Add an email address

Overview

This article explains adding a fully hosted email address to your domain.

How to add or delete an email address

A fully hosted email address has an active mailbox that you can log in to to send and receive messages.

Adding a new email address

1. Navigate to the Manage Email page.
2. Click the Create Email button.
3. Select your domain from the Select a domain dropdown menu under Email Address.
4. Enter the name of your new email address in the text box that appears.
5. Select Fully Hosted Email under Mailbox Type and click the Continue button.
6. Enter a mailbox name (this can be your name or something that describes the mailbox's purpose).
7. Click the Generate strong password button to generate a password (or enter one of your own choosing if you prefer).
8. Click the Create Email button at the bottom of the page to save the new information. After the email is created, a success message displays.

Deleting an email address

To delete an email address in the panel:

1. Navigate to the Manage Email page.
2. Click the Manage button to the right of your email address.
3. Click the red Delete button, then click it once more to confirm the deletion request.

New email address FAQs

How long does it take before my new email address works?

The time it takes for a new email address to begin working depends on the following:

• If it's the first address added to a domain — If this is the first email created for the domain, the domain will need some time for the mail record DNS to propagate, which can take up to 6 hours for each record. During this time, messages sent to your user will be rejected with a bounce notification containing the following error:

  Recipient Address Rejected

  Until the DNS resolves, the messages sent to your user will continue to be rejected. However, your user should be able to send messages even when the DNS has yet to resolve.
• If it's an additional address added to a domain — If your domain is already configured with email addresses, the newly created address should be fully active within 15 minutes of it being created.

What email address names should I use?

You can name an email address as you choose, but Internet standards specify that you create the following specific email addresses, which every domain should have and use for the following purposes:

Address	Purpose
postmaster@example.com	Contact for any email issues. This should exist for any domain that has email service.
webmaster@example.com	Contact for any website issues. This should exist for any domain that has a website or HTTP service.
hostmaster@example.com	Contact for any DNS issues. This should exist for all domains since they all use DNS for everything.
abuse@example.com	Contact for any "inappropriate public behavior" related to the domain.

Can I forward email from my newly created email address?

Newly created email addresses can only receive email. It's not possible for an email address to both receive and forward to another address. If you need to forward email, you must create a Forward-Only address instead.

If you previously configured an email address to forward to another inbox, this feature will remain active until the address is edited. At that point, you will need to select between Forward-Only or Fully Hosted.

I have a large number of addresses and cannot create a new one — what should I do?

If you have a large number of addresses already created, you may see an error message that reads:

Your account cannot create additional e-mail addresses at this time. This is usually a temporary situation and should be resolved within 24 hours. Please contact Support if you have any questions.

If you receive this message, please Contact Support.

Logging in to your email address

You can log in to your email address either through Webmail or an email client. The following sections explain both of these options.

Using Webmail

Webmail is the easiest option to log into your your email address. Visit the following link to log in:

• webmail.dreamhost.com

View the Webmail overview article for further information.

Configuring an email client

An email client (e.g., Apple Mail, Microsoft Outlook, Thunderbird, iOS Mail, or Android) offers more control over managing your email, but you must first configure it manually. See this article to learn more about the general configuration process.

See this section for a list of the most common email clients.

See also

• Add a forward-only email address
• Create a garbage email address
• Email client configuration overview