How to configure email clients automatically

If you send and receive emails from your custom domain via our mailbox servers, you can easily set up other email programmes using automatic configuration.

Prerequisite

To use automatic configuration, you must have set up your own custom domain in mailbox. You can find details on this in the article Setting up email addresses with a custom domain.

Setting up automatic configuration for Mozilla Thunderbird and compatible email programmes

If you want to use the automatic configuration feature in the setup wizard of, for example, Thunderbird or KMail, host a configuration file containing the mailbox mail server details on your own web server and create a DNS record that points to this file.

Hosting the configuration file on your own server

mailbox provides you with a suitable XML file containing all the server settings. The file format complies with the Thunderbird autoconfig specification. You can download this file via the following link: https://mailbox.org/mail/config-v1.1.xml

To use this configuration for your custom domain, replace the mailbox data with your own details in the following three fields in the header:

• <domain>: Your custom domain
• <displayName>: Display name
• <displayShortName>: Short version of the display name

Then save the file in the appropriate location on your web server. This could be your own web server or a web hosting package. The primary, most commonly used path is as follows:

https://autoconfig.<YOUR-DOMAIN>/mail/config-v1.1.xml

Creating a DNS record for automatic configuration

Create a record for automatic configuration in your provider’s DNS settings so that your email programme can read the configuration file and automatically apply all settings.

Required entries depending on your setup:

• IPv4 address: autoconfig IN A <IP ADDRESS OF YOUR WEB SERVER>
• Other hostname: autoconfig IN CNAME <YOUR DOMAIN>

Step-by-step guide (A record):

1. Select the desired domain in the DNS console.

2. Click on Add entry and select A as the entry type.

3. Enter the following values:

   • Hostname: autoconfig
   • Target: IP-address-of-your-web-server
   Note

   Enter the IP address of the web server on which you are hosting the configuration file as the destination. This is not the IP address of the mailbox mail servers.

4. Save the record.

Once the changes have propagated through the DNS system, Thunderbird will be able to retrieve the configuration automatically.

Setting up automatic configuration for Outlook

Microsoft Outlook uses its own standard for automatic configuration: Autodiscover. The following section describes how to create the required DNS record if you do not run your own web server. Alternatively, you can host the Autodiscover file on your own server.

Creating a DNS record for Autodiscover

Add the following SRV record to your DNS settings:

_autodiscover._tcp IN SRV 0 0 443 auto.mailbox.org. (Important: full stop at the end!)

Step-by-step guide:

1. Select the desired domain in the DNS console.

2. Click on Add record and select SRV as the record type.

3. Enter the following as the Hostname: _autodiscover._tcp

4. Configure the following values:

   • Priority: 0
   • Weight: 0
   • Port: 443
   • Target: auto.mailbox.org. (Important: full stop at the end!)

   With Netcup, you cannot configure the weight/priority and port settings individually.

5. Save the SRV record.

Note

Depending on your provider, it may take up to 24 hours for DNS changes to take effect.

Behaviour may vary depending on the version of Outlook. Not all versions of Outlook evaluate DNS SRV-based Autodiscover records with the same level of reliability.

Alternatively, or in addition, you can host the Autodiscover XML file on your own web server. The procedure for doing this is described in the following section.

Hosting the Autodiscover file on your own server

We only recommend this method to customers with advanced technical knowledge who wish to host everything themselves. You can then also use the SRV record described above as a fallback.

Note

To set this up, you will need a TLS certificate for your custom domain.

DNS record

autodiscover.<your-domain> (Value: target host of the web server)

Contents of the Autodiscover XML file

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Autodiscover xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/autodiscover/responseschema/2006">
  <Response xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/autodiscover/outlook/responseschema/2006a">
    <Account>
      <AccountType>email</AccountType>
      <Action>settings</Action>
      <Protocol>
        <Type>IMAP</Type>
        <Server>imap.mailbox.org</Server>
        <Port>993</Port>
        <SSL>on</SSL>
        <SPA>off</SPA>
        <AuthRequired>on</AuthRequired>
      </Protocol>
      <Protocol>
        <Type>SMTP</Type>
        <Server>smtp.mailbox.org</Server>
        <Port>587</Port>
        <Encryption>TLS</Encryption>
        <SPA>off</SPA>
        <AuthRequired>on</AuthRequired>
      </Protocol>
    </Account>
  </Response>
</Autodiscover>

Testing

curl -X POST https://autodiscover.example.com/Autodiscover/Autodiscover.xml \
  -H "Content-Type: text/xml" \
  -d '<Autodiscover xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/autodiscover/outlook/requestschema/2006"><Request><EMailAddress>user@example.com</EMailAddress><AcceptableResponseSchema>http://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/autodiscover/outlook/responseschema/2006a</AcceptableResponseSchema></Request></Autodiscover>'

Expected result: Status 200, the above-mentioned response XML

General notes: Adjusting the DNS settings with your provider

For automatic configuration, you must adjust the DNS settings with your domain provider. Depending on your provider, the following points may vary:

• Input forms
• Field labels for DNS records
• Input formats

To create DNS records, please refer to your provider’s documentation or contact their support team. mailbox does not provide support for DNS configuration with third-party providers.

The examples in this article are based on the DNS configuration used by the German provider Hetzner.