How to get your business started in Proton Mail

Your business emails, files, and passwords are valuable. That’s why, as a privacy-first alternative to platforms like Microsoft and Google, we use advanced encryption to make sure nobody — not even Proton — can access your data. This protects you from hackers and helps you comply with data protection laws.

This easy-to-use tutorial is a great first stop as you begin your journey with Proton. Here you’ll learn how to quickly set up your Proton Account, migrate your data, take advantage of our features, and get immediate support if you need help. 

You’ll find that using Proton Mail is just like using any other email provider, so you won’t need to do any training or onboarding with your team. All the encryption happens automatically, with no extra steps. The quick start guide below will get you up and running right away. And the subsequent sections will teach you a bit more about Proton and how to customize your account for your organization.

1. Quick Proton Mail setup
   1. Sign up for Proton and choose a plan
   2. Set up a custom domain
   3. Use Proton Mail on the go
2. Admin tools to manage your organization
   1. Understand the difference between users and addresses
   2. Create and manage users and addresses
   3. Assign admins
   4. Understand the difference between public and private users
   5. Share logins and passwords
   6. Manage passwords
   7. Set organization rules for two-factor authentication
   8. Spam, block, and allow lists
   9. Restore administrator privileges
3. Moving your existing email messages to Proton Mail
   1. Migrate your old emails, calendars, and contacts
   2. Import/Export
   3. Delete old email accounts
4. Four ways to send emails in Proton Mail
   1. Sending password-protected emails 
   2. Expiring emails
   3. Schedule emails
   4. Forward emails
5. Staying organized in Proton Mail
   1. Folders and labels
   2. Filters
   3. Automatic reply
   4. Content search 
   5. Add or import contacts
   6. Email signatures
   7. SMTP
   8. Proton Calendar
6. Access your drive, password manager, and VPN
7. Getting support
   1. Online form
   2. Zendesk
   3. Write to us directly
8. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Quick start Proton Mail setup

New to Proton? Start here. These four steps will get you set up with a Proton business plan. Before you begin, you’ll need to consider the number of users and the amount of storage you need (you can always add more later.) 

1. Sign up for Proton and choose a plan. Proton Mail offers three plans:

• Proton Mail Essentials: Our simplest plan offers secure email with 15 GB of total storage and 10 addresses per user, support for three custom email domains, and basic VPN access on one device per user. This plan also includes basic features for Proton Pass and Proton Drive.
• Proton Mail Professional: Our premium solution gives you secure email with 50 GB of storage and 15 addresses per user, support for 10 custom email domains, workspace branding with your logo, Proton VPN access, and advanced account security through our Proton Sentinel program. This plan also includes basic features for Proton Pass and Proton Drive.

• Proton Business Suite: Our most powerful business plan gives you secure email, calendar, cloud storage, password manager, and VPN with all premium Proton features. The plan comes with 500 GB of storage and 20 email addresses per user support for 15 custom email domains, Proton Sentinel, and all features included in Proton Pass Professional(new window) and Proton VPN Professional(new window).

2. Set up a custom domain: Connect your organization’s domain with your email addresses in Proton Mail (e.g., yourname@example.com). This gives you a more professional image and better security while allowing your business to maintain branding across all email communications. If you don’t have a domain name yet, you can purchase one from a domain name registrar, such as GoDaddy or Namecheap.

• How to set up a custom domain(new window)

3. Use Proton Mail on the go: Proton applications will keep your business connected and running efficiently, whether you’re at the desk or on the move. Once you’re set up, you can download our apps and share these download links with your team: 

• Download Proton Mail(new window)
• Download Proton Calendar(new window)

Now you’re ready to start sending emails, sharing calendars, and protecting your data with Proton. In the rest of this article, we’ll explain some of the key features of your Proton business plan so you can get the most out of your subscription.

Admin tools to manage your organization

You can tailor your Proton business account to your organization’s needs. Whether it’s adding or removing users, assigning admins, or customizing spam filters, Proton gives you flexible tools to manage your service. 

Understand the difference between users and addresses: Users are individual accounts within your organization, each with their own login and inbox. Addresses, on the other hand, are specific email identities that can be assigned to users.

