> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/ovh/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Email & Collaborative Solutions
> Set up professional email accounts with MX Plan, Email Pro, or Hosted Exchange.
OVHcloud offers three tiers of email solutions to match different business needs — from basic shared email to enterprise-grade Exchange with calendars, contacts, and shared mailboxes.
***
## Email solution tiers
Included with Web Hosting plans or available separately. Provides standard IMAP/POP/SMTP email accounts with webmail access. Best for personal use or small teams with basic email needs.
Professional email addresses starting from 1 account. Includes anti-spam, large mailbox quotas, and collaboration features. Best for small businesses needing a professional email presence.
Full Microsoft Exchange hosted by OVHcloud. Includes shared calendars, contacts, shared mailboxes, resource booking, and ActiveSync for mobile devices. Best for teams requiring full collaboration features.
***
## Creating email accounts
### MX Plan
1. In the [OVHcloud Control Panel](https://www.ovh.com/manager/), go to **Web Cloud** > **MX Plan** and select your service.
2. Click the **Email accounts** tab.
3. Click **Add account**.
4. Fill in:
* **Email account**: the local part before the `@` (e.g., `firstname.lastname`)
* **First name** and **Name**: display in the From header
* **Password**: minimum 9 characters, maximum 30 characters, no accents
5. Click **Next**, verify the summary, and click **Confirm**.
The account is available within a few minutes.
### Email Pro
1. Go to **Web Cloud** > **Email Pro** and select your platform.
2. Before creating accounts, add your domain name via the **Associated domains** tab if you have not already done so.
3. Click the **Email accounts** tab, then **Add account**.
4. Enter the account name, display name, and password, then confirm.
Email Pro requires your domain's MX records to point to OVHcloud mail servers. When you add a domain in the Control Panel, OVHcloud shows you the required DNS changes and can apply them automatically if the domain is managed by OVHcloud.
### Hosted Exchange
1. Go to **Web Cloud** > **Microsoft** > **Exchange** and select your platform.
2. Click **Email accounts** > **Add account**.
3. Assign a licence type and fill in the account details.
***
## Configuring email clients
Use the settings below to configure any standard IMAP/SMTP email client with your MX Plan or Email Pro account.
IMAP keeps messages on the server and synchronises across all devices. Use this for most setups.
**Incoming server (IMAP):**
| Setting | Europe | Americas / Asia-Pacific |
| -------------- | ------------------- | ----------------------- |
| Server | `imap.mail.ovh.net` | `imap.mail.ovh.ca` |
| Port | `993` | `993` |
| Encryption | SSL/TLS | SSL/TLS |
| Authentication | Password (normal) | Password (normal) |
**Outgoing server (SMTP):**
| Setting | Europe | Americas / Asia-Pacific |
| -------------- | ------------------- | ----------------------- |
| Server | `smtp.mail.ovh.net` | `smtp.mail.ovh.ca` |
| Port | `587` | `587` |
| Encryption | STARTTLS | STARTTLS |
| Authentication | Password (normal) | Password (normal) |
For outgoing mail, port `465` with SSL/TLS is also supported as an alternative to port `587` with STARTTLS. The server also responds on the legacy hostname `ssl0.ovh.net` for both incoming and outgoing connections.
POP3 downloads messages to one device and typically removes them from the server. Use this only if you access email from a single device.
**Incoming server (POP3):**
| Setting | Europe | Americas / Asia-Pacific |
| ---------- | ------------------ | ----------------------- |
| Server | `pop.mail.ovh.net` | `pop.mail.ovh.ca` |
| Port | `995` | `995` |
| Encryption | SSL/TLS | SSL/TLS |
**Outgoing server (SMTP):** same as the IMAP outgoing settings above.
1. Open Outlook and click **File** > **Add account**.
2. Enter your email address and click **Connect**.
3. If prompted, select **IMAP** as the account type.
4. Enter the incoming and outgoing server details from the **IMAP** tab above.
5. Click **Connect** and enter your password when prompted.
In Outlook Classic, if auto-discovery fails, choose **Manual setup or additional server types** > **POP or IMAP** and enter the server details manually.
1. Open Thunderbird and go to **Edit** > **Account Settings** > **Account Actions** > **Add Mail Account**.
2. Enter your name, email address, and password, then click **Configure manually**.
3. Set the incoming protocol to **IMAP** and enter:
* **Server**: `imap.mail.ovh.net`
* **Port**: `993`
* **SSL**: SSL/TLS
4. Set the outgoing server:
* **Server**: `smtp.mail.ovh.net`
* **Port**: `587`
* **SSL**: STARTTLS
5. Set **Authentication method** to **Normal password** for both servers.
6. Click **Done**.
1. Open **Mail** > **Preferences** > **Accounts** and click the **+** button.
2. Select **Other Mail Account** and click **Continue**.
3. Enter your name, email address, and password.
4. If auto-detection fails, enter the incoming server details manually:
* **Server**: `imap.mail.ovh.net`
* **Port**: `993`
* **Use SSL**: enabled
5. For outgoing, enter:
* **Server**: `smtp.mail.ovh.net`
* **Port**: `587`
* **Use SSL**: enabled
6. Click **Sign In**.
***
## Webmail access
OVHcloud provides browser-based webmail for all email solutions.
