Using Webmail Settings at Hover

Settings is where you configure Hover webmail to work the way you do, from your password and signature to filters, spam handling, and how your mailbox looks and behaves. This article walks through the most commonly used settings and where to find the rest.

What You Can Configure in Settings

Settings covers three broad areas: general preferences for each mailbox component, such as display and language, mail-specific settings (setup, autoresponders, signatures, allow and block lists, and forwarding), and spam settings.

Before you begin

• Your current webmail password: needed if you plan to change it in this session.

Step 1: Change Your Password

1. In the Settings window, click Password.
2. Enter your current password in the Current password field.
3. Enter your new password in the New password field, then re-enter it in New password (again).
4. Click Save.

Tip: For a full walkthrough of both webmail and control-panel password changes, see Updating Your Email Password.

Step 2: Set Up an Autoresponder (Vacation/Out of Office)

To turn on an autoresponder:

1. In the Settings tab, click Autoresponder.
2. In the Autoresponse text field, type the message to send automatically in reply to incoming mail.
3. Click the Enabled checkbox.
4. In the Interval field, enter the number of days before the same recipient receives the auto-response again. This defaults to one day if left blank.
5. Click the End date field and choose when the autoresponse should stop.
6. Click Save.

To turn off an autoresponder:

1. In the Settings tab, click Autoresponder.
2. Clear the Enabled checkbox.
3. Click Save.

Step 3: Add or Remove an Email Signature

To add a signature:

1. In the Settings tab, click Identities.
2. Select your email account, or click Create.
3. In the Signature field, enter the text to appear at the end of your outgoing messages.
4. Click Save.

Note: If you mostly send HTML-formatted messages, enable the HTML option to format your signature with rich text.

To remove a signature:

1. In the Settings window, click Identities.
2. Select your account.
3. Delete the text in the Signature field.
4. Click Save.

Step 4: Create and Manage Mail Filters

A filter is a set of conditions you define to handle incoming mail automatically, sorting it into folders, deleting unwanted messages, or forwarding it elsewhere. Webmail evaluates the Subject, From, To, size, or a wildcard field you define, using conditions like contains, is equal to, exists, or matches an expression.

Understanding Plus Sign Tagging

Plus sign tagging lets you identify and filter mail sent to a tagged version of your address. Add a plus sign (+) after your name and before the @ symbol, followed by identifying text, for example yourname+newsletter@yourdomain.com. You can then create a filter rule that recognizes mail sent to that tagged address and routes it to a specific folder.

Tip: Plus sign tagging can also reveal when your address has been sold to a third party. If a tagged address starts receiving spam, you'll know exactly which sign-up leaked it, and you can create a rule that discards mail sent to that tag going forward.

Adding a Filter

1. In the Settings list, click Filters.
2. Click Create in the toolbar.
3. Enter a name in the Filter name field.
4. Under Scope, choose when the filter should act: matching all rules, matching any rule, or all messages.
5. Specify the rule: choose the field to evaluate (From, Subject, To, etc.), a condition (contains, does not contain, etc.), and the value to match.
6. Click the Plus icon to add more rules, the Gear icon to add modifiers, or the Trash icon to remove a rule.
7. Under Actions, choose how matching messages should be handled: move to a folder, redirect, discard with a message, delete, keep in inbox, or stop evaluating further rules.
8. Click the Plus icon to add more actions, or the Trash icon to remove one.
9. Click Save.

Removing or Disabling a Filter

To remove a filter:

1. Click Settings, then Filters.
2. Select the filter you want to remove from the Filters list.
3. Click the Actions icon, then Delete.

To disable a filter:

1. Click Settings, then Filters.
2. Click the filter you want to disable in the Filters list.
3. Click the Actions gear icon, then Enable/disable filter set.
4. In the Filter definition pane, toggle on Filter disabled and click Save.

The disabled filter appears greyed out in the list and won't run, but you can re-enable it at any time.

Step 5: Keep Folders in Sync Across Devices

If changes you make to a folder in webmail aren't showing up on your other devices, turning on IMAP subscriptions keeps your folders in sync everywhere.

1. In the Settings tab, select Preferences.
2. Click Server settings.
3. Turn on the Use IMAP subscriptions toggle.
4. Click Submit.

Step 6: Add or Remove Another Email Account

1. In the Settings tab, select Other accounts.
2. Click Add.
3. Enter the email address, username, password, server address, server port, and whether SSL is required, based on the information from your other provider.
4. Select Leave a copy of the message on the server if you want read messages to remain on the other server.
5. From the Default folder drop-down, choose where to save messages retrieved from the other account.
6. Select Test connection on save to verify the connection when you save.
7. Select Import old messages to bring in all existing messages from the account. If you skip this, only new, unread messages import.
8. Click Submit.

Step 7: Manage Allowed and Blocked Senders

The allowed and blocked senders lists let you automatically bypass your spam filter for trusted senders, or block unwanted senders outright. Addresses in your Contacts count as allowed senders automatically, even though they don't appear in the allowed list. If you add a Contact's address to the blocked list, it takes precedence and the address is blocked.

Warning: The allowed and blocked lists support the star (*) as a wildcard to match an entire domain. Use this carefully — a wildcard entry like *@gmail.com blocks or allows every address at that domain.

You can add up to 1,000 entries to each list.

1. In the Settings tab, click Spam settings.
2. Add or remove addresses, one per line, in the Allowed senders or Blocked senders field.
3. Click Save.

Step 8: Adjust Display and Font Preferences

To change the font size:

1. In the Settings tab, click Preferences.
2. Select User Interface.
3. Use the Base font size drop-down to choose a size between 10 px and 20 px.
4. Click Save.

To show selection checkboxes by default:

1. In the Settings tab, click Preferences.
2. Select Mailbox View.
3. Turn on the List checkboxes shown by default toggle.
4. Click Save.

To adjust subject or sender emphasis:

1. In the Settings tab, click Preferences.
2. Select Mailbox View.
3. Use the List field emphasis drop-down to choose Subject or From/To.

Settings Reference

Preferences Map

The table below summarizes what you can configure under each Preferences category.

Other Settings Sections

• Folders: manage which mailbox folders display, and create, rename, or delete personal (non-system) folders.
• Identities: set the name, organization, reply-to address, and signature that appear on outgoing messages.
• Responses: create and save canned text for replying to messages.
• Other accounts: add another email account to display inside your Webmail inbox.
• Password: change the password for your account.
• Autoresponder: create a message to send automatically during a set interval, such as while you're away.
• Spam settings: manage your allowed and blocked sender lists.
• Mail forwarding: forward incoming messages to the recipients you list here. See Email Forwarding with Hover Webmail for a full walkthrough.
• Password recovery: set a backup phone number and email address to recover your password.
• Filters: define how incoming mail is handled automatically.
• External access: find the settings you need to sync your email, contacts, or calendar to an external client like Mac Mail, Outlook, or Thunderbird.

Next steps

• Update your password regularly: see Updating Your Email Password for both control-panel and webmail methods.
• Set up forwarding if you manage multiple addresses: see Email Forwarding with Hover Webmail.
• Get familiar with the Mail tab: see Using the Webmail Mail Tab to put your new settings to use.

Questions? Contact Hover Support.