E-mail App - How does IMAP/SMTP automatic settings lookup work?

[Windows Central Question]

Hi,

I would like for the e-mail app to automatically discover the correct IMAP/SMTP settings that correspond with an e-mail address. This is -not- an exchange server. I have this working via automx.org for Office/Outlook and Thunderbird, but I'm not having much luck with the mail app on windows phones.

My question is- does anyone know how exactly windows phone tries to automatically detect the email settings when setting up a new e-mail account? Is there anything I can do (through DNS SRV records? or autoconfig/autodiscover/ or something else that is windows-phone specific?)

Thanks in advance!

 

[N_LaRUE]

I could be wrong here and I would be happy to be proven wrong but I don't think there's any 'automatic' settings for IMAP/SMTP on WP.

Set up or delete an email account on Windows Phone | Windows Phone How-to (United States)

 

[aximtreo]

It doesn't know what to do automatically. That's because the WP email app needs to know whether you want to set up Pop account or imap account. For instance, if you try the manual setup, it will give you the ability to enter the incoming and outgoing servers so the particular mail you want to setup will work. I use cox for my email and I simply enter imap.cox.net or incoming and smtp.cox.net for out going server.

Give the manual setup a try using imap.whatever your mail provider is.net or com and the same for smtp.

Sorry if this confuses you but if you give it a try, it may solve your problems with setup.

I forgot to mention that imap and pop accounts are setup using the "other then internet" setting under add email account.

 

[0f7fea90-768d]

OP Here,

Thanks for the reply. Shame Windows Phone doesn't support something like this. When configuring there is a little notification in the top: "We're looking for your settings" which eventually fails, so I had assumed there is some kind of mechanism that attempts to auto-configure the settings for the e-mail account I am trying to add.

I know how to do it manually- though I would like to offer autoconfiguration for those that attempt to connect with my mailserver, just to make it easier for them. That way they won't have to bother with manual configuration.

Too bad something like this doesn't seem possible.

Cheers,

 

[Laura Knotek]

OP Here,

Thanks for the reply. Shame Windows Phone doesn't support something like this. When configuring there is a little notification in the top: "We're looking for your settings" which eventually fails, so I had assumed there is some kind of mechanism that attempts to auto-configure the settings for the e-mail account I am trying to add.

I know how to do it manually- though I would like to offer autoconfiguration for those that attempt to connect with my mailserver, just to make it easier for them. That way they won't have to bother with manual configuration.

Too bad something like this doesn't seem possible.

Cheers,

Sometimes automatic configurations don't even work on desktop email clients such as Outlook or Thunderbird. I wasn't able to automatically set up my email account from my ISP (Time-Warner) in Outlook 2010 or 2013. I had to visit Time-Warner's website to find the incoming/outgoing server settings and add them manually.

 

[N_LaRUE]

Sometimes automatic configurations don't even work on desktop email clients such as Outlook or Thunderbird. I wasn't able to automatically set up my email account from my ISP (Time-Warner) in Outlook 2010 or 2013. I had to visit Time-Warner's website to find the incoming/outgoing server settings and add them manually.

I don't think I've ever set up an automatic email account (and I've set up a few) unless there was a script that could be run. The only automatic system I've run across is Outlook 2013 and Outlook.com accounts and that's it.

 

[0f7fea90-768d]

Sometimes automatic configurations don't even work on desktop email clients such as Outlook or Thunderbird. I wasn't able to automatically set up my email account from my ISP (Time-Warner) in Outlook 2010 or 2013. I had to visit Time-Warner's website to find the incoming/outgoing server settings and add them manually.

Yeah, Outlook and thunderbird send autodiscover requests similar to how exchange does it. I've set up a server that serves the server settings (autodiscover.<domain>) in XML layout to Outlook/Thunderbird clients. So this way users now automatically get the correct configuration when configuring Outlook or Thunderbird. But sadly I've been unable to find a solution that works for windows phone as well.