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Set up email in Mac OS X Mail

Published on April 15, 2015

Setting up email in Mac OS is as easy as pie. But, Users' should know how to set up emails in different Operating System. If Users are using Mac OS 10.7 Lion or Mac OS 10.6 Snow Leopard, they can use Mail Program comes inbuilt with the OS for connecting their emails accounts utilizing Exchange Accounts.

In case, Users are using Mac OS 10.5 Leopard or OS 10.4 Tiger, the Mac Mail Application can be used to connect to the account. However, there comes the need to connect account without IMAP or POP.

However, it requires some steps to connect emails accounts using Exchange Accounts than using POP or IMAP. But, still there are some extra features that are provided like iCal & Address Book which can be used while setting up the account & are unavailable in IMAP or POP.

Set up Exchange account access using Mac OS 10.6 Snow Leopard or Mac OS 10.7 Lion

Follow these steps to set up Exchange Accounts or to set up email connections using Exchange Accounts:

  1. The very first task is do either of these two:
    • If you have not set up email accounts using Mail, go to the steps 2 directly.
    • And, if you are using an email account, go to the Mail menu -- preferences. Now, on Account tab, press (+) icon to open Add Account tab.
  2. For adding the mail account, go to Add account in the Welcome to Mail page:
    • Fill the box Full Name, here enter the name which you want to display.
    • Then, fill up the Email Address box. After that, provide the Password according to your choice & click on Continue. (Note: Mail Program will automatically use the information you have entered in the previous step)
  3. After the set up of the mail accounts, go to the Account Summary Box & in Also Set up, you can also select additional options likewise you can select Address Book Contact or iCal calendars.
  4. After doing all the above steps, click on Create. If the account was not set-up automatically, you have to wait for few minutes or even hours & again go through all the steps.

Set up POP or IMAP on Mac OS X

Users can also set-up using IMAP or POP when they are using Mac OS 10.4 Tiger or 10.5 Leopard. Although, calendars & contact features can't be used when IMAP or POP is used. This is so because these features are available only for the users who connect via an Exchange Account.

  1. First of all open the mail, do the following:
    • If you have not set up any mail account ever, follow step 2.
    • And, if you already have an account, go to the Mail menu, click Preferences. Then, on Account icon, press the (+) icon in order to open Add account window.
  2. In the Add account window, fill in all the details such as: Full Name, Email Address, Password & click on Continue.
  3. And, in the window of Incoming Mail Server, do these steps:
    • Select POP or IMAP (IMAP has more features than POP)
    • Then, in the Description Box, enter that name from which you get reminded of.
    • Thereafter, in the Incoming Mail Server window, enter the POP3 or IMAP4 name. If you are connecting to Office 365 mail, the name is outlook.office365.com.
    • Then, just fill the necessary details like User Name, Password & click Continue. Mail will automatically test connections to incoming server utilizing the default settings.
  4. Go to Outgoing Mailbox Server box &perform the following:
    • Navigate to Description Box & enter the name for the server.
    • Then, in the box of Outgoing Mail Server, enter the SMTP server name. If you are connecting to the emails of Office 365, the server name of SMTP will be smtp.office365.com.
    • Don't forget to select the checkbox 'Use only this Server' & 'Use Authentication'. The Username & Password for the incoming server & outgoing server will be same. Click on Continue. Note: If the test still doesn't start, again click on Continue.
  5. In case you are using IMAP4, go to the box Account Summary & click create.
  6. And, if you are using POP3, it is recommended to set-up the client in order to keep the copy of messages which you have retrieved to the local computer on server. Doing this, enable to access the messages from any other email program. For keeping the copy of the messages, do as follows:
    • Go to the Account Summary, deselect the checkbox Take Account online & click Create.
    • Then, Mail menu -- Preferences.
    • Go to the Account Tab & select the Account which you want and then click on Advanced in the right pane.
    • Thereafter, clear the checkbox "Remove the copy from server after retrieving message" & exit the Account Tab.
  7. In case, if you want that Mail doesn't keep the copy of the messages on the server, simply select the checkbox Take Account Online & click Create.

Find your POP or IMAP server settings

To find the POP or IMAP server settings, if you are connecting to Office 365, the server name is outlook.office.365.com (for IMAP & POP) & smtp.office365.com (for SMTP).

If you are not connected to Office 365, go through these steps:

  1. Login to your account using OWA.
  2. In the OWA, navigate to Settings --Options Tab -- Account -- My Account Tab. In Account Tab, select the Settings for POP or IMAP access.
  3. The IMAP4, SMTP & POP3 server name or other settings are listed on this Settings only which you might need to enter.