SnappyMail

What it's good for#

SnappyMail lets you read and send mail from any browser, on a borrowed laptop or a work computer, with nothing to install and nothing to set up on that machine. It's quick and light, with folders, search, signatures, and a layout that works on a phone screen too.

It doesn't hold any mail itself. It's a window onto a mail server, and on LibrePortal that's Stalwart.

Signing in#

There's no account to create in SnappyMail. Open it with the Webmail button and sign in with your full email address, like anna@example.com, and the password of that mailbox in Stalwart. Each person sees only their own mail.

If Stalwart is installed, that's all there is to it. LibrePortal tells SnappyMail about every domain Stalwart carries mail for, and keeps it up to date: add a domain to Stalwart, reinstall it, or remove it, and SnappyMail follows. It's the Mail server connection on SnappyMail's Works with list, and it says Connected once both are installed. If you install SnappyMail first, it connects as soon as Stalwart arrives.

The admin panel#

SnappyMail also has an admin panel, for plugins, security settings and the domains it knows. Open it with the Admin Panel button (it's the same address with /?admin on the end). The login is admin, with the password from the Login Details when the install finished; press Welcome on the app's page to see it again.

Out of the box SnappyMail makes up a random admin password on its first visit and leaves it in a file inside the app, where nobody would find it. LibrePortal sets its own instead, so the password is where you'd look for it. It puts that password back every time SnappyMail is installed or its settings are saved, so a password changed inside the admin panel doesn't last. To change it for good, change it in LibrePortal.

You won't need the admin panel for everyday mail. Domains you add there yourself are left alone by LibrePortal; the ones that come from Stalwart are LibrePortal's to manage.

Tools and settings#

Mail Server on the Config tab says which mail server SnappyMail signs people in to. Leave it on Automatic, which means the mail server installed on this server.

Reconnect Mail Server on the Tools tab writes SnappyMail's settings again for every domain Stalwart carries. It normally happens by itself; run it if a domain's sign-in doesn't work, for example after adding a domain in Stalwart's own admin console rather than with LibrePortal's tools.

Good to know#

• Use HTTPS if it's public. People type their mail password into SnappyMail, so if you open it to the internet, give it a domain (webmail.example.com) so that password is encrypted on the way. At home, keeping it private and using the VPN when you're out is simpler.
• Backups include its settings and each person's SnappyMail preferences. The mail itself is Stalwart's, and backed up with Stalwart.
• Updates are automatic.
• Timezone. Installs made before 0.4.7 run SnappyMail on UTC, because of a mistake in its setup. Installs from 0.4.7 get the server's timezone. To fix an older install, press Update Configuration on its Config tab once LibrePortal is on 0.4.7: that sets it up again from the corrected template, and its settings are kept.
• One per server. One SnappyMail already serves every mailbox on every domain.