How to manage my Virgin Media email account
Learn about the range of tools and features you can use to organise your mailbox and keep it well-maintained.
Please note, Virgin Media no longer offers the ability for customers to create new Virgin Media email addresses. Customers with an existing Virgin Media email address will not be affected; their mail account will remain as is.
Your Virgin Media Mail account
We recommend accessing your mail from My Virgin Media, as this also provides links to our other services and information about your Virgin Media account. Or you can access your mails by selecting the below.
In this article
How do I access emails on My Virgin Media account?
We recommend accessing your web mail from My Virgin Media, as this also provides links to our other services and information about your Virgin Media account.
- Go to My Virgin Media and select Sign in
- Enter your My Virgin Media username
- Enter your My Virgin Media password
- Once you’ve signed in, head to Quick links at the bottom of the page and select Virgin Media Mail. This will take you to your Virgin Media web mail inbox. Alternatively you can sign in to Virgin Media Web Mail by going to mail.virginmedia.com.
Virgin Media Mail allows you to set up your other email accounts so that you can check all of your emails in one place.
How to add another email account into Virgin Media Mail
- Select the Add email account menu option on the left hand menu
- In the Add mail account window, enter the email address and password for your external email account and selectAdd
- You’ll get confirmation that your external email account has been set up
- Select Close and you will now be able to use the external email account
How to display messages of an external email account
Each additional email account you set up will have its own folder. Any messages received will be located in the appropriate folder. Or, if you have enabled Unified Mail for the account, you will also see the messages in the Unified Mail folder. See Unified Mail in Virgin Media Mail for more information.
How to send messages using an external email account
- Open the folder with the name you have given the email account
- From a laptop or desktop computer select Compose, or from a Mobile click the pencil icon to start a new email.
- Write your message, address it and hit Send when you’re ready.
How to change the settings of an external email account
- From a laptop or desktop computer, click the cogwheel icon, or from a Mobile tap the top right circle icon.
- Select the Settings menu option
- Select Accounts in the side menu
- Select Edit or the pencil icon next to the account you want to change the settings on – this will pop up with the mail account settings
- Change the settings as necessary
- Select Save at the bottom of the window
How to remove an external email account
- From a laptop or desktop computer, click the cogwheel icon or from a Mobile tap the top right circle icon.
- Select the Settings menu option
- Select Accounts in the side menu
- Select the trashcan icon next to the email account you want to remove
How to set up my Virgin Media email on a device
This information is only if you already have a Virgin Media email address. We no longer offer the option to set up new Virgin Mail email addresses.
The below information applies if you want to use an email “client” app (like Microsoft Outlook, Apple Mail or Gmail) to access your email, rather than by signing into Virgin Media Webmail using a web browser.
Apps have different features from webmail including the ability to see your existing emails when offline, whereas Webmail allows you to view, send and modify emails on our servers via a webpage when you’re on WiFi or mobile data.
There are two ways you can download your email messages to an app on your computer or device. These are IMAP or POP3.
- IMAP is always in sync with the server - changes you make in your email app on your device will also appear if you access your mail through your webmail or through another app on different devices.
- POP3 syncs with the server differently to IMAP, so changes you make in your email app will not be transferred to your inbox in webmail and other apps, and mails you send will only be on the device they were created on. Please note that with Virgin Media email, if you are using POP3, this means if you delete an email from your email app on one device it won’t be deleted from the server and will still be visible in webmail or other client apps you use to access the same email account.
If you're going to regularly use an email app, we'd recommend using IMAP with an app that supports SSL. SSL (Secure Socket Layer) ensures everything that passes between the email server and your email client is encrypted.
Apps must also support SMTP authentication. This is to reduce the affect spammers can have on the service. SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) is authentication to stop email from being sent anonymously.
Without SSL support and SMTP authentication you may not be able to set up your email app, and you'll get error messages when trying to send or receive email from a Virgin Media email address.
Setting your app password to use an Email app.
If you want to access your Virgin Media emails from an app, you’ll need to create a separate app password through Account settings on My Virgin Media.
To get the password, follow these steps:
Sign in to My Virgin Media
a. Go to Account settings, then Account details
b. Tap Manage next to Manage your Virgin Media Mail app password under Virgin Media Mail
c. Then, under Virgin Media Mail app password tap Generate new App password and follow the instructions.
A new secure password will be generated for you. Your app password can be used for all apps accessing your Virgin Media mail address. If you create a new app password, you’ll need to update all your existing apps with the new password.
We need to give you a separate app password to help make things more secure as IMAP and POP don’t support extra protection steps, like Multi Factor Authentication.
