mac software

Ease your app-fuelled anxieties with our fixes

This is most probably the result of a long-standing and infamous bug that persists in the Mail app

QWe normally collect our email using Apple’s Mail without any problems. Since changing the password for our email service, though, we can only receive messages and can’t send any using this method. Oddly, our iPad still works fine, connecting with the same server. Is this the result of changing the password?

AThis is most probably the result of a long-standing and infamous bug in the Mail app. Although the settings you're using appear correct, in fact those for the SMTP server, which is used to send outgoing messages, are broken. To repair them, you need to remove all the old SMTP server settings and re-enter the new ones.

Ensure you have a careful and complete written record of the correct SMTP server settings, checking them against those used by your iPad. In Mail on your Mac, choose Mail > Preferences, go to the Accounts tab, select the problematic email service on the left, and open the Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP) pop-up menu. In turn, select each item related to the troublesome service (ignore others) and use the – button to delete them. You’ll be left with no servers, or just those for other services.

Now click the + button to add a new server. Set it up exactly as shown on your iPad. Check the other settings and click OK. If that doesn’t help, repeat this, but after removing servers, quit Mail, reopen it, then add the new server.

If SMTP server settings in Mail look perfectly correct but you still can’t messages, delete each from the list of SMTP servers and then set up a new one with the same settings.