1.3 Configuring Mail

The information you enter for your .Mac account in the .Mac preference panel (see Figure 1-1) is automatically used by your email client, which by default is set to use Apple's Mail application. This makes it really easy for you to start using your Mac.com email account quickly.

To check Mail's settings, launch the Mail application ( /Applications ) and select Mail Preferences (or use its keyboard shortcut, -,) from the menu bar. When the preferences window opens, you'll see Mail's General settings, as shown in Figure 1-3.

Figure 1-3. Mail's preference pane.

To choose a different email client, click on the pop-up menu next to the heading, Default Email Reader, and choose the Select option. A sheet will slide down from the preference window's titlebar, placing you in the Applications folder, from which you can select another email application.

By default, your .Mac email account is configured to use the Internet Mail Access Protocol, or IMAP, for managing your mail on Apple's email server. The use of IMAP means that your email will be stored on Apple's email servers, making it always available to you, either via the Mail application on your Mac or by using an online version of Mail from the Mac.com web site (more on that in Chapter 4).

If you use IMAP, you should keep in mind that although you're checking email on your computer, your mail is stored Apple's servers, not on your computer. The advantage to this is that your email won't take up a lot of space on your hard drive. The downside is that you need to be diligent about managing the mail stored online, otherwise , you could lose any incoming mail until you either purchase additional email storage (see later) or delete any unwanted messages.

If you decide that you'd rather use POP (Post Office Protocol) to permanently download your .Mac mail to your Mac, there is a way to trick Mail into doing this. Just follow these steps:

1. Launch the Mail application by clicking on its icon in the Dock.

2. Select Mail Preferences from the menu bar (or use the keyboard shortcut -,).

3. Click on the Accounts icon near the top of the preference window to see the current settings for your .Mac email account, shown in Figure 1-4.

   Figure 1-4. Mail's default settings for your .Mac email account.

   
   

4. Just below the Accounts column on the lefthand side of the window, you'll see two buttons : one with a plus sign (+) and the other with a minus sign (-). To add an account, click on the plus sign button; to delete an account, click on the minus sign button. Since we want to trick Mail into using POP for your .Mac email, we're going to add another account, so click on the plus sign button.

5. Now you have a blank slate with which to work. To configure your .Mac account to use POP mail, follow these steps:

   1. From the pop-up menu next to Account Type, select POP.

   2. In the Description field, just type in your .Mac member name ; for example, mine is chuckdude .

   3. In the Email Address field, enter your .Mac email address, which should be your .Mac member name followed by @mac.com; for example, mine is [e-mail].

   4. In the Full Name field, enter your first and last name; mine is Chuck Toporek.

   5. Set the Incoming Mail Server to mail.mac.com. This is the server that Mail checks for any new email messages.

   6. Set the User Name field to your .Mac member name (again, mine is chuckdude ).

   7. Type in your .Mac account's password into the Password field. As you enter your password, you won't be able to actually see the characters , since they are hidden by little black round circles, known as bullets . If you think you've made a mistake while entering your password, just hit the Delete key to go backwards , and then re-enter the password again.

   8. In the Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP) pop-up menu, leave that set to smtp.mac.com: membername (mine is set to smtp.mac.com:chuckdude ).

   When you've finished these steps, the Accounts preference window should look similar to Figure 1-5.

   Figure 1-5. Configuring Mail to use POP for getting your .Mac email.

   
   

6. Now click on the Advanced tab so you can further define how Mail will handle your .Mac account's email.

7. Make sure that the checkbox next to "Remove mail from server after retrieving a message" is checked, and then select "Right away" from the pop-up menu just beneath that, as shown in Figure 1-6.

   Figure 1-6. In the Advanced tab, set up Mail so that it downloads your .Mac email from the server if there is any new mail waiting for you.

   
   

8. Click on the Account Information tab.

9. In the Accounts column to the left, click on your original Mac.com email account (in looking at Figure 1-6, mine would be the top account). When you select that name, the sheet shown in Figure 1-7 slides out of the toolbar, asking you if you want to Save Changes. Click on the Save button to save the POP account you just created.

   Figure 1-7. Click on the Save button to save the new POP email account you created for receiving your .Mac email.

   
   

10. After you click on the Save button, Mail will recognize that you've created another account with the email address of membername @mac.com , and will prompt you with the alert window shown in Figure 1-8. Since the account you created is a different type (a POP account), click on the Yes button to continue with the save and dismiss the alert window.

