Apple Macintosh Mail configuration tutorial will guide you through the necessary steps to setup your Mac Mail. The tutorial will cover Mac OS X versions Tiger, Leopard, Panther.

In this tutorial we will cover the POP setup. If you want IMAP settings, there is another tutorial in the Apple Mac Mail section.

Open your mail application and go to: “File -> Add Account”.

A new Mac Mail pane ‘Add Account’ will appear where you have to fill your full name, e-mail address and password.

Fill the fields and click ‘Continue’.

The next screen will be for the ‘Incoming mail server’ settings. Choose account type and put a short description.

Most of the mail service providers configure the mail servers with the prefix ‘pop’ and the incoming settings are something like: “pop.your-domain.com”. If you have specific setting given by your mail service provider, you must take into consideration them.

For username again it depends on the mail provider requirements, but in the most cases it is the whole e-mail address: email-name@your-domain.com

The last filed need to be filled with the password for the particular box you are setting-up. Then click ‘Continue’

Next is Apple Mail Incoming Security. If you have available SSL (Secure Socket Layer) you can enable it (most of the providers are supporting it), this will encrypt the connection and your mails will be sent securely.

For authentication method choose ‘Password’, and then continue with Mac Mail ‘Outgoing Mail Server’ configuration.

Put a description and outgoing mail server address. Again there is commonly used prefix: ‘smtp’ - and the outgoing mail server should be like: “smtp.your-domain.com”

There is a checkbox “Use only this server” which must be checked if you have several accounts setup, in order to send messages only from this server for this particular account.
The time of open SMTP servers past away long, long time ago, so you have to put credentials for the Mac Mail Outgoing Server Authentication.

When you press continue Outgoing Mail Security pane will appear.

In this case I need SSL, but again it depends whether this checkbox will be clicked according to your mail service provider. If you are not sure, just leave it unchecked. For authentication choose ‘Password’, and then continue.

The account summary will appear and the last step is to create it.

When you press ‘Create’ Button’ the ‘Add Account’ pane will close and the next step will be to get your e-mails. For that just press ‘Get Mail’ button at the top left.

If your mail service provider is using different port numbers for incoming or outgoing servers, you may receive an error. If it is providing the service with the default settings, maybe you are receiving mails already.

In case you have issues or need to setup your mail with specific settings, there is another tutorial which will guide you how to change the Apple MacMail preferences.