How to Set Up Your Mailbox Correctly with IMAP

More and more organisations are moving away from forwarding: automatically redirecting emails to a Gmail or Outlook address. This no longer works well, especially due to the stricter rules of major email providers such as Gmail, iCloud, Outlook and Yahoo.

The best solution? Use a real mailbox on your own domain and add it to your email programme via IMAP.

In this blog, I explain:

• why IMAP is the best choice
• which details you always need
• how to add a mailbox in Gmail, Outlook, Apple Mail and other apps
• what you can do if it doesn’t work right away

Why IMAP – and not POP

There are roughly two ways to retrieve email: IMAP and POP.

IMAP

• you look directly into the mailbox on the server
• works perfectly on multiple devices (phone, laptop, tablet)
• synchronises everything: read, unread, sent, folders

POP

• downloads email and stores it locally
• does not work well when you use multiple devices
• can lead to missing or fragmented messages

In short: IMAP is the modern, safe and reliable way to work with your mailbox.

POP is now only used in very specific cases. For most users and organisations, IMAP is by far the better choice.

A key advantage of IMAP: multiple users can manage the same mailbox

Many associations and teams use Gmail because several people need access to the same mailbox. But IMAP can do this just as well – and even better.

• Multiple users can open the same mailbox at the same time.
• Everyone sees the same folders and the same read/unread status.
• Sent messages are visible to all users.
• Everything stays neatly synchronised across all devices.

You simply log in with several people to the same mailbox – via webmail or an email programme – without forwarding or shared private accounts.

For organisations using info@, board@ or members@, this is the safest and most future-proof way to collaborate.

The details you always need

No matter which hosting provider you use (Combell, Vimexx or another), these are the settings you’ll need to enter:

Incoming mail (IMAP)

• Server: mail.yourdomain.com
• Port: 993
• Security: SSL/TLS

Outgoing mail (SMTP)

• Server: mail.yourdomain.com
• Port: 465 (or 587 as an alternative)
• Security: SSL/TLS
• Authentication required (username + password)

Login details

• Username: the full email address
• Password: the email password

These settings are almost always the same for Combell and Vimexx.

How to add the mailbox to your email programme

Below you’ll find a short, clear explanation for each app. Not too technical – exactly what you need to do it yourself.

Gmail (web or app)

1. Go to Settings → See all settings → Accounts and import.
2. Choose Check mail from other accounts → Add an email account.
3. Enter your email address.
4. Select Manual setup → IMAP.
5. Enter the IMAP details (server: mail.yourdomain.com).
6. Gmail will now retrieve your emails directly via IMAP.

Note: Gmail can be strict when passwords don’t match – so enter everything carefully.

Outlook (Windows / Mac)

1. Go to File → Add account.
2. Enter your email address.
3. Choose Advanced options and tick Let me set up my account manually.
4. Select IMAP.
5. Enter the IMAP and SMTP settings shown above.
6. Confirm → done.

Tip: Outlook sometimes asks for your password twice – that’s normal.

Apple Mail (Mac / iPhone / iPad)

1. Go to Settings → Mail → Accounts → Add account.
2. Select Other.
3. Enter your email address and password.
4. Select IMAP.
5. Enter the incoming and outgoing server (mail.yourdomain.com).
6. Save.

Apple Mail often recognises IMAP automatically, but always double-check the ports and security.

Thunderbird

1. Click New account → Email.
2. Enter your name, email address and password.
3. Thunderbird will try to detect the correct settings.
4. If not, choose Manual configuration and enter the IMAP and SMTP settings yourself.
5. Save → done.

Common issues (and how to fix them)

These tips will save you (and us) a lot of time.

1Password doesn’t work

• Watch out for spaces when copying and pasting.
• Test your password in webmail first to make sure it’s correct.

2Email sends but doesn’t receive

• Check whether the IMAP port is set to 993.
• Check whether SSL/TLS is enabled.

3Email receives but doesn’t send

• Check whether the SMTP port is 465 or 587.
• Make sure SMTP authentication is enabled.

4 Outlook or Gmail keeps asking for your password

• Check whether the server names are correct (no typos in mail.yourdomain.com).
• Check whether you mixed up IMAP and SMTP.
• Re-entering everything calmly resolves most of these issues.

What we do – and what we don’t

What we do

• provide the correct basic settings for your mailbox
• check whether IMAP is set up correctly
• identify issues caused by forwarding or old POP settings
• offer general advice on better email practices

What we don’t do

• perform full email migrations
• deep troubleshooting of email programmes
• recover emails that were stored locally
• DNS and mail server management for complex setups

Not because we don’t want to help, but because this is specialist work that falls outside regular website maintenance.

Summary: how to set up your mailbox reliably

• Use IMAP, not POP.
• Use mail.yourdomain.com as the server for incoming and outgoing mail.
• Select SSL/TLS for both incoming and outgoing.
• Use port 993 (IMAP) and 465/587 (SMTP).
• Add your mailbox manually in Gmail, Outlook, Apple Mail or your phone.
• Test your password in webmail.
• Avoid forwarding: it increasingly causes issues with stricter email providers.

With these settings, you can work smoothly on laptop, phone and tablet – just as major email providers expect.

Do you want to understand why your emails sometimes don’t arrive, even when your IMAP settings are correct?
Then read my article Why emails so often disappear these days.