RoshBaby2

Q: Why do my SMTP/IMAP/POP servers keep going offline in OS X Yosemite Mail app?

I have a MacBook Pro from summer of 2011 and just upgraded to OS X Yosemite. Now my Mail app keeps taking the servers offline randomly and keeps it can't reconnect. I can fix it by quitting the app, shutting my computer, and then opening it and restarting the app, but if someone has a permanent fix that would be much appreciated.

 

I've gone into the accounts and made sure the information was correct, reentered it, etc. And I think the port numbers are correct (I changed them but that didn't help anything). I've also repaired my Keychain because that seemed to cause problems in previous OS versions.

 

Everything else on my computer still logs in and accepts the passwords (so far), it's just the Mail app that broke. And it was working great until I upgraded to Yosemite.

 

Thanks!

MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10)

Posted on Oct 21, 2014 8:04 AM

Close

Q: Why do my SMTP/IMAP/POP servers keep going offline in OS X Yosemite Mail app?

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

first Previous Page 3 of 7 last Next
  • by Jonathan Watkins,

    Jonathan Watkins Jonathan Watkins Mar 17, 2015 10:30 AM in response to Guy Arm
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 17, 2015 10:30 AM in response to Guy Arm

    I had tried everything - still not certain what DNS was - but in mac mail - my gmail - only on my imac - not ipad or iphone - would be grey'd out so that you couldn't access the "get new mail" in the gmail account.  The only way to get mail was to shut down the mail program - then re-start.  My computer is hard wired into my very fast internet - but I had turned on my wifi for access to something weeks ago.  since them I've had the mail issue.  I just turned off the wifi and not everything works perfect.  I'm going to research this DNS to see if that will allow it to work if the wifi is still on.

  • by cromdubh,

    cromdubh cromdubh Mar 18, 2015 3:32 AM in response to Jonathan Watkins
    Level 1 (14 points)
    Mac OS X
    Mar 18, 2015 3:32 AM in response to Jonathan Watkins

    I have been using Mac Mail for some years now, really cool to have all my accounts in one place.

    A few hiccups along the way, but  this present fiasco described by you and mentioned by others has topped them all.

    As a result I have removed my accounts from mail- leaving Apple's own mail account which it seems to like and stored the rest in a new folder in Safari.

    The mail pages of Yahoo and Google are quite good with other links to avoid boredom.

    Even the homepage of my ISP's webmail is presentable.

    Drastic, but easy on the coronary arteries.

    The move was prompted by a problem with a financial institution for whom my e-mail address was part of their checklist. The SMTP was offline, of course and sending it through another server presented them with an e-mail address other than the one they wanted.

    I think Apple are concentrating too much on watches and glasses etc.,and not giving their software the attention it deserves.

    The  adage about Apple Mac, "It just works!" seems to be getting less than accurate

  • by Winston Archibald Baxter VII,

    Winston Archibald Baxter VII Winston Archibald Baxter VII Mar 19, 2015 10:49 PM in response to W.W London
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 19, 2015 10:49 PM in response to W.W London

    "If Mail is working elsewhere (i.e. on iPhone or iPad) but not working on laptop, try this.  In Mail > Preferences > Accounts, in the 'Advanced' tab, uncheck "Automatically detect and maintain account settings", then check "Allow insecure authentication", then save."

     

    Thanks!!! This worked for me as I had exactly this issue. Funny enough Mail was working and then one day without system updates it decided to deny access on all my OsX computers. iOs kept working, so I new it must be something mit Apple Mail.

  • by Asuncion-(1225)@gmail.com,

    Asuncion-(1225)@gmail.com Asuncion-(1225)@gmail.com Mar 19, 2015 11:13 PM in response to RoshBaby2
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 19, 2015 11:13 PM in response to RoshBaby2

    Can't access my incoming email since I open multiple account. How can I obtain just one account all inOSX Yoshimites cause I like delete some email account to avoid confusion,thank you.

  • by Ginnie2Wgh7@d,

    Ginnie2Wgh7@d Ginnie2Wgh7@d Apr 28, 2015 2:09 PM in response to RoshBaby2
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 28, 2015 2:09 PM in response to RoshBaby2

    Like many others, I am also experiencing issues with Yosemite's Mail. Adding my voice here to join the effort to get Apple to do something about this.

     

    It's not my settings, it's not my internet service provider. To get it to work, I have to fiddle around with it—connection doctor, 'send with selected server' button in the dialog box that pops up, and shut down and re-open the program. Sometimes in this order, sometimes repeating these steps.

     

    Eventually after all this bs, the email will send. With the preferences and setting not changed at all.

     

    Please fix Apple, please do fix. We rely on this program to run businesses and to promptly and accurately communicate with others. Please do fix Apple. You can dooo it! Don't be afraid, just give it a shot!

  • by mariotheplumber,

    mariotheplumber mariotheplumber May 20, 2015 6:01 AM in response to RoshBaby2
    Level 1 (53 points)
    Apple TV
    May 20, 2015 6:01 AM in response to RoshBaby2

    just adding my voice. exactly same issue as described by others here. Mail will periodically and intermittently stop sending, but only on ceratin mail accounts, not all. Like others, I have to tinker with the SMTP servers settings again and again to get it to work. I also make sure that the old keychains are deleted and new ones created.

     

    New, clean install of Yosemite - recently completed to try and address a whole hosts of other niggles. Bad idea, bad idea.... things have actually got worse.

     

    I'm getting tired of this - in the market to replace MBP, but since Apple now insist on supplying everthing with a shiny, glass screen, it won't be a Mac! Decision to also ditch OSX seems more likely, as well, despite many years.

     

    Hopefully theres a fix for this issue soon.

