Mailboxes and aliases
The Mailboxes tab creates two kinds of address, and the difference is whether mail is stored or passed on.
- A mailbox holds mail and has a password. Someone logs into it.
- An alias stores nothing and has no password. It forwards to one or more addresses you name.
An alias costs no storage, so use one wherever nobody needs to log in. info@example.com forwarding to two colleagues is an alias, not a mailbox with a shared password.
Creating an address
Email → Mailboxes → Add email. The fields are Type, Email address, Password for a mailbox or Recipient for an alias, and Active.
Local parts may contain letters, digits, dots and hyphens. Passwords must be at least 8 characters, and the form additionally refuses one it judges too weak.
The address cannot be changed later
Neither the address nor the type is editable after creation. Getting from jon@example.com to john@example.com means creating the new address and deleting the old one, and mail already delivered to the old mailbox does not move with it.
Sender addresses on a mailbox is a separate idea from an alias: it lets that mailbox send as another address, including one that does not exist as a real address on the domain. Receiving still needs a mailbox or alias.
Deleting an address asks you to type it out in full first. Deleting a mailbox deletes the mail in it.
Storage per mailbox
Mailboxes are not given individual storage quotas. They all draw on the domain's shared 10 GB pool, and the Storage column shows a dash rather than a bar for that reason. What fills the pool is the sum of everything, so a single mailbox can consume all of it.
Catch-all
Email → Domain Settings → Catch-All points every address that does not exist on the domain at one real mailbox. Pick the target from the list; only actual mailboxes are offered, so create one before you go looking for the setting.
One catch-all per domain. Setting a new target replaces the old one.
A catch-all collects spam, permanently
Every made-up address a spammer tries becomes deliverable, and each one that lands teaches them the domain accepts anything. Aliases for the addresses you actually use are almost always the better answer.
What a single mailbox can do
Open a mailbox from the Mailboxes tab and it gets its own page.
Overview shows storage use, the connection settings with a copy button, the aliases pointing at it, and a password change.
Filters are Sieve rules that run on delivery. Build them from conditions and actions, or switch to Raw and write Sieve yourself. Conditions match sender, recipient, CC, subject, any header, the body or the message size, with contains, is, glob or regex. Actions file into a folder (creating it if asked), copy, mark read, set a flag, forward, discard, or reject with a reason. Rules run in the order shown and can be reordered; a rule can stop the ones below it. Everything is validated by the server before it is saved, so a broken script cannot be activated.
Vacation is an out-of-office reply with a subject, a message and optional From and Until dates.
Identities are additional addresses this mailbox may send from, each with its own display name.
Login History lists recent sign-ins with time, IP address, protocol, country and whether the attempt succeeded. It is the fastest way to confirm a mailbox password has leaked.
Delegates
A delegate is a mailbox user, not a portal customer, who administers part of the domain for you. Add one under Email → Delegates with their mailbox address and a set of permissions.
Permissions are grouped, with View, Create & Edit and Delete offered per group:
| Group | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Mailboxes | Mailboxes and aliases on the domain |
| Mailing Lists | Distribution lists on the domain |
A delegation can carry an expiry date, and the delegate is notified by email when you grant one or widen it. They then work through the mailbox self-service page described in Connecting a mail client, not through your dashboard.
What's next
- Limits for sending rates, storage and spam handling
- Troubleshooting when something is refused