Knowledge base

This guide explains how RBLs work, the contentious policies of some of them, and how to resolve a possible email block.

What is RBL?

RBLs (Realtime Blackhole Lists) or DNSBLs (DNS Black Lists) are lists containing addresses / IPs / provider names / servers, known as major spam senders.

They are often large generalized blacklists maintained by certain providers (smtpcheck, uceprotect: non-exhaustive list)...

When an email address is identified as belonging to an undesirable sender, it is blocked to prevent receiving unsolicited emails. An RBL block does not expire. Addresses will be listed indefinitely.

What to do in case of a block?

If you receive a message indicating that your email address is blocked by RBL, it means that the Infomaniak security system has detected suspicious or undesirable activities associated with this email address. This may include bulk sending of unsolicited emails, participation in phishing campaigns, or other malicious behaviors.

If the error mentions your address and RBL

If you receive errors like

anna.a@domain.xyz is rbl blacklisted - http://chk.me/rbl

when sending an email and you think it is a false positive, contact Infomaniak support.

To avoid having your email address blocked by our RBL blocking system in the future, follow good email usage practices:

1. do not send unsolicited emails or mass messages to unknown recipients (learn more)
2. regularly clean your recipient list
3. do not participate in phishing or cybercriminal activities
4. ensure the highest level of security where your emails are used:
   1. strong password
   2. up-to-date software
   3. up-to-date operating system (iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, etc.)

If the error mentions an organization like Sorbs or Barracuda

If you receive errors like

554 5.7.1 Client host blocked using sorbs

or similar, you should:

1. follow the procedure of the mentioned organization (e.g., http://www.barracudacentral.org) to request removal of your address from the list
2. temporarily switch your Internet service provider or connection method - WIFI vs 4G/5G - to send your messages
3. inform your correspondent and their email provider to take necessary actions and/or not use unreliable RBLs
4. wait a few hours and try again

Fewer and fewer professionals (ISPs, hosting providers, etc.) use providers like Backscatterer / UCEPROTECT, which are primarily financial in nature, and there are many other very effective lists, such as ABUSIX or SPAMCOP, well maintained and with the real goal of fighting spam, one of Infomaniak's priorities.

This guide explains how to manage and modify the permissions of an Infomaniak user so that they can manage more or fewer configuration elements (change the password, set up an alias, etc., see below for the complete list) on Infomaniak Mail.

When and Why?
 

In fact, the email address is first created within a Mail Service, and it can be used within one or more Mail interfaces (Infomaniak Webmail) by one or more users.

However, the creator (or manager) of the address may want to limit the possible actions for one or more of the users who will use the email address.

This permission management can be done when creating an address or afterward, and you can also define the default rights for any new address created (read Global Configuration below).

List of actions on an email address
 

Actions	Descriptions
Change Password	Allows you to change the email address password
Manage Autoresponder	Allows you to create an out-of-office message (automatic reply)
Manage Signatures	Allows you to add signatures and manage reply email addresses
Manage Forwarding	Allows you to forward your emails to one or more other email addresses
Manage Aliases	Allows you to create variants of your email address (by modifying what's before the @)
Manage Rules	Allows you to manage anti-spam and advertising filters and create rules to automatically categorize your emails into folders in your mailbox
Manage Folder Configuration	Allows you to customize IMAP folders (drafts, sent messages, spam, trash, archive) of your Infomaniak email address with the folders in your email client (Outlook, Apple Mail, Thunderbird, Spark, etc.)
Manage Security	Allows you to manage blocked and approved addresses

Modify the permissions of an email address

1. Login to the Infomaniak Manager (manager.infomaniak.com) using a web browser like Brave or Firefox
2. Click on the ‍ icon at the top right of the interface (or navigate using the left sidebar menu, for example)
3. Select Mail Service (under Collaborative Tools)
4. Click on the relevant object's name in the displayed table
5. Click on the relevant email address in the displayed table
6. There are two ways to modify the permissions of an email address:
   1. Click on the ⋮ icon to the right of the user's name for the email address
   2. Select Modify Permissions
      
   3. Or click directly on the settings icons for the email address in the user's email address details

Global Configuration

This guide explains how to connect the Thunderbird email application to an email address hosted with Infomaniak.

