FairEmail/docs/FAQ-es-rES.md

204 KiB
Raw Blame History

Soporte de FairEmail

Si tienes alguna pregunta, por favor comprueba primero las preguntas frecuentes siguientes. En la parte inferior, puede averiguar cómo hacer otras preguntas, solicitar características, y reportar errores.

Wenn Sie eine Frage haben, überprüfen Sie bitte zuerst die nachstehenden häufig gestellten Fragen (FAQ). Ganz unten erfahren Sie, wie Sie weitere Fragen stellen, Funktionen anfordern und Fehler melden können.

Índice

Autorizando cuentas

En la mayoría de los casos, el asistente de configuración rápida podrá identificar automáticamente la configuración correcta.

Si el asistente de configuración rápida falla, necesitará configurar manualmente una cuenta (para recibir correo electrónico) y una identidad (para enviar correo electrónico). Para esto necesitarás las direcciones de los servidores IMAP y SMTP y números de puerto, ya sea SSL/TLS o STARTTLS deberían usarse y su nombre de usuario (generalmente, pero no siempre, su dirección de correo electrónico) y su contraseña.

Buscar IMAP y el nombre del proveedor es generalmente suficiente para encontrar la documentación correcta.

En algunos casos, necesitarás habilitar el acceso externo a tu cuenta y/o utilizar una contraseña especial (de aplicación), por ejemplo, cuando la autenticación de dos pasos esté habilitada.

Para ayuda con autorización:

Por favor vea aquí para mensajes de error y soluciones comunes.

Preguntas relacionadas:

¿Cómo ...?

Problema conocido

  • Un error en Android 5.1 y 6 hace que las aplicaciones muestren a veces un formato de hora incorrecto. Cambiar la configuración de Android Usar formato de 24 horas podría resolver temporalmente el problema. Una solución fue añadida.
  • Un error en AndroidX hace que FairEmail ocasionalmente se cierre al mantener presionado o deslizar. Google ha corregido esto.
  • Un error en AndroidX ROOM causa a veces un cierre con "... Excepción al computar datos en vivo de base de datos ... No se pudo leer la fila...". Se añadió una solución alternativa.
  • Un error en Android hace que FairEmail falle con "... Notificación errónea publicada ..." en algunos dispositivos una vez después de actualizar FairEmail y pulsar en una notificación.
  • Un error en Android ocasiona a veces un error con "... ActivityRecord no encontrado para ..." después de actualizar FairEmail. Reinstalando (fuente) podría solucionar el problema.
  • Un error en Android ocasiona a veces un error con ... InputChannel no está inicializado ... en algunos dispositivos.
  • Un error en LineageOS causa a veces un error con ... java.lang.ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException: length=...; index=... ....
  • Un error en Nova Launcher en Android 5.x hace que FairEmail falle con un java.lang.StackOverflowError cuando Nova Launcher tiene acceso al servicio de accesibilidad.
  • El selector de carpetas a veces no muestra carpetas por razones desconocidas. Esto parece estar arreglado.
  • Un error en AndroidX hace difícil agarrar el desplazamiento rápido. Una solución fue añadida.
  • El cifrado con YubiKey resulta en un bucle infinito. Esto parece ser causado por un error en OpenKeychain.
  • Desplazar a una ubicación vinculada internamente en mensajes originales no funciona. Esto no se puede arreglar porque la vista original del mensaje está contenida en una vista de desplazamiento.
  • La vista previa del texto de los mensajes no aparece (siempre) en los relojes de Samsung porque setLocalOnly parece ser ignorado. Se sabe que los textos de vista previa de los mensajes se muestran correctamente en los wearables Pebble 2, Fitbit Charge 3, Mi band 3 y Xiaomi Amazfit BIP. Ver también estas Preguntas Frecuentes.
  • Un error en Android 6.0 causa un error con ... Offset inválido: ... El rango válido es ... cuando el texto está seleccionado y se toca fuera del texto seleccionado. Este error ha sido corregido en Android 6.0.1.
  • Los enlaces internos (anchor) no funcionarán porque los mensajes originales se muestran en una WebView embebida en una vista de desplazamiento (la lista de conversaciones). Esta es una limitación de Android que no se puede arreglar o eludir.
  • La detección de idioma ya no funciona en dispositivos Pixel con (¿actualizado a?) Android 11
  • Un error en OpenKeychain causa firmas PGP inválidas al usar un token de hardware.

Características planificadas

  • Sincronizar bajo demanda (manual)
  • ~~Cifrado semi automático ~~
  • Copiar mensaje
  • Estrellas de colores
  • Ajustes de notificación por carpeta
  • Seleccionar imágenes locales para firmas (esto no se añadirá porque requiere administración de archivos de imagen y porque las imágenes no se muestran por defecto en la mayoría de los clientes de correo electrónico)
  • Mostrar mensajes que coincidan con una regla
  • ManageSieve (no hay librerías Java mantenidas con una licencia adecuada y sin dependencias y, además, FairEmail tiene sus propias reglas de filtro)
  • Buscar mensajes con/sin archivos adjuntos (esto no puede ser añadido porque IMAP no soporta la búsqueda de archivos adjuntos)
  • Buscar una carpeta (filtrar una lista jerárquica de carpetas es problemático)
  • Sugerencias de búsqueda
  • Mensaje de configuración de autocifrado (sección 4.4) (en mi opinión no es una buena idea permitir que un cliente de correo electrónico maneje claves de cifrado sensibles para un caso de uso excepcional mientras que OpenKeychain también puede exportar claves)
  • Carpetas unificadas genéricas
  • Nuevo programa de notificación de mensajes por cuenta (implementado añadiendo una condición de tiempo a las reglas para que los mensajes puedan ser pospuestos durante los periodos seleccionados)
  • Copiar cuentas e identidades
  • Zoom via pellizco (no es posible en una lista de desplazamiento; la vista completa del mensaje puede ser agrandada en su lugar)
  • Vista de carpetas más compacta
  • Componer listas y tablas (requiere un editor de texto enriquecido, vea estas FAQ)
  • Pellizcar para hacer zoom en el tamaño de texto
  • Mostrar GIFs
  • Temas (un tema gris claro y uno oscuro fueron añadidos porque esto es lo que la mayoría de la gente parece querer)
  • Cualquier condición de hora del día (cualquier día no encaja realmente en la condición de fecha/hora)
  • Enviar como adjunto
  • Widget para la cuenta seleccionada
  • Recordar adjuntar archivos
  • Seleccionar dominios para los cuales mostrar imágenes (esto será demasiado complicado de usar)
  • Vista de mensajes favoritos unificada (ya hay una búsqueda especial para esto)
  • Mover acción de notificación
  • Soporte para S/MIMEe
  • Buscar ajustes

Cualquier cosa en esta lista está en orden aleatorio y podría ser añadida en un futuro próximo.

Características solicitadas con frecuencia

El diseño está basado en muchas discusiones y si lo deseas puedes unirte a la discusión en este foro. El objetivo del diseño es ser minimalista (sin menús innecesarios, botones, etc.) y libre de distracciones (colores brillantes, animaciones, etc.). Todas las cosas mostradas deben ser útiles de una u otra manera y deben posicionarse cuidadosamente para un uso fácil. Fuentes, tamaños, colores, etc. deben seguir el "material design" siempre que sea posible.

Preguntas frecuentes

Tengo otra pregunta.

(1) ¿Qué permisos son necesarios y por qué?

Se necesitan los siguientes permisos de Android:

  • tiene acceso a la red completa (INTERNET): para enviar y recibir correo electrónico
  • ver conexiones de red (ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE): para monitorizar los cambios de conectividad a Internet
  • ejecutar al inicio (RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED): para iniciar la monitorización al iniciar el dispositivo
  • servicio de primer plano (FOREGROUND_SERVICE): para ejecutar un servicio de primer plano en Android 9 Pie y posterior, ver también la siguiente pregunta
  • evitar que el dispositivo duerme (WAKE_LOCK): para mantener el dispositivo despierto mientras sincroniza los mensajes
  • facturación in-app (BILLING): para permitir compras en la app
  • programar alarma exacta (SCHEDULE_EXACT_ALARM): para utilizar la programación exacta de alarmas (Android 12 y posterior)
  • Opcional: leer sus contactos (READ_CONTACTS): para autocompletar direcciones, mostrar fotos de contacto y seleccionar contactos
  • Opcional: lee el contenido de tu tarjeta SD (READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE): para aceptar archivos de otras aplicaciones desactualizadas, consulte también estas Preguntas Frecuentes
  • Opcional: usar hardware de huella dactilar (USE_FINGERPRINT) y usar hardware biométrico (USE_BIOMETRIC): para usar autenticación biométrica
  • Opcional: encontrar cuentas en el dispositivo (GET_ACCOUNTS) para seleccionar una cuenta cuando se utiliza la configuración rápida de Gmail
  • Android 5.1 Lollipop y anteriores: usar cuentas en el dispositivo (USE_CREDENTIALS): para seleccionar una cuenta al usar la configuración rápida de Gmail (no solicitada en versiones posteriores de Android)
  • Android 5.1 Lollipop y anteriores: Leer perfil (READ_PROFILE): para leer su nombre cuando utilice la configuración rápida de Gmail (no solicitada en versiones posteriores de Android)

Permisos opcionales son compatibles sólo en Android 6 Marshmallow y posteriores. En versiones anteriores de Android se le pedirá que conceda los permisos opcionales para instalar FairEmail.

Los siguientes permisos son necesarios para mostrar el recuento de mensajes no leídos como una insignia (ver también este FAQ):

  • com.sec.android.provider.badge.permission.READ
  • com.sec.android.provider.badge.permission.WRITE
  • com.htc.launcher.permission.READ_SETINGS
  • com.htc.launcher.permission► PDATE_SHORTCUT
  • com.sonyericsson.home.permission.BROADCAST_BADGE
  • com.sonymobile.home.permission.PROVIDER_INSERT_BADGE
  • com.anddoes.launcher.permisos PDATE_COUNT
  • com.majeur.launcher.permission► PDATE_BADGE
  • com.huawei.android.launcher.permission.CHANGE_BADGE
  • com.huawei.android.launcher.permission.READ_SETTINGS
  • com.huawei.android.launcher.permission.WRITE_SETTINGS
  • android.permission.READ_APP_BADGE
  • com.oppo.launcher.permission.READ_SETINGS
  • com.oppo.launcher.permission.WRITE_SETINGS
  • me.everything.badger.permission.BADGE_COUNT_READ
  • me.everything.badger.permission.BADGE_COUNT_WRITE

FairEmail mantendrá una lista de direcciones de las que recibe y a las que envía mensajes y utilizará esta lista para sugerencias de contactos cuando no se otorguen permisos de contactos a FairEmail. Esto significa que puede utilizar FairEmail sin el proveedor de contactos de Android (agenda). Tenga en cuenta que todavía puede elegir contactos sin conceder sus permisos a FairEmail, sólo que sugerir contactos no funcionará sin los permisos de contactos.


(2) ¿Por qué se muestra una notificación permanente?

Una notificación permanente de baja prioridad con el número de cuentas monitoreadas y el número de operaciones pendientes (ver la siguiente pregunta) se muestra para evitar que Android mate el servicio que se encarga de recibir correo electrónico continuamente. Esto ya era necesario, pero con la introducción de modo doze en Android 6 Marshmallow esto es más necesario que nunca. El modo Doze detendrá todas las aplicaciones cuando la pantalla esté apagada por algún tiempo a menos que la aplicación inicie un servicio de primer plano, lo que requiere mostrar una notificación en la barra de estado.

La mayoría, si no todas, de las demás aplicaciones de correo no muestran una notificación con el "efecto secundario" de que los mensajes nuevos a menudo no son reportados o lo hacen en forma tardía y lo mismo ocurre con los envíos.

Android muestra primero los iconos de las notificaciones de la barra de estado de alta prioridad y ocultará el icono de la notificación de FairEmail si ya no hay espacio para mostrar los iconos. En la práctica esto significa que la notificación de la barra de estado no ocupa espacio en la barra de estado, a menos que haya espacio disponible.

La notificación de la barra de estado se puede desactivar a través de la configuración de notificación de FairEmail:

  • Android 8 Oreo y posteriores: toque el botón Canal de recepción y desactive el canal a través de la configuración de Android (esto no deshabilitará las notificaciones de nuevos mensajes)
  • Android 7 Nougat y antes: habilite Usa el servicio de segundo plano para sincronizar mensajes, pero asegúrese de leer el comentario debajo de la configuración

Puede cambiar a sincronización periódica de mensajes en la configuración de recepción para eliminar la notificación, pero tenga en cuenta que esto podría aumentar el uso de batería. Vea aquí para más detalles sobre el uso de la batería.

Android 8 Oreo también podría mostrar una notificación de barra de estado con el texto Las aplicaciones se están ejecutando en segundo plano. Por favor, consulte aquí sobre cómo puede desactivar esta notificación.

Algunas personas sugirieron usar Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) en lugar de un servicio Android con una notificación en la barra de estado, pero esto requeriría que los proveedores de correo enviaran mensajes FCM o un servidor central donde todos los mensajes sean recogidos enviando mensajes FCM. La primera no va a suceder y la última tendría importantes implicaciones en materia de privacidad.

Si vino aquí haciendo clic en la notificación, debe saber que el siguiente clic abrirá la bandeja de entrada unificada.


(3) ¿Qué son las operaciones y por qué están pendientes?

La notificación de la barra de estado de baja prioridad muestra el número de operaciones pendientes, que pueden ser:

  • añadir: añadir mensaje a la carpeta remota
  • mover: mover mensaje a otra carpeta remota
  • copiar: copiar mensaje a otra carpeta remota
  • obtener: obtención de mensajes cambiados (pushed)
  • borrar: borrar mensaje de la carpeta remota
  • visto: marcar mensaje como leído/no leído en la carpeta remota
  • respondido: marca el mensaje como respondido en la carpeta remota
  • marcar: añadir/remover estrella en la carpeta remota
  • palabra clave: añadir/eliminar marca IMAP en carpeta remota
  • etiqueta: establecer/restablecer etiqueta Gmail en carpeta remota
  • encabezados: descargar encabezados de mensajes
  • raw: descargar mensaje sin procesar
  • cuerpo: descargar texto del mensaje
  • adjunto: descargar adjunto
  • sincronizar: sincronizar mensajes locales y remotos
  • suscribir: suscribirse a la carpeta remota
  • purgar: borrar todos los mensajes de la carpeta remota
  • enviar: enviar mensaje
  • existe: comprueba si el mensaje existe
  • regla: ejecutar regla en el cuerpo del texto
  • eliminar: borrar mensajes permanentemente

Las operaciones sólo se procesan cuando hay una conexión al servidor de correo electrónico o cuando se sincroniza manualmente. Vea también estas Preguntas Frecuentes.


(4) ¿Cómo puedo utilizar un certificado de seguridad inválido / contraseña vacía / conexión de texto plano?

... No confiable ... no en el certificado ...
... Certificado de seguridad inválido (no se puede verificar la identidad del servidor) ...

Esto puede ser causado por el uso de un nombre de host incorrecto, así que primero compruebe el nombre de host en la configuración avanzada de la identidad/cuenta (pulse Configuración manual). Por favor mire la documentación del proveedor de correo electrónico acerca del nombre de dominio correcto.

Debería intentar arreglar esto poniéndose en contacto con su proveedor u obteniendo un certificado de seguridad válido porque los certificados de seguridad inválidos no son seguros y permiten ataques de intermediario. Si el dinero es un obstáculo, puede obtener certificados de seguridad gratuitos de Lets Encrypt.

La solución rápida, pero insegura (no recomendada), es habilitar Conexiones inseguras en la configuración de identidad avanzada (menú de navegación, toque Ajustes, toque Configuración manual, pulsa Identidades, toque la identidad, toque Avanzado).

Como alternativa, puede aceptar la huella digital de certificados de servidor inválidos así:

  1. Asegúrese de estar usando una conexión a internet de confianza (no redes Wi-Fi publicas, etc.)
  2. Ve a la pantalla de configuración a través del menú de navegación (deslice desde el lado izquierdo hacia adentro)
  3. Toque Configuración manual y más opciones, toque Cuentas/Identidades y toque la cuenta e identidad defectuosa
  4. Comprobar/guardar la cuenta y la identidad
  5. Marque la casilla debajo del mensaje de error y guarde de nuevo

Esto "fijará" el certificado del servidor para prevenir ataques de intermerdiario.

Tenga en cuenta que las versiones antiguas de Android podrían no reconocer las nuevas autoridades de certificación como Lets Encrypt que causan que las conexiones se consideren inseguras, ver también aquí.


Trust anchor for certification path not found

... java.security.cert.CertPathValidatorException: Trust anchor for certification path not found ... significa que el administrador de confianza por defecto de Android no pudo verificar la cadena de certificados del servidor.

