Mail 3.0 Help
Setting up accounts
The first time you open Mail, it automatically sets up an account for you using information from the .Mac pane of System Preferences and the Mail Setup Assistant. If no information is found, Mail guides you through the process of setting up a new account. It tests the information you provide as you enter it and suggests how to solve any problems that may arise.
You can create additional accounts at any time. If you aren’t sure about the information to enter, check with your ISP or mail account provider.
To add an account:
Choose File > Add Account.
Enter general information about the account.
Enter a full name, such as Tom Clark, which will be displayed in outgoing messages. Enter an email address, which will be used in the From field when you send messages. For a .Mac account, you must enter your .Mac email address and password.
Mail will step you through the rest of the process and provide information automatically wherever possible. If you prefer to provide all the information manually, deselect the “Automatically set up account” checkbox.
Enter information about the incoming mail server.
Specify the account type, such as POP, IMAP, or Exchange. If you set up an Exchange account, you can specify the name of an Outlook Web Access Server so that Mail filters non-email related content from the server. Mail appends /exchange/username when it sets up your account.
Enter the name of the incoming mail server, such as mail.example.com, where your messages wait for you to retrieve them, and your user name and password for the mail server.
If prompted, enter information about the incoming security. To use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), click the check box and then select an authentication type from the pop-up menu.
Enter information about the outgoing mail server.
The outgoing server (also known as an SMTP server) sends your messages to their destination. You might enter something like smtp.example.com or relay.example.com.
To require authentication before sending messages, enter a user name and password.
If prompted, enter information about the outgoing security. To use SSL, select its checkbox, select an authentication type, and enter a domain, as instructed by your ISP or mail account provider.
Review the account summary and click Create.
If you don’t want the account to be active immediately, deselect the “Take account online” checkbox. You can take the account online later.
You can further define the new account in the Accounts pane of Mail preferences. For example, you can set options for storing and deleting different types of messages, checking for new messages, managing offline viewing, and enabling the account.
A .Mac email account is an IMAP account provided as part of a .Mac membership. To sign up for a .Mac account with Apple, open the .Mac pane of System Preferences and click Sign Up.
For Exchange to work with Mail, Exchange administrators need to configure the Exchange server for IMAP access. Some system administrators may refer to an Outlook Web Access Server as an Internet Information Services (IIS) server.
To switch from another email application to Mail, you need to enter your account information from the other application in Mail. Before you begin, view the information in the other application and write down the names of the incoming and outgoing mail servers, your account name and password, and the account type. If you have multiple accounts, get the information for each account.