New email settings not working on my Mac

I have a Mac Mini running OSX 10.7.5 and Mac Mail 5.3. After receipt of each email from Verizon about changing my email settings, I did as I was told.

The first time I could not send or receive mail, so I went back to the old settings and everything was fine. The second time, I visited the forum, read all the posts about Apple Mac settings and tried again. I went step-by-step and restarted the machine as recommended. I could receive mail, but not send a test message after 15 minutes. Then I deleted entirely my mail settings, re-entered them as directed. Same thing happened, could receive mail, but I gave up after 20 minutes waiting for a test message to be sent. So, I went back to the old settings and everything works fine.

Yes, I restarted both my computer both times; yes, I carefully checked all the spelling, etc. as recommended in one post.

What makes this more frustrating is that my recently purchased iPhone has all the new Verizon email settings and I have no problem. So, I have a big problem since in addition to my Mac Mini, I also have an old Powerbook running OX 9 and a first gen iPad that may one day lose the ability for me to use Mac Mail. Am I left with having to use another email client because Verizon suggested changes do not play well with some Apple products?

Accepted answers

Bosun

My last change worked! Sure wish Verizon would assemble all these things in one place with reference to the Keychain and the Advanced tab. Thanks to all those who helped and offered advice.

All comments

sbreen

Have you had any replies to this message? I have exactly the same problem. New settings work fine on my newer Macbook Air but outgoing mail will not send on older Macbook Pro when setting is changed to smtp.

tns2

I don't have a MAC but several people have set up threads documenting the specifics needed to get the MAC to work. The general Verizon instructions are at http://verizon.com/emailsettings . It includes a troubleshooter that supposively works on Apple mail.

Bosun

No. Someone replied after you with directions to the Verizon 'plain vanilla' instructions and I may try those to see if they work. Not hopeful since Verizon has extremely poor Mac support.

Bosun

Thanks. I will try those again, but I think I used them earlier with the same poor results. The Verizon Troubleshooter only works with Microsoft OS.

somegirl

Could you post a screenshot of your SMTP settings with any account information (username, password) obscured? Saying "I've done it right, and it doesn't work." doesn't give us much to go on. It would also help to know what error you are getting.

VJS2

I'm having same problem on Mac mini running OS 10.6. Tech couldn't fix.

Bosun

Can I post those screen shots in a message to the forum?

somegirl

@Bosun wrote:
Can I post those screen shots in a message to the forum?

Yes. If you need help with how to insert the image, try this article:

http://forums.verizon.com/t5/help/faqpage/faq-category-id/images2#images2 - Scroll down to How do I insert an image in a post?

Bosun

Here are my existing settings:

SoTpaGrl

I had the same problem. I finally got a Verizon rep to connect to my Mac and my MacMail and she was able to fix everything - all works well with the new settings, incoming and outgoing. I have four e-mail accounts and she set them all correctly.

I did, however, get a second message again today that my settings are not updated. I think Verizon is running behind???

JOSEm441

"I did, however, get a second message again today that my settings are not updated. I think Verizon is running behind"

MAny people that are using the updated settings as well as the old settings are reporting this. My guess is the emails are being sent out just as reminders, it would be very difficult for VZ to deternine who has the new settings and not send them the reminder. I am sure they are bracing for the onslaught in September when the new settings become the default.

tns2

@JOSEm441 wrote:
"I did, however, get a second message again today that my settings are not updated. I think Verizon is running behind"
MAny people that are using the updated settings as well as the old settings are reporting this. My guess is the emails are being sent out just as reminders, it would be very difficult for VZ to deternine who has the new settings and not send them the reminder. I am sure they are bracing for the onslaught in September when the new settings become the default.

You may be running behind as you said.

I think they are only doing it when the see logins to the old servers. I have not gotten the message on my account which was changed last year. But my mothers account, which is used like quarterly and was not changed, did get the message. My brother said he got it on but had forgotten to change one of his devices, I think his ereader.

feudalmaster

the new settings DO WORK, But verizon "how to scripts" don't mention Access rights

1. SSL make sure you check the box.

2. I noticed when it was failing, it didn't keep the 2nd password for outgoing(?) Go to your Keychain, delete all old Verizon keychain files (old settings).

