email

For many years we have offered two Webmail systems for accessing GreenNet email accounts via a web browser. Our oldest webmail system is IMP/Horde, while for many years we have also offered Squirrelmail as a more fully-featured webmail interface. Recently we set up Roundcube Webmail, which performs well, uses AJAX to quickly load messages, and  has a responsive design that works on mobile phones and other devices with small screens.

However, we've found that it's not really feasible for GreenNet to maintain three different webmail systems. In the future, we'd like to standardise on Roundcube Webmail, as it is the most modern system, and is being actively developed with more features being added over time.

As such, over time we will be phasing out our IMP/Horde and Squirrelmail webmail systems.

IMP/Horde Webmail

Those of you who use our IMP/Horde webmail on a regular basis may have noticed that your web browser has started to display alerts about the security of the HTTPS connection to the webmail system. Our IMP/Horde webmail system was set up many years ago and for HTTPS secure web access is using encryption protocols that are considered old and deprecated. The very latest versions of some web browsers may already refuse to connect to the system. As such, we've decided that we will be taking the IMP/Horde webmail system offline later this year. So, GreenNet email users who regularly log into our IMP/Horde webmail interface should switch to using our Roundcube Webmail system instead. We will keep our IMP/Horde webmail system online until the beginning of September, at which time we will be taking it offline.

If you are a IMP/Horde user and you have addressbook entries there that you don't want to loose, the 'Import/Export' option in the IMP/Horde menubar will allow you to export your contacts as a CSV file. You than then log into Roundcube and then click on 'Contacts' and then the 'Import' button to import contacts from the CSV file into Roundcube. Feel free to contact us at support@gn.apc.org if you have any questions about this.

Squirrelmail

We will also likely be phasing out use of our Squirrelmail webmail interface in favour of Roundcube at some point in the future. However, we've yet to set a timeline for taking Squirrelmail offline. We will update this page when we have a timeline for doing so, at this point we expect that our Squirrelmail webmail interface will continue to be available until at least October 2020.

The Future: Roundcube and 2FA with App Passwords

Focusing on just one webmail interface will allow us to concentrate on adding functionality to Roundcube and improving its performance. We also plan on adding additional security features to Roundcube, such as 2FA (second-factor authentication) codes for securing your webmail login along with app passwords for programs and devices that connect to our email server via the IMAP and POP protocols. We will post updates here as we add features that will allow our email users to configure their email accounts for greater security against phishing and other attacks that are all too common these days.

The SSL certificate that identifies gn.apc.org was replaced on 29 May.  Unfortunately, some old software, notably Eudora, doesn't recognise the modern "root certificate". We recommend switching to an up-to-date email program, such as Mozilla Thunderbird, but if you're unable to do that then Eudora can be told to accept our new certificate manually.  Here's how to do that.

Our old certificate had expired and needed replacement.  Some software automatically trusted the old "GeoTrust Global CA" root certificate authority, but not the newer "DigiCert Global Root CA".  This includes Eudora, Claws Mail, Dillo, and some older versions of Mac OS X. 

For most software you just need to click "Connect" or accept the certificate. If you want to be sure you are connecting to GreenNet, you may want to check the fingerprint of the certificate manually.  You can see the SHA1 fingerprint in the screenshots at the bottom of this page.

For Eudora (the last version of which was in 2006), you may see a screen like the below when checking or sending mail.

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Unfortunately "Yes" doesn't help for Eudora because it can't really cope with the new certification process.  Close this box. 

Step 1

Go to the "Tools" menu and then "Options".

Select the "Checking Mail" icon or category.  If you have been able to receive incoming email, but get an error on sending then choose "Sending Mail" instead.  In either case you should see options about SSL towards the bottom of the box.

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Step 2

Click the "Last SSL Info" button, and you should get a dialogue box like that below.  If you do not and instead get a box saying "You have never done any SSL negotiation....", have a look under the "Sending Mail" category and try "Last SSL Info" there, or click the rightmost "Persona" tab, and choose Properties of the persona you are trying to use (see below Step 2B).

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Step 3

Click on the "Certificate Information Manager".  You should see the certificate involved highlighted under the top category "Server Certificates".  Expand this by clicking on the "+" sign and you should see another level within this.  Again expand this, and you should see the gn.apc.org certificate, which is the one to select and trust.

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So, ensuring that the *.gn.apc.org is selected, you may want to check the "SHA" (actually SHA1) thumbprint is that shown above.  Click "Add To Trusted", and then "Done".

If you're still having problems please let us know.

Step 2B. As stated above in Step 2, you may not be using the Dominant persona in Eudora, and so when you click on "Last SSL Info", you may get a notice that no SSL sessions were used to send or receive.  So click on the rightmost "Persona" tab, right-click on the address or account you were using and choose Properties.  Most likely you were checking mail, so click on the Incoming Mail tab.

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Then try "Last SSL Info".

That should be it, at least for two years when you may need to do the same thing if you're still using Eudora in 2018.

There are various ways of accessing your GreenNet email account on the web.

Our most modern webmail system is called Roundcube. It has a responsive design that adapts to your screen size and should work on any device with a web browser available. It offers functions for changing your email password, as well as PGP/GPG encryption of emails. If you need to set a vacation/out-of-office message for your account, then you should use Squirrelmail instead. After logging in you can choose between three different Roundcube interface skins, and there are various other options to change Roundcube's look and feel, so you can customise the interface based upon what you like.

The second one is called Squirrelmail. It has features like PGP/GPG encryption, email password reset, and the ability to set vacation/out-of-office messages. However, it may be a bit slower than Roundcube and works best on desktop and laptop computers and may not work so well on tablets and mobiles. If you are having any problems with Squirrelmail, then we recommend that you try Roundcube instead.

Click on the image you prefer to log in securely using your GreenNet username and password.