# Email on your domain

> Set up email on your domain with ESTAGE — create mailboxes like support@yourdomain.com on a domain registered with ESTAGE, then read them in the browser or in Apple Mail, Outlook or Gmail. No Google Workspace or other email provider needed.

Source: https://knowledge.estage.com/domains/email/
Part of the ESTAGE knowledge base (https://knowledge.estage.com). Full corpus: https://knowledge.estage.com/llms-full.txt

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**ESTAGE hosts email for your domain.** If your domain is registered or transferred through
ESTAGE, you can give it real mailboxes — `support@`, `hello@`, your own name — without signing up
for Google Workspace, Microsoft 365 or any other email provider. ESTAGE adds every DNS record mail
needs for you. The people using the mailboxes read and send mail in the browser at
**genesis.estage.com/mail**, or in the mail app they already use.

In short:

1. Open **Domains**, pick the domain and go to the **Email** tab.
2. Click **Create mailbox** and save the password and recovery key.
3. Sign in at **genesis.estage.com/mail**, or [add the mailbox to a mail app](#use-it-in-apple-mail-outlook-or-gmail).

## Which domains can have email

Mailboxes work on domains **registered or transferred through ESTAGE**. ESTAGE has to manage the
domain's DNS for mail to be delivered. A domain connected from another registrar shows **Email
isn't available for this domain**. You then have two options:

- [Transfer the domain to ESTAGE](/domains/transfer/) and add mailboxes here.
- Keep mail at a provider you pay for, and add its records in the domain's **DNS Records** tab —
  see [Let people reply](/email/setup/#3-let-people-reply).

:::note[Three different things are called "email" in ESTAGE]
- **Email on your domain** (this page) — mailboxes that **receive** mail, like `support@yourdomain.com`.
- **[Email sending](/email/)** — newsletters, broadcasts and automations your CRM **sends** to
  your contacts.
- **[Community emails](/community/email-branding/)** — the sign-up codes and notices your
  community sends its members, with your name and logo.
:::

## Create a mailbox

1. Open **Domains**, pick the domain and go to the **Email** tab. Inside a project, the same tab
   is under **Settings → Domain → Email**.
2. The first time, ESTAGE adds the DNS records mail needs. This usually takes a few minutes, and
   you can leave the page while it runs.
3. Click **Create mailbox**. Enter the address — for example `support` — and, if you like, a
   display name.
4. Save the **password** and the **recovery key** ESTAGE shows you. They are shown **only once**
   and ESTAGE keeps no copy. **Download as a text file** keeps both.

Give the password to whoever will use the mailbox. Keep the recovery key somewhere safe: it is
the only way to reset the password without losing the mail.

:::caution[Your domain already receives email somewhere else]
If mail for the domain currently goes to another provider — Google Workspace, for example —
ESTAGE asks before switching it. Once you confirm, new mail to `@yourdomain.com` starts arriving
at ESTAGE instead. Mail already stored at the old provider stays there.
:::

## Reading and sending mail

The person using a mailbox signs in at **genesis.estage.com/mail** with the mailbox address and
password. Any current Chrome, Safari, Firefox or Edge works.

## Use it in Apple Mail, Outlook or Gmail

A mailbox can also be added to the mail apps people already use — Mail on iPhone, iPad and Mac,
Outlook, the Gmail app, Thunderbird or any app that speaks IMAP and SMTP. The mailbox user does
this themselves, because it changes who can read the mailbox (see the next section).

1. Sign in at **genesis.estage.com/mail** and open **Settings → Privacy**.
2. Confirm that you understand the trade-off, name the app (for example *iPhone Mail*) and enter
   the mailbox password.
3. Click **Create app password**. It is shown once. Each app gets its own.
4. Follow the step-by-step guide ESTAGE shows for your app. On an iPhone, iPad or Mac there is
   nothing to type: download the settings file (or scan the code with your iPhone camera) and
   install it.

For any other app, the settings are:

| | Server | Port | Security |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Incoming (IMAP) | `imap.estagemail.com` | 993 | SSL/TLS |
| Outgoing (SMTP) | `smtp.estagemail.com` | 465 | SSL/TLS |

The user name is the full mailbox address and the password is the **app password**, not the
mailbox password.

To stop an app from reaching the mailbox, revoke its app password in **Settings → Privacy**.
Changing or resetting the mailbox password revokes all of them.

## Your mail stays private

Mail is stored encrypted with keys only the mailbox holds. ESTAGE — our staff included — can't
read the messages, subjects or attachments in it. The flip side: if both the password and the
recovery key are lost, nobody can get the mail back, us included.

The one exception is the one you choose: while a mail app is signed in with an app password, our
server has to read the mailbox to hand mail to that app. At rest it stays encrypted. Gmail and
Outlook on phones fetch mail through Google's and Microsoft's servers, so they keep a copy too.
Revoke every app password and the mailbox is private again.

## Forgot the password?

- **With the recovery key.** The mailbox user clicks **Reset it with your recovery key** on the
  sign-in page, or you open the mailbox in the **Email** tab and choose **Reset password → I have
  the recovery key**. All mail stays, and every device is signed out.
- **Without the recovery key.** Choose **Reset password → No recovery key**. The mailbox gets a
  new password and a new recovery key, but **every message, draft and attachment in it is
  permanently deleted** — without the key it can't be decrypted by anyone.

## Aliases and catch-all

- **Aliases** are extra addresses, like `info@`, that deliver into one of your mailboxes. That
  mailbox can also send as the alias.
- **Catch-all** sends mail for addresses that don't exist to a mailbox you pick. It's off by
  default, so mail to an unknown address bounces back to the sender. Turn it on only if you need
  it — a catch-all tends to collect spam.

## Limits

- Each domain includes **5 mailboxes** with **5 GB** of storage each. If you need more, add
  **5 more mailboxes** (up to 10) as a monthly add-on from the **Email** tab.
- You can change a mailbox's storage limit. **Trash** and **Junk** empty themselves after 30 days.
- A mailbox receives up to **5,000 messages a month**. Past that, new mail is refused as if the
  mailbox were full, until the next month starts.
- Sending has daily limits per mailbox, a message can go to up to **50 recipients**, and a new
  domain's limits are lower during its first week. This protects the reputation that gets your
  mail into inboxes.
- If many messages bounce or are reported as spam, sending **pauses** for that mailbox and you
  get an email. Receiving keeps working. Once the cause is fixed, click **Resume** in the
  **Email** tab.

If the add-on payment fails, the extra mailboxes are paused — not deleted — and come back as soon
as the payment goes through. You can cancel the add-on once the domain is back to 5 mailboxes or
fewer.

## If the domain expires or is removed

Keep the domain renewed. If it is still expired **30 days** after its expiry date, or it is
removed from ESTAGE, mail on it turns off: the mailboxes are frozen — nobody can sign in, send or
receive — but nothing is deleted right away. The **Email** tab then shows the date, 30 days later,
when all mailboxes and their mail will be **permanently deleted**.