Summary
This is for everyone that has a portable device that did
not come with an e-mail address, OR, those that want to
use more than one device to access their e-mail. It is
a free solution while at the same time enhancing the
operation of an IGS hosted e-mail account. IGS does NOT
support leaving OLD READ mail in a IGS pop account.
Benefits:
- access to your IGS hosted e-mail from a device that did not
come with a e-mail address (newer Blackberry, iPhone, iPad, Android
device, etc.)
- integrated e-mail solution for multiple devices
- elimination of pop3 conflicts from multiple devices trying to
access the mailbox simultaneously (the invalid password error when
you have typed the password in correctly which can get you blocked)
- greatly increased e-mail storage prior to saving on your own equipment
- synchronization of e-mail activity between devices, Inbox and
Sent folders reflect activity from all devices including your
home or office computer(s)
- ability to send e-mail from any of your devices from anywhere in the
world using your IGS hosted e-mail address
- access to your IGS hosted e-mail from any web browser, not
just the e-mail that hasn't been picked up from the IGS pop mailbox
- continued access to the comprehensive IGS E-Mail Control system
for filtering your incoming e-mail
Background
Many people now have multiple devices (desktop, laptop,
netbook, smartphone, tablet) that they would like to
have access to their IGS KW hosted e-mail on. The
difficulty most run into is POP mail is was not
designed to do this. The most common problems when
trying to get more than one device to access a POP
box are: password errors, mailbox busy, can't
contact server, and the big one, the pop box fills
up because e-mail programs are not removing old
read mail once it is read. One extra device can
sometimes work without too much trouble if you
don't receive very much e-mail (less than a megabyte
of mail a day maximum) and you check your mail from
your main computer every day so read mail gets removed
from the IGS pop box in a timely manner. If this is not
the case for you, the following configuration will allow for multiple
devices to have full access to your IGS KW hosted
e-mail and keep a set of folders synchronized so
activity on one device is reflected on all others.
This is even a good solution for those that receive
small amounts of mail, but have more than one
device that they want to handle e-mail. This is an
excellent solution for those that work from more
than one location, have more than one computer, and
can be away from one or more of those locations for
days at a time.
At this point people ask how much is this going
to cost. The answer is nothing, other the time to
set it up using the details IGS KW is providing free
of charge below. If you need additional help, IGS
can even assist you for a small amount, but there
are no regular monthly fees.
Some people now ask what's the catch. The answer to
that is different depending on how you are going to
use the hidden free Google IMAP account that makes
all this possible for you. If you use it simply to
store and provide synchronization, then the only
catch is that the mail is sitting on a Google
server until you decide to store it on your
own equipment or delete it. If you use the Google
web interface to
access your e-mail when you don't have any of your
own devices available, then the catch is you get
to see the Google advertisements in the web interface,
this by the way is where the revenue comes from to
pay for the Google account. To the majority of people,
neither of these is an issue, but everyone must
judge this themselves. It is important to state that
the hidden Google account is just that, hidden, nobody
knows about it other than yourself and the IGS E-Mail
control system, your e-mail address does not change
and nobody sees the Google based address.
An alternative solution used by many businesses to
achieve these benefits is to install a Microsoft
Exchange server. The drawback of that solution is
is that it is quite costly and typically has
significant ongoing maintenance cost as well. While
there are no doubt additional benefits to such a
configuration, this must be well investigated and
all pros and cons looked at in detail to determine
if it is a better fit than the free solution detailed
here.
IMPORTANT
It is the client responsibility to obtain instruction on
how to use their devices, IGS does not provide technical
support or training on how to operate your devices. We
are happy to supply the reference information required
to configure your device and this overview of what is
required, however we can not provide you detailed
instructions or assistance beyond what is already
provided here when it comes to your devices.
If you require assistance beyond what is provided
here, IGS KW can setup your devices at a cost of
$75 per hour. An appointment to visit our
Kitchener office with your device(s) would be
required as we do not do this work on a drop-in
basis or over the phone. This setup does NOT include
ongoing support of any kind as the service does NOT
run on IGS servers.
Below is a four step overview followed by the details
to perform the configuration tasks. The information
on how to setup the free hidden Google account and
the changes in the IGS E-Mail Control system is very
detailed making it simple for anyone to perform.
