First of all, verify the content of the **Drafts** folder on the server, either through *Claws Mail* or through the web interface of your email provider. Delete any plaintext email that might have been stored against your will in this folder until now.

To know more, see also this Yahoo! Help page on [comparing the differences between POP and IMAP](https://help.yahoo.com/kb/mail-for-desktop/compare-differences-pop-imap-sln3769.html).

POP is not affected at all by this security problem. When using POP, only encrypted emails are sent to the server. So consider switching to POP if you have an email account dedicated to your activities on Tails. To do so:

1. Choose **File** ▸ **Add mailbox** ▸ **MH…** to
create a local mailbox where to download your emails.

1. To store the mailbox in the persistent volume, specify
`.claws-mail/Mail` as location.
Make sure to type the `.` before
`claws-mail/Mail`.

[[!img claws_mail_leaks_plaintext_to_imap/add_mailbox.png link="no"]]

1. Choose **Configuration** ▸ **Edit accounts…**, select
your IMAP account in the list of accounts, and click **Delete** to
delete it. Doing so does not delete any email stored on the server.

1. Click **New** and configure this new account as specified by your
email provider.

In the **Basic** tab, make sure that the **Protocol** option is set to **POP3**.

In the **Receive** tab, click on the **Browse** button of the **Default Inbox** option and select the **Inbox** folder of the mailbox that you created in step 2.

[[!img claws_mail_leaks_plaintext_to_imap/select_inbox.png link="no"]]

If you want to keep a copy of the received emails on the server, verify the preferences in the **Receive** tab. We recommend you to disable the **Remove messages on server when received** option until you make sure that the emails are stored in the persistent volume.

1. Close the preferences dialog and the list of accounts to go back to
the main window of *Claws Mail*.

If you want to continue using IMAP, you should configure your IMAP account to use **Drafts** and **Queue** folders stored in Tails instead of on the server. To do so:

Getting the development team of *Claws Mail* to [fix the problem upstream](http://www.thewildbeast.co.uk/claws-mail/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=2965). We contacted them about this problem already. Please help them provide a technical solution if you can.

Replacing *Claws Mail* with *Icedove* (the name of *Mozilla Thunderbird* in Debian). We have been willing to do so for years and this problem motivates us to move faster.

Technical details

Leak through the sending queue

It sends the encrypted email through the SMTP server.

1. It connects to the IMAP server and stores an encrypted copy of the
email in the **Sent** folder on the server.