Mail on a Mac

• —You need an app password for the address, made in the Passwords view of its Mail apps tab under Settings → Addresses, or a setup link someone emailed you.
• —These steps follow macOS Sequoia and later. On macOS Monterey and earlier, the Settings of Mail are called Preferences.

The profile is a small file that adds the address to Mail with every setting and the password filled in. It adds the calendar to Calendar too and, unless the password came from a setup link, the contacts to Contacts.

1. 1Where the new app password is shown, on the Mail apps tab or on the page a setup link opens, choose Download for Apple devices. The file lands in Downloads.
2. 2Open the file. macOS says the profile has to be reviewed in System Settings.
3. 3Open System Settings, then General, then Device Management. On macOS Sonoma and Ventura it is under Privacy & Security, then Profiles.
4. 4Double-click the profile under Downloaded, choose Install, and confirm with the password of your Mac.
5. 5Open Mail. The address appears in the sidebar, and its folders follow as they download.

• —The file holds the password. Delete it from Downloads once the profile is installed.
• —Everything the profile added belongs to it. Removing the profile where you installed it removes the account, its calendar and its contacts together.
• —The profile adds only what is switched on for the address: the mail account needs IMAP and SMTP, the calendar CalDAV and the contacts CardDAV.

1. 1Open Mail and choose Mail, then Add Account.
2. 2Choose Other Mail Account, then Continue.
3. 3Enter your name, the whole address and the app password, then choose Sign In.
4. 4Mail cannot find the servers on its own and asks for more. Fill in the fields as in the table below, then choose Sign In again.
5. 5Keep Mail ticked, untick Notes and choose Done.

Mail usually works out the ports and encryption by itself. If it cannot connect, or sending fails, set them by hand.

1. 1Choose Mail, then Settings, then Accounts, and select the account.
2. 2Open Server Settings. Under Incoming Mail Server (IMAP), check User Name, Password and Host Name, turn off Automatically manage connection settings, and set Port to 993 with Use TLS/SSL on and Authentication set to Password.
3. 3Under Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP), do the same with Host Name smtp.openemail.uk, Port 465, Use TLS/SSL on and Authentication set to Password.
4. 4Choose Save.

Mail recognises Sent, Drafts, Junk, Trash and Archive by itself. To check them, choose Mail, Settings, Accounts, select the account and open Mailbox Behaviors.

• —Set Drafts Mailbox to Drafts, Sent Mailbox to Sent, Junk Mailbox to Spam and Trash Mailbox to Trash.
• —Keep Move deleted messages to the Trash mailbox on, so deleting moves the conversation to Trash, which is Bin in OpenEmail. With it off, deleting from Inbox archives the conversation instead.
• —The setting that erases deleted messages decides when Mail empties Trash. Whatever it erases is deleted for good in OpenEmail as well.
• —If archived mail ever lands somewhere other than Archive, select Archive in the sidebar and choose Mailbox, then Use This Mailbox For, then Archive.

• —Mail keeps a connection open while it runs, so new mail shows within about 20 seconds.
• —Choose Mail, Settings, General, and set Check for new messages to Automatically.

The profile adds the calendar for you. Added by hand, the calendar is an account of its own in Calendar, with the same address and app password.

• —Added by hand: open System Settings, then Internet Accounts, select the account and choose Delete Account.
• —Added by the profile: remove the profile in System Settings, where you installed it.
• —Then revoke its app password in the Passwords view of the address’s Mail apps tab, so it stops working everywhere.

• —Mail is unable to verify the account name or password: the User Name must be the whole address on both servers, not Automatic, and the password an app password that has not been revoked.
• —The account shows a warning sign in the sidebar: choose Window, then Connection Doctor, to see which server refuses and why.
• —Mail receives but cannot send: in Server Settings, check the outgoing User Name and Password, Use TLS/SSL and port 465.
• —The app asks for the password again and again: the password was revoked, or sign-ins paused for up to 15 minutes after too many wrong passwords. Correct the password in the app, then wait before trying again.