, the amount of traffic or “bandwidth” you will need, and the various other services you may choose in conjunction with your hosting package. Buffalo Web Services offers a wide range of hosting packages, sized to fit the needs that are typical of most customers.

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What about “Free” Webhosting?

There are many companies that offer “free” hosting. The truth is that in most cases, “free” hosting is simply a ploy to collect information about you and your visitors in order to build a database for sale to junk mailers. “Free” hosting companies need to make money to cover their costs somehow, and if they are not selling your information to spammers, then they will often support themselves by running their banners and advertisements on your website.

Further, their free offerings tend to attract a multitude of fly-by-night spammers, who can sign up for little or no money, and use the same server that you are on to send out their massive mailings for next to nothing. The volume of mail that they send will crash or severely cripple the server. (Of course, the spammer doesn’t care – they simply move on to the next free host). Not only could this bring a sudden halt to your website, but once the spam which they have sent gets detected by the increasing number of companies that monitor spam activity, the entire server which the spam originated from will be banned from being able to access or communicate with other networks. In other words, your site will be banned from being accessed by millions of users as well!

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I hear that low-price hosting companies “oversell” their servers. What does that mean?

There are many companies that “oversell” their web servers in order to offer services at greatly reduced prices. Overselling is a well-known marketing gimmick, similar to the practice of airlines overbooking their flights. It basically means that they are selling beyond the limits of capacity – in other words, selling something they don’t have. For example, let’s say that a web hosting company has a server with a 300GB hard drive and 3000GB of available monthly bandwidth. They sell hosting packages with 10GB of disk space and 100GB of monthly bandwidth for a very cheap $4.95/mo. By the time they have sold 30 packages, the total amount of sold disk space will be 30 x 10GB = 300GB, and they have likewise sold all of the server’s bandwidth. That’s when the server should be full and no more accounts should be created – right? Wrong! Since they know that very few customers will actually use their alloted disk space and bandwidth, they decide to sell more accounts on the server. Typically, an “oversold” server might have as many as 500 customers on one server. So if everyone actually used what they had paid for, the server would need to have a 500 x 10GB = 5000GB hard drive and 50,000GB of bandwidth. Of course, no such server exists – they simply hope that no one will decide to use all of the disk space or bandwidth they have purchased. Imagine what will happen if all users decide to use all of their disk space purchased instead of using just a small amount.

Most important for you to keep in mind though, is the sub-standard service and performance offered by these hosting companies. By overselling the space on their servers, they are overloading them, and this will eventually result in extremely poor performance for your site. Further, their “rock bottom” prices tend to attract a multitude of fly-by-night spammers, who can sign up for little money, and use the same server that you are on to send out their massive mailings for next to nothing. The volume of mail that they send will crash or severely cripple the server. (Of course, the spammer doesn’t care – they simply move on to the next free host). Not only could this bring a sudden halt to your website, but once the spam which they have sent gets detected by the increasing number of companies that monitor spam activity, the entire server which the spam originated from will be banned from being able to access or communicate with other networks. In other words, your site will be banned from being accessed by millions of users as well!

With this in mind, you need to be confident in who you are dealing with when selecting a company to host your website. See what existing and former clients have to say about their experiences with them. Have any existing customers granted them permission to post their testimonials? Most importantly, call any prospective host (make sure they have a phone number) and talk to them. Any reliable hosting provider will be happy to spend some time answering your questions. Remember, you get what you pay for, so kick the tires and make an informed decision!

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What services does Buffalo Web provide?

Buffalo Web Services provides domain registration, web design, and webhosting services. We offer a broad range of additional features and enhancements to these services such as online site building tools, user control panels, etc. We do not currently offer ISP services such as dial-up access, DSL, or other broadband internet access.


Getting Started

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How does the sign up process work?

To sign up for services, simply go to our Order page to begin. The order wizard will start by asking you to choose a hosting package or a “Domain Registration Only”.

For “domain only” orders, you will select whether you are registering a new domain or transferring an existing domain to our registration service. For hosting orders, you will similarly be asked whether you need to register a new domain name to host, transfer an existing domain to our registration service for hosting, or if you will keep an existing domain name registered through your current registration provider (in which case you will need to update the nameservers to point to our servers yourself).

Next, the system will confirm that the domain name you selected is available to purchase, transfer, or use based on your previous service selections. (Transfer orders will require you to enter a transfer authorization code which you must obtain from your current registrar).

You will then be able to select your billing cycle, and hosting orders will allow you to select additional features, such as our SitePro system to build your site.

You will then be shown the total for your order, and new customers will then need to fill in the form with their contact information (it is best to use a “permanent” email address that is not hosted on our servers for your primary email address). You can also choose to enter different contact information for your domain registration, or to use your default contact information. You then need to enter a user name and password for your hosting account, and will enter your billing information (please be assured that this is a secure connection, so you are safe to enter this information!).

Finally, you will be asked to verify and submit your order.

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Where do I login?

Please refer to your Welcome email for your correct login information! You can have your Welcome email resent via the “My Emails” link in the Client Area.

You may have multiple places to login with your new account, along with differing usernames and passwords. For example, you may have a login for our main Client Area, as well as cPanel, SitePro or Buffalo Web Builder, Webmail, or others depending on the various services that you use. At signup, you will have received a Welcome email that contains the locations for you to login at, along with the appropriate usernames and passwords associated with each login.

Here are some of the more common Logins that you would have with us and a brief explanation of what is managed at each:
 

  • Client Area – View/Pay Invoices, Manage Domain Names, Link to your Control Panel, Keep your contact info up-to-date, Keep your credit card up-to-date
  • cPanel – Manage your Web Hosting Space, Add/Manage Email Accounts, Access Features, View Statistics, More…
  • SitePro or Buffalo Web Builder – Build/Edit your Web Site
  • WebMail – Check your Email, Send Email, Manage an online address book

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How long will it take for my site to be live?

It usually takes less than 30 minutes for us to activate your webhosting account after you have placed your order with us. Once your account has been activated, you will receive a “Welcome Letter” which will provide you with information on how to access your site and the various features of the services which you have ordered. Eventhough your site may not be viewable until your domain name has completely propagated (as explained above), you will still be able to access it via it’s numeric IP address.


Working with Your Website

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I can’t see my website!

