Nancy Blazis

Q: Apple Mail Not Working

I am with Comcast and have several apple mail accounts set up. They all suddenly stopped working today. I kept getting a message that there was no outgoing server selected. They are all POP accounts and have been working fine until a few hours ago.

MacBook Pro, OS X El Capitan (10.11.1)

Posted on Jun 20, 2016 5:43 PM

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Q: Apple Mail Not Working

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  • by MoonJ.,

    MoonJ. MoonJ. Jun 21, 2016 10:16 AM in response to Nancy Blazis
    Community Specialists
    Jun 21, 2016 10:16 AM in response to Nancy Blazis

    Hi Nancy,

     

    Thanks for using the Apple Support Communities. I know it's important to keep your email working to keep in touch with friends and family, so I'm happy to provide you with some direction to fix that outgoing server.

     

    First, make sure you've got all of the correct settings for your email account. You can find out what things you may need here:

     

    Mail settings you might need from your email provider

     

    Once you've got the settings from your email provider, check that they are in your Mail app correctly by opening Mail and then using the menu bar to open Mail > Preferences > Accounts. Select your email account from the left, and verify that all settings are correct. 

     

    Cheers!

  • by Nancy Blazis,

    Nancy Blazis Nancy Blazis Jun 21, 2016 10:23 AM in response to MoonJ.
    Level 1 (93 points)
    Accessibility
    Jun 21, 2016 10:23 AM in response to MoonJ.

    All settings were correct. I'm presently waiting to hear back from an expert technician from Comcast. In the meantime, I set up a new IMAP account, and that is working. Even having a problem with that, though, because a Contacts mailbox is automatically set up, and it contains two contacts that I never use, and I can't delete them!

  • by dianeoforegon,

    dianeoforegon dianeoforegon Jun 22, 2016 6:40 PM in response to Nancy Blazis
    Level 5 (5,298 points)
    Jun 22, 2016 6:40 PM in response to Nancy Blazis

    EDIT SMTP SETTINGS

     

    In Accounts window > Outgoing Mail Server SMTP:  select to Edit SMTP Server list... from popup.

     

    Select account in the list.(It's not uncommon to find extra SMTP servers listed. When you remove account, Mail does not delete the smtp info. You might need to do some clean up in the list to remove the extras.)

     

    Under Advanced Tab:

     

    Apple defaults to the default ports (25,465, 587) but some servers prefer a custom port. Check to see what port they recommend. Gmail for example likes 465, Outlook.com 587, Comcast 587.

     

    Verify if your server require SSL. (Comcast does require SSL)

     

    User Name. Enter full email address  eg.  UserName@gmail.com

    Add password if it is blank.

     

    Open Connection Doctor under Window in the Menu bar.

    Do you see green light now for your account SMTP?

     

    If you have green symbols for your Comcast POP account, go back to Accounts window and select your Account and then select the correct SMTP server from the list. You might be able to select "always use this server".

  • by Nancy Blazis,

    Nancy Blazis Nancy Blazis Jul 8, 2016 8:11 AM in response to Nancy Blazis
    Level 1 (93 points)
    Accessibility
    Jul 8, 2016 8:11 AM in response to Nancy Blazis

    I have been checking back and forth with Apple and Comcast-- no one seems to have an answer as to why my Apple email pop account is not working! I'm at my wits end. Others have this same problem!

  • by appreciate,

    appreciate Jul 8, 2016 9:13 AM in response to Nancy Blazis
    Level 4 (1,276 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jul 8, 2016 9:13 AM in response to Nancy Blazis

    Contact your service provider & ask the server ports for incoming mail server & outgoing mail server ,also settings for SSL/TLS , authentication .

    An apple article is there you can type the mail id in the blank field & can verify the settings .

    https://www.apple.com/in/support/mail-settings-lookup/

  • by Nancy Blazis,

    Nancy Blazis Nancy Blazis Jul 8, 2016 10:10 AM in response to appreciate
    Level 1 (93 points)
    Accessibility
    Jul 8, 2016 10:10 AM in response to appreciate

    My imap account is working correctly-- it's the pop account that is not being recognized. Is there an apple support mail settings lookup for pop accounts?

  • by dianeoforegon,

    dianeoforegon dianeoforegon Jul 8, 2016 1:05 PM in response to Nancy Blazis
    Level 5 (5,298 points)
    Jul 8, 2016 1:05 PM in response to Nancy Blazis

    Is the POP account also Comcast?

     

    For the longest time Comcast only offered POP. Now you can setup as both POP and IMAP. I highly suggest you move to IMAP.

     

    Apple Mail will want to default to setting up as IMAP. See Barney's post on how to configure as POP.

     

    Configuring a POP email account in El Capitan Mail

     

    Comcast settings for POP. Note you must use steps in link above to make it setup as POP.

    Incoming: mail.comcast.net

    Use SSL

     

    Outgoing: smtp.comcast.net

    Port: 587

    Use SSL

    PW required: full email and password