IMac El Capitan Mail App won't send

[johnrobert]

Mail App won’t send, not much to change in account settings client wanted me to call ISP he was useless, first day on Job I think

He assured me when I delete account mail would stay being POP I deleted the account and tried to set it up again all messages disappeared

When I put in the email address and password to create new account discovery went on forever and sometimes came back saying Preference error

Could not create his account again so Mail app must have some corruption I would like to reset it
Like it would be on a new computer

Fortunately, he had Outlook 2011 installed the same problem could not send after changing settings I got it to send and since it was always receiving he had all messages also everything was there in webmail

I would still like to fix Mail App

Also in the mail App he has an iClouds email account setup he wanted me to delete it

Is it necessary to have that?

In Windows, if you want to use ICloud you must have an account in Outlook, is it the same thing with Apple in Mail App?

 

[Markverhyden]

Did you follow the ISP's instructions for setting up an email account. Many do not auto detect properly and need to be setup manually. Did you try to setup a know good email account? I have a couple whose sole purpose is for this. Did you try creating a new account and then adding an email?

Forgot to mention. The iCloud in the email app. Apple uses an SSO approach so when the machine account is setup and the user's iTunes/App Store credentials are entered an iCloud email is automatically created as that is created when the account is first setup.

 

[timeshifter]

While in the Mail app on the Mac go to the Windows menu and choose Connection Doctor. You may also want to check the box for "Log Connection Activity". After that's enabled it will log all the server communications. Then you can click Show Logs to see the logs. Once you're completely done be sure to uncheck the "Log Connection Activity". I've seen one case where that had been left checked and the logs ended up eating a ton of disk space.

 

[frase]

Update OS El Captitan..really such an old OS. Backup system with time machine then update to High Sierra Stat!

 

[johnrobert]

it's OK with Outlook and he prefers Outlook to Mail App

If I deleted the iCloud account in mail App would it have any unintended consequences it was constantly giving errors
I checked iClound and he was signed in

some good advice posted thanks

 

[timeshifter]

Outlook 2011

I'd be leery about that old version of Outlook. If you ever have to reinstall his OS you may have trouble reinstalling Outlook. He won't have the product key or have any idea where it is or that he has one. Even if he does that version may not install on whatever macOS version you're running.

Apparently Office 2011 won't work at all on this fall's coming release of macOS Mojave:
https://office-watch.com/2018/office-2011-mac-wont-work-mac-mojave/

Office 2011 for Mac is just one of many programs that won’t work at all on the upcoming MacOS release ‘Mojave’.

That’s not a surprise for anyone who follows Apple’s policy announcements. Many years ago, Apple warned that they’d eventually stop supporting 32-bit programs with 64-bit applications becoming the required standard.

Among the programs that won’t work with MacOS Mojave are

• Microsoft Word 2011
• Microsoft Excel 2011
• Microsoft PowerPoint 2011
• Microsoft Outlook 2011

Unlike Windows, which runs with a mix of 32-bit and 64-bit programs, Apple moved their MacOS to 64-bit some years ago. All Apple developers have known for years that this was coming so it’s mostly old programs that out of support that’ll be affected.

Office 2011 for Mac ended it’s Microsoft support life in 2017 so there’s no chance Microsoft will update the programs.

Also not supported on current mac OS High Sierra:
https://9to5mac.com/2017/09/01/microsoft-office-for-mac-2011-high-sierra-compatibility/

They're also not doing security patches for 2011 anymore either. Depending on the email provider it might break the communications.

 

[Archon Prime]

Get him on High Sierra if possible. or at least Sierra depending on the mac he's got. If there is nothing in the mail app, blow away the plist files for mail and restart over. Shouldn't be having issues with outgoing settings. But again, upgrade first. latest mail app is great and much easier to work with.