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Connections to the server “imap.mail.yahoo.com” on the default ports timed out

For the last five days I have no longer been able to receive Yahoo mail on any of my Macs running OS X 10.11.6 (El Capitan) using Apple Mail. The error message from Apple Mail is: "Connections to the server “imap.mail.yahoo.com” on the default ports timed out."


This only affects Macs running El Capitan. (High Sierra does not exhibit this problem but I can't upgrade to it on several of my older Macs.) I've tried everything including deleting the account and re-adding it but it produces the same error. This only affects receiving Yahoo mail (IMAP). Sending (SMTP) still works fine.


Anyone else experiencing this issue? Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks! - Brent


Posted on Sep 3, 2022 5:32 AM

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Posted on Sep 8, 2022 1:36 PM

Well, it looks like Yahoo must have figured out something was broken for us 'El Capitan' users as my Yahoo mail access in Apple Mail 9.3 has been restored! I confirmed this on multiple Mac installations of Mac OS 10.11.6. Very happy to see this!

10 replies

Sep 4, 2022 5:20 PM in response to agdemars

Glad to see some options like Thunderbird exist but you must use the older version that is compatible with MacOS 10.11.6. Another free client is Mailspring. It is full-featured, updated regularly and works great with Yahoo, iCloud, and any IMAP mail.


I did, however, find a workaround. Changing your Yahoo account access in Apple Mail from IMAP to POP restores the ability to receive mail again. But do understand this can become very confusing if you continue accessing this account via IMAP on other devices. For that reason, I don't recommend this approach but if you want to give it a try, here is how:


First you’ll need to log in to your Yahoo Mail account via a web browser and generate an “App Password” for use with Mail. Click on ‘your username’ and then ‘Account Info.’ You may be asked to login again. Do so and then click on ‘Account Security.’ Scroll down to ‘Account Access’ and further below that you will see a section titled “This is how you sign in now.” Scroll further down to “Other ways to sign in.” Click on “Generate and manage app passwords.” A small window will pop up titled “Generate an app password.” It asks you to “Enter your app’s name.” Type “Mail” without the quotes. Then click the ‘Generate password’ button. Click the ‘Copy’ button to copy the password. Leave that pop up window showing the generated password open until you are done below, just in case you need to refer back to it.


Now launch Mail. Click on ‘Mail’ in menubar and choose ‘Accounts…’ This will open ‘Internet Accounts’ (in System Preferences) where you’ll need to DELETE your old Yahoo IMAP account from the list presented. Click on said account and then the minus button at the bottom of the list to delete it. Close window.


Back in Mail, click on ‘Mail’ in the menubar choose ‘Preferences…’ this time. Now click on the ‘Accounts’ tab. Click the plus button at the bottom of the list which will open a new window that says “Choose a Mail account provider…” Do NOT click on ‘YAHOO!’ Instead, click on ‘Other Mail Account…’ An ‘Add a Mail account’ window appears. Enter your Yahoo Mail ‘Name’ and ‘Email Address’ but use the newly generated “App Password” you copied earlier. Click ‘Sign In’ button.


It may take a while for anything else to happen. But wait until you get the expanded window and error message in red that says “Unable to verify account name or password.” Now change the ‘Account Type’ to POP. Change the ‘Incoming Mail Server’ to pop.mail.yahoo.com. Change or confirm the ‘Outgoing Mail Server’ is set to smtp.mail.yahoo.com. (Don’t worry if the ‘User Name’ has been changed to “Automatic” and greyed out.) Now click ’Sign In’ button again. Within 30 seconds the window will close and the account will be successfully added to your Accounts list. You can now receive your Yahoo mail again!

Sep 6, 2022 7:20 PM in response to YvonneMaria

I don't know why you're seeing that error with Mailspring. I just launched mine and had no issues at all adding my Yahoo accounts. And they all work just fine for me.


You do have to use an "App Password" as outlined a few posts above but it was actually easier to get it going on Mailspring than the method I found for Apple Mail.


I'd suggest deleting and reinstalling the Mailspring application. But if that doesn't work, you might try downloading a previous version of Mailspring. The current version is 1.10.5 but you can find and try previous versions that may work for you as I have seen others reporting the same in the Mailspring community. Below is the link to their downloads page. Just click on a previous version to open that page. Under 'Assets' click on the file named "Mailspring.zip" to download that version. Unzip the file and launch. You should be able to find a version that will not display that error message. And once you're in, it's quite easy to set up and use. Let us know how it goes for you.


https://github.com/Foundry376/Mailspring/releases


Connections to the server “imap.mail.yahoo.com” on the default ports timed out

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