Overview
1) create an IMAP enabled free Google account
2) configure the Google account to be able to
use the IGS hosted e-mail services
3) configure your devices
4) configure the IGS E-Mail Control system
to make use of your new configuration
Details
1) Create a Google E-Mail Account (subject to GMail interface detail changes)
- using a web browser go to http://www.gmail.com
- select or click on a link to create an account
- fill out the required information using your
existing IGS e-mail address as the 'current
e-mail address'
- fill in the security check to prove you are not
a robot
- you need to agree to the terms of service and
click 'next step'
- you do not need to add a photo, click 'next step'
- your account is now created, click 'continue to
Gmail'
- write down you full GMail address and password
2) Configure the Google E-Mail Account (subject to GMail interface detail changes)
- click on the gear in the top right and select
'settings'
- click on 'Forwarding and POP/IMAP'
- in the IMAP Access section, select the 'Enable IMAP'
option
- you can come back to this windows at a later time
and click on 'Configuration instructions' if you
need help setting up IMAP on your devices
- click 'Save Changes'
- you have now enabled IMAP for this account
- it is important to note that nobody ever sees this
Google address, you and the IGS E-Mail Control system
are the only ones that need to know about it, but you
do need to write it down as noted in step 1) above
- next, configure the account to use the IGS hosted
e-mail address and secure outgoing mail server
- click on the gear in the top right and select
'settings'
- click on 'Accounts'
- click on 'Add another email address you own'
- a window pops up that has your name, fill in
your IGS hosted e-mail address
- remove the check mark in the 'treat as an
alias' box
- click 'Next Step'
- select 'Send through kw.igs.net SMTP servers'
- set the SMTP Server to be smtpout.kw.igs.net
- set the port number to be 587
- set the username to be your IGS username (not
a full e-mail address, just the username)
- set the password to be your IGS password
- select 'Secured connection using TLS'
- click 'Add Account'
- check your IGS e-mail for the verification
code and enter it in the box to the left of
the 'Verify' button
- click the 'Verify' button
- click 'make default' to the right of your IGS
e-mail address in the 'Send mail as' section
- you have now configured the Google E-Mail account
- if you do not have access to any of your own
devices, you can now use any web browser, login
into the Google account and see your latest IGS
hosted e-mail AND be able to send e-mail using
your IGS hosted address without anyone ever knowing
about the Google account or address
3) Configure All Your E-Mail Devices and Client Programs
Add a Generic IMAP Account (NOT a Google Account,
this is so the incoming and outgoing settings can
be configured independently), sometimes you are given
a choice of Google/Yahoo/Hotmail, don't use those
directly, use a generic IMAP account. Even programs
like Outlook or Thunderbird can have IMAP accounts
setup, this is not just for portable devices.
On each device:
- set the incoming server and settings to be:
|
Incoming Server
|
:
|
imap.gmail.com
|
|
Port Number
|
:
|
993
|
|
Security
|
:
|
SSL
|
|
Authentication method
|
:
|
OAuth2
|
|
Username
|
:
|
<your Google E-Mail address>
|
|
Password
|
:
|
<your Google E-Mail password>
|
- set the outgoing server and setting to be:
|
Outgoing Server
|
:
|
smtpout.kw.igs.net
|
|
Port Number
|
:
|
587 (465 also works)
|
|
Security
|
:
|
STARTTLS, TLS, SSL
(if the first one doesn't work or
isn't available, try the next)
|
|
Authentication
|
:
|
plain password (or auto)
|
|
Username
|
:
|
<your IGS username>
|
|
Password
|
:
|
<your IGS password>
|
- repeat for each device being careful to use
the correct username/password pair for incoming
and outgoing
- if you need help with configuring your device
or program, the instructions in the Google
account on the page to 'enable IMAP' detailed
above might be of help, just remember to use
your account information
4) Configure the IGS E-Mail Control System
This is a critical step, the "Local Mailbox" "Source" MUST be
set to "None" and one of the "Additional E-Mail Addresses"
MUST be set to "Post-Filtered" with the "Destination" being
your hidden Google e-mail address.
- using a web browser, go to http://www.kw.igs.net
- click on "E-Mail Control" and login with your
IGS pop3 e-mail username/password
- select the "Forward" page
- in the "Local Mailbox" row, select the "None"
option (your messages are now exclusively
obtained from the Google IMAP storage (many
GigaBytes of free storage), your IGS pop box
will no longer fill up
- in the "Additional E-mail Address (A)" row,
type in your Google e-mail address and
select the "Post-Filtered" option
- click the "Configure Mail Forwarding" button
You now have your devices configured to send all
outgoing mail via the IGS secure sending server
which can be used from any connection to the
internet, you have GigaBytes of mail storage,
all devices can share and keep synchronized one
set of IMAP based folders, have access to your
IGS hosted e-mail from any web browser using
the GMail interface, and it won't cost any
additional monthly fee.
Outgoing Mail Server Configuration
|
SMTP Mail Server
|
:
|
smtpout.kw.igs.net
|
|
SMTP Port
|
:
|
587 (465 is an alternate)
|
|
SMTP Authentication
|
:
|
plain password
(username/password same as IGS pop access)
|
|
SMTP Encryption
|
:
|
STARTTLS, TLS, SSL3, SSL
(choose in that order if available)
|
If you are questioned about the smtpout certificate,
you must accept it, we suggest permanently.
Please read the following page about incorrect
login attempts:
http://www.kw.igs.net/incorrect_logins.html