Prerequisites

• create the address within an Infomaniak Mail Service (or with the free ik.me offer)
• test the password of the email address (do not confuse it with the one used to log in to the Infomaniak interface)
• check on the Mail Service that the automatic diagnostic is correct

Add the email address to the application

To configure the email application:

1. download the latest version of Thunderbird
2. open the application
3. check and complete missing information
   
4. click on Continue
5. the information found by Thunderbird about your mail provider is displayed, leave IMAP selected:
   
6. click on Finish
7. in some cases, a warning about a certificate may appear, just confirm the security exception if the information mentions Infomaniak:
   
8. the summary of your registration appears, click on Finish to add the address (or configure other services from there):
   
9. there you go, your email address is now configured in the application:
   
   

Settings to use

• IMAP/SMTP server name mail.infomaniak.com
• IMAP port 993 (SSL)
• SMTP port 465 (SSL)
• username full email address
• password email address password
• mandatory authentication (learn more)

In case of problems

Do not contact Infomaniak Support if your email address works well outside the application. The most common error concerns the use of an incorrect password. Our troubleshooting guides help you solve any problems:

• follow the solutions given in this guide (click here) regarding email in general
• this guide (click here) specifically concerns Thunderbird

and if your Thunderbird no longer works after changing your email password, read this guide (click here).

This guide explains how to add or modify an MX record in the DNS zone (of a domain name) managed on the Infomaniak Manager.

Type MX

This type of record allows indicating which provider should manage the email service (= the target).

You should only modify this type of record if you have a specific configuration to set up (example: domain name at Infomaniak and email service at an external provider).

There can be multiple MX records (so that a second email service takes over in case of failure of the first one) and in this case, a number designates the priority of each of them (the lower the number, the higher the priority).

MX for Infomaniak Email

Infomaniak automatically provides the necessary MX to link your domain name and your email if they are managed in the same organization at the Manager level.

If your configuration requires you to add an MX record yourself to direct email traffic to Infomaniak, then specify the following MX:

mta-gw.infomaniak.ch

with priority 5.

In the interface of some providers like Gandi, it is necessary to add a period at the end of the MX record:

mta-gw.infomaniak.ch.

A correct SPF record is also required for proper functioning of Infomaniak email.

Modify the DNS Zone

Consult this guide (click here) to know the procedure to manage records in a DNS zone.

Learn More

• Linking a Domain to an Infomaniak Mail Service
• Specifying Infomaniak MX at a Third-Party Web Provider

This guide presents the main features of an Infomaniak Mail Service.

Discover the management interface for your email addresses created and hosted with Infomaniak.

Accessing the Mail Service

To access the Mail Service:

1. Log in to the Infomaniak Manager (manager.infomaniak.com) from a web browser like Brave or Firefox
2. Click on the icon in the upper right corner of the interface (or navigate via the left side menu, for example)
3. Choose Mail Service (universe Collaborative Tools)

• A: order a new Mail Service (to get email addresses on a new domain name, for example)
• B: search among your Mail Services
• C: options for sorting and presenting the table
• D: the name of your Mail Service (please note, it can be renamed (cf. H) for easier organization, but the associated domain, visible on hover (cf. F), will remain the same)
• E: the number of created and available email addresses (here, the quota is 1, and no addresses have been created)
• F: the domain(s) associated with your Mail Service; read this guide (click here) to change the domain name of your Mail Service
• G: possible label(s)
• H: action menu to rename the Mail Service or modify the offer

Accessing Email Addresses

Click directly on the name of the Mail Service in the table to access the email addresses contained in that Mail Service:

• A: breadcrumb trail and name of the Mail Service (possibly renamed, as in this example)
• B: Mail Service management menu, which allows actions that point M in the previous table does not allow
• C: create additional email addresses (or order them first if the quota is not sufficient)
• D: current quota
• E: download the list of addresses in CSV format
• F: search among the addresses of the Mail Service (unlike the search bar above, which allows searching among all products in the organization)
• G: filter the display based on various criteria, including user login dates (cf. H)
• H: display in the table the last login of a user to the Mail Infomaniak interface where the email address in question is linked
• I: table presentation options
• J: in front of each email address is a small square that can be clicked to select multiple addresses at once to perform actions (offered at the bottom of the page once the selection is made - cf. J)
• K: the user(s) of the Mail Infomaniak interface who have linked the email address in question
• L: by clicking on the icons, it is possible to access options; if the icon is grayed out or missing, it indicates that the option in question is not activated
• M: actions on the email address
• N: bulk actions on selected email addresses in the table (cf. J)
• O: global configuration (concerns the entire Mail Service in question) to e.g. apply a signature or antispam to the entire Mail Service
• P: actions on the domain(s) linked to the Mail Service
• Q: Overall security for performing a technical diagnosis

Access the details and settings of an email address

Click directly on the email address concerned in the table and thus access the settings and information relating to the email address (storage, password, etc.) and to Mail Infomaniak users (therefore excluding IMAP use) who use the email address:

This guide explains how to view the folders in your Infomaniak mailbox using an email software/client via the IMAP protocol. 

Default Folders

The various generic folders are created by Mail Infomaniak when you first connect to the interface. Therefore, some IMAP email software/clients might not show folders if no connection has been made beforehand in Mail.

Even if the folders are present in Mail, some might still not appear in your IMAP-configured email software/client.

Force IMAP Folder Synchronization

In your usual email software/client, look for terms like "IMAP folders" and/or "subscribe," "subscription," etc. Otherwise, search in a potential TOOLS menu...
‍

Configuration in Microsoft Outlook

In some cases, after configuring an Infomaniak address in the Outlook email software/client, some folders may not appear. In this case, you need to check the subscription synchronization with folders in Outlook:

1. Start Outlook on your computer
2. From your Infomaniak email address, right-click on the Inbox folder
3. Select: IMAP Folders
   
   
4. Uncheck the option: When displaying the hierarchy in Outlook, show only subscribed folders 
   
   
5. Click Apply

More information: search engines

Configuration in Thunderbird

In some cases, after configuring an Infomaniak address in Thunderbird email software/client, some folders may not appear. In this case, manually check these folders from the subscription menu in Thunderbird:

1. Start Thunderbird on your computer
2. Right-click on the concerned Infomaniak address and select the Subscribe menu
   
   
    
3. Check the missing folders
4. Click Ok to confirm the selection

Modify Synced Folders

‍Read this guide (click here) to modify the location of certain generic folders.

This guide concerns Greylisting, a protective measure implemented on Infomaniak mail servers.

How Greylisting Works

Greylisting is a technique used by Infomaniak mail servers (among others) to combat spam. It relies on temporarily delaying the delivery of an email to verify the legitimacy of the sender. This method exploits the fact that spam servers often send emails without adhering to message retransmission standards.

1. Initial Reception

When a mail server receives an email, it records three pieces of information:

• the sender's IP address
• the sender's email address
• the recipient's email address

2. Temporary Rejection

The server temporarily rejects the email delivery and sends a temporary error message (code 4xx). This means that the message is not permanently rejected, but the sending server must retry sending it later.

3. Retry

Legitimate mail servers are programmed to retry delivering messages after a certain delay. Spam servers, on the other hand, often do not bother to retry.

4. Acceptance

Upon retry, if the email comes from the same trio (sender's IP, sender's address, recipient's address) recorded previously, the message is accepted and delivered to the recipient.

This guide details the limits of your email in terms of size (message size and disk space) set up as part of the Infomaniak email offers and guides you on how to check your storage usage.

