Docs / Obsidian Mail Server / Start here
Getting started
Obsidian Mail Server gives your organization email, calendars and contacts that work with the apps people already use: the Mail and Calendar apps on iPhone, Android and Mac, Outlook, Thunderbird, and the built-in webmail. It speaks the same protocols as Microsoft Exchange, so phones and Macs set it up as an "Exchange" account.
This page walks through the whole setup once. Each step links to a chapter with the details.
Your setup so far
This list checks the server as it is right now. Finished steps are ticked.
In the admin center this is a live checklist: each step is checked against your server and ticked off when it works.
The five steps
1. Install the server and give it a name
Install from the installer ISO or start one of the ready-made virtual machines, then answer the first-boot questions on the console. The most important answer is the host name: the public name people and other mail servers will use to reach this server, for example mail.example.com. This server calls itself mail.example.com.
2. Add your email domain
A domain is the part after the @, like example.com. Add it under Domains. You can host several domains, and several separate organizations, on one server.
See Domains and DNS.
3. Create the DNS records
DNS tells the rest of the internet that mail for your domain goes to this server, and lets phones and Macs find the server from just an email address. You create the records at whoever hosts your domain's DNS (your registrar, Cloudflare, and so on). The Domains page lists the exact records for each of your domains and shows which ones are already in place.
See Domains and DNS.
4. Install a trusted certificate
The server starts with a self-signed certificate, which apps do not trust. Replace it with a free Let's Encrypt certificate or one you already own, so phones and browsers connect without warnings.
See Certificates.
5. Add your people
Create a mailbox for each person under Users & groups. The server suggests a password you can hand over. Shared addresses like info@ or sales@ become shared mailboxes that several people can open; meeting rooms become room mailboxes that accept bookings on their own.
See Users, mailboxes and groups.
Where things are
| You want to | Go to |
|---|---|
| Add, change or remove a person, group or shared mailbox | Users & groups |
| Reset someone's password | Their page under Users & groups, or Reset a password on the home page |
| Let someone read or send from another mailbox | That mailbox's page, Who else can use this mailbox |
| Make someone an administrator | Administrators |
| See why an email did not arrive | Track a message |
| Block or erase a lost phone | Phones & tablets |
| Send outgoing mail through your provider's relay | Mail flow & queue |
| See who changed what | Change history |
Signing in
- Admin center:
https://mail.example.com/admin(the Exchange address/ecpalso works). Sign in with the email address and password of a mailbox that has an administrator role. - Webmail:
https://mail.example.com/mail(or/owa). Every user signs in with their email address and password.
The first administrator is created by the first-boot setup. More can be added under Administrators.