Apple Mail changes my mail settings automatically for Gmail - and won't let me change them

Question

Level 1

13 points

Apple Mail changes my mail settings automatically for Gmail - and won't let me change them

I finally figured out what has been going on with Mail. It is breaking itself trying to fix itself.

I guess I'm a Mail power user. I have multiple email accounts, so I have multiple servers and addresses to juggle. They all filter down to the same places. I also use mail forwarding via Pobox.com. It's an email address I've had for years, and it's pretty handy otherwise.

The problem that I had was with the latest updates to Mail, it completely broke me sending out email. I couldn't figure out why until today. It's because of the stupid "automatically detect and maintain account settings" feature/bug (oh, and it's a bug all right). I have multiple email accounts, and this means multiple smtp servers. Generally, I use the Pobox SMTP server for sending out most (if not all) of my email -- it's authenticated SMTP with SSL, it works most places because the server ports aren't blocked, and it doesn't tag the email the way that Gmail tags the email with another email address if I'm sending the email with a different From address.

I have multiple gmail accounts, and all was hunky dory until Mail started enforcing these accounts as being Google IMAP accounts. Even if you want to manually set up the account as just a regular IMAP account, Mail sees the gmail in there and switches it to a Google IMAP account without asking you if that's how you want it treated. It's not how I want it treated -- if I want to set it up as a regular IMAP account, I think that Mail should respect that setting and leave it alone. But that's where we get to the second part.

If you change a Google IMAP account's SMTP server to user another SMTP server you have set up (for example, my pobox smtp server), it changes that SMTP server. It changes it even if you have "Automatically Detect and maintain account settings" unchecked. It changed my authenticated pobox smtp server, checking and greying out "Automatically Detect and maintain account settings" and then blanking out the password. This, it clearly shouldn't be doing.

What can I do to work around this? It's a bug -- it shouldn't be changing the SMTP server settings when I've already told it not to. Switch to another program? Not fun, not something I want to do, but Mail isn't working for me right now.

OS X Yosemite (10.10.4)

Posted on Aug 18, 2015 9:54 PM

Reply

Answer 1

voxelation Author

Level 1

13 points

Aug 19, 2015 9:08 AM in response to Barney-15E

Yes, I did disable it when setting up the SMTP server in the first place. Even if you disable it, Mail will still re-enable it, and won't let you change it afterwards.

When you change the selected SMTP server for a Google IMAP account from a google SMTP server to a non-google SMTP server, it automatically checks "Automatically detect and maintain account settings" and they greys out the checkbox so you can't uncheck it again, much the way it does the same thing with a regular IMAP account once it recognizes it as a gmail account.

Reply

Answer 2

voxelation Author

Level 1

13 points

Aug 19, 2015 10:51 AM in response to Eric Root

Disabling the account does not allow you to change the "Automatically detect and maintain account settings" setting. Because Mail thinks that it is a Google IMAP account, it does not allow you to change it. I even went into ~/Library/Mail/V2/MailData/Accounts.plist and changed the setting manually (ConfigureDynamically) -- when I restarted Mail, it was still checked.

Reply

Answer 3

Barney-15E

Level 10

122,360 points

Aug 19, 2015 3:17 PM in response to voxelation

That's not what I was asking.

Did you set up the Gmail account manually so you don't have to use an IMAP account or did you use the automatic method which will only give you an IMAP(ish) account.

I just noticed that my Gmail account is no longer configurable as you stated. I am wondering if you configure it manually for POP if it can be made to not automatically detect and maintain settings.

Reply

Answer 4

voxelation Author

Level 1

13 points

Aug 19, 2015 3:27 PM in response to Barney-15E

Ah! Interesting that you ask.

I did that. I set up another imap account, using another email server's settings. Mail identifies that as an IMAP account. If I put imap.gmail.com or imap.googlemail.com into the IMAP server address field, after I save it, Mail identifies it as a Google IMAP account.

If you add an account, and choose the "Add Other Mail Account" option, if you put in a gmail address, it identifies it as a Google IMAP account regardless of whether that is how you set it up, and it does not allow you to change that setting. It does the same if you set it up as a POP account too.

I finally just went through my Time Machine backups to fish out Mail from a couple of versions ago, Version 8.2 (2070.6/2104), to get it to work again.

Reply

Answer 5

Barney-15E

Level 10

122,360 points

Aug 19, 2015 3:43 PM in response to voxelation

If you add an account, and choose the "Add Other Mail Account" option,

Do that, but hold down the Option (alt) key before clicking the Create button. It should turn to Next and allow you to manually create the account.

My guess is that since everyone has so many problems with Gmail, they are locking down the settings.

Reply

Answer 6

voxelation Author

Level 1

13 points

Aug 19, 2015 5:40 PM in response to Barney-15E

Unfortunately, even when I go that route and manually create the settings, it still recognizes it as a Google IMAP account.

The reason why so many people have problems with Gmail is because Google is trying to make people move to its OAuth 2.0 standard for accessing its services. This is fine, I understand why, but Apple trying to force this and not allowing people to change it has broken the Mail program for me.

Just because you use an SMTP server with a Google account does not mean that the SMTP server is a Google SMTP server.

Reply

Answer 7

Barney-15E

Level 10

122,360 points

Aug 19, 2015 8:06 PM in response to voxelation

voxelation wrote:

Unfortunately, even when I go that route and manually create the settings, it still recognizes it as a Google IMAP account.

Even if you tell it to set it up as POP?

Is POP enabled in your Gmail settings?

Reply

Answer 8

voxelation Author

Level 1

13 points

Aug 19, 2015 8:38 PM in response to Barney-15E

Thanks. I've been wracking my brain over this, and I just don't see any workarounds (other than using an older version of Mail -- and who knows when that will break). I was hoping that someone else might see one, but there may not be one.

Reply

Answer 9

Barney-15E

Level 10

122,360 points

Aug 19, 2015 4:25 AM in response to voxelation

Did you disable the Automatically detect and maintain account settings checkbox?

I see you recognized it, but you never indicated you tried to disable it.

Reply

Answer 10

Eric Root

Level 10

685,263 points

Aug 19, 2015 10:35 AM in response to voxelation

Try going Mail/Preferences/Accounts and uncheck Enable this account. Can you change the automatic setting then? Then try reenabling the account.

Reply

Answer 11

Barney-15E

Level 10

122,360 points

Aug 19, 2015 2:41 PM in response to voxelation

Did you set up the account manually, or did you just click on the Google button and enter your details?

Reply

Answer 12

voxelation Author

Level 1

13 points

Aug 19, 2015 2:46 PM in response to Barney-15E

I've set up the SMTP account manually many times. After I use it with a Google IMAP account, that's when Mail changes the settings to make it inoperable.

Reply

Answer 13

voxelation Author

Level 1

13 points

Aug 19, 2015 8:27 PM in response to Barney-15E

Sorry for the confusion. When I set it up as POP, it still recognizes it as a Google POP account. It does the same thing to the SMTP server settings when I change the SMTP server.

Reply

Answer 14

Barney-15E

Level 10

122,360 points

Aug 19, 2015 8:32 PM in response to voxelation

Sorry, that was my only guess to regain control.

Reply