Moonfruit Lounge - Domain name

From domain to email in just a few simple steps. No Joke!!!

Walt — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 09:00:00 +0100

Well, more half a dozen simple steps than just a few. But it is fairly simple.

Once your domain order is complete, you can associate your domain with your website. You can also create up to five individual mailboxes with your domain. Within each mailbox you will also be able to create as many unique aliases as you wish. Alternatively you can also forward your addresses to external email accounts like GoogleMail, Yahoo and Hotmail, which you already own or have access to.

For a quick introduction on how to set up your email just read the instructions below...

Creating your first email address

First things first!

You can either forward to an external email address eg, Gmail, Yahoo or Hotmail, or you can set up your own mailboxes, but you cannot do both.

If you use forwarding you can set up aliases that will forward all mail to your chosen external account. However, if you set up mailboxes (maximum of five), then you can assign each mailbox its own password access plus give each one an unlimited number of aliases. Additionally, you can also choose how to access your mailboxes: through webmail online, or through an email client like Outlook, Thunderbird or Mac Mail etc.

To begin with:

Log in to the portal eg, moonfruit.com or log in to your site
Go to the ‘Domains’ section on either the portal toolbar or your website toolbar
Go to ’Manage’
Locate your domain - If you haven’t already you can assign your domain name to a website in your account
Click on the ‘Email & Settings’ link
Decide whether you wish to forward your emails to an external email address or you wish to create one or more mailboxes.

Forwarding your emails to another address

If you are going to forward your emails to an existing address you need to decide the aliases you want use and then enter the external email address you want all your mail to forward to. We provide a number of preset aliases ie, admin, support, info, but you can replace, remove or simply add to this list of addresses.

NB. If you set up your email to forward to an external account, you will not be able to set up access to that address through a client eg, Outlook or Mac Mail. You need a mailbox to do this, so when you forward your emails a mailbox just simply doesn't exist! Forwarding emails just passes the email onto another address.

Setting up a Mailbox

If on the other hand you want your address to be a mailbox where you can send and receive mail, then you can set up one to five mailboxes e.g admin@mysite.com, support@mysite.com, info@mysite.com.

The mailbox names should all be simple, understandable and as short as possible. You do not need mysite.com@mysite.com. You are better creating something that is easy for users to remember or type.

Each mailbox has its own password so that you can, if you wish set up each mailbox independently, to make it secure eg, one for the sales team, one for support, one for admin, one for management. Each mailbox password is separate from your website login, so please ensure you remember, store or save the details.

Once you set up a mailbox you can set up aliases eg, The sales@mysite.com mailbox could have john@mysite.com, suzi@mysite.com, imran@mysite.com – the Sales team - as aliases. Each team member could use the password to access the sales mailbox.

NB. A word of warning though. All aliases MUST be unique, that is they must not be duplicated under another mailbox or in fact match another mailbox. Any duplication will cause incoming mail to those addresses to fail as the system will not know which mailbox to deliver the mail to.

Each mailbox is pre-populated with four aliases which can be used or removed. These are: mail, info, support, admin.

Now What?

Use the ‘Open my webmail’ button to access your email account online. And make note of the URL in the browser address bar for direct access to your mail online. For more details on Webmail you can read an article we published on the Lounge.

If you prefer to use an email client then we have another article on how to set this up with the likes of Outlook, Mail etc.

Use the ‘Change my settings’ link to change your password.

And that, as they say, is that. Good luck and enjoy using your email.

Transferring your domain to SiteMaker - Lock, Tag and two smoking emails

Walt — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 17:38:00 +0000

Transferring your domain name from your current domain name provider to SiteMaker should be easy. But the process can be as complicated as an East End heist gone wrong in a Guy Ritchie film. And what makes matters worse is that it differs between registries, the organisations who have overall control of the specific TLDs (top level domains) e.g. .com, .uk, .eu, .name, .biz, .info. The registries are the domain wholesalers.

Then there are the registrars, who are the domain retailers, better known as domain name providers who have their own rules of engagement. And still the plot thickens. Add to this tags versus auth codes, automatic domain locking, a small matter of confirmation emails and you have the dark underworld of domain name transfer.

