Mac Mail Setup

Apple Mac Mail is a free, built-in third-party email client for Mac users that offers easy setup and customization with a user-friendly interface. This article will explain the general setup of Apple Mac Mail.

Before setting up Mac Mail to use with your domain, it is recommended that you first:

• Wait until your domain name has been propagated
• Create the email account in your hosting control panel

Mac Mail Configuration

The following video will walk you through Mac Mail Configuration:

These steps are available for reference, and may be used to follow along with the video:

1. Open the Mac Mail application.
2. From the Mail menu, choose Add Account. First-time users will be automatically prompted to create an account.
3. Select Add Other Mail Account and click Continue.
4. In the appropriate fields, provide your full name, complete email address to be used, and the password.
   • If this option is enabled, deselect Automatically Setup Account in order to manually configure the email account, and then click Continue.
   • If you wish to have the account automatically configured, simply leave the option selected and follow the prompts provided by the Mail Setup Assistant.
5. Click Sign In.
6. Enter the settings for the Incoming Mail Server. You can choose to use either the IMAP or POP3 settings.
   Click Here to Know Your Incoming Mail Server Settings

   Incoming Mail Server:
   mail.example.com or full.servername.com

   Please replace "example.com" with your email's domain name. You can also use the server hostname that you can find in your cPanel's homepage, Welcome email, or Customer Portal.

   Secure SSL/TLS Settings:
   IMAP Port: 993
   POP3 Port: 995
   
   or

   Non/SSL Settings:
   IMAP Port: 143
   POP3 Port: 110
7. Provide the Outgoing Mail Server information - your SMTP settings.
   Click Here to Know Your Outgoing Mail Server Settings

   Outgoing Mail Server:
   mail.example.com or full.servername.com

   Please replace "example.com" with your email's domain name. You can also use the server hostname that you can find in your cPanel's homepage, Welcome email, or Customer Portal.

   Secure SSL/TLS Settings:
   SMTP Port: 465
   
   or

   Non/SSL Settings:
   SMTP Port: 25 or 26
   • If prompted, select Use Authentication and provide the email user name and password.
   • If prompted, provide the settings for Outgoing Mail Security, and then click Continue. 
8. Once done, click Sign in/Create.
   You can also refer to these articles to know more about your email settings: Email Connection Settings and Client Settings - Outlook, Eudora, Thunderbird, Mac, iPad, Phone.

After completing these steps, users should be able to send and receive emails via the newly created account.

For further assistance with the Mail Setup Assistant, please refer to the following external guide:

• Mail Setup Assistant Walkthrough

Removing an Email Account

Exchange, IMAP, and MobileMe accounts store their mailboxes and messages on the server; deleting these account types in Mail will not permanently delete messages from the server. However, if you are not completely certain that your account is one of those types, be sure to copy the mailboxes and messages you want to keep into an On My Mailbox, or save individual messages manually by selecting them and choosing Save As from the File menu.

• Apple's Basic Troubleshooting Guide
• Apple's Email Configuration Guide (see Removing an email account)

Troubleshooting

If you receive an error regarding "too many connections" or "error 500," there are a few options that is available to troubleshoot these errors.

Try a Different Mail Client

You can install and use Thunderbird without affecting your current Mac Mail settings. We recommend Mozilla Thunderbird because it's stable, easy to use, and freely licensed.

• Download Mozilla Thunderbird

Delete Any Additional Folders

Mac Mail tends to open up a connection per mailbox folder. By removing folders that are not being used, the number of outbound connection attempts by the mail application decreases.

Disable the IDLE Function in Mac Mail

With the IDLE function enabled, Mac Mail will make a continuous connection to the HG server, and this will contribute to the problem. Instead, you can configure Mac Mail to periodically check for new mail. A reliable frequency for the idle feature is every 10 minutes to ensure that Mac Mail is cleaning out any lingering processes.

To disable the IDLE feature:

1. Select Mail | Preferences from the menu.
2. Choose Accounts.
3. Select the desired IMAP account.
4. Go to the Advanced tab.
5. Uncheck Use IDLE command if the server supports it.
6. Additionally, you can uncheck Include when automatically checking for new mail.