Many new customers will report that they can’t reach their website during the first few days after they sign up. This is normal in most cases for the following reasons:
 

  1. You may have lost your internet connection. Make sure that you have a connection to the internet by going to a site like http://www.yahoo.com. If you cannot view their page, you are not connected to the internet, and you will not be able to connect to our mail servers.
  2. If you have registered a domain name within the past 24 – 72 hours, it is normal for the domain name to not be resolving yet. When you register a domain name, we assign it to a numeric IP address (eg, 123.45.67.890) which is the “behind-the-scenes” actual address of your domain name. It will then take 24-48 hours for this domain information and IP number assignment to be “propagated” across the internet. Propagation is the process whereby every ISP (Internet Service Provider, eg, AOL, Earthlink, etc) updates their databases with the information we send to ICANN, so that their customers will be directed to the correct location when they type in your domain name.

    This also means that you may not be able to use the domain name for any “connection” purposes. That is, you can’t use the domain name to connect to your account via FTP, you can’t check your email by using the domain name as POP3/SMTP servers, and you can’t publish via FrontPage by using the domain name. You must use the IP number to connect to your site or account until your domain has fully propagated (this IP number is provided on your “Welcome Letter”). So, instead of typing “http://www.mydomain.com” into your browser, you would need to type in “http://123.45.67.89/~username/” until your domain has propagated.
     
  3. Transferring your domain name to our registration service is also affected by propagation as described above. Your domain may still be configured to “point” to your previous web host until it has fully propagated. So, if you try to reach your site via the domain name, you will actually be reaching your previous web host. Further, you may reach your site intermittently on both our servers or your old host’s servers during the propagation period. Since each connection you make between your PC and the web site may go through various routes to get to your domain, and since some hubs may be updated before others, you may travel through an updated hub one time, and one that is not updated the next. To ensure that you reach your website on Buffalo Web Services’s servers during the propagation period, use your site’s IP number as explained above.

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I made a change to my website but I don’t see it!

If you are sure that the change was made correctly (eg, others can see the changed site, but you see the old site), then you are likely seeing a “cached” copy of your site. Your browser (eg, Internet Explorer, FireFox, etc) is by default set to retain a copy of each page you view in your own PC’s local memory. This is done so that you do not have to wait for your browser to go out and “fetch” the actual current page every time you go back and forth from one page of a site to another. To force your browser to grab the actual current page, you can press Ctrl+F5 (hold down the “Ctrl” button on your keyboard while pressing the F5 button). You can also check your browser’s help files for instructions on changing your cache settings.

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I’ve uploaded my page, but I still see your “Welcome” page!

This is usually due to one of the following reasons:

  1. You did not name your home page “index.htm” or “index.html”. Your site’s home page (the one that appears when someone goes to your site by typing your domain name only – “http://www.yourdomain.com” – without a page name after it), must be called either index.html or index.htm. When the web server receives a visitor to “yourdomain.com”, the file the web server will display is a file called “index.html” (or “index.htm” if there is no “index.html” file present). When you connect to your account for the first time and enter the directory /public_html/, you’ll see that there is a “index.htm” file in there. That’s the default “under construction” page which Buffalo Web Services puts into your account when you sign up (this is the page that says “Welcome to the future home of domain.com”…). You can either overwrite this file with your own home page, or create a new file named index.html which will then be displayed rather than the default index.htm page.
  2. You are uploading your website to the wrong place. When you connect to your account via FTP to upload your site, you will see a directory called /public_html/. Go to that directory (double click on it if you are using a graphical FTP client) and upload your files there. If you don’t put your files inside /public_html/, they won’t be accessible via the web.

    NOTE: if you are using FrontPage, please read our FrontPage FAQ.
     
  3. You have a “caching” problem. When you go to a page on any website, your browser will store that page (and its images) on your computer’s hard drive. The next time you go to that same page, the browser will just pull out the copy on your hard drive instead of pulling it off of our server. If you replaced a file on the server and you still see the old one, you may therefore be seeing the local copy. To solve this on Netscape, hold down the SHIFT key and click on “RELOAD”. In Internet Explorer, hold down the CONTROL key and press F5. If you still see the old copy, then empty IE’s cache: go to the “Tools” menu, then “Internet Options”, then click on “Delete Files” on the “Temporary Internet Files” section of the “General tab”.

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Why must my site’s main page be called “index.htm”?

When someone goes to “http://www.yourdomain.com” (without specifying a particular page’s filename, like home.html, aboutme.html, etc), the server knows that it must display your site’s main page. However, if the main page does not have a specific name, the server wouldn’t know which page to display. So, a standard was established which dictates that the main page would be called “index” and that it must go inside the /public_html/ directory.

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Why must my files go inside /public_html/? What is /public_html/ for?

As above, standards dictate that your publicly viewable files would be in a directory called “public_html”. When people access a file on your site, it is being accessed from inside /public_html/. Anything that you upload to a directory that is not inside /public_html/ is only accessible via FTP or Telnet.

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I uploaded my site, but some links and images are broken/don’t appear, even though they work fine on my computer. Why?

This is most often due to case sensitivity. On a web server, Myfile.GIF and myfile.gif are not the same. If you are linking to myfile.gif but the file is actually called Myfile.GIF on the server, the web server will just generate a “404 – Not found error” and the image will appear broken. The same applies when you make links to files.

Tip: It is good practice to always name your files using lowercase letters. It will make your life easier!

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My password is not working!

Passwords are case sensitive. If your password is “MyPassWord”, enter it exactly when logging in. Don’t enter the “M” in lowercase form, or the “y” in uppercase form.

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How do I publish my site with FrontPage?

To learn how to publish via FrontPage, check our FrontPage FAQ for details.

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What is a site map?

A site map is simply a list of pages that are in a website. Similar to a book’s table of contents, it defines what pages are in the site, and how they are related to one another. Some sites may include a site map page within their site to allow visitors the ability to quickly the location any page in a site. However, this can become counter-productibve with large sites as they would have so many pages to list. Further, the ability to quickly find a page should be accomplished primarily by having a well-thought out navigation menu.

