How to change preferences in iCloud Mail?

Question

How to change preferences in iCloud Mail?

I know I changed them before but cannot now find out where to go in iCloud/Mail to change the preferences. They are not in the Settings, so where are they?

Mac mini, OS X 10.11

Posted on Sep 6, 2021 10:42 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

tygb

Level 9

64,764 points

Sep 7, 2021 8:10 AM in response to Nina Contini Melis

You can't change preferences from apple mail app on iCloud , for that you need to sign in www.icloud.com with Apple ID and password with account credentials , click on mail on bottom left corner click on gear icon and click on preferences .

Change the settings and click on done ( it depends you change in which section accounts , vacation , rules ) .

Reply

Answer 2

tygb

Level 9

64,764 points

Sep 7, 2021 10:44 PM in response to Nina Contini Melis

In cloud.com if there are subfolders inside the primary folder they can be shown when you click on drop down arrows .

In imap account click on show .

See the article Organize email with folders in Mail on iCloud.com - Apple Support

Once the folders are deleted they can't be recovered from iCloud , however if you are running time machine those folders can be recovered Restore items backed up with Time Machine on Mac - Apple Support

What is the status of connection doctor , is IMAP having a green check mark Default ports timed out - Apple Community

Read Set up rules to filter email in Mail on iCloud.com - Apple Support

Reply

Answer 3

tygb

Level 9

64,764 points

Sep 8, 2021 7:14 AM in response to Nina Contini Melis

The iCloud account will be visible when it is added in Mac system preferences internet accounts .

See this thread iCloud security code - Apple Community

Set up icloud account in interenet account .

Open system preferences , click on internet accounts , select the iCloud account and click on subtract sign a pop window appears do you want to keep a copy of your iCloud data on this Mac before signing out ? Two options will be shown ( a ) cancel ( b ) keep a copy , so click on keep a copy .

The boxes iCloud Drive , contacts , calendars , reminders are checked by default - so click on keep a copy immediately click on stop updating and continue , a pop up window will appear are you sure you want to stop updating and continue with sign out ( any documents not updated to iCloud Drive , will be moved to a folder named “ iCloud Drive archive in your home folder on this Mac ) so don’t click on “ cancel “ but " click on continue with sign out .”

A pop up window will appear . Do you want to keep a copy of safari passwords on this Mac ?

( 1 ) Delete from Mac ( 2 ) cancel ( 3 ) keep on Mac , its optional you can select keep on Mac or click on delete from Mac ( as some users write down the safari passwords in a safe place and they can autofill it again . )

It will prompt enter the Apple ID password the Apple ID address will be already written in the field , so enter your Apple ID password and click on next , a small circle will rotate , be patient .

In the internet account side bar the iCloud account will be inactive , after a while a pop up window appears do you want to merge , contacts , calendars , reminders and safari with iCloud , so click on merge .

Again after a short while a pop up window appears enter your Apple ID and password so enter the password and click on ok .

A pop up window appears to set up iCloud Keychain on this Mac , request approval from one of your other devices , using iCloud Keychain .

( a ) use code ( b ) cancel ( c ) request approval so click on use code .

Enter your six digit iCloud keychain code and click on next a sms will come to the trusted mobile number , enter your iCloud verification code that appeared in the mobile on a pop up window appeared again on the Mac and click on ok .

The keychain box will get checked , after some time option button will appear in front of it , wait for few minutes , check the box of Siri , also the box of iCloud Drive is checked , click on option button in front of it and check the box of desktops and documents it will show setting up ( a small circle will rotate ) and click on done .

Click on option button in front of keychain box your trusted country code and trusted mobile number is written .

Note : you have to be very patient when the boxes are checked , and it will take time as the apps process are running in the background .

You don’t need to sign with Apple ID and password in the location of system preferences and then click on iCloud .

Finally iCloud account is set up in system preferences - internet accounts .

Use your Internet accounts on Mac - Apple Support https://support.apple.com/en-au/guide/mac-help/mh35565/mac

Change Internet Accounts preferences on Mac - Apple Supportsupport.apple.com › en-in › guide › mac-help › mac

Add an internet account - Apple Supportsupport.apple.com › guide › mac-help › mac

Reply

Answer 4

tygb

Level 9

64,764 points

Sep 9, 2021 11:26 AM in response to Nina Contini Melis

Mac login is an admin password previously users were using as digital password example 1234 , but these protocols have been changed , use strong password for admin account Tips for creating secure passwords on Mac - Apple Support

Learn how passwords are used on Mac - Apple Support

The login password can't be same as icloud keychain verification code , it can be alfa numerical or randomly created .

