How to Create an Email Mailbox in ISPConfig

This guide walks you through creating a basic email mailbox in the ISPConfig control panel on your Noiz shared hosting account. A mailbox is a real, storable inbox (for example [email protected]) that you can read in webmail or connect to an email client such as Thunderbird or Outlook. It is the quickest way to get a working email address up and running.

If you also want the mailbox to reply automatically while you are away, or to send a copy of incoming mail to a second address, follow the fuller walkthrough in How to create an Email Mailbox with an Autoresponder and a Send copy to address in ISPConfig instead.

Last reviewed: 27 July 2026, against ISPConfig 3.3.1p1 (the version running on Noiz shared hosting). This guide is written for Noiz hosting and is kept current against ISPConfig. It complements, and does not replace, the official ISPConfig documentation linked below.

Official Documentation Reference

• ISPConfig Documentation: the vendor manual covering the Email module and mailbox options in depth.

Prerequisites

• A Noiz shared hosting account with ISPConfig access.
• Your ISPConfig login credentials (sent in your welcome email).
• An email domain already present on your account. In ISPConfig a mailbox can only be created once its domain exists under Email > Email Accounts > Domain. On Noiz shared hosting this is normally set up for you when your hosting is provisioned, so your domain should already appear in the dropdown. If it does not, contact Noiz support to have the email domain added before you continue.

Step 1: Log in to ISPConfig

1. Sign in to the ISPConfig control panel. If you are not sure how, see How to log in to the ISPConfig control panel via a web browser.
2. Once logged in as a client, ISPConfig shows only your own services. If your account has reseller or admin rights and you manage several clients, make sure you have the correct client selected before adding the mailbox (see Understanding ISPConfig User Levels).

Troubleshooting tip: If you cannot sign in, double-check the username and password from your welcome email, and confirm you are using the correct panel address. If sign-in fails repeatedly the server may have temporarily blocked your IP address for security reasons; see What to Do If Your IP Address Is Blocked by an ISPConfig Server.

Step 2: Create the email mailbox

1. In the top menu, click Email.
2. In the left sidebar, under Email Accounts, click Email Mailbox.
3. Click Add new Mailbox.
4. Complete the mailbox details:
   • Name: Optional. The real name of the person who will use the address (for example John Doe). It appears in the mailbox list as the Realname and can be left blank.
   • Email: This one row is two fields. Type the part before the @ (for example info) in the box on the left, then select your domain (for example yourdomain.co.za) from the dropdown beside it, giving [email protected]. Only domains already added as email domains appear in that dropdown. The finished address is also the username for webmail, IMAP, POP3 and SMTP.
   • Password and Repeat Password: Set a strong, unique password in both boxes, or click Generate Password, which fills both for you. A Password strength indicator sits between the two fields. This password is the login for webmail and any email client, so store it somewhere safe.
   • Quota (0 for unlimited): The mailbox size in MB (for example 500). 0 means unlimited, but ISPConfig only accepts 0 where the account has no mail storage limit at all. On a plan with a mail space allowance the save is refused, ISPConfig reports the maximum space still free in MB, and it fills that figure into the field for you. Setting a sensible quota also stops one mailbox swallowing the whole allowance.
   For a basic mailbox the remaining fields can stay as they are. Spamfilter starts on - Inherit domain setting -, so the mailbox follows the policy already set on the domain, and Enable receiving is ticked by default.
5. Click Save to create the mailbox.

Good to know: The mailbox record is saved immediately, but the server applies pending changes on a once-a-minute cycle, so the mail storage for the new account is created a moment later. If a first login fails right away, wait a minute and try again.

Step 3: Verify the mailbox and start using it

1. Return to the Email Mailbox list. Your new address should appear in the table.
2. Sign in to the mailbox to confirm it works. The fastest check is webmail; see How to Access Your Webmail in ISPConfig. Where the server has welcome messages enabled, the inbox already contains one, which is a useful sign that delivery is working.
3. To use the mailbox in a desktop or mobile app, add it as an IMAP account. Your login is the full email address and the password you set above. For the exact incoming and outgoing server names and ports, follow How to Add an Email Account in Mozilla Thunderbird.

Troubleshooting

• Your domain is missing from the Domain dropdown: the email domain has not been added under Email > Email Accounts > Domain. On Noiz shared hosting this is provisioned for you, so contact Noiz support to have it added.
• The new mailbox does not appear in the list: the list is read straight from the panel database, so a saved mailbox shows up at once. If it is not there, the save was rejected and the form stays open with a red message at the top: an account that has used up its allowance of mailboxes reports that the maximum number of mailboxes has been reached, and one that has used up its mail storage reports the maximum space still available in MB. Contact Noiz support if you need a larger allowance.
• Email Mailbox is missing from the sidebar: ISPConfig hides that menu entry when the account is allocated no mailboxes at all. Contact Noiz support to have mailboxes added to the plan.
• Webmail or your email client rejects the login: confirm you are entering the full email address as the username (not just the part before the @), and that the password matches exactly. If the mailbox form shows a separate Login field with a value in it, that value is the username instead. Re-set the password from the mailbox settings if you are unsure.

If you are on a Noiz managed plan and would rather Noiz set the mailbox up for you, or you are stuck at any step, open a support ticket and the Noiz team will help.

Related articles

• How to create an Email Mailbox with an Autoresponder and a Send copy to address in ISPConfig
• How to Set Up Email Forwarding in ISPConfig
• How to Create an Email Alias in ISPConfig
• How to Access Your Webmail in ISPConfig
• How to Add an Email Account in Mozilla Thunderbird
• How to log in to the ISPConfig control panel via a web browser