When you are just beginning to build your website, creating a site map is an essential step in that it forces you to think through how you will present information to your site’s visitors, for example:
 

  • Home: general introductory text along with some images
  • About Us: text about the history of our company along with some images
  • Contact Us: address information with an online contact form

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  1. List your site in the Open Directory Project. This is a volunteer organization whose editors literally read through every site submission to check them for relevance before listing them in their database. The ODP is super-critical for one reason – it’s a little known fact, but EVERY major search engine (Google, Yahoo, AOL, MSN, Netscape, etc) get their databases directly from the ODP! So, if you are in ODP, you will eventually make it to all of the major search engines, and since ODP sites have been manually reviewed by a human, the search engines give preferences to the ODP listings. Keep in mind though that the search engines may only update their databases every 45-60 days, so it may take some time to start finding your site.
  2. Although the major search engines will find you and list your site eventually (typically in 60-90 days by the time they find you and get your site’s URL published), it’s not a bad idea to make sure that they know where you are. To get your site added to Google, click here. For Yahoo, click here.
  3. Make sure that the content of your pages is coherent and on target for the subject matter. Search engines like Google will “spider” your site and “read” each page. If your text appears to be about apartments for rent in Erie County, it will list you higher than the next guy when someone searches for “apartments for rent in Erie County”. Just make sure that the text you are using is on target. Be careful though to not try to trick the system by using a term over and over – most search engines are now smart enough to figure out where a keyword is being used out of context, and will penalize you.
  4. Get other sites to link to you. The more sites that Google finds which reference your site, the more it assumes that you must be important. If there was for example, a site that listed real estate sites in the USA, and you were listed with a link to your site, that would be VERY helpful to you. But don’t get links from just anyone – they don’t help and may work against you. (We also provide a link to all of our local clients at http://www.buffaloweb.com/portfolio.html which would also be helpful to you since we are an “important site about Buffalo” in the eyes of Google, and therefore your site would be considered more relevant)…
  5. If you want to guarantee that you are the top listing for a given search term, there is ONLY one way, and that is to pay for it. The two major services out there are Google AdWords, and Yahoo! Sponsored Search (formerly Overture). If you use their services, you would get listed in their “Sponsored Sites” area at the very top of their search results pages, and pay a fee (typically starting at $0.10) every time someone clicks on your link. The price per click is determined by basically bidding against your competitors – if a lot of people want the same search terms, the price will be bid up, if no one else wants it, it will be very low. This can get pricey – some sites spend thousands of dollars per month advertising their products, but many more pay < $50/month.


Miscellaneous Questions

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How do I enable cookies in my browser?

Many web pages require “cookies” to be enabled on your web browser, especially those requiring you to login to access account information. The “cookie” is a small file that gets saved to your computer to enable your browser to “talk” to the web page (eg, “who am I logged in as?”). Some browsers are set to not accept cookies by default. Here’s how to enable cookies:

Microsoft Internet Explorer (6+, PC Only)

  1. Select “Internet Options…” from the “Tools” menu.
  2. Select the “Privacy” tab.
  3. Drag the slider down to any level other than “Block All Cookies”.


Firefox (PC and Mac)

  1. Select “Options…” from the “Tools” menu on the PC or select “Preferences…” from the “Firefox” menu on the Mac.
  2. Click on the “Privacy” padlock icon.
  3. Select the “Cookies” tab.
  4. Check the box next to “Allow sites to set Cookies”.

Control Panel

NOTE: The main Control Panel help and FAQ files are available by logging in to Control Panel and clicking on the “Help” button in the menu bar.

NOTE: In rare cases (if you are logging in from behind a company firewall) you may have problems initially accessing your control panel. Please check with your company’s IT manager to allow access to port 2082.
 


The control panel, free with all web hosting accounts, is a user friendly graphical interface that allows quick and easy access to all of the features available with your particular hosting plan. The control panel feature automates processes that users must do manually with most other hosting services.

To access your control panel account manager, login in to the URL specified in your “Welcome Letter”. The URL for CPanel access will be http://www.yourdomain.com/cpanel or http://000.000.000.000/cpanel/ if your domain name is not pointing to our servers yet (please change the IP number to the one specified in your “Welcome Letter”).

Enter your user name and password when prompted.

Domains

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Domain Names

A domain name is your “address” on the internet that signifies your location on the world wide web. You need to register a domain name through any company (registrar) that is approved by ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) to do so. Registration of a domain name gives you exclusive rights to use a domain name on the web, for email addresses, etc. The cost of the registration varies between companies, and is renewable on an 1-year, 2-year, 5-year, or 10-year basis. Buffalo Web Services offers domain registrations for $20 per year (or less if you decide to register for a term longer than 1 year). Once your domain name has been registered, we assign your domain name to a numeric IP address (eg, 123.45.67.890) which is the “behind-the-scenes” actual address of your domain name. It will then take 24-48 hours for this domain information and IP number assignment to be “propagated” across the internet. Propagation is the process whereby every ISP (Internet Service Provider, eg, AOL, Earthlink, etc) updates their databases with the information we send to ICANN, so that their customers will be directed to the correct location when they type in your domain name.

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Transferring a Domain Name

You can also transfer your domain registration from one registrar to another, as long as it has been registered for at least 60 days, and it’s current registration is not due for at least 45 days. To transfer a domain name away from your current registrar, you will need to obtain a “Transfer Authorization Code” (aka, EPP Code) from them before you can begin the transfer. (A listing of the most popular domain registrars, and instructions on how to obtain an authorization code from them can be found here).

You will also need to make sure that your domain name is in “unlocked” status, and that the email address which is listed for the domain’s Admin “WhoIs” Contact is an email address that you will be able to receive confirmation emails at. Please be aware that the only address which these emails can legally be sent to is the “Administrative Contact” listed by your current registrar. If you are unsure of what email address that is, or if you no longer have access to that email address, you will need to contact your current registrar and have them update the email address for your “Administrative Contact”.

Once you have placed your domain transfer order to move your domain name to our registration service, you will receive an automated email from us (at the Admin email mentioned above) within 24 hours, which will ask you to confirm your intention to name us as your new registrar. Once you have confirmed your intention by following the instructions in that email, your old registrar may also send you a separate email asking you to confirm your intention to transfer your registration service away from them (to us). Once you have successfully responded to these two emails, it typically takes a day or two for the domain name to be transferred to us.

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Updating Your Domain’s Nameservers

A “nameserver” is the address of the web server that hosts your domain name’s web space. It essentially tells the world “when you are looking for my website, you will find it on this server”. The specific nameserver you will need to use will be sent to you in our “Welcome Letter” which you will receive when you sign up with us. If you have a domain name that is registered with a registrar other than us, you will need to update the nameserver entry for your domain name with your current registrar. (A listing of the most popular domain registrars, and instructions on how to obtain an authorization code from them can be found here). Keep in mind that if you ever need to change your nameservers, it will take 12-48 hours for the change to become fully active (aka “propagate”). 

Email

Adding an email account
Setting up Email Forwarders
Changing the password for a user’s email account
Accessing your email

Configuring Popular Mail Clients:


How do I leave/not leave a copy of my messages on the server?


