Connecting a mailbox

Last updated 22 September 2026

Lanthea can watch a mailbox and file the receipts that arrive there into the receipts inbox, so nobody has to forward or photograph them by hand. Connecting one takes a few minutes: you ask your mail provider for a password meant only for this app — an app password — and paste it into Lanthea. This page walks through it for each provider, click by click.

Gmail Google Workspace Forwarding from Gmail iCloud Yahoo Fastmail Own domain / other Outlook, Hotmail Proton What the app does If it doesn't work

Before you start

You need the address of the mailbox and access to its account settings. In Lanthea, open Email and click Connect a mailbox. The wizard asks for the address first, then shows the steps for that provider with a button that opens the right page at the provider. Keep this page open next to it if you want the details.

An app password is a separate password your provider creates for one app only. It does not change your normal password, it cannot be used to sign in on the web, and you can delete it at any time, which cuts the app off. Every provider keeps it in a slightly different place.

Gmail (a personal @gmail.com address)

Google only hands out app passwords to accounts that have 2-Step Verification turned on, so that is step one.

Turn on 2-Step Verification (skip if it is already on). Go to myaccount.google.com/security, signed in as the address you want to connect. Under How you sign in to Google, click 2-Step Verification. If it says On, you are done; otherwise turn it on and follow Google's prompts (a code by text message or a prompt on your phone).
Open the App passwords page: myaccount.google.com/apppasswords — the wizard's Open Google's App passwords page button goes to the same place. Google may ask you to sign in again. (To click your way there instead: Security → 2-Step Verification → scroll to the bottom → App passwords.)
Create the password. Type Lanthea in the App name box and click Create. Google shows a 16-letter password in four groups, like abcd efgh ijkl mnop. Copy it now — Google shows it only once — and click Done.
Back in Lanthea, paste it into the App password box (the spaces don't matter) and click Connect. The app signs in to Gmail right away and tells you if something is wrong. Leave Also look through the last 30 days of mail on to pick up receipts that are already in the mailbox.

To stop: delete Lanthea on the same App passwords page, and click Disconnect in Lanthea.

Google says the setting isn't available for your account? That happens when 2-Step Verification is off (step 1), when it is set up with security keys only, when the account has Google's Advanced Protection, or when it is a work or school account whose organisation doesn't allow app passwords. In the last case, forward receipts instead.

Google Workspace (a company address hosted by Google)

The same steps as for Gmail: 2-Step Verification on, create an app password at myaccount.google.com/apppasswords, paste it in. Whether app passwords are available is up to the organisation that owns the address. If Google says the setting isn't available for your account, ask whoever manages your company's Google account, or forward receipts to a connected mailbox as below.

Forwarding from Gmail or Google Workspace

Connect another mailbox first (for example a personal Gmail), if you have not already.
In Gmail, click the gear → See all settings → Forwarding and POP/IMAP → Add a forwarding address, and enter the connected address.
Google sends a confirmation to that address. Open it in that mailbox and click the confirmation link.
To forward only receipts, create a filter: in Gmail's search box, open the search options, enter for example has:attachment filename:pdf, click Create filter, tick Forward it to, choose the connected address and click Create filter. To forward everything instead, choose Forward a copy of incoming mail to on the Forwarding tab and save.

iCloud Mail (@icloud.com, @me.com, @mac.com)

Apple calls it an app-specific password. The Apple Account needs two-factor authentication, which almost every account has today.

Go to account.apple.com and sign in with the Apple Account that owns the address.
In Sign-In and Security, choose App-Specific Passwords.
Choose Generate an app-specific password, type Lanthea as the name and follow the steps; Apple may ask for your Apple Account password. Copy the password Apple shows.
In Lanthea, paste it into the App password box and click Connect.

To stop: on the same page, remove the password next to Lanthea. Changing your Apple Account password also revokes every app-specific password; then create a new one and connect again.

Yahoo Mail

Go to login.yahoo.com/account/security and sign in. Use a browser you normally use for Yahoo; in a private window Yahoo tends to refuse.
Under External connections, click Create app password. (If it isn't there, turn on two-step verification on the same page first.)
Type Lanthea as the app name and click Generate password. Copy the password Yahoo shows, then click Done.
Paste it into Lanthea and click Connect.