Esto podría deberse a que el certificado raíz no está instalado en su dispositivo o faltan certificados intermedios, por ejemplo porque el servidor de correo electrónico no los ha enviado.

Puede solucionar el primer problema descargando e instalando el certificado raíz desde el sitio web del proveedor del certificado.

El segundo problema debería solucionarse cambiando la configuración del servidor o importando los certificados intermedios en su dispositivo.

También puede fijar el certificado, ver arriba.


Contraseña vacía

Su nombre de usuario probablemente sea fácilmente adivinado, por lo que esto es bastante inseguro, a menos que el servidor SMTP esté disponible sólo a través de una red local restringida o una VPN.

Conexión de texto plano

Su nombre de usuario y contraseña y todos los mensajes serán enviados y recibidos sin cifrar, lo que es muy inseguro porque un ataque de intermediario es muy simple en una conexión no cifrada.

Si todavía desea utilizar un certificado de seguridad no válido, una contraseña vacía o una conexión de texto plano necesitará habilitar conexiones insecuras en la cuenta y/o configuración de identidad. STARTTLS debería ser seleccionado para conexiones de texto plano. Si activa conexiones insecuras, sólo debe conectarse a través de redes privadas y confiables y nunca a través de redes públicas, como las ofrecidas en hoteles, aeropuertos, etc.


(5) ¿Cómo puedo personalizar la vista del mensaje?

En el menú de tres puntos puede activar o desactivar o seleccionar:

  • tamaño de texto: para tres tamaños de fuente diferentes
  • vista compacta: para elementos de mensaje más condensados y una fuente de texto más pequeña

En la sección de visualización de los ajustes puede activar o desactivar por ejemplo:

  • Bandeja de entrada unificada: para desactivar la bandeja de entrada unificada y para listar las carpetas seleccionadas para la bandeja de entrada unificada en su lugar
  • Estilo tabular: para mostrar una lista lineal en lugar de tarjetas
  • Agrupar por fecha: mostrar el encabezado de fecha sobre los mensajes con la misma fecha
  • Hilos de conversación: para desactivar la vista de conversación y mostrar mensajes individuales en su lugar
  • Barra de acción de conversación: para desactivar la barra de navegación inferior
  • Color resaltado: para seleccionar un color para el remitente de mensajes no leídos
  • Mostrar fotos de contactos: para ocultar fotos de contactos
  • Mostrar nombres y direcciones de correo electrónico: para mostrar nombres o mostrar nombres y direcciones de correo electrónico
  • Mostrar asunto en cursiva: para mostrar el asunto del mensaje como texto normal
  • Mostrar estrellas: para ocultar estrellas (favoritos)
  • Mostrar vista previa del mensaje: para mostrar 1-4 líneas del texto del mensaje
  • Mostrar detalles de dirección por defecto: para expandir la sección de direcciones por defecto
  • Mostrar automáticamente el mensaje original para los contactos conocidos: para mostrar automáticamente los mensajes originales para los contactos en su dispositivo, por favor lea estas Preguntas Frecuentes
  • Mostrar automáticamente el mensaje original para los contactos conocidos: para mostrar automáticamente los mensajes originales para los contactos en su dispositivo, por favor lea estas Preguntas Frecuentes

Tenga en cuenta que los mensajes sólo se pueden previsualizar cuando se descargó el texto del mensaje. Los textos de mensajes más grandes no se descargan por defecto en redes medidas (generalmente móviles). Puede cambiar esto en los ajustes de conexión.

Algunas personas piden:

  • mostrar la el asunto en negrita, pero la negrita ya está siendo usada para resaltar los mensajes no leídos
  • mover la estrella a la izquierda, pero es mucho más fácil tener la estrella en el lado derecho

(6) ¿Cómo puedo iniciar sesión en Gmail / G suite?

Si utiliza la versión Play Store o GitHub de FairEmail, puede utilizar el asistente de configuración rápida para configurar fácilmente una cuenta e identidad de Gmail. El asistente de configuración rápida de Gmail no está disponible para versiones de terceros, como la compilación de F-Droid, porque Google aprobó el uso de OAuth sólo para compilaciones oficiales.

Si no quiere o no puede usar una cuenta Gmail del dispositivo, por ejemplo en dispositivos Huawei recientes, puede habilitar el acceso para "aplicaciones menos seguras" y utilizar la contraseña de su cuenta (no recomendado) o habilitar la autenticación de dos factores y utilizar una contraseña específica de la aplicación. Para utilizar una contraseña necesitará configurar una cuenta e identidad a través de la configuración manual en lugar del asistente de configuración rápida.

Importante: a veces Google emite esta alerta:

[ALERT] Inicie sesión a través de su navegador web: https://support.google.com/mail/accounts/answer/78754 (Failure)

Esta verificación de seguridad de Google se activa más a menudo con aplicaciones menos seguras activadas, menos a menudo con una contraseña de la aplicación, y casi nunca cuando se utiliza una cuenta en el dispositivo (OAuth).

Consulte estas Preguntas Frecuentes sobre por qué sólo se pueden utilizar las cuentas del dispositivo.

Tenga en cuenta que se requiere una contraseña específica de la aplicación cuando la autenticación de dos factores está habilitada.


Contraseña específica de la aplicación

Vea aquí sobre cómo generar una contraseña específica de la aplicación.


Habilitar "Aplicaciones menos seguras"

Importante: no se recomienda usar este método porque es menos confiable.

Importante: Las cuentas de Gsuite autorizadas con un nombre de usuario/contraseña dejarán de funcionar en un futuro próximo.

Vea aquí acerca de cómo habilitar "aplicaciones menos seguras" o vaya directamente a la configuración.

Si usa múltiples cuentas de Gmail, asegúrese de cambiar la configuración de "aplicaciones menos seguras" de la(s) cuenta(s) correcta(s).

Tenga en cuenta que necesita salir de la pantalla de ajustes de "aplicaciones menos seguras" usando la flecha hacia atrás para aplicar la configuración.

Si usa este método, debería usar una contraseña fuerte para su cuenta de Gmail, lo cual es una buena idea de todos modos. Tenga en cuenta que usar el protocolo IMAP estándar en sí mismo no es menos seguro.

Cuando "aplicaciones menos seguras" no está activado, obtendrá el error La autenticación falló - credenciales inválidas para cuentas (IMAP) y Nombre de usuario y contraseña no aceptados para identidades (SMTP).


General

Puede obtener la alerta "Inicie sesión a través de su navegador web". Esto sucede cuando Google considera que la red que lo conecta a Internet (esto podría ser una VPN) es insegura. Esto se puede evitar usando el asistente de configuración rápida de Gmail o una contraseña específica de la aplicación.

Vea aquí las instrucciones de Google y aquí para solucionar problemas.


(7) ¿Por qué los mensajes enviados no aparecen (directamente) en la carpeta enviados?

Los mensajes enviados normalmente se mueven de la bandeja de salida a la carpeta enviados tan pronto como su proveedor agrega los mensajes enviados a la carpeta enviados. Esto requiere que se seleccione una carpeta enviados en la configuración de la cuenta y que la carpeta enviados se configure para sincronizar.

Algunos proveedores no llevan un seguimiento de los mensajes enviados o el servidor SMTP utilizado podría no estar relacionado con el proveedor. En estos casos FairEmail automáticamente añadirá mensajes enviados a la carpeta enviados al sincronizar la carpeta enviados, lo que sucederá después de que se haya enviado un mensaje. Tenga en cuenta que esto resultará en tráfico extra de Internet.

Si esto no sucede, es posible que su proveedor no esté al tanto de los mensajes enviados o que esté utilizando un servidor SMTP no relacionado con el proveedor. En estos casos puede habilitar la configuración avanzada de identidad Guardar mensajes enviados para que FairEmail añada mensajes enviados a la carpeta enviados justo después de enviar un mensaje. Tenga en cuenta que habilitar este ajuste puede resultar en mensajes duplicados si su proveedor añade mensajes enviados a la carpeta enviados. Además tenga cuidado de que habilitar esta configuración dará como resultado un uso adicional de datos, especialmente cuando se envíen mensajes con grandes archivos adjuntos.

Si los mensajes enviados en la bandeja de salida no se encuentran en la carpeta enviados en una sincronización completa, también se moverán de la bandeja de salida a la carpeta enviados. Una sincronización completa ocurre al reconectar al servidor o al sincronizar periódicamente o manualmente. Probablemente querrá habilitar la configuración avanzada Almacenar mensajes enviados en su lugar para mover mensajes a la carpeta enviados más pronto.


(8) ¿Puedo usar una cuenta de Microsoft Exchange?

El protocolo de Servicios Web de Microsoft Exchange se está eliminando. Por lo tanto, ya no tiene mucho sentido añadir este protocolo.

Puede utilizar una cuenta de Microsoft Exchange si es accesible a través de IMAP, que es lo más común. Vea aquí para más información.

Tenga en cuenta que la descripción de FairEmail comienza con la observación de que los protocolos no estándar, como Microsoft Exchange Web Services y Microsoft ActiveSync no son compatibles.

Por favor consulte aquí la documentación de Microsoft acerca de la configuración de un cliente de correo electrónico. También hay una sección sobre errores de conexión comunes y soluciones.

Algunas versiones antiguas del servidor Exchange tienen un error que causa mensajes vacíos y adjuntos corruptos. Consulte estas Preguntas Frecuentes para una solución provisional.

Consulte estas Preguntas Frecuentes sobre el soporte de ActiveSync.

Por favor vea estas Preguntas Frecuentes sobre el soporte de OAuth.


(9) ¿Qué son las identidades / cómo añadir un alias?

Las identidades representan las direcciones de correo electrónico desde las que está enviando a través de un servidor de correo electrónico (SMTP).

Algunos proveedores le permiten tener múltiples alias. Puede configurarlos estableciendo el campo de dirección de correo electrónico de una identidad adicional a la dirección de alias y configurando el campo nombre de usuario a su dirección de correo electrónico principal.

Tenga en cuenta que puede copiar una identidad manteniéndola presionada.

Como alternativa, puede habilitar Permitir editar la dirección del remitente en la configuración avanzada de una identidad existente para editar el nombre de usuario cuando se compone un nuevo mensaje, si su proveedor lo permite.

FairEmail actualizará automáticamente las contraseñas de las identidades relacionadas cuando actualice la contraseña de la cuenta asociada o una identidad relacionada.

Vea estas Preguntas Frecuentes sobre la edición del nombre de usuario de las direcciones de correo electrónico.


(10) ¿Qué significa 'UIDPLUS no soportado'?

El mensaje de error UIDPLUS no soportado significa que su proveedor de correo no proporciona la extensión IMAP UIDPLUS. Esta extensión IMAP es necesaria para implementar la sincronización de dos vías, que no es una característica opcional. Así que, a menos que su proveedor pueda habilitar esta extensión, no puede usar FairEmail para este proveedor.


(11) ¿Por qué no se admite POP?

Además de que cualquier proveedor de correo electrónico decente soporta IMAP estos días, usar POP dará como resultado un uso adicional innecesario de la batería y un retraso en las notificaciones de nuevos mensajes. Además, POP es inadecuado para la sincronización de dos vías y la mayoría de las veces la gente lee y escribe mensajes en diferentes dispositivos hoy en día.

Básicamente, POP sólo soporta descargar y borrar mensajes de la bandeja de entrada. Entonces, las operaciones comunes como configurar los atributos del mensaje (leer, marcar, responder, etc.), añadir (respaldar) y mover mensajes no es posible.

Ver también lo que Google escribe sobre eso.

Por ejemplo Gmail puede importar mensajes desde otra cuenta POP, que puede ser usado como solución temporal para cuando su proveedor no soporta IMAP.

en resumen, considere cambiar a IMAP.


(12) ¿Cómo funciona el cifrado/descifrado?

La comunicación con los servidores de correo electrónico siempre está cifrada, a menos que lo desactive explícitamente. Esta pregunta se refiere al cifrado opcional de extremo a extremo con PGP o S/MIME. El remitente y destinario primero deberían acordar esto e intercambiar mensajes firmados para transferir su clave pública para poder enviar mensajes cifrados.


General

Por favor, vea aquí sobre cómo funciona el cifrado con clave pública/privada.

Cifrado en resumen:

  • Los mensajes salientes se cifran con la clave pública del destinatario
  • Los mensajes entrantes se descifran con la clave privada del destinatario

Firma en resumen:

  • Los mensajes salientes se firman con la clave privada del remitente
  • Los mensajes entrantes se verifican con la clave pública del remitente

Para firmar/cifrar un mensaje, solo seleccione el método apropiado en el dialogo de envío. También puede abrir el diálogo de enviar usando el menú de tres puntos en caso de que haya seleccionado No volver a mostrar anteriormente.

Para verificar una firma o descifrar un mensaje recibido, abra el mensaje y simplemente toque el icono del gesto o del candado justo debajo de la barra de acción del mensaje.

La primera vez que envíe un mensaje firmado/cifrado puede que se le pida una clave de firma. FairEmail automáticamente almacenará las claves de firma seleccionadas en la identidad utilizada para la próxima vez. Si necesita reiniciar la clave de firma, solo guarde la identidad o mantenga pulsada la identidad en la lista de identidades y selecciones Reiniciar clave de firma. La clave de firma seleccionada es visible en la lista de identidades. Si es necesario seleccionar una clave para cada caso puede crear múltiples identidades para la misma cuenta con la misma dirección de correo electrónico.

En la configuración de cifrado puede seleccionar el método de cifrado predeterminado (PGP o S/MIME), active Firmar por defecto, Cifrar por defecto y Descifrar mensajes automáticamente, pero tenga en cuenta que el descifrado automático no es posible si se requiere la interacción del usuario, como seleccionar una clave o leer un token de seguridad.

El texto/adjuntos de los mensajes a cifrar y el texto/adjuntos de los mensajes descifrados se almacenan sólo localmente y nunca se añadirán al servidor remoto. Si quiere deshacer el descifrado, puede usar el menú resync en el menú de tres puntos de la barra de acción de mensajes.


PGP

Necesitará instalar y configurar OpenKeychain primero. FairEmail ha sido probado con OpenKeychain versión 5.4. Es muy probable que las versiones posteriores sean compatibles, pero las versiones anteriores podrían no serlo.

Importante: la aplicación OpenKeychain es conocida por (silenciosamente) fallar cuando la aplicación que llama (FairEmail) no está autorizada todavía y está obteniendo una clave pública existente. Puede solucionar esto tratando de enviar un mensaje firmado/cifrado al remitente con una clave pública desconocida.

Importante: si la aplicación OpenKeychain (ya) no puede encontrar una clave, puede que necesite restablecer una clave seleccionada previamente. Esto se puede hacer manteniendo presionada una identidad en la lista de identidades (Ajustes, Configuración manual, Identidades).

Importante: para permitir que aplicaciones como FairEmail se conecten de forma confiable al servicio OpenKeychain para cifrar/descifrar mensajes, podría ser necesario desactivar las optimizaciones de la batería para la aplicación OpenKeychain.

Importante: la aplicación OpenKeychain necesita el permiso de contactos para funcionar correctamente.

Importante: en algunas versiones de Android / dispositivos es necesario habilitar Mostrar ventanas emergentes mientras se ejecuta en segundo plano en los permisos adicionales de la configuración de la aplicación Android de la aplicación OpenKeychain. Sin este permiso el borrador se guardará, pero la ventana emergente de OpenKeychain para confirmar/seleccionar puede que no aparezca.

FairEmail enviará el encabezado Autocrypt para ser usado por otros clientes de correo electrónico, pero sólo para mensajes firmados y cifrados porque demasiados servidores de correo electrónico tienen problemas con el a menudo largo encabezado de Autocrypt. Tenga en cuenta que la forma más segura de iniciar un intercambio de correo electrónico cifrado es enviar primero los mensajes firmados. Los encabezados de Autocrypt recibidos serán enviados a la aplicación OpenKeychain para ser almacenados al verificar una firma o descifrar un mensaje.

Aunque esto no debería ser necesario para la mayoría de los clientes de correo, puede adjuntar tu clave pública a un mensaje y si usa .key como extensión, el tipo mime será application/pgp-keys correctamente.

Toda la gestión de claves se delega a la aplicación OpenKeychain por razones de seguridad. Esto también significa que FairEmail no almacena claves PGP.

Se admite el PGP cifrado en línea en los mensajes recibidos, pero no se admiten las firmas PGP en línea y el PGP en línea en los mensajes salientes, ver aquí sobre por qué no.

Los mensajes sólo firmados o sólo cifrados no son una buena idea, por favor vea aquí por qué no:

Se admiten mensajes sólo firmados, los mensajes sólo cifrados no están soportados.

