---
title: "Connected mailboxes"
description: "Work a Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, iCloud or other mailbox from Nextmail while its mail stays at the provider."
url: "https://openemail.uk/docs/knowledge/addresses/connected-mailboxes"
area: "Knowledge base"
category: "Domains & addresses"
---

# Connected mailboxes

Work a Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, iCloud or other mailbox from Nextmail while its mail stays at the provider.

## How it works

A connected mailbox stays where it is. Nextmail signs in to it with an app password, or with a Microsoft sign-in for Outlook, copies new mail in, usually within seconds, and sends the mail you write through the provider. Replies come from the same address, and a copy lands in its Sent folder, so the mailbox looks the same from your phone’s mail app or the provider’s website.

- Reading, starring, archiving, marking as spam and deleting go back to the provider, and the same changes made at the provider come back to Nextmail.
- Labels, notes, rules, the assistant, AI labels, snooze and reminders work on a connected address as on any other. They stay in Nextmail and the provider never sees them.
- A connected mailbox is synced every 30 seconds while mail comes in, and less often after it has been quiet for a while, down to every five minutes. Most providers also report new mail the moment it arrives, which is how it usually shows up within seconds. Opening the app syncs it straight away, and so does Sync now.
- When the same message is changed in both places at once, the change made in Nextmail wins, and the provider is brought in line with it.

## Connect a mailbox

1. Make an app password at your provider. Gmail, Yahoo, iCloud, Fastmail, AOL and Zoho want one in place of your usual password, and their import guides show where to make it.
2. In Nextmail, open Settings → Addresses, then Connected, and choose Connect mailbox.
3. Enter the address and paste the app password. The mail servers are found from the address. For another provider, enter its incoming and outgoing servers if they are not found.
4. Tick Bring the mail already there to copy the mail that is in the mailbox now as well. Otherwise only mail that arrives from now on comes in.
5. Choose Connect. Nextmail signs in to both servers before it saves anything, so a wrong password is caught straight away.

- [Gmail app passwords](https://openemail.uk/docs/knowledge/trust/import/gmail.md): Where to make one for a Gmail or Google Workspace address.
- [Yahoo app passwords](https://openemail.uk/docs/knowledge/trust/import/yahoo.md): Where to make one for a Yahoo address.
- [iCloud app passwords](https://openemail.uk/docs/knowledge/trust/import/icloud.md): Where to make one for an iCloud address.

## Connect an Outlook mailbox

Outlook.com and Microsoft 365 mailboxes need no app password. They connect with a Microsoft sign-in, and Nextmail works with them through Microsoft’s own mail service.

1. In Nextmail, open Settings → Addresses, then Connected, and choose Connect mailbox.
2. Enter the Outlook.com or Microsoft 365 address and choose Sign in with Microsoft.
3. Sign in at Microsoft and allow Nextmail to read and send your mail. You come back to Connected, and new mail starts coming in.

> A work or school account may need its Microsoft admin to approve Nextmail first. Nextmail then shows a link to send them. To bring the mail that is already there, import it from Migrations.

## Sending

Mail written as a connected address leaves through its provider and never through Nextmail’s servers, so the provider’s own sending limits apply. A connected address sends only as itself, without a +tag.

- You, your team and the assistant can write, reply, schedule and send from it, and booking pages can send their invitations as it.
- Broadcasts, automations, sign-up forms and API keys cannot use it as the sender. They send from an address on one of your own domains.
- Out of office replies go out through the provider like any other message. If the provider has its own vacation reply turned on, people get both.
- An Outlook mailbox sends files over 2 MB as download links, because Microsoft takes messages of up to about 3 MB this way.

## What works differently

- Forwarding is set up at the provider. Mail reaches Nextmail through the provider, so a forward set here would never run.
- Mail apps connect to the provider directly, with the same app password or one of their own. Nextmail app passwords are not offered for a connected address.
- Removing the address is done by disconnecting the mailbox.
- A mailbox can be connected to one workspace at a time, and a connected address counts toward the addresses your plan includes.

## When it stops syncing

| Status | What it means |
| --- | --- |
| Syncing | All is well. New mail comes in within minutes. |
| Paused | Someone paused it. Nothing syncs or sends until it is resumed. |
| Sign in again | The provider stopped accepting the app password, often because it was revoked or the account password changed. Make a new app password and enter it under New password. For Outlook, choose Sign in again and sign in at Microsoft. |
| Not reaching | The last five syncs failed. It keeps trying less often, and the last problem is shown beside the status. |

## Disconnect

Disconnecting stops syncing and sending, forgets the app password or Microsoft sign-in and removes the address from the workspace. The mail already in Nextmail stays, and nothing is changed at the provider. To stop for a while instead, pause it.

## From code

The REST API, every SDK and the CLI connect and manage mailboxes too, under /connected-mailboxes. Connecting needs the `domains:write` permission, and the password is read from standard input on the command line, so it stays out of your shell history. An Outlook mailbox is connected in the app, because the Microsoft sign-in happens in a browser, and is managed from code like any other after that.

**Terminal**

```
openemail connected-mailboxes discover ada@gmail.com
openemail connected-mailboxes connect --email ada@gmail.com --password - --import-history
openemail connected-mailboxes list
```