Mail 5 - Can't access IMAP accounts

[DockMac]

Mail 5 was working perfectly until I updated to 10.7.1. It started acting funky, where it would keep asking me for different smtp servers and such. I decided to delete the accounts and start from scratch, after the fiddling did not work.

However, now it won't recognize my third party IMAP Gmail accounts (it will accept IMAP Gmail accounts). I input the username and password under system preferences > mail, contact, & calendars. Usually it "just works" but now only chat is recgonzied, but mail and calendars get this error:

Mail couldn't discover the account settings for the Mail server “xyz.org”. Click “Continue” to continue to set up this account in Mail.app.

I click continue and attempt to do it manually to no avail.

Any suggestions?

Bump.

 

[nunes013]

Bump.

i get the same with my gmail running 10.7.1. I had it with 10.7 too. haven't found a fix yet but your not alone.

 

[Detrius]

Maybe you're putting in the incorrect settings.

 

[DockMac]

I highly doubt I am entering the wrong info. I am copy and pasting it from plain text to Mail. It works when I copy and paste into other mail apps, but not Mail.

 

[Macman45]

Same Here

But thunderbird works fine.

 

[Nioxic]

I have weird problems as well... i cannot send mails from my mail. either with my me.com mail or my hotmail i added into the mail program..

however, i can easily recieve mails (and it setup itself so.. doubt it made mistake etc (typing wrong info )

it seemed to work nicely with recieving but cannot send mails back

 

[Cripps]

There must be a solution out there, though I don't have it.

My IMAP / Gmail works perfectly under 10.7.1.

 

[0dev]

A lot of people has this with 10.7 too. Have you tried wiping Mail's plist file and setting your account up again?

 

[Macman45]

This Is Probably

A port settings issue.....I have not bothered looking too hard as I prefer Thunderbird anyway..it will be ISP specific, so the way to check is to head to your service providers web site and look for imap and Apple settings.

 

[DockMac]

A lot of people has this with 10.7 too. Have you tried wiping Mail's plist file and setting your account up again?

Good thought. Yes I have tried, but to no avail. I also attempted to start from scratch with another OS X login, to no avail as well.

 

[0dev]

Good thought. Yes I have tried, but to no avail. I also attempted to start from scratch with another OS X login, to no avail as well.

That is very strange. Maybe you can get the old Mail from Snow Leopard and run it on Lion? You'll need access to a computer with SL installed, but then all you have to do is copy the .app file over.

 

[DockMac]

Eureka! Problem identified, but not solution.

I think I have discovered the problem, but there is no easy solution. Here it is in Google's own words:

Source: https://mail.google.com/support/bin/static.py?page=known_issues.cs


Gmail username and password not working with Apple Mail IMAP
We're aware of a problem where Apple Mail IMAP users are unable to sync with their Gmail account and are seeing a username and password error. We have found that a vast majority of users are exceeding IMAP bandwidth limits and are continuing to investigate.
In the meantime, please review the following suggestions help to reduce the chances of going over bandwidth limits. Avoid these actions that use up a lot of bandwidth:
Don't store draft messages on the server. In Apple Mail, go to Preferences > Accounts > Mailbox Behaviors and make sure to uncheck "Store draft messages on the server".
Avoid syncing all your mail to more than one mail program
Avoid removing and re-adding your Gmail IMAP account to a program, causing your mail archive to be synced multiple times
Avoid uploading a lot of messages to Gmail, for example by dragging-and-dropping messages from your local disk into a Gmail folder
Avoid telling your mail program to save a copy of sent mail on the server, and then sending a lot of mail
Check whether you have granted access to your Gmail account to any third-party software that could be downloading mail on your behalf. Check your account activity for any unrecognized activity. You may be able to revoke this access in your Google Accounts settings. If you gave these sites your Google password, you might have to change it to prevent them from logging into your account.

 

[DockMac]

Solved!

I don't know what exactly fixed the problem, but here is the latest things I tried and it spontaneously worked.

1) Used another internet connection, not my home connection, to connect to the internet.
2) Archived my entire Gmail accounts and MobileMe account via the web interface for each account.
3) Input the username and password for each account in System Preferences
4) Viola!

 

[Mal]

You could probably help avoid some of those issues by turning on the "Advanced IMAP Controls" in Gmail Labs, and telling it not to sync the "All Mail" folder, and perhaps others that you don't need access to. That will reduce the IMAP bandwidth that you use over a given timeframe.

jW

 

[dianeoforegon]

In Lion, there is a new System Preferences for Mail, Contacts & Calendars. Open this preference and delete the problem account and re-enter the data here. This helped me with the repeated password request.

 

[PedsNeuro]

I too was having an issue with this. Under 10.7 I had no problems. After I installed the 10.7.1 update on both my iMac and my MacBook Pro, I was unable to send email from my gmail account. (It is my own domain name running under Google Apps.) I tried using a straight Gmail account as well and got the same results. I could receive messages, my IMAP folder would sync fine (I don't sync the All Mail label) and I could move messages between folders. However any attempt at sending a mail whether a reply or a new message resulted in an SMTP error. I could send a mail through the web interface and when I went back to Mail, it would be in the Sent folder. I KNOW I had the settings right. I checked them multiple times. Following the advice above, I went into the new "Mail, Contacts & Calendars" under System Preferences and reentered the password. When I then relaunched Mail, it asked me for the password to the account. I put in the password (which bear in mind, I had never changed through all of this!) and voila, Mail is now able to send again.

This leads to a question about the new item in System Preferences. It seems somewhat redundant with the preferences in Mail to set up your accounts. Do they populate the same things? Do changes in Mail get reflected in the System Preferences? Anybody know where there is some documentation on this?

Mark