SOGo is the mail, calendar and contacts interface that ships with Mailcow. You reach it at https://mail.xaweho.de/SOGo/ (or a similar address we send you after ordering). Log in with your full mail address and your mailbox password.
If you have 2FA active on the mailbox, you’ll additionally be asked for the TOTP code.
What you see in SOGo
On first login you land in the mail view. Four main areas, each a tab at the top:
| Tab | Function |
|---|---|
| inbox, folder structure, mail-client functionality | |
| Calendar | events, shared calendars, reminders |
| Address Books | contacts, groups, birthdays |
| Tasks | to-do lists with due dates |
The mail view in detail
Three-column layout, same as every modern mail app:
- Left: folder list — Inbox, Sent, Drafts, Spam, Trash, plus your own folders.
- Middle: mail list of the selected folder.
- Right: preview of the selected mail.
On first login you see the inbox. If mail is already there: click a mail → preview on the right. Otherwise, best send yourself a test mail to see that everything works.
Writing mail
Click Compose top left (or keyboard shortcut m). A new tab opens with the compose window:
- Recipient: type an address, auto-completion from your address books and previous recipients.
- Subject: a good subject helps the recipient.
- Content: plain text or HTML (toggle at the bottom). Default is plain text — which we recommend, because HTML mail often arrives annoyingly formatted.
- Attachments: drag and drop, or the paperclip button.
Before sending, you also have the option of:
- Requesting a return receipt (rarely needed, often ignored)
- Setting a priority (only acts as a hint in the recipient’s client)
- Encryption with S/MIME (see below)
Identities
If you manage several mail addresses that all go to the same mailbox — say your own mailbox plus the aliases info@, kontakt@ — you can pick from several identities when composing.
Setting up: top right, profile picture → Settings → Identities → New.
Per identity:
- Name: display name.
- Email: the sender address.
- Reply address: optionally a different reply-to.
- Signature: separate per identity.
For sending to work, the alias has to be listed as an allowed sender in Mailcow under the mailbox’s sender restrictions.
Setting up a signature
Top right, profile picture → Settings → Identities → edit the identity → signature field.
From our experience, sensible signature contents:
- Name + role
- Optional: phone
- Website (with
https://) - For business accounts: mandatory legal details (VAT ID, managing directors, commercial register number)
Avoid oversized images or ASCII art — that bloats mails and looks bad in many mail clients.
Managing folders
Default folders: Inbox, Sent, Drafts, Spam, Trash.
Creating your own subfolders: right-click an existing folder → New folder. Hierarchies are allowed — Inbox/Customers/Company X is fine.
Folder actions via right-click:
- Rename
- Delete
- Mark as read
- Manage subscriptions (if IMAP folders don’t show up in all clients, subscribe here).
Mail search
Search field at the top of the mail list. SOGo searches the currently selected folder — for a mailbox-wide search you have to select the whole inbox or go through folders one by one.
Advanced search: click the magnifier icon → filter by sender, subject, date, attachment type. Handy when you’re hunting a specific mail from months ago.
Keyboard shortcuts
SOGo has decent keyboard shortcuts — a few important ones:
| Shortcut | Function |
|---|---|
m | compose new mail |
r | reply |
a | reply all |
f | forward |
Backspace | delete mail |
n / p | next / previous mail |
s | star mail |
Full list: top right, profile picture → Help → Keyboard shortcuts.
Three settings worth checking at the start
After the first login, check three things in Settings:
1. Language and time zone
General → Language and time format. Should be auto-detected, but check.
2. Mail sorting
Mail → Mail display → Sort by: default is “date descending” (newest on top). If you prefer chronological: change it.
3. Spam behavior
Mail → Filters → Spam filter (see Personal Sieve filters). By default, spam gets moved to the Junk folder — which we recommend.
Mobile use
SOGo webmail works in a smartphone browser, but it’s not ideal — the layout is optimized for desktop. From our experience, better on smartphones:
- The phone’s native mail app with IMAP/SMTP — easiest on the iPhone via configuration profile, see Apple Mail iPhone/iPad; on Android e.g. K-9 Mail or Thunderbird.
- Calendar and contacts come along via CalDAV/CardDAV — see SOGo calendar and SOGo contacts.
Straight talk on delivery speed: clients with IMAP IDLE (Thunderbird, K-9 Mail) show new mail practically immediately. iOS Mail only fetches IMAP accounts at intervals — you set the interval under Settings → Mail → Accounts → Fetch New Data.
Security and privacy
SOGo runs entirely over HTTPS; all data is transmitted encrypted. Your mail sits unencrypted on our mail server — for end-to-end encryption you need PGP or S/MIME (which no mainstream user runs, but which can make sense for sensitive communication).
Login sessions in SOGo last 24 hours by default. After longer inactivity you’re logged out automatically.
Frequently asked questions
Why is it called SOGo and not Mailcow webmail? SOGo is a standalone open-source mail suite integrated into Mailcow. Mailcow is the management platform around it — mailboxes, aliases, spam filters. SOGo is the user interface.
How much data can SOGo handle? On the server side, SOGo handles mailboxes with tens of thousands of mails without trouble. In the browser you’ll notice slower mail lists when a folder holds many thousands of mails — then better search instead of scrolling through.
Can I export mail from SOGo to Outlook? Yes, indirectly: select mails in SOGo → Export as .mbox. Outlook can import mbox. Usually more practical: hook Outlook up to the same mailbox via IMAP — all mail is there immediately.
Do SOGo and my mail clients sync in real time? Yes, via IMAP. If you read a mail in Outlook, it’s marked read in SOGo too (same IMAP flags). If you create a folder in SOGo, it’s visible in Outlook as well.
Where do I find the login URL for SOGo?
Typically https://mail.xaweho.de/SOGo/. It’s in our order confirmation. Or top right in the Mailcow GUI, under your profile picture, there’s an “Open webmail” link.
Does SOGo work offline? No, SOGo is a pure web application. For offline mail reading you need a mail client with a local cache (Outlook, Apple Mail, Thunderbird).
Can I host SOGo on my own domain?
We run SOGo at mail.xaweho.de. Moving it to your own domain isn’t possible without server-side changes — ask us if that matters to you.
What’s next
First login as domain admin in the Mailcow GUI
After ordering your mail server plan, you get access to the Mailcow GUI. Here's an overview of what you see as domain admin and where to find what.
Creating and editing mailboxes, setting quotas
How to create new mail addresses as domain admin, assign storage quotas, change passwords and delete mailboxes again.
Setting up aliases and a catchall
Route several mail addresses into one mailbox — info@, kontakt@, presse@ all in a single inbox. Plus a catchall for every typo address.
Creating app passwords for mail clients
With 2FA active, Outlook, Apple Mail and friends need an app password instead of your main password. How to create them, revoke them and avoid password chaos.