Apple Mail.app for OS X

Setting Up a New Account
Mail ver. 1.2.5 (in OS X 10.2.8 and below)
  1. From the Mail program's "Mail" menu, choose "Preferences".
    A new window will appear, entitled "Accounts".
    (If it doesn't say "Accounts", click the Accounts icon.)
  2. Click the "Add Account" button.
    • Under "Account Type", select "POP" or "IMAP".
    • Under "Description", type "Panix email", or something else that identifies this profile to you.
    • Type your email address and full name in the fields provided.
    • In "Incoming Mail Server", type: mail.panix.com
    • In "User Name", type your mail account username.
      (This is usually the same as the user's email address.)
    • Check "Outgoing Mail Server"; it should say "mail.panix.com".
  3. Click "OK" to return to your list of accounts. Your new profile should be on the list now.
  4. Close the window.
Mail ver. 1.3.8 (in OS X 10.3.x)
  1. From the Mail program's "Mail" menu, choose "Preferences".
    A new window will appear, entitled "Accounts".
    (If it doesn't say "Accounts", click the Accounts icon.)
  2. Click the "+" button at the bottom underneath the accounts list on the left.
  3. Fill in the following under the "Accounts Information" tab/button
    • Under "Account Type", choose "POP" or "IMAP" from the pulldown list.
    • Under "Description", type "Panix email", or something else that identifies this profile to you.
    • Type your email address and full name in the fields provided.
    • In "Incoming Mail Server", type: mail.panix.com
    • In "User Name", type your mail account username.
      (This is usually the same as the user's email address.)
    • In "Outgoing Mail Server", click on the pull down list and go to "Add Server".
    • In the SMTP Server Options pop-up window, enter: mail.panix.com
  4. Click "OK" to return to your list of account settings.
  5. Close the "Accounts" window, clicking Save when prompted to save your changes.
Mail ver. 2.01 (in OS X 10.4.x)
  1. From the Mail program's "Mail" menu, choose "Preferences".
    A new window will appear, entitled "Accounts". (If it doesn't say "Accounts", click the Accounts icon.)
  2. Click the "+" button at the bottom underneath the Accounts sidebar/list on the left.
  3. A "General Information" dialog should appear asking for the following settings to be chosen:
    • Under "Account Type", choose "POP" or "IMAP" from the pulldown list.
    • Under "Description", type "Panix email", or something else that identifies this profile to you.
    • Type your email address and full name in the fields provided.
    • Click the Continue button.
  4. On the "Incoming Mail Server" screen fill in the following:
    • For "Incoming Mail Server", type "mail.panix.com".
    • In "User Name", type your mail account username.
      (This is usually the same as the user's email address.)
    • In "Password", type your mail account password.
      (If you don't know your password, contact your administrator or Panix Support)
    • Click the Continue button.
      (Note: You may see a message if you've chosen IMAP and you cannot connect to the IMAP server specified at this time. This is normal if you are not connected to the internet at this time and you may continue with the rest of the setup.)
  5. On the "Incoming Mail Security" screen:
    • Check the "Use Secure Sockets Layer" to use SSL to encrypt traffic between your computer and the mail host (or leave it unchecked if you choose not to use SSL)
    • If you chose to use SSL you must choose "Password" as the Authentication method from the choices in the pulldown menu.
    • Click the Continue button.
  6. In the "Outgoing Mail Server" screen:
    • Enter mail.panix.com in the "Outgoing Mail Server" field. (Note: If you've already configured other accounts to use a different outgoing server, you may choose to use that server be selecting it from the pull-down menu.)
    • Check the "Use Authentication" box if you've chosen to use mail.panix.com as your Outgoing server AND you're not connected to the internet using Panix as your ISP.
    • If you checked the "Use Authentication" box, you must enter your Panix username and password in the username and password fields. (Note: your username is your full email address).
    • Click the Continue button.
      (Note: You may see a message that the SMTP server you specified is "not responding" This is normal if you are not connected to the internet at this time and you may continue with the rest of the setup.)
  7. On the "Outgoing Mail Security" screen:
    • Check the "Use Secure Sockets Layer" to use SSL to encrypt traffic between your computer and the mail host. (or leave it unchecked if you choose not to use SSL)
    • If you chose to use SSL you must choose "Password" as the Authentication method from the choices in the pulldown menu
    • Click the Continue button.
  8. On the "Account Summary" screen you'll see a listing of the settings you just entered. If you find any errors or want to make any changes, click the "Go Back" button to reach the screen you wish to change, other wise, Click the Continue button.
  9. On the "Conclusion" screen you can choose to create another account or click the Done button.
  10. Close the "Accounts" dialog Preferences window.
Modifying an Existing Account
  1. Launch Apple Mail.
  2. Go To Mail -> Preferences window and choose Accounts.
  3. Select the Account you wish to change in the list (if you have multiple accounts).
  4. Select the Account Information button, you will see 3 sections.
  5. In top section, you may change the Description (how this account appears to you in the Accounts list), your email address and full name.
  6. In middle section, you may change the Incoming mail server name, the username (in the case of Panix corp. mailboxes, this is the same as your email address), and your password.
  7. In the bottom section you can change the Outgoing server by selection from the drop-down menu, or by creating a new on by clicking on the "Server Settings" button. NOTE: This is also the place where you can specify whether to use SMTP Authentication or not when sending mail. (see next section below on SMTP Auth).
Setting Up SMTP Authentication