But there is a happy ending! Read on and hopefully we'll be able to straighten out the twists and turns of the transfer process...

The Main Issues

So what can delay a domain transfer from being processed? Frankly, lots!

Domain locking - Firstly you cannot transfer a domain if it is locked. Some providers do this automatically so they need to be asked to unlock the domain.
Sixty days - When a domain is first created all registrars block transfer out in the first sixty days. Some registrars also apply this restriction within sixty days of expiry. So you may wish to check 1. what rules your domain name provider (registrar) have around transfers out, and 2. creation and expiry dates.
Wrong Email Address - When you request a domain transfer a confirmation email is sent to the email address you originally registered against your domain name (unless you updated it). This ensures, for legal reasons, that the correct owner of the domain confirms that they have requested the transfer. The trouble is many people change email addresses and forget to update this very important contact point so they don't get the confirmation email. If the email isn't replied to or isn't done exactly as described in the email then the transfer will fail. In the case of our transfer confirmation email it must be replied to with only the transfer code left in the body - but full instructions are given in the email.
Supply the correct 'TAG' - A tag is created for each registrar by Nominet (the registry that controls .uk domains). Initiating a .uk transfer requires the domain owner to supply a 'tag' to their current domain name provider (registrar). This is what is known as a 'push' process so by supplying your current provider with the tag e.g. 'GANDI', your domain will be 'pushed' towards the new domain name provider, in this case us. If this tag is not supplied or it is incorrect then the 'push' will not be initiated and the transfer will fail, so just remember to supply your current provider with the tag 'GANDI'.
Getting an 'Auth' code - The bulk of the other domain transfers, e.g. .com, .net, .biz, .org, use what is known as a 'pull' process. Unlike .uk transfers, the owner of the domain must go to their current domain name provider and request an authorisation code or 'Auth' code. This is then provided to the receiving provider during the transfer process. Most donating providers put a time limit on the Auth code so if action isn't taken quickly then the Auth code can expire and the transfer fail. The other bigger trap is transcribing (reading and retyping) the Auth code. It is not uncommon for users to mistake l (L) and I (i) or 0 (zero) and O (letter o). So the surest way to not make a mistake is to copy and paste where possible.
Contact Details - When setting up the transfer any missing or incorrect address details will cause the transfer to stall. Check that full and accurate address and postcode details are provided and that the phone number format is correct. Also ensure you use exactly the same name you provided to your current provider as any minor difference will delay the process.
Country Restrictions - Finally, some registries (the guys that have overall control of the TLDs) set rules over domain ownership. For example if you wish to own a .eu domain, then you MUST provide an address with the EU. This is more noticeable when buying a domain but some domain owners move countries and this may cause a transfer to fail.

Transferring .uk Domains

Want to know how to make your .uk domain transfer flow smoothly? Just follow the steps below:

Email access - also check with your current provider what email address is registered against your domain. If necessary, change it.
Tag - supply your current domain name provider with the new tag, 'GANDI'
Contact Details - ensure that the contact details you provide in our domains module match those held by your current provider
Email action - Once you receive the confirmation email from Gandi you must take action - reply to the email, in plain text, changing only the body of the email i.e. removing everything in the email body except the transfer code (code.../ACCEPT)
Have patience - Transfers can sometimes take days, sometimes weeks. This often depends on how quickly you respond, the accuracy of your tag or contact details and how quick your current provider take action to release your domain from their service. While this is the Internet, the process is not instant!

Transferring Other Domains e.g. .com, .net, .org

To ensure a pain free transfer of your .com (or .net, .org, .name, etc etc) please just follow the steps below:

Unlock - check with your current provider that the domain is unlocked and available for transfer
Email access - also check with your current provider what email address is registered against your domain. If necessary, change it.
Auth Code - request an Auth code (authorisation code) from your current domain name provider. You must get this before starting the process as you will be asked for this during the transfer process. And try to copy and paste it to ensure there are no 'typos'
Contact Details - ensure that the contact details you provide in our domains module match those held by your current provider
Email action - Once you receive the confirmation email from Gandi you must take action - reply to the email, in plain text, changing only the body of the email i.e. removing everything in the email body except the transfer code (code.../ACCEPT)
Have patience - Transfers can sometimes take days, sometimes weeks. This often depends on how quickly you respond, the accuracy of your Auth code and contact details and how quick your current provider takes action to release your domain from their service. While this is the Internet, this process is not instant!