Email Size Limits

Storage

The total volume of your emails is unlimited, both in terms of the number of messages and the space it occupies in storage.

Only users of free email accounts @ik.me (+ etik.com, etc.) cannot exceed 20 GB of storage.

There is no time limit for message retention in the inbox or subfolders, except for an email that would be deleted, marked as spam, or moved manually/automatically to the "Trash" or "Spam" folder (or one of its equivalent names like "Deleted Items," "Trash," "Junk," etc. - non-exhaustive list)...

In this case, the email is automatically deleted after 30 days with no possibility of recovery.

Backups made by Infomaniak also have a retention period.

It is not recommended to keep more than 4,000 to 5,000 messages per folder (slowing down message indexing). It is therefore advisable to move your messages to subfolders, which also makes them easier to access. You can do this manually or set up automatic sorting rules.

Email Size

The maximum size of an email for sending and receiving is 200 MB (including both attachment size and the text and image(s) in the email).

Attachments

With Mail, the attachment size limit is 25 MB; beyond this, a Swisstransfer link is generated (learn more).

Viewing Total Size from Mail

To do this:

1. Log in to Mail Infomaniak (mail.infomaniak.com) from a web browser like Brave or Firefox
2. Check or select the relevant email address from the dropdown menu in the left sidebar
3. Click the action menu ⋮ to the right of the relevant item in the table that appears
4. Click Email Address Settings
   
5. Click Refresh in the Storage section to display the mailbox size
   

Still Having Problems?

In cases where the recipient's email address is not hosted with Infomaniak, you may receive an error message when sending the email. This can take various forms, such as: "Recipient address rejected: 5.2.2 Over quota 554 5.0.0 Service unavailable."

This may indicate that your recipient's mailbox is full and they can no longer receive emails or that the email you are trying to send is too large.

You need to contact your correspondent and ask them to empty their mailbox or inquire about the maximum message size you can send to them.

Learn More

• Limits of the free ik.me Mail offer
• Limits on the number of email recipients
• Limits on the number of outgoing emails

This guide explains how to implement a DMARC policy for your email hosted by Infomaniak, which has become essential to prevent potential delivery malfunctions.

What is DMARC?

DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance) is an essential tool to enhance email security and protect your domain against fraud by verifying the authenticity of outgoing emails (through authentication mechanisms such as SPF and DKIM) and allowing you to define policies for handling unauthenticated emails.

DMARC exists to specify to other mail providers what they should do when they reject an email due to incorrect or missing SPF or DKIM. Domain owners can define DMARC policies, such as "reject," "quarantine," or "none," to specify how these "suspect" emails should be handled.

Example:

1. An email is sent from anna@domain.xyz to victor@yahoogle.abc
2. The Mail Service of domain.xyz has a DMARC configuration of reject at 100%
3. The Mail Service of yahoogle.abc is properly secured and performs SPF/DKIM/DMARC analysis of the email arriving from domain.xyz
4. If this analysis results in SPF or DKIM failure, then the Mail Service of yahoogle.abc will reject (thus delete) the message
5. It will send a report* by email if a reporting address is specified in the DMARC of domain.xyz

* These DMARC reports generated help you maintain and improve the security of your domain; you can identify any authentication errors and phishing attempts using your domain.

DMARC Policy and Acceptance Percentage

For the directives that can be given to recipient servers when a suspect message is detected, there are 3 policies (p = policy) that exist and can be refined with a percentage (pct):

none

With "p=none," no emails are rejected or quarantined based on DMARC verification. However, the reception percentage can be used to collect data on unauthenticated emails, indicating how many of these emails should be subjected to the DMARC policy. For example, "p=none; pct=10" means that 10% of unauthenticated emails will be subjected to the DMARC policy, while the remaining 90% will be accepted.

quarantine

With "p=quarantine," unauthenticated emails can be quarantined, but the reception percentage determines the proportion actually subjected to this policy. For example, "p=quarantine; pct=50" means that 50% of unauthenticated emails will be quarantined, while the remaining 50% will be accepted.

reject

With "p=reject," unauthenticated emails are rejected. The reception percentage determines the proportion of unauthenticated emails that will actually be rejected. For example, "p=reject; pct=20" means that 20% of unauthenticated emails will be rejected, while the remaining 80% will be accepted.

