This article teaches some email basics - what are mailboxes and forwards, how to create or delete each one and some options associated with both, as well as the catch-all option. This article also covers basic email restrictions - email size, how many emails can be sent out during a given time period, and so forth.
For assistance regarding configuring POP/IMAP email for an Email Client, iPhone/iPad, or Android device, please refer to the appropriate article:
- Configuring an Email Client for your FatCow POP/IMAP mailbox
-
Configuring an iPhone/iPad for your FatCow POP/IMAP mailbox
- Configuring an Android device for your FatCow POP/IMAP mailbox
Email address
An email address is a label that usually identifies a mailbox where email can be sent. Email addresses have the format: name@domainname - for example, support@yourdomain.com. Each email address is unique, much like a regular postal address.
Mailbox
An email mailbox is an area on a network where email is received, stored and retrieved. An email address identifies the mailbox. Each hosting account has a designated number of available mailboxes, which have a defined amount of storage/disk space.
Email forward
An email forward, (also known as a forwarding-only address or email alias) is an email address that acts as a kind of relay station. Mail that reaches the forward is routed to one or more destination email addresses.
Forwards give you the ability to create targeted email addresses like "sales@domain.com." On FatCow, forwards can route to mailboxes, external email addresses or lists of email addresses. Forwards do not store messages as mailboxes do; therefore, they do not have storage limits. You can create an unlimited number of forwards.
Catch-all option
The catch-all option determines what to do with email sent to non-existent mailboxes on your domain. Sometimes this occurs as an error - someone trying to reach you misspells an address at your domain. However, most frequently, this email is sent by spammers or others with malicious intent. The catch-all option applies to all mailboxes in your account, and allows you to protect yourself.
Create a new email mailbox
- Log into MailCentral.

- Under Current Addresses, there are two buttons - Create Mailbox and Create Forward.
- Click Create Mailbox. The Create New Mailbox page is displayed.

The Mailbox Type sections is displayed only if you have purchased Exchange as an email option. If you have not, we assume that you want to create a Standard mailbox, and this section is not displayed at all. If you do see this section: - Select Standard
- Under Mailbox Info, enter the following information:
- Mailbox name - select a unique mailbox name that will describe the function of this mailbox. For example, you might choose: "user1" if this mailbox belongs to a particular user, or "sales" if you want to route sales inquiries here.
- From the drop-down list to the right of the "@", select the domain for the mailbox. If you do not yet have a domain, go back to Domains and register a domain first.
The complete name for the mailbox will read: mailboxname@domainname.com - Enter a password for the mailbox.
- Click Continue. The Address Management page is displayed.
A message will appear stating that "Your mailbox has been created and will be active within 20 minutes." However, you may still use the Address Management page during this time, which gives you additional settings for better control of your email.
Create an email Forward
- Log into MailCentral.

Under Current Addresses, there are two buttons - Create Mailbox and Create Forward. - Click Create Forward. The Create New Forward page is displayed.
- In the Address section, enter the name of the Forward email address (such as sales or info) and the domain. If you do not yet have a domain, go back to Domains and register a domain first.
- In the Destination section, enter the destination address where all incoming mail is to be forwarded. This could be an internal mailbox, such as mailbox@demotutorials.net or an external mailbox, such as mymailbox@gmail.com.
- Click Continue. The Address Management page is displayed.
Once created, a Forward has all the options of a regular mailbox, and can be managed through the Address Management page
Convert a mailbox to a Forward
- Log into MailCentral
- Select the mailbox you wish to convert and click Edit
- The Address Management page is displayed.

