First thing we're going to do is install the plugin.

1. Download the latest master version or tagged version of the plugin.
2. Activate and install the plugin.
3. In the WP admin dashboard, navigate to BuddyPress > BP Reply By Email

When you arrive on the admin page, you'll be able to choose the mode that the plugin should run in.

There are two modes: Inbound Email and IMAP.

For the majority of sites, you should use Inbound Email as the server requirements are not as complicated as IMAP mode and is more reliable.

Inbound mode requires using a third-party provider to process emails. Once the email is processed, the email response is sent back to the WP site for further processing and posting.

The main thing you'll have to do is set up and configure a new subdomain for use with the inbound provider from your domain registrar.

Currently, the following are supported as inbound providers:

• Postmark - Read the wiki guide for set up instructions.
• SparkPost - Read the wiki guide for set up instructions.
• SendGrid - Read the wiki guide for set up instructions.
• Mandrill - Read the wiki guide for set up instructions.

To find out which inbound provider is for you, read this comparison guide.

Personally, this is what I would recommend:

• For non-developers who are setting this up, I would either recommend SendGrid or Postmark.
• For developers, I would recommend SparkPost.

Sites hosted on shared hosts should definitely use this option.

IMAP mode requires checking an IMAP inbox for a configured duration. Once the duration is over, the inbox check needs to be triggered again from someone visiting your site.

IMAP mode requires the following server requirements:

• [PHP IMAP module] (http:https://www.php.net/manual/en/imap.installation.php) (required) (with OpenSSL recommended)
• Safe mode off (recommended)
• A VPS or dedicated server (recommended)

Sites hosted on shared hosts should not use this option.

Technically, this plugin uses the set_time_limit() function, which shared hosts mostly ignore. If you encounter issues, try setting the Keep Alive Connection limit in the settings area to a shorter duration like 1 or 2 minutes. However, this still might not solve the problem. The codebase could be improved to help those on shared hosts, but this is not a priority at the moment.

v1.0-RC5 implements a better IMAP auto-connect mode. For more info and how to configure this setting, please view this page.

To find out how to use GMail and IMAP mode, read this guide:
https://github.com/r-a-y/bp-reply-by-email/wiki/Quick-Setup-with-GMail