Errores comunes:

  • Sin clave: no hay ninguna clave PGP disponible para una de las direcciones de correo electrónico listadas
  • Falta la clave para el cifrado: probablemente hay una clave seleccionada en FairEmail que ya no existe en la aplicación OpenKeychain. Restablecer la clave (ver arriba) probablemente solucione este problema.
  • Falta la clave para la verificación de la firma: la clave pública para el remitente no está disponible en la aplicación OpenKeychain. Esto también puede deberse a que Autocrypt está desactivado en la configuración de cifrado o al encabezado Autocrypt no enviado.

S/MIME

Cifrar un mensaje requiere la(s) clave(s) pública(s) del destinatario(s). Firmar un mensaje requiere su clave privada.

Las claves privadas son almacenadas por Android y se pueden importar a través de la configuración de seguridad avanzada de Android. Hay un acceso directo (botón) para esto en los ajustes del cifrado. Android le pedirá que establezca un PIN, patrón o contraseña si no lo ha hecho antes. Si tiene un dispositivo Nokia con Android 9, por favor lea esto primero.

Tenga en cuenta que los certificados pueden contener múltiples claves para múltiples propósitos, por ejemplo para la autenticación, el cifrado y la firma. Android sólo importa la primera clave, así que para importar todas las claves, el certificado primero debe ser dividido. Esto no es muy trivial y se le aconseja que pida ayuda al proveedor del certificado.

Nótese que la firma S/MIME  con otros algoritmos que RSA es soportada, pero tenga en cuenta que otros clientes de correo electrónico tal vez no lo soporten. El cifrado S/MIME es posible sólo con algoritmos asimétricos, lo que significa que en la práctica se utiliza RSA.

El método de cifrado por defecto es PGP, pero el último método de cifrado utilizado será recordado para la identidad seleccionada para la próxima vez. Puede mantener pulsado el botón Enviar para cambiar el método de cifrado de una identidad. Si utiliza el cifrado PGP y S/MIME para la misma dirección de correo electrónico, podría ser útil copiar la identidad, para que pueda cambiar el método de cifrado seleccionando una de las dos identidades. Puede mantener presionada una identidad en la lista de identidades (a través de la configuración manual en la pantalla de configuración principal) para copiar una identidad.

Para permitir diferentes claves privadas para la misma dirección de correo electrónico, FairEmail siempre le permitirá seleccionar una clave cuando haya múltiples identidades con la misma dirección de correo electrónico para la misma cuenta.

Las claves públicas son almacenadas por FairEmail y pueden ser importadas al verificar una firma por primera vez o a través de la configuración de cifrado (formatos PEM o DER).

FairEmail verifica tanto la firma como la cadena completa de certificados.

Errores comunes:

  • No se ha encontrado ningún certificado que coincida con targetContraints: esto seguramente significa que está usando una versión antigua de FairEmail
  • incapaz de encontrar una ruta de certificación válida para el objetivo solicitado: básicamente esto significa que uno o más certificados intermedios o raíz no fueron encontrados
  • La clave privada no coincide con ninguna clave de cifrado: la clave seleccionada no puede utilizarse para descifrar el mensaje, probablemente porque es la clave incorrecta
  • No hay clave privada: no se ha seleccionado ningún certificado o no hay ningún certificado disponible en el almacén de claves Android

En caso de que la cadena de certificados sea incorrecta, puede pulsar el pequeño botón de información para mostrar todos los certificados. Después de los detalles del certificado se muestra el emisor o "auto-Firmado". Un certificado es auto-Firmado cuando el sujeto y el emisor son los mismos. Los certificados de una autoridad certificadora (CA) están marcados con "keyCertSign". Los certificados encontrados en el almacén de claves Android están marcados con "Android".

Una cadena válida se ve así:

Su certificado > cero o más certificados intermedios > CA (raíz) certificado marcado con "Android"

Tenga en cuenta que una cadena de certificados siempre será inválida cuando no se pueda encontrar ningún certificado raíz en el almacén de claves Android, que es fundamental para la validación del certificado S/MIME.

Consulte aquí cómo puede importar certificados en la tienda de claves Android.

El uso de claves caducadas, mensajes cifrados/firmados embebidos y tokens de seguridad de hardware no está soportado.

Si está buscando un certificado S/MIME gratuito (de prueba), consulta aquí para ver las opciones. Por favor, asegúrese de leer esto antes si desea solicitar un certificado de S/MIME Actalis. Si está buscando un certificado S/MIME barato, he tenido buena experiencia con Certum.

Cómo extraer una clave pública de un certificado S/MIME:

openssl pkcs12 -in filename.pfx/p12 -clcerts -nokeys -out cert.pem

Puedes decodificar firmas S/MIME, etc, aquí.


pretty Easy privacy

Todavía no hay ningún estándar aprobado para pretty Easy privacy (p≡p) y no mucha gente lo está usando.

Sin embargo, FairEmail puede enviar y recibir mensajes cifrados PGP, los cuales son compatibles con p≡p. Además, FairEmail entiende los mensajes p≡p entrantes desde la versión 1.1519, para que el asunto cifrado se muestre y el texto del mensaje incrustado se vea mejor.


La firma/cifrado S/MIME es una característica pro, pero todas las demás operaciones PGP y S/MIME son gratis para usar.


(13) ¿Cómo funciona la búsqueda en dispositivo/servidor?

Puede empezar a buscar mensajes en el remitente (de), destinatario (a, cc, cco), asunto, palabras clave o texto de mensaje mediante el uso de la lupa en la barra de acción de una carpeta. También puede buscar desde cualquier aplicación seleccionando Buscar correo electrónico en el menú emergente.

Buscar en la bandeja de entrada unificada buscará en todas las carpetas de todas las cuentas, buscar en la lista de carpetas sólo buscará en la cuenta asociada y buscar en una carpeta sólo buscará en esa carpeta.

Los mensajes se buscarán primero en el dispositivo. Habrá un botón de acción con un icono de buscar de nuevo en la parte inferior para continuar la búsqueda en el servidor. Puede seleccionar en qué carpeta continuar la búsqueda.

El protocolo IMAP no permite buscar en más de una carpeta al mismo tiempo. Buscar en el servidor es una operación costosa, por lo tanto no es posible seleccionar múltiples carpetas.

La búsqueda de mensajes locales no distingue mayúsulas/minúsculas y es sobre texto parcial. El texto del mensaje de los mensajes locales no se buscará si el texto del mensaje no se ha descargado todavía. Buscar en el servidor puede ser sensible a mayúsculas o minúsculas y puede estar en texto parcial o palabras enteras, dependiendo del proveedor.

Algunos servidores no pueden manejar la búsqueda en el texto del mensaje cuando hay un gran número de mensajes. Para este caso hay una opción para desactivar la búsqueda en el texto del mensaje.

Es posible usar operadores de búsqueda de Gmail prefijando un comando de búsqueda con raw:. Si ha configurado sólo una cuenta de Gmail, puede iniciar una búsqueda raw directamente en el servidor buscando desde la bandeja de entrada unificada. Si configuró varias cuentas de Gmail, primero tendrá que navegar a la lista de carpetas o a la carpeta de archivo (todos los mensajes) de la cuenta de Gmail en la que quiere buscar. Por favor, vea aquí para los operadores de búsqueda posibles. Por ejemplo:

raw:larger:10M

Buscar a través de un gran número de mensajes en el dispositivo no es muy rápido debido a dos limitaciones:

  • sqlite, el motor de base de datos de Android tiene un límite de tamaño de registro, evitando que los mensajes de texto se almacenen en la base de datos
  • Las aplicaciones Android tienen memoria limitada para trabajar, incluso si el dispositivo tiene suficiente memoria disponible

Esto significa que la búsqueda de un texto de mensaje requiere que los archivos que contengan los textos del mensaje deban abrirse uno por uno para comprobar si el texto buscado está contenido en el archivo, que es un proceso relativamente costoso.

En la configuración miscelánea puede habilitar Construir índice de búsqueda para aumentar significativamente la velocidad de búsqueda en el dispositivo, pero tenga en cuenta que esto aumentará el uso de la batería y el espacio de almacenamiento. El índice de búsqueda se basa en palabras, por lo que no es posible buscar texto parcial. Buscar usando el índice de búsqueda es por defecto Y, así que buscar manzana naranja buscará manzana Y naranja. Las palabras separadas por comas resultan en la búsqueda de OR, así que por ejemplo manzana, naranja buscará manzana O naranja. Ambos se pueden combinar, así que buscar manzana, naranja banana buscará manzana O (naranja Y banana). Usar el índice de búsqueda es una característica pro.

Desde la versión 1.1315 es posible utilizar expresiones de búsqueda como esta:

manzana +banana -cereza ?nueces

Esto resultará en buscar de esta manera:

("manzana" Y "banana" Y NO "cereza") O "nueces"

Las expresiones de búsqueda pueden utilizarse para buscar en el dispositivo a través del índice de búsqueda y para buscar en el servidor de correo electrónico, pero no para buscar en el dispositivo sin índice de búsqueda por razones de rendimiento.

Buscar en el dispositivo es una característica gratuita, usar el índice de búsqueda y la búsqueda en el servidor es una característica pro.


(14) ¿Cómo puedo configurar una cuenta de Outlook / Live / Hotmail?

Se puede configurar una cuenta de Outlook / Live / Hotmail a través del asistente de configuración rápida y seleccionando Outlook.

Para utilizar una cuenta de Outlook, Live o Hotmail con autenticación de dos factores activada, necesita crear una contraseña de la aplicación. Vea aquí para más detalles.

Vea aquí para las instrucciones de Microsoft.

Para configurar una cuenta de Office 365, consulte esta sección de Preguntas Frecuentes.


(15) ¿Por qué sigue cargando el texto del mensaje?

El encabezado del mensaje y el cuerpo del mensaje se obtienen por separado del servidor. El texto del mensaje de los mensajes más grandes no está siendo pre-obtenido en conexiones medidas y necesita ser obtenido bajo demanda al abrir el mensaje. El texto del mensaje seguirá cargándose si no hay conexión con la cuenta, vea también la siguiente pregunta, o si hay otras operaciones, como mensajes sincronizando, se están ejecutando.

Puede comprobar la lista de cuentas y carpetas para el estado de las cuentas y las carpetas (ver la leyenda para el significado de los iconos) y la lista de operaciones accesible a través del menú de navegación principal para operaciones pendientes (ver estas Preguntas Frecuentes para el significado de las operaciones).

Si FairEmail se está retrasando debido a problemas de conectividad previos, por favor vea estas Preguntas Frecuentes, puede forzar la sincronización a través del menú de tres puntos.

En la configuración de recepción puede establecer el tamaño máximo para la descarga automática de mensajes en conexiones medidas.

Las conexiones móviles son casi siempre medidas y algunos puntos de acceso Wi-Fi (de pago) también lo son.


(16) ¿Por qué no se sincronizan los mensajes?

Las posibles causas de que los mensajes no se sincronicen (enviados o recibidos) son:

  • La cuenta o carpeta(s) no están configuradas para sincronizar
  • El número de días para sincronizar mensajes es demasiado bajo
  • No hay conexión a Internet utilizable
  • El servidor de correo electrónico no está disponible temporalmente
  • Android detuvo el servicio de sincronización

Por lo tanto, compruebe la configuración de su cuenta y carpetas y compruebe si las cuentas/carpetas están conectadas (vea la leyenda en el menú de navegación para ver el significado de los iconos).

Si hay algún mensaje de error, por favor consulte esta sección de Preguntas Frecuentes.

En algunos dispositivos, donde hay muchas aplicaciones que compiten por la memoria, Android puede detener el servicio de sincronización como último recurso.

Algunas versiones de Android detienen aplicaciones y servicios en forma demasiado agresiva. Vea este sitio web dedicado y este problema de Android para más información.

Deshabilitar las optimizaciones de batería (paso 3 de la configuración) reduce la posibilidad de que Android detenga el servicio de sincronización.

En caso de errores de conexión sucesivos, FairEmail se retrasará cada vez más para no consumir la batería de su dispositivo. Esto se describe en estas Preguntas Frecuentes.


(17) ¿Por qué no funciona la sincronización manual?

Si el menú Sincronizar ahora está atenuado, no hay conexión con la cuenta.

Ver la pregunta anterior para más información.


(18) ¿Por qué no siempre se muestra la vista previa del mensaje?

La vista previa del texto del mensaje no se puede mostrar si el cuerpo del mensaje no ha sido descargado todavía. Ver también estas Preguntas Frecuentes.


(19) ¿Por qué las características Pro son tan caras?

En primer lugar, FairEmail es básicamente gratis para usar y solo algunas características avanzadas necesitan ser compradas.

Zuerst, FairEmail ist grundsätzlich kostenlos und nur einige erweiterte Funktionen müssen gekauft werden.

Tout d'abord, FairEmail est au fond gratuit et seulement quelques fonctionnalités avancées doivent être achetés.

Consulte la descripción de la aplicación en la Play Store o consulte aquí para obtener una lista completa de características pro.

La pregunta correcta es "¿por qué hay tantos impuestos y tasas?":

  • IVA: 25 % (dependiendo de su país)
  • Comisión de Google: 30 %
  • Impuesto sobre la renta: 50 %
  • Comisión de Paypal: 5-10 % dependiendo del país/monto

Por lo tanto, lo que queda para el desarrollador es sólo una fracción de lo que Ud. paga.

También tenga en cuenta que la mayoría de las aplicaciones gratuitas parecerán no ser sostenibles al final, mientras que FairEmail está adecuadamente mantenido y soportado, y que las aplicaciones gratuitas pueden tener una trampa, como enviar información confidencial de privacidad a Internet. Tampoco hay anuncios que violan la privacidad en la aplicación.

He estado trabajando en FairEmail casi todos los días por más de dos años, por lo que creo que el precio es más que razonable. Por esta razón tampoco habrá descuentos.


(20) ¿Puedo obtener un reembolso?

Si una característica pro comprada no funciona como está previsto y esto no es causado por un problema en las características gratuitas y no puedo arreglar el problema de forma oportuna, usted puede obtener un reembolso. En todos los demás casos no es posible el reembolso. En ninguna circunstancia habrá un reembolso posible para cualquier problema relacionado con las características gratuitas, ya que no se pagó nada por ellas y porque pueden ser evaluados sin ninguna limitación. Asumo mi responsabilidad como vendedor de entregar lo que se ha prometido y espero que Ud. se responsabilice de informarse de lo que está comprando.

(21) ¿Cómo puedo activar la luz de notificación?

Anterior a Android 8 Oreo: hay una opción avanzada en la configuración de notificaciones de la app para esto.

Android 8 Oreo y posteriores: por favor vea aquí sobre cómo configurar los canales de notificación. Puede utilizar el botón Canal predeterminado en la configuración de notificación de la aplicación para ir directamente a la configuración del canal de notificación de Android correcta.

Tenga en cuenta que las aplicaciones ya no pueden cambiar los ajustes de notificación, incluyendo la configuración de la luz de notificación, en Android 8 Oreo y posteriores.

A veces es necesario desactivar la configuración Mostrar vista previa del mensaje en las notificaciones o habilitar la configuración Mostrar notificaciones sólo con un texto de vista previa para solucionar errores en Android. Esto podría aplicarse también a los sonidos y vibración de notificaciones.

Establecer un color de luz antes de Android 8 no es compatible y no es posible en Android 8 y posteriores.


(22) ¿Qué significa el error ... de cuenta/carpeta?

FairEmail no oculta errores como aplicaciones similares a menudo lo hacen, por lo que es más fácil diagnosticar problemas.

FairEmail intentará reconectarse automáticamente después de un retraso. Este retraso se duplicará tras cada intento fallido de evitar que se agote la batería y que se bloquee permanentemente el acceso. Please see this FAQ for more information about this.

There are general errors and errors specific to Gmail accounts (see below).

General errors

The error ... Authentication failed ... or ... AUTHENTICATE failed ... likely means that your username or password was incorrect. Some providers expect as username just username and others your full email address username@example.com. When copying/pasting to enter a username or password, invisible characters might be copied, which could cause this problem as well. Some password managers are known to do this incorrectly too. The username might be case sensitive, so try lowercase characters only. The password is almost always case sensitive. Some providers require using an app password instead of the account password, so please check the documentation of the provider. Sometimes it is necessary to enable external access (IMAP/SMTP) on the website of the provider first. Other possible causes are that the account is blocked or that logging in has been administratively restricted in some way, for example by allowing to login from certain networks / IP addresses only.

If needed, you can update a password in the account settings: navigation menu (left side menu), tap Settings, tap Manual setup, tap Accounts and tap on the account. Changing the account password will in most cases automatically change the password of related identities too. If the account was authorized with OAuth via the quick setup wizard instead of with a password, you can run the quick setup wizard again and tick Authorize existing account again to authenticate the account again. Note that this requires a recent version of the app.

The error ... Too many bad auth attempts ... likely means that you are using a Yahoo account password instead of an app password. Please see this FAQ about how to set up a Yahoo account.

