Delete iCloud account in Mail?

chuck_3rd,

My problem is not HOW to delete an account in Mail [I know how and have done it], but CAN I delete what appears to be a duplicate account in mail without causing other problems.

My Mail has 2 accounts with the same email address, one is POP and the other is IMAP. The POP account is with my ISP with the address abc@rr.com, and has been used in Mail for years. When iCloud & AppleID came along, I set up my AppleID account with abc@rr.com as the email address. That apparently was automatically used for iCloud, too. And Mail apparently automatically set up an email account in Mail with that same email address, and as an IMAP account?? It is not enabled and is offline, but apparently prevents me from changing the ISP account with that email address as IMAP. But Mail apparently lets the two similar [same email address] but not identical email accounts [POP vs IMAP] co-exist on Mail. I don't know what would happen if I made the IMAP version enabled and active??

There is nothing in the iCloud mail account. Both accounts show up in Internet Accounts, and the iCloud account does NOT have Mail checked in Internet Accounts. It is apparent to me that this conflict in Mail is at the root of my issue. My key question is Can I delete the iCloud account in Mail WITHOUT messing up my AppleID and iCloud account elsewhere?

It is frustrating to me that Apple let me set up my AppleID/iCloud account with an existing email address, only to [apparently] create a conflict situation within Mail.

I do appreciate your response to this [complicated?] issue.

Leanne_68,

Thanks; you've satisfied me that I can just delete the iCloud account listed in Mail and not mess up my Apple ID account.

But I am still puzzled: The iCloud mail account that shows up in Mail, that you stated was set up when I set up my Apple ID which "create[d] a different email address using iCloud", shows the abc@rr.com address as the email address when I look under that account in Mail??? It does not show an iCloud address. And it doesn't show any info about what Server it would be using. And if I go to System Preferences/Internet Accounts/iCloud, the Details for that account show abc@rr.com as the address and iCloud as the description. If I click to activate Mail in Internet Accounts/iCloud [recall it is NOT activated], a box comes up to have me name an account using iCloud.com. This seems to me to be a very confusing system among the Apple ID, iCloud account and iCloud email account.

So thanks again.

This problem is still with me!

I have attempted to understand the replies, but either am not understanding them [sorry - I know enough to be dangerous!] or they are not working. I've copied the description of the problem below, but here are my latest observations.

When I try to delete the iCloud account from Mail, it says I have to delete it from Internet Accounts. I go there; that account does NOT have Mail selected there. I can see that the "account" is used in lots of other places - it is - so I apparently don't want to delete it as an "account". The common email address is, of course, shown there for both accounts. Isn't there something I can do to get that account out of Mail without disturbing all the other places? Or is my best solution to just go ahead and set up a new iCloud email account and change the email address for my AppleID account to that iCloud address? If that, what is the best, safest process to do that?

M-A-N-Y thanks.

SUMMARY OF SITUATION:

My problem is not HOW to delete an account in Mail [I know how and have done it], but CAN I delete what appears to be a duplicate account in mail without causing other problems.

My Mail has 2 accounts with the same email address, one is POP and the other is IMAP. The POP account is with my ISP with the address abc@rr.com, and has been used in Mail for years. When iCloud & AppleID came along, I set up my AppleID account with abc@rr.com as the email address. That apparently was automatically used for iCloud, too. And Mail apparently automatically set up an email account in Mail with that same email address, and as an IMAP account?? It is not enabled and is offline, but apparently prevents me from changing the ISP account with that email address as IMAP. But Mail apparently lets the two similar [same email address] but not identical email accounts [POP vs IMAP] co-exist on Mail. I don't know what would happen if I made the IMAP version enabled and active??

There is nothing in the iCloud mail account. Both accounts show up in Internet Accounts, and the iCloud account does NOT have Mail checked in Internet Accounts. It is apparent to me that this conflict in Mail is at the root of my issue. My key question is Can I delete the iCloud account in Mail WITHOUT messing up my AppleID and iCloud account elsewhere?

The iCloud account that shows up in Mail was never set up - by me - as an email account. It is offline because it really isn't an email account. It carries the email address in question only because that is the 3rd party email account used when I set up AppleID. In fact, it cannot be "Enabled" in Mail - the "Enable this account" checkbox won't stay checked. And when I go to Internet Accounts and check the box for Mail, I get a box to "Choose an @iCloud.com email address". The problem apparently is because this iCloud "account" in Mail is listed with the email address of another mail account - that was used for AppleID. And Mail sees it as an email account - but it isn't.

And the problem is not with my ISP. I checked with them and they said they didn't need to take any action to make the POP to IMAP swap. In fact, I changed another account in Mail, with a different email address than the one in question here, from POP to IMAP without any problems. I did that by deleting the account in Mail [after saving messages offline] and adding it back.

tygb,

Thank you for responding to my post; I do appreciate your interest. But I don't understand your suggestion.

I canNOT delete my abc@rr.com account from the server because it is a working, primary email address for me. It is working fine, even now as a POP account in Apple Mail. The problem arises when I attempt to change the account from POP to IMAP in Mail [so I can use it on my iPhone]. And I believe it is because of the iCloud "account" that MacOS set up in Internet Accounts & Mail when I established an AppleID using abc.rr.com as the username. If you meant to delete the iCloud account from its "server", I can't do that as it isn't really an iCloud email account [never set up as such], and I can't delete that account because I want the AppleID features.

I am increasingly convinced that the simplest solution is to finish the setup of an iCloud email account by changing the AppleID address to an iCloud address, thereby eliminating the abc@rr.com from that iCloud account in Mail. I would reserve the iCloud email account for Apple use.