Aktenplatz can import emails from a range of systems, archive them and automatically assign them to the matching records. Depending on your mail provider, different connectors (connection types) are available. This overview helps you pick the right method for your system – the linked guides then walk you through the setup step by step.

Audit-proof: only with a journal mailbox

Important upfront: archiving is only truly audit-proof via a journal mailbox. With journaling, a copy of every incoming and outgoing message is sent automatically to a separate journal mailbox – before any user can move or delete it. Aktenplatz reads that mailbox and thus captures your entire mail traffic seamlessly and tamper-proof.

All other connectors – the Graph Connector, the Google Sync Connector and IMAP/POP3 – access the individual mailboxes directly. They are convenient to set up, but not audit-proof: if a user deletes a message before it has been synchronised, it will be missing from the archive. Whenever seamless, tamper-proof archiving matters, always choose the route via a journal mailbox.

Microsoft 365 (M365)

Microsoft 365 offers two sync methods:

  • Journal mailbox (audit-proof): A journal rule in Microsoft 365 automatically sends a copy of every incoming and outgoing message to a central journal mailbox. Aktenplatz reads that mailbox and thus captures your entire mail traffic seamlessly – regardless of which employee sent or received a message. Step by step: Setting up a Microsoft 365 journal mailbox.
  • Graph Connector (convenient, not audit-proof): Our direct interface via the Microsoft Graph API. Aktenplatz connects to your Microsoft 365 account directly – without a separate app registration – and reads the mailboxes over a secure, modern interface. It is particularly easy to set up, but accesses the mailboxes directly and is therefore not audit-proof. Details: Connecting Microsoft 365 via the Graph Connector.

IMAP/POP3 is not suitable for Microsoft 365: Microsoft has disabled basic authentication (sign-in with username and password) for IMAP and POP3 in Exchange Online, so a classic IMAP/POP3 connection can no longer even sign in to Microsoft 365. For Microsoft 365, use the Graph Connector or a journal mailbox instead.

Exchange (local / on-premises)

If you run your own Exchange server on site, you set up a local journal mailbox there – the audit-proof route. Unlike Microsoft 365, the journal mailbox may sit directly on your Exchange server. Aktenplatz then reads it. You obtain the journal mailboxes via Aktenplatz support. Setting this up is described in Setting up a journal mailbox on local Exchange.

Gmail / Google Workspace

For Gmail and Google Workspace there are two routes:

  • Journal mailbox (audit-proof): In Google Workspace a compliance rule can send a copy of your entire mail traffic to a journal mailbox. Only this way is audit-proof. Step by step: Setting up a journal mailbox for Gmail.
  • Google Sync Connector (not audit-proof): The connector connects directly to your Google account and fetches the messages. For this, Gmail requires an app password (at myaccount.google.com/apppasswords), because Google does not support ordinary password sign-in.

Other providers (IMAP / POP3)

Any other provider (e.g. Outlook.com, GMX or your own mailbox) is connected the classic way via IMAP or POP3. This direct connection is not audit-proof (see above) and does not work with Microsoft 365 – use the Graph Connector or a journal mailbox there instead.

Important note on POP3: POP3 downloads the messages from the server and, depending on the configuration, removes them from the mailbox in the process. As a result they may no longer be available in your original mailbox. Only use POP3 deliberately – in most cases IMAP is the better choice, because the messages remain on the server.

You can find the step-by-step setup of an IMAP/POP3 account under Synchronising Mails.