The message ... +OK ... likely means that a POP3 port (usually port number 995) is being used for an IMAP account (usually port number 993).

The errors ... invalid greeting ..., ... requires valid address ... and ... Parameter to HELO does not conform to RFC syntax ... can likely be solved by changing the advanced identity setting Use local IP address instead of host name.

The error ... Couldn't connect to host ... means that there was no response from the email server within a reasonable time (20 seconds by default). Mostly this indicates internet connectivity issues, possibly caused by a VPN or by a firewall app. You can try to increase the connection timeout in the connection settings of FairEmail, for when the email server is really slow.

The error ... Connection refused ... means that the email server or something between the email server and the app, like a firewall, actively refused the connection.

The error ... Network unreachable ... means that the email server was not reachable via the current internet connection, for example because internet traffic is restricted to local traffic only.

The error ... Host is unresolved ..., ... Unable to resolve host ... or ... No address associated with hostname ... means that the address of the email server could not be resolved into an IP address. This might be caused by a VPN, ad blocking or an unreachable or not properly working (local) DNS server.

The error ... Software causó fin de conexión ... significa que el servidor de correo o algo entre FairEmail y el servidor de correo terminó activamente una conexión existente. Esto puede suceder, por ejemplo, cuando la conectividad se perdió abruptamente. Un ejemplo típico es activar el modo avión.

Los errores ... BYE Cerrando sesión ..., ... Conexión rechazada... significa que el servidor de correo electrónico o algo entre el servidor de correo y la aplicación, como un cortafuegos, rechazó activamente la conexión existente.

El error ... Conexión cerrada por el par ... podría ser causada por un servidor de Exchange no actualizado, vea aquí para más información.

Los errores ... Error de lectura ..., ... Error de escritura ..., ... Tiempo de lectura agotado ..., ... Conexión rota... significa que el servidor de correo electrónico ya no responde o que la conexión a internet es mala.

El error ... Connection dropped by server? ... means that the email server unexpectedly terminated the connection. This sometimes happen when there were too many connections in a too short time or when a wrong password was used for too many times. In this case, please make sure your password is correct and disable receiving in the receive settings for about 30 minutes and try again. If needed, see this FAQ about how you can reduce the number of connections.

The error ... Unexpected end of zlib input stream ... means that not all data was received, possibly due to a bad or interrupted connection.

The error ... connection failure ... could indicate Too many simultaneous connections.

The warning ... Unsupported encoding ... means that the character set of the message is unknown or not supported. FairEmail will assume ISO-8859-1 (Latin1), which will in most cases result in showing the message correctly.

The error ... Login Rate Limit Hit ... means that there were too many login attempts with an incorrect password. Please double check your password or authenticate the account again with the quick setup wizard (OAuth only).

Please see here for the errors ... Untrusted ... not in certificate ..., ... Invalid security certificate (Can't verify identity of server) ... or ... Trust anchor for certification path not found ...

Please see here for the error ... Syntactically invalid HELO argument(s) ....

Please see here for the error ... Handshake failed ....

See here for what error codes like EHOSTUNREACH and ETIMEDOUT mean.

Possible causes are:

  • Un cortafuegos o router está bloqueando conexiones al servidor
  • El nombre de host o número de puerto no es válido
  • Hay problemas con la conexión a internet
  • Hay problemas con la resolución de nombres de dominio (Yandex: intente desactivar DNS privado en la configuración de Android)
  • El servidor de correo electrónico se niega a aceptar conexiones (externas)
  • El servidor de correo electrónico se niega a aceptar un mensaje, por ejemplo porque es demasiado grande o contiene enlaces inaceptables
  • Hay demasiadas conexiones al servidor, vea también la siguiente pregunta

Many public Wi-Fi networks block outgoing email to prevent spam. Sometimes you can workaround this by using another SMTP port. See the documentation of the provider for the usable port numbers.

If you are using a VPN, the VPN provider might block the connection because it is too aggressively trying to prevent spam. Note that Google Fi is using a VPN too.

Send errors

SMTP servers can reject messages for a variety of reasons. Too large messages and triggering the spam filter of an email server are the most common reasons.

  • El límite de tamaño del archivo adjunto para Gmail es de 25 MB
  • El límite de tamaño de archivo adjunto para Outlook y Office 365 es de 20 MB
  • El límite de tamaño del archivo adjunto para Yahoo es de 25 MB
  • 554 5.7.1 Servicio no disponible; Host cliente xxxx.xx.xx.xxx bloqueado, por favor vea aquí
  • 501 Error de sintaxis - línea demasiado larga es a menudo causada por el uso de un encabezado Autocrypt largo
  • 503 5.5.0 Destinatario ya especificado significa principalmente que una dirección está siendo utilizada como dirección A y CC
  • 554 5.7.1 ... no se permite transmitir significa que el servidor de correo electrónico no reconoce el nombre de usuario/dirección de correo electrónico. Por favor, compruebe el nombre de host y el nombre de usuario/dirección de correo electrónico en la configuración de identidad.
  • 550 Spam message rejected because IP is listed by ... means that the email server rejected to send a message from the current (public) network address because it was misused to send spam by (hopefully) somebody else before. Please try to enable flight mode for 10 minutes to acquire a new network address.
  • 550 We're sorry, but we can't send your email. Either the subject matter, a link, or an attachment potentially contains spam, or phishing or malware. means that the email provider considers an outgoing message as harmful.
  • 571 5.7.1 Message contains spam or virus or sender is blocked ... means that the email server considered an outgoing message as spam. This probably means that the spam filters of the email server are too strict. You'll need to contact the email provider for support on this.
  • 451 4.7.0 Temporary server error. Please try again later. PRX4 ...: please see here or see here.
  • 571 5.7.1 Relay access denied: please double check the username and email address in the advanced identity settings (via the manual setup).

If you want to use the Gmail SMTP server to workaround a too strict outgoing spam filter or to improve delivery of messages:

  • Verifique su dirección de correo electrónico aquí (necesitará utilizar un navegador de escritorio para esto)
  • Change the identity settings like this (Settings, tap Manual setup, tap Identities, tap identity):

Username: your Gmail address
Password: an app password
Host: smtp.gmail.com
Port: 465
Encryption: SSL/TLS
Reply to address: your email address (advanced identity settings)


Gmail errors

The authorization of Gmail accounts setup with the quick wizard needs to be periodically refreshed via the Android account manager. This requires contact/account permissions and internet connectivity.

In case of errors it is possible to authorize/restore a Gmail account again via the Gmail quick setup wizard.

The error ... Authentication failed ... Account not found ... means that a previously authorized Gmail account was removed from the device.

The errors ... Authentication failed ... No token ... means that the Android account manager failed to refresh the authorization of a Gmail account.

The error ... Authentication failed ... network error ... means that the Android account manager was not able to refresh the authorization of a Gmail account due to problems with the internet connection

The error ... Authentication failed ... Invalid credentials ... could be caused by changing the account password or by having revoked the required account/contacts permissions. In case the account password was changed, you'll need to authenticate the Google account in the Android account settings again. In case the permissions were revoked, you can start the Gmail quick setup wizard to grant the required permissions again (you don't need to setup the account again).

The eror ... ServiceDisabled ... might be caused by enrolling in the Advanced Protection Program: "To read your email, you can (must) use Gmail - You wont be able to use your Google Account with some (all) apps & services that require access to sensitive data like your emails", see here.

When in doubt, you can ask for support.


(23) Why do I get alert ... ?

General

Alerts are warning messages sent by email servers.

Too many simultaneous connections or Maximum number of connections exceeded

This alert will be sent when there are too many folder connections for the same email account at the same time.

Possible causes are:

  • There are multiple email clients connected to the same account
  • The same email client is connected multiple times to the same account
  • Previous connections were terminated abruptly for example by abruptly losing internet connectivity

First try to wait some time to see if the problem resolves itself, else:

  • either switch to periodically checking for messages in the receive settings, which will result in opening folders one at a time
  • o configure algunas carpetas para sondear en lugar de sincronizar (mantenga presionada una carpeta de la lista de carpetas, editar propiedades)

An easy way to configure periodically checking for messages for all folders except the inbox is to use Apply to all ... in the three-dots menu of the folder list and to tick the bottom two advanced checkboxes.

The maximum number of simultaneous folder connections for Gmail is 15, so you can synchronize at most 15 folders simultaneously on all your devices at the same time. For this reason Gmail user folders are set to poll by default instead of synchronize always. When needed or desired, you can change this by long pressing a folder in the folder list and selecting Edit properties. See here for details.

When using a Dovecot server, you might want to change the setting mail_max_userip_connections.

Note that it will take the email server a while to discover broken connections, for example due to going out of range of a network, which means that effectively only half of the folder connections are available. For Gmail this would be just 7 connections.


(24) What is browse messages on the server?

Browse messages on the server will fetch messages from the email server in real time when you reach the end of the list of synchronized messages, even when the folder is set to not synchronize. You can disable this feature in the advanced account settings.


(25) Why can't I select/open/save an image, attachment or a file?

When a menu item to select/open/save a file is disabled (dimmed) or when you get the message Storage access framework not available, the storage access framework, a standard Android component, is probably not present. This might be because your custom ROM does not include it or because it was actively removed (debloated).

FairEmail does not request storage permissions, so this framework is required to select files and folders. No app, except maybe file managers, targeting Android 4.4 KitKat or later should ask for storage permissions because it would allow access to all files.

The storage access framework is provided by the package com.android.documentsui, which is visible as Files app on some Android versions (notable OxygenOS).

You can enable the storage access framework (again) with this adb command:

pm install -k --user 0 com.android.documentsui

Alternatively, you might be able to enable the Files app again using the Android app settings.


(26) Can I help to translate FairEmail in my own language?

Yes, you can translate the texts of FairEmail in your own language on Crowdin. Registration is free.

If you would like your name or alias to be included in the list of contributors in About the app, please contact me.


(27) How can I distinguish between embedded and external images?

External image:

External image

Embedded image:

Embedded image

Broken image:

Broken image

Note that downloading external images from a remote server can be used to record you did see a message, which you likely don't want if the message is spam or malicious.


(28) How can I manage status bar notifications?

In the notification settings you'll find a button Manage notifications to directly navigate to the Android notifications settings for FairEmail.

On Android 8.0 Oreo and later you can manage the properties of the individual notification channels, for example to set a specific notification sound or to show notifications on the lock screen.

FairEmail has the following notification channels:

  • Service: used for the notification of the synchronize service, see also this FAQ
  • Send: used for the notification of the send service
  • Notifications: used for new message notifications
  • Warning: used for warning notifications
  • Error: used for error notifications

See here for details on notification channels. In short: tap on the notification channel name to access the channel settings.

On Android before Android 8 Oreo you can set the notification sound in the settings.

See this FAQ if your device has a notification light.


(29) How can I get new message notifications for other folders?

Just long press a folder, select Edit properties, and enable either Show in unified inbox or Notify new messages (available on Android 7 Nougat and later only) and tap Save.


(30) How can I use the provided quick settings?

There are quick settings (settings tiles) available to:

  • globally enable/disable synchronization
  • show the number of new messages and marking them as seen (not read)

Quick settings require Android 7.0 Nougat or later. The usage of settings tiles is explained here.


(31) How can I use the provided shortcuts?

There are shortcuts available to compose a new message to a favorite contact.

Shortcuts require Android 7.1 Nougat or later. The usage of shortcuts is explained here.

It is also possible to create shortcuts to folders by long pressing a folder in the folder list of an account and selecting Add shortcut.


(32) How can I check if reading email is really safe?

You can use the Email Privacy Tester for this.


(33) Why are edited sender addresses not working?

Most providers accept validated addresses only when sending messages to prevent spam.

For example Google modifies the message headers like this for unverified addresses:

De: Alguien <somebody@example.org>
X-Google-Original-From: Alguien <somebody+extra@example.org>

This means that the edited sender address was automatically replaced by a verified address before sending the message.

Note that this is independent of receiving messages.


(34) How are identities matched?

Identities are as expected matched by account. For incoming messages the to, cc, bcc, from and (X-)delivered/envelope/original-to addresses will be checked (in this order) and for outgoing messages (drafts, outbox and sent) only the from addresses will be checked. Equal addresses have precedence over partially matching addresses, except for delivered-to addresses.

The matched address will be shown as via in the addresses section of received messages (between the message header and message text).

Note that identities needs to be enabled to be able to be matched and that identities of other accounts will not be considered.

Matching will be done only once on receiving a message, so changing the configuration will not change existing messages. You could clear local messages by long pressing a folder in the folder list and synchronize the messages again though.

It is possible to configure a regex in the identity settings to match the username of an email address (the part before the @ sign).

Note that the domain name (the parts after the @ sign) always needs to be equal to the domain name of the identity.

If you like to match a catch-all email address, this regex is mostly okay:

.*

If you like to match the special purpose email addresses abc@example.com and xyx@example.com and like to have a fallback email address main@example.com as well, you could do something like this:

Matched identities can be used to color code messages. The identity color takes precedence over the folder and account color. Setting identity colors is a pro feature.


(35) Why should I be careful with viewing images, attachments, the original message, and opening links?

Viewing remotely stored images (see also this FAQ) and opening links might not only tell the sender that you have seen the message, but will also leak your IP address. See also this question: Why email's link is more dangerous than web search's link?.

Opening attachments or viewing an original message might load remote content and execute scripts, that might not only cause privacy sensitive information to leak, but can also be a security risk.

Note that your contacts could unknowingly send malicious messages if they got infected with malware.

FairEmail formats messages again causing messages to look different from the original, but also uncovering phishing links.

Note that reformatted messages are often better readable than original messages because the margins are removed, and font colors and sizes are standardized.

The Gmail app shows images by default by downloading the images through a Google proxy server. Since the images are downloaded from the source server in real-time, this is even less secure because Google is involved too without providing much benefit.

You can show images and original messages by default for trusted senders on a case-by-case basis by checking Do not ask this again for ....

If you want to reset the default Open with apps, please see here.


(36) How are settings files encrypted?

Short version: AES 256 bit

Long version:

  • The 256 bit key is generated with PBKDF2WithHmacSHA1 using a 128 bit secure random salt and 65536 iterations
  • The cipher is AES/CBC/PKCS5Padding

(37) How are passwords stored?

All supported Android versions encrypt all user data, so all data, including usernames, passwords, messages, etc, is stored encrypted.

If the device is secured with a PIN, pattern or password, you can make the account and identity passwords visible. If this is a problem because you are sharing the device with other people, consider to use user profiles.


(39) How can I reduce the battery usage of FairEmail?

Recent Android versions by default report app usage as a percentage in the Android battery settings screen. Confusingly, app usage is not the same as battery usage and is not even directly related to battery usage! The app usage (while in use) will be very high because FairEmail is using a foreground service which is considered as constant app usage by Android. However, this doesn't mean that FairEmail is constantly using battery power. The real battery usage can be seen by navigating to this screen:

Android settings, Battery, three-dots menu Battery usage, three-dots menu Show full device usage

As a rule of thumb the battery usage should be below or in any case not be much higher than Mobile network standby. If this isn't the case, please turn on Auto optimize in the receive settings. If this doesn't help, please ask for support.

It is inevitable that synchronizing messages will use battery power because it requires network access and accessing the messages database.

If you are comparing the battery usage of FairEmail with another email client, please make sure the other email client is setup similarly. For example comparing always sync (push messages) and (infrequent) periodic checking for new messages is not a fair comparison.

Reconnecting to an email server will use extra battery power, so an unstable internet connection will result in extra battery usage. Also, some email servers prematurely terminate idle connections, while the standard says that an idle connection should be kept open for 29 minutes. In these cases you might want to synchronize periodically, for example each hour, instead of continuously. Note that polling frequently (more than every 30-60 minutes) will likely use more battery power than synchronizing always because connecting to the server and comparing the local and remote messages are expensive operations.

On some devices it is necessary to disable battery optimizations (setup step 3) to keep connections to email servers open. In fact, leaving battery optimizations enabled can result in extra battery usage for all devices, even though this sounds contradictory!

Most of the battery usage, not considering viewing messages, is due to synchronization (receiving and sending) of messages. So, to reduce the battery usage, set the number of days to synchronize message for to a lower value, especially if there are a lot of recent messages in a folder. Long press a folder name in the folders list and select Edit properties to access this setting.

If you have at least once a day internet connectivity, it is sufficient to synchronize messages just for one day.

Note that you can set the number of days to keep messages for to a higher number than to synchronize messages for. You could for example initially synchronize messages for a large number of days and after this has been completed reduce the number of days to synchronize messages, but leave the number of days to keep messages. After decreasing the number of days to keep messages, you might want to run the cleanup in the miscellaneous settings to remove old files.

In the receive settings you can enable to always synchronize starred messages, which will allow you to keep older messages around while synchronizing messages for a limited number of days.

