Splintermail: Real Secure Email

Splintermail User Guide

The first step to using your Splintermail account... is creating a Splintermail account.

Windows: Download and run the latest version of the Windows Installer from our Download Page.

Mac: Download the latest version of the OSX Installer from our Download Page. To run it, open the context menu by right-clicking (or control-clicking) the icon and choose "open".

Linux: Download the latest version of the package for your distribution from our Download Page. Then use your system's pacakge manager to install the package from the downloaded file:

For Arch Linux: pacman -U <file>

For Debian or Ubuntu Linux: dpkg -i <file>

For Fedora Linux: dnf install <file>

Before you can connect a client, you must configure your Splintermail installation. After configuration, the Splintermail service on your device will be able to automatically create TLS certificates, so your email client can connect to it safely and transparently.

Configuration is simple: you review the Terms of Service for LetsEncrypt.org (the TLS certificate provider used by Splintermail) and then entering your email account and password.

Start by opening a command line window:

Windows: Press the windows key, type cmd.exe, and hit enter.

Mac: Press cmd+space, then type terminal.app and hit enter.

Linux: Open your preferred terminal emulator app.

Then type splintermail configure into your command line, hit enter, and follow the instructions.

When you are done, run splintermail status and remember the full value of your subdomain that it shows, which you will use in the next step.

The Splintermail service presents a local IMAP interface for your email client.

Interface:  IMAP
Host:       your full subdomain, from `splintermail status`
Port:       993
Encryption: "SSL" or "TLS", but not "STARTTLS"
Username:   your full Splintermail email address
Password:   your Splintermail password

Your email client should send emails through a normal SMTPS interface:

Interface:  SMTPS
Host:       splintermail.com
Port:       465
Encryption: "SSL" or "TLS", but not "STARTTLS"
Username:   your full Splintermail email address
Password:   your Splintermail password

If you wish to use the splintermail command line tool for controlling your account without going to splintermail.com, the first time you run it you will need to tell it your email address, with the --user option, like this:

splintermail --user you@splintermail.com add_random_alias

After entering your password, and if you choose to allow it, splintermail will and request an API token for your account so you no longer have to specify your password on your current device, meaning you can then run (without needing a password):

splintermail list_aliases

and you should see the new random alias you just added to your account.

Windows: Uninstall Splintermail from the Windows "Add or Remove Programs" tool.

Mac: Download the OSX Uninstaller from our Download Page. To run it, open the context menu by right-clicking (or control-clicking) the icon and choose "open".

Linux: Uninstall the splintermail package with your system's package manager:

For Arch Linux: pacman -R splintermail

For Debian or Ubuntu Linux: apt-get remove splintermail

For Fedora or Centos Linux: dnf remove splintermail