Remember that this password is separate from your sign in details for My Virgin Media (or any Virgin Media apps). So, if you need to check your Virgin Media Mail emails through My Virgin Media or at mail.virginmedia.com, you'll still use your My Virgin Media password.
Connecting your Email to a Client App
All Client apps are slightly different but to set them up they’ll take you through a list of settings and require you to enter your Virgin Media email address and Virgin Media Mail app password.
The settings you need are:
IMAP settings (recommended)
Host Name: imap.virginmedia.com
Username: your full Virgin Media email address
Password: your Virgin Media email app password
Advanced settings
SSL Encryption: Enabled
Port: 993 (this may be automatically chosen by selecting SSL encryption)
POP3 settings
Host Name: pop3.virginmedia.com
Username: your full Virgin Media email address
Password: your Virgin Media email app password
Advanced settings:
SSL Encryption: Enabled
Port: 995 (this may be automatically chosen by selecting SSL encryption)
SMTP settings
Host Name: smtp.virginmedia.com
Username: your full Virgin Media email address
Password: your Virgin Media email app password
SSL Encryption: Enabled
Port: 465 (this might not be selected automating by enabling SSL, so please check)
Authentication: Password
If your app needs to save your settings, don’t forget to do so.
How to manage my emails
- Drag and drop the email to a different folder.
- Or from a desktop or laptop computer, select an email and tap ≡ > Move > choose the folder > Move.
From the Inbox, select an email and tap ≡ >Copy > choose the folder > Copy.
From a desktop or laptop computer, select an email in the Inbox and tap ≡ > Save as file > then follow your operating system’s instructions to save the file.
The paperclip icon in the Inbox is displayed next to emails with attachments.
- From a desktop or laptop computer, tap to open the email with the attachment.
- Look for the paperclip icon and attachment(s) and select the Download option next to them.
- Follow your operating system’s instructions to save the file(s) to a folder of your choice.
- Open the email you want to forward.
- Tap on the Forward or → option. This starts creating a new email including the email to be forwarded plus any attachments.
- Enter the address of the email address you want to forward the email to in the To line.
- Enter any message and signature you want to include in the main body of the email, above the forwarded copy.
- Tap Send.
From a desktop or laptop computer, select an email and tap ≡ >Print then follow your operating system’s instructions to print the file..
- Select a read email
- Select the ≡ icon in the main toolbar.
- Select Mark as unread in the menu.
If the email is part of a conversation, all messages received for this conversation are marked as unread.
In order to mark this email as read, select in the main toolbar again > on Mark as read
- From a desktop or laptop computer select an email folder in the folder tree.
- Select the Folder-specific ≡ next to the folder name.
- Select Mark all messages as read.
By default, Virgin Media Mail lists the messages by when they are received. You can change this to view messages by Conversation.
To do this:
- Select the Sort by option at the top of the messages list.
- Select Conversations option to turn this feature on or off.
- Select the View option.
- You'll get a list of options to change the layout:
- Vertical
- Compact
- Horizontal
- List
How to set an Out of Office message
- For laptop/desktop click the cogwheel icon or for Mobile tap the top right circle icon and select Settings
- Then select > Email > Holiday notice
- Tap the slider so it slides to the right with a green background
- Write your Out of Office message and set when you want it to send
- Tap Apply changes
- To turn if off again, return to the same screen and tap the slider to the left, then select Apply changes again
How to block an email address
Sign in on your laptop or desktop computer to change these Virgin Media Mail settings and stop unwanted messages reaching you.
Select the Spam message or annoying email and tap ≡ > Add sender to Blocklist > Add
- To unblock, select the cogwheel icon and select Settings
- Select E-mail > Blocklist > select the email address you’re unblocking > Remove Selected
How to use search in Virgin Media
Type relevant words or names into your search bar. Before tapping Search or pressing your Enter keyboard button to search, you get the option to refine your filters – if you want, you can choose to search specific folders by selecting the options shown in red next to the Search bar and choosing from the dropdown menu. Once you’ve started typing your search you will also see some dropdown options which could refine your search further. Tap on these if you want to use them
Go back to the top menu bar when you’re done.
For more information on searching email addresses and sending emails, follow our help guide on how to send an email.
How to use filtering in Virgin Media mails
With filters turned on, Virgin Media Mail messages can move folders, be forwarded to other email addresses or marked as read – automatically. Sign in using a laptop/desktop computer to change these settings. them by dragging and dropping each one where you want.
