Are there security level settings for Mail.app?

leroydouglas wrote:

Did you log into gmail via the browser interface—from there check your junk mail folder.

https://mail.google.com/

Yes, that's the first thing I checked, although it should not be necessary with Imap, since the junk folder will sync messages to Mail.app. just like any other folder (see below). There was no message in the junk folder, either in the browser interface or in Mail.app, and if there was, I could have simply verified the account by responding to that email. Bottom line is that their verification email to me was blocked at the Gmail server so I never received it. Which means (I think) that they need to fix the problem at their end, I can't do it from my end.

Kappy wrote:

If Gmail is blocking the message then your only recourse is to ask if they would take your ISP off their blacklist.

Do you mean I should ask Google to take my ISP off of their blacklist, or to take the ISP of the company that is sending the verification email off of their blacklist? I don't think I have the authority to do the latter.... 😐

No, and sorry if my original post was not clear. This has nothing to do with my ISP. The account I am creating is with a company called TP-Link (www.tp-link.com/us/). They are the ones sending me the verification email that is being blocked by Gmail. It is their tech support folks who I quoted in my post, and whose reply I am trying to understand if it makes sense on a Mac.

Thanks Leroy. There's nothing wrong with my address, I get dozens of gmail messages every day. So this is something that the sending company needs to do (i.e. they need to whitelist their address), right? If so, I will send them the link.

Interesting, and thanks for taking the time to help with this. The weird thing is that this issue occurs regardless of the sender. In fact, I have not been able to create online accounts with any company that requires email verification unless I use my .mac email, for the same reason .... their verification emails never arrive in my Gmail inbox, so I am unable to verify the address as valid. It almost seems as Gmail is bloicking verification emails no matter the sending domain. Go figure. At this point it's all academic, since I was able to create the account(s) using myt .mac address and that works fine.

Hi all. I'm the OP and I wanted to update you with how this mystery was finally solved. Turns out I had at some point in the past (that I had forgotten all about) created a bunch of filters in the Gmail browser interface in an attempt to control incoming junk mail. In recently reviewing those filters I found one that contained "no-reply" in the address, which (of course) is part of the address that is sent by the verification email. And the filter was (of course) set up to delete the email. Once I removed that filter I was finally able to receive the verification email from the company. Two lessons I learned: 1) if I'm using Mail.app to access my gmail (via imap), it's best to define rules in Mail as opposed to defining them in gmail (so I won't forget they are there), and 2) when creating a filter, it's best to have the message moved to junk folder, as opposed to deleted outright (so it remains visible). Live and learn...😁

Thanks again to leroydouglas for your help in solving this issue.

Thanks Kappy. I should have mentioned that I do not have Firewall turned on. Could he be talking about something that exists in Windows Outlook, not realizing I am on a Mac?