What can you manage in DirectAdmin email accounts?

DirectAdmin gives you complete control over your email accounts. You can manage passwords, storage quotas, email forwarders, vacation messages, spam filtering, and mailbox access settings all from one central interface.

This guide covers all common email account management tasks for 0724 Hosting customers using DirectAdmin.

Accessing email account management

  1. Log in to DirectAdmin from the client area
  2. On the dashboard, find Email Manager or E-Mail Accounts
  3. Click Email Accounts
  4. You will see a list of all email accounts for your domain

Each email account displays the email address, quota used/available, forwarders, and quick action buttons.

Changing an email account password

To change the password for an existing email account:

  1. In the Email Accounts list, find the account you want to modify
  2. Click Modify or the pencil icon next to the account
  3. In the New Password field, enter a strong password
  4. Re-enter the password in Confirm Password
  5. Click Modify to save

Password requirements: Use at least 12 characters with uppercase, lowercase, numbers, and symbols. DirectAdmin has a password strength indicator to help you create secure passwords.

Important: After changing the password, update the password in all email clients (Outlook, Thunderbird, mobile devices) that access this account. See our email setup guides for instructions.

Setting and modifying email quotas

Email quotas control how much disk space an email account can use. When the quota is reached, the account cannot receive new emails until messages are deleted or the quota is increased.

Understanding email quotas

  • Unlimited quota: Account uses as much space as available on your hosting plan
  • Limited quota: Account is restricted to a specific size (e.g., 500MB, 1GB, 5GB)
  • Total quota: All email accounts share your hosting plan's total disk space allocation

Changing an email account's quota

  1. Click Modify next to the email account
  2. Find the Quota field
  3. Enter the new quota in megabytes (e.g., 1024 for 1GB)
  4. Or select Unlimited to remove the quota restriction
  5. Click Modify to save

Quota recommendations:

  • Personal accounts: 1GB–5GB (most users never exceed 1GB)
  • Business accounts: 5GB–10GB for regular use, unlimited for archive mailboxes
  • Info/support accounts: 2GB–5GB with regular cleanup or forwarding to ticket systems

Monitor mailbox usage regularly. Accounts at 90% capacity should be cleaned up or have their quota increased.

Managing email forwarders

Email forwarders automatically redirect incoming mail from one address to another. Forwarders are useful for redirecting mail to external addresses or distributing mail to multiple recipients.

Creating an email forwarder

  1. In DirectAdmin, go to Email Manager → Forwarders
  2. Click Create Forwarder
  3. In User, enter the local part of the email address (e.g., sales for sales@yourdomain.co.za)
  4. Select your domain from the dropdown
  5. In Forward to, enter the destination email address
  6. Choose whether to keep a copy on the server (recommended for backup)
  7. Click Create

The forwarder will activate immediately. Test by sending an email to the forwarding address.

Forwarding to multiple addresses

To forward one email address to multiple recipients:

  1. Create the first forwarder as above
  2. Click Modify next to the forwarder
  3. Add additional email addresses, one per line
  4. Click Modify to save

All recipients will receive a copy of every email sent to the forwarding address.

Deleting forwarders

To remove an email forwarder:

  1. Go to Email Manager → Forwarders
  2. Find the forwarder you want to delete
  3. Click Delete
  4. Confirm the deletion

Managing catch-all email addresses

A catch-all (or default) email address receives all mail sent to non-existent addresses at your domain. For example, if someone emails typo@yourdomain.co.za and that account does not exist, the catch-all receives it.

Setting up a catch-all address

  1. In DirectAdmin, go to Email Manager → Email Accounts
  2. Look for Default Address or Catch-All at the top or bottom of the page
  3. Select Forward to email
  4. Enter the email address that should receive catch-all mail
  5. Click Save

Catch-all options

  • Forward to email: Send all unmatched mail to a specific address
  • Fail (bounce): Reject unmatched mail with an error message (recommended to reduce spam)
  • Blackhole: Silently discard unmatched mail (no bounce, no delivery)

Spam warning: Catch-all addresses receive enormous amounts of spam because spammers send mail to random addresses. We recommend setting catch-all to Fail to reduce spam load on your mailbox.

Suspending and unsuspending email accounts

Suspending an email account temporarily disables it without deleting the mailbox contents. Useful for former employees or temporarily inactive addresses.

