This topic

btinternet email server refusing to send outgoing messages - rejecting as having spam/phishing conte

Crizzle — Thu, 26 Aug 2021 08:25:44 GMT

I anybody else having this problem. I cannot send even the simplest of messages this morning. I consistently receive this warning: whenever I try.

I am not having any such problems with my iCloud server so I do not think its a snag with Apple Mail. I cannot find an obvious way of asking bt about this!

Re: btinternet email server refusing to send outgoing messages - rejecting as having spam/phishing c

Crizzle — Wed, 25 Aug 2021 20:18:17 GMT

I have got my email working again. I am not quite sure how/why but it may help if I describe the actions that I took to get it working again. It seems that my account SMTP setup was changed (without my input). When I ran Connection Doctor (available in Mail/Window/Connection Doctor) my btinternet connection showed green (OK) but I noticed that the SMTP connection details said "login not required". I selected my btinternet IMAP account in the accounts window of the preferences panel, selected "Server Settings" and unchecked the "Automatically manage connection settings" checkbox in the SMTP section to open up the SMTP settings dialogue. The "Port" was set to 587 (correct) and "Use TLS/SSL" was checked (correct) but "Authentication" was set to "None". I changed "Authentication" to "Password" and clicked on "Save". I exited and restarted Mail and was then able to send emails again. (The fix did not work until I had quit Mail and relaunched it.)

Re: can't send emails since this afternoon

Crizzle — Thu, 26 Aug 2021 10:40:33 GMT

I have the exact same problem. It's very annoying and slightly weird. The problem is also affected by the addressee. I can send test messages to my iCloud e-mail but not other addresses. I thought that I had fixed the issue last night by resaving my IMAP SMTP settings and restarting Apple Mail but the problem has reappeared this morning. It's reassuring not to be alone. I just hope Andy_N's observation that "the issue can clear itself after a day or two" proves to be the case. If not, how do we get a moderator involved?

Re: can't send emails since this afternoon

licquorice — Thu, 26 Aug 2021 12:18:07 GMT

Although port 587 will usually work, port 465 is the recommended port. It might be worth changing your SMTP port to see if that helps.

Re: can't send emails since this afternoon

Crizzle — Thu, 26 Aug 2021 13:00:47 GMT

Thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately, it did not work. My wife has a btinternet email account linked to mine and yet she is not having any problems sending messages from Apple Mail. I can send messages on iPhone and webmail but not via Apple Mail on either of my Macs (MacBookPro and iMac).

Re: can't send emails since this afternoon

licquorice — Thu, 26 Aug 2021 13:08:45 GMT

As an experiment, can you try a different mail client other than Apple Mail on one of your Macs and see if that works.

Re: can't send emails since this afternoon

Crizzle — Thu, 26 Aug 2021 14:22:44 GMT

The issue has resolved itself on my MacBookPro (macOS 11.5) but it's still there on the iMac (macOS 10.15). I installed Spark on the iMac but it can't login to my btinternet mail account (it can't establish a stable connection) so I cannot test it with another client. The destination account that I am using for tests is another btinternet account (my wife's) - in fact it's a subaccount to my own account. Both accounts are loaded into Mail on the iMac but only mine is on the MacBookPro. Maybe that's the issue, although there has been no problem up until yesterday. I can send mail to my iCloud email OK on both machines, which I could not do when the problem first arose yesterday. I guess I will have stop e-mailing my wife from the iMac (I could even talk to her!). Thanks for your help - I can now send messages to 'external' accounts from the iMac and to all addresses from the MacBookPro so I should be satisfied.

Re: can't send emails since this afternoon

Crizzle — Thu, 26 Aug 2021 14:27:33 GMT

Oops. I spoke too soon. It seems that I can only send messages to my iCloud account from the iMac. I just tried to send a message to an 'external' btinternet account on the iMac and it failed again.

Re: can't send emails since this afternoon

Crizzle — Thu, 26 Aug 2021 14:33:39 GMT

Just one other thing that might be relevant. I have had an empty VIPs mailbox suddenly appear in the sidebar of Apple Mail.

Re: can't send emails since this afternoon

licquorice — Thu, 26 Aug 2021 15:05:08 GMT

Its probably not directly relevant to your problem, but who knows with Apple!!

Re: can't send emails since this afternoon

Crizzle — Thu, 26 Aug 2021 15:10:00 GMT

Hey ho! Spark works fine on the MacBookPro. Things are looking dodgy for the iMac ...

Re: can't send emails since this afternoon

licquorice — Thu, 26 Aug 2021 15:14:05 GMT

You could always try Mozilla Thunderbird, I believe they do a Mac version.

Re: can't send emails since this afternoon

Crizzle — Thu, 26 Aug 2021 16:26:25 GMT

I got Spark to connect to my btinternet account OK by resetting the server ports to 993 and 465. I cannot send any messages at all from Spark on the iMac. It would seem that my being able to send a message to my iCloud account from the iMac is an Apple peculiarity. Spark works a treat on the MacBookPro - no problems with sending messages at all. I wonder if its an OS problem (11.5 works; 10.15 doesn't)?

Re: can't send emails since this afternoon

licquorice — Thu, 26 Aug 2021 16:37:50 GMT

Sorry, but as far as I'm concerned Apple products are the work of the devil and wouldn't give them house room. 😀

Re: can't send emails since this afternoon

Crizzle — Thu, 26 Aug 2021 16:42:25 GMT

Oops (again)! Spark made all the right noises when I sent the message but later it declared there was a problem and I needed to edit the message. I was, however, able to send the same message in Apple Mail without any issues. The message from Spark never appeared on webmail; the message from Apple Mail did.

Re: can't send emails since this afternoon

Crizzle — Fri, 27 Aug 2021 13:37:46 GMT

Thanks, liquorice, for your advice. The problem has mysteriously disappeared . It was there this morning at 0800 but it was gone by 1330. I seem to recall someone suggesting that it might and so it did. Hurrah.