About “Port 25” blocking
Unable to send email (0x800CCC0B error)
Unable to send email (503 error)
Unable to send/receive certain file attachments
I can’t send/receive email. What’s wrong?
How can I prevent getting spam in the first place?
Using SpamAssasin to filter your email

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Adding an email account

You can set up as many POP3 (Post Office Protocol) email accounts as you require, up to your maximum limit. Each one of these is in the standard email form of someone@yourdomain.com. You can access these accounts through web mail or through your own offline email application (client).

  1. Login to your website’s Control Panel, using the login information provided in your “Welcome Letter”
  2. Click on the Email Accounts link in the Mail section
  3. Enter the first part of the email address (ex: “webmaster”) and a password for the account in the Email and Password fields
  4. Enter the maximum size limit of this mailbox in the Quota field, or make it blank. The size limit is in megabytes. Not entering a number (leaving the box blank) means that the mailbox size is only limited by your total available disk space (recommended)
  5. Click on the Create button
  6. Your new account has been added!

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Setting up Email Forwarders

Mail Forwarders are useful if you would like to receive emails at different or additional email addresses. Keep in mind that you do not need to have an actual email account/inbox set up for a particular email address in order to have any email that is destined for that (non-existent) email address forwarded to you at some other address. There are therefore two possible outcomes you can achieve when you set up a forwarder:
 

  1. Have any mail which is addressed and sent to a particular “non-existent” email address (the “forwarded from” address) forwarded on to some other email address (the “forwarded to” address). This is the safest method. Under this scenario, since there is no actual mailbox account set up for the “forwarded from” address, it will not take up any of your webspace, which could otherwise clog up all mail delivery for your website (see below). However, since you will not have an account/inbox associated with it, you will not be able to send emails out from this email address.
  2. Have any mail which is addressed and sent to a particular “existing” email address (the “forwarded from” address) received in an inbox for that email address and also forwarded on to some other email address (the “forwarded to” address). This is a bit riskier and we do not recommend it unless you will be checking your mail at least daily using some third-party email client (eg, Outlook, Outlook Express, etc) on your home computer. Under this scenario, since there is both an actual mailbox account and a forwarder set up, you will receive a copy of each email at both the “forwarded from” mailbox and the “forwarded to” mailbox. If you do not check your mail at least daily for the “forwarded from” account, email will build up in the account and use up your allotted web space very quickly. Once your space is used up, further emails will not be delivered to your account at all. The advantage is that having a forwarder set up this way will also allow you to send emails from this account since there will be an account/inbox associated with it. However, the same effect can be acheived by setting up your Outlook, Outlook Express, etc. to receive mail on multiple accounts without need for a forwarder in the first place.


To set up an email forwarder following scenario (1) above, you only need to set up the forwarding information per the steps below. You do not need to have an actual inbox set up for the “forwarded from” address, since the mail will only flow through that fictitious address and be placed in the inbox for the “forwarded to” email account.

To set up an email forwarder following scenario (2) above, you will need to follow the steps for creating an email account (see here), and set up the forwarding information per the steps below. This way, the mail will come in to this inbox, and a copy will be forwarded on to the “forwarded to” email account.

To set up an email forwarder:

  1. Login to your website’s Control Panel, using the login information provided in your “Welcome Letter”
  2. Click on the Mail link in the Account Settings section
  3. Click on the Forwarders link
  4. Click on the Add Forwarder link
  5. Enter the first part of the email address (ex: “webmaster”) in the field provided (before the “@” symbol). This can be any address whether or not an actual mailbox is set up for that address.
  6. Enter the email address that you want the emails to be forwarded to (ex: “myotheraddess@somedomain.com“) in the field provided (after the “>>>” symbols). This can be another email account that you have set up for this domain, or some other address that is not affiliated with this domain name or is hosted elsewhere (eg, myaddress@aol.com)
  7. Click on the Add Forwarder button

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Changing the password for a user’s email account

Once you have established an email account for a user (above), a user may want to change his/her password. To do this, they can go to http://www.yourdomainname.com:2095/webmail/x3/mail/passwdpop.html
 

  1. First, they will be asked to login using their existing full email address (eg, jsmith@yourdomainname.com) and password
  2. Enter the new password in the two fields provided
  3. Click “Change Password”
  4. (They may be asked to login again, in which case they would now use their new password)

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Accessing your email

You can access your email via an online “webmail” program, or you can access your email via the traditional “third-party client” method. To access your email via a third-party client (eg, Outlook, Outlook Express, etc), follow the steps outlined here to configure the correct software on your home computer. To access your email via “webmail”, use the link given to you in your original “Welcome Letter”, or go to http://www.yourdomain.name/webmail, and login with your full email address (eg, myname@mydomain.com) and password.

NOTE: Keep in mind that if you only access your email via the webmail interface, your mail will not be cleaned off of the server automatically as is the case when using a client like Outlook. This means that your mailbox folder will continue to grow with each new email receipt, until you have used up all of your allotted web space. Once your web space is used up, you will not be able to add additional files to your site or receive any more emails. Therefore, it is imperative that you keep your mailboxes clean, by deleting messages after they are read, and then purging your trash folder. If you want to save copies of your emails, then you should use an email client (eg, Outlook, Thunderbird, etc.) instead of webmail.

Configuring Popular Mail Clients

Once you have added an email account in your Control Panel, you will be able to set up your mail client to send and receive email.

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Settings you will need to know:

  1. Server/Port Settings

    For POP accounts:
    POP3 (Incoming) Setting:
    mail.yourdomainname.com
    port: 110 (995 for SSL)

    SMTP (Outgoing) Settings:
    mail.yourdomainname.com
    port: 587 (465 for SSL)
    NOTE: Outlook pre-populates this box with 25, which most ISPs will no longer accept your traffic on. So make sure this field is set correctly!
  1. For IMAP accounts:
    IMAP (Incoming) Setting:
    mail.yourdomainname.com
    port: 143 (993 for SSL)

    SMTP (Outgoing) Settings:
    mail.yourdomainname.com
    port: 587 (465 for SSL)
    NOTE: Outlook pre-populates this box with 25, which most ISPs will no longer accept your traffic on. So make sure this field is set correctly!
  2. Your email account:
    the email address that you set up in cPanel (eg, someone@yourdomainname.com)
    NOTE: you ALWAYS need to specify the entire email address. Do NOT attempt to use just the “someone” portion, as it will NOT work
  3. Your email account’s password:
    the password that you set up (in cPanel) for this specific email address
    NOTE: Passwords are always case-sensitive.


