How to Create an Email Account in cPanel

Creating an Email Account in cPanel

1. Log in to cPanel (yourdomain.com/cpanel)
2. Find the "Email" → "Email Accounts" section
3. Click "Create"
4. Enter the mailbox name (for example, info) and the domain
5. Set a strong password — cPanel shows a strength indicator right in the form
6. Set the storage quota (we recommend 500 MB or Unlimited)
7. Click "Create"

The mailbox becomes available immediately — there is no DNS delay here, because mail lives on the same server as the site, unless the MX record points to an external service.

Email Client Settings

Use the following details to connect:

The login is always the full email address (info@yourdomain.com), not the short name info — a common mistake when setting up a client manually.

Real Errors When Connecting Mail

If the client reports an authentication error, the mail server (Exim) log usually shows an entry like:

534 5.7.8 Error: authentication failed
535 Incorrect authentication data

The causes are almost always the same: a login without the domain (info instead of info@yourdomain.com), a typo in the password, or the mail client trying to connect without SSL to a port that requires encryption. Another common error is "Mailbox has exceeded the allowed size":

552 5.2.2 Mailbox size limit exceeded

It means the mailbox is full up to its storage quota — new mail stops being accepted until you delete old messages or raise the quota under "Email Accounts".

IMAP or POP3: Which to Choose

IMAP is the right fit for most cases — it never loses mail when you switch devices and needs no manual backup setup on every client.

Webmail

To access it in a browser, go to yourdomain.com/webmail. Three interfaces are available there: Roundcube, Horde, and classic — the choice is purely a matter of taste, they are functionally equivalent for reading and sending mail.

Forwarding Mail and Autoresponders

If a mailbox is only needed as an alias, mail does not have to be stored on the server — it can be forwarded straight to another address:

1. In cPanel open "Email" → "Forwarders"
2. Click "Add Forwarder" and enter the source address and the destination address
3. For an out-of-office reply, use the separate "Email" → "Autoresponders" section — forwarding and autoresponders work independently of each other

Setting up forwarding is covered in detail in the article on Forwarders in cPanel.

Diagnosing Undelivered Mail

If a sent message never arrives, the sender's mailbox gets an automatic non-delivery notice (a bounce) that looks roughly like this:

Action: failed
Status: 5.1.1
Diagnostic-Code: smtp; 550 5.1.1 The email account that you tried
to reach does not exist

Code 5.1.1 means the recipient address does not exist — a typo in the mailbox name, or the mailbox was deleted. If instead messages sit in the queue with no explicit error, check the domain's MX record: it must point to the server where mail is actually enabled:

dig MX yourdomain.com +short

If the MX record points to a third-party service (for example, Google Workspace), the built-in cPanel mail will not work until the record is changed back.

When Hosting-Based Mail Is Not a Good Fit

• A company needs a full shared calendar, shared contacts, and collaborative document editing — Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 fit that need better
• Mail volume runs into tens of gigabytes per employee — quotas on shared hosting are capped by the plan's overall disk limit
• You need built-in targeted phishing protection and advanced anti-spam analytics — the basic SpamAssassin in cPanel only covers part of that
• You need a single system tied to workstations through Active Directory — hosting-based mail does not integrate with that

Verifying the Result

1. Send a test email to yourself from a different address and confirm it arrives
2. Check SPF and DKIM with any online email header checker — without them, mail lands in spam more often
3. Connect to port 993 to confirm the server responds: openssl s_client -connect mail.yourdomain.com:993

Setting up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC for a domain is covered in detail in the article on DKIM, SPF, and DMARC in cPanel, and the full list of client ports and settings is in the article on configuring mail in a client.

Frequently asked questions

If the password is definitely correct, why does the mail client still give an authentication error?

Most often the issue isn't the password but the login: the client needs the full email address as the username, not just the name before the at sign. The other common cause is connecting without SSL to a port that requires encryption — the server then flags it as an authentication error even though the password and login are both correct.

If I set up forwarding to another address, does the message still stay in the original mailbox?

It depends on how forwarding is configured, but a standard Forwarder in cPanel simply redirects the message onward and keeps no copy in the original mailbox. Wanting both a kept copy and forwarding onward means setting up that behavior separately, rather than expecting it from a plain forwarder by default.

What does error code 5.1.1 mean in a bounce notification?

This code means the recipient address doesn't exist — usually a typo in the mailbox name, or a mailbox the owner already deleted. If a message instead sits in the queue with no explicit error, the cause is different and isn't about the recipient's address at all, but rather the domain's MX record or temporary unavailability of the receiving server.

If the domain's MX record points to Google Workspace, can I still use the mailbox in cPanel?

No, not while that MX record is active — all incoming mail for the domain routes to the external service, and the built-in cPanel mailbox never receives messages, even though it still exists and looks fine. To restore delivery to hosting, switch the MX record back to the hosting server and allow time for the DNS cache to refresh.