How To Use Email Like a Pro 1: Use Webmail (and IMAP)

Use Webmail

With Runbox, all your email is stored securely on our servers and is accessible to you wherever you might be located, regardless of the computer or device you happen to be using.

The easiest and most direct access method is the Runbox Webmail, which immediately provides a complete overview of the folders and messages in your account.

Webmail is easily the fastest method too, because Runbox is a database accelerated system. On the servers, all the key information about each message (sender, subject, date/time, etc) is stored in a database. The Runbox Webmail just has to poll the database instead of checking the content of each message to display the message overview in a folder, which is what IMAP and POP would have to do.

Use IMAP instead of POP

If you want to download email to your computer, mobile phone, or tablet, consider using IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) instead of POP. IMAP allows your email client to stay completely synchronized with all your folders on the server while also downloading messages locally.

IMAP not only synchronizes the messages themselves, but also the read/unread status and flags of each message. It will even copy messages you send from your device to the server’s Sent folder.

POP (Post Office Protocol), on the other hand, can only download from one folder (usually the Inbox) at a time, and can be set to delete the messages from the server so that they can’t be accessed from another device.

Stay synchronized with Webmail + IMAP

The combination of Webmail and IMAP is ideal if you use more than one computer or device, if you’re traveling, and if you’d like to stay connected wherever you may be.

You’ll never have to be without your email again!

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How To Use Email Like a Pro

After more than 10 years of running a professional email service, we have gained a lot of experience on using email effectively and efficiently. And we know about many of the mistakes that can be made when it comes to email.

So in this blog series we’d like to let you in on some of the tips and tricks that will let you use email like a professional!

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New POP server name for Apple Mail

Many Apple Mail users have been having problems connecting to Runbox via POP recently due to Apple changing the supported authentication methods in Mail.

Apple Mail POP users can now use the server name apop.runbox.com to connect to Runbox.

If you use Apple Mail with POP (not IMAP), please do this:

  1. Open File => Preferences to open the Accounts dialog.
  2. Select your Runbox account in the left pane.
  3. In “Incoming Mail Server”, enter: apop.runbox.com
  4. Click the Advanced button.
  5. Under “Authentication”, select: Authenticated POP (APOP)
  6. Click the red button in the top left corner to close Accounts.
  7. Click Save.

Your Runbox account should now be able to receive email. If not, please try restarting Apple Mail.

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Regarding concerns over US surveillance legislation

There are some who are concerned about US authorities’ ability to monitor their citizens’ data. According to the EU report “Fighting cyber crime and protecting privacy in the cloud” (PDF, 1.3 MB), a little known piece of legislation could give US authorities the right to access foreign users’ data stored in the US as well.

Data stored outside the US, for instance in Norway where all the Runbox email servers are located, is not affected by this legislation.

If you have any concerns about the privacy of your Runbox email, please see our Privacy Policy and our article Email Privacy and Offshore Email.

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Server upgrade underway [Completed]

As previously announced we’re now taking down one of the application servers in order to upgrade it.

Most likely only some users will be affected while others can keep using the email service normally while the upgrade takes place.

We will keep you updated here as the work progresses.

UPDATE 08:22 CET: We have installed the Flash Cache and are rebooting the server.

UPDATE 08:32 CET: We’re reconfiguring the server to work with the new Flash Cache.

UPDATE 09:00 CET: We’ve encountered some complications and will try a couple more things before reverting.

UPDATE 09:41 CET: We have problems with the upgraded kernel/network card combo and are trying to solve this now. We apologize for going outside the scheduled downtime window.

UPDATE 10:24 CET: We’re now installing a new network card to resolve incompatibilities.

UPDATE 11:01 CET: We’re still working hard to resolve remaining conflicts. Meanwhile, you can use the new Runbox 6 Webmail at https://rmm6.runbox.com, but note that some users won’t be able to open messages until we finish the upgrade.

UPDATE 11:17 CET: We are back up and fully operational again. Our apologies for any inconvenience caused by the prolonged downtime. 

UPDATE 13:50 CET: It seems we forgot to remove the redirect on runbox.no. This is fixed now! www.runbox.no

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Server upgrade and scheduled downtime

In order to improve the performance of our email services we will perform a server upgrade with the scheduled downtime window:

*** Wednesday, February 6 at 8:00 AM to 9:00 AM CET ***

(7:00-8:00 GMT / 2:00-3:00 AM EST / 11:00-12:00 AM Feb 5 PST)

This means that the Runbox email services to be unavailable for up to 1 hour while the upgrade take place.

The downtime should be outside business hours for most of our customers, but we know you depend on your Runbox email and we will work as efficiently as possible. It shouldn’t take longer than 20 minutes, but the downtime window is set to 1 hour to be safe.

Incoming email will be queued on our servers and will be delivered once our system is fully operational again.

What you can do

If you usually check your email during this time, please log on either well before or after that interval on Wednesday.

To keep updated you can check our Blog at http://blog.runbox.com and Twitter at
https://twitter.com/Runbox.

What we are doing

We are installing a Flash Cache on one of our application servers to improve the performance of disk access when email clients open email on the server.

This is done as a measure to increase the I/O (input/output) capacity of the server until we acquire new and more powerful servers.

We apologize if the upgrade causes any inconvenience for you and appreciate your understanding!

Thank you,

The Runbox Team

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