How every part of it works. Each section has its own link — copy one out of the address bar to send someone straight to it.
Ham Email is one download and a normal install. Nothing else is needed on your computer.
It runs on macOS 11 and later, on both Apple Silicon and Intel. One download covers both.
Which one am I on? On Windows, open Settings, System, About and look at System type. If it says 64-bit, take the 64-bit installer.
chmod +x in a terminal.An AppImage needs no installation and leaves nothing behind but your mail and settings. Some distributions need the libfuse2 package before an AppImage will start.
The first time Ham Email opens it asks you to sign in with your QSL World profile, or to create one, exactly as Ham Browser does. A qslworld.com member signs in with the same email and password, or with Google. Then it offers two ways in.
The profile is free and is the only account Ham Email asks for; every mailbox you add is yours, with its own provider.
Ham Email works with any mailbox that offers IMAP for reading and SMTP for sending, which is nearly all of them.
For Other, the servers are worked out from your address, and you can correct the IMAP and SMTP host and port by hand if your provider uses unusual ones. Ham Email uses the implicit-TLS ports, 993 and 465, unless you say otherwise.
Add as many mailboxes as you have. Each keeps its own folders, and Sent, Drafts, Junk and Trash are recognized from the roles the server gives them.
Several providers refuse a mail program that offers your normal password, and issue a separate one for the purpose instead. It is a password that works only for mail, and it can be revoked on its own without touching your main sign-in.
If a provider rejects your sign-in, an app password is the first thing to try. The setup screen tells you when it believes that is the cause.
name@CALLSIGN.com is a real mailbox on a domain that is your callsign, provided by QSL World as part of QSL World Pro Max. The domain is registered, a station page is put on it and the mailbox is created for you.
From then on it is one more mailbox in the same window. Everything on this page applies to it. Forgot its password? Get Your Callsign Email lists your callsign mailboxes, each with Reset password.
Mailboxes and folders are on the left, the message list in the middle and the open message on the right.
Type in the search box and the list narrows as you type. It looks through senders and recipients, subjects, the text of messages, recognized callsigns and the names of attachments, all from the copy on your computer, so it is instant.
Mail older than what has been fetched is still on the server. Choose Search all mail and the server is asked to look through everything it holds for those words.
Press New message, or reply from an open message. Drafts are saved as you write and reopen with every recipient and Cc intact. A message you send from a draft takes the draft with it.
Nothing is sent anywhere until you press the button, and the assistant is easy to ignore if you never want it.
Ask it to draft a reply, shorten what you wrote or tidy the wording. What it sends is the text you hand it, and it comes back as a suggestion you can take or leave.
Mail is kept in a database on your own disk. Ham Email connects from your computer straight to your provider over TLS; nothing is routed through any Ham Email or QSL World server. Your password is encrypted on this computer and sent only to your provider.
The full list of services the app contacts is in the Privacy Notice.
Ham Email checks for a new version when it starts and every half hour. When there is one, a notice appears at the bottom of the sidebar with a download button, and stays until you install it. Help, Check for Updates asks at any time, and Help, About Ham Email shows the version you have. Nothing is installed behind your back.
Installing a new version keeps your mailboxes, your mail and your settings.
Choose File, Make Ham Email the Default Mail App, and email links in other programs open a new message in Ham Email. On macOS and Linux the change is made at once. On Windows the menu opens Settings, Default apps: click the app under Email and pick Ham Email there, because Windows lets only you make that choice.
Nine times out of ten the provider wants an app password rather than your normal one; see the section above. After that: a typo in the address, or a Microsoft tenant with IMAP switched off.
Choose Other and enter the IMAP and SMTP host names your provider publishes, with ports 993 and 465. Most providers list them on a page called something like “IMAP settings”.
That is the remote-image block doing its job. Choose to load them for that message and they appear.
Search looks through what has been fetched to your computer. Choose Search all mail to have the server search everything.
Write to hello@hamemail.com with what you did, what you expected and what happened, your operating system, the version number from About Ham Email, and which provider the account is with. Never send a password.