Create a DMARC Record

There are 2 ways to manage DMARC.

If you have a Mail Service with Infomaniak, the easiest way is to go to the Global Security tool to manage your DMARC security policy and reports.

But since the DMARC record is a type of DNS record, usually of type TXT, you can also manage it from the domain name's DNS zone:

1. Log in to the Infomaniak Manager (manager.infomaniak.com) from a web browser like Brave or Edge
2. Click on the icon at the top right of the interface (or navigate through the left side menu, for example)
3. Choose Domains (Web & Domain universe)
4. Click on the name of the relevant object in the displayed table
5. Click on DNS Zone in the left side menu
6. Click the button to add a record:
   
7. Click on the radio button DMARC to add a record 
8. Click the Next button
   
9. Leave (or add if necessary) the value _dmarc in the Source field
10. The Target field should contain the parameters you want to use, separated by ;:
    

    Tag Name	Purpose	Example
    v	Protocol version	v=DMARC1
    pct	Percentage of messages subjected to filtering	pct=20
    ruf	Forensic report URI	ruf=mailto:authfail@domain.xyz
    rua	Aggregate report URI	rua=mailto:aggrep@domain.xyz
    p	Policy for the organizational domain	p=quarantine
    sp	Policy for subdomains of the organizational domain	sp=reject
    adkim	DKIM alignment mode	adkim=s
    aspf	SPF alignment mode	aspf=r

    
    this can give, for example, v=DMARC1;p=reject;pct=100;rua=mailto:postmaster@dmarcdomain.com (source)
11. Leave the default value for the TTL
12. Click the Save button
    

This guide explains how to automatically forward new messages from an existing email address, managed by Infomaniak, to the email account of your choice, even external to Infomaniak, while retaining (or not) the messages.

Number of possible forwarding addresses

Number of email addresses that can be specified to forward emails from an existing email address:

Add a forwarding from Infomaniak Mail

Prerequisites

• Have valid access to Infomaniak Mail where the email address is attached.
• Have permission to manage forwardings: if you were invited to Mail to manage your address, the Mail Service administrator may have revoked this right from their admin account.

To access your Infomaniak Mail:

1. Click here to access the Infomaniak Webmail app (online service mail.infomaniak.com).
2. Click on the Settings icon ‍ at the top right of the interface.
3. Verify or select the email address in question from the drop-down menu on the left sidebar.
4. Click on Forwardings:
   
5. Click on the blue Add forwarding button.
6. Enter one destination email address per line.
7. Click Add.

Add a forwarding from Mail Service

To access the Mail Service:

1. Click here to manage your product in the Infomaniak Manager (need help?).
2. Click directly on the name assigned to the relevant product.
3. Click on the relevant email address in the table that appears.
4. Click on the Forwarding and alias tab or from the left sidebar menu.
5. Click on the blue Add forwarding button:
   
6. Enter one destination email address.
7. Click the blue + button to add more email addresses.
8. Click Confirm to complete the addition.
9. Click on the toggle switch to keep or delete a copy of emails on the email address after forwarding.

Copy or move?

Once a forwarding email address is added, it is possible to check the box to delete emails from the server after forwarding, turning the forwarding into a move instead of a copy. 

Remove email forwardings

You cannot apply the forwarding feature to multiple email addresses of a domain in one action. However, the reverse is possible, allowing you to select all addresses in a Mail Service and remove their forwarding.

In case of problems

• Gmail emails are forwarded without particular restriction EXCEPT in a very specific case.
• Any email considered spam by Infomaniak will not be forwarded.