{"id":27,"date":"2026-09-06T00:00:58","date_gmt":"2026-09-05T18:30:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hostcrafter.com\/kb\/creating-a-mailbox\/"},"modified":"2026-09-06T17:36:33","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T12:06:33","slug":"create-professional-email-address","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hostcrafter.com\/kb\/create-professional-email-address\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Create a Professional Email Address on Your Domain"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>An address on your own domain, <code>hello@yourdomain.com<\/code> rather than a free mail account, is one of the cheapest things you can do for how a business reads.<\/strong> It takes about a minute here, and there is nothing to buy: mailboxes are included with your hosting.<\/p>\n<dl class=\"hc-facts\">\n<div>\n<dt>Takes<\/dt>\n<dd>About a minute<\/dd>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<dt>Costs<\/dt>\n<dd>Included with your plan<\/dd>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<dt>Read it in<\/dt>\n<dd>Webmail, or any mail app<\/dd>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<dt>Where<\/dt>\n<dd>Panel \u2192 Email<\/dd>\n<\/div>\n<\/dl>\n<nav class=\"hc-toc\">\n<h2>On this page<\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li><a href=\"#create\">Create the Mailbox<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#webmail\">Read It in the Browser<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#apps\">Set It Up in a Mail App<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#names\">What to Call It<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#delivery\">Making Sure It Arrives<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#wordpress\">Email Sent by WordPress Is Different<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#faq\">Questions<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/nav>\n<h2 id=\"create\">Create the Mailbox<\/h2>\n<p>Open your hosting account in the client area and choose <strong>Email<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"hc-fig\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/hostcrafter.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/email-section-c7852b314c.webp\" alt=\"The Email screen: the webmail button, the mailboxes on the account, and the IMAP and SMTP settings for a mail app\" width=\"1956\" height=\"1420\" class=\"wp-image-129\" decoding=\"async\" srcset=\"https:\/\/hostcrafter.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/email-section-c7852b314c.webp 1956w, https:\/\/hostcrafter.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/email-section-c7852b314c-300x218.webp 300w, https:\/\/hostcrafter.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/email-section-c7852b314c-1024x743.webp 1024w, https:\/\/hostcrafter.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/email-section-c7852b314c-768x558.webp 768w, https:\/\/hostcrafter.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/email-section-c7852b314c-1536x1115.webp 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1956px) 100vw, 1956px\" \/><figcaption>The Email screen: webmail, the mailboxes on the account, and the settings for a mail app.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ol class=\"hc-steps\">\n<li>\n<h3>Press Create Mailbox<\/h3>\n<p>The count above the list tells you how many your plan includes and how many are in use.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3>Type the address<\/h3>\n<p>The box reads left to right as the whole address: you type the part before the <code>@<\/code> and pick the domain from the menu beside it. Letters, numbers, dots and dashes.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"hc-fig narrow\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/hostcrafter.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/email-create-dialog-ee4eaa38e3.webp\" alt=\"The Create a Mailbox dialog, where the address and the domain are one control reading left to right\" width=\"992\" height=\"644\" class=\"wp-image-130\" decoding=\"async\" srcset=\"https:\/\/hostcrafter.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/email-create-dialog-ee4eaa38e3.webp 992w, https:\/\/hostcrafter.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/email-create-dialog-ee4eaa38e3-300x195.webp 300w, https:\/\/hostcrafter.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/email-create-dialog-ee4eaa38e3-768x499.webp 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 992px) 100vw, 992px\" \/><figcaption>The address and the domain are one control, so the thing being created is on screen as a whole.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3>Save the password<\/h3>\n<p>One is generated for you, and you can make another. <strong>Copy it before you close the dialog.<\/strong> It is not shown again. If it is lost, set a new one from the mailbox&#8217;s <strong>Password<\/strong> button.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>The mailbox works immediately. It can send and receive as soon as it exists.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"webmail\">Read It in the Browser<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Open Webmail<\/strong> at the top of the Email screen. Sign in with the <strong>full email address<\/strong> as the username (<code>hello@yourdomain.com<\/code>, not <code>hello<\/code>) and the mailbox password.<\/p>\n<p>Webmail needs nothing installed and works from any computer, which makes it the right way to check mail from somewhere that is not your own machine. For everyday use, a real mail app is nicer.