Receiving IncaMail messages Receiving, opening and answering mail

You receive e-mails from IncaMail directly in the inbox of your existing e-mail address. Delete the e-mail only if you are sure that you no longer need it. Swiss Post cannot deliver the message to you again. The confidential and encrypted message can be opened in the message using the «Read» button. To ensure the message is displayed correctly, an Internet connection is required.

For customers with a business customer contract with IncaMail for their e-mail client, IncaMail messages with the sending type «Confidential» can be read directly in the inbox without the «Read» button or an «IncaMail.html» attachment. These messages also appear in normal searches.

The message might not contain a «Read» button. In this case, you can open the IncaMail message simply by clicking on the IncaMail.html attachment. If the HTML attachment cannot be opened directly in the e-mail program, save the attachment on the desktop and then open the saved version in your browser. If the IncaMail.html attachment does not work on your device (e.g. on iPhones with iOS 15.3 or later), then simply forward the entire IncaMail message to open@im.post.ch. You will then receive a second message with a valid read link.

Confidential IncaMail message
Recipients without an IncaMail account can click on the «Read» button to receive a key link which they can use to read the message. Recipients with an IncaMail account can open the message using their personal IncaMail password.

Note (does not apply to business customers with IncaMail for their e-mail client): 
Confidential IncaMail messages can be read by anyone who has access to your mailbox, including for example family members, administrators or the mail system provider (e.g. Google, Microsoft or Apple). As the recipient, you can significantly improve the security of your messages by registering free of charge with IncaMail and defining a password. Confidential messages can then only be read after entering the password, not using the key link sent in a second e-mail.

Personal IncaMail message
If you are sent a personal message, you will be asked to log in to IncaMail after clicking on the «Read» button. After logging in, the e-mail will be displayed in your browser. If you are not yet registered with IncaMail, you must first register once. The security level of personal messages is higher than for confidential messages because recipients have to identify themselves using two factors: their e-mail account and their IncaMail password.

IncaMail registered
Every valid e-mail address can receive registered messages. The procedure when receiving a registered message differs from the procedure for other messages as follows:

• Collection period: The message must be opened within seven days. Once this period has expired, the message can no longer be opened. If you have opened the message during this period, you can view it again at any time.

• Accept: When you click on the «Read» button for the first time, you can decide after logging in whether you want to accept or refuse the registered message. To do so, click on the corresponding button. The sender is notified of your decision with a receipt. The decision can be postponed until a later point within the collection period. Once accepted, the attachment can be reopened without prompting you to make this decision.

• Receipts: For registered messages, submission and acceptance receipts in the form of a signed PDF are delivered to both the sender and the recipient. If a registered message is not opened within the collection period, an expiry receipt is sent.

Just as it is for IncMail, the security and privacy of its users are at the heart of what Swiss messaging service Threema is all about. This is why IncaMail messages sent by someone with a business customer contract can be received and opened in the Threema app, the Threema Web client and Threema Work.

Here’s how it works:

1. Log in to your IncaMail account at www.incamail.com.
2. Go to «Settings» and scroll down to the «Threema settings» tab.
3. Enter your 8-character Threema ID and confirm with «Add Threema ID».
4. You will then receive a Threema message with an activation link.
5. Click on the link and log on to incamail.com to complete the activation process.

You can then view the IncaMail messages you receive both in your incamail.com inbox and in Threema. This works for both Threema and Threema Work.

Important: You can only receive IncaMail messages in Threema that have been sent by someone with a business customer contract. You cannot respond to an IncaMail message or compose a new IncaMail message in Threema itself. To do this, you can use your IncaMail account on incamail.com as usual. 

The IncaMail message is displayed to you as the recipient in your browser. The following options are available for saving the message:

• Forward as a normal e-mail: The message is forwarded as normal and in unencrypted format. IncaMail cannot guarantee that the information will be protected against access by third parties. The security of the message is your own responsibility.

• Save as an e-mail message (.eml): The message can be saved in the general e-mail client format. Please note that the message is not automatically saved to your e-mail inbox. However, you can open the file with various e-mail clients (e.g. Outlook or Thunderbird).
  

• Save as a PDF: The message can be saved locally as a PDF.
  
  
• Save as ZIP: The message can be saved locally as a ZIP file with content (PDF) and attachments.

You can save files sent using Large File Transfer by clicking on the links within the message.

As a recipient of a Large File Transfer from IncaMail, you will receive an IncaMail message as usual. Open it as described in the «Receiving and opening messages» section.

Confidential messages for business customers with IncaMail for their e-mail client: The message contains links that allow you to download the sent files with just one click. The links indicate the title, format and size of the files and show how long they are available for download. Please note that the data is available for download for a maximum of seven days after which it is irrevocably deleted. Clicking on the link takes you to a separate IncaMail website. The file download starts automatically. The file will be on your computer once successfully downloaded, usually under «Downloads».

All other: The attachments for large files are displayed in the web interface as normal attachments and can be downloaded. Please note that the data is available for download for a maximum of seven days after which it is irrevocably deleted.

Quick guide to Large File Transfer (video) 

You can reply to every IncaMail message once free of charge in the web interface. If you would like to select a sending type other than «Confidential» for your reply, add additional recipients or forward a protected message via IncaMail, you must be registered. We recommend signing up for an IncaMail Premium subscription to allow you to protect a virtually unlimited number of messages. 

Notifications of IncaMail messages are always provided with a signature for security reasons. Please always check the validity of the signature and the sender. The sender of the e-mail should always be as follows: swisspost@im.post.ch

Unfortunately, some e-mail clients and web mailers show the signature to be invalid or unknown, despite the fact that the certificate is valid. This is normal after the certificate has expired, even if it was still valid when it was sent. In these cases, a manual inspection of the relevant certificate is recommended.

The trust level of individual senders and recipients is indicated in IncaMail with up to three stars. The stars illustrate to what extent the user’s identity has been checked.

You have the option of hiding your own trust level in the settings. Users with a hidden trust level receive no information concerning the trust level of their communication partner.