When arriving at a new institution in the Lyon academy, the first practical urgency is often the same: accessing one’s professional email. The Convergence webmail is the central tool for communication between teachers, administrative staff, and management. However, the access address, authentication portal, and configuration settings have changed, and the guides available online are sometimes several years old. Here’s how to navigate it effectively.
Convergence Authentication Portal: the address that has changed
Many tutorials still refer to the old URL webmail.ac-lyon.fr for logging in. In practice, the authentication portal now uses a different address, such as auth.valere.ac-lyon.fr/login/, where you directly enter your academic email address and password.
No account creation is necessary. Each agent is assigned an identifier upon their assignment. The notification email received upon arrival in the academy contains this information. If you can’t find this email, the login page directs you to academic support.
One point to anticipate: automatic password recovery is not available from the login screen. There is no “forgot password” button that sends a link via email like most public services. In case of a blockage, you must contact the academy’s support directly, which can take some time depending on the period.
It’s better to note your password in a safe place right after the first login.
You can also configure the Convergence webmail of the Lyon academy both from a browser and from an email client like Outlook or Thunderbird, provided you have the correct server settings.
IMAP and SMTP Settings to Configure Convergence on Outlook or Thunderbird
Accessing webmail via a browser works, but in daily use, you save time by configuring an email client on your computer or phone. The problem is that the server settings are not displayed clearly on the Convergence portal.
Here are the elements to fill in for the manual configuration of an email account:
- Incoming server (IMAP): the IMAP protocol should be preferred for synchronizing emails across multiple devices. The server address and port are provided in the documentation supplied by the academy’s IT department (Direction des Systèmes d’Information).
- Outgoing server (SMTP): the academy’s SMTP server requires authentication with the same credentials as the webmail login. SSL/TLS encryption must be enabled.
- Identifier: this is the complete academic email address ([email protected]), not just the short username.
- Password: the one defined during the first login to the portal.
The most common mistake is using the short identifier instead of the full address. Outlook and Thunderbird then refuse the connection without an explicit error message, which leads to the assumption of a password issue when the problem actually lies in the identifier field.
Configuration on Android Smartphone
The official manual from the IT department for Android configuration dates back to January 2019. The screenshots no longer match the recent versions of Android. The logic remains the same: add an email account in manual mode, choose IMAP, fill in the servers, and enable encryption.
On recent versions of Android, the Gmail app sometimes offers automatic detection of the settings. Feedback on this point varies: some users report that detection works with the ac-lyon.fr address, while others must enter everything manually. In case of doubt, switching directly to manual configuration saves time.
Connection Issues with the Lyon Academic Webmail: Specific Cases
Most of the encountered blocks are not due to a bug in the Convergence portal. We encounter three recurring situations.
The first: the initial password has never been changed. At the first login, the system requires a password change. If this step is interrupted (for example, by accidentally closing the browser), the account may remain in an intermediate state. The solution involves contacting academic support.
The second: the browser retains old session cookies related to webmail.ac-lyon.fr. If you try to log in to the new portal without clearing the cache, the browser may redirect to an outdated page or display a certificate error. Clearing the browser’s cache and cookies resolves the issue in most cases.
The third: a proxy or institutional firewall blocks certain ports used by IMAP or SMTP. This is especially the case when trying to configure Outlook from a staff room computer. The institution’s network may restrict outgoing connections. You should check with the institution’s digital referent that the necessary ports are open.
Security and Best Practices for Academic Messaging
The Convergence messaging system operates through the infrastructure of the National Education system. Communications between agents regularly contain sensitive data: student contact details, administrative documents, class council reports.
Never forward academic emails to a personal Gmail or Outlook.com address. This practice, common for convenience, exposes professional data on servers outside the administration’s scope. The rectorate regularly reminds this in its internal communications.
- Choose a password of at least twelve characters, mixing letters, numbers, and special characters.
- Do not reuse the academic password on other online services.
- Verify the sender before clicking on a link in an email received in the academic inbox: phishing attempts targeting ac-lyon.fr addresses exist.
- Always log out after use on a shared workstation.
The Convergence webmail remains the official communication tool of the Lyon academy for professional exchanges. Properly configured from the start, on both browser and phone, it avoids back-and-forth with support and message losses at the beginning of the school year. The most reliable approach is to note your server settings somewhere and test sending/receiving immediately after configuration, rather than discovering a problem on the day an urgent email awaits a response.