What about my emails?

If you value your emails and wish to transfer your domain name into us you should be aware of a few things:

If you use webmail then your emails will be stored on your current domain name provider's mail servers. If you transfer your domain across to us then you will lose ALL your emails as they will remain, and no doubt be deleted from, the mail servers of your current provider. If this is important to you then please see the next point.
If you use an email client e.g. Outlook, (Mac) Mail, Thunderbird, then you will need to store copies of your emails locally (on your computer) to ensure you save copies. Most email clients will provide an option to do this. Make sure you save copies of your emails before you initiate the transfer to ensure you have full access to your mail while you still have access.
If you wish to set up a client so that you can save copies of your emails then please refer to our article on this subject: Getting Connected: Setting up your email client

Jargon Buster

Registries: The controlling organisations which include three of the main registries: Nominet, who control .uk domains; Verisign who control .com and .net; Public Interest Registry, who control .org.

Registrars: Your domain name provider.

Auth Code: Authorisation Code, supplied by your current domain name provider (registrar) to transfer your .com, .net, .org, .biz, .mobi etc. This must be supplied to your new domain name provider so that they can request or 'pull' the domain across. This is usually a string of letters, numbers of combination of both, and often in mixed upper lower case letters.

Tag: A "TAG" is a handle or label specific to each registrar. This is only important when you wish to transfer a .uk domain. It is usually obtained from your new or receiving domain name provider (registrar) . It must be supplied to your existing or donating provider so that they can release or 'push' your domain over to the new provider. It usually consists of your new provider's name, so when transferring a .uk domain to us you would use our domain partner's name: GANDI

Locking: A lock placed on your domain by your current provider to stop it being transferred. Some providers automatically lock it, so you must request it to be unlocked for the transfer to take place.

Confirmation email: You will be sent an email asking you to confirm that you requested the domain name transfer. Two key points: 1. It will be sent to the email address you currently have registered against that domain e.g. when you first set it up, and 2. you must follow the 'acceptance' instructions in the email exactly for your confirmation to be accepted. This email generally requires a response within 5 days.

60 day rule: This is the minimum period of time required between the original domain creation date and the time after which transfers are permitted. This delay does apply to all registrars.

Patience: A quality required in ample amounts when transferring. It usually takes between one and six weeks for a transfer to complete although it has been known to take as little as a few days. If domains are locked, auth codes are wrong (or tags not supplied), emails aren't answered then it could take six weeks (worst case).

Getting Connected: Setting up your Webmail

Walt — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 19:27:00 +0000

So you're now the proud owner of a domain name or you've been one for while and you want to set up your email so that you can access it on line.

It's all pretty easy with webmail, you just have to remember to use your mailbox name and not an alias to log in. There are a few other rules but we'll cover those below. So if you need some help, have a problem to solve or you're just curious please read on...

Emails Online

Accessing your mail online is not unlike accessing mail from Gmail, Hotmail or Yahoo. All you need is access to the Internet, your login details and hey presto, you have mail! So even if you are miles from home or your own computer, you can access your mail. With our mail, you get 5 mailboxes, unlimited aliases and 1GB of disc space to store you mail.

Access

You can access your mail from the Domains module on Moonfruit.com where you can confirm your mailbox name. Or you can go direct to your webmail login page by using the following format: webmail.yourdomain.tld (where TLD means Top Level Domain e.g. .com, .co.uk, .net, .org). You can even save your webmail login page to your Favorites.

Once you open your webmail page:

1. Add your mail box name in the field (not one of your aliases)

2. The settings for "Interface" and "Open in new window" can be left alone

3. Tick the "Remember me" if you wish the system to remember your login details

4. Click "Login"

Once logged in you will see the usual tools and features including folder and email management, address book, mailbox settings and email rules.

