# Getting Started with Email

&kde; features a powerful and easy-to-use email client called &kmail;, which allows you to send, receive, and organize your email quickly and efficiently. Let us look at how to set it up. If you have any problems with this procedure, refer to the full &kmail; manual.

## Information you will need before you start

Many email settings can vary greatly depending on the setup of your system, your ISP's configuration, or your local network setup. You will need to find out some information before you can start setting up your email:

Your email address

- This should be provided by your ISP or system administrator.

Your username and password for your email account

- The username is often the same as the part before the @ symbol in your email address, but not always: check with your ISP.

Your outgoing email (SMTP) server name and details

- Again, your ISP should have provided you with this information. If not, you can try the form `smtp.`your-isp-name`.com`.

Your incoming email (IMAP or POP) server name and details

- If you do not have this information to hand, you can try `imap.`your-isp-name`.com` for IMAP or `pop.`your-isp-name`.com` if you use POP3.

Once you have that information, you are ready to start setting up &kmail;. Open &kmail; from the K menu (you can find it in the Internet submenu, or use one of the methods described in programs-launching.) Once &kmail; has opened, select the menu entry Settings Configure KMail... . The next sections describe how to use the dialog that appears to set up &kmail;.

## Setting your Identity

The settings in the Identities page are fairly straightforward. Select the default identity and click Modify.... Fill in the Your name field with your full name (⪚ `John Doe`) and, optionally, the Organization field with the appropriate information.

Next, fill in the Email address field with your email address (⪚ `john@example.net`).

That is all for this dialog unless you want to use the more advanced features (cryptography, a signature, &etc;). You can find more information about these features in the full &kmail; manual. Click on the OK button to close this dialog, and move on to the next configuration page...

## Setting up your Account

Click on the Network icon to move to the network configuration page. It contains the settings that tell &kmail; how to send and receive your email messages. You will see two tabs on the right-hand side: Sending and Receiving. You need to set up both, so let us look at them each in turn:

### Sending Messages

The Sending tab provides a list of ways to send messages. The first item in the list is the default way to send messages. Using the Add... button you can choose between two different ways of sending messages: SMTP and Sendmail. &Sendmail; here means a local software installation — this has a reputation of being difficult to set up, so if you do not already have a working &Sendmail; configuration, choose SMTP and fill in the Name field with a descriptive name (⪚ `My Mail Account`) and the Host field with the name and domain of your mail server (⪚ `smtp.provider.com`). You will probably not need to change the Port setting (the default is `25`).

A description of the other options can be found in the full &kmail; manual. Click on OK to close this dialog, and then click on the Receiving tab.

### Receiving Messages

To set up an account so you can receive mail, press the Add... button in the Receiving tab. You will then be prompted for the type of your email account; most users should select POP3 or IMAP. If you wish to use a different system, consult the &kmail; manual.

You will then be presented with the Add account window. First, fill in the Name field to name your account. You can choose any name you like. Login, Password, and Host should be filled in with the information you gathered earlier. You should not usually need to change the Port setting.

You are now ready to send and receive mail. For IMAP, just open your folders in the folder tree in &kmail;'s main window. &kmail; then connects to your server and displays the messages it finds. For POP3 use File Check Mail.

## Testing your Setup

First, you should send yourself a message to test your configuration. To send a message, either hit &Ctrl;N, select the New Message icon or select the Message New Message... menu item. The composer window will appear. Fill in the To: field with your email address and type something in the Subject field. Send the message by selecting Message Send .

To check your email, select File Check Mail. In the lower-right corner of the main window, a progress bar will indicate how many messages are being downloaded. If you receive the message you just sent, then congratulations! If, however, you receive any error messages while testing your setup, make sure that your network connection is working and recheck your settings at Settings Configure &kmail;....

## Related Information

- The &kmail; Handbook has full descriptions of advanced email settings and so on. You can read it in the &khelpcenter; or by entering `help:/kmail` in &konqueror;'s Location bar.

- The &kmail; website at http://kmail.kde.org contains latest news, tips and tricks, and plenty more.