  • by mariotheplumber,

    mariotheplumber mariotheplumber May 20, 2015 6:03 AM in response to cromdubh
    Level 1 (53 points)
    Apple TV
    May 20, 2015 6:03 AM in response to cromdubh

    The  adage about Apple Mac, "It just works!" seems to be getting less than accurate.

    Could not agree more! I like shiny things as much as the next person, but I actually want stuff to work.

  • by manofdogz,

    manofdogz manofdogz May 20, 2015 6:12 AM in response to RoshBaby2
    Level 1 (50 points)
    Mac OS X
    May 20, 2015 6:12 AM in response to RoshBaby2

    I gave up un Mail completely - tried most of the others but have happily ended up with Thunderbird. Don't know why it gets such average press. Working perfectly for me with 4 distinct accounts, got some genuinely useful features,  it's free and... it just works!

  • by mariotheplumber,

    mariotheplumber mariotheplumber Jun 12, 2015 1:48 AM in response to pullober
    Level 1 (53 points)
    Apple TV
    Jun 12, 2015 1:48 AM in response to pullober

    Hi, appreciate it's going back in time a little. Can you explain changing the DNS settings? Where? Thanks

  • by Kenny Millar,

    Kenny Millar Kenny Millar Jun 12, 2015 3:25 AM in response to mariotheplumber
    Level 2 (310 points)
    Jun 12, 2015 3:25 AM in response to mariotheplumber

    Since Jun 12th Mail app has been totally unable to connect to any of my SMTP servers to send mail.

    I have checked and double checked all the settings, including the SMTP password, but I'm getting no where.

     

    Interestingly FoxMail on the same machine, with the same settings works fine.

  • by tcortes63,

    tcortes63 tcortes63 Jun 12, 2015 4:07 PM in response to RoshBaby2
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 12, 2015 4:07 PM in response to RoshBaby2

    I upgraded to Yosemite Mail when it came out and did not have issues till a week ago. At first I thought it was my web host, but they checked and found nothing wrong.

     

    I could access my mail from my iOS devices with not problem, but Mac Mail from both my Air and my iMac stopped working. I tried the different suggestions here, and nothing has given me a stable solution. I tried deleting and reinstalling my IMAP accounts, to no avail. Even my icloud account doesn't work anymore. Accessing my mail from browsers works fine. Apple Mail is the culprit.

     

    Much as I hate doing so, and after 4-5 frustrating days of trying to resolve this issue, this faithful Mac user of 28 years is dropping Apple Mail for now.

  • by Rob Gilgan,

    Rob Gilgan Rob Gilgan Jun 18, 2015 7:15 PM in response to RoshBaby2
    Level 1 (89 points)
    iTunes
    Jun 18, 2015 7:15 PM in response to RoshBaby2

    Add me to the list of users that's simply transitioning to a different Mail client. I've spent an inordinate amount of time trying to solve this SMTP fiasco - which appears to be tied to the last update of OS X (10.10.4 (14E33b)). Just don't have the time, energy nor inclination to continue with Apple software. I swear, the company has simply lost its way. I've tried each of the fixes suggested in this thread and spent time with support from both of my email providers. Fortunately, both accounts are available by webmail, so that's where I'll go, I guess.

  • by Kenny Millar,

    Kenny Millar Kenny Millar Jun 19, 2015 3:19 AM in response to Rob Gilgan
    Level 2 (310 points)
    Jun 19, 2015 3:19 AM in response to Rob Gilgan

    This worked for me:

     

    In the SMTP Server properties I

    • un-ticked "Automatically detect and maintain settings"
    • Un-ticked "Use SSL"

     

    and fortunately my ISP allows non-ssl connections so it worked for me.

     

    I also downloaded FoxMail from the Mac App Store and it worked without any trouble.

  • by ECM G,

    ECM G ECM G Jun 30, 2015 2:25 AM in response to RoshBaby2
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 30, 2015 2:25 AM in response to RoshBaby2

    My system was working fine until like three weeks ago, as I have been travelling for work things have been a bit hectic and I thought it was just the work e-mail being problematic so I'd tell it to use the Gmail server for outgoing mail. Turns out the account had stored an old SMTP server that is connected to an external group I did some volunteering for. Meaning that all my outgoing mail has been received by that account instead despite the account being deleted from mail months ago! Absolutely fantastic! Now I know why nobody was replying to my very important e-mails. Especially as I tried to sort it out a couple of weeks ago and nothing was working.

     

    Today all the SMTP's have gone offline and nothing was sending. I have tried a number of the solutions offered in this thread, but in the end I just got ****** off (especially as there are no official response by apple? Maybe they should actually take care of their clients and offer a safe and secure solution to the issue. I am pretty sure my work will not be happy if I have to have the SSL turned off permanently for example).

     

    I have moved over to Thunderbird to manage my mail, shockingly it worked after about 30 seconds of configuring.

  • by Kenny Millar,

    Kenny Millar Kenny Millar Jun 30, 2015 2:35 AM in response to ECM G
    Level 2 (310 points)
    Jun 30, 2015 2:35 AM in response to ECM G

    It seems that Apple have been making changes under the hood to the SSL code.

    For example, OpenSSL has been deprecated and replaced with their own implementation.

    By far the best thing you can do is report this as a bug at bugreport.apple.com - you may not get a response, but it WILL add weight to the issue.

    The more people report the issue there, the more attention it will get.

     

    In your report be courteous and professional, stick to reporting the facts of the issue, and refrain from making any personal comments. Just describe the issue in detail, and include screen shots of mail's "connection doctor".

     

    In the meantime, you could try a webmail solution, if your mail provider offers it, or use another mail client such as Fox Mail.

first Previous Page 3 of 7 last Next