FAQ

Q. Why am I getting an error when l try to log in?

A. The usual causes are incorrect password or using the wrong mailbox name. If you use an alias rather than the mailbox name the login will fail. To check this, just login to moonfruit.com, go to the Mange Domains section and click the 'Email & Settings' link beside your domain. The name of your mailbox or mailboxes will be listed. These are the ones you must use to login.

Q. Why am I not receiving my emails?

A. The most common problem is creating an alias that conflicts with one of your mailboxes. For example if you have mailboxes named Sales, Support and Billing and the Billing mail box also has an alias called Sales. If an email is sent to sales@ then the system won't know which mailbox to deliver it to, so it will fail. Please just check your aliases in all your mailboxes and remove any that conflict.

A. Sometimes when testing emails you may use a redirect externally, one that bounces your email back to your new email address. This is never guaranteed to work as some email systems view emails being sent back to themselves as redundant and delete or block their return. If you wish to test your email address use another external account or service to forward to.

Q. How much space do I get to store my emails?

A. With our webmail you get 1GB

Q. If I transfer my domain name to you, will my email be transferred as well?

A. If you are transferring your domain name to us, all your mail will be stored on you current provider's servers, so once the transfer completes your mail will be lost. We suggest using an email client (like Outlook, Mail, Thunderbird) to back up your mailbox locally onto your computer before you begin transferring your domain name.

Q. So how do I actually set up my email now that I have a domain?

A. This can be done quite simple through the Domains module. Locate your domain and click on the Email & Settings link. You can then either forward your email address to an external account or you can create up to five mailboxes. More details on creating your email addresses is available in another article: " From domain to email in just a few simple steps "

Q. How do I access my mail using an email application like Outlook?

A. Our webmail uses POP, IMAP and SMTP. Both POP (POP3 actually) and IMAP allow you to receive mail, while SMTP is used for sending mail. So any application (email client) that uses these 'protocols' will allow you to access your mail from your computer. These include MS Outlook, Mac Mail, Eudora, Mozilla Thunderbird. More details on how to set up an email client can be found in another article: " Getting Connected: Setting up your email client "

Jargon Buster

Alias: Alternative names you can give to a specific mailbox to provide more flexibility with your service. For example under the sales@myname mailbox you could have the names of your sales team e.g. john@, susi@, josh@ all of which would redirect to Sales. Be warned though that 'all' addresses must be unique.

Email Client: Another name for an application that allows you to access, manage and download your emails to your computer. These include MS Outlook, Mac Mail, Mozilla Thunderbird, Eudora and Opera Mail. To use these clients you need to set up your incoming and outgoing services e.g. POP, IMAP, SMTP.

Mail Forwarding: This means that you won't have a mailbox for receiving or sending mail and any mail sent to your new email address will not be stored on the server but redirected or forwarded to the email address you want to access it from e.g. me@mydomainname.com > me@gmail.com

Mailbox: This is an account you create using your domain name which allows you to view, save and send emails from. You can access your mailbox using webmail or by using an email client like Outlook, Mac Mail, Thunderbird etc. The mailbox name must be used as the username to login to it.

Webmail: This means accessing your email online, that is without an email application on your computer. The most common examples are Hotmail, Gmail and Yahoo, although our webmail also lets you access your mail over the internet

Getting Connected: Setting up your email client

Walt — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 18:05:00 +0000

So you've bought a domain name through Moonfruit, or maybe you've transferred your domain in to us. You want to know how to set it up with Outlook? Or perhaps Mac Mail or even Thunderbird. Any email client (application) that supports POP3 or IMAP (and SMTP) will permit you to set up an account to send and receive emails.

It's fairly straightforward (although using Webmail is even easier) but there are a couple of things you have to watch for. You may find you can't send emails (although receiving is OK) or you find you're sending emails OK but you just don't see them turning up in your Inbox. So, if you need some help, have a problem to solve or you're just curious please read on...

Email on your computer system

Email clients are applications or software that enable you to read, send and often save emails on your computer (as well as some mobile devices like iPhones and Blackberrys). The most commonly known and used clients are MS Outlook, Mac Mail, Eudora, Mozilla Thunderbird which all support POP and IMAP - essential protocols for setting up your email accounts.

