New Runbox Help Website

August 7, 2013 Leave a comment

We are pleased to announce that Runbox now has a new help website at help.runbox.com.

While we wanted a new format so that information was clearer and easier to find, we also recognized that some of the information on the old help website needed updating.  With the new website, we have done both at the same time!

We have highlighted some of the main areas that Runbox members are likely to need at the top of the page: How-tos, FAQ, and Documentation.

Lower down you will find facilities to search the help website, and also select topics from the tag cloud and category list.

How-tos

On the new Help site you will see we have a new section called How-tos. These are articles on how to set up services or software to work with Runbox, like how to set up the Thunderbird email client, or how to change the MX settings with a domain host so that you could use your own domain with your Runbox account.

We will continue to add to these as we are sure there are other things that would be useful. If you think of any, let us know!

Frequently Asked Questions

We have updated the Frequently Asked Questions, and put them in a section that is easier to find and navigate.  If you think there are additional questions and answers that should be in there that aren’t, please let us know.

Documentation

On the new Help site you will see we have brought across all the usual Documentation and also updated it.  We still have work to do on graphics for some areas, and will be producing some updated and new video guides explaining how to use certain features.

How to find what you’re looking for

Finally, a word about Search and Categories/Tags. You can now find what you are looking for by using the Tag Cloud, or the list of categories (Site map) on the right-hand side. Clicking on a tag or category will take you to an alphabetical list of pages that are related to that topic.

Search will of course look for keywords in documents, and attempt to list them in order of relevance.

We hope that you find the new help website useful, and we would be pleased to hear from you about ways in which we could improve it.

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New function: Save recipients in Contacts

June 16, 2013 7 Comments

In Webmail > Compose (Runbox 6 only) you now have the option to save the recipients of a message in Contacts.

This option is found next to the Send button, and if checked, it will add any recipients to Contacts that aren’t already listed there. The new contacts will be saved in a separate Group called “Auto-saved” to make it easier to find them in Contacts.

The next time you compose a message, the saved recipients will show up in the Groups and Contacts list to the right. They will also appear as suggested matches when you start typing in the recipient fields.

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Runbox, email privacy, and the recent news

June 10, 2013 15 Comments

In the last few days we have seen an increase in inquiries about privacy and security, and particularly whether Runbox could be involved in programs similar to those outlined in the recent allegations about interception of communications data by law enforcement agencies.

As a Norwegian company and service, Runbox is protected by Norwegian law and privacy regulations because all our email servers are located in a secure facility in Oslo, Norway. No entity, domestic or foreign, can access email or files stored in our data center without a Norwegian court order.

You can read more about US, European, and Norwegian privacy regulations here: Email Privacy and Offshore Email

Email encryption

To protect data being transferred to and from the Runbox servers in Norway, it’s important to use encryption such as SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) which is available both in the Runbox Webmail and in email clients.

When using Webmail, make sure that the SSL padlock icon is visible in the browser’s address bar and that the domain’s identity is verified as runbox.com.

In email clients such as Outlook and Thunderbird, set up your Runbox account with SSL according to the instructions found on our IMAP help page.

Runbox plans to extend our encryption support in the near future to allow complete encryption of messages all the way from sender to recipient.

 

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Unlimited Aliases – Using Domain Catch All with Filters

June 8, 2013 2 Comments

Aliases

From time to time we get asked by members if we could allow unlimited aliases on domains as part of our standard plans that have email hosting included. We understand that if you own a domain you want to use it in a way that suits your needs.

You can of course purchase additional aliases for your account and use them with your domain.  However, this comes at additional cost, and there is another way that you can effectively create aliases for free.

Using Catch All

In Account > Email Hosting you will see a list of your domains (if you have any) and next to each one is the option to allow that domain to “catch all” email that is sent to it.  The benefit of selecting catch all for a domain is that all email sent to anything@nulldomainyouown.com will be delivered to your account.

Pros:

  • you don’t need to set up aliases you can just make up anything@nulldomainyouown.com and use it immediately
  • emails where people mistype the alias will still be delivered (as long as they spell the domain correctly of course)
  • effectively unlimited aliases

Cons:

  • it could increase the amount of spam you receive because all email is delivered and spammers may try to guess aliases

As you can see, the pros outweigh the cons, and there is even something you can do about the spam issue (see below).

Using Filters with Catch All

When using catch all, emails can still be filtered just as with any alias that is set up.  With the careful use of filters a lot of flexibility can be achieved.  If you look at the screen-shot below, you will see a number of filters are being used for different purposes. An explanation of each filter follows the screen-shot.

alias_filters


In the case of each filter the “Header” option is used because the use of “To” would not match emails where someone sends to your address/alias in the CC or BCC fields.

Filter 1:  Filters emails sent to alias1@nulldomainyouown.com and moves them to the Inbox.

Filter 2:  Filters emails sent to alias2@nulldomainyouown.com and moves them to a folder called Personal.

