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    Contents
    • Spark Onboarding
      • Is Spark Available for Windows?
      • Sync Spark Across Multiple Devices
      • Change Your Email For Sync
      • Connect to Your Email Account in Spark
      • Add More Email Accounts to Spark
      • Email Storage and Backups
      • Connect Other Productivity Apps to Spark
      • Enable Notification Badges
      • Customize Notifications
      • Threads
      • Can I Change My Password In Spark?
      • How Can I Remove an Email Account From Spark?
      • Can I Change Advanced Settings For a Custom Account?
      • Set Spark as a default email client
    • Using Spark
      • Customize the sidebar
      • Turn on the Dark Mode in Spark
      • Customize your Smart Inbox
      • Manage emails with swipes
      • Set default browser and customize the email viewer
      • Compose an email
      • Use email templates
      • Schedule an email to send later
      • Manage email signatures
      • Attach a file to an email
      • Set follow-up reminders
      • Set up an email alias
      • Select the font of your emails
      • Use rich text formatting in emails
      • Email a group of contacts
      • Automatically Cc or Bcc emails
      • Display the Inbox of each account separately
      • Create a Smart Folder
      • Use Smart Search
      • Snooze an Email
      • Perform Actions on Multiple Emails
      • Create a Folder
      • Avatars in Spark
      • How spam is handled in Spark
      • Answer Emails Using Quick Replies
      • Use Keyboard Shortcuts
      • Undo the Last Action
      • How can I print an email?
      • Change the Font for reading emails in Spark
      • How Can I Change the Language in Spark?
      • Use Gmail Labels
    • Spark for Teams & Billing
      • How to Create and Manage a Team
      • Add and Remove Team Members
      • Shared Drafts: Write Emails Together With Your Team
      • Shared Threads: Discuss Emails With Your Team
      • Shared Links: Move Your Emails Outside the Inbox
      • Team Roles
      • How to Delegate an Email
      • How to Upgrade Spark to Premium
      • Shared Inboxes
    • Troubleshooting
      • Email Is Displayed Incorrectly
      • Wrong Contact Suggestions
      • "Can't reach the server" Message
      • The Badge Displays the Wrong Number
      • Issues with Smart Search
      • Can’t Receive Push Notifications
      • Can't Send Emails
      • The App Quits Unexpectedly
      • Remove Irrelevant Contact Suggestions
      • Issues with installing or updating Spark
      • Cannot Set Up a Custom Email Address
      • Cannot Add an Exchange or Office 365 Account
      • Cannot Connect to a Gmail Account
      • Cannot Connect to an iCloud Account
      • Can't Connect to My Account
      • Can’t Connect to a QQ Account
      • Can’t Connect to an AOL Account
      • Can’t Connect to a 126.com or 163.com Account
      • How to Clean Install Spark for Mac
      • Enable the IMAP Protocol for Gmail and G Suite Accounts
    • Calendars & Integrations
      • Enable and view calendars in Spark
      • Add an iCloud calendar to Spark
      • Create an event
      • Edit or delete an event
      • Change calendar notifications and appearance
      • What calendars can I use in Spark?
      • Trello & Spark
      • MeisterTask & Spark
      • Todoist & Spark
      • Asana & Spark
      • Apple’s Reminders & Spark
      • 2Do & Spark integration
      • OmniFocus
      • Things
      • Evernote
      • OneNote
      • Bear
      • Zoom
      • GoToMeeting
      • Google Meet & Spark
      • TickTick
      • Agenda
    • Privacy & Data
      • Spark Email Privacy: Everything you Need to Know
      • Remove data from Spark & request data copy or deletion
    • Contact us

    Cannot Set Up a Custom Email Address

    October 15th, 2024

    When you add an account to Spark, you may not see your email provider on the list. You can add a custom email address manually. To make sure it connects successfully, please follow the steps below.

    1. Check the settings of your email server

    Make sure your email server meets the following requirements:

    • It supports IMAP protocol — Spark works with IMAP accounts and doesn’t support POP3 protocol.
    • It supports a secure connection — Spark allows only SSL or STARTTLS protection.
    • It successfully performs SMTP authorization — Spark doesn’t set up an account when either the incoming or outgoing connection fails the authentication test.

    You can check these settings on the web page of your email server or by contacting your network administrator.

    When you add a custom email account, please make sure you submit the needed settings.

    1. Click Spark at the top left of your screen.
    2. Select Add Account.
    3. Click Set Up Account Manually.
    4. Enter your email address and password.
    5. Select Additional Settings. This menu allows you to choose ports, email server, and the type of protection for both inbox and outbox servers.
    6. Fill out the fields and click Add.

    If your custom account is the first one you add to Spark:

    1. Launch the app and click Start Using Spark.
    2. Enter your email address.
    3. Tick the checkbox to agree with Spark Terms of Use and the Privacy Policy.
    4. Click Next.
    5. Enter your password.
    6. Select Additional Settings.
    7. Fill out the fields, check advanced settings (ports, protection, etc.) and click Add.

    2. Check the network connection

    Some organizations enable a firewall to prevent access to certain websites from their networks. Ask the administrator if access to Spark (as the third-party email application) or Google (Spark uses its servers) is allowed.

    Alternatively, you can try to connect your account using a different network.

    If you use a VPN, we can’t guarantee Spark will work properly. The quality of the performance via VPN solely relies on the servers of the VPN network. For this reason, we recommend you turn the VPN off.

    3. Contact our support team

    If your account meets all the requirements, but it still fails to connect to Spark, we are happy to help you personally. Our developers need a test account on your server to help you as soon as possible.

    Please set up a test email address (e.g., spark_test@XXX) on your email server or ask your IT administrator to do it. Our developers use this email address to investigate and fix your issue.

    The test account mustn’t contain any personal information. We assure you this account will be used solely for testing purposes.

    Follow the steps below to provide our support team with a test account. 

    1. Launch Spark and click Help at the top left of your screen.
    2. Select Send Feedback.
    3. A new email window will appear. In the Subject: line, write “Cannot add a custom IMAP account.” We need this email subject to provide you with a quick, personal reply.
    4. In your email, please provide us with more details regarding your issue and let us know the email address of the test account (not your personal account), its password, and advanced settings.
    Note: Spark automatically attaches a .zip file with the application logs to your email. We need the logs for our investigation. This file may contain some sensitive personal data, and we assure you we’ll treat it as confidential information.
    Read next: Cannot Add an Exchange or Office 365 Account
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