Generally, setting up your email is quite a similar process for all clients. So where to start?

Once you have your domain set up, for example, sitemaker.com, you need to create your mailbox through the Moonfruit portal i.e. www.moonfruit.com which you can access through your website. The Domains module is where you can manage your domains, renewals, hide your Whois contact details, check your billing and manage your mailboxes.

We'll use Outlook as the example for setting up your email client due to it currently being the most popular client available. Just remember that Mac Mail, Mozilla Thunderbird etc will vary only a little with settings. So...

Setting Up - E-mail Accounts

The easiest way to set up your account is using POP3 or simply POP (IMAP works just as well and will be similar to set up)
Your name could be anything from Admin, John Smith, Johno987 - this is what your recipients will see in the 'From' section of your email
Email address is the full email (mailbox) address you set up with your domain name - the Mailbox name not any aliases
Your username will be your FULL mailbox address e.g. admin@sitemaker.com (not just "admin")
The password will be your mailbox password, NOT your SiteMaker (website) login
The format you use for your incoming (to receive mail) server will be, for example: pop.sitemaker.com
The format for your outgoing (to send mail) server will be, for example: smtp.sitemaker.com

NB. Click on the images to see a larger version with more detail.

So, is that it then?

Well, not quite. The final steps you need to complete setting up email are to be found in 'More Settings' on the main panel. Click this and a new panel will appear containing four tabs.

More Settings (the forgotten step)

The first tab in 'More Settings' is the 'General' tab. You only need confirm that the 'Email Account' matches your POP or incoming server address e.g. pop.sitemaker.com

The next tab is the 'Outgoing' tab. You need to check or select the 'My outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication' option.

Please note that the most important step is to ensure that you select 'Use same settings as my incoming mail server'. This will match the username and password between incoming and outgoing servers and ensure you can easily send and receive mail.

The 'Connection' tab settings are down to you and how you connect to the Internet but should normally be left alone using the defaults provided.

The same can be said of the 'Advanced' tab which controls the ports used. The defaults for the ports should normally be left alone also.

Once you have saved your settings, your email should now be ready to test and use.

NB. If you get an incoming/receiving error please double check your username matches your email address (mailbox name) and that the password is correct for your email account. If you get an outgoing/sending error please do check the 'Outgoing' tab and the same settings are used as your incoming mail server.

Additional Settings (should they be required)

The following 'Settings' are given using 'sitemaker.com' as an example should they be required beyond the default values:

User Name: your full email address i.e. support@sitemaker.com
Email type: POP3
Incoming mail server: pop.sitemaker.com
Incoming mail server port: leave as default - normally 110 (143 for POP SSL)
Outgoing mail server: smtp.sitemaker.com
Outgoing mail server port: 25 (465 or 587 for SMTP SSL)
Password: What was created when mail box created
Access Point: Choose own setting e.g. WIFI, 3G (whatever you use to access the web)

FAQ

Q. Why am I getting an error when I try to log in?

A. The usual causes are incorrect password or using the wrong mailbox name. If you use an alias rather than the mailbox name the login will fail. To check this, just login to moonfruit.com, go to the Manage Domains section and click the 'Email & Settings' link beside your domain. The name of your mailbox or mailboxes will be listed. These are the ones you must use to login.

Q. Why am I not receiving my emails?

A1. The most common problem is creating an alias that conflicts with one of your mailboxes. For example if you have mailboxes named Admin, Support and Sales and the Sales mail box also has an alias called Admin then an email sent to admin@mydomain.com may fail. The system won't know which mailbox to deliver it to, Admin or Sales (which has the alias Admin) so it is likely to fail. Please just check the aliases in all your mailboxes and remove all that conflict.

A2. Sometimes when testing emails you may try sending an email to yourself i.e. the from and to addresses are the same. This is never guaranteed to work as some email systems view emails being sent back to themselves as redundant and delete or block their return. If you wish to test your email address use another external account to test with e.g. Gmail, Hotmail or Yahoo.

Q. Why can't I send any emails?

A. The most common problem is not setting up the SMTP server correctly. Normally the main settings will be set up with correct username, password and server but the user forgets to set them up correctly on the Outgoing element of the account. The simplest way to correct this is to enable SMTP authentication, if provided, by selecting the "Use the same settings as my incoming mail server" option.

