📧 Protocol support
GeoInbox supports IMAP (recommended) and POP3 natively. Exchange Web Services (EWS) and Microsoft Graph are available as experimental adapters.
Connecting to a mail server
Step 1: Open Settings
Click the Settings button in the Email toolbar. Go to the Servers tab.
Step 2: Add a server
Click Add Server and fill in Host, Port, Protocol (IMAP/POP3), SSL/TLS, and your credentials. Passwords are stored securely in the QGIS Credential Manager.
Step 3: Set as default
Check "Make Default" to auto-connect this server when the plugin loads.
Step 4: Connect
Select the server from the dropdown in the toolbar and click Connect. The mailbox list will populate on the left.
Supported email protocols
| Protocol | Status | Authentication | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| IMAP | ✅ Core | Username/Password, OAuth2 Bearer | Recommended. Supports folders, mark-as-read. |
| POP3 | ✅ Core | Username/Password | No folder support. Downloads messages only. |
| EWS | ⚗️ Experimental | Username/Password (NTLM) | Requires exchangelib package. |
| Microsoft Graph | ⚗️ Experimental | OAuth2 (MSAL) | Requires msal package. Microsoft 365 only. |
Message list columns
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
| From | Sender email address |
| Subject | Email subject line |
| Date | Received date/time |
| Size | Total message size in KB/MB |
| Read | ✓ if message has been marked as read |
| Trusted | ✓ if sender matches configured trust rules |
| Attachments | Count and types of GIS attachments detected |
Filtering messages
Use the filter bar at the bottom of the message list to narrow results:
- All / With GIS attachments — show only messages that have GIS files attached
- Read / Unread — filter by read status
- Trusted / Untrusted — filter by sender trust
- Search — free-text search across From, Subject fields (cached headers only)
Downloading attachments
Step 1: Select a message
Click a message row. The preview pane shows the message body and a list of detected attachments.
Step 2: Review attachments
Each attachment shows filename, size, and detected GIS format. Unsupported formats are listed but greyed out.
Step 3: Download
Click Download to save to the configured download folder, or Download + Open in QGIS to add the layer immediately.
⚠️ Untrusted sender confirmation
If a sender is not in your trust list, GeoInbox will show a confirmation dialog before downloading any attachment. You must explicitly approve the download. See Security & trust for configuring trust rules.
Supported attachment formats
| Format | Extension(s) | Direct / In ZIP |
|---|---|---|
| GeoJSON | .geojson, .json | Both |
| GeoPackage | .gpkg | Both |
| KML | .kml | Both |
| Shapefile | .shp + .dbf + .shx (+ .prj, .cpg) | ZIP only (complete set required) |
| ZIP archive | .zip | Recursively extracted |
Offline message caching
GeoInbox caches message headers (From, Subject, Date, attachments) in a local SQLite database. This allows browsing message metadata without an active server connection.
- Cache TTL is configurable in Settings → Cache
- Click "Clear Cache" in Settings to force a fresh fetch
- Message bodies and attachments are never cached — they are fetched on demand
Mark as read
When a message is downloaded, GeoInbox can automatically mark it as read on the server. This behaviour is controlled by the Auto-mark as read on download setting (Settings → General). You can also mark messages manually by right-clicking in the message list.
Background threading
All network operations (connect, list messages, fetch body, download attachment) run in background threads using QgsTask. The QGIS UI remains fully responsive during all operations. A progress bar appears in the panel during long operations, with a Cancel button.