Filter 3:  Redirects emails sent to alias3@nulldomainyouown.com to any other email address you want, and does not leave a copy of the email in your Inbox.

Filter 4:  When you use your own domain with Runbox, by default we always allow email to postmaster@nulldomainyouown.com to get to your Inbox unless you decide to filter them. This is good email practice and this is common across email providers. You will require something like Filter 4 if you decide to implement Filter 5.

Filter 5:  This is where we can do some spam control. This filter deletes all email addressed to your domain that doesn’t match one of the filters that comes before it.  Filters are matched in order, so this one has to come last. If a spammer tries to guess at an address at your domain, this filter will prevent those emails reaching your Inbox.  However, it does not reject them, and people who might mistype your alias will also have their emails deleted with no rejection email to warn them that the email was not  delivered.

A Note about Filter Orders

As mentioned earlier, filters are used in the order they are listed. In the example above the ordering is deliberate even though the order of the first 4 does not matter too much in this case. Filter 5 has to come last otherwise it would delete all email to your domain before the others could filter it.

The order 1-4 that we have used in our example places the filters after our spam filters.  This might be desirable.  However, if you were using a filter to redirect email to another email address, you might want all email to that address including possible spam to be sent to the other address so that filtering can happen in the destination account.

To do this you need to place any filters before filter value -2 (minus 2) as this is where the Runbox spam filters are. You can see a list of filter order values in the Runbox discussion form under Order Values for Filter Processing.

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Email Alias and Email Domain limits increased

June 1, 2013 Leave a comment

After a lot of customer feedback we’ve decided to increase the number of email aliases and email hosting domains included in all Runbox subscription plans.

Both main and sub-account subscriptions as well as legacy subscriptions and the 3-year Medium plan will be upgraded.

The following upgrades will take effect June 1, 2013 for all existing and future Runbox accounts:

Email Aliases

Plan Micro Mini Medium Max
Previously 5 10 20 50
Now 10 20 50 100

Email Hosting Domains

Plan Micro Mini Medium Max
Previously 0 1 2 5
Now 0 5 10 25

You can find a complete overview of our price plans here: http://www.runbox.com/price-plans/

We will continue evaluating our plans and appreciate your feedback!

What about my existing alias/domain add-on products?

If you have any existing email alias or email domain upgrades they will be added to the new quotas. For instance, if you have a Runbox Medium subscription with a package of 5 extra aliases, you now have 55 email alias slots available.

We have deactivated any automatically recurring alias/domain add-ons in case they aren’t needed with the new quotas. You will be alerted to renew them manually when they expire, at which point you can decide whether or not to keep them.

What are aliases anyway, and how do I use them?

An email alias is simply an alternative email address pointing to your Runbox account. By using several addresses you can better organize your email because it lets you manage several “identities” from within the same account.

You can read more about aliases in our recent blog post How To Use Email Like a Pro 3: Use Several Addresses or go straight to Account > Aliases in your Runbox account to set them up.

What are email hosting domains?

An email hosting domain lets your Runbox account receive email sent to addresses @domainyouown.com. Note that this is not the same as an actual domain name, which needs to be registered in the global Domain Name System (DNS) first.

In order to manage your domain’s email in your Runbox account you first need to register your domain in Account > Domain Hosting (or another domain registrar) and set the domain’s MX (Mail eXchanger) record to point to mx.runbox.com. Then you can add your domain in Account > Email Hosting to tell the Runbox system that your account shall receive email sent to your domain.

Finally you can set up email aliases or even other accounts on your domain, using Account > Aliases and Account > Sub-Accounts.

Find out more about Email Hosting and Domain Hosting.

Using Catch All for unlimited aliases on your own domain.

If you own your own domain, it is possible to use the “catch all” function in Runbox Mail Manager as a way to have unlimited email aliases on that domain. You can even use filters to forward emails to other accounts within Runbox, or to other email providers.

To activate this feature go to Account > Email Hosting and select the catch all check box next to the domains you want activate catch all for, and then click “Save Settings”.

All emails addressed to anything@nulldomainyouown.com will then be delivered to your account.

We have another blog post about using catch all alongside filters to provide aliases for various uses, and how to control spam that using the catch all function might attract.

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Increased password strength

January 31, 2013 5 Comments

To protect your Runbox account, and any other online account you may have, it’s crucial to choose a good password. Your password needs to be unique enough to prevent others from guessing it or computers from cracking it.

This is becoming increasingly important since attackers can use powerful password cracking software and attacks are happening more often.

We see that many users choose passwords that are too simple, perhaps thinking that no one will try to gain access to their account, or that they don’t have anything to hide anyway.

The importance of strong passwords

However, if someone did gain access to your account unauthorized they could potentially use the contents to break into other accounts you may have, since email often contains login information to other services.

An intruder could also hijack an account in order to send large amounts of spam, which would  hurt not only the recipients of the messages, but also the account owner (due to returned, undeliverable messages). Furthermore, it could negatively impact Runbox as a whole, since it could get our service blocked by other email services.

