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Settings → Mail

This page holds one mail account. Mnemosyne OS sends meeting recaps from it. The morning briefing can also read its inbox. The rail entry is Mail. The page title is Mail, and the subtitle reads The account that sends meeting recaps. The morning briefing can read its inbox.

The account uses IMAP to read and SMTP to send. You sign in with an app password, typed on this page. The app sends the password to its main process once and seals it there. The page never shows it again.

While it reads, the page says Reading the account…. If the saved account cannot be read, the page says The saved account cannot be read. Saving replaces it. The form still shows, and a save writes a new account over the old one.

The page has two cards, Account and Servers, and one row of buttons under both.

Account​

Presets​

A row of chips picks a preset: Gmail, Outlook, iCloud, Proton Bridge or Other. A preset fills the server hosts and ports only. Every field stays editable. Editing a server field switches the chip to Other.

PresetIMAPSMTP
Gmailimap.gmail.com, port 993, TLSsmtp.gmail.com, port 465, TLS
Outlookoutlook.office365.com, port 993, TLSsmtp.office365.com, port 587, STARTTLS
iCloudimap.mail.me.com, port 993, TLSsmtp.mail.me.com, port 587, STARTTLS
Proton Bridge127.0.0.1, port 1143, STARTTLS127.0.0.1, port 1025, STARTTLS

Gmail is the preset of an empty form.

Two presets add a note:

  • Outlook: Outlook.com has refused app passwords since 2024. This preset is for work accounts that still allow them.
  • Proton Bridge: Proton: Proton Mail Bridge must run on this machine. Its local certificate is accepted for 127.0.0.1 only.

The Gmail guide​

With the Gmail preset, a six-step guide shows under the chips. A step number turns into a green tick only when the page has a real signal for it.

StepLabelNoteTurns green when
1Turn on 2-Step VerificationGoogle requires it to create an app password.Check succeeds on both servers.
2Create the passwordName it “Mnemosyne”, then Create.Check succeeds on both servers.
3Copy itGoogle shows 16 letters, only once.Check succeeds on both servers.
4Paste it hereGmail address and password. Spaces are accepted.An address is typed and a password is typed or saved.
5VerifyTwo green lines, IMAP (reading) and SMTP (sending).Check succeeds on both servers.
6SaveEncrypted on this PC.The account is saved, with its password, and the form equals it.

Steps 1 to 3 happen at Google, where the app sees nothing. A working Gmail login proves them, because Gmail refuses an account password over IMAP and SMTP. So they turn green with step 5.

Steps 1 and 2 are links. Step 1 opens https://myaccount.google.com/security. Step 2 opens https://myaccount.google.com/apppasswords. If a link cannot open, the guide says The link could not be opened.

Fields​

FieldContent
AddressThe mail address used to sign in.
Display nameThe sender name on recaps. Optional.
App passwordThe app password.

The password field is always empty when the page opens. Its placeholder reads App password, or Saved (leave empty to keep it) when a password is stored. Leave it empty to keep the stored password. The app removes the spaces Google shows between the groups of letters. Beside the field, a shield says Encrypted on this machine.

Servers​

The Servers card has one row for IMAP and one for SMTP. The row names IMAP and SMTP are hardcoded. Each row has three fields:

  • the host, labelled IMAP server or SMTP server;
  • the Port, from 1 to 65535;
  • the Encryption: TLS or STARTTLS.

In the morning briefing​

The checkbox In the morning briefing is off until you tick it. Its hint reads The briefing says the number of unread mails and the last 5 senders and subjects. The briefing reads nothing else from the inbox.

Buttons​

Three buttons sit under both cards. Each one acts on its own.

ButtonEffect
SaveLights up only while the form differs from what is saved. A typed password always counts as a change. On success the page says Saved. and empties the password field.
CheckConnects to both servers and leaves. It sends nothing. It tests what is on screen, saved or not.
Forget the accountShows once an account is saved. It asks for a second press, Confirm: forget the account. Then the page says Account forgotten. and resets the form.

The hint under the buttons reads « Check » tests the connection to the IMAP and SMTP servers. The answer of Check is one line per server, IMAP then SMTP. A server that answered says connected. A server that failed says why.

The page waits 40 seconds for Check before it gives up with No answer from the server in time.

Leaving with unsaved changes​

When the form holds unsaved changes, leaving the page asks first. This covers another page in the rail, the back button, the window's close button and a link into Settings. The dialog is titled Save changes? and offers three buttons:

ButtonEffect
SaveSaves, then leaves. A failed save keeps you on the page and says why.
Don’t saveLeaves and drops the changes.
CancelStays on the page.

Mail is the only Settings page with this dialog today.

Errors​

Every error is a sentence. An unknown code shows Mail failed ({{code}}). The ones this page can show:

SentenceCause
Login or password refused by the server.Wrong address or password.
Server unreachable.The host or port did not answer.
Encrypted connection refused (certificate).TLS failed.
No answer from the server in time.Timeout.
No app password saved.Check with no typed and no saved password.
Invalid password.The typed password is only spaces, or longer than 512 characters.
Invalid address.The address is not a mail address.
Invalid display name.Too long, or holds a line break or ", <, >.
Invalid IMAP server.Bad host, port or encryption.
Invalid SMTP server.Bad host, port or encryption.
Unknown preset.The preset is not in the list.
The saved account cannot be read.The stored account is unreadable.
Could not encrypt and save the account.Sealing or writing failed.
The mail module is not installed in this version.The build lacks the mail library.
Mail failed.Any other failure.