The background systems of the previous mailbox delivered messages to Estonian citizens and entrepreneurs for nearly 20 years. The architecture and service logic of the new national mailbox created in 2023 will allow it to continue even better. This is mainly achieved by removing legacy systems and little-used services and introducing new services to the mailbox, which make receiving national notifications even more convenient for every entrepreneur and citizen.
The arrival of the new mailbox will initially also bring some changes related to the transition period. On 24–28 April, the mailbox service may be temporarily disrupted and there may be problems with receiving letters and updating contacts. In addition, the arrival of the new mailbox is also accompanied by some changes to the operating logic of the service. The old letters of the national mailbox can initially be found in the new mailbox under the Archive button, and they will be brought to the new mailbox within a couple of weeks to avoid overloading the systems.
The services of creating drafts and sending letters were removed from the new mailbox, because their use was low and it was not practical to transfer them to the new system. In addition, the data showed that the method of contacting state authorities using the functionality of sending letters via the national mailbox was not effective and did not fulfil its purpose. Therefore, it was decided to find a better-functioning and more modern system for contacting state authorities, and it is planned to be brought to users in 2024–2025.
In addition to the aforementioned system, we will soon create even more exciting new features and opportunities that the introduction of the new central system will allow us. This is to ensure a personalised, smooth, and convenient delivery of national notifications to every citizen and entrepreneur. The future national mailbox will become a single notification environment available from various self-services nationwide, which will enable private persons and businesses to receive their notifications whenever they come into contact with the state, and will offer state institutions the widest possible delivery of notifications.
In addition, the new mailbox also brings a lot of personalisation. This is ensured in particular by the possibility to indicate one’s preferences for the different notifications received. For example, we want to offer the user the freedom of choice regarding whether they want to receive notifications from the phone application, via text message, or only from their email, and the possibility to decide whether, for example, to receive notifications about the expiration of a prescription in every medium or not at all. All of this so that each user can design receiving notifications exactly according to their needs, and the mailbox is as much a tool for receiving notifications as it is for sending them.