    Figure 1-8. Mail tries to be smart, but we know better. Click on the Yes button to continue saving the new account.

    
    

Okay, we're almost there. Now that you've created the POP account in Mail's preferences, it's time to go back and delete the original .Mac email account, which uses IMAP. Remember, the difference between POP and IMAP is that POP will download the mail to your Mac and remove the mail from the server. IMAP downloads a copy of the mail to your Mac, but leaves the messages on the server, where you can view them online using a web browser from any computer anywhere . We'll cover the web-based email in Chapter 4.

Now let's get rid of that IMAP account in Mail:

1. With the original Mac.com email address highlighted in the Accounts column, click on the minus sign (-) button, at the lower-left of the window. When you do, Mail pops up an alert window (shown in Figure 1-9) asking you to confirm whether you really want to delete that account.

   Figure 1-9. Mail asks you to confirm whether you want to remove the account.

   
   

2. The alert window tells you that deleting the account will erase any mailboxes for the account, but it won't affect any of the messages on the server. The reason why it won't delete the messages on the server is because this account used IMAP to keep the mail on the server and make it readable from anywhere. To erase the account, click on the OK button.

Congratulations, you've just learned how to set up Mail to use POP to access to your .Mac email. After you've deleted the IMAP account, Mail's Accounts preference panel should look similar to Figure 1-10.

Figure 1-10. Your new POP account settings for your .Mac email account.

Notice that the Account Type says POP next to it. The advantage to having Mail configured to use POP for your .Mac email is that when you check mail on your Mac, the email will download off the server and will be stored on your Mac's hard drive (stored in ~/Library/Mail ). By downloading the mail from the server, you don't have to worry as much about running over your 15 MB email storage limit on the .Mac server. Another advantage to keeping a local copy of your email is that you can use the Backup application to back up your mail.

Also, setting up Mail to use POP for getting at your .Mac email doesn't mean you still can't use IMAP. You can, but just over the Web. If you point Safari (or some other web browser) at http://www.mac.com/webmail, you can log in using your .Mac member name and password and use the web-based Mail service. You can read, send, and manage your email online, and the next time you download mail on your Mac using Mail and the POP account, all of your online email will download to your computer. This makes it possible for you to keep a local copy of your email on your Mac, and still be able to read your email when you're away on business or vacation by most modern web browsers, including Safari, Mozilla, and Internet Explorer.

1.3.1 Purchasing email-only accounts

By default, every .Mac member receives one Mac.com email account. However, if you wish to purchase additional Mac.com email addresses, you can purchase up to 10 additional email accounts for $10 each per year. The email-only accounts you create are assigned 10 MB of email storage space; this is separate from the 15 MB of storage allotted to your main .Mac email address.

Unlike your main Mac.com email address, you cannot upgrade the amount of storage space assigned to any email-only account. If you need more than 10 MB of email storage for an email-only account, you will need to upgrade that email account to a full .Mac membership, which gives you 15 MB of storage and is upgradeable to a higher amount (and also all of the other benefits of a .Mac account).

To purchase an additional Mac.com email account, go to System Preferences .Mac iDisk, and then click on the Buy More button. (I realize that you're not wishing to purchase additional iDisk space, but this is the quickest way to getting to this optiontrust me.) You will be taken to the Mac.com web site, where you'll be prompted for your .Mac member name and password to log in. Once in, you'll be taken to the "Upgrade your .Mac membership" page.

At the top of this page, you will see a section titled Email Accounts, with a drop-down menu that's set to "zero" additional email-only account(s). To purchase an additional email account, click on the drop-down menu and select the number of additional Mac.com email accounts you'd like to purchase, scroll down on the web page ( -Down Arrow), and then click on the Continue button.

After verifying or changing your credit card information on the second page, click on the Continue button. After your account information has been verified , you will be taken to a third page, which lets you know how much your credit card will be charged for the additional email account(s). The amount you will be charged for the additional account is prorated for the number of days remaining until your .Mac account is up for renewal. Click on the Buy Now button to complete the transaction.

Once the order has been processed , you will see a page that says "Print your information" at the upper right. This page is your "receipt" for the charge to your credit card for the new email account(s) you've purchased. After you print this page (use -P), click on the Continue button; you still have a little more work to do.

Next, you'll be taken to a page that says "Your .Mac membership has been successfully upgraded." On that page, you'll see a button labeled Email Account Setup; click on that button to set up the additional email-only accounts. The next page you will see is shown in Figure 1-11.

