Mail Account Failure

Cougurr

Well-Known Member
A recent upgrade to Mojave on 27" iMac seems successful. There were two user accounts on this iMac. Primary user had a Gmail (iMap) & a Shaw (pop) email account. Secondary user had no email account. When the Mail program was opened all the Shaw and Gmail folders were present on the computer after the upgrade and Gmail account continued working in the Mail program for the primary user. However the Shaw account would not connect.

In the Mail program the shaw account wanted its password and repeatedly failed to accept this password. Contacted Shaw and they insisted password be changed. This was done while on the phone with them and caused the password to also be changed then on an ipad and iphone with the same pop email account and both devices are working fine with this new password.

The iMac still refused to accept name or password. Shaw suggested creating the email account again on the mac and signed off. So next removed the problem Shaw email account within Mail from the primary user side of iMac. When re-created it insisted on making it an iMap account. Still failed its setup saying could not confirm user or password

Tried adding this email account to the secondary user side of the iMac and this email account was added successfully in Mail program (but as an iMap account). It is working on this secondary user side of iMac just fine.

My thought process suggests this proves the Mojave upgrade is not the problem since it works on the second user side of the iMac. So then tried adding a different new Shaw email account also back on the primary user side and it would not accept it either. Both these shaw email accounts were verified as working on the Web Mail login using Firefox on the primary user side of the iMac.

Are there some preferences files connected to the primary user that could be safely removed that might be causing this failure or does anyone have any other suggestions to make as to how to can get this Shaw email working again in Mac Mail?? Very awkward to keep shifting from primary to secondary user side of iMac just to deal with emails !!!
 

chas_m

Well-Known Member
You need to go over EVERY setting of the IMAP Shaw account on the second user and compare it to the settings for the problematic first user version. It is likely to be a port setting or something minor.
 

RideForever

Well-Known Member
Cougurr, I am also still using Mojave and having a similar problem with two email addresses. It has happened before and has self-corrected (sort of) or at least eventually accepts the password. This time though, only one email address has corrected. The latest security update 10.14.6 also keeps coming up and though installed (3-4x now), it still shows as being required. So, I have cleaned out the Inbox / Draft / Send for the recalcitrant email address and was prepared to delete it. The question I have for you is that when you deleted the address in Mail, did it have any effect at all on the non-downloaded messages still sitting on Shaw's server that you can access via Shaw WebMail? I cannot imagine it does as the delete should be just on the iMac. Hope you are still looking back at this question. Thanks, David
 
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Cougurr

Well-Known Member
David
Well I can answer a couple of these questions from experience on this issue for sure. But a lot depends if this account with Shaw is an iMap account or POP account. Mine was a POP account so any POP email you have in the inbox of your account will be removed from your computer. If you move any or all of this email into a folder in the Mail program FIRST then it will all stay in your Mail program within that folder. At Shaw with your WebMail login you will have all the mail that was "current" back with them, but remember that is dependent on what you have set as your preferences back at shaw. If you elected to remove the email as soon as you downloaded it to you account in the Mail program on your computer then it will already be gone back at Shaw WebMail level. If you elected to remove it after one week or one month the same holds true based on your elected preference. I had already transferred my mail into folders on my Mac so was no a loss for me. Also I choose to manage my emails back at the Shaw Webmail level and remove them when I want to as I am using POP so they remain on the Shaw server until I move or delete them. When I re-created the Shaw mail account back on my computer it brought down all inbox mail from my Shaw Web Mail inbox.

Having said all this one of my accounts to this day is still not working. Other Shaw accounts I still have and use are now starting to give me grief in that often my main one will not send and I have to fiddle with the outgoing server to force it to go. Real pain. I am struggling to move over my mail now to iCloud account as suggested by members during our meetings. I find dealing with the Shaw issues of the day getting painful as they are so unpredictable. I hope what bit I can share with you does answer your question.
Regards
Colin
 

chas_m

Well-Known Member
Nine times out of ten, deleting the Shaw email account from Mail and then re-adding it will fix the issue, but BEFORE YOU DO THIS you need to make sure what your POP settings are so that the email you presumably wish to keep remains on Shaw's server, because if you delete a POP account where the email is deleted once it is on your Mac, then everything's going to disappear if you delete the account on the Mac, even just temporarily.

This is why I strongly recommend that pretty much everyone this side of hermits with literally only one internet-connected device either change their accounts to IMAP or create any new email accounts as IMAP. In addition the benefit of universal sync across devices, IMAP makes it easy to delete the account from a troublesome mail client and just re-add it again, with everything intact.
 

RideForever

Well-Known Member
David
Well I can answer a couple of these questions from experience on this issue for sure. But a lot depends if this account with Shaw is an iMap account or POP account. Mine was a POP account so any POP email you have in the inbox of your account will be removed from your computer. If you move any or all of this email into a folder in the Mail program FIRST then it will all stay in your Mail program within that folder. At Shaw with your WebMail login you will have all the mail that was "current" back with them, but remember that is dependent on what you have set as your preferences back at shaw. If you elected to remove the email as soon as you downloaded it to you account in the Mail program on your computer then it will already be gone back at Shaw WebMail level. If you elected to remove it after one week or one month the same holds true based on your elected preference. I had already transferred my mail into folders on my Mac so was no a loss for me. Also I choose to manage my emails back at the Shaw Webmail level and remove them when I want to as I am using POP so they remain on the Shaw server until I move or delete them. When I re-created the Shaw mail account back on my computer it brought down all inbox mail from my Shaw Web Mail inbox.

Having said all this one of my accounts to this day is still not working. Other Shaw accounts I still have and use are now starting to give me grief in that often my main one will not send and I have to fiddle with the outgoing server to force it to go. Real pain. I am struggling to move over my mail now to iCloud account as suggested by members during our meetings. I find dealing with the Shaw issues of the day getting painful as they are so unpredictable. I hope what bit I can share with you does answer your question.
Regards
Colin
Thanks Colin, I had forgotten about the intricacies of POP (which I use) vs IMAP. We elected to use a POP setup as we were travelling so much (will those days return?) and preferred to control deletion once we returned home and allowed our iMac & PC desktop to download emails from the Shaw server, then delete and then delete from the server. All fixed again, hopefully for awhile.
 

RideForever

Well-Known Member
Nine times out of ten, deleting the Shaw email account from Mail and then re-adding it will fix the issue, but BEFORE YOU DO THIS you need to make sure what your POP settings are so that the email you presumably wish to keep remains on Shaw's server, because if you delete a POP account where the email is deleted once it is on your Mac, then everything's going to disappear if you delete the account on the Mac, even just temporarily.

This is why I strongly recommend that pretty much everyone this side of hermits with literally only one internet-connected device either change their accounts to IMAP or create any new email accounts as IMAP. In addition the benefit of universal sync across devices, IMAP makes it easy to delete the account from a troublesome mail client and just re-add it again, with everything intact.
Thanks Charles - we had reasons for using POP (see reply to Colin) but with uncertainty about travel still for some time (we are prepared to be far more cautious than the great optimistics and unbelievers especially our neighbours to the south) it might mean a change to IMAP is worthwhile.
 
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