Disabling the folder option Automatically download message texts and attachments will result in less network traffic and thus less battery usage. You could disable this option for example for the sent folder and the archive.

Synchronizing messages at night is mostly not useful, so you can save on battery usage by not synchronizing at night. In the settings you can select a schedule for message synchronization (this is a pro feature).

FairEmail will by default synchronize the folder list on each connection. Since folders are mostly not created, renamed and deleted very often, you can save some network and battery usage by disabling this in the receive settings.

FairEmail will by default check if old messages were deleted from the server on each connection. If you don't mind that old messages that were delete from the server are still visible in FairEmail, you can save some network and battery usage by disabling this in the receive settings.

Some providers don't follow the IMAP standard and don't keep connections open long enough, forcing FairEmail to reconnect often, causing extra battery usage. You can inspect the Log via the main navigation menu to check if there are frequent reconnects (connection closed/reset, read/write error/timeout, etc). You can workaround this by lowering the keep-alive interval in the advanced account settings to for example 9 or 15 minutes. Note that battery optimizations need to be disabled in setup step 3 to reliably keep connections alive.

Some providers send every two minutes something like 'Still here' resulting in network traffic and your device to wake up and causing unnecessary extra battery usage. You can inspect the Log via the main navigation menu to check if your provider is doing this. If your provider is using Dovecot as IMAP server, you could ask your provider to change the imap_idle_notify_interval setting to a higher value or better yet, to disable this. If your provider is not able or willing to change/disable this, you should consider to switch to periodically instead of continuous synchronization. You can change this in the receive settings.

If you got the message This provider does not support push messages while configuring an account, consider switching to a modern provider which supports push messages (IMAP IDLE) to reduce battery usage.

If your device has an AMOLED screen, you can save battery usage while viewing messages by switching to the black theme.

If auto optimize in the receive settings is enabled, an account will automatically be switched to periodically checking for new messages when the email server:

  • Says 'Still here' within 3 minutes
  • The email server does not support push messages
  • The keep-alive interval is lower than 12 minutes

In addition, the trash and spam folders will be automatically set to checking for new messages after three successive too many simultaneous connections errors.


(40) How can I reduce the data usage of FairEmail?

You can reduce the data usage basically in the same way as reducing battery usage, see the previous question for suggestions.

It is inevitable that data will be used to synchronize messages.

If the connection to the email server is lost, FairEmail will always synchronize the messages again to make sure no messages were missed. If the connection is unstable, this can result in extra data usage. In this case, it is a good idea to decrease the number of days to synchronize messages to a minimum (see the previous question) or to switch to periodically synchronizing of messages (receive settings).

To reduce data usage, you could change these advanced receive settings:

  • Check if old messages were removed from the server: disable
  • Synchronize (shared) folder list: disable

By default FairEmail does not download message texts and attachments larger than 256 KiB when there is a metered (mobile or paid Wi-Fi) internet connection. You can change this in the connection settings.


(41) How can I fix the error 'Handshake failed' ?

There are several possible causes, so please read to the end of this answer.

The error 'Handshake failed ... WRONG_VERSION_NUMBER ...' might mean that you are trying to connect to an IMAP or SMTP server without an encrypted connection, typically using port 143 (IMAP) and port 25 (SMTP), or that a wrong protocol (SSL/TLS or STARTTLS) is being used.

Most providers provide encrypted connections using different ports, typically port 993 (IMAP) and port 465/587 (SMTP).

If your provider doesn't support encrypted connections, you should ask to make this possible. If this isn't an option, you could enable Allow insecure connections both in the advanced settings AND the account/identity settings.

See also this FAQ.

The error 'Handshake failed ... SSLV3_ALERT_ILLEGAL_PARAMETER ...' is either caused by a bug in the SSL protocol implementation or by a too short DH key on the email server and can unfortunately not be fixed by FairEmail.

The error 'Handshake failed ... HANDSHAKE_FAILURE_ON_CLIENT_HELLO ...' might be caused by the provider still using RC4, which isn't supported since Android 7 anymore.

The error 'Handshake failed ... UNSUPPORTED_PROTOCOL or TLSV1_ALERT_PROTOCOL_VERSION ...' might be caused by enabling hardening connections in the connection settings or by Android not supporting older protocols anymore, like SSLv3.

Android 8 Oreo and later do not support SSLv3 anymore. There is no way to workaround lacking RC4 and SSLv3 support because it has completely been removed from Android (which should say something).

You can use this website or this website to check for SSL/TLS problems of email servers.


(42) Can you add a new provider to the list of providers?

If the provider is used by more than a few people, yes, with pleasure.

The following information is needed:

<provider
    name="Gmail"
    link="https://support.google.com/mail/answer/7126229" // link to the instructions of the provider
    type="com.google"> // esto no es necesario
    <imap
        host="imap.gmail.com"
        port="993"
        starttls="false" />
    <smtp
        host="smtp.gmail.com"
        port="465"
        starttls="false" />
</provider>

The EFF writes: "Additionally, even if you configure STARTTLS perfectly and use a valid certificate, theres still no guarantee your communication will be encrypted."

So, pure SSL connections are safer than using STARTTLS and therefore preferred.

Please make sure receiving and sending messages works properly before contacting me to add a provider.

See below about how to contact me.


(43) Can you show the original ... ?

Show original, shows the original message as the sender has sent it, including original fonts, colors, margins, etc. FairEmail does and will not alter this in any way, except for requesting TEXT_AUTOSIZING, which will attempt to make small text more readable.


(44) Can you show contact photos / identicons in the sent folder?

Contact photos and identicons are always shown for the sender because this is necessary for conversation threads. Getting contact photos for both the sender and receiver is not really an option because getting contact photo is an expensive operation.


(45) How can I fix 'This key is not available. To use it, you must import it as one of your own!' ?

You'll get the message This key is not available. To use it, you must import it as one of your own! when trying to decrypt a message with a public key. To fix this you'll need to import the private key.


(46) Why does the message list keep refreshing?

If you see a 'spinner' at the top of the message list, the folder is still being synchronized with the remote server. You can see the progress of the synchronization in the folder list. See the legend about what the icons and numbers mean.

The speed of your device and internet connection and the number of days to synchronize messages determine how long synchronization will take. Note that you shouldn't set the number of days to synchronize messages to more than one day in most cases, see also this FAQ.


(47) How do I solve the error 'No primary account or no drafts folder' ?

You'll get the error message No primary account or no drafts folder when trying to compose a message while there is no account set to be the primary account or when there is no drafts folder selected for the primary account. This can happen for example when you start FairEmail to compose a message from another app. FairEmail needs to know where to store the draft, so you'll need to select one account to be the primary account and/or you'll need to select a drafts folder for the primary account.

This can also happen when you try to reply to a message or to forward a message from an account with no drafts folder while there is no primary account or when the primary account does not have a drafts folder.

Please see this FAQ for some more information.


(48) How do I solve the error 'No primary account or no archive folder' ?

You'll get the error message No primary account or no archive folder when searching for messages from another app. FairEmail needs to know where to search, so you'll need to select one account to be the primary account and/or you'll need to select a archive folder for the primary account.


(49) How do I fix 'An outdated app sent a file path instead of a file stream' ?

You likely selected or sent an attachment or image with an outdated file manager or an outdated app which assumes all apps still have storage permissions. For security and privacy reasons modern apps like FairEmail have no full access to all files anymore. This can result into the error message An outdated app sent a file path instead of a file stream if a file name instead of a file stream is being shared with FairEmail because FairEmail cannot randomly open files.

You can fix this by switching to an up-to-date file manager or an app designed for recent Android versions. Alternatively, you can grant FairEmail read access to the storage space on your device in the Android app settings. Note that this workaround won't work on Android Q anymore.

See also question 25 and what Google writes about it.


(50) Can you add an option to synchronize all messages?

You can synchronize more or even all messages by long pressing a folder (inbox) in the folder list of an account (tap on the account name in the navigation menu) and selecting Synchronize more in the popup menu.


(51) How are folders sorted?

Folders are first sorted on account order (by default on account name) and within an account with special, system folders on top, followed by folders set to synchronize. Within each category the folders are sorted on (display) name. You can set the display name by long pressing a folder in the folder list and selecting Edit properties.

The navigation (hamburger) menu item Order folders in the settings can be used to manually order the folders.


(52) Why does it take some time to reconnect to an account?

There is no reliable way to know if an account connection was terminated gracefully or forcefully. Trying to reconnect to an account while the account connection was terminated forcefully too often can result in problems like too many simultaneous connections or even the account being blocked. To prevent such problems, FairEmail waits 90 seconds until trying to reconnect again.

You can long press Settings in the navigation menu to reconnect immediately.


(53) Can you stick the message action bar to the top/bottom?

The message action bar works on a single message and the bottom action bar works on all the messages in the conversation. Since there is often more than one message in a conversation, this is not possible. Moreover, there are quite some message specific actions, like forwarding.

Moving the message action bar to the bottom of the message is visually not appealing because there is already a conversation action bar at the bottom of the screen.

Note that there are not many, if any, email apps that display a conversation as a list of expandable messages. This has a lot of advantages, but the also causes the need for message specific actions.


(54) How do I use a namespace prefix?

A namespace prefix is used to automatically remove the prefix providers sometimes add to folder names.

For example the Gmail spam folder is called:

[Gmail]/Spam

By setting the namespace prefix to [Gmail] FairEmail will automatically remove [Gmail]/ from all folder names.


(55) How can I mark all messages as read / move or delete all messages?

You can use multiple select for this. Long press the first message, don't lift your finger and slide down to the last message. Then use the three dot action button to execute the desired action.


(56) Can you add support for JMAP?

There are almost no providers offering the JMAP protocol, so it is not worth a lot of effort to add support for this to FairEmail.


(57) Can I use HTML in signatures?

Yes, you can use HTML. In the signature editor you can switch to HTML mode via the three-dots menu.

Tenga en cuenta que si vuelve al editor de texto, puede que no todo el HTML sea renderizado como es porque el editor de texto de Android no es capaz de renderizar todo el HTML. Similarly, if you use the text editor, the HTML might be altered in unexpected ways.

If you want to use preformatted text, like ASCII art, you should wrap the text in a pre element, like this:

<pre>
  |\_/|
 / @ @ \
( > o < )
 `>>x<<́
 / O \
 </pre>

(58) What does an open/closed email icon mean?

The email icon in the folder list can be open (outlined) or closed (solid):

External image

Message bodies and attachments are not downloaded by default.

External image

Message bodies and attachments are downloaded by default.


(59) Can original messages be opened in the browser?

For security reasons the files with the original message texts are not accessible to other apps, so this is not possible. In theory the Storage Access Framework could be used to share these files, but even Google's Chrome cannot handle this.


(60) Did you know ... ?

  • Did you know that starred messages can be synchronized/kept always? (this can be enabled in the receive settings)
  • Did you know that you can long press the 'write message' icon to go to the drafts folder?
  • Did you know there is an advanced option to mark messages read when they are moved? (archiving and trashing is also moving)
  • Did you know that you can select text (or an email address) in any app on recent Android versions and let FairEmail search for it?
  • Did you know that FairEmail has a tablet mode? Rotate your device in landscape mode and conversation threads will be opened in a second column if there is enough screen space.
  • Did you know that you can long press a reply template to create a draft message from the template?
  • Did you know that you can long press, hold and swipe to select a range of messages?
  • Did you know that you can retry sending messages by using pull-down-to-refresh in the outbox?
  • Did you know that you can swipe a conversation left or right to go to the next or previous conversation?
  • Did you know that you can tap on an image to see where it will be downloaded from?
  • Did you know that you can long press the folder icon in the action bar to select an account?
  • Did you know that you can long press the star icon in a conversation thread to set a colored star?
  • Did you know that you can open the navigation drawer by swiping from the left, even when viewing a conversation?
  • Did you know that you can long press the people's icon to show/hide the CC/BCC fields and remember the visibility state for the next time?
  • Did you know that you can insert the email addresses of an Android contact group via the three dots overflow menu?
  • Did you know that if you select text and hit reply, only the selected text will be quoted?
  • Did you know that you can long press the trash icons (both in the message and the bottom action bar) to permanently delete a message or conversation? (version 1.1368+)
  • Did you know that you can long press the send action to show the send dialog, even if it was disabled?
  • Did you know that you can long press the full screen icon to show the original message text only?
  • Did you know that you can long press the answer button to reply to the sender? (since version 1.1562)

(61) Why are some messages shown dimmed?

Messages shown dimmed (grayed) are locally moved messages for which the move is not confirmed by the server yet. This can happen when there is no connection to the server or the account (yet). These messages will be synchronized after a connection to the server and the account has been made or, if this never happens, will be deleted if they are too old to be synchronized.

You might need to manually synchronize the folder, for example by pulling down.

You can view these messages, but you cannot move these messages again until the previous move has been confirmed.

Pending operations are shown in the operations view accessible from the main navigation menu.


(62) Which authentication methods are supported?

The following authentication methods are supported and used in this order:

  • CRAM-MD5
  • LOGIN
  • PLAIN
  • NTLM (untested)
  • XOAUTH2 (Gmail, Yandex)

SASL authentication methods, besides CRAM-MD5, are not supported because JavaMail for Android does not support SASL authentication.

If your provider requires an unsupported authentication method, you'll likely get the error message authentication failed.

Client certificates can be selected in the account and identity settings.

Server Name Indication is supported by all supported Android versions.


(63) How are images resized for displaying on screens?

Large inline or attached PNG and JPEG images will automatically be resized for displaying on screens. This is because email messages are limited in size, depending on the provider mostly between 10 and 50 MB. Images will by default be resized to a maximum width and height of about 1440 pixels and saved with a compression ratio of 90 %. Images are scaled down using whole number factors to reduce memory usage and to retain image quality. Automatically resizing of inline and/or attached images and the maximum target image size can be configured in the send settings.

If you want to resize images on a case-by-case basis, you can use Send Reduced or a similar app.


(64) Can you add custom actions for swipe left/right?

The most natural thing to do when swiping a list entry left or right is to remove the entry from the list. The most natural action in the context of an email app is moving the message out of the folder to another folder. You can select the folder to move to in the account settings.

Other actions, like marking messages read and snoozing messages are available via multiple selection. You can long press a message to start multiple selection. See also this question.

Swiping left or right to mark a message read or unread is unnatural because the message first goes away and later comes back in a different shape. Note that there is an advanced option to mark messages automatically read on moving, which is in most cases a perfect replacement for the sequence mark read and move to some folder. You can also mark messages read from new message notifications.

If you want to read a message later, you can hide it until a specific time by using the snooze menu.


(65) Why are some attachments shown dimmed?

Inline (image) attachments are shown dimmed. Inline attachments are supposed to be downloaded and shown automatically, but since FairEmail doesn't always download attachments automatically, see also this FAQ, FairEmail shows all attachment types. To distinguish inline and regular attachments, inline attachments are shown dimmed.


(66) ¿Está FairEmail disponible en la Biblioteca Familiar de Google Play?

"You can't share in-app purchases and free apps with your family members."

See here under "See if content is eligible to be added to Family Library", "Apps & games".


(67) How can I snooze conversations?

Multiple select one of more conversations (long press to start multiple selecting), tap the three dot button and select Snooze .... Alternatively, in the expanded message view use Snooze ... in the message three-dots 'more' menu or the time-lapse action in the bottom action bar. Select the time the conversation(s) should snooze and confirm by tapping OK. The conversations will be hidden for the selected time and shown again afterwards. You will receive a new message notification as reminder.

It is also possible to snooze messages with a rule, which will also allow you to move messages to a folder to let them be auto snoozed.

You can show snoozed messages by unchecking Filter out > Hidden in the three dot overflow menu.

You can tap on the small snooze icon to see until when a conversation is snoozed.

By selecting a zero snooze duration you can cancel snoozing.

Third party apps do not have access to the Gmail snoozed messages folder.


(68) Why can Adobe Acrobat reader not open PDF attachments / Microsoft apps not open attached documents?

Adobe Acrobat reader and Microsoft apps still expects full access to all stored files, while apps should use the Storage Access Framework since Android KitKat (2013) to have access to actively shared files only. This is for privacy and security reasons.

You can workaround this by saving the attachment and opening it from the Adobe Acrobat reader / Microsoft app, but you are advised to install an up-to-date and preferably open source PDF reader / document viewer, for example one listed here.


(69) Can you add auto scroll up on new message?

The message list is automatically scrolled up when navigating from a new message notification or after a manual refresh. Always automatically scrolling up on arrival of new messages would interfere with your own scrolling, but if you like you can enable this in the settings.


(70) When will messages be auto expanded?

