Email FAQ
If your question is not covered here, please do not hesitate to contact us.
See Also
Getting started
- Do I need to register a domain name to use your email service?
- How long does it take to set up my account?
Sending and receiving email
- How do I access my mailboxes?
- What is the difference between POP and IMAP?
- What applications can I use to read my email?
- What webmail application do you use?
- Can I use your SMTP server?
- My ISP blocks access to external SMTP servers. Is there any way around this?
- Can I get secure access to my email?
Configuring email addresses
- How does your spam filtering work?
- Can I train the spam filters to improve accuracy?
- How does your anti-virus filtering work?
- What is the difference between a mail group and a mailing list?
- Can I give email addresses to my friends/family?
Changing your email service
- Can I change the domain used for my email service?
- What if I change my mind, can I get my money back?
- Can I change my package or upgrade to web hosting?
Miscellaneous
- Can I add another domain to my email service?
- Is my email backed up?
- What is your spam policy?
- How do I report spam from your service?
- What happens if I exceed the data transfer limit for my account?
- What happens to the website for the domain I am using for email?
- Can I host the website for my email domain with another provider?
Getting started
Do I need to register a domain name to use your email service?
No - you can use a free Purple Cloud subdomain (e.g. yourname.purplecloud.com) if you do not wish to register your own domain name. You can also transfer an existing domain to Purple Cloud for use with your email service.
How long does it take to set up my account?
Normally your account would be up and running within 1 hour. Also if you are registering or transferring a domain then it will take 12-48 hours for the necessary DNS changes to propagate before you can use the service.
Sending and receiving email
How do I access my mailboxes?
You can access your mailboxes using your favourite email application. We support both the POP and IMAP protocols on all mailboxes. You can also use our webmail service to send and receive emails from a web browser.
What is the difference between POP and IMAP?
If you use POP then your email application will download your emails from our server onto your computer. IMAP keeps your emails on the server until you delete them - this means that you can access old emails from other computers and keep an online email archive available.
What applications can I use to read my email?
Any application which supports the POP or IMAP protocol should work with our service. Popular choices include Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express and Mozilla Thunderbird.
What webmail application do you use?
Our webmail tool is powered by Horde.
Can I use your SMTP server?
Yes - but you will need a mailbox username and password in order to send emails through our SMTP server. This is to prevent unauthorised access by non Purple Cloud users.
My ISP blocks access to external SMTP servers. Is there any way around this?
Possibly - our SMTP server operates on ports 225 and 587 in addition to the standard 25. By reconfiguring your email application to use one of these alternative ports you may be able to bypass your ISPs restrictions.
Can I get secure access to my email?
Yes - our incoming and outgoing mail servers all support SSL security with full certification.
Configuring email addresses
How does your spam filtering work?
We use the popular Spam Assassin system. This works by giving all incoming email a "score" - the higher the score, the more likely the message is to be spam. If the score is higher than the threshold for your mailbox (which you can change from our control panel) then the email will be considered spam. You then have the option for these messages to be either marked (by placing the word "SPAM" in the subject line) or automatically deleted.
Can I train the spam filters to improve accuracy?
Yes - this is available via the control panel. The system also auto-learns based on the messages that it sees - accuracy should therefore improve over time.
How does your anti-virus filtering work?
When the filter detects a virus in the email, the infected message is cleaned and a warning sent to the recipient telling them that a message has been filtered. The virus definitions used to check incoming email are updated on a daily basis.
What is the difference between a mail group and a mailing list?
The core functionality is the same, in that both distribute emails to a list of addresses. However, mailing lists are intended for more public lists where users can subscribe and unsubscribe. They also provide a huge range of options for configuring how the list should operate.
Can I give email addresses to my friends/family?
Yes - once you have created a mailbox you can give the username and password to your friend/family member and they can then access their email in the usual way.
Changing your email service
Can I change the domain used for my email service?
Yes, although if you require a new domain name you will need to register it first.
What if I change my mind, can I get my money back?
We operate a 14 day money back guarantee, so you have two weeks to try our service and see if it is right for you. If not, you can get a full refund of the price of your email service. Click here for more information.
Can I change my package or upgrade to web hosting?
Yes - please click here for details.
Miscellaneous
Can I add another domain to my email service?
No, each email package you purchase only provides service for one domain name. You can however order additional packages for your extra domains.
Is my email backed up?
Yes - we take daily backups of all data on our hosting servers.
What is your spam policy?
We do not tolerate the sending of unsolicited email. Any customers found to be abusing our email service will have their email access restricted or terminated.
How do I report spam from your service?
If you believe one of our customers has been using our service to send spam, please send the details to our abuse department - click here for contact details.
What happens if I exceed the data transfer limit for my account?
By default your domain will be suspended to prevent it using any more data transfer. However, you can opt to allow your account to exceed its limit. In this case you will be billed 1p per MB plus a 50p administration charge at the end of the month.
What happens to the website for the domain I am using for email?
Although our email service does not include web hosting, the domain name for your email can be used with our web forwarding service. Click here for details.
Can I host the website for my email domain with another provider?
Yes, but you will need the custom DNS administration in order to "point" your website at the other host's server.