How do I remove an account from Mac Mail that I've already removed?

Question

Level 1

8 points

How do I remove an account from Mac Mail that I've already removed?

I've been working to set this mac mini up for another user. However everytime I open mail it asks me to sign in to XXX@YYY.com, the trouble is this account isn't listed in my mail accounts. How do I remove this so that the new user will be able to use mac mail?

To remove an email account in Mail:

Open Mail (click it on the Dock or open it from the Applications folder).
From the Mail menu, choose Preferences..., or press Command-, (the Command and comma keys).
Click the "Accounts" icon.
Select the account you wish to remove.
Click the "-" (minus) icon. You will be alerted that "The account's setup information, mailboxes, messages, notes, and to do's will be deleted permanently from your computer."
If you are sure you want to remove the account and email messages from your computer, click "Remove" to complete this process.

These were the steps I tried to follow, but the account isn't listed. Additionally I went through finder to try and go to /library/mail but this folder doesn't exist on my mac.

Any ideas on how to resolve this and make Mail send from the new address?

Mac mini, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.5)

Posted on May 22, 2014 10:54 AM

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Answer 1

May 22, 2014 1:08 PM in response to New2Mac47

Hi,

In Mountain Lion and Mavericks there is a Pane is System Preferences that is probably going to effect this.

In Mountain Lion it is called Mail, Contacts and Calendars. (in Mavericks - Internet Accounts)

This pane displays all the Account that might use apps like Messages and Mail as examples.

These can sometime be then activated here for the Mail App or the Messages app and other items.

Mavericks view of a Google accounts set up for Mail and Messages (I am not syncing my Contacts list this way etc)

If the item is only doing Mail then it is probably not got a Password here either and it is not logging in.

Highlight it and use the - button at the bottom of the list.

9:07 pm Thursday; May 22, 2014

 iMac 2.5Ghz i5 2011 (Mavericks 10.9)
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
 Couple of iPhones and an iPad

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Answer 2

May 22, 2014 1:35 PM in response to New2Mac47

Humm,

Does sound a bit odd.

In Mail open the Preference > Accounts

In the one account you set up click the STMP server drop down and then select the Edit option.

Does this list still have the STMP server for the "deleted " account still in there ?

You will notice in my list that the Google STMP server is also used by a couple of my other accounts.

One is a Dial Up account that I am supposed to be "Dialled in" to Upload new mail (but I can fetch anyway) and the other was a service that dd not include a STMP server originally.

I am suggesting that an STMP server is still in the list as it was used by other accounts before they were all deleted meaning it did not get removed and is still asking to Log as there is no details for it to "Read" anywhere else.

9:35 pm Thursday; May 22, 2014

 iMac 2.5Ghz i5 2011 (Mavericks 10.9)
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
 Couple of iPhones and an iPad

Reply

Answer 3

May 22, 2014 1:51 PM in response to New2Mac47

Hi,

I must admit is was when I had issues with iChat 2 that I really got to find out how it worked.

I know less about other apps I have never had a problem with.

Mail comes into that category.

9:50 pm Thursday; May 22, 2014

 iMac 2.5Ghz i5 2011 (Mavericks 10.9)
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
 Couple of iPhones and an iPad

Reply

Answer 4

May 23, 2014 11:09 AM in response to New2Mac47

Hi,

My Side Bar in Mail in Mavericks looks like this.

If I expand the In-Box I see this

I don't quite get what you are seeing.

If the inbox is in the reduced form I can't see how you think there are emails to do with the deleted account (* I have an idea below)

Are you saying that if you display it in the expanded view that it lists two accounts (only one of which appears in Preferences > Accounts) ?

And that the Deleted account is still showing emails in the In box ?

* Idea.

Are you in fact re-routing emails at the server end somewhere ?

For instance I can add other incoming Mail to the settings at Google

In have never done this, so I don't know what it looks like in the actual Mail App.

7:08 pm Friday; May 23, 2014

 iMac 2.5Ghz i5 2011 (Mavericks 10.9)
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
 Couple of iPhones and an iPad

Reply

Answer 5

New2Mac47 Author

Level 1

8 points

May 22, 2014 1:14 PM in response to Ralph-Johns-UK

Hey Ralph,

Thanks for getting in on this. I've actually removed every account from that list, including iCloud accounts. Then when I open MacMail, I'm asked to add a new account, once done however it's still asking me for the password to the old email. >.<

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Answer 6

New2Mac47 Author

Level 1

8 points

May 22, 2014 1:46 PM in response to Ralph-Johns-UK

Thanks for getting back to me once more. I decided to jump the shark and update to Mavericks to see if maybe the update caused mail to re-configure. I'll check this as soon as the install is done.

So nice that after 3 years with an iPhone and 2 with the iPad and 8 months with this mini, this is the first 'real' issue I've encountered.

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Answer 7

New2Mac47 Author

Level 1

8 points

May 22, 2014 2:14 PM in response to Ralph-Johns-UK

Update complete, Removed all items from that list except my current account. I'm no longer asked for a password, however everything is still collecting in my inbox. Guess I'll come back to it tomorrow.

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