We open the browser on the day of the pre-return, type the portal address, and the page remains blank. Or worse, we land on a login form without remembering if the username contains a dot, a dash, or a number. The academic messaging system of Dijon is a daily tool for several thousand agents, but its initial handling often gets stuck on very concrete details.
Check the URL and the certificate before entering your password
Before even talking about the username, there is a reflex to instill: check the address in the browser’s address bar. The academic intranet portal (PIA) is accessible via pia.ac-dijon.fr. For direct webmail, the address is webmail.ac-dijon.fr.
This verification is not generic advice. The Ministry of National Education launched the Cactus operation from March 19 to 21, 2025, a campaign to raise awareness about phishing after attacks that disrupted school ENT systems. Fraudulent emails imitated the academic login page to retrieve usernames.
Specifically, we check two things: that the URL ends with ac-dijon.fr (not ac-dijon-fr.com or a similar variant) and that the HTTPS lock is present. If an email invites you to “reset your password” via a link, do not click: access the portal by typing the address yourself.
For those who want to go further into the technical procedure, a detailed guide explains the connection to the webmail ac Dijon step by step.
Dijon academic username: understanding the construction logic
The username follows a seemingly simple rule: the first letter of the first name, followed by the last name, all in lowercase. Jean Dupond becomes jdupond. Where it gets complicated is in the special cases that no one warns you about in advance.
- Namesakes receive a number as a suffix: jdupond1 if another Jean Dupond already exists in the academic directory.
- Compound names use a dash between the particles: Jean Le Dupond gives jle-dupond, not jledupond or jle_dupond.
- Compound first names generally keep only the initial of the first name: Jean-Pierre Dupond gives jdupond (not jpdupond).
If you cannot find your exact username, the secretariat of your institution has this information. For newcomers, the INA code received by mail upon arrival is necessary to initialize the password via id.ac-dijon.fr.
Password initialization on id.ac-dijon.fr: common blocks
The most common case of blockage does not come from forgetting, but from an initialization that was never done. Agents newly assigned to the Dijon academy receive a letter containing their INA code (Agent Numeric Identifier). This code is used only once, on the page id.ac-dijon.fr, to create a personal password.
Feedback varies on this point, but several situations regularly recur: the letter containing the INA code was not delivered, or it was confused with a standard administrative document. If you cannot find this code, you need to ask the secretariat to submit a request on the academic service center.
The password must comply with the complexity rules imposed by the portal: minimum length, mix of characters. If the system rejects your new password without an explicit message, it is almost always due to an unmet complexity criterion. Test with at least one uppercase letter, one number, and one special character.
IMAP setup on smartphone: email server settings
Accessing your academic email on a phone is possible via the IMAP protocol, which synchronizes messages without deleting them from the server. This is the preferred choice if you use multiple devices.
Here are the settings to enter in your email application:
- Incoming IMAP server: hermes.ac-dijon.fr, port 993 with SSL/TLS encryption enabled.
- Outgoing SMTP server: hermes.ac-dijon.fr, port 465 with SSL/TLS encryption.
- Username: your full academic address ([email protected]).
Note, the username for mobile setup is the full email address, not the short format used on the PIA portal. This is a common source of error: one enters jdupond instead of [email protected], and authentication fails without a clear message.
On both Android and iOS, the native email application works. Third-party applications (Outlook, Thunderbird mobile) also accept these settings. Prefer a Wi-Fi connection for the first synchronization if your inbox contains a significant volume of messages.
White screen on Convergence: an interface problem, not an account issue
The academic webmail has migrated to the Convergence interface, which is gradually replacing Roundcube. After this transition, some users find themselves facing a completely white page after logging in. This is not a password issue.
The most common cause is a browser cache that retains elements from the old interface. The solution: clear the cache and cookies related to the domain ac-dijon.fr, then reload the page. On Firefox, the combination Ctrl+Shift+Delete opens the cleaning window directly. On Chrome, go through the privacy settings.
If the white screen persists after clearing the cache, try with another browser. Some extensions (ad blockers, security modules) interfere with the loading of Convergence. A test in private browsing quickly isolates the problem.
The academic messaging system of the Dijon academy remains a central tool for daily coordination among staff, administration, and services. Keeping your login parameters up to date, systematically checking the URL before entering any password, and correctly configuring the IMAP protocol on your mobile devices covers the vast majority of difficulties encountered on the ground.
