Accounts

The Email module needs at least one account configured before any of its features work. The Inbox can’t poll if there’s no server to poll. The Compose tab can’t send if there’s no SMTP credentials to send through. The Accounts section handles the boring-but-essential work of hooking up email providers to Ishvana — Gmail, Outlook, Fastmail, Proton Mail, or a custom IMAP/SMTP configuration. Most users will add one account on first setup and never come back to this page. A few users with complex author workflows (separate address for queries, separate address for personal correspondence, separate address for their penname) will add multiple accounts and occasionally need to manage them. This page is the reference for both cases.

The actual configuration UI is in Settings → Email Accounts — that’s the Settings tab where the fields live. This page is the concept-level companion in the Email section that explains what accounts are for, not how to configure the field values.

What an account represents

An email account in Ishvana is a set of credentials that the Email module uses to send and receive mail on your behalf. Each account has:

• An identity — display name, email address, optional reply-to address.
• An outgoing server (SMTP) — the server used to send messages from this account.
• An incoming server (IMAP) — the server used to fetch messages for this account.
• Polling settings — how often Ishvana checks for new mail.
• Folder configuration — which folders are Inbox, Sent, Drafts, Trash.

Once an account is configured, it’s available as a sender in Compose and as a source in Inbox. You can have multiple accounts configured; each appears independently.

Why multi-account matters

A lot of serious authors maintain separate email addresses for different parts of their work. Typical setups:

• Personal email + author email. Personal correspondence goes to one inbox, author correspondence to another. The separation matters because author email includes queries, beta readers, reader mail, and press — a higher-volume, more-public stream that you want to keep out of your personal inbox.
• Author email + pen name email. If you write under multiple pen names, each one has its own public-facing address so readers of one series can’t trivially connect it to the others.
• Author email + newsletter email. Newsletter services (Mailchimp, ConvertKit, Buttondown) usually send from a dedicated address separate from your main author correspondence. You might want to receive replies to newsletter sends at a different address.
• Agent-facing email + everyone else. Some authors create a dedicated “submissions” address that goes only to agents, keeping it clean and organized.

Ishvana doesn’t force any of these patterns. But it supports them through multi-account configuration — you add each account once in settings and the Email module handles the routing automatically.

Provider-specific notes

Different email providers have different quirks worth knowing about when you set up accounts.

Gmail

Gmail requires an App Password for third-party clients like Ishvana. Regular account passwords are disabled for IMAP/SMTP access. To get an app password:

1. Make sure your Google account has 2-Step Verification enabled (required for app passwords).
2. Go to myaccount.google.com/apppasswords.
3. Select “Mail” as the app and “Other” as the device, name it “Ishvana.”
4. Google generates a 16-character app password.
5. Paste the app password into Ishvana’s Settings → Email Accounts → Password field.

The app password works only for Ishvana (or whichever app you named). It bypasses 2FA for that specific use. If Ishvana gets compromised, revoke the app password in Google’s settings — it doesn’t affect your actual Google account password.

Outlook / Office 365

Outlook may accept your regular password for IMAP/SMTP, but enterprise accounts with modern authentication enabled require either an app password or OAuth (which Ishvana doesn’t currently support). If the regular password fails, check with your admin or generate an app password through Outlook’s security settings.

Modern-auth-only tenants are increasingly common. If you’re on a corporate Office 365 account, you may need admin help to get IMAP/SMTP working.

Fastmail

Fastmail requires an app password from fastmail.com/settings/security/app_passwords. The regular account password doesn’t work for IMAP access. Generate a password specifically for Ishvana, name it accordingly, and paste it into the configuration.

Fastmail’s IMAP/SMTP is reliable and fast. If you’re shopping for a provider specifically to use with third-party clients, Fastmail is a good choice.

Proton Mail

Proton Mail requires Proton Mail Bridge — a separate app that you install on your machine. Bridge translates between Proton’s encrypted API and standard IMAP/SMTP, which is what Ishvana needs.

After installing Bridge:

1. Open Bridge and sign in with your Proton Mail credentials.
2. Bridge gives you local IMAP and SMTP addresses (usually on localhost) plus a password specific to Bridge.
3. In Ishvana’s Settings → Email Accounts, configure Proton as a Custom account with the Bridge-provided local addresses and password.

The Bridge has to be running for Ishvana to access your Proton mail. If Bridge is closed, polling fails.

Custom / generic IMAP

If you’re using a provider Ishvana doesn’t have a preset for, pick Custom and enter the server details manually. You’ll need:

• IMAP server hostname and port (usually 993 for SSL or 143 for STARTTLS).
• SMTP server hostname and port (usually 587 for STARTTLS or 465 for SSL).
• Your username (usually the email address).
• Your password (or app password).
• Security mode (SSL, STARTTLS, or none — never use “none” for anything beyond localhost testing).

Your provider’s documentation should list these. If you can’t find them, search for the provider name plus “IMAP SMTP settings” and you’ll usually find a help article.

Adding an account

The flow in Settings → Email Accounts:

1. Click Add Account.
2. Pick a provider preset or Custom.
3. Fill in the identity fields (display name, email, reply-to if different).
4. For presets, the server fields are pre-filled. For Custom, enter them manually.
5. Enter your username and password.
6. Click Test to verify the credentials work.
7. If the test passes, click Save. The account is active and Ishvana starts polling.
8. If the test fails, read the error message, fix the problem (wrong password, wrong server, firewall issue), and test again.

A successful test runs two phases — an SMTP test (sends a test message to yourself) and an IMAP test (lists folders and fetches recent messages). Both need to pass.

Editing an account

Click an existing account in the list and the edit form opens with the current values. Change any field and click Save. Always test after an edit — changing the password or server requires re-verification.

Some edits don’t require re-verification:

• Changing the display name or reply-to address.
• Changing the polling interval.
• Changing which folders are used for inbox/sent/drafts/trash.

Credential changes (password, username, server) always require testing.

Deleting an account

Click the delete button on an account and confirm. The account is removed from Ishvana’s configuration. Your actual email on the server is unaffected — Ishvana just stops polling for it.

The delete prompt offers a checkbox to also delete the local cache for that account. Check it if you want to clean up the local storage at data/email/ for that account. Leave it unchecked if you want to delete the account configuration but keep the cached messages available for search later.

What accounts can’t do

• No OAuth. Ishvana doesn’t currently support OAuth authentication. All accounts use username/password (or app passwords). For providers that require modern authentication, OAuth support may come in a future version.
• No unified inbox rules. Every account gets merged into the inbox view, but you can’t write rules that apply only to specific accounts. Filtering is per-account at read time.
• No per-account signatures (yet). All outgoing messages use the same signature. Per-account signatures are a future enhancement.
• No IMAP folder creation. Ishvana reads the folder structure your server already has. You can’t create new server-side folders from Ishvana.

What’s next

Email Accounts (settings tab) The actual configuration surface with the fields you fill in.

Inbox Where configured accounts surface their incoming messages.

Compose Where configured accounts become sender options.