Connecting your mailbox to your email software

Connecting your mailbox to your email software

Overview

Your email mailbox can be added to any email software that supports IMAP.

Recommended Apps

For the best (and easiest) user experience, we recommend downloading the following apps to access your email on computers, tablets and mobile phones.


Enable IMAP

To enable IMAP for your account;
  1. Log into webmail (see guidance in step 1)
  2. Click the Settings cog icon in the top right
  3. Scroll down the settings to "Mail Accounts"
  4. Scroll down to the "IMAP" section
  5. Tick "IMAP Access"
  6. Note down the Server Hosts, Ports and Modes.

Set an App Password

A special password is required in order to connect using IMAP. Here are the instructions for doing that:

Credentials

Whatever email software you're connecting to, you'll need the following credentials:

SETTING
SERVER
PORT
ENCRYPTION METHOD
AUTHENTICATION
Incoming Mail Server (IMAP)
imappro.zoho.eu
993
SSL/TLS
Tick ON "Require login using SPA"
Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP)
smtppro.zoho.eu
465
SSL/TLS
Tick ON "Require login using SPA"


Setup

Setup for Microsoft Outlook (Desktop)

When you start Microsoft Outlook you'll be presented with a box to enter your email address. Enter your email address and click CONNECT.
If you have an account already registered in Outlook, then go to FILE then select ADD ACCOUNT.


Enter your password and click CONNECT


Optionally select the option to set up Outlook on your phone (which will redirect you to a webpage with a QR code to scan on your phone), then click DONE


You'll now be able to send and receive email within Outlook.

Here are some recommended settings to choose once Outlook has been set up:

Set your name
  1. Go to FILE then ACCOUNT SETTINGS
  2. Double-click on your email address to bring up more settings
  3. Add your name, account name and Organisation Name then click NEXT then CLOSE


Setup in iOS (mobile)

  1. Go to Accounts and click Add Account
  2. Select "Other" from the list
  3. Select "Add Mail Account"
  4. Select the IMAP tab
  5. Enter the following details then click Next:
    1. your Name, e.g. "Chris Mewse"
    2. your new email address, e.g. chris.mewse@mappington-pc.gov.uk
    3. the password
    4. a description, e.g. "Mappington Parish Council"
  6. Wait for it to try and verify. It may ask you to enter the mail server details manually (they're at the top of this page)
  7. You'll now be able to send and receive from your mobile.






Setup in MacOS (desktop)

  1. Open your Mail app
  2. Go to Mail, then Settings
  3. Click on the + button in the bottom left
  4. Choose "Other Mail Account" from the list of providers, click Continue
  5. Add in your details and click Sign In
  6. It may not find the account details itself, so you'll have to add in the incoming and outgoing mail server manually (listed at the top of this page)
  7. Click Sign In
  8. In the next window, uncheck Notes, then click Done











Setup in Thunderbird (desktop)

Thunderbird is a free and open source application for managing your email. It's been built as a competitor to Outlook and has great functionality and is easy to use. It may not have the gloss and fancy graphics of Outlook, but it's free and works perfectly with our mailboxes.
Thunderbird is built by the same group of people that make Firefox, the well-known web browser, so it's got credibility in the industry. It also doesn't rely on connecting to Microsoft servers to use, which can sometimes cause issues when using non-Microsoft accounts.
Whilst being free, it relies on donations to allow it to improve over time. We'd strongly recommend donating as this helps the cause. And if you tell us that your council is using Thunderbird, we'll also donate on your behalf as part of our Community Interest Company fund.

To install Thunderbird, go to https://www.thunderbird.net/en-GB/ and click on Download.

Once the file has downloaded, run it on your computer. Click through the setup process, choosing the Standard setup.

When first loading Thunderbird you'll have a view like this. Fill in your details and click Continue


Thunderbird will search for your parish gov.uk account settings. Leave them as-is and click Done


And that's it! Thunderbird will set up your account. Click Finish. You might also like to take the opportunity to set a signature for your account.


Thunderbird will then ask if you want it to be the default application for your email and calendar. This is up to you as you may have other mail applications for your personal life on your computer.


Click Inbox to see your emails. If you're setting up a brand new account then you'll have one email with your setup details. You won't need to worry about that as you're already set up.


Once you're set up, there are a few things we like to tweak to make life easier:

Switch the email view to date descending. This gives a more natural view where new messages appear at the top:


Stop the Thunderbird webpage loading every time you open the sofware:



Setup on K-9 Mail (Android Phone or Tablet)

K-9 Mail is a free and open source mail app for your Android device. Much like Thunderbird (instructions above), it relies on donations to keep improving.


Open the app. Your first view will be a permissions question to allow the app to show notifications on the phone. This is up to you, but clicking Allow will mean you'll get notified of new emails without having to go into the app.


From the intro screen, click Next


Enter your email address and click Next


Enter your password and click Next


Select IMAP from the options


On the Incoming Server settings page, change the IMAP server from "imap" to "mail". Leave all the other settings and click Next


And the same on the SMTP page, change the server from "smtp" to "mail". Leave the other settings and click Next


Adjust your poll frequency to 15 minutes. This means the app will check the server for new emails every 15 minutes. This is personal preference though, so make it longer if you like. Click Next.


Give your mail account a name, e.g. your parish council name, and enter your name, or how you want to be presented. Click Done.



The app will ask if it can read your contacts. This helps for composing new emails quickly from known contacts. This is personal preference.


And that's it! Two key buttons to know are the one in the top left which is a menu button to show you your inbox and sent items. And the one in the bottom right is the "Compose" button for starting to write a new email.







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