Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
eral, I suggest setting the If Outgoing Server Is Unavailable pop-up menu to Automatically
Try Sending Later, rather than Show a List of Alternate Servers.
The reason for these recommendations is that many SMTP servers refuse to send mes-
sages—even though your username and password are correct—if the From address is not the
one associated with that account. For example, if I create a new message with my tidbits.com
account selected, and then try to send it with the iCloud SMTP server, the server will reject it,
assuming it's spam because I'm sending it from the “wrong” email address. If you stick with
the single, correct SMTP server for each account, you won't have email address mismatches.
Fix the “Incorrect Settings” Problem
Your SMTP server typically requires several settings to be exactly correct: your email address,
username, and password; the server's address; the port; the authentication method; and the
SSL setting (on or off). If any one of these is wrong, you won't be able to send mail.
Unfortunately, Mail's error messages don't always clarify
which
setting might be incorrect.
So, if an error message doesn't provide an obvious solution, do this:
1. Go to Mail > Preferences > Accounts >
Account Name
> Account Information.
2. From the Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP) pop-up menu, choose Edit SMTP Server
List.
3. Confirm that the correct SMTP server is already selected in the list at the top; if
not, select the one you want.
4. In the Account Information view in the bottom portion of the dialog, confirm
that the address in the Server Name field is exactly what your email provider
specified (typically something like
smtp.domain.com
).
5. In the Advanced view, confirm that the server port, Use Secure Sockets Layer
(SSL) checkbox, authentication method, username, and password exactly match
what your email provider specified. If any of these items is incorrect (or if you're
not sure), change the information and click OK. (Note that some email providers
expect you to use your
entire
email address as the username.)
Now, choose Window > Connection Doctor, and wait for it to complete its
checks. Next to the SMTP server you just modified, if you see a green dot (on the
left) and the text (on the right) “Connection and login to server succeeded,” the
change worked.
If the change did not work, proceed with:
