Are you changing your emails to a different service/provider (server, host or domain) but want to keep all data as is? You don’t have to do it manually!

The problems of exporting and importing emails manually

Forget about exporting and importing trough webmail, many times those have limits.

You might end exporting without being able to import after (and a backup is no good if you can’t later import it, right?). Dividing an export into many different files, to avoid limits, it’s also a lot of work and can lead to mistakes.

You might even remember to export the “Inbox folder”, but what about others, such as “Sent” or custom ones.

That’s why on this post, I want to share with you a very handy on-line tool, properly called Mailbox Imapsync Online.

How to use Mailbox Imapsync Online to transfer emails automatically

Using Mailbox Imapsync Online couldn’t be simpler:

First, be sure that you have the credentials of the two email addresses.

Extra parameters

If you want, you can also automatically delete the source emails that get transferred – Click on “Show/hide extra parameters” and you’ll see the new option “Move sync” appearing on the left side. This can be useful to avoid the 3GB limit that the tool currently has, on the free version.

Click sync to automatically transfer emails

Then you simply click the green button “Sync or resync”! Keep the window opened and check the console log to be sure that everything is going smoothly. If something breaks, do not worry, simply click again the green button and the process will continue as “Resync” suggests.

Besides automatically transfer emails, there’s more to Mailbox Imapsync Online

Sync between different email addresses

If you look closer to all options, you are not limited to transfer emails between the same email addresses.
So let’s say there’s a new employee in yourcompany called Lucy working in content marketing, her email is lucy.copy@yourcompany.org, the old content marketer was Lauren and her email was lauren.writter@yourcompany.org.
With Mailbox Imapsync Online, you can transfer all of those work related emails, about content marketing, to the new employee.

Just create folders

If you don’t want to transfer all the emails, but want to keep the same structure of another email address, you actually have a checkbox to “Just create folders” during the sync.

Did you know about this tool before? Was this helpful?

Let me know in the comments section below.

I remember searching for something free like this in the past and it wasn’t easy. Until an old hosting provider mentioned it to me, during support. They were more life savers then I care to admit, I hope for you too.

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At the moment of writing, WordPress does not yet give an interface for editors to create block patterns. But that doesn’t mean it’s difficult to create them without an interface. On this post, I’ll guide you on how you can create patterns, and I’ll try to make it as friendly as possible.

Create a block pattern with Mr.Dev.’s Framework

Currently, there’s no graphic user interface to create block patterns. Mr.Dev.’s Framework only adds options that WordPress does not have by default, and I’m expecting WordPress to create that default interface very soon. For that reason, I’ll not add a specific interface for this functionality (this might change if WordPress takes too much time to do it).

But if you can’t wait for that to happen, Mr.Dev.’s Framework can still help you on the process…

Preparing a file for a WordPress code snippet

Prepare it using Mr.Dev.’s Framework

• If you have Mr.Dev.’s Framework, check if the option to control files is enabled: If you see the tab Files / Media that means it is, if not then you can enable it on the Configuration tab on the Files & Media Manager section.
• Go to the Files / Media tab , there you can find the section Server-side scripts. Click on the pencil icon to open the file.
  This is the file where you’ll add a short code snippet.

Prepare it using a custom PHP file

If you don’t have Mr.Dev.’s Framework and already have a way to add PHP code snippets to your website, you can skip directly to add the code snippet.

Otherwise, you can get the framework or add the code into the functions.php file of your theme.

Block patterns code snippet

• Copy the code snippet below and paste it into the file you previously created/selected. Do not save yet because we still need to create the actual pattern.

//START BLOCK PATTERNS
function custom_site_init() {
	register_block_pattern_category(
		'custom-site',
		array( 'label' => get_bloginfo() )
	);
	
	register_block_pattern(
		'custom-site/project-list',
		array(
			'title'       => __( 'Pattern 1', 'custom-site' ),
			'description' => _x( '', 'Block pattern description', 'custom-site' ),
			'keywords' => ['pattern'],
			'categories' => ['custom-site'],
			'content'     => 'PATTERN CONTENT',
		)
	); 
}
add_action( 'init', 'custom_site_init' );
//END BLOCK PATTERNS

Understanding the code (optional)

The code above can be reused on as many websites as you want.

