Inkbox > # Documentation index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://inkbox.ai/sitemap.xml > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. --- # Use a mail app (IMAP/SMTP) description: Connect a desktop or mobile IMAP/SMTP mail app to an Inkbox inbox --- # Use a mail app (IMAP/SMTP) Every Inkbox inbox speaks IMAP and SMTP, so you can open it in a standard desktop or mobile mail app. It is the same inbox your agent uses through the API: mail the agent sends appears in **Sent**, a message you read in the client is marked read for the agent, and a thread the agent archives moves to **Archive** in your client. ## Connection settings Most people need nothing beyond this table. | Setting | Value | | --- | --- | | IMAP host / port | `imap.inkboxmail.com` / **993** (SSL/TLS) | | SMTP host / port | `smtp.inkboxmail.com` / **465** (SSL/TLS), or **587** (STARTTLS) | | Username | the full inbox address, e.g. `scout@inkboxmail.com` | | Password | an API key scoped to the inbox's identity | | Authentication | Normal password, after TLS (IMAP: SASL `PLAIN`; SMTP: SASL `PLAIN` or `LOGIN`) | The username is the same for incoming and outgoing mail, and so is the password. ## Getting the password There is no separate app password. The password **is** an [API key](/docs/api-keys) scoped to the agent identity that owns the inbox — mint one from the [Console](https://inkbox.ai/console/), or with an admin key, and paste it into your mail client as the account password. Two things to know: - **An admin-scoped key does not work here.** The key has to be scoped to an identity, because the login has to resolve to exactly one inbox. - **One key opens exactly one inbox** — the inbox belonging to the identity it's scoped to. To connect a second agent's inbox, mint a second key. Revoking the key — or deleting the identity or its inbox — **blocks new logins immediately**. A session that is already connected is revalidated periodically rather than severed on the spot (SMTP re-checks before it accepts a message; IMAP re-checks as commands come in), so treat revocation as "no new access," not as an instant disconnect. ## Sending (SMTP) ### `From` must be the inbox you signed in as The `From` header of every message you send must contain **exactly one address**, and it must be the inbox address you authenticated as. If your client also sets a `Sender` header, that has to match too. Aliases and "send as" identities are rejected. If mail sends fine from the API but your mail client's first outgoing message bounces straight back, this is almost always why: open the account's identity settings and make sure the From address is the inbox address itself, character for character. ### Leave "save a copy of sent messages" on You don't have to turn it off. Inkbox stores every outgoing message in **Sent** as it goes out. When your client uploads its own copy with the same `Message-ID` header, Inkbox recognizes it as the same message and points the client at the one already there. You get one entry in Sent, and it counts against your storage once. If a client omits or changes `Message-ID`, its uploaded copy appears as a separate entry and uses additional storage. ### Limits and rejections SMTP submissions run through the same path as API sends, so the same limits and quotas apply: - Up to **50 recipients** and **10 MB** per message. - A message rejected for policy reasons comes back as a permanent failure (`550`). A temporary failure (`451`) means try again shortly; most clients do that on their own. - If storing an outgoing message would push the inbox above its storage limit, the send is refused (`552`) until you free space by deleting messages. Receiving is never blocked. See [pricing](/pricing) for the per-plan caps. Idle connections are closed after 30 minutes; mail clients reconnect on their own. ## Folders The folder set is fixed. You cannot create, rename, or delete folders. | Folder | What's in it | | --- | --- | | `INBOX` | Delivered mail. | | `Archive` | Threads you (or your agent) archived. | | `Spam` | Threads moved out of the inbox as unwanted. | | `Sent` | Mail sent from this inbox — both through the API and through SMTP. | | `Drafts` | Drafts your mail client saves. | | `Trash` | Deleted mail (see below). | Moving a message between `INBOX`, `Archive`, and `Spam` in your client is the same action as changing its thread's folder through the API or the Console. ### Archive and Spam move the whole thread Inkbox files **conversations**, not individual messages. Moving *one* message to `Archive` or `Spam` moves its entire thread, so the other messages in that conversation leave your inbox along with it — and disappear from your client's `INBOX` view. This is the same thing as changing the thread's folder through the API. `Trash` is the exception: it is per-message. Moving one message to `Trash` deletes that message and nothing else. Changes you make in the client take effect right away. Changes made through the API, the SDK, or the Console appear in your client shortly after, on its next update. ### Trash means deleted Moving a message to **Trash** deletes it, and its storage is freed right then. It stays *listed* in the Trash folder until your client expunges it; expunging removes it from the mail-client Trash view (it frees nothing further — the space already came back). The reverse holds too: a message you delete through the API, the SDK, or the Console **shows up in your mail client's Trash folder**. ## Behavior notes - **IDLE is supported**, so your client is notified of new mail without you refreshing it. Arrivals typically surface within about a minute. - **Changes sync both ways.** Read and flagged states, archives, and deletes made through the API, the SDK, or the Console appear in the client, and vice versa. - **Drafts** are saved by your client into the `Drafts` folder. Sending happens over SMTP, as it does in any mail app. - **`COPY` is not supported** — the server tells the client to use `MOVE` instead. Mail clients move between folders by default, so this rarely comes up. ## On the Free plan - **Outbound mail carries a short "Sent via Inkbox" footer**, appended to the text and HTML bodies. This applies to mail sent from a mail client and mail sent through the API. Paid plans have no footer. - **Signed and encrypted mail can't be sent from a mail client.** S/MIME and PGP signing or encryption is rejected on the Free plan, because the footer cannot be added without invalidating the signature. Send unsigned, or [upgrade](/pricing). ## Add the account manually Autodiscovery won't find these settings, so pick your client's manual option: 1. Add a new account and choose the manual setup path — usually called **Other Mail Account**, **Manual configuration**, or **IMAP**. 2. **Email address / username:** the full inbox address, e.g. `scout@inkboxmail.com`. 3. **Password:** the identity-scoped API key. 4. **Incoming mail (IMAP):** host `imap.inkboxmail.com`, port `993`, SSL/TLS, password authentication. 5. **Outgoing mail (SMTP):** host `smtp.inkboxmail.com`, port `465` with SSL/TLS (or `587` with STARTTLS). Authentication required, using the same username and password. 6. Save. The client syncs `INBOX` and shows the folder set above. Before you send your first message, check the account's From address — see [the `From` rule](#sending-smtp). ## FAQs Yes — add one account per inbox, each with its own identity-scoped API key. A single key only ever opens the inbox belonging to the identity it's scoped to. Not when the uploaded copy preserves the original `Message-ID` header. Inkbox then matches it to the message already in `Sent`, so you can leave "save a copy of sent messages" enabled. If your client omits or changes that header, the copy appears as a separate entry. Check the `From` address configured on the mail-client account. It must be the inbox address you authenticated as, and nothing else — no alias, no display-only "send as" address. See [the `From` rule](#sending-smtp). Yes. Moving a message to `Trash` deletes it and frees its storage immediately, whether or not your client has expunged the folder yet.