SMTP Authentication is used when you're trying to send mail out through Panix's mail servers while connected to a non-Panix network. Click here for a full explanation of when & why this is necessary.

  1. From the Mail program's "Mail" menu, choose "Preferences".
    A new window will appear, entitled "Accounts".
    (If it doesn't say "Accounts", click the Accounts icon.)
  2. Click to highlight your Panix email account, and click "Edit".
    Make sure "Outgoing Mail Server" says "mail.panix.com".
  3. Click "Options..." (Note: Some versions may say "Server Settings" instead.)
    • Change "Authentication" to "Password".
    • Type your Panix mail account username in "User Name".
    • If you wish, type your password.
    • Click "OK".
  4. Optional: You may also change your SMTP port by entering an new value in the box next to "SMTP Server Port"
  5. Click "OK" to return to your list of accounts, and close the window.
Setting Up SSL

SSL (Secure Socket Layer) is a protocol for secure transmission across the Internet. Many mail clients support email transfers (both retrieval and sending) over an SSL connection.

OS X Mail.app (1.2.5 v.553)
  1. Open Mail.app. Click "Mail" -> "Preferences".
    Highlight the account you wish to change, then click "Edit". At this point, there are two steps, one for POP/IMAP and one for SMTP.
  2. For POP/IMAP: Click the "Options" button at the bottom of the sheet labelled "Acount Information" and put a check in the box labelled "Use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)". Save your work.
  3. For SMTP: At the initial dialog box for "Edit", find the tab labelled "Advanced" and click it. On that sheet, find the box for SSL and put a check in it. It's labelled "Use SSL". Save your work.
OS X Mail.app 1.3.7 (v.615/613)
  1. Open Mail.app. Click "Mail" -> "Preferences".
  2. Click on the Accounts button in tool bar. Highlight the account you wish to change. At this point, there are two steps, one for POP/IMAP and one for SMTP.
  3. For POP/IMAP: Click the "Advanced" button. In the lower portion of the settings area, there is a box labeled "Port". Delete any numbers in there and check the box next to it called "Use SSL". Below that make sure the "Authentication" is set to "Password".
  4. For SMTP: Click the "Account Information" button. Click the "Server Settings" button located just under the "Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP)" drop-down setting. Change the "Server port" number to 465. Check the box beneath that to "Use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)". Authentication method should be set to "Password". Click "OK" to save the changes and then close the Accounts settings window (saving changes as prompted).
Viewing Full Headers of a Message

Sometimes Panix staff will need to see the full "headers" of a message in order to diagnose a problem. (This is also how one can determine the actual origin of a given message.)

  1. Open Mail.app and locate a message you wish to view headers for and select it in the mail index window.
  2. In the "View" menu Go To "Message" then "Long Headers"
  3. In the top section of your message window are the full headers of the message. Copy & paste it in its entirety when you are asked to provide the full headers of some problematic email. (Note: if you hit the "Forward" button while viewing the message with full headers, these headers will automatically be included in your forwarded message.)

Bugs and Known Issues
There are no known bugs at this time.

Please Note: The default behavior after creating a standard POP account is that Mail.app deletes mail from the server after a period of one week after it's been downloaded. This setting can be changed to best fit your usage but we note it here so you may be aware that even though you've downloaded your message from the server, it still remains and will count towards your storage allotment until it's actually deleted from the server.


Last Modified:Wednesday, 30-Jan-2013 12:14:07 EST
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