It will automatically create a pattern’s category with the same name as the website using get_bloginfo() (behind the scenes the slug will be “custom-site”, and although you can change that, it is more scalable this way).

The pattern name will be “Pattern 1”, this part you can change to whatever you want, depending on the project or the actual pattern.

You can also add a pattern description and add/replace keywords (The keywords are utilized when a user is using the search input to find blocks).

Create the block pattern with the editor

Now that we have prepared the code snippet, we can use the block editor to create the content for the pattern.

• On a different tab, go to Pages > Add New.
• Create the content for the patterns, using any type of blocks you want.
• In the top right corner, click on the 3 dots.
• Click on “Copy all content”.
• Go back to the PHP file you previously created/selected.
• Replace PATTERN CONTENT with the content you just copied.
• Save the file.

Add more block patterns

To create multiple block patterns, duplicate the function register_block_pattern from the code snippet above and repeat the same steps.

Extra: Remove core block patterns from WordPress

Now that you added your own custom patterns, chances are you don’t want to show the default/core block patterns.

To do that, if you have Mr.Dev.’s Framework, you can simply enable Styles Control on the Configuration tab. Otherwise, you can add the following code on the previous code snippet, inside the main custom_site_init function:

remove_theme_support( 'core-block-patterns' );

Will block patterns be on the interface?

Hopefully WordPress will soon add a good way to do this via the full site editor. There are some interesting discussions on which will be the best way, you can follow them:

• Patterns: Create a pattern similarly to how we create a Reusable block. · Issue #31298 · WordPress/Gutenberg (github.com)
• Selecting multiple blocks – Save as Pattern or Reusable block. · Issue #35305 · WordPress/gutenberg (github.com)
• Building with Patterns · Issue #38529 · WordPress/gutenberg (github.com)

And that’s it! I hope the steps were clear and easy to follow. If not, feel free to comment below or contact me if you prefer to talk about it privately.

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I include emails on hosting maintenance

One of the things I provide on the hosting maintenance (for clients with websites I developed) is a basic email service.

I manage the service of a third-party company, so you don’t have to (You can know everything that is included on the service on the Maintenance page of the client area).

Emails can be accessed via webmail or email clients (such as Thunderbird, Outlook, etc).

Webmail vs Email clients

You can use email clients to create folders, filter emails, create signatures and other common email tasks, but many of those features will only be visible on that client on that device.

Spam filters on email clients, for example, might filter the emails you see but not filter directly on the server.

Webmail, on the other hand, provides direct access to the emails hosted on the server.

Filters, auto responders (aka out of offices) that you create on webmail, will be available on any client or device that you use.

On this post, I’ll show how you can do the most common email tasks using the webmail service I provide via the third-party company Hostinger.

How to use webmail for common email tasks

First, let’s log in, go to mail.hostinger.com and use the credentials of your account.

If you don’t remember the credentials, click on “Forgot password”. If still you can’t log in, and I’m the one managing the hosting service for you, feel free to contact me. I can reset the password for you, create new addresses, or do some troubleshooting.

Email filters

Email filters allow you to automatically organize your emails depending on whose sending, depending on the email subject and of the content.

Spam filters

Let’s say you are receiving emails that should be spam, from a domain you don’t trust or simply don’t want to receive their emails.

Go to Settings > Filters, click on “Create” and check the suggestions on the image below. The key part of this filter is the action, set to move messages with specific rules to the “Junk” folder.

Filters for urgent or important emails

Let’s say some of your colleagues, sharing the same domain as you, usually send you important emails but sometimes with many links or without subject. Those emails might be considered spam by mistake. You can create a filter that will force emails from the same domain as you to always be sent to the “Inbox” folder.

Go to Settings > Filters, click on “Create” and check the suggestions on the image below.

Or let’s say you are waiting for an important email from a certain domain, you can also move those messages automatically to a custom folder (to create folders go to Settings > Folders).

Redirect emails to a preferred address

Also, using filters, you can redirect certain messages or all of them to a specific address.

Go to Settings > Filters, click on “Create” and check the suggestions on the image below.

