Tutorial
How to receive test emails
Create an address, point your application at it, and inspect exactly what was delivered — links, HTML, plain text and attachments.
By the InstantEduMail Editorial Team · Published 14 August 2026 · Last reviewed 14 August 2026
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1. Create
Pick a username and domain. The inbox is live immediately.
2. Send
Trigger the flow in your application using the new address.
3. Read
The message appears in the reader without refreshing the page.
4. Verify
Follow the link, check the HTML, confirm the attachment.
Step 1 — create the address
Choose a username and one of the active domains. Use something you can recognise later, such as a ticket number or feature name, because you will often want several inboxes open at once. Sign in first if you want the address to survive past a couple of hours.
Step 2 — trigger the flow
Register in your application with the new address, or fire whatever event sends the message you are testing. Do it from a clean session: many sign-up bugs only appear on the genuinely first attempt, which is precisely what a reused mailbox cannot give you.
Step 3 — check what actually arrived
Open the message and work through it deliberately rather than glancing at the subject line.
- Does the verification link carry a complete, unmangled token, and does following it succeed exactly once?
- Does the HTML still look right after sanitisation, and does a plain-text alternative exist?
- Are dynamic values — names, dates, amounts — rendered rather than left as template placeholders?
- Do attachments open, with the filename and type you intended?
- Is the sender name and reply-to what a real recipient should see?
Step 4 — repeat with a clean address
When a test changes state on the sender's side — an account now exists, a token is now used — create a new inbox rather than reusing the old one. Recreating the address is faster than unpicking the state, and it keeps each run independent.
Keep reading
- Email testing for developers
Why disposable inboxes beat a personal or shared mailbox.
- Disposable email for testing
Trade-offs against aliases and shared QA accounts.
- How it works
What happens between the sender and your reader.
Frequently asked questions
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