Everything in Bichon is organized around accounts. This page walks through creating and configuring them; see Accounts for what each account type stores and Archive Filters for content rules.

Creating an account requires the account:create permission.

Choose the account typeCopy Anchor Link

On Accounts → New Account:

A View is covered in Accounts → View; the rest of this page is about IMAP and local accounts.

Step 1 — Email address and discoveryCopy Anchor Link

Enter the email address first. Bichon attempts automatic discovery from the domain: IMAP host, port, encryption, and a matching OAuth2 provider preset where one exists (Gmail, Outlook/Microsoft 365, Yahoo). Discovery is best-effort; every field can be overridden manually.

The address cannot be changed after the account is created.

Step 2 — IMAP server and authenticationCopy Anchor Link

Self-signed certificates can be accepted per account when the server uses one.

OAuth2 accountsCopy Anchor Link

OAuth2 providers are configured before the account, on the OAuth2 page (/oauth2) or via /api/v1/oauth2:

After saving the provider, create the IMAP account with auth_type: OAuth2, choose the provider, and complete the authorization flow. Tokens are stored encrypted and refreshed automatically.

ProxiesCopy Anchor Link

Create reusable HTTP or SOCKS5 proxies under Settings → Proxy (/settings/proxy), test them there, then select one per account or per OAuth2 provider. A proxy only affects outbound IMAP/OAuth traffic; it does not proxy the WebUI or REST API.

Step 3 — Sync scheduleCopy Anchor Link

Choose one of two mutually exclusive modes:

• Fixed interval — minutes between syncs (download_interval_min).
• Cron schedule — six-field cron sec min hour day month dow, evaluated in the server's local timezone. When set, it overrides the interval.

At least one of the two is required for an IMAP account. To stop automatic syncing, disable the account rather than setting an empty schedule.

Step 4 — Download scopeCopy Anchor Link

Date Since and Date Before are mutually exclusive.

Step 5 — General and lifecycleCopy Anchor Link

• Account name / login name — display name and IMAP username (defaults to the email address; custom values supported).
• Enabled — a disabled account keeps its data but does not sync or import.
• PGP key — optional key associated with the account.
• Retention window (days) — permanently purge messages older than N days. Empty or 0 keeps everything. Age is the older of the Date header and the server receive time; a legal hold suspends retention. See Storage & Backup → Account Retention.
• Minimum retention / deletion lock (days) — Enterprise. Messages younger than this window cannot be deleted by any path, and the retention sweep keeps them. Only system:root can set or clear it. See Minimum retention.
• Source mailbox cleanup — move archived mail out of the source mailbox into bichon_auto_created_trash. See Source Mailbox Cleanup.
• Archive filtering — only matching messages are archived. See Archive Filters.
• Attachment extraction — Pro: only matching attachments are text-extracted for full-text search. See Attachment Search.
• Override From headers — optional ordered header names whose first valid mailbox replaces the stored from address.

Step 6 — Save, download, and gap-fillCopy Anchor Link

Saving creates the account. Start the initial download from the account page; progress, errors, and per-folder state are shown there. Enable Check new emails and automatically backfill older missing emails to run gap-fill after a sync: it compares every remote folder's UIDs with the local archive and re-downloads anything missing.

Per-account sync state is also exposed as metrics — see Monitoring & Metrics.

Local (NoSync) accountsCopy Anchor Link

A local account is the only valid target for imports and SMTP delivery. Create one with no IMAP configuration; then:

• import EML/MBOX/PST via the WebUI or bichon-cli — see Import & Export;
• deliver mail over SMTP — see Embedded SMTP Receiver;
• become the journal archive automatically when SMTP journaling is configured.

Editing and deletingCopy Anchor Link

• Most settings can be changed after creation; the email address cannot.
• Deleting an account is permanent. On Enterprise, account.delete can be placed under dual control.
• An account that a View reads from cannot be deleted until it is removed from every view — the error names the blocking views.
• Accounts count toward the license limit (IMAP, local, and View alike). See Licensing & Trials.

APICopy Anchor Link