Macintosh OS X Mail for MyUW.net
Note: These instructions are only
for configuring your email program to access email in
a MyUW.net account. Configuration instructions for UW
Email can be found on the Getting and
Setting Up Email Programs page.
Summary: This document provides
specific instructions on how to configure the Mail
application provided with Mac OS X for use with UW
email, directory, and news services. The example uses
Mail version 1.3 (with OS X 10.3)
Included on this page:
Older versions of OS X Mail should be used with some
caution, they have some behaviors that put an
unexpectedly heavy load on the UW email servers, they
may NOT be appropriate email software
for users that have either a large number of folders,
or big folders. If you do use "Apple Mail" then please
use at least version 1.3
The "Mail" application is automatically installed as
part of OS X. No separate installation is necessary.
NOTE: It is strongly recommended that
you use at least Mail version 1.3 (with OS X 10.3). You
MUST be sure you are using at LEAST
version 10.1.3 of OS X as prior versions do NOT provide
the ssl security necessary to connect to MyUW.net
services.
If you are experienced configuring Web and email
client software, just use the values in the Values
Summary box below.
| Use These Values to Configure
the Mac OS X Mail App |
| When Mail asks you for
the: |
It is looking for the: |
You Enter: |
| Email Address |
Your "@u." email address |
your_uwnetid@myuw.net* |
| Incoming Server |
UW IMAP Server |
your_uwnetid.deskmail.myuw.net
* |
| User name |
your mail account |
your_uwnetid |
| IMAP Path Prefix |
IMAP directory path |
mail |
| Outgoing Server |
UW SMTP server |
smtp.myuw.net** |
| LDAP Server |
UW LDAP server |
directory.washington.edu |
| LDAP Server, Search Base |
LDAP search root |
o=University of Washington, c=US |
* Where "your_uwnetid" is
replaced by your actual UW NetID. In the example that
follows, "myuwid" is used as the UW NetID.
**If using an Internet Service
Provider (ISP) OTHER than MyUW.net then use the SMTP
server provided by your ISP. Authentication (using UW
NetID and password) is required on MyUW.net SMTP
servers and compatible with Apple Mail. If
authentication is used you MUST also
use SSL for the SMTP connection, but can then use the
MyUW.net servers from a non-UW network connection.
To configure Mail for use at the UW, you will need
to set it up correctly. Be sure your computer
has an active Internet connection. If your computer
uses a modem to dial in and establish a PPP connection
(e.g., using "Internet Connect") be sure to dial in
BEFORE running the Mail app.
-
To run Mail just double-click the Mail application
icon in the "Applications" folder or click it in
the "Dock".
If Mail has not been run before, a "helper" may
appear, and you see a dialog window similar to the
one pictured below:
NOTE: If you don't see this dialog it just means
that Mail has been run before, and you need to continue here.
-
Unfortunately, this "helper" will NOT let you set
all the options you need to connect to UW email,
nor is there a simple "let me do it myself" button.
To escape the "helper" enter some bogus information
for your name and email address and click OK to get
a dialog box similar to the one pictured below:
- Click Ignore to get to the main Mail window as
pictured below. If Mail WAS run
previously you will also start at this point.
The main Mail window is pictured below, you may have
one (or more, or none...) email account already listed,
but need to add your UW account to Mail.
-
From the Mail menu, select Preferences, then (if
necessary) click the Accounts item to bring up the
accounts preferences panel, pictured below.
-
Click the "Plus" (lower/left) to add an account,
which will bring up the account information panel,
pictured below.
- Use the pop-up list next to Account Type: to
select "IMAP".
- For Description, enter an appropriate description
(as you prefer, e.g., "MyUW Internet Mail").
- For Email Address, enter your "@myuw.net" email
address.
- For Full Name, enter your full name.
- For Incoming Mail Server, enter your IMAP server
as your_uwnetid.deskmail.myuw.net where
your_uwnetid is replaced by
YOUR real UW NetID.
- For User name, enter your UW NetID.
- Optionally, for Password, enter your UW password,
if you do not enter it here you will simply be
prompted for it when needed.
-
For Outgoing Mail Server, click the double-headed
arrow (at the right of the SMTP server name) and
select "Add Server" to get a dialog box similar to
the one pictured below.
- For Outgoing Server
enter "smtp.myuw.net", unless you
are connecting via a non-UW network, in which case,
enter the SMTP server name as provided by the service
provider you DO use.
- Set "Server Port" to 587.
- Enable "Authentication" via "password".
- Enter your UW NetID as "User Name".
- Enter the password for your UW NetID.
- Click "OK" to close this subpanel.
-
Click the "Special Mailboxes" tab to continue with
the options panel pictured below.
- None of the checkboxes for Drafts, Sent or Junk
should be checked (yet)
- Be sure the checkbox next to "Move deleted
messages to Trash" is NOT
checked
-
Click the "Advanced" tab to continue with the
options panel pictured below.
- Be sure the checkbox next to "Enable this
account" is checked
- Be sure the checkbox next to "Include this
account when checking for new mail" is checked
- Be sure the checkbox next to "Compact mailboxes
when closing" is checked
- Leave the "Account Directory" blank for now, Mail
app will fill in an appropriate value itself (where
it stores account info on your computer).