* If you can receive email without any problems, but are having trouble sending email – either to anyone at all or just to certain email addresses (such as hotmail.com, msn.net, etc) – then you may need to use the SMTP settings provided to you by your ISP (eg, TimeWarner, Verizon, etc) in place of the standard SMTP settings shown above. Depending on the email program you are setting up, you would first enter the SMTP information provided by your ISP into the appropriate “Outgoing/SMTP server” area in place of the standard SMTP settings shown above. You would then typically need to specify an option such as “My server requires authentication”, and would enter your username/password information as provided to you by your ISP.

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Configuring Outlook 2002/2003/XP:

  1. Open Outlook, go to Tools and select E-mail Accounts
  2. Click Add a New E-mail Account and click Next
  3. Choose POP3 and click Next
  4. Your Name = Your Full Name
  5. E-mail Address = Your e-mail address (ex: someone@yourdomain.com)
  6. Incoming Mail (POP3) = (see Settings you will need to know)
  7. Outgoing Mail (SMTP) = (see Settings you will need to know)
  8. Username = your complete email address (ex: someone@yourdomain.com – entering just “someone” will not work!)
  9. Click Next, then click Finish
  10. Now go to Tools and select E-mail Accounts
  11. Click “View or change existing e-mail accounts” and click Next
  12. Click on your email account and then click Change
  13. Click the More Settings button, then select the “Outgoing Server” tab
  14. Under Outgoing Mail Server make sure that the box for “My server requires authentication” is checked, and click on the Settings button
  15. Under Login Information, make sure that “Use same settings as my incoming mail server” is selected
  16. Click OK, then click Next, then click Finish
  17. You have successfully configured Outlook 2002/2003!

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Configuring Outlook 2000 and Outlook Express:

  1. Open Outlook Express, go to Tools and select Accounts
  2. Click on the Mail tab
  3. Click on Add and select Mail
  4. Put in your real name when it asks for display name, then press next
  5. Put in your e-mail address, then press next. (ex: someone@yourdomain.com)
  6. For “My incoming mail server is a…” select “POP3“
  7. Incoming server (POP3) = (see Settings you will need to know)
  8. Outgoing server (SMTP) = (see Settings you will need to know). Press Next
  9. Account name = your complete email address (ex: someone@yourdomain.com – entering just “someone” will not work!)
  10. Password = your password
  11. Click Next
  12. Select your connection method and then press Next
  13. Press Finish
  14. Now click on the Mail tab
  15. Select the account you have just created and click Properties
  16. Click on the Servers tab
  17. Under Outgoing Mail Server make sure that the box for “My server requires authentication” is checked, and click on the Settings button
  18. Under Login Information, make sure that “Use same settings as my incoming mail server” is selected
  19. Click OK, then OK again, and Close to finish
  20. You have successfully configured Outlook or Outlook Express!

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Configuring Outlook 97:

  1. Open Outlook, go to Tools and select Services
  2. Press Add, Select Internet E-mail, and Click OK
  3. Full Name = Your name
  4. E-mail Address = your email address (ex: someone@yourdomain.com)
  5. Internet mail server (POP & SMTP) = (see Settings you will need to know)
  6. Account name = your complete email address (ex: someone@yourdomain.com – entering just “someone” will not work!)
  7. Password = your password
  8. Click Apply, then click OK, then click OK again
  9. You have successfully configured Outlook 97!

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Configuring Mozilla Thunderbird:

  1. In Mozilla Thunderbird, select Tools > Account Settings
  2. Select “Email account ” and click Next
  3. Enter your name and e-mail address (eg, someone@yourdomain.com – entering just “someone” will not work!)
  4. Select “POP” as the type of incoming server you are using. Your incoming server is mail.yourdomain.com. Click Next.
  5. Enter your full e-mail address for both the “Incoming User Name,” and “Outgoing User Name” (eg, someone@yourdomain.com – entering just “someone” will not work!) Click Next.
  6. Enter a name for your e-mail account and click Next.
  7. Verify your account information and click Finish.
  8. In the Account Settings window, select “Outgoing Server” listed below your new account.
  9. Enter “mail.yourdomain.com” for the “Server Name” and change the “Port” setting to 80.
  10. Select “Use name and password” and enter your full e-mail address (eg, someone@yourdomain.com – entering just “someone” will not work!). Thunderbird will ask you for your password the first time you try to send mail. Click OK.

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Configuring Netscape 7 Mail:

  1. Open Netscape, go to Window and select Mail and Newsgroups
  2. If the Account Wizard does not immediately pop up, go to the Edit menu and select Mail and Newsgroup Account Settings. Click Add Account
  3. Select Email Account. Click Next
  4. Name = Your name
  5. E-mail Address = your email address (ex: someone@yourdomain.com)
  6. Select POP for the type of mail server
  7. Incoming server (POP3) = (see Settings you will need to know)
  8. Outgoing server (SMTP) = (see Settings you will need to know)
  9. Username = your complete email address (ex: someone@yourdomain.com – entering just “someone” will not work!). Click Next
  10. Give your account a name. Click Next
  11. Click Finish
  12. You have successfully configured Netscape 7 Mail!

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Configuring Netscape 6 Mail:

  1. Open Netscape, go to Tasks and select Mail and Newsgroups
  2. If the Account Wizard does not immediately pop up, go to the Edit menu and select Mail and Newsgroup Account Settings. Click New Account
  3. Select ISP or email Provider. Click Next
  4. Enter your Name and Email Address. Click Next
  5. Select POP for the type of mail server
  6. Incoming server (POP3) = (see Settings you will need to know)
  7. Outgoing server (SMTP) = (see Settings you will need to know)
  8. Username = your complete email address (ex: someone@yourdomain.com – entering just “someone” will not work!). Click Next
  9. Give your account a name. Click Next
  10. Click Finish
  11. You have successfully configured Netscape 6 Mail!

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Configuring Netscape 4 Mail:

  1. Open Netscape, go to Edit and select Preferences
  2. Click on the “+” sign next to Mail and Newsgroups
  3. Click on Identity and fill in the information. You will not need to put anything in the organization or signature file
  4. Click on Servers
  5. Where it says Incoming mail server, if there is anything there, click on it and remove it. If nothing is there, then go to step 7
  6. Press Add
  7. In the general tab:
    Server Name (POP) = (see Settings you will need to know)
    Server Type = POP3 Server
    User Name = your complete email address (ex: someone@yourdomain.com – entering just “someone” will not work!)
    then press OK
  8. Now go to Outgoing mail server and input the following:
    Outgoing mail (SMTP) server = (see Settings you will need to know)
    Outgoing mail server user name = your complete email address (ex: someone@yourdomain.com)
  9. Press OK
  10. You have successfully configured Netscape 4 Mail!

