Configuring a Server for Incoming Mail

Configuring your Confluence server to receive emails from another POP or IMAP mail server allows your users to create pages and reply to page comments with email.

You need System Administrator permissions in order to configure Confluence's email server settings.

Configuring Confluence to receive email messages

To configure Confluence to receive incoming mail:

  1. Go to Administration  > General Configuration > Mail Servers. This will list all currently configured servers.
  2. Select Add a new POP mail server or Add a new IMAP mail server, or edit an existing server.
  3. Complete the fields on this page, using the below table as a guide. All fields are required unless specified otherwise.

    Name

    The default is POP server or IMAP server.

    You may want to change it to another name if you are configuring more than one mail server of the same type.

    To addressSpecify a valid email address for Confluence to retrieve emails from.
    Server hostname

    Specify the hostname or IP address of your POP or IMAP mail server.

    Below are the mail server settings for Google and Microsoft:

    Protocol

    Select whether your POP or IMAP mail server uses a standard (i.e. POP3 or IMAP) or secure (i.e. POP3S or IMAPS) protocol.

    To use the OAuth 2.0 integration as your authorization method, select a secure protocol.

    Server port

    This is the port that will be used to retrieve mail from your POP OR IMAP account. When you select a protocol, the port will be changed to the default value. The defaults are:

    • POP: 110

    • POP3S: 995

    • IMAP: 143

    • IMAPS: 993

    You may specify your own custom port.

    Authorization

    Select a way to authenticate to the mail server. The default value is Basic Authentication.

    To use the OAuth 2.0 authorization method here, you will need to first configure Confluence as an OAuth 2.0 client in Application links. Learn how to configure an outgoing link with some notes below: 

    • If Microsoft is the external provider, the following scopes must be entered in the Scopes field:
      • https://outlook.office.com/IMAP.AccessAsUser.All (required for an IMAP mail server)
      • https://outlook.office.com/POP.AccessAsUser.All (required for a POP3 mail server)
      • offline_access (required for any mail server)
    • If Google is the external provider, https://mail.google.com is the only scope required for either POP3 or IMAP mail server
    UsernameThis is the username used to authenticate your mail account.
    Password

    This field is only required if you are using basic authentication.

    This is the password for your mail account.

    Google and Microsoft have disabled using passwords as an authentication method. To connect to your Gmail or Microsoft Exchange Online account, you’ll need to use OAuth 2.0 as your authorization method. See the "Authorization" row in this table to learn how to do this.

  4. Once completed, select Authorize. You will be redirected to your service provider's site to log in to your account and authorize the connection. After the connection is authorized successfully, you will be redirected back to your app.
  5. Select Test Connection to check that Confluence can communicate with the mail server that you have just configured.

  6. Select Submit to save the new mail server. If you forget to select Submit, the mail server configuration will not be saved even after its connection is authorized.

Troubleshooting

If you experience any errors while authorizing or testing the connection, check the application link has been configured correctly. See Linking to another application

If this keeps happening, inspect atlassian-confluence.log for specific error details. See Working with Confluence logs to learn how to do this. For help diagnosing any issues, reach out to Support.

Last modified on Aug 22, 2023

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