Skip to main content

Search

Articles in this section

See more

NHS.net Email accounts & EXACT

Avatar
Jason Handcock
  • Updated

NHS.net and NHS.scot email accounts utilise Office 365 mail servers and as such may soon be affected by the recent changes with modern authentication and OAuth 2.0.

For full information and updates on this, view the EXACT help article here and view official details from the NHSmail team here https://support.nhs.net/knowledge-base/basic-authentication-deprecation/#modern-authentication-for-pop-and-imap.

Configuration

EXACT can be set up to use NHS.net (application) email accounts and can be configured by using the instructions below.

Before adding your email details into EXACT you will need the NHS to enable your chosen nhs.net email account as an Application Account.
To do this visit https://support.nhs.net/knowledge-base/application-account-requests/ and submit your request or email Feedback@nhs.net (directly from the @nhs.net email account to be used) requesting for the email account to be converted into an Application Account with  SMTP enabled.

Upon confirmation of the above, you will be asked to change your password to a new secure password and then follow the below steps. 

New password requirements for nhs.net application accounts.

mceclip0.png

 

  1. Go to Configure, Email & SMS Setup
  2. Select Microsoft Office 365.
    Office365.gif

  3. Before selecting authenticate make you select whether your incoming mail works via POP3 or IMAP (recommended) . If you do not require EXACT to receive emails you can untick the Receive Email box

    POP3 - Using POP3 is likely to pull every existing email into EXACT and will remove them from everywhere else you’d usually see them, these can not be retrieved!
    IMAP - This option will retain a copy of the emails on the mail server so you can continue viewing existing and new emails external to EXACT (i.e Outlook, online).
    Please Note: EXACT after receiving emails via IMAP may mark the emails as “read” on the mail server.
  4. Enter your nhs.net email account and press Authenticate. Email_Config_Oct.PNG
  5. Sign into your NHS.net account.Microsoft_Account_Selection.png
  6. Once you have successfully logged into your NHS.net account a green tick will appear in the email credentials window in EXACT.
  7. Select Next until the end of the wizard and click Finish to save all changes

Reset Mailbox Counter

This counter is used on the occasion that an entire mailbox is required to be re-downloaded to EXACT. An example of this would be when moving from a POP3 account to IMAP. Essentially this will re-download all emails, otherwise the counter will only retrieve new emails from your mailbox into EXACT.

reset.PNG

Note: This action can only be performed by an EXACT administrator. If signed in as an administrator your credentials wil pre-populate in the fields otherwise these will appear with no credentials and require entry.

reset_admin.PNG

 

Troubleshooting

If the test continues to fail please make sure you have a copy of the confirmation email from the NHS regarding the account now being an “Application Account” and contact the SOE Support team for assistance.

If your emails are sending but not receiving and you are seeing the below error, please contact the NHS on helpdesk@nhs.net or 0333 200 1133 and request that IMAP is enabled for your application account.

mceclip1.png

 

Inactive NHSmail user accounts

NHSmail implemented the following on 1 December 2022.

NHSmail user accounts that are not proactively used or monitored present a security risk to the NHSmail platform. To enhance security, we are making some account changes.

Currently user accounts that are not proactively used have 90 days before being classed as inactive, if there is still no activity (while in the inactive state) for a further 90 days (total 180 days), the account is deleted.

Both the active and inactive periods are being reduced to 30 days, therefore accounts that are not proactively used for 60 consecutive days will be deleted.

Once the account is deleted; it can be restored within 30 days by contacting : National Administration Service (NAS) – NHSmail Support If the account is not restored within this final 30 days, the account is permanently deleted and cannot be recovered.

New user account management lifecycle

What do I need to do?

Undertaking at least one of the following activities every 30 days will keep your NHSmail account active:

  • Log into the NHSmail portal
  • Log into O365 application
  • Use O365 applications (i.e., Outlook with cached credentials)
  • Send an email

If you no longer require your NHSmail account, please contact : National Administration Service (NAS) – NHSmail Support who can process the closure of your account.

Related articles

Comments

0 comments

Please sign in to leave a comment.