To stop: delete the app password on the same page. It stays valid even if you change your Yahoo password.

Fastmail

In Fastmail, open Settings → Privacy & Security (app.fastmail.com/settings/security).
Under Connected apps & API tokens, click Manage app passwords and access, then New app password. Fastmail may ask for your password.
For the name, choose Custom… and type Lanthea. Keep the access Mail, Contacts & Calendars (it includes mail over IMAP) and click Generate password.
Copy the 16-character password Fastmail shows, paste it into Lanthea and click Connect.

Your own domain, or another provider

Lanthea looks up the mail server for the address by itself: from the domain's mail records, from the public Thunderbird autoconfiguration database, and from an IMAP service record if the domain has one. If it finds the server, the wizard only asks for the password — use the mailbox password, or an app password if the provider offers one (many do, under a name like app passwords, application passwords or device passwords).

If the server cannot be found, the wizard shows two more boxes: Mail server (IMAP) and Port. The values are in your provider's help pages, usually under "IMAP settings" or "set up a mail app"; the server is often imap.yourdomain.se or mail.yourdomain.se, and the port is 993. The username is normally the full address; the wizard lets you change it under Server settings.

Outlook.com, Hotmail, Live (and Microsoft 365)

Microsoft no longer lets an app read a mailbox with a password, and this app does not support Microsoft's own sign-in yet. Until it does, forward receipts to a mailbox that is connected:

Connect another mailbox first (a Gmail, iCloud or company address), if you have not already.
In Outlook.com, click the gear (Settings) → Mail → Forwarding. Outlook may ask you to confirm it's you.
Select Enable forwarding, enter the connected address, tick Keep a copy of forwarded messages to keep them in Outlook too, and click Save.

To forward only receipts instead of everything: Settings → Mail → Rules → Add new rule, with a condition such as Has attachment or Subject includes kvitto, receipt or invoice, and the action Forward to the connected address.

For a Microsoft 365 work account, automatic forwarding to outside addresses is off by default; the organisation's administrator can allow it.

Proton Mail

Proton gives apps no server access to mail (only Proton's own Bridge program on your computer can read it). Forward receipts to a connected mailbox instead:

Connect another mailbox first, if you have not already.
In Proton Mail, click Settings (⚙) → All settings → Forward and auto-reply → Add forwarding rule, enter the connected address, and add conditions if you want only receipts forwarded. Forwarding needs a paid Proton plan (Mail Plus or higher).
On the free plan, forward receipts by hand: open the mail, click Forward, and send it to the connected address. Attachments come along.

What the app does with a connected mailbox

Checks the inbox about once a minute for mail that arrived after the mailbox was connected. Older mail is only looked at when you ask for it (Scan past mail… on the Email page, up to 90 days at a time).
Reads the sender, subject, text and attachments of each new mail to decide whether it is a receipt or an invoice: a PDF or a photo attached, receipt words in Swedish or English, or a known receipt sender. Mail forwarded to a connected mailbox is handled the same way.
Files those into the receipts inbox, with the attachment as the document, or a copy of the mail itself when there is none. Everything else is left alone.
Never marks mail as read, never moves or deletes anything, never sends anything.
Keeps the app password encrypted; Disconnect forgets it. Delete the password at the provider as well, and the app cannot read the mailbox at all.

If it doesn't work

"could not sign in" when connecting: the password was not pasted completely (copy it again; the spaces don't matter), it was created in another account, or it has been deleted. For a work account, the organisation may have switched off app passwords or IMAP access.
"status 403" on a Google mailbox that was connected with Continue with Google (an earlier version of the wizard offered it): Google gave the app a connection without permission to read mail. Disconnect the mailbox and connect it again with an app password as described above.
The receipt did not show up. Mail that arrived before the mailbox was connected is not looked at unless you run Scan past mail…. A mail without an attachment and without receipt words is not filed either — forward it with the receipt attached, or photograph the receipt.
"Last check failed" on the Email page shows what went wrong on the most recent check. The check is repeated every minute, so a passing network hiccup clears by itself.

Questions: support@lanthea.ai.