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--- notes:email-configuration [2026/05/31 01:35] – removed - external edit (Unknown date) 127.0.0.1
+++ notes:email-configuration [2026/06/02 22:55] (current) – Add a note about mbsync sam
@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+====== Notes on Email Configuration ======
+This document describes how I can read mail without relying on the outlook web interface, or Mac's mail app.
+This is somewhat complex because the university mail uses Microsoft exchange.
+Mainly, the information below is compiled from [[https://douglasrumbaugh.com/post/davmail-authentication/|this]] blog post, which describes ''davmail'', and [[https://vhbelvadi.com/emacs-mu4e-on-macos|this]] post, which describes ''mu4e'' (emacs) configuration.
+==== installation ====
+I got all of the software from ''brew''.
+The packages required are ''davmail'', ''isync'' (which provides the ''mbsync'' executable), ''msmtp'', and ''mu''.
+==== davmail ====
+[[https://github.com/mguessan/davmail|davmail]] is a program which acts as a proxy between Microsoft Exchange and IMAP/SMTP.
+The local machine's mail client connects to a local IMAP/SMTP server controlled by ''davmail'', so that it doesn't have to talk to Exchange directly.
+''davmail'' has a configuration file, which is, in my case, at ''~/.davmail.properties''.
+Its contents are as follows:
+<code>
+# Disallow access to the davmail server from remote hosts (i.e.,
+# other computers on the network)
+davmail.allowRemote=false
+# Don't use SSL (between email client and davmail)
+davmail.ssl.nosecurecaldav=false
+davmail.ssl.nosecureimap=false
+davmail.ssl.nosecureldap=false
+davmail.ssl.nosecuresmtp=false
+# The ports to run the different services on. You'll need
+# these to connect clients.
+davmail.caldavPort=6000
+davmail.imapPort=6001
+davmail.ldapPort=6002
+davmail.smtpPort=6003
+# Connection details for your exchange account. Odds are good
+# that the url listed here will work for you. If not, see if your
+# University/employer has any details on the correct host URL to
+# connect to their email services with.
+davmail.url=https://outlook.office365.com/EWS/Exchange.asmx
+# Set the authentication mode to manual
+davmail.mode=O365Manual
+# Run davmail in server mode
+davmail.server=true
+davmail.enableKeepAlive=true
+</code>
+Once a program, like ''mbsync'', which reads mail into a local mailbox on your machine, connects to the IMAP server (which, again, is run locally through the proxy established by ''davmail''), ''davmail'' reaches out via exchange, and will produce a URL.
+This URL leads you through an authentication flow finally resulting in a blank page whose URL contains the authentication token.
+Passing this URL back into ''davmail'' authenticates it with exchange.
+Once it's authenticated, the aforementioned config file is modified with a line containing the token:
+<code>
+...
+# Run davmail in server mode
+davmail.server=true
+davmail.enableKeepAlive=true
+davmail.oauth.<my email>.refreshToken=<the token>...
+</code>
+In my case, there was one hitch, which is that the canonical input processing mode prevented me from pasting the entire token since it's so long. So, I had to disable canonical mode when running ''davmail'', so that the token would be sent to the process in its entirety:
+<code>
+$ stty -icanon && davmail ~/.davmail.properties
+</code>
+==== mbsync ====
+''mbsync'' is used to download mail from the mail server.
+My configuration file is located at ''~/.config/isyncrc'', and its contents are as follows:
+(I've replaced my actual account name with ''<account name>'' and my email with ''<my email>'').
+<code>
+### University Email (using davmail)
+IMAPAccount <account name>
+Host 127.0.0.1
+Port 6001
+User <my email>
+PassCmd "security find-generic-password -a <my email> -s <my account name> -w"
+TLSType None
+AuthMechs LOGIN
+IMAPStore <account name>-remote
+Account <account name>
+MaildirStore <account name>-local
+Path ~/Mail/<account name>-mail/
+Inbox ~/Mail/<account name>-mail/INBOX
+SubFolders Verbatim
+Channel <account name>
+Far :<account name>-remote:
+Near :<account name>-local:
+Patterns *
+SyncState *
+Create Both
+Sync All
+Expunge Near
+### Gmail
+IMAPAccount gmail
+Host imap.gmail.com
+Port 993
+TLSType IMAPS
+AuthMechs LOGIN # <-- Note this line
+User <my gmail>@gmail.com
+PassCmd "security find-generic-password -a <my gmail>@gmail.com -s <my gmail> -w"
+IMAPStore gmail-remote
+Account gmail
+MaildirStore gmail-local
+Path ~/Mail/gmail-mail/
+Inbox ~/Mail/gmail-mail/INBOX
+SubFolders Verbatim
+Channel gmail
+Far :gmail-remote:
+Near :gmail-local:
+Patterns *
+SyncState *
+Create Both
+Sync All
+Expunge Near
+</code>
+''PassCmd'' is a command to run to find your account password.
+We can use macOS' ''security'' command to call up the password from keychain when it's required, rather than writing it in plain text in the configuration file.
+Note that in the case of Gmail, the password stored in the keychain is an application password, since google does not permit IMAP authentication using your account password.
+Adding ''AuthMechs LOGIN'' was also necessary to get authentication to work (see [[https://frostyx.cz/posts/synchronize-your-2fa-gmail-with-mbsync|this blog post]]).
+Running ''mbsync <account name>'' will sync the local mail directory specified as above with the server.
+Passing ''-a'' will cause //all// accounts to be synchronized.
+==== msmtp ====
+''msmtp'' is used to send mail. It's configuration (''~/.msmtprc'') is as follows:
+<code>
+defaults
+logfile ~/Mail/msmtp.log
+tls_trust_file system # Use the system's tls certificate
+### University Email
+account <account name>
+host 127.0.0.1
+port 6003
+protocol smtp
+auth plain
+tls off
+user <my email>
+from <my email>
+passwordeval "security find-generic-password -a <my email> -s <my account name> -w"
+### Gmail
+account gmail
+auth on
+host smtp.gmail.com
+port 465
+protocol smtp
+from <my gmail>@gmail.com
+user <my gmail>@gmail.com
+passwordeval "security find-generic-password -a <my gmail>@gmail.com -s <my gmail> -w"
+tls on
+tls_starttls off
+# Default
+account default : <account name>
+</code>