A white sphere sitting on top of a blue box (Roundcube logo) with text above it that reads, Roundcube Webmail recommended settings.

Top Recommended Settings for Roundcube Webmail

  • Adam Douglas

Quite often we forget to go through the settings of web applications especially when it comes to email. By reviewing the settings this helps improve your experience, communication, privacy, security and understanding of the application. Here are a few areas of settings that I recommended changing at the bare minimum when using the free and open source software Roundcube Webmail suite.

Environment

Instructions tested with the following.

  • Roundcube Webmail v1.4.13

Change Password

When an email address is set up by someone else other than yourself or the account has been compromised the password should be changed to keep it secure and under your control for accountability.

  1. Open Roundcube email client.
  2. Browse to “Settings” > “Password”.
  3. Enter the desired password under “New Password” and then again in “Confirm New Password”.
  4. Click the “Save” button.

Warning

Never share the password with anyone under any circumstances. This includes system administrators, tech support, boss, etc.

Set Your Identity

To clearly communicate to the recipient of your email messages it is best to set the display name, organization name (if applicable) and signature that will be used each time a message is sent. All these settings helps the recipient be able to clearly identify who a message is from.

  1. Open Roundcube email client.
  2. Browse to “Settings” > “Identities”.
  3. Select desired identity.
  4. Under “Settings” set the “Display Name” by entering your name.
  5. Under “Settings” set the “Organization” by entering the name of organization the email address is associated to (optional).
  6. Under “Signature” enter the desired text.
  7. Click the “Save” button.

Read Messages in Plaintext

To protect one’s privacy, security and freedom of control turn off displaying email messages in HyperText Markup Language (HTML) by default. This will force all emails to be displayed by default in plaintext. Each email message will now have an extra button to toggle on displaying the message using HTML if necessary. This is the safest route to go in protecting yourself online from tracking or malicious messages.

  1. Open Roundcube email client.
  2. Browse to “Settings” > “Preferences” > “Displaying Messages”.
  3. Toggle off “Display HTML”.
  4. Click the “Save” button.

Email Maintenance

To keep your email clean and optimized for the best experience I always recommend emptying the trash and compacting on logout.

  1. Open Roundcube email client.
  2. Browse to “Settings” > “Preferences” > “Server Settings”.
  3. Toggle on “Clear Trash on logout”.
  4. Toggle on “Compact Inbox on logout”.
  5. Click the “Save” button.

Spellcheck

It is often forgotten to do spellcheck on an email message, so to help combat this follow these steps.

  1. Open Roundcube email client.
  2. Browse to “Settings” > “Preferences” > “Composing Messages”.
  3. Toggle on “Check spelling before sending a message” under “Spellcheck Options”.
  4. Click the “Save” button.

Change Theme

For the best experience using an application is having an interface that is enjoyable to interact with. There are three themes to choose from. However, “Elastic” theme is best for the most modern experience.

  1. Open Roundcube email client.
  2. Browse to “Settings” > “Preferences” > “User Interface”.
  3. Select interface skin to “Elastic”.
  4. Click the “Save” button.
References

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