You can set up your email account on Mac Mail. To do this, you can either follow the instructions below to run the auto-configuration script which does the process automatically for you (recommended), or you can manually configure the email account (usually for experienced users).

It’s important to understand that when your server details change, you may need to do this process again in order to update your email account authentication information.

Auto-configuration

The first step is to log into your cPanel account. If you are unsure on how to do this, please view the following help article – ‘How to log into cPanel‘.

Once you have successfully logged in, either type email into the search box or scroll down to the ‘Email‘ section as per the below. Select the first option shown ‘Email Accounts‘.

You should find that you are in your email accounts management section. If you scroll down, you should find the email account record for the one which you are looking to set up in Mac Mail. Against that record, you should see an option shown as ‘Configure Mail Client‘ which you need to select.

The subsequent page will now provide many options to auto-configure the email account. From the list, locate the appropriate choice for your MacOS operating system. Please note that three options are available for 10.4+ (Pre Lion), 10.7 (Lion) or 10.8+ (Mountain Lion and above). On the respective version that you need, choose ‘IMAP over SSL/TLS‘.

Once chosen, you will see further instructions on how to complete the auto-configuration option. Choose ‘Proceed‘ as shown. Please note as shown, if you are prompted to open, run, or save a file, please choose ‘Run‘ or ‘Open‘. If you are asked whether you would like to enter the information into the registry, choose ‘Yes‘.

It’s also important at this stage that you know what your email account password is as this will be required to finalise the setup installation. If you are unsure on what this is, please see ‘How to Change your Email Password‘.

You should now find that your email account has been auto-configured in Mac Mail.

Manual configuration

To manually configure the email account, the first step is to log into your cPanel account. If you are unsure on how to do this, please view the following help article – ‘How to log into cPanel‘.

Once you have successfully logged in, either type email into the search box or scroll down to the ‘Email‘ section as per the below. Select the first option shown ‘Email Accounts‘.

You should find that you are now in your email accounts management section. If you scroll down, you should find the email account record for the one which you are looking to set up in Mac Mail. Against that record, you should see an option shown as ‘Configure Mail Client‘ which you need to select.

Scrolling down to the ‘Manual Settings‘ heading, you will locate the manual settings required for the email account. It is recommended to use the ‘Secure SSL/TLS Settings‘ as highlighted on the left for secure setup on IMAP. However, if you prefer setup on non-secure POP, please use the ‘Non-SSL Settings‘ on the right. Please make a note of these or refer back to them later as they will be used further down.

Open Mac Mail on your system. Choose ‘Mail‘ -> ‘Preferences‘ from the top menu.

Select the ‘Accounts‘ section and click on ‘+‘ icon.

Choose ‘Add Other Mail Account‘.

For the ‘Add a Mail Account‘ information, input your name, email account email address and email account password, followed by selecting ‘Create‘ to proceed.

Mac Mail will try to detect the email account settings automatically. Disregard the attempt and select the ‘Next‘ option.

For the ‘Incoming Mail Server‘ information, choose ‘IMAP‘ (secure and recommended) or ‘POP‘ protocol for ‘Account Type‘, and enter your incoming email account details for your respective choice.

• ‘Mail Server‘: Your email account server name. In our example, this was ‘maggie.enixns.com’.
• ‘Username‘: Your full email account email address.
• ‘Password‘: Your email account password.

Choose ‘Next‘ once the details are completed.

You may find that Mac Mail asks you to specify additional information for IMAP.

• ‘IMAP Path Prefix‘: Leave blank
• ‘Port‘: Your email server incoming IMAP port.
• ‘Authentication‘: Select Password.

For the ‘Outgoing Mail Server‘ information, fill out your outgoing server information:

• ‘SMTP Server‘: Your email account server name.
• ‘User Name‘: Your full email account email address.
• ‘Password‘: Your email account password.

You may again find that Mac Mail asks you to specify additional information.

• ‘Port‘: Your email server outgoing port. Tick ‘Use SSL‘ for IMAP.
• ‘Authentication‘: Select Password.

Next, configure the ‘Advanced Server Settings‘ information. Go to the ‘Accounts‘ section and select the account in question from the left panel. Select ‘Account Information‘ tab and go to ‘Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP)‘ section to click on the ‘Edit SMTP Server List‘ option.

You need to verify that your settings are correct.

• ‘Automatically detect and maintain account settings‘: This should be unticked.
• ‘Port‘: Your outgoing server port with ‘Use SSL‘ ticked for IMAP.
• ‘Authentication‘: Set to Password.
• ‘Allow insecure authentication‘: This should be ticked.
• ‘User Name‘: Your email account full email address.
• ‘Password‘: Your email account password.

You should now find that Mac Mail is now setup and that you can send and receive emails.