* **MX Plan (Zimbra)**: log in at [https://www.ovh.com/mail/](https://www.ovh.com/mail/) using your full email address and password.
* **MX Plan (OWA)**: log in at the same URL; the interface differs depending on which webmail technology your plan uses.
* **Email Pro**: log in at [https://www.ovh.com/mail/](https://www.ovh.com/mail/).
* **Hosted Exchange**: log in at [https://www.ovh.com/mail/](https://www.ovh.com/mail/) (Outlook Web App interface).
On first login to OWA, you are prompted to select your language and time zone. Set these before you start using the mailbox.
***
## Auto-reply
### MX Plan
1. Log in to webmail and go to **Settings** > **Automatic replies**.
2. Enable **Send automatic replies**, set start/end dates if needed, and compose your reply message.
3. Save the settings.
### Email Pro and Exchange
1. Log in to webmail (OWA).
2. Click the **Settings** gear > **Automatic replies**.
3. Toggle **Send automatic replies** and configure the message for internal and external senders separately.
***
## Email aliases
An alias lets you receive email sent to a different address in the same mailbox (e.g., `info@example.com` delivered to `john@example.com`).
1. In the Control Panel, go to your email service and select **Email accounts**.
2. Click the `...` menu next to the account and select **Manage aliases**.
3. Click **Add an alias**, enter the alias address, and confirm.
***
## Anti-spam and security
OVHcloud applies server-level anti-spam filtering on all incoming mail. You can configure additional filters from webmail:
* **Spam filters**: in webmail settings, set rules to move or delete messages based on spam score.
* **Blocked senders**: add domains or addresses to a blocklist to reject their messages.
* **SPF, DKIM, DMARC**: these DNS records protect your domain from spoofing. When you configure your domain in the Email Pro or Exchange Control Panel, OVHcloud adds the required DNS records automatically for OVHcloud-managed domains.
**Required DNS records for email authentication:**
| Record | Purpose | Example value |
| --------- | --------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------- |
| SPF (TXT) | Authorises OVHcloud servers to send for your domain | `v=spf1 include:mx.ovh.com ~all` |
| MX | Routes inbound mail to OVHcloud servers | `mx1.mail.ovh.net` (priority 1) |
| DKIM | Cryptographic signature on outgoing mail | Generated automatically in Control Panel |
| DMARC | Policy for handling SPF/DKIM failures | `v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:report@example.com` |
***
## Migrating email from another provider
OVHcloud provides a migration tool in the Control Panel to import existing email from another IMAP server.
1. Go to your email service in the Control Panel and click **Migrate accounts** (available on Email Pro and Exchange).
2. Enter the source IMAP server, port, and credentials for each account.
3. Map source accounts to destination accounts on your OVHcloud service.
4. Start the migration. Messages are copied in the background; existing mail in the source account is not deleted.
For manual migrations or MX Plan, use an email client such as Thunderbird: configure both the source and destination accounts, then drag messages between folders to copy them.
Large mailboxes can take several hours to migrate. Keep the source account active and do not change credentials on the source server during migration.
***
## Shared mailboxes and delegated access
### Exchange — shared mailboxes
1. In the Control Panel, go to **Microsoft** > **Exchange** > **Shared accounts**.
2. Click **Add a shared account**, set the display name and email address.
3. Go to the **Delegation** tab of the shared account and add the users who should access it.
4. Users can open the shared mailbox from OWA via **Open another mailbox**.
### Exchange — full access delegation
1. In the Exchange Control Panel, select an account and click **Manage delegations**.
2. Grant **Send as**, **Send on behalf**, or **Full access** permissions to another account.
### Email Pro — delegation
1. In the Control Panel, go to **Email Pro** > **Email accounts** > select the account > **Delegation**.
2. Add the accounts that should be able to send on behalf of this account.
***
## Troubleshooting
Verify that **SMTP authentication** is enabled in your email client's outgoing server settings. Use port `587` with STARTTLS or port `465` with SSL/TLS. Confirm the password is correct — reset it from the Control Panel if needed.
Check the server address (`imap.mail.ovh.net` for Europe), port (`993`), and that SSL/TLS is selected. Confirm the full email address is used as the username, not just the local part.
Ensure SPF and DKIM records are correctly configured in your DNS zone. Add a DMARC record to signal your authentication policy to receiving servers. Avoid sending bulk mail from MX Plan accounts, which are not designed for high-volume sending.
Log in to webmail and delete or archive old messages. Empty the Trash and Spam folders. If your storage needs exceed the MX Plan quota, consider upgrading to Email Pro, which offers larger mailbox sizes.
On first login to OWA webmail, set your time zone under **Settings** > **General** > **Region and time zone**. Zimbra users can set the time zone in **Preferences** > **General**.