3. Send mail, Keychain will prompt for password for the NEW outgoing password to send. Sends and receives fine now.

4. We may be in a small group with Keychain issues, My wife has 2 emails (keychain= 2 in, 2out) but had a dozen + chains from every attempt to get it set up.

Hope it help you all.

feudalmaster

****************CORRECTION******************************

Check the only use this server under account setting (on all accounts)

it removed the double server list and and it is working normally again.

Bosun

Thanks for everyone's help, but I still have the same problem. Using your tips and Verizon's instructions, I changed what I thought were all the settings as the screen shots show. I restarted my Mac. I can receive email, but cannot send it, the little "gear" keeps spinning. Any further ideas?

Bosun

And after reading the last post before mine, I went back and checked "Use only this server" under Outgoing Mail Server and restarted the Mac.

somegirl

@Bosun wrote:
And after reading the last post before mine, I went back and checked "Use only this server" under Outgoing Mail Server and restarted the Mac.

There has to be a screen somewhere that allows you to change the settings for the SMTP server. That is most likely the screen where the problem is. I don't have a Mac, so I can't tell you how to get to it. Hopefully someone will be along that can explain.

tedstod

On July 18 I got a "2nd Notice" to change "incoming" to "POP", and it does NOT WORK on any of my Apple devices. Why won't Verizon recognize this??

Bosun

I thought there might be a screen I was missing, too, so I poked around. Under the first Preference screen, there is a dropdown menu for the Outgoing SMTP server. I selected that dropdown, which took me to another screen where I selected the verizon SMTP, then select Advanced. Once there, I changed from the default ports to the custom port 465 as Verizon's instructions indicate; checked SSL, and authentication Password. I will try again, but if it does not work I have two choices. Take the day off from work and try to reach someone at Verizon support that can deal with a Mac or switch to Comcast for internet, phone and TV. Hate to do the latter because I have no problems with any of my services except email!

Bosun

My last change worked! Sure wish Verizon would assemble all these things in one place with reference to the Keychain and the Advanced tab. Thanks to all those who helped and offered advice.

jolam

Have a Macbook Pro and am getting anxiety at the thought of making these changes...have already received two emails from Verizon. Have read and re-read all the posts here but am still not clear on exactly what to clear from the Keychain. Have viewed the contents of the Keychain folder in Utliities. Do I just delete incoming and outgoing Verizon from the folder? I'm not that tech savvy and would appreciate any feedback.

Thanks!

Bosun

Before my last post and in a desperate attempt to get things to work, I used the Mac Help to locate my Keychain folder and once there, I ended up deleting everything in it by 'accident.' It did not seem to make much difference to correcting the problem caused by inadequate instructions from Verizon. Perhaps following what I did and deleting the Verizon passwords from the Keychain folder might solve you problem.

I was fortunate in that I have a MacBook that had the 'old' email settings on it so I could still communicate with the outside world while I experimented with the inadequate Verizon instructions and lack of Mac support. My recommendaitons to you is to write down, or take screen shots, of your current email preferences while you experiment.

jolam

Thank you Bosun for your response. I had already taken screenshots of my preferences in case I had to return to the old settings. Just wish there were some step by step, detailed, instructions from Verizon for Mac users that could be printed and followed.

jolam

Thanks to all who posted re: email setting changes. Was able to make the changes to my Mac....however, there seems to be more spam not being filtered to the spam folder. Thought less spam was the idea behind the setting changes?!

margretb

I have the same problem. I spent three hours on the phone with Verizon. The very nice tech fixed it, but mail stopped working again. I tried all of the great suggestions here, but none of them worked. I installed Thunderbird and have the e-mail forwarded to that account. The crazy thing is that I could go to webmail and get and send Verizon e-mail with no problem. But having spent a lot of time on some Apple community forums, this seems to be a huge problem and not just for Verizon. Ugh.

Jondo1

Don't try to change email port setting. Delete email acct. then start from scratch (add new acct.). I also went to key chain and deleted old mail acct. incoming/outgoing mail accts. I don't know if key chain had anything to do with it but mail works now.