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Configuring Eudora 5:

  1. Open Eudora, go to Tools and select Options
  2. Click on the Getting Started tab.
    Real name = Your Name
    Return Address = Your E-mail Address
    Mail Server – Incoming (POP) = (see Settings you will need to know)
    Login Name = your complete email address (ex: someone@yourdomain.com – entering just “someone” will not work!)
    SMTP server(SMTP) = (see Settings you will need to know)
  3. Click on Checking mail
    Mail Server – Incoming (POP) = (see Settings you will need to know)
    Login Name = your complete email address (ex: someone@yourdomain.com – entering just “someone” will not work!)
    Both “Save Password” and “Send on check” should be checked
  4. Click on Incoming Mail
    Server Configuration = POP
    Uncheck “Leave Mail on Server”
  5. Click on Sending Mail
    Return Address = Your email address Domain to add to unqualified address = leave blank
    SMTP server(SMTP) = (see Settings you will need to know)
    Leave the three checkboxes checked
  6. Click OK
  7. You have successfully configured Eudora!

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Configuring Eudora 4:

  1. Open Eudora, go to Tools and select Options
  2. Click on the Getting Started tab
    POP Account = your complete email address (ex: someone@yourdomain.com)
    Real name = Your Name
    Return Address = Your E-mail Address
  3. Click on Personal Info
    POP Account = your complete email address (ex: someone@yourdomain.com – entering just “someone” will not work!)
    Real name = Your Name
    Return Address = Your E-mail Address
  4. Click on Hosts
    POP Account = your complete email address (ex: someone@yourdomain.com)
    SMTP = (see Settings you will need to know)
  5. Click OK
  6. You have successfully configured Eudora!

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Configuring Mac Mail:

The following guide is relevant to several different versions of Macintosh Mail although menus may vary
 

  1. Click on the Mail ‘Stamp’ icon in the program’s dock.
  2. Once the program is open, click on ‘Tools’ or ‘Mail’ in the top menu, then select ‘Preferences’
  3. Click on ‘Add Account’
    (If you want to edit an account that is already set-up, you can simply hightlight that account and click on ‘edit’ to change the account settings)
  4. You now need to provide all your email settings:
     Account TypeShould always be set to POP3 Email AddressPOP3 Email AddressYour full email address (eg, someone@yourdomain.com – entering just “someone” will not work!)Full NameIs the name displayed when you email people, it can be your first, full, or even company nameIncoming Mail Serversmail.yourdomain.comUsernameYour account username is the ENTIRE email address (eg, someone@yourdomain.com – entering just “someone” will not work!).PasswordEnter the password that you set up for this email address.Outgoing Mail Servermail.yourdomain.com
  5. Click on the ‘Account Options’ tab and make sure there is a tick in the ‘Delete messages on server after downloading’ box, otherwise your account on the server will fill and be unable to receive any more mail.
  6. Once done click on the ‘OK’ button to save the settings and complete the set-up.

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Configuring your iPhone:

  1. Open Settings, go to Passwords & Accounts, then Add Account, then Other, then Add Mail Account
  2. Enter your name for Name
  3. Enter your e-mail address for Address (ex: someone@yourdomain.com)
  4. Enter your password for Password
  5. Enter whatever you’d like for Description. This is only for you to identify this account amongst multiple accounts you may set up on your device.
  6. Click Next
  7. Select either IMAP or POP (POP is the standard type of mail account)
  8. Outgoing server (SMTP) = (see Settings you will need to know). Press Next
  9. Under Incoming Mail Server, use the following:
    Host Name: mail.yourdomain.com
    User Name: your entire e-mail address (ex: someone@yourdomain.com)
    Password: the password for your email address
  10. Under Outgoing Mail Server, use the following (same as Incoming Mail Server):
    Host Name: mail.yourdomain.com
    User Name: your entire e-mail address (ex: someone@yourdomain.com)
    Password: the password for your email address
  11. Click Save
  12. It will take a minute or two for your iPhone to verify itself with your email address’s server. If you see Cannot Verify Serer Identity…, click Continue. If you get other error messages, then it is likely that you have either mis-entered your account info, or you have not yet created the address on your server (see Adding an email account).
  13. You should now be back to the screen for Mail, Contacts, Calendars. Select the account you have added, scroll down, and select SMTP.
  14. Select the mail server that you just set up (listed as the Primary Server) and make sure the following settings are used:
    Use SSL: OFF
    Authentication: Password
    Server Port: 587
  15. Click Done
  16. If you experience any problems with your email on your iPhone, print these instructions and take them with you to your iPhone provider

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How do I leave/not leave a copy of my messages on the server?

Depending on your needs, you may want to leave a copy of all your email on the server, or you may need to NOT leave copies of your mail on the server. This tutorial assumes that you have already setup your email program to send and receive mail from the server. (If not, go here first).

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Outlook Express, Outlook 2000:

  1. Go to the Tools menu and choose Accounts
  2. Double-click on your email account’s name
  3. Go to the Advanced tab
  4. Check/uncheck the box at the bottom that says Leave a copy of messages on the server and the other boxes underneath if needs be
  5. Click OK
  6. Click Close

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Outlook 2003:

  1. Go to the Tools menu, choose E-mail accounts, select View or change existing email accounts and click Next
  2. Double-click on the name of your Earthnet account
  3. Click on the More settings buttion
  4. Go to the Advanced tab
  5. Check/uncheck the box at the bottom that says Leave copy of messages on the server and the other boxes underneath depending on your needs
  6. Click OK, Next and Finish

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Mozilla Thunderbird, Netscape Mail:

  1. Click on the Tools menu, choose Account Settings
  2. Go to the Server Settings category on the left side, under your Email account
  3. Check/uncheck the box that says Leave messages on server and the boxes underneath depending on your needs
  4. Click OK to confirm

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Eudora 6:

  1. Click on the Tools menu and choose Options
  2. Select the category called Incoming Mail from the left panel
  3. Check/uncheck the box on the right side called Leave mail on server, and the boxes underneath depending on your needs
  4. Click OK to confirm

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Entourage for Mac:

  1. Click on the Tools menu and choose Accounts
  2. Double-click on the name of your email account and go to the Options tab
  3. Under Server Options, check/uncheck the box that says Leave a copy of each message on the server, and the other boxes as needed
  4. Click OK to confirm

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Apple Mail for Mac OS X:

  1. Click on the Mail menu and choose Preferences
  2. Click on the Accounts icon, and select your email account on the left side
  3. Go to the tab called Advanced, and change the settings of the checkbox called Remove copy from server after retrieving a message:
    • If that checkbox is UNchecked, then all your messages will always stay on the server
    • If that checkbox is checked, then the messages will only stay on the server as long as specified in the drop-down box underneath
    • If that checkbox is checked and the drop-down box is set to Right Away, then your account will behave as a regular POP3 account (the messages will be downloaded to your computer and then removed from the server right away)
  4. Click OK to confirm

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About “Port 25” blocking

All SMTP traffic (outgoing e-mail sent via the Internet) is normally routed through “Port 25”, the industry’s standard “channel” used for communication between a mail client (like Outlook) and a mail server (eg, our servers). However, many ISP’s (Internet Service Providers like AOL, Verizon, etc.) are now choosing to block traffic on Port 25 in an effort to cut down on the amount of spam mail that is sent through their connections. Port 25 blocking can create problems for e-mail servers and block legitimate e-mail as well as spam. If you can receive email without any problems, but are having trouble sending mail using the settings above, your ISP may be blocking SMTP traffic on port 25.

