Browser add-ons settings

Settings for Cookies, Webfonts, and Ad Blockers

This article explains with a few examples how you can configure add-ons that protect you from ads, trackers, and similar website content – so that mailbox works without problems.

Note: In the German article, screenshots were included to illustrate the configuration steps. These screenshots are no longer provided here, since the software versions used at that time are outdated. Instead, the following instructions describe the steps in text form, so you can apply them with current browser versions and open source tools.

Allowing JavaScript with NoScript

NoScript is an open source add-on for Mozilla Firefox that gives you detailed control over JavaScript execution and provides additional security features such as protection against XSS attacks, web bugs, and click-hijacking.

To use the websites of mailbox and the web portal in full, you must allow JavaScript for the domain pattern *.mailbox.org.

During account registration, you also need to temporarily allow JavaScript for the domains https://www.google.com and https://www.gstatic.com. These are required only for the captcha verification, not afterwards.

Open source solution:

• Use NoScript to manage JavaScript permissions precisely.
• Whitelist only the required domains (*.mailbox.org and, temporarily, Google for captcha) to maintain both usability and security.

Allowing Cookies

For registering an account, using mailbox Office, and logging into the forum, cookies must be enabled.

If you generally block cookies, you must add an exception for https://mailbox.org.

In Firefox:

• Go to Settings | Privacy & Security | Cookies and Site Data | Manage Exceptions
• Add https://mailbox.org as an allowed exception.

Open source solution:

• Use Firefox’s built-in cookie management.
• Optionally, privacy tools such as Cookie AutoDelete can help you allow mailbox while still automatically deleting unnecessary cookies from other domains.

Issues with Ad Blockers

mailbox does not display advertising and does not use tracking scripts.
However, some ad blockers interfere with the display of mailbox Office, which can lead to missing interface elements, broken layouts, or unreadable icons if fonts are blocked.

To ensure correct functionality:

• Disable the ad blocker completely for the domain office.mailbox.org, or
• Adjust its settings to allow fonts and scripts from this domain.

Open source solution:

• Use uBlock Origin, an open source ad blocker.
• Add office.mailbox.org to the trusted sites list and explicitly allow webfonts for this domain.

Canvas Blocker

The add-on CanvasBlocker is open source and can block or restrict access to the canvas API, preventing fingerprinting techniques.

However, the canvas API is required in mailbox Office for word processing, spreadsheets, and presentation mode. The login process also checks for its availability.

To avoid issues:

• Add office.mailbox.org to the CanvasBlocker whitelist.
• This way, the add-on does not need to be disabled, and mailbox Office can be used without restrictions.

Open source solution:

• Use CanvasBlocker to block canvas usage globally while whitelisting only the domains where it is essential, such as office.mailbox.org.