- The setting for "Keep copies" is somewhat
controversial. Mail really WANTS to cache all
messages and attachments, that lets it provide
certain functions and services with good performance,
but MAY impose a performance burden when checking for
new messages. The setting shown, "only messages I've
read" places the smallest load on the UW mail
servers.
- Next to IMAP Path Prefix, you
MUST enter "mail" to see the same
folder collections that you see with Pine, WebPine,
etc.
- You MUST be sure the checkbox
next to "Use SSL" is checked (this will automatically
fill in the correct port number, 993).
- Select (from the pop-up list) an Authentication
method of "password".
-
Click the "General" item to bring up a dialog box
similar to that pictured below.
- Next to "Check for new mail:" select an interval
of at least every 10 minutes (which, with version
10.3, means using "every 15 minutes").
- Click the red button (top/left) to close the
Account configuration panels.
At this point enough of the configuration should be
done to let Mail app find your Inbox and folders (if
any) on the UW email server. When you've closed the
account configuration panel click on the "In" box at
the top of your list of mailboxes (if you don't see
that list, click on "Mailboxes" first) you may be
prompted for your password, and you should see messages
in your "UW" inbox listed in the main messages pane and
your folders will "fly out" in the panel to the side of
that. It may look something like the picture below.
By setting the "Account Prefix Path" to "mail"
you've already got Mail app and Pine (WebPine, etc.)
looking at the same starting place for folders. You
should probably also configure Mail app so that you can
see deleted messages (until expunged), similar to what
pine uses, and uses the same folders pine does for
copies of sent mail.
Note: Perform this configuration ONLY
AFTER getting the basic Mail app configuration
above done and having seen a list of your UW email
folders from within the Mail app.
- If it isn't already running, run the Mail app (be
sure you have an active Internet connection
first...).
- Click on your "sent-mail" folder in the list of
folders, this will select that folder for the next
action. From the "Mailbox" menu select "Use Selected
Mailbox for -> Sent". Note that when you do this
your "sent-mail" folder will
DISAPPEAR from the list of folders!
It is now represented by the "Sent" folder, but it is
still really named "sent-mail" on the server, so
you'll see the same sent messages from OS X Mail,
Pine, WebPine, etc.
- By default, Mail app will have created a "Drafts"
folder that is ON your Macintosh's disk. It is not
possible to share a "Drafts" ("postponed") messages
folder between Pine and Mail app, so this is probably
fine. If you use OS X Mail app on MULTIPLE computers
you can choose to save the Drafts folder on server
under Mail->Preferences->Account->(your
account)->Edit->Special Mailboxes and there
turn on the option to store Drafts on the
server.
- Since this combination of settings will leave
"deleted" messages in the folder until "compacted"
(similar to Pine's "expunge") you may want to set the
option to view such deleted messages. From the View
menu item, if you see an option to "Show Deleted
Messages" then select it. When selected, this will
toggle to become "Hide Deleted Messages". Also note
that we previously set Mail app, under advanced
account options, to automatically compact folders on
exit.
You will probably want to set the message
composition option to send "plain text" by default, so
that it can be read by the most people with the least
trouble.
- If it isn't already running, run Mail (be sure
you have an active Internet connection
first...).
-
From the Mail menu, select Preferences, then click
the Composing item to bring up the composing
preferences panel, pictured below.
- Next to Format, use the pop-up list to select
"Plain Text".
- Click the red circle (top/left) to close the
preferences panel.
- If it isn't already running, run Mail (be sure
you have an active Internet connection
first...).
-
From the Mail menu, select Preferences, then click
the Composing item to bring up the composing
preferences panel, pictured below.
- Be sure the checkbox next to "Automatically
complete addresses" is checked.
-
Click "Configure LDAP" to bring up the server
configuration panel, similar to the picture below.
-
Click "Plus" (lower/left) to add a new LDAP
service, which brings up a panel similar to the
picture below.
- Click next to "Name" and add a descriptive name
as you prefer (e.g., "UW LDAP")
- Click next to "Server" and enter
"directory.washington.edu"
-
Click next to "Search Base" and enter
o=University of Washington, c=US
NOTE: Type this exactly as it appears. The first
character is the letter "oh" (NOT the number zero).
Be sure to include the comma and the space after
Washington. Also note that you can change the
behavior of the LDAP search by modifying this
string. For example, to limit the search to ONLY UW
faculty and staff use
ou=Faculty and Staff, ou=People, o=University of
Washington, c=US
Or, to limit to students only use
ou=Students, ou=People, o=University of
Washington, c=US
- Leave the Port and Scope at the default (389,
Subtree) settings.
- Click "Save" and "Close"
-
Click the red circle (top/left) to close the
preferences panel.
Note that Mail actually cooperates with the OS X
"Address Book" program, and it is the
Address Book program that actually
was configured with the LDAP server
information.
There is currently no single easy and reliable
method to convert Pine address books to OS X Mail.
Unlike many other "mail" clients, the Mac OS X Mail
cannot function as a "news" reader.
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