Mathematics computerlab
Mathematics computerlab
Mathematics computerlab
Mathematics computerlab > E-Mail > Reading mail via IMAP

Reading mail via IMAP

It is particularly convenient to read your mail using an IMAP-capable mail client. That way, all mail resides on the server and can be accessed from everywhere around the world. Graphical mail clients like Thunderbird are able to manage multiple IMAP accounts simultaneously. In order to be able to read mail via IMAP, it has to be forwarded to the server (and the respective mailbox must exist on that server). This works just like webmail. Also, spam filtering has to be configured using the webmail interface. So before you configure your IMAP client, please refer to our user guide for webmail access first, and then read on.

Configuring Thunderbird 3.x

The configuration of Thunderbird is quite simple.
When you have added a new mail account, you'll be asked to enter your name, mail address and password. The mail address for your account is loginname@math.uni-bielefeld.de Thunderbird will then try to configure the settings automatically, which should succeed and look similar to the following:



After clicking "Create Account", you'll be able to receive and send mail.

Other mail clients

Make sure that the IMAP (or IMAP4) protocol is used (not POP or POP3) .
Use the following settings for the configuration:

Incoming
Server address: imap.math.uni-bielefeld.de
Port: 143
Encryption: STARTTLS
Outgoing
Server address: smtp.math.uni-bielefeld.de
Port: 25
Encryption: STARTTLS

Important Notes:

  • The Outgoing server requires the authentication to be set to username and password. If this is not set, you will not be able to send mail
  • The username for both Incoming and Outgoing server is just your loginname (without @math.uni-bielefeld.de)
  • Existing users can continue to use mailstore.math.uni-bielefeld.de as Incoming server and mailhost.uni-bielefeld.de as Outgoing server
  • When using the faculty's computers, the synchronisation of mail should be deactivated. As the computers are permanently connected to the internet, this option will unnecessarily use up disk space. In the account settings, under "Synchronisation & Storage", please uncheck "Keep messages for this account on this computer", as shown below:


(Click the image to enlarge)

Checking the settings of existing accounts

As the servers are now configured to only allow connections that use both Authentication and Encryption, existing accounts that do not yet use these features might be having problems.

The Encryption option for both Incoming and Outgoing servers has to be set to STARTTLS or TLS respectively.
In Thunderbird, go to "Edit>Account Settings" (that is "Extras->Account Settings" in Windows), select "Server settings" under your account and set "Connection Security" to "STARTTLS"
(This applies to Thunderbird 3.x. Other clients may not offer the option "STARTTLS", in which case one should select the option "TLS" and make sure that the client connects via port 143). Please select "Normal Password" as authentication method, as shown below:



The settings for the Outgoing server can also be found in "Account settings". Select "Outgoing server" and choose smtp.math.uni-bielefeld.de (alternatively mailhost.math.uni-bielefeld.de), then click "Edit".
The option "Username and password" must be activated. Enter your loginname as "Username", here the option "STARTTLS" must be activated too (this Encryption might also be listed as "TLS").
In any case the right port is port 25.



If you followed these instructions, you should be able to send and receive mail.