Big IMAP Help
Frequently Asked Questions

Below are answers to our most frequently asked questions.
If you need further assistance, please contact us.
General
What is IMAP?
  • IMAP stands for Internet Message Access Protocol. It is a method of accessing electronic mail that is kept on a mail server. More information about IMAP can be found at www.imap.org
Does Big IMAP show advertisements?
  • No. Big IMAP will not show you ads on webmail, nor will we embed ads or taglines on your outgoing email.
Will you sell my email address or other information to anyone?
  • No. We aren't in the e-mail advertising business. The only communications you will receive from us to your new email address will be your monthly account statement and any administrative emails that your account usage dictates. Of course, if we have any important communications regarding company developments (outages, new services, changes in our account terms), we will notify you in a timely manner.
How do I cancel my account?
  • Accounts can be canceled at any time with zero penalty. Please contact customer support to cancel your account.
How do I change my credit card data?
  • We have a web interface to update your credit card information.
  • If your credit card is declined for any reason, or if your credit card expires, we will send you an email to your Big IMAP account requesting that you update your credit card information.
  • If you do not respond within seven days, we will notify you using your alternate email address, if you provided one.
  • If 14 days pass without a response, we will attempt to contact you via your billing address.
  • If we still cannot reach you, your account will be locked until you provide us with an alternate method of payment.
I lost my password. What do I do?
Spam
What kind of spam filtering do you offer?
  • Every account can optionally turn on spam filtering on the filter page. We currently use Spam Assassin, which is one of the best spam utilities available. Spam-flagged email can be filtered to a folder or to Trash through the filter interface.
Can I turn off spam filtering?
  • Yes, just visit the filter page and click "Disable SpamAssassin Filtering"
Aliases
What are aliases?
  • Aliases are other addresses you create which will be routed to your email account. For example, my email address may be william@smith.com, but I might want to create aliases bill@smith.com, and sales@smith.com for various purposes. One purpose may be to filter incoming mail based on which address it was sent to.
What are +aliases?
  • Plus aliases are another form of alias. These can be created without using a Big IMAP interface, and are often used in situations where you don't want to give out your real email address. A plus alias is created by appending a '+' and arbitrary characters to the name of an email address or aliases. For example, if my email address was william@smith.com, I could give out william+123@smith.com or william+nospam@smith.com. Emails sent to these addresses would be delivered to william@smith.com automatically.
How many aliases are allowed per account?
  • You may create up to 30 aliases per an account. There is no limit on +aliases.
Custom Domains
How do I get my own domain?
  • Big IMAP will register and configure one custom domain for each paid user account. To aquire the domain, select "Register an extra domain" link on the "Manage Your Account" menu. After registering the domain, you can add one or more aliases that use that domain.
  • If you have already registered a domain through another service, you may still use us for the mail services.
  • To use domains aquired from other registrars, you will need to point the site's MX record(s) to the Big IMAP servers listed in your Account Information page. If you register your domain through Big IMAP, we will manage your MX records for you.
What does it mean to "point MX records" and how do I do that?
  • Your domain’s MX or MAIL RECORD is used to control where email sent to your domain will go.
  • Most domain administrators will allow you to have multiple MX records assigned, for example MX0, MX10, MX20 and MX30. This allows you to specify alternate mail servers in case a server is down. This is called MX Priority. The lowest number MX record is the first one attempted for delivery. It is only necessary to assign the lowest priority record to the 'bigimap.com' server.
  • For example: if you have the option of assigning MX0, give it the value specified in your account information page, such as 'c2.bigimap.com'. Otherwise you would assign the next lowest MX number (i.e., MX5 or MX10). This tells all email addressed to your domain to go to the Big IMAP mail server where you can pick it up.
  • Typically, MX records can be found in the "domain control" or "DNS Control" section of your domain administrator's interface.
Can I use more than one of my own domains with a Big IMAP account?
  • Yes, you can use up to 30 domains per an account. There is no additional charge per domain.
Can I use aliases with my own domain?
  • Yes, but you are limited to 30 total aliases.
Can I use aliases with my own domain in addition to house domains?
  • Yes, you can create any combination of aliases and domains, as long as you stay within the 30-alias limit.
Can my friend get an address using my domain?
  • Yes. If you use your own domain with Big IMAP, you can create a secret (password) for the domain and give it out to friends/family/coworkers. When your friend purchases a Big IMAP account and creates an email address under that domain, the system will prompt them for the secret.
Do you handle the DNS for my own domain?
  • No, but this service is typically offered free by companies that sell domains.
How can I receive all mail sent to my domain?
  • Yes. You may create a "*" catchall alias for your domain, for instance, *@smith.com. Simply go to the alias page and add the alias "*" at your domain.
Miscellaneous
What email programs do you recommend for use with Big IMAP?
How do I access my webmail?

    Every Big IMAP account has a webmail URL. To find your URL, please login and go to the Account Information Page.

What bandwidth limitations do you have?
  • We have no formal limitations; however, we do monitor bandwidth use to prevent abuse.
  • Abuse includes actives such as sending spam, and using the system for ongoing multi-user file sharing.
IMAP support
Does your IMAP server support MULTIAPPEND?
  • Yes
Does your IMAP server support IDLE?
  • Yes