Using other email addresses

You can set up Fastmail to send and receive email from other accounts you have, so you can handle all of your mail in one place:

  1. Open the Settings → Migration → Import screen.
  2. Go to the Import mail, calendars, and contacts section and select your other mail provider. If the mail provider is not listed, click Other (IMAP / CardDAV / CalDAV).
  3. Enter your email address and password for your other account, and follow any instructions you see on the screen.
    1. For most accounts, this info is all we need. If needed, we may ask you to enter the server names. In that instance, you'll need to obtain the server information from your other email provider.
  4. On the next screen, you have the option to import your mail from this account. If you'd like to do this, please make sure to keep this ticked. If you do not want to import mail from your other account into your Fastmail mailbox, leave this unticked.
  5. Below the option to import mail, you have two options: Keep fetching mail from your other inbox, and Set up sending from your other address. If you would like to do either of these, please click the check boxes. Then, click Do it.

Now, you're able to send and receive mail from your other account!

You can view and edit accounts you've set up to fetch and/or send mail by going to the Settings → Migration → Import screen. Accounts you've set up will be listed underneath Connected Services.

By default, mail that's fetched is sorted into your inbox folder, but if you'd like mail to go into a separate folder, you can set this up on the Settings → Migration → Import screen. Once on this screen, do the following:

  1. Under Connected Services, you'll see a list of addresses you fetch mail from. Click View & Edit.
  2. On the next screen, click Edit next to the account you'd like to change the set up for.
  3. Next to Fetch Mail, you'll see text that says Deliver to. Click the drop down menu to choose a folder other than your Inbox.

If you'd like to set up a signature, you can do this on the Settings → Signatures & Compose screen. Other settings for sending from your external addresses can be configured on the Settings → My email addresses screen.

Note: If your other address is at a domain you own, you may want to host your domain with Fastmail instead of fetching mail from your current email host.

Troubleshooting adding a Gmail account

If you're having trouble adding a Gmail account, make sure that IMAP access is enabled.

If you're still having trouble, please login to your Gmail account, and go to Settings (the gear icon at the top right) then click the Labels tab. Make sure that Show in IMAP is checked for each of your folders. If the folder is not IMAP-enabled, we won't be able to download mail from the folder. Next, click the Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab. Make sure IMAP is enabled, and in the folder size limits section select: "Do not limit the number of messages in an IMAP folder".

Troubleshooting iCloud mail

If you're trying to fetch or send from your iCloud account, you'll need to get a new app-specific password from iCloud to use with Fastmail.

You can find the Apple Support instructions on how to generate an app-specific password on this page.

Issues while fetching mail

If you have "fetch mail" turned on and we cannot connect to the server, we'll send you an email to let you know. If 5 connection errors happen in a row, we'll automatically disable fetching mail. This usually happens because the password has been changed. You can update it on the Settings → Migration → Import screen in the Connected services section.

Most of the time, issues with fetching mail can be resolved using the troubleshooting tips above. If you continue having issues, please contact our friendly support team. They're more than happy to assist!

Was this article helpful?
40 out of 74 found this helpful