How do I delete an account from mail

From Mail Help:

Remove accounts

Removing an account removes the account information from Mail and deletes the account’s mailboxes and messages that are saved on your computer.

Removing an Exchange or Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) account doesn’t permanently delete the account’s mailboxes and messages because they are stored on the mail server. To retrieve the account’s mailboxes and messages from the server, add the account again in Mail.

I was able to delete a no longer needed mail account, but when I go to compose a new email, the account name is still in the from drop down menu. I tried sending an email from that deleted account name, and it sends it from the primary email account. I would like to delete the name from the drop down menu. Any advice on how to do that?

Thanks!!!

actually the removal of account using Preferences >> select given Account >> remove ➖ button does NOT really removes the account.

And this is THE problem (business sensitive emails, credentials).

Just as "pedrosd" wrote, something is still stored (maybe even credentials).. in my case whenever i compose a new mail, a popup appears about the certificate of this my "removed" email account which needed for the address book synch !!

Is there any way to REALLY remove email account details from OSX Mail app...???? (or this IS a very bad BUG, and i have to format the whole drive, burn it and throw it to a deep sea...)

Thanks in advance!! !

Try going to MAIL > Preferences > Accounts Tab

Then where it says "Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP):" click on the drop down and you may see the deleted accounts still there. If so click on "Edit SMTP Server List..." at the bottom

Now you can select the accounts you don't want and click on the "-" button.

Fingers crossed this solves your problem.

uHello JJCDesign,

thanks for the hint. Well, unfortunately it did not help..

(The SMTP server has alredy been removed previously.)

Cheers

Thanks CT you really helped now i can use my new account thank

Holzfreiweiss wrote:

Is there any way to REALLY remove email account details from OSX Mail app...????

Removing an account via Mail > Prefrences does not remove the folder where Mac OS X Mail stores related account data.

To remove this folder:

1. Open a Finder window
2. Menu: Go > Go to Folder...
3. Type: ~/Library/Mail/V2
4. Click the Go button
5. Identify the account's folder:

   The folder naming convention is: PROTOCOL-ACCOUNT@SERVER

   1. Gmail example:
      1. Account: foo.bar@gmail.com
      2. Folder: IMAP-foo.bar@gmail.com@imap.gmail.com
   2. Exchange example:
      1. Account: foo.bar@baz.com
      2. Folder: EWS-baz\foo.bar@exchange.baz.com
6. Right-click the account folder, and select Move to Trash from the pop-up menu

As always, when you're deleting folders/files, please exercise caution. If you delete something by accident, go to the Trash, and put it back.

I did not find a folder with the account I wanted to delete, but I did find a file (with find and grep) at that path which has the offending old account info:

~/Library/Mail/V2/MailData/Accounts.plist

Quit Mail

Opened the plist file in TextEdit

Looked under "<key>EmailAliases</key>"

Deleted these lines:

<dict>

<key>alias</key>

<string>oldacct@icloud.com</string>

<key>name</key>

<string>Junk Thing</string>

</dict>

Saved the file, quit TextEdit and start Mail

Same stuff just reappeared in that file.

Searched other plist files under ~/Library/Preferences/ but found no matches for the old account info.

Also tried this but got no matches:

defaults read | grep -i oldacct

Still not sure where this is stored such that it reappears in the plist file after starting Mail.

Any guesses out there?

This is a simple answer for a problem I just happened on. Go to Mail>prefences>accounts>highlight the account you want to delete> advanced> unclick 'enable this account'

And that's it! All gone from the list

See below; works like a charm.

ericblanding did you every find an answer, this is exactly the problem I have. Same experience with editing the plist :-(

finally i managed to find that deleted Exchange account:

It was in "System preferences" (not in Mail pref.-s) somewhere, likely below Internet accounts.

(meanwhile my OSX is 10.9.1)

Good luck!!

@ericblanding:

maybe you want to use EasyFind (free) app that can really help searching through your HDD (e.g. for content).

Go to your Home folder

Open the Library folder

Find the Mail folder and open it

Find the folder which has the name of the email account that you want to delete

Move it to trash

I hope it helps

You should visit the following link that includes a guide for deactivating Apple ID account - http://techegis.com/deactivate-apple-id-account-iphone-mac/