How to Find Your Email Settings (IMAP, POP3 and SMTP)
In cPanel, click Email, then Manage next to the address, then Open Webmail. In Set up email on your device, click Automatically configure my device. Use the secure SSL/TLS settings: your full email address as the username, and the servers and ports shown there (usually IMAP 993 or POP3 995, and SMTP 465).
Applies to: cPanel Email apps Blue Arctic Shared Web Hosting email (cPanel). Managed WordPress Hosting doesn't include email.
On this page
To add your email to a phone or mail app, you need its server names, port numbers (a port is a numbered door on the server) and username. cPanel shows the right values for each mailbox on its Set Up Mail Client page, so you never have to guess.
Note
These steps are for Blue Arctic Shared Web Hosting mailboxes, which use cPanel. Managed WordPress Hosting doesn’t include email. On a VPS, open a support ticket if you’re not sure how your email is set up.
Find the settings for your mailbox
- Log in to cPanel. If you can’t log in, open a support ticket.
- In the cPanel sidebar, click Email.
- Find the address in the list, and click Manage in its row.
- On the Overview tab, click Open Webmail. Webmail opens in a new browser tab.
- If your inbox opens instead of the Webmail home page, click cPanel Webmail Home.
- In the Set up email on your device panel, click Automatically configure my device. The Set Up Mail Client page opens.
- Keep the Secure SSL/TLS Settings section (marked Recommended) open while you set up your device. SSL/TLS encrypts the connection, so nobody can read your password on the way.
If you see an Email Accounts icon instead, click it, then click Connect Devices next to the address. Or type the tool’s name in cPanel’s search box (Ctrl+K or Cmd+K). If you can’t find it, open a support ticket.
Warning
Don’t use the Non-SSL Settings (marked not recommended), and never set security to None in your app. Those settings can send your password without encryption.
What each setting means
| Setting | What to enter |
|---|---|
| Username | Your full email address, for example you@yourdomain.com |
| Password | The password for that mailbox (not your cPanel or Client Portal password) |
| Incoming server | Exactly as shown on the Set Up Mail Client page |
| Incoming port | As shown on the Set Up Mail Client page: usually 993 for IMAP or 995 for POP3, with SSL/TLS |
| Outgoing server (SMTP) | Exactly as shown on the Set Up Mail Client page |
| Outgoing port (SMTP) | As shown on the Set Up Mail Client page: usually 465, with SSL/TLS |
| Outgoing authentication | On (if your app asks whether the outgoing server needs a password, say yes), with the same username and password |
If Set Up Mail Client shows a different port, use the one it shows. Copy the server names exactly, too. Sometimes the name includes your own domain; sometimes it’s the server’s own name, which doesn’t. Both are correct.
IMAP or POP3: which should I choose?
Warning
Choose IMAP. With POP3, your app downloads the mail and can remove it from the server. Our daily backups cover your website files and databases, not your email, so if that device is lost, the mail is gone.
- IMAP keeps your mail on the server and in sync on all your devices.
- POP3 downloads mail to one device. Mail you download may not appear anywhere else.
Set up your device
For another app, enter these values in its manual or advanced setup, and choose IMAP.
How to tell it worked
- Check that your app connects without a security warning.
- Send a test message from the app to another address you own, and check that it arrives.
- Reply to it, and check that the reply arrives in the app.
Troubleshooting
- “Username or password incorrect”: use the full email address as the username. If you’re not sure of the password, set a new one. Warning: every other device that uses this address stops connecting until you enter the new password there too. In cPanel, click Email, click Manage in the address’s row, and open the Settings tab. Click Change Password, enter the new password, and click Update Password. (With an Email Accounts icon: Manage, New Password, Update Email Settings.)
- A certificate warning: don’t accept it. Change the server name to exactly what Set Up Mail Client shows.
- Your app suggests different ports, or security None: don’t accept. Enter the secure settings from Set Up Mail Client by hand.
- Your app can’t connect at all: check the names and ports, and try another network. Then open a support ticket and ask which server name to use.
- You can receive mail but not send it: turn on authentication for the outgoing server and check the SMTP port. If it fails on one network only, that network may block the port: try another network, or open a support ticket. See what to check when you can’t send email.
- Mail disappeared from your other devices: one device is probably set up with POP3. Warning: removing the account there deletes mail stored only on that device. First check in Webmail that the messages are still on the server. If they aren’t, don’t remove it: open a support ticket. If they are, remove the account on that device and add it again as IMAP.
Still need help?
Open a support ticket from the Client Portal at my.bluearctic.com (see our support page). Include your domain, the email address, the app and device you’re setting up, the exact error text, a screenshot, and what you already tried. Never include a password.