In today’s digital world, email is one of the main priority sources of communication between people, especially businesses and their customers.

A breakdown in this communication method can severely impact your business. This is why we have put together a guide with some common email problems and solutions to help you along.

IMAP vs POP?

When setting up your email account we strongly advise that you use the IMAP account type instead of POP.

IMAP allows access to the email account from more than one device. It does this by storing all the email data on a server, rather than locally storing it on the user’s device/computer.

When any device that connects to the server via the IMAP method, the server will display the up-to-date information on the device.

So, for example, if you have sent an email on your PC and then access your emails on your Mobile device, you will see the sent message here as well.

The same goes for any folder/inbox that is associated with the email account. Essentially this means that all data is ‘synced’ across any device that accesses the emails using the IMAP account type.

Setting up an email account for the first time

When setting up an email account for the first time, you will need to have a few details ready to get the account up and running.

This will be supplied to you by Laser Red and will consist of the following:

Account Type: IMAP

Email Address: name@yourdomain.co.uk

Username: name@yourdomain.co.uk
Password: xxxxxxxxxxx

Incoming Mail Server: mail.yourdomain.co.uk
Security Type: SSL
Port No: 993

Outgoing Mail Server: mail.yourdomain.co.uk
Security Type: SSL
Port No: 465

Note, the Outgoing Server will require authentication, and the Username and Password above are the details you will need for it.

Most email software will have a built-in wizard asking for these details when setting up an account for the first time.

Common email problems and solutions

I can receive emails and not send them?

If you can receive emails, but not send them, it’s likely you are getting an error similar to ‘550 Relay Not Permitted’.

This means that the Outgoing Server is not set to require Authentication.

You will need to set the Outgoing Server to ‘Require Authentication’ and using the Username and Password information that was originally supplied with your email account.

Accessing your emails via WebMail

You can also access your emails via a browser from any computer in the world. This is useful if you are somewhere without your usual device that you access your emails on.

You can access your webmail area by entering the below (replace [yourdomain.co.uk] with your correct domain name) into any web browser.

webmail.yourdomain.co.uk

When accessing your webmail, you will be asked to enter your Email and Password – this is the password that was supplied to you by Laser Red when we set the email account up.

Once these have been successfully entered you will be taken to your Inbox, where you will be able to view and send emails, the same as you would normally.

My email is stopped working for no reason?

So you’ve set up your emails and everything was working, but all of a sudden they just stop! There is nothing more frustrating than unexplained email issues!

Usually, if this happens this is actually a local problem with the device that is accessing the emails rather than something on the server. There are a few things to check to see what is causing the problem:

  1. Check your internet connection – does the computer/device definitely have an Internet Connection? An active connection is required to access/send emails.
  2. If you have an active internet connection, then try accessing the email on another device, i.e. your phone. See if you can send or receive an email here. If you can then this limits the problem to a single device. If this is the case, please check no details have been updated or changed on that particular device.
  3. If you still can’t send or receive on more than one device then this may be a server error. In this instance please send a support ticket to Laser Red using the support@laser.red email address and explain your email issues in-depth so the support team can look into the issue for you and resolve as quickly as possible.

Also, good practice in this instance if you have tried 1 and 2 and are still having email issues, you can try accessing them via WebMail (detailed above in this article).

This should allow you to carry on communication as normal via email while the problem is being diagnosed by Laser Red.

I’ve forgotten my email password

So you’ve forgotten your email password – it’s OK! It happens to all of us at some point with having so many passwords to remember!

Most accounts will have a password reset link on the login page. The key is to keep your new password safe and accessible. Using an online password manager such as LastPass or DashLane will help you manage your passwords without having to remember them all off by heart.

 

If you want help working through some of these Common email problems and solutions, contact Laser Red today!