Q: can't add a new account to mail

kurt188 wrote:

 

Since Gmail IMAP accounts do work, then from the information we have, the logical assumption is that something in your account setup is incorrect; otherwise it would work. Have you checked everthing very carefully against what Google says you should have set for Incoming and Outgoing servers, Port numbers, Password Authentication, etc.? Check it again.

 

Also, is there some reason you need to have an IMAP account? Google might recommend it, but it's not what it's cracked up to be, so don't put too much stock in their recommendation. I've always found it to be a pain in the arse, and it does impose more overhead on your computer and email client.  Unless there's some compelling reason you need to store all your mail on Gmail's servers (i.e., you need, not want, to access your mail from different devices in different locations), I'd ditch the IMAP idea and setup a POP account; there are instructions in Gmail Help for that, albeit somewhat dated:

 

https://support.google.com/mail/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=181714

Thank you Kurt,

Regarding your first paragraph, I don't know what it can be that is wrong.

I heve carefully checked everything not less than six times already, and can't find where the glitch is.

As to your second paragraph, I do not need to have an IMAP account; just followed Gmail's advice to go IMAP but, I get exactly the same result when trying to have a POP account: Gmail remains offline and there is nothing I can do to make it to be online.

I have used the google help you give me the lilnk to, and I still don't know what else to do.

Any other suggestion?
Thank you so much.

kurt188 wrote:

 

Any other suggestion?

Why don't you post some screen shots (large enough so we can see the details) of the different panes of Mail preferences so we can see what you've got setup for this account and try to find a solution to your problem.

 

Of course, blur out any actual email addresses before posting them here.

Kurt,

I'll do it later; just need some time.

Thank you again

Kurt,

Here are the scren shots.

Kurt, mail is not the only applicatio that doesn't allow me to do what I want.

For some reason unknown to me, I cannot add any other image.

I'll have to respond in 2 stages; this is the first one; so bear with me.

Thanks

It seems to be the image's size.

Second stage, hopefully:

Can't insert another image

Kurt,

Last two screenshots.

Should you need more information, please let me know.

Thank you so much

kurt188 wrote:

 

From what I see, the only conclusion I can reach at the moment is that the security certificate is invalid, because it's for an IMAP account even though you want to setup a POP account. I'd delete it from Keychain Access.

 

Also, try creating a new User Account as a test, then try to setup that Gmail POP account there and see if it works. If it does, then check in Keychain Access for that test account and see what Gmail certificate shows up (POP or IMAP). If it's POP, then I'd say the certificate in your regular user account is at least part of the problem.

I did what you suggested; gmail did go online but no message could be sent.

Again, the certificate was refused, I deleted it from keychain access and still could not send messages.

Please see this screenshot: It keeps popping up no matter how many times I provide the password even after checking "remember this password on m y keycain."

I guess I must forget about having a gmail account.

Thank you so much for your help.

kurt188 wrote:

 

Okay, go through all your Mail settings for that account and be sure they meet these specs:

 

Your Incoming Port (for  receiving mail) should be

 

POP is port 110

POP-SSL is port 995 (this is the preferred option, for security reasons)

 

Outgoing Port (for sending mail) should be

SMTP is on ports 25, 587 and 465. (465 and 587 are preferred, for security reasons)

SMTP-SSL has to be 587, while port 465 is the default Gmail selection for SSL.

 

If one of these Outgoing Ports doesn't work for you, try another.

Kurt,

You are very helpful and thorough but, there is one unsurmountable problem: If you go back in the thread to my reply of Jan 29, 2012 3:55 PM, the first screenshot shows the only place where a port of any kind appears (in this case, POP-SSL - port 995), and I've set it at 995. That is the only one; there are no incoming and no outgoing ports to be able to set a number into a box: I don't see SMTP ports, nor SMTP-SSL ports.

I agree with you that I should not give up but, this is becoming a real nightmare.

Could it possibly be related to a problem with the OS in my computer? My question is based on some glitches I have been hoping to solve with Apple care (mine is a 5 month old iMac) not with any success so far (I don't want to go into detailing what the problems are because it would muddle the subject of this thread.)

BTW, I've run the OS X 10.6.8 combo updater and its supplement right after experiencing this problem the first time: I removed Mail and all its associated files, and reinstalled it from the install DVD.

Thank you so very much for your efforts in helping me.

Best regards.

kurt188 wrote:

 

That is the only one; there are no incoming and no outgoing ports to be able to set a number into a box: I don't see SMTP ports, nor SMTP-SSL ports.

Yes, you do. But you can't access them until after you first setup the account; then you get to select Mail's Preferences->Accounts->Account Information tab and use the 'Server Settings…' button to set those options. Here's a screen shot of that window:

It is sort of a vicious circle as I cannot actually setup the account completely. Nevertheless, I insisted and these are screenshots of what mail shows:

Account information is the same as shown on my previous response screenshots: POP

As you can see, I used the default ports, but the final result was exactly the same: gmail does not go online.

(BTW, I don't know why 2 gmail accounts are shown when there is only one I want to activate: I keep deleting those which do not work.)

When I try to send a message using gmail, I get the "Enter password for account...", I check "Remember this password in my keychain", click OK, and get the same again and agin; gmail stays offline.

This I read on Mail Help:

If the mail server rejects your user name and password

There can be several reasons why your user name and password aren’t accepted by a mail server.

Try these solutions:

Make sure you’re typing your mail account password, and not your Mac OS X user account password or email service provider password (if these passwords are different).

Passwords are case-sensitive. Make sure you’re entering uppercase and lowercase characters where needed.

Verify your account name and password in Mail preferences (choose Mail > Preferences and click Accounts). If your email service provider offers web mail (email access via a web browser), try using your account name and password to access web mail. If your account name and password look correct but you can’t access web mail using them, or you don’t have web mail, contact your provider to confirm the information.

I can access gmail from a browser with the same password I use in trying to set up gmail on mail, so this is not the problem.

What about the cerrtificate whose identity mail cannot verify?

Could it possibly be related to a problem with the OS in my computer?

Possibly, but without knowing what those problems were, I couldn't say with any degree of accuracy.

• computer boot time too long: over 50 seconds for the apple logo to show up, then another 10 seconds for the wheel to spin; total time about 1 minute 50 seconds; this doesn't happen when booting from an external FW HD
• sleep does not start when i click it; must click up to 3 times for the computer to go to sleep
• mail notifications, and other default actions set by me —such as ignore when a blank CD is inserted— do not respond
• beach ball spin in many applications, sometimes even in Finder; I've installed more memory a bout a week ago to a total of 8GB but beachball still happens as if nothing had changed
• fonts settings keep changing; followed Kurt Lang's recommendations for keeping fonts to the minimum OS X requires, plus some that I want to use; I get them all back on
• some folders disappeared
• I get "recovered file folders" after starting a new session
• these conditions happen with my account and with a guest account
• an over 50GB folder that I had to copy from the internal to the external FW HD on one occasion (because a back up of the internal HD would have replicated the problems on the external) gave me a totally empty folder after about one hour spent "copying" nothing at all.

I removed Mail and all its associated files, and reinstalled it from the install DVD.

Don't do that. It will not solve any problem, but it will take lots of time.

OK, in the future.

I don't have any further information you may need.

Again, thank you so much.