- Expand the Mailbox Delivery and the Forwards sections
- In the Forwards section, enter the email address to which you wish to forward the mail from this mailbox.
- Click Add.
- In the Mailbox Delivery section, click Remove next to the mailbox address.
- If you have more than one mailbox delivery target, click Remove next to each one, until the mailbox has no more delivery targets.
Delete a mailbox or a forward
- Log into MailCentral to display a list of the addresses for your account.
- Click Delete to the right of the address you want to delete. A confirmation message displays.
- Click Confirm to delete the address and any email messages stored on the server.
Note: When you delete a mailbox or a forwarding address, you lose the ability to check email for that address, and any messages sent to it will be forwarded to your catch-all address. Deleting a mailbox permanently deletes all mail stored on the server. If you would like to stop collecting email at an address but keep the address active, you can utilize the Route to Trash / Return to Sender feature.
Check your disk space usage/storage available for a mailbox
- Log into MailCentral to display a list of the addresses for your account.
- Find the mailbox whose disk space you wish to check.
- Click Edit to go to the Address Management page on this mailbox.
- Expand the Mailbox Delivery section by clicking on the "+" icon.
The amount of storage used out of the total amount available is reported to the right of the Mailbox field.
Enable a disabled mailbox
FatCow disables inactive mailboxes – mailboxes that have not been checked in 90 days – as they tend to be targets for spam, which slows down and detracts from the mail platform performance.
After 90 days of inactivity, a message is sent to the administrator’s email address, explaining that the mailbox has been disabled and all mail in that mailbox will be permanently deleted no earlier than 15 days from that day. If the mailbox is not re-enabled and checked from through WebMail or your email client within the 15 day period all mail contained in the disabled mailbox is permanently deleted, and incoming messages are bounced back to the sender.
To enable a disabled mailbox:
- Log into MailCentral
- Click Enable next to the disabled mailbox you wish to enable
- Be sure to login to your mailbox through WebMail or your email client on a regular basis to ensure it does not get deleted.
Set the catch-all option
The catch-all option determines what to do with email sent to non-existent mailboxes on your domain. Most frequently, this option is invoked to deal with spam and other mail sent with malicious intent. There are three choices:
-
Bounce - All mail sent to non-existent mailboxes is returned to sender.
- Trash - All mail sent to non-existent mailboxes in your account is deleted.
-
Save - All mail sent to non-existent mailboxes in your account is routed to a specified mailbox, typically named username_catchall@accountname, which should appear in the list of mailboxes in MailCentral.
- When this mailbox is 70% full, you will receive a warning email (at your administrator address), explaining that when this Save mailbox reaches 100% capacity, your catch-all option will be reset to Trash.
- You receive a similar warning email at 90% capacity and then 100% capacity.
- If you clean out this mailbox, you can then reset your catch-all option back to Save.
To set the catch-all option:
- Log into MailCentral.
- In the Catch-All section, click the Edit link. The Set Catch-All Option page is displayed.

- Read carefully the options presented to you. Most users will choose the first option - Bounce. It protects you from spam, while allowing those who are genuinely trying to reach you to resend their email to a correct address.
- Click Save Changes.
I can't remember my email mailbox password. How do I retrieve it?
You cannot retrieve your email mailbox password, however, you can change it to a new password.
To change your mailbox password:
- Log into MailCentral to display a list of the addresses for your account.
- Find the mailbox whose password you wish to check.
- Click Edit to go to the Address Management page on this mailbox.
- Expand the Mailbox Delivery section by clicking on the "+" icon.
- In the section Mailbox Information, click Change Password
- Enter the new password, and click Change
Email message size limitation
All outbound, inbound, and SMTP authenticated messages have a size limit of 25MB, including attachments. The individual WebMail clients each have different size limits, but WebMail messages above 8MB will generally not be accepted.
Limit on the number of outgoing emails
In order to maintain tight spam control, we allow customers to send out:
- no more than 200 emails per hour or 600 emails a day, if your mailbox was created in the last 24 hours
- no more than 500 emails per hour or 5,000 emails a day
File types forbidden for sending through FatCow's mail servers
The following file types are forbidden to be sent:
.bat, .btm, .cmd, .com, .cpl, .dll, .exe, .lnk, .msi, .pif, .prf, .reg, .scr, .vbs, .url
Should you need to transmit one of the listed file types, we recommend using an FTP client, such as FileZilla.
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