The key option is setting the action to “Redirect message to”.

This can be very useful if you have multiple or parked domains (such as .pt and .com) and you only want to manage your messages from one address.

Auto responders (out of office)

Currently, the webmail of Hostinger does not permit to send auto responders. You have two options:

1- Auto responders via the hosting panel

On the hosting panel of Hostinger you can create your auto responders, but not everyone can have access to that panel.

If you don’t have access, being my client you can contact me, to request the creation of the auto-responder for free or to upgrade your maintenance with a professional email service for an extra cost.

If you already have access, check the image below to understand where and how to set your autoresponders:

2- Alternative is sending the email to someone who’s available

Just like creating email filters, you can create a filter to send all messages to a colleague or friend who’s available to answer.

Check the image below, the trick is setting the scope of the filter to “All messages”:

Email signatures

If you want to create an email signature directly on the webmail, you can do it.

Go to Settings > Identities and write your signature on the text area. Click on the icon on the editor to allow HTML and the visual editor, to easily add images, indents, lines and more.

If you want to do something prettier, you can get a signature code and click on the <> icon to add HTML. Contact me if you want a custom-made one 😉

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The block editor (aka Gutenberg) is the default site builder of WordPress but some handy features might be hidden, waiting for your theme to declare support.

Which block editor features can be enabled?

Features such as creation of block templates, responsive embeds, wide alignments for images, custom line-heights and custom spacing usually must be enabled by adding some code snippets into your theme.

But what if you don’t have control over your theme code? What if you want to always have those features despite the theme you use?

Since the version 0.9.492 of Mr.Dev.’s Framework, that you can enable all those features without touching any code.

How to get those block editor features?

On the Configuration tab of Mr.Dev.’s Framework, located in Settings > Mr.Dev. (Instead of Mr.Dev. you might see your site name, depending of the whitelabel configuration), you can find the section Styles Configuration with the dropdown Blocks Styles Picker and also the section Layout configuration with the dropdown Layout Control.

Depending of the option you choose on those dropdowns, different features will be enabled:

Block templates

If your theme already enables block templates, you can leave the dropdown Layout Control with the option “Disabled / Theme Controlled”, otherwise you can select “Enable block templates (Recommended)”.

You’ll also need to have WordPress 5.8 or above.

The Block templates feature, allows to add blocks inside template parts such as header and footer. All changes you do on a block inside a template part will apply to all pages using that template.

Responsive embeds

This block editor feature will be enabled if you select one of this options:

• Disabled but with extra block features – It will not show the colors and sizes created using the framework (or the customizer) inside the block editor.
• Enabled with extra block features and allow custom styles
• Enabled with extra block features

The Responsive embeds feature, automatically applies styles to embedded content to reflect the aspect ratio of content that is embedded in an iFrame, using the class wp-embed-responsive on the <body>.

Wide Alignment

This block editor feature will be enabled if you select one of this options:

• Disabled but with extra block features – It will not show the colors and sizes created using the framework (or the customizer) inside the block editor.
• Enabled with extra block features and allow custom styles
• Enabled with extra block features

The Wide Alignment feature, gives the possibility of defining “wide” and “full” alignments to certain blocks, such as the image block.

Custom Line-Height

This block editor feature will be enabled if you select one of this options:

• Enabled with extra block features and allow custom styles
• Enabled and allow custom styles per block

The Custom Line-Height feature, allows to customize the line height of certain blocks, such as the paragraph and headings.

Custom Spacing

This block editor feature will be enabled if you select one of this options:

• Enabled with extra block features and allow custom styles
• Enabled and allow custom styles per block

The Custom Spacing feature, will show padding controls in certain blocks, such as the column block. You can change the value for individual sides or keep the same for all sides.

And the Enabled option on the dropdown?

It’s not part of this post’s topic, but if you prefer to let your theme/plugins decide most of the available features, but still want to show the colors and sizes created using the framework (or the customizer) on the block editor, then that option is for you.

