Q: I'm trying to set up a new account in the Mail dialog for Accounts, but get an error message "This account already exists". However, the account does not show up in the dialog, so there is no way to access it. This is on OS X 10.11.
"This account already exists" error message in Mail app.
MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Early 2013), OS X El Capitan (10.11), Internet Accounts
Posted on Oct 6, 2015 9:44 AM
I've found the problem.
The SMTP server entry for my new account was still available as a configuration in the Mail client. I was able to fix the problem by
1. Open Mail -> Preferences, and go to the Accounts tab
2. Click on an account, then click on Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP) popup, and select Edit SMTP Server List
3. Delete the entry for the SMTP server for the account that I'm trying to add.
There is a bug here. When you delete an Email account, the SMTP server for that account should be deleted as well. Of course, it's tricky, as the SMTP server might be used by more than one account. So if you are deleting the last account that uses an SMTP server, that server entry should be removed.
Posted on Oct 6, 2015 8:07 PM
