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Connection help

Connect an IMAP mailbox (Yahoo, Orange…)

Standard mailboxes (Yahoo, Orange, and many others) connect to Bostaji over IMAP, with an app password. Here is how to do it, simply.

In one sentence

IMAP has no “sign in with” button like Gmail or Outlook: you create an app password with your provider, then you enter it in Bostaji. Bostaji keeps it in your computer's secure vault, and never puts it in plain text in a file.

Why an “app password”

Most providers (Yahoo, Orange, etc.) protect your account with two-step verification. As a result, they do not let an application connect with your usual password: they ask you to create a dedicated app password, from your account's security settings. It is a single-purpose password for one specific application, which you can revoke whenever you want without changing your main password.

The exact steps to create this password depend on your provider. In your account's security settings, look for the “app password” section.

Step by step

  1. 1. Create an app password with your provider.

    In your account's security settings (Yahoo, Orange…), create an app password for Bostaji. Copy it: it is usually shown only once.

    [SCREENSHOT — a provider's “app password” screen — to be added]

  2. 2. In Bostaji, choose “Connect another mailbox (IMAP)”.

    Bostaji asks for your email address and the app password you just created. For common providers, the technical settings (server, port) are recognised automatically.

    [SCREENSHOT — the app's IMAP connection screen — to be added]

  3. 3. Bostaji checks the connection and you're set.

    Bostaji tests the connection to your mailbox, then keeps the app password in your computer's system vault (Keychain on macOS, DPAPI on Windows). You do not have to re-enter it every time you open the app.

What makes this step safe

  • A dedicated, revocable password. The app password is only used by Bostaji. You can delete it with your provider at any time, without touching your main password.
  • Kept in the system vault. Bostaji never stores this password in plain text in a file that other applications could read, and never transmits it to a third-party server.
  • Encrypted communication. The connection to your mailbox goes through an encrypted link (TLS), the standard of the secure web.

Stuck during the connection? Write to us, we get back to you quickly. Connecting a Gmail mailbox instead? See the Gmail help. An Outlook / Microsoft mailbox? See the Outlook help.