Creating a good password

In Runbox 6, you can create a longer and more complex password using many different special characters.

Your password must be between 6 and 64 characters long, and can contain the letters a-z and A-Z, the numbers 0-9, and the following special characters:

+?=()&,.:;-_/*@!#~`#$%^&[]{}|\'”<>

We know, creating and remembering a long and complex password sounds like a big hassle. But it’s actually very simple, and could even be fun!

Just see our Tips for choosing and protecting passwords for a quick how-to.

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Runbox 6 launched

January 25, 2013 18 Comments

Over the past year and a half we have spent a great deal of time behind the scenes upgrading the Runbox Webmail code. We have also upgraded all the underlying software that powers Runbox, and much of the hardware it runs on.

The Runbox 6 platform

This is the 6th generation of Runbox, and while it may appear similar to Runbox 5 it provides a solid and updated platform for further development of new features. In addition, we have created a software building and deployment system that will enable us to develop new code faster and more securely.

We have already put some new features into Runbox 6 — some minor ones you will discover as you use it, and a few bigger ones:

New Features in Runbox 6

1. Tags: These let you label messages across folders, and will allow you to organize and find messages more easily. To add a tag, open an email, select [New Tag] from the Tags field near the top, enter a tag name, and click “Add tag”. You can now sort messages by your tags in the message list.

2. Improved Account overview: You can now get a full overview of your account’s Data Usage on the Account screen.

3. Sub-account management: You will now be able to manage any sub-accounts you might have in a similar way to the main account and also see detailed information about the usage of the account. Just click the sub-account address in the list after going to Sub-accounts. Note: Sub-account owners can now change the passwords of their sub-accounts and therefore potentially access them.

4. Color themes: You can now choose between 4 color themes by going to Webmail: Preferences and selecting an option from the “Theme” menu. We have also removed they gray background color from all pages to brighten things up a bit.

Try Runbox 6 now

You can start using Runbox 6 now by going to the following link: https://beta.runbox.com/mail?activate_rmm6=YES

This will take you to https://runbox.com, which is also where you will be redirected automatically next time you log in.

We hope you will enjoy the new Runbox! If you have any questions, please add a comment below or open a support ticket at https://support.runbox.com.

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More details about last night’s DDoS attack

2 Comments

In the early hours of 25th January the Runbox network was subject to a Distributed Denial of Service attack. This sort of attack uses multiple computers around the world to flood our servers with requests and this makes it difficult, if not impossible, for legitimate access by our customers.

Response and consequences

We were quick to respond to this problem, but it can take some time to identify the multiple sources of the attack and then block the traffic to our servers. As a result of the attack many of you would not be able to access our services during the time it was taking place.

The attack was carried out by a group who had previously failed to get access to some of our customers accounts that do not belong to them. They had threatened to carry out the attack if we did not comply with their wishes.

No data was compromised

We would like to assure our customers that no customer data was compromised before, during or after the attack, and that we would never give way to such threats. If you have any concerns about this incident, please open a support ticket at https://support.runbox.com

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Upgrade for Runbox 4 users

December 20, 2012 24 Comments

Although Runbox 5 was launched in 2009 we have continued supporting Runbox 4 despite having to maintain an extra set of servers and software.

At this point we are going to have to make some changes, though…

Runbox 4 and the recent database upgrades

We have been planning to retire Runbox 4 for a while now, but some of you who have been with us for a long time have grown to love the trusty but perhaps a bit clunky interface. So we postponed the decision and wanted to do it slowly and gently at some point in the future.

However, when completing the database server replacement today, we realized that some of the software powering Runbox 4 is no longer compatible with the new database servers. We have tried upgrading that old software, but it’s proving very difficult.

Runbox 5 and the even newer Runbox 6

Since we think it’s better to spend time improving the new Runbox 6 instead, and because Runbox 4 is so old it’s starting to be a security risk, we have decided to upgrade those still using Runbox 4 to Runbox 5 Basic.

Runbox 5 Basic works very similarly to Runbox 4, but it looks a lot nicer. Runbox 5 is the standard Webmail while we finish the new Runbox 6, which is still in testing.

You can find more information about how Runbox 5 works here: Runbox 5 Upgrade Guide

We hope you will like Runbox 5 while we keep working to finalize Runbox 6!

Drafts in Runbox 4 vs Runbox 5

In Runbox 5, drafts are stored in a different way that lets them be synchronized with an email client over IMAP. Unfortunately, this also means that drafts stored in Runbox 4 are not available in the Runbox 5 interface.

However, for those of you who have saved drafts in Runbox 4 we can most likely convert them to Runbox 5 if you contact us via https://support.runbox.com.

fast.runbox.com and light.runbox.com

The text-only Webmail at fast.runbox.com was also running Runbox 4 software. We have a new, similar webmail powered by Runbox 5 available at light.runbox.com for those who want that: http://light.runbox.com/mail

fast.runbox.com will therefore redirect to light.runbox.com from now on.

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