• What are user roles in Proton organizations?(new window)

Create and manage users and addresses: This allows you to efficiently onboard new team members and assign them email addresses that match your custom domain. With a Proton business plan you can easily adapt to changes within your team, whether it involves adding new members or adjusting roles within the organization.

• How to add users to your organization(new window)

Assign admins: You can designate admin roles within your organization, such as IT staff or security managers. Admins have full control over your organization and can perform any action. It’s important to note that admins are the first line of contact in case of an emergency or outage.

• How to assign admins(new window)

Understand the difference between non-private and private users: By default, all users are set to non-private, allowing administrators to access users’ emails for compliance and oversight purposes. However, admins can switch user accounts to private, which restricts email access exclusively to the individual user. Why is this important? Knowing the difference helps protect sensitive data, allowing you to give specific people access to specific emails and content.

• What to know about public vs. private users in Proton organizations(new window)

Share logins and passwords: Being able to share your business logins and passwords securely is vital — especially when onboarding new employees.

• How to store and manage your passwords safely(new window)

Manage passwords: Administrators using Proton business accounts should manage user passwords and update passwords as needed. However, you can only change passwords for non-private(new window) organization users.

• How to change an organization user’s password(new window)

Set organization rules for two-factor authentication (2FA): To help you protect your company from phishing attacks and data breaches, we allow administrators to monitor 2FA usage and enforce it — a unique feature that’s included in your Proton business plan. 2FA adds an extra layer of security by asking users for a one-time passcode in addition to a password to log in, so your company’s data remains secure even if passwords are compromised.

• How to enforce two-factor authentication (2FA) for organizations(new window)

Spam, block, and allow lists: Proton Mail uses advanced spam filtering driven by machine learning to sort all incoming emails. You can customize your filters further by creating your own spam, block, and allow lists to complement or override Proton’s general spam filtering.

• How to create spam, block, and allow lists for organizations(new window)

Restore administrator privileges: If you forget your password, your organization password is reset, or the organization key is changed, you can lose your administrator privileges. If that happens, your Proton business plan allows you to easily restore them.

• How to restore organization administrator privileges(new window)

Moving your existing email messages to Proton Mail 

This section will guide you through several easy steps to help transfer your existing emails in other inboxes to Proton Mail. Here you will learn how to: 

• Use Easy Switch to migrate old emails
• Import or export emails
• Delete old email accounts

Migrate your old emails, calendars, and contacts: Proton Mail’s Easy Switch(new window) tool helps you easily transfer your old emails from another email service directly to Proton Mail. It’s only a few simple steps to transfer your calendars and contacts, too.

• How to import emails with Easy Switch(new window)
• How to import a calendar to Proton Calendar (new window)
• How to add and import contacts in Proton Contacts(new window)

Import/Export: Proton Mail’s import/export tools allow you to transfer your email archives into or out of Proton Mail. This is useful for integrating past business emails into your new Proton infrastructure or creating backups.

• How to import and export emails(new window)

Delete old email accounts: Once you have transferred all the data and emails you want from your old accounts, you can safely delete them to fully migrate to Proton Mail.

• How to delete your Gmail account(new window)
• How to delete your Outlook account(new window)
• How to delete your Yahoo account(new window)

Four ways to send emails in Proton Mail

There’s more than one way to send an email in Proton Mail. You can schedule messages to send later, send encrypted emails outside of Proton, and more.

Sending password-protected emails: Proton Mail allows you to send password-protected emails to non-Proton Mail users. That means recipients get a link to a secure page to read the email after entering a password, ensuring your exchange remains protected with end-to-end encryption. This is a feature you will not find with other email services, such as Google and Microsoft. 

• How to send password-protected emails in Proton Mail(new window)

Expiring emails: You can set emails to automatically delete after a certain time. This is useful for sharing sensitive information and can help you with data protection compliance.

• How to send expiring emails(new window)

Schedule emails: Proton Mail allows you to draft emails and schedule their delivery for a later date or time, ensuring they reach recipients when most appropriate.

