Set Up Mail for Mac OS X for IMAP or POP Access to Your Email Account

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Applies to: Office 365 for professionals and small businesses, Office 365 for enterprises, Microsoft Exchange, Live@edu

You can connect Mail for Mac OS X to your email account using POP3 or IMAP4 connectivity. These steps apply to Mac OS 10.4 Tiger and Mac OS 10.5 Leopard.

If you're running Mac OS 10.6 Snow Leopard or Mac OS 10.7 Lion, see the "What if I want to know more?" section at the end of this topic.

How do I set up Mail for Mac OS X for POP3 or IMAP4 access to my email account?

  1. Open Mail, and then do one of the following:

    • If you've never set up any email accounts using Mail, the Welcome to Mail page appears. Go to step 2.

    • If you've already created email accounts using Mail, on the Mail menu, click Preferences. On the Accounts tab, click the plus sign (+) at the bottom of the navigation pane to open the Add Account window.

  2. On the Welcome to Mail or Add Account window:

    1. In the Full Name box, enter the name you want to display to people you send email to.

    2. In the Email Address box, enter your primary email address.

    3. In the Password box, enter the password for your Outlook Web App account, and then click Continue.

  3. In the Incoming Mail Server window, enter the following:

    1. Next to Account Type, select POP or IMAP. IMAP supports more features.

    2. In the Description box, enter a name that will remind you what this email account is for.

    3. In the Incoming Mail Server box, enter the IMAP4 or POP3 server name. For information about how to find your incoming (POP3 or IMAP4) server name, see How do I find the server settings? later in this topic.

    4. In the User Name box, enter your primary email address.

    5. In the Password box, enter the password for the email account if it's not already shown in that field.

    6. Click Continue. Mail will test your connection to the incoming server using default settings.

      Note

      If the test isn't successful, click Continue again. You can verify your settings after you complete this procedure.

  4. In the Outgoing Mail Server window, do the following:

    1. In the Description box, enter the name for this mail server, for example, "Outlook sending server".

    2. In the Outgoing Mail Server box, enter the SMTP server name. For information about how to find your outgoing (SMTP) server name, see How do I find the server settings? later in this topic.

    3. Make sure the Use only this server check box is selected.

    4. Select the Use Authentication check box. Your user name and the password you entered for the incoming server will appear in the User Name and Password text boxes. These values are the same for the outgoing server. Click Continue.

    5. Click Continue. Mail will test your connection to the outgoing mail server using default settings.

      Note

      If the test isn't successful, click Continue again. You can verify your settings at the end of this procedure.

  5. If you're using IMAP4, in the Account Summary box, click Create.

  6. If you're using POP3, we recommend that you set up your client to keep a copy of the messages that you retrieve to your local computer on the server. This lets you access your messages from a different mail programs. To keep a copy of these messages on the server, do the following:

    1. In the Account Summary box, clear the Take Account online tick box, and then click Create.

    2. In Mail, on the Mail menu, click Preferences.

    3. On the Accounts tab, in the navigation pane, select the account you want.

    4. In the right pane, click Advanced.

    5. Clear the Remove copy from server after retrieving a message tick box, and then close the Accounts window.

  7. If you don't want Mail to keep a copy of your messages on the server, select the Take account online check box, and then click Create.

How do I find the server settings?

Before you set up a POP3 or IMAP4 e-mail program, you need to look up your own POP3, IMAP4, and SMTP server settings.

Watch this video to learn how to find your server settings for your POP or IMAP e-mail program.

To find your server settings, sign in to your e-mail account using Outlook Web App. After you sign in, click Options > See All Options > Account > My Account > Settings for POP, IMAP, and SMTP access. The POP3, IMAP4, and SMTP server name and other settings you may need to enter are listed on the Protocol Settings page under POP setting or IMAP setting, and SMTP setting.

Note

If you see Not available next to POP setting, IMAP setting, and SMTP setting, your account may not be set up to use POP or IMAP e-mail programs. For more information, contact the person who manages your e-mail account.

What else do I need to know?

  • If you don't know whether to use POP3 or IMAP4, consider using IMAP4 because it supports more features.

  • If your e-mail account is the type that requires registration, you must register it the first time you sign in to Outlook Web App. Connecting to your e-mail account through POP3 or IMAP4 will fail if you haven't registered your account through Outlook Web App. After you sign in to your account, sign out. Then try to connect using your POP3 or IMAP4 program. For more information about how to sign in to your account using Outlook Web App, see How to Sign In to Your Email Using a Web Browser. If you have trouble signing in, see FAQs: Sign-in and Password Issues or contact the person who manages your e-mail account.

  • If Mail doesn't connect, you might need to verify that Mail is set up to send and receive mail using the security setting known as Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). You can verify that Mail is set up to use SSL as follows:

  1. In Mail, click Mail > Preferences >Accounts.

  2. On the Accounts tab, select the account you want, and then click Advanced.

  3. On the Advanced tab:

    1. Make sure Use SSL is selected.

    2. Make sure the Port is 993 if you're using IMAP4. The Port should be 995 if you're using POP3.

    3. Make sure the Authentication is Password.

    4. Make sure the Domain Name text box is empty.

  4. On the Account Information tab:

    1. Under Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP), make sure Use only this server is selected.

    2. Under Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP), click the drop-down menu, and then click Edit Server List > Advanced.

    3. Under Server port, make sure Use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is selected.

    4. Make sure the Server port is 25.

    5. Under Authentication, verify that Password is selected, and then click OK.

What if I want to know more?