Set up your email securely

Before you start

Use the settings below to connect your mailbox. They are taken from SGCloudApp’s previous setup guides, not from a live check of your account. If your administrator has issued different settings, use those instead.

Replace yourdomain.com with your mailbox domain and johndoe with your own mailbox name. These are examples, not working account details. Use mail.yourdomain.com only if it is configured for your service and its certificate is valid for that exact hostname. Otherwise, ask your administrator for the correct server hostname.

1. Choose your incoming mail settings

Settings from the previous SGCloudApp guides. Your issued account settings take precedence.

The IMAP settings and Normal password method are explicit in the original Thunderbird guide. The POP3 hostname and port 995 with SSL are explicit in the secured-email guide; this page uses the current label SSL/TLS.

Use IMAP when you want mailbox folders and messages kept in sync across your devices. Use POP3 only if you intentionally want messages downloaded to a device; check the client’s server-retention settings before using it on multiple devices.

Do not select “None” for connection security. For these settings, port 143 needs STARTTLS; the port number alone does not turn on encryption. Never turn off encryption to work around a connection error.

2. Configure outgoing mail

Sending uses a separate SMTP connection. Configure it even if incoming mail already works.

These values preserve the original Thunderbird configuration and the secured-email guide’s preferred SMTP port.

Enable outgoing-server authentication and use the same mailbox credentials as incoming mail, unless your issued settings say otherwise. The old guide also listed ports 25 and 2525 but did not specify their encryption; do not switch to either as a general secure fallback. Ask your administrator for an approved alternative if port 587 cannot connect.

3. Add the account in your email client

1. Open your client’s account settings and choose to add an existing email account. You need a mailbox that has already been created for you; adding it to a client does not create a new mailbox.
2. Enter your display name and full mailbox address. Enter the mailbox password only in the trusted email client, never in this page or a support form.
3. If the client discovers settings automatically, compare both incoming and outgoing settings with your issued account details. Use manual setup when they differ or discovery fails.
4. Select IMAP or POP3 and enter the matching incoming settings above. Enter the SMTP settings separately and enable authentication.
5. Verify the security selection as well as the port. Resolve certificate or authentication errors before completing setup.
6. Send a non-sensitive message to another mailbox you control, then reply from that mailbox. Check that the first mailbox both sends and receives the reply.

Follow the Thunderbird setup guide

4. Open webmail, if provided for your account

Your service may provide webmail at https://mail.yourdomain.com/webmail. Use this address only if your administrator confirms it is enabled and the HTTPS certificate is valid for mail.yourdomain.com.

If it is not available, use the exact HTTPS webmail URL issued for your account. The previous guide used https://srvX.sgcloudapp.net/webmail as a server-name example: srvX is a placeholder, not an address to use. Ask for your actual server hostname or full webmail URL; do not guess the server number.

Never switch to plain HTTP or accept a browser certificate warning to reach webmail.

If something goes wrong

Certificate or server-identity warning

Stop. Do not select Trust, add a certificate exception, or continue past the warning. The certificate must be trusted, in date and valid for the exact server hostname you entered. Seeing “sgcloudapp.net” somewhere in the certificate is not sufficient.

Check the hostname against your issued settings and check your device’s date and time. Ask the administrator to supply a hostname covered by a valid certificate, or to resolve the certificate problem. Changing the hostname is appropriate only when the administrator confirms the replacement serves your mailbox. Keep encryption enabled.

Cannot receive mail

Check the incoming hostname, protocol, port, connection security and full-address username. Do not enter just johndoe where your account requires johndoe@yourdomain.com. Confirm the mailbox has been created and that you are using its password, not a website or hosting-control-panel password.

Can receive but cannot send

Check SMTP port 587, STARTTLS, authentication and the full-address username. If your client contains several SMTP entries, make sure this mailbox uses the correct outgoing server. Receiving successfully does not verify SMTP.

Account limits

Your current plan and account policy determine sending limits. The previous guide stated 3,000 emails per day; that is historical guidance, not a confirmed current allowance. Ask your administrator for the limit that applies before planning bulk sends.