When navigation to a conversation one message will be expanded if:

  • There is just one message in the conversation
  • There is exactly one unread message in the conversation
  • There is exactly one starred (favorite) message in the conversation (from version 1.1508)

There is one exception: the message was not downloaded yet and the message is too large to download automatically on a metered (mobile) connection. You can set or disable the maximum message size on the 'connection' settings tab.

Duplicate (archived) messages, trashed messages and draft messages are not counted.

Messages will automatically be marked read on expanding, unless this was disabled in the individual account settings.


(71) How do I use filter rules?

You can edit filter rules by long pressing a folder in the folder list of an account (tap the account name in the navigation/side menu).

New rules will be applied to new messages received in the folder, not to existing messages. You can check the rule and apply the rule to existing messages or, alternatively, long press the rule in the rule list and select Execute now.

You'll need to give a rule a name and you'll need to define the order in which a rule should be executed relative to other rules.

You can disable a rule and you can stop processing other rules after a rule has been executed.

The following rule conditions are available:

  • Sender contains or sender is contact
  • Recipient contains
  • Subject contains
  • Has attachments (optional of specific type)
  • Header contains
  • Absolute time (received) between (since version 1.1540)
  • Relative time (received) between

All the conditions of a rule need to be true for the rule action to be executed. All conditions are optional, but there needs to be at least one condition, to prevent matching all messages. If you want to match all senders or all recipients, you can just use the @ character as condition because all email addresses will contain this character. If you want to match a domain name, you can use as a condition something like @example.org

Note that email addresses are formatted like this:

"Somebody" <somebody@example.org>

You can use multiple rules, possibly with a stop processing, for an or or a not condition.

Matching is not case sensitive, unless you use regular expressions. Please see here for the documentation of Java regular expressions. You can test a regex here.

Note that a regular expression supports an or operator, so if you want to match multiple senders, you can do this:

.*alice@example\.org.*|.*bob@example\.org.*|.*carol@example\.org.*

Note that dot all mode is enabled to be able to match unfolded headers.

You can select one of these actions to apply to matching messages:

  • No action (useful for not)
  • Mark as read
  • Mark as unread
  • Hide
  • Suppress notification
  • Snooze
  • Add star
  • Set importance (local priority)
  • Add keyword
  • Move
  • Copy (Gmail: label)
  • Answer/forward (with template)
  • Text-to-speech (sender and subject)
  • Automation (Tasker, etc)

An error in a rule condition can lead to a disaster, therefore irreversible actions are not supported.

Rules are applied directly after the message header has been fetched, but before the message text has been downloaded, so it is not possible to apply conditions to the message text. Note that large message texts are downloaded on demand on a metered connection to save on data usage.

If you want to forward a message, consider to use the move action instead. This will be more reliable than forwarding as well because forwarded messages might be considered as spam.

Since message headers are not downloaded and stored by default to save on battery and data usage and to save storage space it is not possible to preview which messages would match a header rule condition.

Some common header conditions (regex):

  • .*Auto-Submitted:.* RFC3834
  • .*Content-Type: multipart/report.* RFC3462

In the three-dots more message menu there is an item to create a rule for a received message with the most common conditions filled in.

The POP3 protocol does not support setting keywords and moving or copying messages.

Using rules is a pro feature.


(72) What are primary accounts/identities?

The primary account is used when the account is ambiguous, for example when starting a new draft from the unified inbox.

Similarly, the primary identity of an account is used when the identity is ambiguous.

There can be just one primary account and there can be just one primary identity per account.


(73) Is moving messages across accounts safe/efficient?

Moving messages across accounts is safe because the raw, original messages will be downloaded and moved and because the source messages will be deleted only after the target messages have been added

Batch moving messages across accounts is efficient if both the source folder and target folder are set to synchronize, else FairEmail needs to connect to the folder(s) for each message.


(74) Why do I see duplicate messages?

Some providers, notably Gmail, list all messages in all folders, except trashed messages, in the archive (all messages) folder too. FairEmail shows all these messages in a non obtrusive way to indicate that these messages are in fact the same message.

Gmail allows one message to have multiple labels, which are presented to FairEmail as folders. This means that messages with multiple labels will be shown multiple times as well.


(75) Can you make an iOS, Windows, Linux, etc version?

A lot of knowledge and experience is required to successfully develop an app for a specific platform, which is why I develop apps for Android only.


(76) What does 'Clear local messages' do?

The folder menu Clear local messages removes messages from the device which are present on the server too. It does not delete messages from the server. This can be useful after changing the folder settings to not download the message content (text and attachments), for example to save space.


(77) Why are messages sometimes shown with a small delay?

Depending on the speed of your device (processor speed and maybe even more memory speed) messages might be displayed with a small delay. FairEmail is designed to dynamically handle a large number of messages without running out of memory. This means that messages needs to be read from a database and that this database needs to be watched for changes, both of which might cause small delays.

Some convenience features, like grouping messages to display conversation threads and determining the previous/next message, take a little extra time. Note that there is no the next message because in the meantime a new message might have been arrived.

When comparing the speed of FairEmail with similar apps this should be part of the comparison. It is easy to write a similar, faster app which just displays a lineair list of messages while possible using too much memory, but it is not so easy to properly manage resource usage and to offer more advanced features like conversation threading.

FairEmail is based on the state-of-the-art Android architecture components, so there is little room for performance improvements.


(78) How do I use schedules?

In the receive settings you can enable scheduling and set a time period and the days of the week when messages should be received. Note that an end time equal to or earlier than the start time is considered to be 24 hours later.

Automation, see below, can be used for more advanced schedules, like for example multiple synchronization periods per day or different synchronization periods for different days.

It is possible to install FairEmail in multiple user profiles, for example a personal and a work profile, and to configure FairEmail differently in each profile, which is another possibility to have different synchronization schedules and to synchronize a different set of accounts.

It is also possible to create filter rules with a time condition and to snooze messages until the end time of the time condition. This way it is possible to snooze business related messages until the start of the business hours. This also means that the messages will be on your device for when there is (temporarily) no internet connection.

Note that recent Android versions allow overriding DND (Do Not Disturb) per notification channel and per app, which could be used to (not) silence specific (business) notifications. Please see here for more information.

For more complex schemes you could set one or more accounts to manual synchronization and send this command to FairEmail to check for new messages:

(adb shell) am start-foreground-service -a eu.faircode.email.POLL

For a specific account:

(adb shell) am start-foreground-service -a eu.faircode.email.POLL --es account Gmail

You can also automate turning receiving messages on and off by sending these commands to FairEmail:

(adb shell) am start-foreground-service -a eu.faircode.email.ENABLE
(adb shell) am start-foreground-service -a eu.faircode.email.DISABLE

To enable/disable a specific account:

(adb shell) am start-foreground-service -a eu.faircode.email.ENABLE --es account Gmail
(adb shell) am start-foreground-service -a eu.faircode.email.DISABLE --es account Gmail

Note that disabling an account will hide the account and all associated folders and messages.

To set the poll interval:

(adb shell) adb shell am start-foreground-service -a eu.faircode.email.INTERVAL --ei minutes nnn

Where nnn is one of 0, 15, 30, 60, 120, 240, 480, 1440. A value of 0 means push messages.

You can automatically send commands with for example Tasker:

New task: Something recognizable
Action Category: Misc/Send Intent
Action: eu.faircode.email.ENABLE
Target: Service

To enable/disable an account with the name Gmail:

Extras: account:Gmail

Account names are case sensitive.

Scheduling is a pro feature.


(79) How do I use synchronize on demand (manual)?

Normally, FairEmail maintains a connection to the configured email servers whenever possible to receive messages in real-time. If you don't want this, for example to be not disturbed or to save on battery usage, just disable receiving in the receive settings. This will stop the background service which takes care of automatic synchronization and will remove the associated status bar notification.

You can also enable Synchronize manually in the advanced account settings if you want to manually synchronize specific accounts only.

You can use pull-down-to-refresh in a message list or use the folder menu Synchronize now to manually synchronize messages.

If you want to synchronize some or all folders of an account manually, just disable synchronization for the folders (but not of the account).

You'll likely want to disabled browse on server too.


(80) How do I fix the error 'Unable to load BODYSTRUCTURE' ?

The error message Unable to load BODYSTRUCTURE is caused by bugs in the email server, see here for more details.

FairEmail already tries to workaround these bugs, but if this fail you'll need to ask for support from your provider.


(81) Can you make the background of the original message dark in the dark theme?

The original message is shown as the sender has sent it, including all colors. Changing the background color would not only make the original view not original anymore, it can also result in unreadable messages.


(82) What is a tracking image?

Please see here about what a tracking image exactly is. In short tracking images keep track if you opened a message.

FairEmail will in most cases automatically recognize tracking images and replace them by this icon:

External image

Automatic recognition of tracking images can be disabled in the privacy settings.


(84) What are local contacts for?

Local contact information is based on names and addresses found in incoming and outgoing messages.

The main use of the local contacts storage is to offer auto completion when no contacts permission has been granted to FairEmail.

Another use is to generate shortcuts on recent Android versions to quickly send a message to frequently contacted people. This is also why the number of times contacted and the last time contacted is being recorded and why you can make a contact a favorite or exclude it from favorites by long pressing it.

The list of contacts is sorted on number of times contacted and the last time contacted.

By default only names and addresses to whom you send messages to will be recorded. You can change this in the send settings.


(85) Why is an identity not available?

An identity is available for sending a new message or replying or forwarding an existing message only if:

  • the identity is set to synchronize (send messages)
  • the associated account is set to synchronize (receive messages)
  • the associated account has a drafts folder

FairEmail will try to select the best identity based on the to address of the message replied to / being forwarded.


(86) What are 'extra privacy features'?

The advanced option extra privacy features enables:

  • Looking up the owner of the IP address of a link
  • Detection and removal of tracking images

(87) What does 'invalid credentials' mean?

The error message invalid credentials means either that the user name and/or password is incorrect, for example because the password was changed or expired, or that the account authorization has expired.

If the password is incorrect/expired, you will have to update the password in the account and/or identity settings.

If the account authorization has expired, you will have to select the account again. You will likely need to save the associated identity again as well.


(88) How can I use a Yahoo, AOL or Sky account?

The preferred way to set up a Yahoo account is by using the quick setup wizard, which will use OAuth instead of a password and is therefore safer (and easier as well).

To authorize a Yahoo, AOL, or Sky account you will need to create an app password. For instructions, please see here:

Please see this FAQ about OAuth support.

Note that Yahoo, AOL, and Sky do not support standard push messages. The Yahoo email app uses a proprietary, undocumented protocol for push messages.

Push messages require IMAP IDLE and the Yahoo email server does not report IDLE as capability:

Y1 CAPABILITY
* CAPABILITY IMAP4rev1 ID MOVE NAMESPACE XYMHIGHESTMODSEQ UIDPLUS LITERAL+ CHILDREN X-MSG-EXT UNSELECT OBJECTID
Y1 OK CAPABILITY completed

(89) How can I send plain text only messages?

By default FairEmail sends each message both as plain text and as HTML formatted text because almost every receiver expects formatted messages these days. If you want/need to send plain text messages only, you can enable this in the advanced identity options. You might want to create a new identity for this if you want/need to select sending plain text messages on a case-by-case basis.


(90) Why are some texts linked while not being a link?

FairEmail will automatically link not linked web links (http and https) and not linked email addresses (mailto) for your convenience. However, texts and links are not easily distinguished, especially not with lots of top level domains being words. This is why texts with dots are sometimes incorrectly recognized as links, which is better than not recognizing some links.

Links for the tel, geo, rtsp and xmpp protocols will be recognized too, but links for less usual or less safe protocols like telnet and ftp will not be recognized. The regex to recognize links is already very complex and adding more protocols will make it only slower and possibly cause errors.

Note that original messages are shown exactly as they are, which means also that links are not automatically added.


(91) Can you add periodical synchronization to save battery power?

Synchronizing messages is an expensive proces because the local and remote messages need to be compared, so periodically synchronizing messages will not result in saving battery power, more likely the contrary.

See this FAQ about optimizing battery usage.


(92) Can you add spam filtering, verification of the DKIM signature and SPF authorization?

Spam filtering, verification of the DKIM signature and SPF authorization is a task of email servers, not of an email client. Servers generally have more memory and computing power, so they are much better suited to this task than battery-powered devices. Also, you'll want spam filtered for all your email clients, possibly including web email, not just one email client. Moreover, email servers have access to information, like the IP address, etc of the connecting server, which an email client has no access to.

Spam filtering based on message headers might have been feasible, but unfortunately this technique is patented by Microsoft.

Recent versions of FairEmail can filter spam to a certain extend using a message classifier. Please see this FAQ for more information about this.

Of course you can report messages as spam with FairEmail, which will move the reported messages to the spam folder and train the spam filter of the provider, which is how it is supposed to work. This can be done automatically with filter rules too. Blocking the sender will create a filter rule to automatically move future messages of the same sender into the spam folder.

Note that the POP3 protocol gives access to the inbox only. So, it is won't be possible to report spam for POP3 accounts.

Note that you should not delete spam messages, also not from the spam folder, because the email server uses the messages in the spam folder to "learn" what spam messages are.

If you receive a lot of spam messages in your inbox, the best you can do is to contact the email provider to ask if spam filtering can be improved.

Also, FairEmail can show a small red warning flag when DKIM, SPF or DMARC authentication failed on the receiving server. You can enable/disable authentication verification in the display settings.

FairEmail can show a warning flag too if the domain name of the (reply) email address of the sender does not define an MX record pointing to an email server. This can be enabled in the receive settings. Be aware that this will slow down synchronization of messages significantly.

If the domain name of the sender and the domain name of the reply address differ, the warning flag will be shown too because this is most often the case with phishing messages. If desired, this can be disabled in the receive settings (from version 1.1506).

If legitimate messages are failing authentication, you should notify the sender because this will result in a high risk of messages ending up in the spam folder. Moreover, without proper authentication there is a risk the sender will be impersonated. The sender might use this tool to check authentication and other things.


(93) Can you allow installation/data storage on external storage media (sdcard)?

FairEmail uses services and alarms, provides widgets and listens for the boot completed event to be started on device start, so it is not possible to store the app on external storage media, like an sdcard. See also here.

Messages, attachments, etc stored on external storage media, like an sdcard, can be accessed by other apps and is therefore not safe. See here for the details.

When needed you can save (raw) messages via the three-dots menu just above the message text and save attachments by tapping on the floppy icon.

If you need to save on storage space, you can limit the number of days messages are being synchronized and kept for. You can change these settings by long pressing a folder in the folder list and selecting Edit properties.


(94) What does the red/orange stripe at the end of the header mean?

The red/orange stripe at the left side of the header means that the DKIM, SPF or DMARC authentication failed. See also this FAQ.


(95) Why are not all apps shown when selecting an attachment or image?

For privacy and security reasons FairEmail does not have permissions to directly access files, instead the Storage Access Framework, available and recommended since Android 4.4 KitKat (released in 2013), is used to select files.

If an app is listed depends on if the app implements a document provider. If the app is not listed, you might need to ask the developer of the app to add support for the Storage Access Framework.

Android Q will make it harder and maybe even impossible to directly access files, see here and here for more details.


(96) Where can I find the IMAP and SMTP settings?

The IMAP settings are part of the (custom) account settings and the SMTP settings are part of the identity settings.


(97) What is 'cleanup' ?

About each four hours FairEmail runs a cleanup job that:

  • Removes old message texts
  • Removes old attachment files
  • Removes old image files
  • Removes old local contacts
  • Removes old log entries

Note that the cleanup job will only run when the synchronize service is active.


(98) Why can I still pick contacts after revoking contacts permissions?

After revoking contacts permissions Android does not allow FairEmail access to your contacts anymore. However, picking contacts is delegated to and done by Android and not by FairEmail, so this will still be possible without contacts permissions.


(99) Can you add a rich text or markdown editor?

FairEmail provides common text formatting (bold, italic, underline, text size and color) via a toolbar that appears after selecting some text.

A Rich text or Markdown editor would not be used by many people on a small mobile device and, more important, Android doesn't support a rich text editor and most rich text editor open source projects are abandoned. See here for some more details about this.


(100) How can I synchronize Gmail categories?

You can synchronize Gmail categories by creating filters to label categorized messages:

  • Create a new filter via Gmail > Settings (wheel) > Filters and Blocked Addresses > Create a new filter
  • Enter a category search (see below) in the Has the words field and click Create filter
  • Check Apply the label and select a label and click Create filter

Possible categories:

category:social
category:updates
category:forums
category:promotions

Unfortunately, this is not possible for snoozed messages folder.

You can use Force sync in the three-dots menu of the unified inbox to let FairEmail synchronize the folder list again and you can long press the folders to enable synchronization.


(101) What does the blue/orange dot at the bottom of the conversations mean?

The dot shows the relative position of the conversation in the message list. The dot will be show orange when the conversation is the first or last in the message list, else it will be blue. The dot is meant as an aid when swiping left/right to go to the previous/next conversation.