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"apps\">Set It Up in Apple Mail, Outlook or Gmail<\/h2>\n<p>The <strong>Mail app settings<\/strong> block on the Email screen prints exactly what your app will ask for. The shape is always the same:<\/p>\n<div class=\"hc-tw\"><table>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Incoming<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>IMAP, port <strong>993<\/strong>, SSL\/TLS<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Outgoing<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>SMTP, port <strong>587<\/strong>, STARTTLS<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Username<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>The full email address<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Password<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>The mailbox password<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table><\/div>\n<div class=\"hc-cal tip\"> <b>Choose IMAP, not POP.<\/b> IMAP keeps the mail on the server, so your phone and your laptop see the same inbox and the same read messages. POP downloads mail to one device and takes it away from the others, which is a problem you discover on holiday. <\/div>\n<p>Two things that account for most setup failures:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>The username is the whole address.<\/strong> Apps often guess at just the first part.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Outgoing mail needs authentication.<\/strong> If your app has a &#8220;my outgoing server requires authentication&#8221; box, tick it and use the same username and password. Without it, sending is refused, and deliberately so: a server that relays mail without asking who you are is a server that sends spam for strangers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 id=\"names\">What to Call It<\/h2>\n<p>A small thing that changes how a business reads:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><code>hello@<\/code> or <code>contact@<\/code> for a general address, and warmer than <code>info@<\/code>, which reads like a form.<\/li>\n<li><code>yourname@<\/code> for anything you want answered by a person.<\/li>\n<li><code>orders@<\/code>, <code>support@<\/code>, <code>accounts@<\/code> for the jobs that outlive whoever is doing them.<\/li>\n<li>Avoid <code>noreply@<\/code> for anything a customer might sensibly reply to.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 id=\"delivery\">Making Sure It Arrives<\/h2>\n<p>Mail from a new domain has no reputation, and spam filters treat unknown senders carefully. The Email screen holds the DNS records that fix this \u2014 an MX record, plus SPF, DKIM and DMARC \u2014 folded away per domain, because they are needed once by whoever sets the domain up and never again.<\/p>\n<p><strong>If we run your DNS, they are already in place.<\/strong> If your DNS is elsewhere, copy them across; until you do, mail you send is likely to be filtered.<\/p>\n<div class=\"hc-cal\"> <b>Send a first message to a Gmail address and check it is not in spam.<\/b> Two minutes now, rather than finding out from a customer who never got your reply. <\/div>\n<h2 id=\"wordpress\">Email Sent by WordPress Is a Different Thing<\/h2>\n<p>A mailbox is for mail you read and write. The mail your <em>website<\/em> sends \u2014 order confirmations, contact form notifications, password resets \u2014 comes from WordPress, and it is worth pointing that at a proper sending service rather than letting PHP post it directly. That is a separate setup, and worth doing before a shop goes live.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"faq\">Questions<\/h2>\n<div class=\"hc-faq\">\n<h3>How many mailboxes do I get?<\/h3>\n<p>It depends on your plan, and the Email screen prints it as &#8220;N of M used&#8221;.<\/p>\n<h3>Can I forward mail to Gmail instead?<\/h3>\n<p>Yes, and many people do. Be aware that forwarded mail sometimes fails a receiving server&#8217;s checks because it arrives from us rather than from the original sender. Reading it over IMAP in the Gmail app avoids that entirely.<\/p>\n<h3>Can I create an alias or a catch-all?<\/h3>\n<p>Open a ticket for either. Catch-alls do attract a lot of spam, so it is worth saying what you are trying to solve.<\/p>\n<h3>Is my mail backed up?<\/h3>\n<p>Mailboxes are a separate system from your website backups, which cover files and databases. If a mailbox holds something you cannot lose, keep a copy in a mail app that stores mail locally.<\/p>\n<h3>What happens to my mailboxes if I delete the website?<\/h3>\n<p>Ask us before you do. Removing a website is about files and databases; mail on that domain is worth a deliberate decision rather than a side effect.<\/p>\n<h3>Why is my outgoing mail refused?<\/h3>\n<p>Almost always the &#8220;outgoing server requires authentication&#8221; setting, unticked. Tick it and use the full address and mailbox password.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"hc-rel\">\n<h2>Read next<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"\/kb\/file-manager-and-sftp\/\">File Manager and SFTP: Two Ways Into Your Files<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"\/kb\/create-mysql-database\/\">How to Create a MySQL Database<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"\/kb\/automatic-wordpress-backups\/\">Automatic Backups: What Is Taken, and When<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Make hello@yourdomain.com in the panel, read it in webmail, and set it up in Apple Mail, Outlook or Gmail. The settings, and the records that matter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-email"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hostcrafter.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hostcrafter.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hostcrafter.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hostcrafter.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hostcrafter.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/hostcrafter.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":151,"href":"https:\/\/hostcrafter.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27\/revisions\/151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hostcrafter.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hostcrafter.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hostcrafter.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}