Introduction
Over the years, e-mail has become extremely mobile. The standard over the last decade has quickly moved to accessibility on multiple devices, primarily smart phones and tablets. Modern Retail allows you to access your e-mail from all of your devices and can even help you synchronize messages across these devices.
Please use a hard-to-guess password on all accounts. Failure to do so could result in your e-mail account getting hacked and used for nefarious activity. A strong password includes both letters, numbers and special characters such as #%&*. For additional security, consider using
Connection Types
Before you get started, it is helpful to understand the two main types of connections (excuse the technical jargon):
- IMAP Account
An IMAP account leaves a copy of your e-mail messages on the server, allowing you to synchronize messages between multiple devices. You will want to use an IMAP connection if you need to access your e-mail at more than one location or device.
Pros - Synchronizes e-mail between multiple devices or locations. Messages are stored on the server, so they won't be lost if your computer or device crashes.
Cons - Because e-mail is stored on the server, your computer or mobile device must constantly synchronize your e-mail between devices. This can slow down your e-mail program considerably if messages aren't moved out of the inbox and into separate folders.
Modern Retail highly recommends you configure your e-mail account using IMAP. - POP/SMTP Account
POP/SMTP are hardly ever used anymore and should be avoided in most circumstances; the exception being when you need an e-mail account for software or appliances. For example, many fax exchanges and POS systems allow you to enter in a mailbox address so you can send or forward e-mail from the device or software. In these cases, you'll want to configure SMTP because it allows you to send e-mail securely through your store's e-mail account.
Modern Retail recommends you only use POP/SMTP for software and appliances, as explained above. For all personal e-mail accounts, we always recommend IMAP over POP/SMTP.
Configuring E-Mail
Modern Retail has enabled something called Autodiscover. Autodiscover allows you to configure most e-mail accounts on both your PC and mobile devices by entering in the following information:
- E-Mail Address
- Password
Entering those two simple pieces of information will automatically configure your e-mail in most cases.
If for some reason the above configuring method does not work for you, please try using Rackspace's Easy E-Mail Setup Wizard:
The above setup wizard is very simple and will help you configure your most popular devices.
Technical Information
If you're still stuck, or just need the e-mail server information, then the following should help you:
- Server Address: secure.emailsrvr.com
- User Name: Your Full E-Mail Address
- Password: Same as your webmail password.
- IMAP SSL Port = 993
- SMTP SSL Port = 465
- POP3 SSL Port = 995
Example
Below is an example because, let's face it, sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words! Notice the Account Type is set to IMAP and both the Incoming and Outgoing servers are set to secure.emailsrvr.com.
Almost all modern software and devices will allow you to connect using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), which encrypts your e-mail between your device and the server. In this day and age, using SSL is an absolute must, and Modern Retail strongly recommends it!
Please reference the following Rackspace article if you aren't using SSL or need to know what other ports are supported:
Hopefully the above information solves most, if not all, of your e-mail configuration needs!