This topic

Struggling to Add BT Email Account to MacBook

ChrisNorwich — Sun, 27 Feb 2022 09:39:23 GMT

Morning all,

I've set up a BT email address and it works fine as a webmail application, but I'd like to have the account in my OSX Mail app as well.

I go to Mail / Add Account / Other mail account / type my email address and password but just get the spinning grey wheel for two minutes. Sometimes it asks me to add the incoming and outgoing servers so I use the settings recommended in this article:

https://btbusiness.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/18747/~/how-to-set-up-your-email-in-mac-mail

But I keep getting the error 'Unable to verify account name or password.' (I've intentionally left email address blank just for the screenshot.)

Are these setting correct? Thanks in advance.

Chris

Re: Struggling to Add BT Email Account to MacBook

licquorice — Sun, 27 Feb 2022 11:30:09 GMT

If you are a residential customer these are the settings https://www.bt.com/help/email/manage-email-account/manual-settings/what-are-the-settings-for-outgoing-and-incoming-bt-email-servers

If you are a business customer you will need to ask on the business forum

Re: Struggling to Add BT Email Account to MacBook

ChrisNorwich — Sun, 27 Feb 2022 12:58:10 GMT

Thanks for the reply, but I've tried those settings as well. (Although on the IMAP Settings section of the article you linked there is no listing for outgoing mail server. But I've seen other articles recommend using mail.btinternet.com for both so that's what I've done.)

Re: Struggling to Add BT Email Account to MacBook

licquorice — Sun, 27 Feb 2022 13:33:05 GMT

@ChrisNorwich wrote:

Although on the IMAP Settings section of the article you linked there is no listing for outgoing mail server.

There won't be, IMAP is purely the incoming server, the outgoing server is SMTP, the settings for which are detailed in the page linked.

Outlook 365 does seem to be problematic with BT email for some reason.

Make sure you haven't selected secure password authentication in the SMTP settings.

Re: Struggling to Add BT Email Account to MacBook

ChrisNorwich — Sun, 27 Feb 2022 14:23:06 GMT

Thanks again for the reply. The two account type options OSX Mail gives you are IMAP and POP, so I'm not sure how I'd access the SMTP settings. Would you advise me to leave Outgoing Mail Server blank for IMAP, or would that not make a difference?

Re: Struggling to Add BT Email Account to MacBook

licquorice — Sun, 27 Feb 2022 15:17:40 GMT

Sorry, I have no knowledge of Mac devices and their completely weird and non standard ways. However, IMAP and POP3 are incoming mail protocols and SMTP is an outgoing mail protocol. Incoming and outgoing are completely independent configurations. Outgoing server configuration for IMAP is a complete oxymoron but if that is how it is presented in the setup then the server needs to be mail.btinternet.com with port 465 and plain authentication.

Re: Struggling to Add BT Email Account to MacBook

ChrisNorwich — Sun, 27 Feb 2022 15:19:14 GMT

No problem; I can relate to Macs being weird! Thanks for your help.

Re: Struggling to Add BT Email Account to MacBook

licquorice — Sun, 27 Feb 2022 15:24:37 GMT

There should be an advanced settings option somewhere to set the SMTP parameters

Re: Struggling to Add BT Email Account to MacBook

licquorice — Sun, 27 Feb 2022 15:31:01 GMT

Try this to make sure settings are correct.

Select Tools > Accounts.
Select the email account you want to change.
Update your account description, personal information, username and password, or other settings, depending on the type of account you're editing.
When finished with your updates, select OK.

Re: Struggling to Add BT Email Account to MacBook

ChrisNorwich — Sun, 27 Feb 2022 15:41:37 GMT

When you say 'Tools > Accounts,' what app are you in? (There's no Tools menu in Mail.) Do you mean on My BT somewhere?)

I did try to find some advanced settings in System Preferences somewhere but couldn't. There's only the 'Internet Accounts' section, and I couldn't find anything there.

Re: Struggling to Add BT Email Account to MacBook

licquorice — Sun, 27 Feb 2022 15:44:30 GMT

No idea, I just googled where to change settings for Outlook on Mac OS. I assume in Outlook.

In Outlook 2010 for Windows it is in File > Account Settings > More Settings > Advanced tab

Have you tried a different mail client?

Re: Struggling to Add BT Email Account to MacBook

licquorice — Sun, 27 Feb 2022 15:46:52 GMT

I'm a little confused as to which mail client you are using? Outlook 365 or OSx mail app?

Re: Struggling to Add BT Email Account to MacBook

licquorice — Sun, 27 Feb 2022 15:52:31 GMT

I'm now assuming the Outlook 365 is a red herring and you are in fact using Mac mail.

Does this help https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/mail/cpmlprefacctadv/15.0/mac/12.0

Re: Struggling to Add BT Email Account to MacBook

Anonymous — Sun, 27 Feb 2022 16:37:12 GMT

Might be worth searching YouTube for a walk through of email setup that will show where Apple have hidden all the manual settings.

Re: Struggling to Add BT Email Account to MacBook

ChrisNorwich — Sun, 27 Feb 2022 18:02:10 GMT

It's the OSX Mail app.

Re: Struggling to Add BT Email Account to MacBook

ChrisNorwich — Sun, 27 Feb 2022 18:06:44 GMT

Not exactly, but thanks for trying; it seems you can only access the Server settings for an account you've already added. You can add an account on that page by clicking the + at the bottom, but that simply begins the same procedure I've been trying.

Re: Struggling to Add BT Email Account to MacBook

licquorice — Sun, 27 Feb 2022 18:09:34 GMT

Yes, but surely if the account has been added and doesn't work you can go back and edit the settings.

Re: Struggling to Add BT Email Account to MacBook

ChrisNorwich — Sun, 27 Feb 2022 18:15:37 GMT

I get the box I've been screenshotting. You can choose an account type (IMAP or POP) and enter the incoming and outgoing mail server details. Everything I've tried leads to the red error message. (i.e. It doesn't add in the first place.)

Re: Struggling to Add BT Email Account to MacBook

licquorice — Sun, 27 Feb 2022 18:17:29 GMT

OK, but once it has failed there can you not then go to Mail > Preferences, click Accounts, then click Server Settings and manually change the settings as per the link I posted?

Re: Struggling to Add BT Email Account to MacBook

Mycroft1 — Wed, 11 Jan 2023 16:06:36 GMT

I still have this problem with MacBook Pro Ventura 13.01, can’t past the spinning grey wheel to add an account to fix afterwards. Anybody find a solution.