The dot is disabled by default and can be enabled with the display settings Show relative conversation position with a dot.


(102) How can I enable auto rotation of images?

Images will automatically be rotated when automatic resizing of images is enabled in the settings (enabled by default). However, automatic rotating depends on the Exif information to be present and to be correct, which is not always the case. Particularly not when taking a photo with a camara app from FairEmail.

Note that only JPEG and PNG images can contain Exif information.


(104) What do I need to know about error reporting?

  • Error reports will help improve FairEmail
  • Error reporting is optional and opt-in
  • Error reporting can be enabled/disabled in the settings, section miscellaneous
  • Error reports will automatically be sent anonymously to Bugsnag
  • Bugsnag for Android is open source
  • See here about what data will be sent in case of errors
  • See here for the privacy policy of Bugsnag
  • Error reports will be sent to sessions.bugsnag.com:443 and notify.bugsnag.com:443

(105) How does the roam-like-at-home option work?

FairEmail will check if the country code of the SIM card and the country code of the network are in the EU roam-like-at-home countries and assumes no roaming if the country codes are equal and the advanced roam-like-at-home option is enabled.

So, you don't have to disable this option if you don't have an EU SIM or are not connected to an EU network.


(106) Which launchers can show a badge count with the number of unread messages?

Please see here for a list of launchers which can show the number of unread messages.

Note that Nova Launcher requires Tesla Unread, which is not supported anymore.

Note that the notification setting Show launcher icon with number of new messages needs to be enabled (default enabled).

Only new unread messages in folders set to show new message notifications will be counted, so messages marked unread again and messages in folders set to not show new message notification will not be counted.

Depending on what you want, the notification settings Let the number of new messages match the number of notifications needs to be enabled (default disabled). When enabled the badge count will be the same as the number of new message notifications. When disabled the badge count will be the number of unread messages, independent if they are shown in a notification or are new.

This feature depends on support of your launcher. FairEmail merely 'broadcasts' the number of unread messages using the ShortcutBadger library. If it doesn't work, this cannot be fixed by changes in FairEmail.

Some launchers display a dot or a '1' for the monitoring notification, despite FairEmail explicitly requesting not to show a badge for this notification. This could be caused by a bug in the launcher app or in your Android version. Please double check if the notification dot (badge) is disabled for the receive (service) notification channel. You can go to the right notification channel settings via the notification settings of FairEmail. This might not be obvious, but you can tap on the channel name for more settings.

FairEmail does send a new message count intent as well:

eu.faircode.email.NEW_MESSAGE_COUNT

The number of new, unread messages will be in an integer "count" parameter.


(107) How do I use colored stars?

You can set a colored star via the more message menu, via multiple selection (started by long pressing a message), by long pressing a star in a conversation or automatically by using rules.

You need to know that colored stars are not supported by the IMAP protocol and can therefore not be synchronized to an email server. This means that colored stars will not be visible in other email clients and will be lost on downloading messages again. However, the stars (without color) will be synchronized and will be visible in other email clients, when supported.

Some email clients use IMAP keywords for colors. However, not all servers support IMAP keywords and besides that there are no standard keywords for colors.


(108) Can you add permanently delete messages from any folder?

When you delete messages from a folder the messages will be moved to the trash folder, so you have a chance to restore the messages. You can permanently delete messages from the trash folder. Permanently delete messages from other folders would defeat the purpose of the trash folder, so this will not be added.


(109) Why is 'select account' available in official versions only?

Using select account to select and authorize Google accounts require special permission from Google for security and privacy reasons. This special permission can only be acquired for apps a developer manages and is responsible for. Third party builds, like the F-Droid builds, are managed by third parties and are the responsibility of these third parties. So, only these third parties can acquire the required permission from Google. Since these third parties do not actually support FairEmail, they are most likely not going to request the required permission.

You can solve this in two ways:

  • Switch to the official version of FairEmail, see here for the options
  • Use app specific passwords, see this FAQ

Using select account in third party builds is not possible in recent versions anymore. In older versions this was possible, but it will now result in the error UNREGISTERED_ON_API_CONSOLE.


(110) Why are (some) messages empty and/or attachments corrupt?

Empty messages and/or corrupt attachments are probably being caused by a bug in the server software. Older Microsoft Exchange software is known to cause this problem. Mostly you can workaround this by disabling Partial fetch in the advanced account settings:

Settings > Manual setup > Accounts > tap account > tap advanced > Partial fetch > uncheck

After disabling this setting, you can use the message 'more' (three dots) menu to 'resync' empty messages. Alternatively, you can Delete local messages by long pressing the folder(s) in the folder list and synchronize all messages again.

Disabling Partial fetch will result in more memory usage.


(111) Is OAuth supported?

OAuth for Gmail is supported via the quick setup wizard. The Android account manager will be used to fetch and refresh OAuth tokens for selected on-device accounts. OAuth for non on-device accounts is not supported because Google requires a yearly security audit ($15,000 to $75,000) for this. You can read more about this here.

OAuth for Outlook/Office 365, Yahoo, Mail.ru and Yandex is supported via the quick setup wizard.


(112) Which email provider do you recommend?

FairEmail is an email client only, so you need to bring your own email address. Note that this is clearly mentioned in the app description.

There are plenty of email providers to choose from. Which email provider is best for you depends on your wishes/requirements. Please see the websites of Restore privacy or Privacy Tools for a list of privacy oriented email providers with advantages and disadvantages.

Some providers, like ProtonMail, Tutanota, use proprietary email protocols, which make it impossible to use third party email apps. Please see this FAQ for more information.

Using your own (custom) domain name, which is supported by most email providers, will make it easier to switch to another email provider.


(113) How does biometric authentication work?

If your device has a biometric sensor, for example a fingerprint sensor, you can enable/disable biometric authentication in the navigation (hamburger) menu of the settings screen. When enabled FairEmail will require biometric authentication after a period of inactivity or after the screen has been turned off while FairEmail was running. Activity is navigation within FairEmail, for example opening a conversation thread. The inactivity period duration can be configured in the miscellaneous settings. When biometric authentication is enabled new message notifications will not show any content and FairEmail won't be visible on the Android recents screen.

Biometric authentication is meant to prevent others from seeing your messages only. FairEmail relies on device encryption for data encryption, see also this FAQ.

Biometric authentication is a pro feature.


(114) Can you add an import for the settings of other email apps?

The format of the settings files of most other email apps is not documented, so this is difficult. Sometimes it is possible to reverse engineer the format, but as soon as the settings format changes things will break. Also, settings are often incompatible. For example, FairEmail has unlike most other email apps settings for the number of days to synchronize messages and for the number of days to keep messages, mainly to save on battery usage. Moreover, setting up an account/identity with the quick setup wizard is simple, so it is not really worth the effort.


(115) Can you add email address chips?

Email address chips look nice, but cannot be edited, which is quite inconvenient when you made a typo in an email address.

Note that FairEmail will select the address only when long pressing an address, which makes it easy to delete an address.

Chips are not suitable for showing in a list and since the message header in a list should look similar to the message header of the message view it is not an option to use chips for viewing messages.

Reverted commit.


(116) How can I show images in messages from trusted senders by default?

You can show images in messages from trusted senders by default by enabled the display setting Automatically show images for known contacts.

Contacts in the Android contacts list are considered to be known and trusted, unless the contact is in the group / has the label 'Untrusted' (case insensitive).


(117) Can you help me restore my purchase?

First of all, a purchase will be available on all devices logged into the same Google account, if the app is installed via the same Google account too. You can select the account in the Play store app.

Google manages all purchases, so as a developer I have little control over purchases. So, basically the only thing I can do, is give some advice:

  • Make sure you have an active, working internet connection
  • Make sure you are logged in with the right Google account and that there is nothing wrong with your Google account
  • Make sure you installed FairEmail via the right Google account if you configured multiple Google accounts on your device
  • Make sure the Play store app is up to date, please see here
  • Open the Play store app and wait at least a minute to give it time to synchronize with the Google servers
  • Open FairEmail and navigate to the pro features screen to let FairEmail check the purchases; sometimes it help to tap the buy button

You can also try to clear the cache of the Play store app via the Android apps settings. Restarting the device might be necessary to let the Play store recognize the purchase correctly.

Note that:

  • If you get ITEM_ALREADY_OWNED, the Play store app probably needs to be updated, please see here
  • Purchases are stored in the Google cloud and cannot get lost
  • There is no time limit on purchases, so they cannot expire
  • Google does not expose details (name, e-mail, etc) about buyers to developers
  • An app like FairEmail cannot select which Google account to use
  • It may take a while until the Play store app has synchronized a purchase to another device
  • Play Store purchases cannot be used without the Play Store, which is also not allowed by Play Store rules

If you cannot solve the problem with the purchase, you will have to contact Google about it.


(118) What does 'Remove tracking parameters' exactly?

Checking Remove tracking parameters will remove all UTM parameters from a link.


(119) Can you add colors to the unified inbox widget?

The widget is designed to look good on most home/launcher screens by making it monochrome and by using a half transparent background. This way the widget will nicely blend in, while still being properly readable.

Adding colors will cause problems with some backgrounds and will cause readability problems, which is why this won't be added.

Due to Android limitations it is not possible to dynamically set the opacity of the background and to have rounded corners at the same time.


(120) Why are new message notifications not removed on opening the app?

New message notifications will be removed on swiping notifications away or on marking the associated messages read. Opening the app will not remove new message notifications. This gives you a choice to leave new message notifications as a reminder that there are still unread messages.

On Android 7 Nougat and later new message notifications will be grouped. Tapping on the summary notification will open the unified inbox. The summary notification can be expanded to view individual new message notifications. Tapping on an individual new message notification will open the conversation the message it is part of. See this FAQ about when messages in a conversation will be auto expanded and marked read.


(121) How are messages grouped into a conversation?

By default FairEmail groups messages in conversations. This can be turned of in the display settings.

FairEmail groups messages based on the standard Message-ID, In-Reply-To and References headers. FairEmail does not group on other criteria, like the subject, because this could result in grouping unrelated messages and would be at the expense of increased battery usage.


(122) Why is the recipient name/email address show with a warning color?

The recipient name and/or email address in the addresses section will be shown in a warning color when the sender domain name and the domain name of the to address do not match. Mostly this indicates that the message was received via an account with another email address.


(123) What will happen when FairEmail cannot connect to an email server?

If FairEmail cannot connect to an email server to synchronize messages, for example if the internet connection is bad or a firewall or a VPN is blocking the connection, FairEmail will retry one time after waiting 8 seconds while keeping the device awake (=use battery power). If this fails, FairEmail will schedule an alarm to retry after 15, 30 and eventually every 60 minutes and let the device sleep (=no battery usage).

Note that Android doze mode does not allow to wake the device earlier than after 15 minutes.

Force sync in the three-dots menu of the unified inbox can be used to let FairEmail attempt to reconnect without waiting.

Sending messages will be retried on connectivity changes only (reconnecting to the same network or connecting to another network) to prevent the email server from blocking the connection permanently. You can pull down the outbox to retry manually.

Note that sending will not be retried in case of authentication problems and when the server rejected the message. In this case you can pull down the outbox to try again.


(124) Why do I get 'Message too large or too complex to display'?

The message Message too large or too complex to display will be shown if there are more than 100,000 characters or more than 500 links in a message. Reformatting and displaying such messages will take too long. You can try to use the original message view, powered by the browser, instead.


(125) What are the current experimental features?

Message classification (version 1.1438+)

Please see this FAQ for details.

Since this is an experimental feature, my advice is to start with just one folder.


Send hard bounce (version 1.1477+)

Send a Delivery Status Notification (=hard bounce) via the reply/answer menu.

Hard bounces will mostly be processed automatically because they affect the reputation of the email provider. The bounce address (=Return-Path header) is mostly very specific, so the email server can determine the sending account.

For some background, see for this Wikipedia article.


(126) Can message previews be sent to my wearable?

FairEmail fetches a message in two steps:

  1. Fetch message headers
  2. Fetch message text and attachments

Directly after the first step new messages will be notified. However, only until after the second step the message text will be available. FairEmail updates exiting notifications with a preview of the message text, but unfortunately wearable notifications cannot be updated.

Since there is no guarantee that a message text will always be fetched directly after a message header, it is not possible to guarantee that a new message notification with a preview text will always be sent to a wearable.

If you think this is good enough, you can enable the notification option Only send notifications with a message preview to wearables and if this does not work, you can try to enable the notification option Show notifications with a preview text only. Note that this applies to wearables not showing a preview text too, even when the Android Wear app says the notification has been sent (bridged).

If you want to have the full message text sent to your wearable, you can enable the notification option Preview all text. Note that some wearables are known to crash with this option enabled.

If you use a Samsung wearable with the Galaxy Wearable (Samsung Gear) app, you might need to enable notifications for FairEmail when the setting Notifications, Apps installed in the future is turned off in this app.


(127) How can I fix 'Syntactically invalid HELO argument(s)'?

The error ... Syntactically invalid HELO argument(s) ... means that the SMTP server rejected the local IP address or host name. You can likely fix this error by enabling or disabling the advanced indentity option Use local IP address instead of host name.


(128) How can I reset asked questions, for example to show images?

You can reset asked questions via the three dots overflow menu in the miscellaneous settings.


(129) Are ProtonMail, Tutanota supported?

ProtonMail uses a proprietary email protocol and does not directly support IMAP, so you cannot use FairEmail to access ProtonMail.

Tutanota uses a proprietary email protocol and does not support IMAP, so you cannot use FairEmail to access Tutanota.


(130) What does message error ... mean?

A series of lines with orangish or red texts with technical information means that debug mode was enabled in the miscellaneous settings.

The warning No server found at ... means that there was no email server registered at the indicated domain name. Replying to the message might not be possible and might result in an error. This could indicate a falsified email address and/or spam.

The error ... ParseException ... means that there is a problem with a received message, likely caused by a bug in the sending software. FairEmail will workaround this is in most cases, so this message can mostly be considered as a warning instead of an error.

The error ...SendFailedException... means that there was a problem while sending a message. The error will almost always include a reason. Common reasons are that the message was too big or that one or more recipient addresses were invalid.

The warning Message too large to fit into the available memory means that the message was larger than 10 MiB. Even if your device has plenty of storage space Android provides limited working memory to apps, which limits the size of messages that can be handled.

Please see here for other error messages in the outbox.


(131) Can you change the direction for swiping to previous/next message?

If you read from left to right, swiping to the left will show the next message. Similarly, if you read from right to left, swiping to the right will show the next message.

This behavior seems quite natural to me, also because it is similar to turning pages.

Anyway, there is a behavior setting to reverse the swipe direction.


(132) Why are new message notifications silent?

Notifications are silent by default on some MIUI versions. Please see here how you can fix this.

There is a bug in some Android versions causing setOnlyAlertOnce to mute notifications. Since FairEmail shows new message notifications right after fetching the message headers and FairEmail needs to update new message notifications after fetching the message text later, this cannot be fixed or worked around by FairEmail.

Android might rate limit the notification sound, which can cause some new message notifications to be silent.


(133) Why is ActiveSync not supported?

The Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync protocol is patented and can therefore not be supported. For this reason you won't find many, if any, other email clients supporting ActiveSync.

Note that the desciption of FairEmail starts with the remark that non-standard protocols, like Microsoft Exchange Web Services and Microsoft ActiveSync are not supported.


(134) Can you add deleting local messages?

POP3

In the account settings (Settings, tap Manual setup, tap Accounts, tap account) you can enable Leave deleted messages on server.

IMAP

Since the IMAP protocol is meant to synchronize two ways, deleting a message from the device would result in fetching the message again when synchronizing again.

However, FairEmail supports hiding messages, either via the three-dots menu in the action bar just above the message text or by multiple selecting messages in the message list. Basically this is the same as "leave on server" of the POP3 protocol with the advantage that you can show the messages again when needed.

Note that it is possible to set the swipe left or right action to hide a message.


(135) Why are trashed messages and drafts shown in conversations?

Individual messages will rarely be trashed and mostly this happens by accident. Showing trashed messages in conversations makes it easier to find them back.

You can permanently delete a message using the message three-dots delete menu, which will remove the message from the conversation. Note that this irreversible.

Similarly, drafts are shown in conversations to find them back in the context where they belong. It is easy to read through the received messages before continuing to write the draft later.


(136) How can I delete an account/identity/folder?

Deleting an account/identity/folder is a little bit hidden to prevent accidents.

  • Account: Settings > Manual setup > Accounts > tap account
  • Identity: Settings > Manual setup > Identities > tap identity
  • Folder: Long press the folder in the folder list > Edit properties

In the three-dots overflow menu at the top right there is an item to delete the account/identity/folder.


(137) How can I reset 'Don't ask again'?

You can reset all questions set to be not asked again in the miscellaneous settings.