Never use the admin password exactly same as iCloud Keychain verification code , you can change admin password if you like Change or reset the password of a macOS user account in macOS Mojave or earlier - Apple Support

Reply

Answer 5

Sep 7, 2021 8:49 AM in response to tygb

Thank you. That solved it. The reason I hadn’t seen it before is pretty banal - my speaker was blocking the lower left corner of my display so I didn’t see the gear…duh.

Unfortunately this doesn’t solve my more serious problem.

About a week ago suddenly my Mail app on the Mac stopped working - I got the exclamation mark next to my Inbox and it was my iCloud address which was no longer connecting to the server to retrieve mail. Nothing had changed from the previous day - indeed months - when Mail was working perfectly well. Now Connection Doctor had a red mark for IMAP iCloud mail, while SMTP was green and connecting, as were my other accounts (ISP, gmail). I knew my settings should be ok as they had not changed. To get my iCloud mail as well as my other mail using the Mail app on my computer, without having to use a browser every time I checked mail. I went to the iCloud site and changed the Preference for forwarding mail from none, unchecked, to my ISP address, checked.

Alas, after doing that, yes, new mail came into my Mac’s Mail app, but the list of folders I use with Rules to sort certain emails as they arrived was now missing. And still is. On the left in Mail on top there is Inbox, then Flagged (but only 1 out of 10 flagged emails shows up there) then going down is Sent, Junk, Trash - all with the arrow pointers next to them so show each email account. Under that I have Smart Mailboxes (which I don’t use) then On my Mac (where I keep several folders) then Gmail IMAP, then Orange (my ISP). Below that I should see iCloud and the folders underneath it but it is no longer there.

It is there on my iPhone and my old MacBook Pro as well as stil being visible in iCloud/Mai on the web using a browser - I use the latest version of Chrome.

But it is no longer in my Mac’s Mail app and when email arrives it all goes into the Inbox instead of going directly to the proper folder as I had set up in Rules.

I went back to the web-based iCloud Mail app and changed the Preference back to unchecked for forwarding and removed my ISP address and clicked Done. But that didn’t change the fact that I still have no folders or iCloud in the bottom of the left hand panel in my Mac’s Mail app.

I have rebooted several times, run Safe Boot but nothing changes.

How can I get the folders back in the Mail app, please.

Reply

Answer 6

Sep 8, 2021 6:55 AM in response to tygb

In icloud.com there is no problem. I can see all my folders. They are not under drop down menus, they are underneath the Junk folder in the left panel. There is an item called Folders and all of my folders and their contents are listed there. Since it is icloud, my other email accounts are not listed.

The problem is with the Mail app on my computer. When I open Mail, in the left panel I see Inbox with the drop down, which if I click, shows a list of my email accounts (not only icloud) and if I click on one I see on the right a list of all the email that has arrived for that account. Going down, I have Flagged, Sent, Junk, and Trash all with drop down menus showing my different email accounts. Below that is Smart Mailboxes (which I never use), then On My Mac, Gmail an Orange, which have Show and Hide to access their sub-folders - Important, Deleted Messages, Personal, Receipts, Work for my gmail account, for example. These are not folders created by me, but are standard gmail ones. Similar for my Orange account.

But where there was a similar iCloud Show and Hide type item before, with my created folders underneath that if I clicked on Show, there is no iCloud listed there now. At all.

As I mentioned previously, both on my iPhone and my MacBook Pro the Mail app does list the iCloud item and shows all the folders I had created underneath. So the folders are not deleted, they are on iCloud.com and my other two devices, just not on the Mac Mini/Mail app, which is my main work computer.

Reply

Answer 7

Sep 9, 2021 11:15 AM in response to tygb

Thanks for the detailed instructions. Honestly? I have been too chicken to try them yet. Also, I don't recall ever enabling a six digit Keychain code. I have always used my Mac's login as the keychain code and it isn't digits.

Reply