Q: Mail can't connect to the account

Keychain Reset

Troubleshooting sending and receiving email messages

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OK, this part is awesome. As I've been having the same problem with Yahoo, and it just cropped up within the past few weeks, I decided to take the dramatic approach: I deleted the entire account, AND I deleted anything Yahoo-related from the keychain.

And then I got the same error message.

AND, unfortunately, now I find myself wondering if this is a Mac problem after all.

I just restarted my MacBook Air (10.8.5) and I still got the error message. So, I did a Spotlight Search on myyahooacctname@yahoo, and... well, there are a bunch of messages there.

They're at:
Users/johnabrahams/Library/Mail/V2/IMAP-myyahooacctname@yahoo.com@imap.mail.yahoo.com/INBOX.mbox/

So... why would the messages still be there if I've deleted the account? I could go delete that directory, but that makes me nervous. My original intent had been to delete, and if that didn't fix it, restart and re-add yahoo with a clean start. If I delete that directory, I can see a scenario where it will sync with Yahoo's cloud and delete 15 years of mail, either behind the scenes or once I reinstall. I kinda don't want to try that.

Clearly, something has gotten corrupted... but where, and why? Somehow, my Mac doesn't know that I've deleted the account. This is either random noise or one of you smart people will see the connection and solve both problems.

It's not your password that is the problem, it is your username.  Try using your entire email address as your user name.  In other words, dont enter just "johndoe" for username (even though this has worked on other set ups), try using "johndoe@whatever.com"

I encountered the same problem. It occured after having gone into Yahoo and messing with my account settings. I believed I have figured out how to fix your issue.

- Go to Account Information>Set-up your second sign-in verification

- Turn-off second sign in verification

That should hopefully fix your issue. I know once I turned it off, Mail began working again for Yahoo. Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any issues or if it doesn't work.

I think I got it.

I have had this annoying problem with two accounts (Gmail and a custom one) for months, even after a clean reinstall of Mavericks.

After trying all the above unsuccesfully I came to delete both account and recreate them.

Unfortunately 5 minutes after I got the same result.

But...

The second time I tried this I restarted my MacBook before recreating the accounts.

Surprise: when it restarted, the accounts were recreated AUTOMATICALLY from KeyChain... and there were two of both!

I then delete these accounts once again and this time I was given the option to delete permanently from KeyChain, and so I did.

After that I could recreate both accounts from scratch, and the probelm is finally gone.

So I believe there was some dirt in KeyChain that had to be removed.

This isn't a Yahoo issue for me - I have other servers connected to web sites I have. Still, I've managed to find a way around it.

It's not pretty, so bear with me.

Before we start, I'll say that I believe the issue can be avoided if, when you enter all details initially (I am working with a POP account), you ensure that you enter  your email address and password for both your incoming (POP) AND outgoing (SMTP) services, rather than just the incoming.

So, this is the process that is working for me:

• Open Mail

• Mail > Preferences > Accounts

• Select the account you are having issues with and under the Account Information tab, click the drop-box for Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP): and select "Edit SMTP Server List..."

• Just under the box that contains the account Description, Server Name and In Use By Account fields, you'll see a "+" and a "-" . Click the "+"

• Click in the Server Name box and type your outgoing mail server, eg. smtp.something.com (for me it was relay.clara.net). Like this:

• Keeping that selected, click the Advanced tab.

• Click the Authentication drop-box and choose Password

• Enter your User Name (email address) and Password, like this:

• Click Okay

• When you are returned to the Account Information page, ensure that the Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP) drop-box is selecting the server you just created.

• When closing, you should be prompted to save. So, Save...

• Send a test email and hopefully it'll work!

One last thing – as I am using several email addresses off the same server, they appear to be creating Outgoing Mail Server descriptors of:

relay.clara.net:bob@apple.net

relay.clara.net:john@apple.net

etc.

I guess this ensures differentiation between the accounts that use the same servers. If you don't get this, you'll have issues with different accounts trying to use the same servers... at least, I did.

Hope this helps,

T.

[comment deleted- wasn't correct]

ok i figured it out at least for google get online and search {app specific passwords google} they will help you make one

My problems started when I upgraded to OS X 10.10.x (Yosemite) 

First everything in Apple Mail became garbled -  POP and SMTP settings were being swapped among three accounts (my business account, my personal account and that new-fangled iCloud), and signatures ceased working.

After weeks of work I have managed to get my personal account working - it is through my main isp.  Now I am locked out of my business account as the box keeps asking for my password and not accepting it.

OMG this really helps! Thank you!