Getting Mr.Dev.’s Framework

If this easy method to enable block editor features despite the theme sounds good to you, but you don’t have this framework yet, then you can know more about it and get it anytime:

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That can bring serious problems on the long-run, specially when using a non business email service. So I’ll let you know some important ones for you to take into consideration…

When should you use a business email

If your business relies a lot on sending and receiving emails or combines regular emails with marketing services, it might be better to start using a business service immediately, such as Google or Zoho. It might seem costly initially but it’s safer for your reputation and security on the long-run.

Best practices for newsletters and transactional emails

• Always use a specific service for newsletters and transactional emails, such as Mailchimp or Sendinblue.
• Avoid using your main domain. Configure your services to use a subdomain and set the sender to something like noreply@email.yourdomain.tld.
• Always add links for unsubscribe or manage preferences.

Best practices for sending regular emails

Use the Mail Tester platform when you write new messages, it will give you tips and tricks on how to improve them and avoid from falling into spam.

Some practices are:

• Do not use for mass email sending.
• Always include a subject.
• Always add alt text attributes to your images.
• Regular emails should not show HTML code, iframes or other embed content. That type of content should be sent as an attachment or via WeTransfer. You can use HTML only in newsletters.
• Do not send messages only with a link or attachment, it should always have some regular text.
• Messages should have a proper length. Avoid sending short texts that could be sent via chat, apps or sms.
• Avoid typical subjects with certain keywords that can fall into spam such as “test”, “spam” and similar. Specially when unrelated to the message.

Best practices on email clients

Which email client should you use

By email clients I mean software and apps such as Mail, Thunderbird or Outlook.

Something to keep in mind for basic users is, the simplest the email client the less problems will occur when connecting to emails:

• If you only need the basic features, check the client that comes with your device. Usually the basic is more than enough and many clients still give you features such as signatures.
• If you need a set of advanced configurations and features for free I advice you to use Thunderbird.
• If you need advanced configurations, advanced features and you are on a company, you can go with Microsoft 365 Outlook. But I usually advice against it, specially if you can’t update to the latest version for some reason, It’s the first to give problems. You might need a “tech guy” to help you out from time to time.
  Sometimes you might need some kind of compatibility with other software/service, that’s the only reason I understand the use of Outlook.

Incoming server: IMAP or POP?

To keep things simple, the best option usually is IMAP. When you delete emails they will also be deleted from the server by default and the emails will only be stored on your computer temporarily as you read them.

Troubleshooting connection problems on email clients

• Not receiving emails? Always check the spam folder before moving to other types of troubleshooting. Add domains you trust to your whitelist and report as not spam if your client/webmail allows it.
• Connection problems? First thing to always troubleshoot is to check the status of the server, some email providers have a specific place to report situations, Hostinger for example has this page for each of their services.
  A second thing to troubleshoot, is to access your email via webmail. If you can’t access via webmail, you will not be able to access via clients either. If this is the case, double-check the address and password. If they are correct, contact your host manager/provider (Is it me? Then this is the usual webmail access and you can contact me here).
• Configuration problems? If your email client doesn’t have a field for the ports, add them to the incoming and outgoing server fields. Something like this:
  imap.hostinger.com:993
  smtp.hostinger.com:465
• Unknown connection errors? If you have problems connecting and the error message is not clear, the fastest way to discover the problem is to check the logs. Depending of your email client, you might need to enable them first. If you can’t read the logs you might need help from an expert. Do you have a maintenance or support service with me? You can send the logs to me and I’ll try to help you out.
  • Outlook logs
  • Thunderbird logs

Best practices for domain records (advanced)

• The Mail tester platform mentioned above, also gives great tips for domain records.
• Regular emails usually have MX records but should also have TXT records for DKIM and DMARC.
• MX Records should not have the same priority level.
• MX Records per domain/subdomain should point to one unique service. Mass email services usually have alternative DNS Records.
• For mass email and newsletters services such as Sendinblue. Always configure with all the steps given by the service, with all the DNS records.

I hope this practices, tips and tricks can help you as they helped me!

I’m not an email expert but I’ve been learning a lot of practices while working with my clients since 2014 and it’s a pleasure to share them with you now.

I’ll continue to update this post with new practices as I remember and learn them!

And if you know some more, feel free to share them on the comments section below.

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