- Select the cogwheel icon and select Settings > Email > Filter Rules > Add new rule
- Give the rule a name, then tap Add Condition to choose what will trigger the filter
- Decide how the filter will apply by tapping to switch between Apply rule if all conditions are met or Apply rule if any condition is met
- Select Add Action and decide what you want the filter to do then Save
To edit an existing rule, click the cogwheel icon and select Settings > Email > Filter Rule > Edit (the option next to the filter you want to change). Then change the rule according to your new requirements and Save.
Alternatively, tap:
• Disable to temporarily stop the filter
• Delete (trashcan icon) to permanently remove the filter
• Enable to reuse a disabled filter
If you have at least two filters, you can re-order them by dragging and dropping each one where you want.
How to delete my emails
You can easily control the amount of mail you have by putting emails, conversations and folders in your Trash folder.
Select one email or the empty check box next to several, then select:
- Virgin Media Mail’s Delete (trashcan) button
- Or the delete or backspace button on your keyboard
Select a folder from the list on the left and tap ≡ for folder-specific actions and choose to:
- Delete All Messages
- Or Delete. This erases the whole folder, including subfolders (you can’t restore those).
- Wait 7 days for the Trash folder to automatically delete your messages
- Or open your Trash folder, select the emails, then tap the trashcan icon or Delete key
Once deleted from Trash, messages can’t be recovered afterwards. They’re gone forever.
To clean up your email, for desktop/laptop, select the folder required, then select ≡ > Clean Up. For mobile, tap Edit in the Folder menu, then tap the folder required and select Clean Up.
This deletes all the greyed out emails in your Virgin Media Mail inbox – the messages, deleted from your other email accounts (Outlook, say), with a strike through their text.
You don’t have to delete messages to tidy up your mailbox. Just move messages (90 days or older) to your Archive folder and they’ll be sorted for you by date received in subfolders for each calendar year; here’s how:
- (For desktop/laptop), select the folder required and select ≡ for folder specific actions > Archive old messages
- (For mobile), in the Email Folders view, tap Edit, then select the folder required > Archive old messages
- This opens the Archive Messages window, then tap Archive
How to retrieve deleted email messages
- Open your Trash folder
- Select the emails you want to restore (in Mobile view you will have to select Edit first)
- Tap ≡ > Move > choose the folder you want them to go to > Move
Please note: emails can’t be recovered after they’ve been in your Trash folder for 7 days, or if you deleted the email from Trash or emptied the folder.
How to use Unified Mail
Do you have several email accounts? Check them all for messages, all at the same time – in one place. Adding a Unified Mail folder to your Virgin Media mailbox will give you an overview of all your Inboxes but the subfolders.
Here’s what to do:
Firstly, this will only work if you’ve added another Email account to your Virgin Media mailbox by going to the Email folders view and selecting Add email account. Enter your other email address and its password, and select Add.
- For desktop/laptop, select the cogwheel icon, then > Settings > Accounts. Choose your added Mail account, then Edit > Use Unified Mail For This Account > Save
- For Mobile tap the top right circle icon and select Settings > Accounts. Choose your added Mail account, then select the pencil icon > Use Unified Mail For This Account > Save In your email folder view, tap to expand your Unified Mail folder and you will see your combined messages. Look to the right of the email subject lines for a label naming the email account they were sent to. Those using the name of your Primary Account were received by the address you’re signed in with.
How to use email address book at the top of your screen
Emails are automatically added to your address book when you Reply, Reply All or Forward a message.
If someone’s emailed you for the first time and you want to add them to your contacts before responding; open the message and click their name. For desktop/laptop, on the pop-up window which opens you can select Add to address book or for Mobile, select the ≡ icon first then select Add to address book
Or for when you select a contact in your Address Book, you can:
• Change their details (= > Edit > Save)
• Erase their info permanently (Tap trashcan icon or Delete, then select Delete again)
To export your contacts, using a desktop/laptop:
- Go to mail.virginmedia.com and sign in using your My Virgin Media details
- Go to Address Book and select ≡
- Click Export then select CSV
- Tick Include Distribution Lists (if you want these), then hit Export
- Follow any instructions from your operating system to save the contacts to a folder of your choice.
- Check the folder for your saved CSV file and follow the in-app help prompts to transfer your address book to another type of email (Outlook, say).
How to log out of email
To log out of your email, just click on the circular icon at the top right of the screen, and select > Sign Out
How to close or delete an email account
You can't delete the primary Virgin Media email address until 90 days after ceasing services with Virgin Media. However it’s a good idea to set up an email redirection during that period, and clear your emails and folders out so you’re ready after the 90 days.
If it’s a secondary email address on your account, simply go into Account Settings in My Virgin Media, and delete it from there.
If you’re looking to cancel your Virgin Media services completely, we’re sorry to hear this and we’ve got a step by guide on how to do so.
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