mail/docs/microsoft-store.md

Microsoft Store package

Release builds package Flectar Mail for the Microsoft Store as MSIX, next to the GitHub installer and portable ZIP. The Store signs the package and delivers updates, so no code-signing certificate is needed for it.

What CI builds

The Native platform artifacts workflow builds an MSIX for x64 and arm64 from the same files as the ZIP, with the manifest and logos in platform/windows/msix. scripts/test-msix.ps1 signs a copy with a throwaway certificate, installs it, starts the app with its package identity, checks that the app's data lands in the package's private folder, and removes it again. The Microsoft Store bundle job then combines both packages into flectar-mail-<version>.msixbundle and tests that too.

Tag pushes, and manual runs with Windows enabled, upload the bundle as the microsoft-store-package artifact. The GitHub release does not include it: outside the Store, Windows only installs signed packages.

Before the first submission

1. In Partner Center, choose Apps and games > New product > MSIX or PWA app and reserve the name Flectar Mail.
2. Open Product management > Product identity and copy Package/Identity/Name, Package/Identity/Publisher and Package/Properties/PublisherDisplayName into the Identity and PublisherDisplayName elements of platform/windows/msix/AppxManifest.xml.in. Partner Center compares them exactly. Until then the manifest carries placeholders, and the workflow warns that the bundle can't be uploaded. Tag a release after the change so the bundle carries the real identity.

Submitting a release

1. Download the microsoft-store-package artifact from the tag's workflow run and unzip it. Workflow artifacts expire after 90 days.
2. Upload the .msixbundle on the submission's Packages page.
3. The package declares the runFullTrust restricted capability, which every packaged desktop app needs. Explain it as: "Flectar Mail is a desktop email client packaged with MSIX. It runs as a full-trust desktop app, like its installer and portable builds."
4. Complete the pages below. Later releases only need a new package and the What's new in this version text.

Store versions must increase with every submission. The Store requires the form Major.Minor.Build.0 with a nonzero first part, so scripts/release-metadata.py derives it from the Cargo version in the same order as the Android version codes: 0.1.0-alpha.8 becomes 1.100.8.0, and 0.1.0 becomes 1.100.9999.0.

Store listing

The first submission needs these pages. The text matches the README.

Pricing and availability: free, in all markets.

Properties: category Productivity. Privacy policy https://flectar.com/mail/privacy/, website https://flectar.com/mail/, support https://github.com/flectar/mail/issues. The app stores mail, contacts and credentials, so answer yes to accessing personal information.

Age ratings: the questionnaire asks about communication between users. Email lets users exchange messages and content, so answer yes there.

Short description:

A native email client for your mail, calendars, and contacts. It opens instantly, works offline, and uses a fraction of the memory of web-based mail apps.

Description:

Flectar Mail is a lightweight, native home for your email, calendars, and contacts. It is engineered to open instantly, stay responsive, and use a fraction of the memory of a typical web-based mail client.

It works with Gmail, Outlook and Microsoft 365, or standards-based IMAP, POP3, SMTP, JMAP, CalDAV, and CardDAV services. Your mailbox and calendar are stored locally, so your synced data stays useful without a connection. Remote images are blocked until you allow them, so tracking pixels can't report when you read a message.

Email is never opened in a web view. A Rust-native pipeline renders its HTML and CSS without running email scripts. Rendering email without a browser engine is new territory, so complex messages may not render correctly yet while compatibility improves.

Flectar Mail is free and open source under the AGPLv3.

Product features:

• Mail, calendars, and contacts in one app
• About 20 MB of private memory at idle
• A local copy of your mailbox that works offline
• Gmail, Outlook, Microsoft 365, IMAP, POP3, SMTP, JMAP, CalDAV, and CardDAV
• Remote images blocked until you allow them
• Email rendered without a web view or scripts
• Light and dark themes
• Free and open source

Search terms: email, mail client, calendar, contacts, IMAP, Outlook, Gmail.

Screenshots: resources/screenshots/frameless/windows-light.png and windows-dark.png show the app with Windows window controls.

Notes for certification: testers need an email account to get past the welcome screen. Create a mailbox for the review, and put its address, password and IMAP and SMTP servers in the notes. Tell testers to add it with IMAP under Connect a mail account on the welcome screen.

How the Store build differs

• Start at sign-in uses the package's startup task, which appears under Settings > Apps > Startup. Packaged apps can't use the Run registry key that the installer build writes. If the user turns the task off there, only they can turn it back on, so the app opens that page for them.
• App data of a new install stays in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\<package family name>\LocalCache, which Windows removes when the app is uninstalled. On a PC that already ran the installer or portable build, the Store build picks up that build's data instead.
• Updates come from the Store.