(138) Can you add calendar/contact/tasks/notes management?

Calendar, contact, task and note management can better be done by a separate, specialized app. Note that FairEmail is a specialized email app, not an office suite.

Also, I prefer to do a few things very well, instead of many things only half. Moreover, from a security perspective, it is not a good idea to grant many permissions to a single app.

You are advised to use the excellent, open source DAVx⁵ app to synchronize/manage your calendars/contacts.

Most providers support exporting your contacts. Please see here about how you can import contacts if synchronizing is not possible.

Note that FairEmail does support replying to calendar invites (a pro feature) and adding calendar invites to your personal calendar.


(139) How do I fix 'User is authenticated but not connected'?

In fact this Microsoft Exchange specific error is an incorrect error message caused by a bug in older Exchange server software.

The error User is authenticated but not connected might occur if:

  • Push messages are enabled for too many folders: see this FAQ for more information and a workaround
  • The account password was changed: changing it in FairEmail too should fix the problem
  • An alias email address is being used as username instead of the primary email address
  • An incorrect login scheme is being used for a shared mailbox: the right scheme is username@domain\SharedMailboxAlias

The shared mailbox alias will mostly be the email address of the shared account, like this:

you@example.com\shared@example.com

Note that it should be a backslash and not a forward slash.

When using a shared mailbox, you'll likely want to enable the option Synchronize shared folder lists in the receive settings.


(140) Why does the message text contain strange characters?

Displaying strange characters is almost always caused by specifying no or an invalid character encoding by the sending software. FairEmail will assume ISO 8859-1 when no character set or when US-ASCII was specified. Other than that there is no way to reliably determine the correct character encoding automatically, so this cannot be fixed by FairEmail. The right action is to complain to the sender.


(141) How can I fix 'A drafts folder is required to send messages'?

To store draft messages a drafts folder is required. In most cases FairEmail will automatically select the drafts folders on adding an account based on the attributes the email server sends. However, some email servers are not configured properly and do not send these attributes. In this case FairEmail tries to identify the drafts folder by name, but this might fail if the drafts folder has an unusual name or is not present at all.

You can fix this problem by manually selecting the drafts folder in the account settings (Settings, tap Manual setup, tap Accounts, tap account, at the bottom). If there is no drafts folder at all, you can create a drafts folder by tapping on the '+' button in the folder list of the account (tap on the account name in the navigation menu).

Some providers, like Gmail, allow enabling/disabling IMAP for individual folders. So, if a folder is not visible, you might need to enable IMAP for the folder.

Quick link for Gmail (will work on a desktop computer only): https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#settings/labels


(142) How can I store sent messages in the inbox?

Generally, it is not a good idea to store sent messages in the inbox because this is hard to undo and could be incompatible with other email clients.

That said, FairEmail is able to properly handle sent messages in the inbox. FairEmail will mark outgoing messages with a sent messages icon for example.

The best solution would be to enable showing the sent folder in the unified inbox by long pressing the sent folder in the folder list and enabling Show in unified inbox. This way all messages can stay where they belong, while allowing to see both incoming and outgoing messages at one place.

If this is not an option, you can create a rule to automatically move sent messages to the inbox or set a default CC/BCC address in the advanced identity settings to send yourself a copy.


(143) Can you add a trash folder for POP3 accounts?

POP3 is a very limited protocol. Basically only messages can be downloaded and deleted from the inbox. It is not even possible to mark a message read.

Since POP3 does not allow access to the trash folder at all, there is no way to restore trashed messages.

Note that you can hide messages and search for hidden messages, which is similar to a local trash folder, without suggesting that trashed messages can be restored, while this is actually not possible.

Version 1.1082 added a local trash folder. Note that trashing a message will permanently remove it from the server and that trashed messages cannot be restored to the server anymore.


(144) How can I record voice notes?

To record voice notes you can press this icon in the bottom action bar of the message composer:

External image

This requires a compatible audio recorder app to be installed. In particular this common intent needs to be supported.

For example this audio recorder is compatible.

Voice notes will automatically be attached.


(145) How can I set a notification sound for an account, folder or sender?

Account:

  • Enable Separate notifications in the advanced account settings (Settings, tap Manual setup, tap Accounts, tap account, tap Advanced)
  • Long press the account in the account list (Settings, tap Manual setup, tap Accounts) and select Edit notification channel to change the notification sound

Folder:

  • Long press the folder in the folder list and select Create notification channel
  • Long press the folder in the folder list and select Edit notification channel to change the notification sound

Sender:

  • Open a message from the sender and expand it
  • Expand the addresses section by tapping on the down arrow
  • Tap on the bell icon to create or edit a notification channel and to change the notification sound

The order of precendence is: sender sound, folder sound, account sound and default sound.

Setting a notification sound for an account, folder or sender requires Android 8 Oreo or later and is a pro feature.


(146) How can I fix incorrect message times?

Since the sent date/time is optional and can be manipulated by the sender, FairEmail uses the server received date/time by default.

Sometimes the server received date/time is incorrect, mostly because messages were incorrectly imported from another server and sometimes due to a bug in the email server.

In these rare cases, it is possible to let FairEmail use either the date/time from the Date header (sent time) or from the Received header as a workaround. This can be changed in the advanced account settings: Settings, tap Manual setup, tap Accounts, tap account, tap Advanced.

This will not change the time of already synchronized messages. To solve this, long press the folder(s) in the folder list and select Delete local messages and Synchronize now.


(147) What should I know about third party versions?

You likely came here because you are using a third party build of FairEmail.

There is only support on the latest Play store version, the latest GitHub release and the F-Droid build, but only if the version number of the F-Droid build is the same as the version number of the latest GitHub release.

F-Droid builds irregularly, which can be problematic when there is an important update. Therefore you are advised to switch to the GitHub release.

The F-Droid version is built from the same source code, but signed differently. This means that all features are available in the F-Droid version too, except for using the Gmail quick setup wizard because Google approved (and allows) one app signature only. For all other email providers, OAuth access is only available in Play Store versions and Github releases, as the email providers only permit the use of OAuth for official builds.

Note that you'll need to uninstall the F-Droid build first before you can install a GitHub release because Android refuses to install the same app with a different signature for security reasons.

Note that the GitHub version will automatically check for updates. When desired, this can be turned off in the miscellaneous settings.

Please see here for all download options.

If you have a problem with the F-Droid build, please check if there is a newer GitHub version first.


(148) How can I use an Apple iCloud account?

There is a built-in profile for Apple iCloud, so you should be able to use the quick setup wizard (other provider). If needed you can find the right settings here to manually set up an account.

When using two-factor authentication you might need to use an app-specific password.


(149) How does the unread message count widget work?

The unread message count widget shows the number of unread messages either for all accounts or for a selected account, but only for the folders for which new message notifications are enabled.

Tapping on the notification will synchronize all folders for which synchronization is enabled and will open:

  • the start screen when all accounts were selected
  • a folder list when a specific account was selected and when new message notifications are enabled for multiple folders
  • a list of messages when a specific account was selected and when new message notifications are enabled for one folder

(150) Can you add cancelling calendar invites?

Cancelling calendar invites (removing calendar events) requires write calendar permission, which will result in effectively granting permission to read and write all calendar events of all calendars.

Given the goal of FairEmail, privacy and security, and given that it is easy to remove a calendar event manually, it is not a good idea to request this permission for just this reason.

Inserting new calendar events can be done without permissions with special intents. Unfortunately, there exists no intent to delete existing calendar events.


(151) Can you add backup/restore of messages?

An email client is meant to read and write messages, not to backup and restore messages. Note that breaking or losing your device, means losing your messages!

Instead, the email provider/server is responsible for backups.

If you want to make a backup yourself, you could use a tool like imapsync.

Since version 1.1556 it is possible to export all messages of a POP3 folder in mbox format according to RFC4155, which might be useful to save sent messages if the email server doesn't.

If you want to import an mbox file to an existing email account, you can use Thunderbird on a desktop computer and the ImportExportTools add-on.


(152) How can I insert a contact group?

You can insert the email addresses of all contacts in a contact group via the three dots menu of the message composer.

You can define contact groups with the Android contacts app, please see here for instructions.


(153) Why does permanently deleting Gmail message not work?

You might need to change the Gmail IMAP settings on a desktop browser to make it work:

  • When I mark a message in IMAP as deleted: Auto-Expunge off - Wait for the client to update the server.
  • When a message is marked as deleted and expunged from the last visible IMAP folder: Immediately delete the message forever

Note that archived messages can be deleted only by moving them to the trash folder first.

Some background: Gmail seems to have an additional message view for IMAP, which can be different from the main message view.

Another oddity is that a star (favorite message) set via the web interface cannot be removed with the IMAP command

STORE <message number> -FLAGS (\Flagged)

On the other hand, a star set via IMAP is being shown in the web interface and can be removed via IMAP.


(154) Can you add favicons as contact photos?

Besides that a favicon might be shared by many email addresses with the same domain name and therefore is not directly related to an email address, favicons can be used to track you.


(155) What is a winmail.dat file?

A winmail.dat file is sent by an incorrectly configured Outlook client. It is a Microsoft specific file format (TNEF) containing a message and possibly attachments.

You can find some more information about this file here.

You can view it with for example the Android app Letter Opener.


(156) How can I set up an Office 365 account?

An Office 365 account can be set up via the quick setup wizard and selecting Office 365 (OAuth).

If the wizard ends with AUTHENTICATE failed, IMAP and/or SMTP might be disabled for the account. In this case you should ask the administrator to enable IMAP and SMTP. The procedure is documented here.

If you've enabled security defaults in your organization, you might need to enable the SMTP AUTH protocol. Please see here about how to.


(157) How can I set up an Free.fr account?

Veuillez voir ici pour les instructions.

SMTP est désactivé par défaut, veuillez voir ici comment il peut être activé.

Veuillez voir ici pour un guide détaillé.


(158) Which camera / audio recorder do you recommend?

To take photos and to record audio a camera and an audio recorder app are needed. The following apps are open source cameras and audio recorders:

To record voice notes, etc, the audio recorder needs to support MediaStore.Audio.Media.RECORD_SOUND_ACTION. Oddly, most audio recorders seem not to support this standard Android action.


(159) What are Disconnect's tracker protection lists?

Please see here for more information about Disconnect's tracker protection lists.

After downloading the lists in the privacy settings, the lists can optionally be used:

  • to warn about tracking links on opening links
  • to recognize tracking images in messages

Tracking images will be disabled only if the corresponding main 'disable' option is enabled.

Tracking images will not be recognized when the domain is classified as 'Content', see here for more information.

This command can be sent to FairEmail from an automation app to update the protection lists:

(adb shell) am start-foreground-service -a eu.faircode.email.DISCONNECT.ME

Updating once a week will probably be sufficient, please see here for recent lists changes.


(160) Can you add permanent deletion of messages without confirmation?

Permanent deletion means that messages will irreversibly be lost, and to prevent this from happening accidentally, this always needs to be confirmed. Even with a confirmation, some very angry people who lost some of their messages through their own fault contacted me, which was a rather unpleasant experience :-(

Advanced: the IMAP delete flag in combination with the EXPUNGE command is not supportable because both email servers and not all people can handle this, risking unexpected loss of messages. A complicating factor is that not all email servers support UID EXPUNGE.

From version 1.1485 it is possible to temporarily enable debug mode in the miscellaneous settings to disable expunging messages. Note that messages with a \Deleted flag will not be shown in FairEmail.


(161) Can you add a setting to change the primary and accent color?*

If I could, I would add a setting to select the primary and accent color right away, but unfortunately Android themes are fixed, see for example here, so this is not possible.


(162) Is IMAP NOTIFY supported?*

Yes, IMAP NOTIFY has been supported since version 1.1413.

IMAP NOTIFY support means that notifications for added, changed or deleted messages of all subscribed folders will be requested and if a notification is received for a subscribed folder, that the folder will be synchronized. Synchronization for subscribed folders can therefore be disable, saving folder connections to the email server.

Important: push messages (=always sync) for the inbox and subscription management (receive settings) need to be enabled.

Important: most email servers do not support this! You can check the log via the navigation menu if an email server supports the NOTIFY capability.


(163) What is message classification?

This is an experimental feature!

Message classification will attempt to automatically group emails into classes, based on their contents, using Bayesian statistics. In the context of FairEmail, a folder is a class. So, for example, the inbox, the spam folder, a 'marketing' folder, etc, etc.

You can enable message classification in the miscellaneous settings. This will enable 'learning' mode only. The classifier will 'learn' from new messages in the inbox and spam folder by default. The folder property Classify new messages in this folder will enable or disable 'learning' mode for a folder. You can clear local messages (long press a folder in the folder list of an account) and synchronize the messages again to classify existing messages.

Each folder has an option Automatically move classified messages to this folder ('auto classification' for short). When this is turned on, new messages in other folders which the classifier thinks belong to that folder will be automatically moved.

The option Use local spam filter in the report spam dialog will turn on message classification in the miscellaneous settings and auto classification for the spam folder. Please understand that this is not a replacement for the spam filter of the email server and can result in false positives and false negatives. See also this FAQ.

A practical example: suppose there is a folder 'marketing' and auto message classification is enabled for this folder. Each time you move a message into this folder you'll train FairEmail that similar messages belong in this folder. Each time you move a message out of this folder you'll train FairEmail that similar messages do not belong in this folder. After moving some messages into the 'marketing' folder, FairEmail will start moving similar messages automatically into this folder. Or, the other way around, after moving some messages out of the 'marketing' folder, FairEmail will stop moving similar messages automatically into this folder. This will work best with messages with similar content (email addresses, subject and message text).

Classification should be considered as a best guess - it might be a wrong guess, or the classifier might not be confident enough to make any guess. If the classifier is unsure, it will simply leave an email where it is.

To prevent the email server from moving a message into the spam folder again and again, auto classification out of the spam folder will not be done.

The message classifier calculates the probability a message belongs in a folder (class). There are two options in the miscellaneous settings which control if a message will be automatically moved into a folder, provided that auto classification is enabled for the folder:

  • Minimum class probability: a message will only be moved when the confidence it belongs in a folder is greater than this value (default 15 %)
  • Minimum class difference: a message will only be moved when the difference in confidence between one class and the next most likely class is greater than this value (default 50 %)

Both conditions must be satisfied before a message will be moved.

Considering the default option values:

  • Apples 40 % and bananas 30 % would be disregarded because the difference of 25 % is below the minimum of 50 %
  • Apples 10 % and bananas 5 % would be disregarded because the probability for apples is below the minimum of 15 %
  • Apples 50 % and bananas 20 % would result in selecting apples

Classification is optimized to use as little resources as possible, but will inevitably use some extra battery power.

You can delete all classification data by turning classification in the miscellaneous settings three times off.

Filter rules will be executed before classification.

Message classification is a pro feature, except for the spam folder.


(164) Can you add customizable themes?

Unfortunately, Android does not support dynamic themes, which means all themes need to be predefined.

Since for each theme there needs to be a light, dark and black variant, it is not feasible to add for each color combination (literally millions) a predefined theme.

Moreover, a theme is more than just a few colors. For example themes with a yellow accent color use a darker link color for enough contrast.

The theme colors are based on the color circle of Johannes Itten.


(165) Is Android Auto supported?

Yes, Android Auto is supported, but only with the GitHub version, please see here about why.

For notification (messaging) support you'll need to enable the following notification options:

  • Use Android 'messaging style' notification format
  • Notification actions: Direct reply and (mark as) Read

You can enable other notification actions too, if you like, but they are not supported by Android Auto.

The developers guide is here.


(166) Can I snooze a message across multiple devices?

First of all, there is no standard for snoozing messages, so all snooze implementations are custom solutions.

Some email providers, like Gmail, move snoozed messages to a special folder. Unfortunately, third party apps have no access to this special folder.

Moving a message to another folder and back might fail and might not be possible if there is no internet connection. This is problematic because a message can be snoozed only after moving the message.

To prevent these issues, snoozing is done locally on the device by hiding the message while it is snoozing. Unfortunately, it is not possible to hide messages on the email server too.


Get support

FairEmail is supported on Android smartphones and tablets and ChromeOS only.

Only the latest Play store version and latest GitHub release are supported. The F-Droid build is supported only if the version number is the same as the version number of the latest GitHub release. This also means that downgrading is not supported.

There is no support on things that are not directly related to FairEmail.

There is no support on building and developing things by yourself.

Requested features should:

  • be useful to most people
  • not complicate the usage of FairEmail
  • fit within the philosophy of FairEmail (privacy oriented, security minded)
  • comply with common standards (IMAP, SMTP, etc)

Features not fulfilling these requirements will likely be rejected. This is also to keep maintenance and support in the long term feasible.

If you have a question, want to request a feature or report a bug, please use this form.

GitHub issues are disabled due to frequent misusage.


Copyright © 2018-2021 Marcel Bokhorst.