FAQ
General Questions
Why are some emails failing with “protocol mismatch”?
Hotmail/Outlook domains require web authentication, not IMAP. Rapid automatically selects the correct protocol, but if you’ve forced IMAP-only mode, these will fail.
What’s the difference between 2FA and locked results?
- 2FA: Account requires two-factor authentication to access
- Locked: Account has been disabled or suspended by the provider
How do I use the Mail Viewer?
- Complete a check with successful results
- Click on any successful credential in the results
- The Mail Viewer opens showing the inbox
- Navigate folders and click emails to read content
Can I download attachments?
Yes, the Mail Viewer supports downloading and saving attachments from emails.
Performance
How many threads should I use?
Start with a low thread count and gradually increase while monitoring:
- System resource usage (CPU, RAM)
- Proxy performance and errors
- Success/failure rates
Higher thread counts require better hardware and quality proxies.
Why is checking slow?
Common causes:
- Proxy quality: Bad proxies cause timeouts and retries
- Thread count too high: Can overwhelm system or proxies
- Provider rate limits: Some servers throttle connections
- Network latency: Distance to email servers
Can I check multiple lists at once?
Yes, run multiple instances of Rapid with different output directories. Each instance uses its own thread pool.
What timeout should I use?
- No proxies / Fast proxies: 10-15 seconds
- Residential proxies: 20-30 seconds
- Slow connections: 30-60 seconds
Higher timeouts reduce failures but slow overall processing.
Why do I get many “Error” results?
Common causes:
- Bad proxy quality
- Timeout too low
- Provider blocking connections
- Network issues
Try reducing threads, increasing timeout, or using better proxies.
Search Features
What does “search all folders” do?
Instead of just searching INBOX, it searches all email folders (Sent, Drafts, Spam, Archives, etc.) for your query.
Are searches case-sensitive?
Email searches are typically case-insensitive, but this depends on the email server implementation.
Can I search for multiple terms?
Yes, add multiple search queries in the configuration. Each query is searched independently, and all matches are saved.
What’s the difference between body and text search?
- Body Search: Searches only the email body/content
- Text Search: Searches headers, subject, and body combined
How do I search for emails from a specific sender?
Use the “From” search type and enter the sender’s email address or domain.
Proxies
Which proxy type is best?
SOCKS5 offers the best compatibility. HTTP proxies work but may have limitations with some protocols.
Do I need proxies?
- IMAP without search: Works fastest without proxies (direct connection)
- IMAP with search: Some servers block direct connections
- Web protocols (Hotmail): Always require proxies due to rate limiting
Why are my proxies failing?
Most proxy providers don’t support IMAP protocol! See our comprehensive proxy guide for detailed troubleshooting.
Common issues:
- Provider blocks port 993 (IMAP)
- Proxy format incorrect
- Credentials expired
- Proxy is dead/offline
What’s the “proxy error” message mean?
Usually means your proxy provider blocks IMAP connections. Contact their support to confirm IMAP protocol support on port 993.
What proxy rotation strategy should I use?
- Round-Robin: Best for balanced load across all proxies
- Random: Good for avoiding patterns
- Consecutive: Best for session-based operations
Can I use free/public proxies?
Never use public proxies:
- Email providers actively block them
- Extremely high failure rates
- Security risks (MITM attacks)
- Will get accounts locked
Protocols
Why can’t I use IMAP for Hotmail/Outlook?
Microsoft disabled basic IMAP authentication. Only OAuth2 or web login works. Rapid uses web authentication to handle this automatically.
What providers support web authentication?
Currently supported:
- hotmail.com and variants
- outlook.com and variants
- live.com and variants
- msn.com
Will you add more web authentication providers?
We continuously add new providers based on demand. Contact support with specific requests.
What about Gmail?
Gmail uses OAuth2 which requires user interaction. Currently, Rapid supports Gmail only via IMAP with app passwords.
Output Files
What are cookie files used for?
Cookies from web authentication (Hotmail/Outlook) can be:
- Imported into browsers for continued access
- Used with automation tools
- Stored for later verification
Can I resume interrupted checking?
Remove already-checked emails from your input file and run again. Or use different output directory and combine results later.
What format are results saved in?
Results are saved as plain text files with email:password format, organized by status (success, failed, 2fa, locked, errors).
Where are downloaded email bodies saved?
In the email_bodies/ subdirectory of your output folder, organized by email address.
Captcha
How does the captcha solver work?
Rapid includes a built-in solver that handles captchas automatically. It’s completely free and requires no configuration.
Country Detection
How does country detection work?
Rapid analyzes the email domain to determine the country:
- TLD analysis (.de, .fr, .uk)
- Known provider mapping
- Domain pattern matching
Why are some countries wrong?
Some domains don’t follow country patterns (e.g., .com used worldwide). The detection is based on domain patterns, not actual location.
Troubleshooting
Tool crashes during checking
- Reduce thread count
- Check available memory
- Verify proxy list format
- Try smaller input file first
All results show as “Error”
- Check internet connection
- Verify proxy configuration
- Test proxies manually
- Try without proxies (IMAP only)
Results don’t match expected count
Check for:
- Duplicate credentials in input
Mail Viewer shows blank content
- Email may be HTML-only - check rendering settings
- Connection may have timed out - try reopening
- Account may have been locked since checking