Q. How much space do I get to store my emails?

A. With our webmail you get 1GB

Q. If I transfer my domain name to you, will my email be transferred as well?

A. If you are transferring your domain name to us, all your mail will be stored on your current provider's servers, so once the transfer completes your mail will be lost. We suggest using an email client (like Outlook, Mail, Thunderbird) to back up your mailbox locally onto your computer before you begin transferring your domain name.

Q. How do I set up IMAP?

A. Set up IMAP the same as you would set up POP. The only difference will be that the incoming mail servers will use IMAP instead of POP. So on the Main panel the incoming server would be for example: imap.sitemaker.com. You would also need to ensure this is configured on the General tab through More Settings.

Q. Can I view my emails on my mobile phone?

A. If your mobile phone supports POP3 or IMAP then you should be able to set up your email just as simply as we have explained above. Please read your mobile phone User Guide for more detail should you need help settings up your mobile device.

Q. So how do I actually set up my email now that I have a domain?

Q. I need to access my mail remotely while I'm travelling. Can I do this online?

A. Yes you can. You only need the webmail URL for your email account, the username (the full mailbox address) and the password for that mailbox. More details on how to access your webmail can be found in another article: " Getting Connected: Setting up your webmail "

Jargon Buster

POP Or POP3 is the most common way to receive mail. Will be used with SMTP to send mail.

IMAP An suitable alternate to POP for receiving mail. Still uses SMTP for outgoing.

SMTP This is the outgoing server responsible for sending mail. SMTP will be used regardless of incoming choice (POP or IMAP). The simplest process is to use the same settings as the Incoming server by using the 'Requires Authentication' option.

Username This is the full mailbox address e.g. john987@mysite.com (not just 'john987').

.tld This is short for top level domain and simply refers to the extension after your actual domain e.g. .com, .net, .uk, .eu, .us

Mailbox: This is an account you create using your domain name and has a prefix like admin or sales or mail e.g admin@mydomain.com. The mailbox name (the full address) must be used as the username to login to it.

Alias: Alternative names you can give to a specific mailbox to provide more flexibility with your service. For example under the sales@mydomain.com mailbox you could have the names of your sales team e.g. john@, susi@, josh@ all of which would redirect to Sales. Be warned though that 'all' addresses must be unique and aliases cannot be used to access your mail only the mailbox name can.

New release - 08 July 2008

Joe — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 10:00:00 +0100

Help, it's another monster release! It's just too big; we can't keep giving away so many new features. The poor development team, they really need a holiday. But it's good news for you and our website builder! So, keep reading...

Free email accounts on Moonfruit domain names

Up to 5 mailboxes can be set up on each domain name you order with Moonfruit (purchases & vouchers)
Mailboxes can be accessed via webmail or using POP3 or IMAP
Each mailbox can have an unlimited number of aliases, e.g. names that go to the same mailbox
Or you can set up email forwarding to another email address you already have e.g. gmail, hotmail etc
See www.moonfruit.com/domains.html for details

Free Google AdWords vouchers for every subscriber

Get up to £50 pounds worth of Google AdWords vouchers with your subscription
Use the AdWords voucher to pay for ads on Google to direct traffic to your site
See www.moonfruit.com/adwords.html for details

Improved alternative HTML version (how the search engines see your site)

The HTML alternative for your site is now much prettier and better organised
Go to ('Edit' ->) 'View' -> 'HTML version' in the SiteMaker toolbar to see your HTML pages and navigate through them
You can then 'View source' on each of these pages to see your keywords and other meta data in the HTML

Advanced form improvements

You can now add a file upload field to your form so users can submit files
Files are uploaded to a specific folder of your choice in the file manager

And plenty of bug fixes, including fixing the Google SiteMap error in Webmaster tools, logging into sites from the portal, fixes for image problems in Directory and Calendar.

That's about it for now. We are of course working on more goodies for the future, but you'll have to wait and see for those. Let us know if you have any feedback or any problems with the new features. Thanks, and happy holidays!