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IMAP email access at SLAC is limited to the internal SLAC network. If you are offsite, you need to connect to VPN to use the IMAP protocol. Alternatively, you can use and configure the Owl plugin for Thunderbird. Owl allows Thunderbird to use the Outlook Web Access (OWA) protocol, which uses Duo two factor authentication. SLAC has a site license for the Owl plugin (you must use your for slac.stanford.edu email address).

For more information on the security reasons for restricting IMAP usage:
https://intranet.slac.stanford.edu/news/2019/07/reducing-risk-cyber-attacks-certain-email-protocols

IMAP Alternatives

Other ways to read email at SLAC for linux users include:

• Outlook Web Access at https://outlook.office365.com
• VPN to SLAC + any IMAP client
• ssh to a SLAC linux machine and use any IMAP client (eg, you can configure mutt and alpine for IMAP)

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Owl Documentation

https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/addon/owl-for-exchange/

https://www.beonex.com/owl/

Configuration steps for Thunderbird and Owl

Protocol: Outlook Web Access
Login Method: Detect Automatically
Webmail page: https://outlook.office365.comhttp://outlook.com/owa/exchange.slac.stanford.edu

Install and configure the Owl plugin in Thunderbird

1. Open a terminal, install and/or update thunderbird to latest version by running these commands for Ubuntu:

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   sudo apt update sudo apt install thunderbird sudo apt upgrade thunderbird

   Or these commands for CentOS:

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   sudo yum clean all sudo yum install thunderbird sudo yum upgrade thunderbird

2. In your terminal window, start Thunderbird by typing 'thunderbird' in your terminal window:

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   thunderbird

3. You will be presented with a window that says "Welcome to Thunderbird"
4. When asked: "Would you like a new email address?", close this window, or select "I think I'll configure my account later"
5. Select the menu button in the upper right (the box with three lines in it)
6. Select: Add-ons
7. Click the button that says "browse all add-ons"
8. Type "owl" in the search dialog box
9. Select the choice that shows up which says "Owl for Exchange"
10. Click "+ Add to Thunderbird"
11. Under "Tools -> Add ons", click on "Owl for Exchange", and click "Preferences"
12. Click "Add new account Manually"
13. Next to Webmail page, enter:  https://outlook.office365.com

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Additional Notes

Protocol: Outlook Web Access
Login Method: Detect Automatically

Webmail page: https://outlook.office365.com
http://outlook.com/owa/exchange.slac.stanford.edu

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