Bob's Lab Notes

Retrieving email with Apple Mail

by Bob Smith on May 3, 2009 | No Comments

 

You can setup an account in Apple Mail with as either POP or IMAP service.  POP is probably the most commonly used. With POP all messages are downloaded to your computer where you can read or edit them at any time.  IMAP leaves the mail on the server until you specifically request that it be downloaded.  Below are screen shots showing the appropriate settings for creating a POP account.  IMAP uses the same server names.  Just substitute your domain name wherever you see bobsmyhost.com in these examples.

Click on the screen shots for a larger view

 

 

 

 

The Description field in the screen above and the one below are strictly for your information.  Enter whatever you want there.  If you have more than one mail account or use more than one SMTP server, your description helps you pick them from a list.

 

 

When you click continue, Apple mail tries to connect to the server as a test.  It will likely fail after a minute or so with this message:

 

 

It fails because the default port for connection is blocked by many internet service providers… especially on residential internet lines.  You can specify a custom port later.  Click continue again.  It won’t do the test again.  Even if you passed the connection test, you should still enter the custom port described below.  That will allow you to connect from just about any internet line without a problem.

Next, specify the encryption method:

 

 

When you click “Continue” above the account will be created.  However you still need to set a custom port for the SMTP server.  Choose “Edit Server List” from the SMTP server list pop-up:

 

 

Then click on the advance tab and enter a custom port number 9025

 

 

That should make your account useable.  Here’s an overview of all of the main settings:

 

 

 

You may also want to look at the “Mailbox Behaviors” and the “Advanced” tab for settings that might be helpful to you.  Be especially aware of the setting under the advanced tab to remove mail from the server.  If you have a POP mail client that accesses this account from more than one computer you should only instruct your main computer… the one that you want to be sure and hold your entire email archive… to delete messages from the server.  I generally set mine to delete a week after they’ve been retrieved.  That gives me a safety net to retrieve them again if something screws up on my computer.  I keep every other computer set to NOT erase files on the server at all.  That way nothing gets erased until my main computer has had a chance to access the mail.  The archive of mail on that computer is always complete.

Filed under All Articles, Email, tagged Apple Mail, Email, POP, SMTP