Connect an IMAP mailbox
If your mail isn’t on Microsoft 365, Gmail, or Zoho, you can often still connect it with a username and password. This works for most business mailboxes hosted with a web host or your own mail server. The connection is read-only: InboxAgent reads messages, and it never sends, changes, labels, or deletes anything in your mailbox.
Gmail and Microsoft 365 mailboxes connect a different way. If you enter a Google or Microsoft mail server here, we’ll stop you and point you at the right option. That isn’t us being fussy. Signing in with Google or Microsoft lets us ask for permission to read your mail and nothing more, and you can withdraw it at any time from your own account. A username and password would hand over full access to the mailbox, including the ability to change and delete mail, which is far more than we need. Choose Gmail or Microsoft 365 on the mailbox row instead.
What you’ll need
- Your mail server address. This is the incoming mail server your email program uses, usually
something like
mail.yourcompany.com. Your web host or IT person can tell you the exact address. If you’re not sure, use the server’s own name (the one your host gave you), not your website domain. - The username and password for the mailbox. Connect a real mailbox that receives mail, like
info@orsupport@. Use the mailbox’s own password. Don’t use your main hosting or control panel login.
InboxAgent connects securely (over TLS) on port 993, which is the standard for reading mail. Your password is encrypted the moment you save it, and no screen ever shows it again.
Connect it
- Go to Settings → Integrations and click Add mailbox. Enter the address and a display name, and choose IMAP mailbox as the provider. Your first mailbox is included in your base plan; each additional mailbox adds a per-mailbox charge. See Billing for when that is charged on monthly and yearly plans.
- Click Connect on the new row. Enter your mail server address, the port (993), the username, and the password.
- Click Connect again. InboxAgent tries the details right away and only saves them if they work. If the mail server rejects them, you’ll see a clear message and nothing is stored, so you can fix them and try again.
- The row shows Connected. Click Test to confirm.
The mail server address and username can’t be changed later
Once a mailbox is connected, its mail server address and username are fixed. This keeps your email history tied to the right mailbox. To point at a different server or use a different username, disconnect this mailbox and connect it again as a new one. You can update the password any time by connecting again with the same server and username.
If the password stops working
If your mailbox password changes or is rejected, InboxAgent stops checking that mailbox and marks it as needing attention, and it alerts the people on your notifications list. It won’t keep retrying a bad password, because repeated failed sign-ins can get our address temporarily blocked by your mail server. Just connect the mailbox again with the new password to resume.
How the mail is picked up
InboxAgent checks the mailbox’s Inbox about once a minute and picks up new mail by arrival. It never marks your mail as read, so it doesn’t matter whether someone has already opened it. Mail that a server-side filter moves out of the Inbox on arrival won’t be picked up, so check your filters if something seems to be missed.