• How to schedule emails in Proton Mail(new window)

Forward emails: You can also automatically redirect incoming emails to another account with granular control over which emails are forwarded based on specific conditions you attach to email rules.

• How to use email forwarding(new window)

Staying organized in Proton Mail

Proton Mail offers several built-in tools to help your business stay organized. Here are the the easy-to-use features that will be available to you after you start using Proton: 

Folders and labels: Folders can be used to categorize emails into distinct sections. Labels, on the other hand, offer a tagging system, letting you mark emails with multiple labels without moving them from the inbox. Proton Mail gives you the ability to create personalized folders and subfolders for specific projects or topics, essentially giving you a digital filing cabinet to stay organized. You might even label the business emails your migrated to Proton Mail from another email service so they are easily identifiable.

• How use labels and folders(new window)

Filters: Filters automatically organize incoming emails based on criteria you set, such as sender, subject, or keywords, directing them to specific folders or tagging them with labels.

• How to use email filters(new window)

Automatic reply: You can set up auto-replies for incoming emails during your absence, ensuring senders receive an immediate response.

• How to set up an automatic reply(new window)

Content search: To protect your privacy, Proton Mail’s encryption means we can’t search your messages like other providers can. But you can still search your email contents by enabling our content search feature. This will download your messages to your device so you can search them there without breaking encryption.

• How to search your Proton Mail messages(new window)

Add or import contacts: With a few simple steps you can either add new contacts or import existing contacts from a different email provider straight to Proton Mail. As with your email communications, your contacts will also be encrypted to remain secure.

• How to add or import contacts in Proton Contacts(new window)

Email signatures: Customizing your email signature is a helpful way to provide identification and personalization to the emails you send, especially if you’re concerned with preserving a specific brand for your business.

• How to customize your email signature(new window)

SMTP: With Proton Mail’s Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), you can set up your business applications or devices (e.g. printers) to send emails from your Proton Mail address(es). These apps or devices will integrate with Proton Mail to send automated emails on your behalf, allowing you to benefit from added security and email delivery enhancements. 

• How to set up SMTP(new window)

Proton Calendar: Use Proton Calendar to manage your schedule, business meetings, and events, including on your mobile device(new window). You can set your time zone to make sure your events align with your local time, share calendars with clients or colleagues, and organize your events with different colors to keep track and prioritize.

• How to set up Proton Calendar for your business(new window)
• How to create, modify, and delete events in Proton Calendar(new window)
• How to send invitations to new Proton Calendar events(new window)
• How to create, edit, delete, and export calendars in Proton Calendar(new window)
• How to share a calendar with anyone via a link(new window)

Access your drive, password manager, and VPN

Your Proton business plan also includes Proton Drive, Proton Pass, and Proton VPN. With these tools, you can store and share files securely, manage your team’s login details and bank cards, and ensure your internet connection is private. Launching the suite of tools that comes with your Proton business plan is a straightforward process with a few easy steps.

• How to use Proton Drive(new window)
• How to use Proton Pass(new window)
• How to use Proton VPN(new window)

Getting support

Switching your business to Proton is an easy-to-follow process that does not require extensive onboarding or training. We built our user-friendly platform with familiarity and ease of use in mind. 

Proton’s support pages(new window) offer tutorials, guides, and visuals to help you on your journey. But if you find yourself stuck, you can always turn to our responsive customer service center, which secured a top spot in Newsweek’s “2024 Best Customer Service” rankings(new window).

Because you have a Proton business plan, you’ll get priority support. Organizations with six or more users can also get phone support. Here’s how to get reach us: 

Online form: Proton business plans offer fast support through a dedicated website(new window) and a direct contact form(new window).

Zendesk: Additionally, email support is available through Zendesk(new window). That means organizations that would prefer to contact support without using the online form can simply email us at support@protonmail.zendesk.com. Write to us directly: You can also email us directly. All support requests are managed in-house by Proton, so if you would like to keep your support questions between us and skip using Zendesk, you can write to us at contact@proton.me.

Frequently Asked Questions

For more, check our Proton for Business frequently asked questions (FAQ)(new window).