Connect Gmail, Yahoo, iCloud or another IMAP mailbox

Zamilo can read and reply from a mailbox on almost any mail host: Gmail, Yahoo, iCloud Mail, Fastmail or your web host. It reads mail over IMAP and sends replies through SMTP, signing in with the mailbox's address and an app password.

Not for Microsoft accounts. Personal Outlook.com and Hotmail accounts cannot connect: Microsoft no longer accepts app passwords for them. For a Microsoft 365 work mailbox, follow Connect a Microsoft 365 mailbox instead.

Before you start

Your Zamilo role must allow Manage mailboxes, reply templates and saved views for everyone. Out of the box, only the Administrator role has it.
You can sign in to the mailbox's account settings at your mail provider, to create an app password.
For a host Zamilo does not recognise, you know its IMAP and SMTP server names and ports.

Create an app password

An app password is a long password your provider generates for one app. Most providers refuse your normal password from other apps, especially when two-step sign-in is on. An app password works without your second step and can be revoked on its own, without changing your main password.

Gmail

Turn on 2-Step Verification for your Google Account.
Open myaccount.google.com/apppasswords, give the password a name such as Zamilo, and create it.
Copy the 16-character password. Type it without the spaces.

The option is missing if your account uses only security keys or Advanced Protection. On a Google Workspace account, your administrator decides whether app passwords are allowed. See Google's Sign in with app passwords.

Yahoo

On Yahoo's Account Security page, choose Create app password under external connections, type a name, and press Generate password. See Yahoo's guide.

iCloud Mail

Your Apple Account needs two-factor authentication. Sign in at account.apple.com, open Sign-In and Security, then App-Specific Passwords, and generate one. See Apple's guide.

Fastmail

In Fastmail, open Settings → Privacy & Security, choose Manage app passwords and access, then New app password, with mail access. See Fastmail's guide.

Other hosts

Ask your provider, or look in its help pages, for the IMAP and SMTP server names and ports, and whether it needs an app password.

Connect the mailbox

In Zamilo at https://app.zamilo.io, open Settings (left menu, under System), then Mailboxes, and press Add an IMAP Mailbox.
Under The Mailbox, fill in Short name (the inbox's label for it) and Email address. Optionally choose a Business and a Display name on outgoing mail.
Under The Connection, leave IMAP server blank if your host is a well-known one: Zamilo looks the settings up from the address. Otherwise fill in all four server fields.
Leave Username blank to use the address. For iCloud Mail, type your full iCloud address here.
Paste the app password into Password.
Press Save Mailbox. Zamilo signs in to both servers first; nothing is saved until they answer.

When IMAP server is blank, Zamilo checks Thunderbird's public list of mail hosts, then your domain's own settings file, and fills in the servers, ports and username. If neither knows the host, it says so and you type them in. If you fill in the IMAP server but leave the SMTP server blank, Zamilo sends through the IMAP server, so fill in both.

Provider	IMAP server and port	SMTP server and port
Gmail	`imap.gmail.com`, 993	`smtp.gmail.com`, 465 or 587
Yahoo	`imap.mail.yahoo.com`, 993	`smtp.mail.yahoo.com`, 465 or 587
iCloud Mail	`imap.mail.me.com`, 993	`smtp.mail.me.com`, 587
Fastmail	`imap.fastmail.com`, 993	`smtp.fastmail.com`, 465

Zamilo always connects with encryption: IMAP on 993 (TLS) or 143 (STARTTLS), SMTP on 465 (TLS) or 587 (STARTTLS).

What Zamilo syncs

Folders: Inbox, Sent and Archive. The first sync brings in recent mail (by default the last 90 days); then Zamilo checks every couple of minutes. To follow other folders too, edit the saved mailbox and tick them under Other folders to follow.
Read state goes both ways.
Archive: archiving in Zamilo moves the message to the Archive folder; Zamilo creates one if the mailbox has none. In Gmail it takes the message out of the inbox, like Gmail's own Archive.
Sent mail: replies go out through your SMTP server, then Zamilo saves a copy, marked read, in the Sent folder. Gmail saves its own copy, so Zamilo does not add one there.

Changing the app password

Create a new app password at your provider.
In Zamilo, open Settings → Mailboxes and press the pencil (Edit) on the mailbox's row.
Type the new password in Password and press Save Mailbox. Zamilo checks it before saving. Left blank, the saved password is kept.

Revoke the old app password at your provider afterwards. If you revoke it first, the mailbox stops syncing until you enter the new one.

If it will not connect

When saving fails, Zamilo shows Could not connect: followed by the reason. On a connected mailbox, a red error badge appears under Last sync; point at it, or press Sync now (circular arrows), to read the message.

refused the sign-in: The password is wrong or was revoked, or it is your normal password rather than an app password. Check the username too (iCloud needs the full address).
could not reach or cannot be found: The server name or port is wrong, or the host is not answering. Compare them with your provider's settings.
would not take the message: The SMTP server, port or username is wrong, or it refused the password.
is not on the internet: The server name points to a private network address. Zamilo connects only to public mail servers.