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Webmail

AirBalloon's built-in inbox at /webmail. A familiar three-panel mail client where every conference message (announcements, submission correspondence, decisions, system notices) lands, stays searchable, and is also sent to your email.

Last updated: 2026-10-26

Purpose

Webmail is AirBalloon's built-in messaging system: a familiar three-panel mail client that lives inside the platform at /webmail. Every conference-related message reaches you here: broadcast announcements, submission correspondence with organizers, decision notifications, and automatic system notices (like "your submission was received"). Messages stay in-app and fully searchable, and you also receive an email notification at your registered address, so nothing is missed whether or not you're signed in.

Webmail is open to everyone; there's no role restriction. You'll find it in the sidebar's Main group, alongside your Dashboard and Channels.

When you use it

Open Webmail to read what a conference has sent you, to reply to an organizer or a chair, or to write to another participant directly. It's the right place for one-to-one and one-to-few correspondence that you want a record of, as opposed to Channels, which are ongoing group discussion spaces.

The three panels

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    Folder tree (left). Your folders: the global Starred and Flagged smart folders at the top, your personal My Mailbox, any custom folders you create, and a hierarchy of conference folders. Each conference expands into its programs, and each program into Inbox, Sent, and Trash. A sub-program appears only inside its Multi-Program (for example Workshops › AIMG 2026), holding its own Inbox, Sent and Trash. An Archive folder appears once you archive your first message.

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    Message list (middle). Every message in the selected folder, showing the subject, the sender's name and their role at the time (e.g. "PC Chair"), the date, and read / flag / star status. Unread messages show in bold, and an unread count appears next to Webmail in the sidebar.

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    Reading pane (right). The full message with sender, recipients, and the conference/program it belongs to, plus the action toolbar (reply, forward, flag, move, archive, delete). Show previous messages lists every earlier message of the thread in full.

Drag the dividers between panels to resize them to your liking.

Where to go next

Tips

In-app and email, always in sync

Every Webmail message is also delivered in full to your registered email address. The canonical, threaded copy lives here in Webmail. Reading or replying in the app keeps the whole conversation in one searchable place.

Who the email comes from

Conference email (Webmail notices, invitations, submission receipts, decisions, revision notices and reminders) is sent in the conference's name, for example CROSS-AI <crossai-notifications@airballoon.ai>. A Webmail message arrives in full under its own subject: as written when it came from a template, otherwise in a card with the conference, the subject and the text. The email never names the sender. In Webmail, a message a chair or organizer sent in that role shows the conference, the program and the office, for example CROSSAI-MMAI2026-Program Chair (co-chairs share it), CROSSAI-MMAI2026-Area Chair or CROSSAI-General Chair, never the person's name; a reply to it goes to that office. PC members and reviewers go by their reviewer id, for example CROSSAI-MMAI2026-PC Member-R007 or CROSSAI-MMAI2026-Reviewer-R012, as senders and in the To and Cc lists, without a name or email. Your reply, including the copy in your Sent folder, lists such recipients the same way. Spacing you type, such as two spaces after a period, is kept. Replying to the email reaches the conference's contact address when it has one (or the person who sent an invitation), otherwise AirBalloon support. To reply to a Webmail message, reply in Webmail. Account and billing email still comes from AirBalloon.

Webmail or Channels?

Use Webmail for correspondence you want a durable record of, such as a reply to an organizer, a note to a co-author. Use Channels for ongoing, many-to-many discussion. Announcements you receive arrive in your Webmail Inbox either way.

Open Webmail