Setting Up Your Email

Setting Up Your Email

This page explains the basics of email, plus the settings you’ll need to set up your email account on any internet-connected device (PC, Mac, laptop, iPad/tablet, iPhone or Android smartphone).

If you need any further information on how to do anything mentioned on this page, please call me.

POP or IMAP?

POP and IMAP are simply different ways of connecting your email program (Outlook, Apple Mail, Thunderbird, etc.) to your mailbox on the server.

What is a POP email connection?

A POP connection downloads emails from the server to your device.

  • Once downloaded, emails are usually removed from the server (unless you choose “leave a copy on the server”).
  • If you keep a copy on the server, another device can also download the same emails.
  • Because emails are stored mainly on your device, POP typically uses very little server storage.

Important: POP does not synchronise between devices. This means:

  • An email you send from one device may not appear in “Sent” on another device.
  • Folders you create on one device won’t appear on your other devices.

What is an IMAP connection?

An IMAP connection mainly works with email stored on the server.

  • Your email program shows what’s on the server and “mirrors” it.
  • Some or all emails may also download to your device — this depends on your device/app settings.
  • IMAP synchronises across multiple devices (inbox, folders, sent items and deleted items).

Note: Because IMAP stores email on the server, you can reach your storage limit if you don’t tidy up regularly.

  • Folders will appear on all devices (and on webmail) as long as your settings are correct.
  • Sent items are stored on the server — regularly delete or archive old sent emails to save space.
  • Deleted emails stay in the bin/trash on the server until you empty it — empty it regularly.

Which is best?

This is up to you, but I’m happy to advise.

In the past, POP was more common because server storage was expensive. Nowadays, IMAP is generally the best option for most people because it keeps everything in sync across devices.

How I use it (example):

  • I use IMAP for my email.
  • On my laptop, I create local folders and move older emails into them to archive (this removes them from the server).
  • On my phone, I use IMAP configured to show the last 30 days of email, which is more than enough.
  • I don’t need all of my archived/local folders on my phone.

Backups

It is your responsibility to make backups of your email.

I use Gmail as a simple backup manager. I connect Gmail to my flymedia email account using a POP connection and tell Gmail to keep a copy on the server. I also occasionally delete very old mail in Gmail. This is useful if I accidentally delete an email on my laptop and later need to retrieve it.

Spam

Spam can be delivered to your device or quarantined, depending on the settings I set up for your account.

  • There is a spam folder on the server where quarantined spam is stored.
  • An IMAP connection will see this folder. You should check it occasionally in case a genuine email ends up there (although there are usually none).
  • A POP connection will not see this folder because POP normally only downloads emails from your inbox.

To view quarantined spam, log in to webmail (webmail looks at what’s on the server).

I can also change how spam is handled, for example:

  • Send spam to the spam folder, or deliver it to your inbox (marked as spam or not).
  • Adjust the spam filter effectiveness from 1 to 10 (default is 4) to catch more spam or allow more through.

Dealing with spam

Click here to read a useful guide on how to deal with spam, how to try and keep it to a minimum and how to manage it more efficiently.

Setting Up Your Email

The exact steps differ depending on the device and email program you’re using, but the core settings below are the same.

Your device may automatically guess some settings based on your username and password, but you must check the account settings even if it says setup is successful. Port numbers are especially important.

Your details

Username: your full email address
Password: you will have been sent this by flymedia

Incoming email server settings

Incoming IMAP Server: https://imap.your-domain-name.com
IMAP Port: 993
SSL: On
Authentication: On

Outgoing email server settings

Outgoing SMTP Server: https://smtp.your-domain-name.com
SMTP Port: 465
SSL: On
SMTP Authentication: On (“Use the same password as incoming server” in Outlook, or for Mac Mail, iPhone and iPad devices, please use “Password” mode)

Authentication means you are sending your username and password to the server when sending an email. This helps stop spammers from sending emails pretending to be you.

Webmail

Webmail is access to your email account from anywhere in the world, on any internet-connected device.

Webmail shows what’s stored on the server:

  • If you use a POP connection, you will usually see an inbox with some emails (the number depends on your “leave a copy on the server” settings).
  • If you use an IMAP connection, you will see all folders, all emails, sent items and deleted items (bin/trash).

Use webmail to see what’s taking up space on the server. Check your bin and sent items folders, and delete anything you don’t need to reduce the space you are using.

Click here for a more comprehensive look at how to reduce the amount of email storage you are using on the server.

Each flymedia email account has a 10GB limit. As you near your limit, you will receive an email notification letting you know.

You can then remove unwanted emails and archive emails you want to keep. If you need more space, I can increase your storage limit and invoice you accordingly.

If you go over your limit, you will not be able to send or receive email.

Webmail Address: https://imap.your-domain-name.com/webmail OR https://stackmail.com

Webmail additional

How to set your “out of office” notification

  1. Log in to webmail.
  2. Click Settings > click Vacation.
  3. Set your message, including the start and end dates.

Note: Your vacation auto responder will…

  • a, automatically reply to spammers (letting them know you have an active account). This may increase the number of spam emails you receive.
  • b, automatically reply to everyone. Depending on your message content, you may be informing people that you are away and your house is empty.
  • c, only reply to a sender once, not one reply for each email they send you.

How to change your email password

Don’t change your password. The one I gave you is secure. But you can if you want.

If you change your password to something less secure and your account gets hacked, my server team will lock your account until it is fixed. You will not be able to send or receive emails during this time.

  1. Log in to webmail.
  2. Click Settings > click Password.
  3. Enter your current password and your new chosen password.

Troubleshooting

If you are having problems with a new OR existing email account, click here to see our handy guide to troubleshooting any problems that may be causing the issue.

Further Reading