Troubleshooting

My Mail Can't Be Retrieved

When I check my mail, I get a "Fetch Error," saying that Mail couldn't connect to my mail server.

This can happen for various reasons, such as a problem with your Internet connection, a misconfigured e-mail account, and so on. Use the following steps to correct the problem.

1. Open and use another Internet application, such as a Web browser.

   If it works properly, there is a problem with Mail or your mail account configuration move to Step 2.

   If it doesn't work properly, you are having trouble with your Internet access, which is why your mail account can't be accessed. You need to troubleshoot your Net connection.

   For help troubleshooting your Net connection, see "Troubleshooting," p. 261.

2. If you have more than one e-mail account, try all your accounts. If you have problems with all your accounts, something might have happened to the Mail application.

   For help with troubleshooting applications, see Chapter 28, "Solving Mac Problems," p. 809.

   If your other accounts work, the problem is related to the specific account. If you have successfully retrieved e-mail under this account before, the problem is likely a temporary one with the server from which you retrieve e-mail or a temporary interruption in your communication with that server. In this case, wait awhile and try again later. If you continue to have problems or you have never been able to retrieve e-mail from this account, proceed to Step 3.

3. In Mail, choose Mail, Preferences.

4. Click the Accounts button.

5. Select the account with which you are having trouble.

6. Click Edit. Check the account information for that account, especially the Host Name, User Name, and Password fields, and correct any errors you find. If there are no errors in these fields, the account is configured properly.

7. Allow some time to pass and try the account again. If you are still unable to retrieve your mail, the problem might reside with the provider of the mail account.

8. Contact the technical support for the organization providing your mail service for further help.

My Mail Can't Be Sent

When I try to send mail, I get an error message stating that my mail can't be sent.

Troubleshooting this problem is quite similar to troubleshooting a problem retrieving mail. The only difference is in Step 7. You should carefully check the SMTP Host, SMTP User, and SMTP password boxes. If authentication is used for your SMTP account, make sure that the "Authentication" check box is checked.

For help troubleshooting a problem with sending mail, see "My Mail Can't Be Retrieved," p. 326.

Recipients of My Attachments Are Seeing Odd Things

People to whom I send attachments see duplicate files, missing file attachment messages, and other odd things.

This happens when the recipient's e-mail application does not fully support the AppleDouble encoding scheme that Mail uses to encode files you attach to your messages. Most e-mail applications will decode AppleDouble files well enough for the files to be used, although some strange things can happen on the recipient's end. A few e-mail applications can't decode AppleDouble at all. Problems with AppleDouble can be experienced with very old Mac e-mail applications, some Windows e-mail applications, and some Unix e-mail applications.

In some cases, the recipients will receive two files for each file you attach. AppleDouble sends two files; one contains the file data and other contains the resource information. Most of the time, the recipient will be able to use one of the duplicate files normally. The recipient can safely ignore the resource file and can work with the data file. Tell the recipients who are having problems to try opening the files to determine which one is the correct file. The recipients can discard the unused resource files.

The missing file attachment message can usually be ignored.

If the recipient's e-mail application is not able to decode the files at all, you will have to find another means to transmit the files to them, such as an e-mail application that enables you to choose a different encoding scheme. Or, you can create a .Mac Web site to share the files.

To learn how to use .Mac to share files, see "Using .Mac to Create and Serve Your Web Pages," p. 371.