Here are a few of the major ISP’s that are known to be blocking SMTP traffic on port 25:

  • AOL
  • AT&T
  • Bell Sympatico
  • Earthlink
  • Flashnet
  • MediaOne
  • Mindspring
  • MSN
  • NetZero
  • Verizon (may also require you to use “outgoing.verizon.net” for SMTP server entries)


If your ISP is blocking SMTP traffic on port 25, you have two options:

  1. Change your SMTP port setting from port 25 to port 587. (We have set up our SMTP servers to allow traffic on either port 25 or port 587)
  2. Set your SMTP server settings to those of your ISP’s. They can provide the settings for you to send email via their SMTP server. For example: “mail.aol.com”. After doing that, you will be sending mail though your ISP’s servers rather than our SMTP server

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Unable to send email (0x800CCC0B error)

You may receive this error in your email client settings at some point. In Outlook this is a bug and can usually be resolved by restarting your email client and making sure you have SMTP Authentication enabled. This is usually not a server problem, and is caused by one of the following errors.
 

  1. Your email client is misconfigured
  2. Your ISP is blocking access to port 25
  3. There is a DNS problem with your ISP
  4. There is an error with SMTP on one of our servers

Below you will find the most common solutions to fix the above problems:

  1. Shutdown and restart your computer.
  2. Make sure Outlook is configured for “SMTP: My server requires authentication,” and then use the same username and password as POP3 account.
  3. Use port 587 for SMTP instead of port 25. Many ISPs are now blocking port 25 to prevent their clients from spamming.
  4. Temporarly turn off all virus and/or firewall software.

If all of the above solutions fail, please confirm that the mail server is online and responding you can perform the following:

  • From the Start button click Run
  • Type in cmd to open a command prompt window
  • In the command prompt window, type telnet yourdomain.com 25 (or telnet yourdomain.com 587 – depending on your settings)

You should receive something to the effect of:

  • 220-uno.buffaloweb.net ESMTP Exim 4.68 #1 Day, XX Month Year HH:MM:SS
  • 220-We do not authorize the use of this system to transport unsolicited,
  • 220 and/or bulk e-mail.
  • Type “quit” then “exit” to close the session

This confirms there are *no problems* connecting with our SMTP server. If you receive no response, that means that a connection could not be established (something between you and the mail server is not letting you through). For more information, please see the Microsoft support article.

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Unable to send email (503 error)

This is actually the server doing what it’s supposed to do: preventing unauthenticated users from sending mail through it. To make sure that you are telling the server who you are when sending email:

  1. Open outlook
  2. Go to Tools/Email Accounts
  3. Select the Account with the trouble and click Change
  4. Click on More Settings
  5. Click on Outgoing Server Tab
  6. Click “Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP) requires authentication” and make sure “Use same settings as incoming mail server” is selected
  7. Click Ok and then Test Account Settings

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Unable to send/receive certain file attachments

You may be unable to send or receive certain file attachments via email such as an attachment with any of the following extensions:

.ade, .adp, .bas, .bat, .chm, .cmd, .com, .cpl, .crt, .eml, .exe, .hlp, .hta, .inf, .ins, .isp, .jse, .lnk, .mdb, .mde, .msc, .msi, .msp, .mst, .pcd, .pif, .reg, .scr, .sct, .shs, .txt, .url, .vbs, .vbe, .wsf, .wsh, .wsc

This is by design for security reasons – many file attachments with these extensions are known to contain viruses or other malicious code, therefore all such attachments are automatically stripped out of emails before they reach you. If you need to email a legitimate attachment with one of the file extensions above, you will need to save the file(s) into a standard zip folder/file first, and email the zipped file instead.

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I can’t send/receive email. What’s wrong?

  1. You may have lost your internet connection. Make sure that you have a connection to the internet by going to a site like http://www.yahoo.com. If you cannot view their page, you are not connected to the internet, and you will not be able to connect to our mail servers.
  2. The settings for your email client (eg, Outlook, Outlook Express, Eudora, etc) are not set up correctly. (You can view more details in our Email section).
  3. Your domain name may not be fully propagated yet
  4. If you can receive email but cannot send it, then your ISP may be blocking SMTP access on port 25. (Please read About “Port 25” blocking for more information).

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How can I prevent getting spam in the first place?

Generally speaking, spam is from companies/people selling (usually) bogus products/services. They get email addresses from:

  1. “Harvesting” – spidering through web sites looking for email addresses that are listed on web sites.
  2. Buying email lists from legitimate or not-so-legitimate companies. If you have used your email address ANYWHERE to sign up for ANYTHING, then it is likely that you will eventually receive spam at that email address. It is more likely that this would happen when you sign up for some “free” service than for some service/product that you are paying for. (Those “free” services have to make their money somehow – usually by selling your email address).
  3. Email chain letters – it is possible that these emails collect a list of recipients that eventually make their way back to a spammer’s address list.


What you can do to prevent getting spammed:

  1. Make sure that your email address is not visible on your website to spiders. Either use javascripting to parse together your address, or direct contact requests to a php-based form.
  2. Do not use any address which you care about online, anywhere. Get a “throw-away” address to use online (eg, yourname@hotmail.com, yourname@yahoo.com, etc).
  3. Do not respond to any email chain letters, or ask your friends to only send them to your “throw-away” address.

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Using SpamAssasin to filter your email

Spam Assassin is an email filtering system that can help you block, mark, or filter out mail you don’t want.

