If an issue occurs when sending or receiving email messages in Mac OS X v10.6, use this article to discover where the issue may be occurring, and also learn how to troubleshoot it. Overview For the Mail application to send and receive email messages successfully, four parts of the email system have to work. The four parts are: The email message itself: Your message needs to have the correct email address of the person you are sending the email message to. If the message has attachments, they cannot be larger than what is allowed by your email service provider (ESP) as well as the recipient's service provider. The exact limit may vary by service provider. The Mail application's configuration: The application Mail on your Mac has to be configured with the correct server settings from your email service provider to send and receive email. The Internet connection: Your connection to the Internet via an Internet Service Provider (ISP) must allow the necessary network connections between your Mac and your email service provider (if they're not the same). The email server: Your email service provider (ESP) needs to have their email servers up and running, and accepting your account login user name and password. To resolve an issue with sending or receiving email in Mail, you need to determine which of the four parts is causing the issue, then troubleshoot the issue using this article (or contact the tech support related to the part that is causing your issue). This is detailed below. Note: Your Internet Service Provider, such as Comcast, RoadRunner, AOL and so forth, may or may not be the same as your email service provider, such as Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, Apple's MobileMe.
More from Apple OS X Support ...