Suspending an account

  1. Go to Email Accounts in DirectAdmin
  2. Click Modify next to the account
  3. Check the Suspend account box
  4. Click Modify

Suspended accounts cannot send or receive email. Incoming mail is rejected with a "mailbox unavailable" error.

Unsuspending an account

  1. Click Modify next to the suspended account
  2. Uncheck the Suspend account box
  3. Click Modify

The account will immediately resume normal operation.

Viewing email account usage and statistics

DirectAdmin shows disk space usage for each email account in the Email Accounts list. To view detailed statistics:

  1. Go to Email Accounts
  2. Check the Used / Quota column for each account
  3. Accounts approaching their quota limit are highlighted

You can also view total email usage for your account in Account Manager → Account Statistics.

What uses email disk space?

  • Stored messages in Inbox, Sent, and other IMAP folders
  • Email attachments (photos, PDFs, documents)
  • Deleted messages (if not permanently removed)
  • Spam folder contents

To reduce email disk usage:

  • Delete old emails and empty the Trash folder
  • Remove messages with large attachments
  • Archive important emails to local storage (PST/MBOX files)
  • Configure email clients to delete old spam automatically

Deleting email accounts

To permanently delete an email account:

  1. Go to Email Accounts in DirectAdmin
  2. Find the account you want to delete
  3. Click Delete or the trash icon
  4. Confirm the deletion

Warning: Deleting an email account is permanent. All messages, folders, and settings are irreversibly deleted. Back up important emails before deleting an account.

Before deleting an account

  • Export important emails to a local archive
  • Update any services or websites using this email address
  • Set up a forwarder to redirect mail to an active address
  • Notify anyone who sends mail to this address

Accessing webmail

Webmail allows you to read and send email from any web browser without configuring an email client.

Logging in to webmail

  1. Go to webmail.yourdomain.co.za (replace with your actual domain)
  2. Or go to DirectAdmin → Email Accounts → click Webmail next to an account
  3. Enter your full email address and password
  4. Click Login
  5. Choose a webmail client (Roundcube recommended)

Webmail is useful for checking email while travelling or when email client configuration is unavailable.

Best practices for email account management

  • Use strong, unique passwords: Never reuse passwords across multiple accounts
  • Set reasonable quotas: Prevent individual accounts from consuming all disk space
  • Monitor usage regularly: Check for accounts approaching quota limits
  • Clean up old accounts: Delete or suspend unused email addresses to improve security
  • Avoid catch-all addresses: Set to "Fail" to reduce spam
  • Use forwarders wisely: Too many forwarders can create mail loops and delivery issues
  • Back up important mail: Download archives of critical correspondence
  • Update passwords periodically: Change passwords every 6–12 months for security

Troubleshooting common issues

Cannot change email password

If the password change fails:

  • Ensure the new password meets minimum strength requirements
  • Try a longer password with more character variety
  • Check that you have permission to modify email accounts
  • Contact support if the issue persists

Email account reaching quota limit

If an account frequently hits its quota:

  • Increase the quota to a more appropriate size
  • Configure the email client to delete old messages automatically
  • Move large attachments to file storage instead of email
  • Enable server-side spam filtering to reduce junk mail

Forwarder not working

If emails are not being forwarded:

  • Verify the destination email address is correct (check for typos)
  • Check the destination mailbox is not full or blocking forwarded mail
  • Ensure the forwarder was created for the correct domain
  • Check your email account's Sent folder for bounce messages
  • Test by sending a message from an external address

Receiving too much spam in catch-all

If your catch-all address is overwhelmed with spam:

  • Change the catch-all setting from "Forward" to "Fail"
  • Create specific email accounts for legitimate addresses
  • Enable SpamAssassin spam filtering (see SpamAssassin guide)

Email account limits

Your hosting plan determines the maximum number of email accounts you can create. Most 0724 Hosting plans include:

  • Mail Hosting plans: Unlimited email accounts
  • Web Hosting plans: Unlimited email accounts
  • Reseller plans: Unlimited email accounts (allocate limits to your customers)

Check your hosting plan details in the client area or contact support if you need to increase email account limits.

Getting help with email account management

If you need assistance with email account management, password resets, quota adjustments, or troubleshooting email delivery issues, contact 0724 Hosting support. We can help with complex email configurations, migrations, and account recovery.