To set up Spam Assassin:

  1. From cPanel, click on Spam Assassin. A window displays that will tell you if Spam Assassin is currently enabled or disabled.
  2. Click the box to enable or disable Spam Assassin. This will mark suspected spam by adding *****SPAM***** to the beginning of the email’s Subject, so that you know it is suspected spam.
  3. If you want Spam Assassin to be more aggressive in marking spam (which may result in some good emails being marked as spam), set the “Score” to a lower number. If you want SpamAssassin to be less aggressive (risking that some spam may still get through unmarked), set the “Score” to a higher number.
  4. If you want to automatically and permanently delete these marked messages, click the box that says “Auto-Delete Spam”. If you no longer want to use the auto-delete feature, click the box that says “Disable Auto-Delete Spam”.

phpGedView

NOTE: Online help is also available at http://phpgedview.sourceforge.net/support.php
 


Uploading A New Tree
Updating An Existing Tree
Uploading Media/Images (FamilyTreeMaker users Only)

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Uploading A New Tree

  1. Export your FamilyTreeMaker/other program’s family file to a gedcom (see your program’s instructions for doing this)
  2. Login to phpGedView
  3. Click on the “Admin” link
  4. Click on “Manage Gedcoms and Edit Privacy”
  5. Click “Upload Gedcom”
  6. Use the “Browse” button to find the “yourfilename.GED” or “yourfilename.ged” (case sensitive) file on your home computer
  7. Click “Upload Gedcom”
  8. In the next screen, make sure to change at least the following:
     
    • “Enter a title that describes the data in this GEDCOM file” (eg, to My Family’s Genealogy) – this is what will appear as the title/heading for the tree’s welcome page
    • “Main WebSite URL” – this is the address of your site’s main homepage (eg, http://www.mydomain.com/index.html)
    • “Main WebSite Text” – this is what GedView will refer to your home page as (eg, The Smith Family Home Page).
  9. Click “Save Configuration”. This saves all the new data and should now take you to the “Manage Gedcoms and Edit Privacy” page…
  10. Click the “Cleanup” button


Done! Your new GedView tree is now online.

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Updating An Existing Tree

  1. Export your FamilyTreeMaker/other program’s updated family file to a gedcom (see your program’s instructions for doing this). Make sure that the gedcom is named the exact same as the file which you currently have loaded and are trying to repace (eg, “yourfilename.GED” or “yourfilename.ged” – remember that the filename is case sensitive).
  2. Login to phpGedView
  3. Click on the “Admin” link
  4. Click on “Manage Gedcoms and Edit Privacy”
  5. Click “Upload Gedcom”
  6. Use the “Browse” button to find the updated version of “yourfilename.GED” or “yourfilename.ged” (case sensitive) file on your home computer
  7. Click “Upload Gedcom”
  8. In the next screen, make sure that the following information is still correct:
     
    • “Enter a title that describes the data in this GEDCOM file” (eg, to My Family’s Genealogy) – this is what will appear as the title/heading for the tree’s welcome page
    • “Main WebSite URL” – this is the address of your site’s main homepage (eg, http://www.mydomain.com/index.html)
    • “Main WebSite Text” – this is what GedView will refer to your home page as (eg, The Smith Family Home Page).
  9. Click “Save Configuration”. This saves all the new data and should now take you to the “Manage Gedcoms and Edit Privacy” page…
  10. Click “Import Gedcom” (this is the part where your old data will actually get overwritten)
  11. If you are just updating your gedcom, proceed to the next step. If you are using FamilyTreeMaker, and are adding pictures for the first time or are adding additional pictures, click “Click here to launch the Add Media Tool” (this is where you will create the links between the people in your tree, and your photos you uploaded per the instructions below)
  12. Click the “Cleanup” button
  13. You should then see:
    “A GEDCOM with this filename has already been imported into the database. yourfilename.GED. Do you want to erase the old data and replace it with this new data?”
  14. Click “Yes”


Done! Your updated GedView tree is now online.

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Uploading Media/Images (FamilyTreeMaker users Only)

If you are using FamilyTreeMaker to create your family file, uploading and attaching media/images to a family member is a two-step process:

A. Uploading your photos/media/etc (this is just getting the photos up on the server, we’ll associate them with the actual individuals later):

  1. Once you have logged in to GedView, select “Admin” (upper left)
  2. Select “Upload Media Files”
  3. For “Media File” use the “Browse” button to find the photo on your computer
  4. For “Thumbnail” use the “Browse” button to find the photo on your computer (The thumbnail is the image that will appear next to a person’s name in their pedigree chart. You will probably always use the same file as in 3 above. You must have a file specified for both “Media File” and “Thumbnail”).
  5. Click the “Upload Media Files” button


Done! This will store these images in your public_html/family/media and public_html/family/media/thumbs directories.

Alternatively (especially if you have a lot of photos, you might prefer this method – it’s much faster), you could FTP all your photos at once into your public_html/family/media directory, and again into your public_html/family/media/thumbs directory (a copy of each photo needs to be in each of these 2 directories).


B. Associating uploaded media with individuals When you are either Uploading or Updating your gedcom file, you will be able to associate each of the images/media that are in your public_html/family/media directory with a specific person in your family tree. Once you’ve done this the first time, you won’t need to do it again (except if you want to add additional pictures later on). During the Upload/Update process, after you click the “Import Gedcom” button, click on “Click here to launch the Add Media Tool” (this is where you will create the links between the people in your tree, and the photos you uploaded above). Once you are in the Media Tool area:

  1. Enter the following info for each photo/association you’d like to make:
  2. Gedcom INDI record ID – The person’s ID number in your FamilyTreeMaker file – use the format “Ixxxx” (eg, Joe Smith might be person number “I0001” – with a capital “i”)
  3. External File – the filename (eg, joesmithatthefarm.JPG)
  4. Extension – the extension of the filename (eg, JPG – it is case sensitive, so use whatever case the file extension for that photo is)
  5. Highlighted Image – Yes/No (if you had multiple photos for one person, “Yes” will make this one the “default” that will displayed as the thumbnail on their tree pages)
  6. Title – Title for the photo (eg, Joe Smith at the Farm – 1925)
  7. Order – what order you want this photo displayed in if there are several for one person (you can leave it blank if you want)
  8. Gedcom File – If you had more than one gedcom, you would select which one you wanted to add this to
  9. Then click the “Add Media” button
  10. Repeat steps 2 – 8 for each person/photo association that you want to make. When finished:
  11. Click on the wide button that says “Click here to Add the Media listed above to yourfilename.GED”
  12. Click “Close Window”
  13. Continue with your Upload/Update process

Done! A small image of the “thumbnail” will now appear next to the person’s name in their pedigree chart, and the “media file” will appear in their main info page in their Media” section. Their photo will also appear in the Lists/Multimedia List area.