Figure 1-11. Creating a new email-only account.

Click on the Create New Account button to be taken to the "Create a new email account" page, shown in Figure 1-12.

Figure 1-12. Create an extra email account by filling in the blanks.

Enter your first and last name in the Personal Information section, and then enter the Account Information in the spaces provided. Enter the Member Name you'd like to use for your alternate Mac.com email account in the space provided. The name you choose here should be different from your main .Mac member name. After entering the desired Member Name, assign a password for the account and confirm it in the space below. Don't forget what we've said about password security. You should choose a password that's both different from your computer's password and from your main .Mac membership. When you've completed entering the information, click on the Continue button.

Paperless Security

If you don't want to run the risk of losing a piece of paper with your account information on it, you could take a screenshot of Figure 1-13 instead. To do this, use Shift- -3 to shoot the entire screen, or Shift- -4 to select just that information. If you use Shift- -4, the mouse pointer will change to a set of crosshairs. To take the screenshot, click and hold the mouse button down at the upper-left corner of the web page, and then drag the mouse to the lower-right corner to select the area for the screenshot. When you let go of the mouse button, the screenshot will be taken.

By default, the screenshot will be saved to your Desktop as a PDF file, named something like Picture 1.pdf . Since this filename will be easy to confuse with something else, you might want to rename the file and move it to someplace other than your Desktop. To rename the file, follow these steps:

1. Click once on the icon and hit Return.

2. Hit the Left Arrow ( ) key to move to the beginning of the filename.

3. Hold down the Shift-Option keys and then press the Right Arrow ( ) key three times to select the current filename (but not the period or the file's extension).

4. Enter a new name for the file, such as xtradotmacmail .

5. Hit the Return key to accept the new filename. The file will now be named xtradotmacmail.pdf .

To keep this file from being viewed by prying eyes, click on the file's icon and select File Get Info ( -I). At the top of the Info window, select the checkbox next to Lock to lock the file. Next, click on the disclosure triangle next to the Ownership & Permissions section. Under Group and Others, select No Access from the drop-down menus . Now if someone logs on to your Mac, they won't be able to view this file without entering your username and password.

If the Account Name you've chosen has already been taken (which is highly likely), you will be taken to another page so you can try again. If the Account Name you've chosen is accepted, you will see a page similar to the one shown in Figure 1-13.

Figure 1-13. Confirm the new member name for the extra email account.

You should print this page and file it in a safe place, since it contains both your .Mac Member Name and Password. (Note, the screen you see shows your password in its entirety. The Password in Figure 1-13 has been replaced with bullets to protect the security of this account.)

If you click on the Continue button, you will be taken to the Account management page shown in Figure 1-14.

Figure 1-14. The Account management page, showing the primary and any additional email accounts.

After the new email account has been set up, you will receive an email at your primary .Mac email address, confirming that you've added another email account to your .Mac membership. This email also provides you with the details you need to configure Mail, including:

• The account member name (for example, insidedotmac )

• The account's email address (for example, [e-mail] )

• Mail server address ( mail.mac.com )

• SMTP server address ( smtp.mac.com )

1.3.1.1 Deleting an extra email account

If you decide at a later time that you want to delete one of your additional email accounts (you can't delete your primary Mac.com email account without canceling your membership), you can go to the Mac.com site and follow these steps:

1. Click on the Account button.

2. Enter the member name and password for your primary .Mac account (not for your email-only account).

3. Click on the Email Account Management button near the upper right of the page.

4. In the Account Management section (see Figure 1-14), select the account you'd like to remove and click on the Delete button.

Likewise, if you want to change the password for the additional email account, follow the steps detailed here, except click on the Edit button instead of the Delete button.

1.3.1.2 Buying more email storage space

If you continue to receive messages from Mac.com telling you that you're running out of email space, you have two options: clean up your online email storage (discussed in Chapter 4), or purchase additional space.

To purchase additional email storage space, go to System Preferences .Mac iDisk and click on the Buy More button. When you click on this button, you will be taken to the Mac.com site in your default web browser. Before you can enter, though, you will need to enter your .Mac member name and password.

After logging in, you will be taken to the "Upgrade storage" page where you can purchase more storage space for your Mac.com email account(s). The cost of additional Email space is detailed in Table 1-2.

Table 1-2. Rate chart for additional Email storage space

MB storage	Cost/Year
25 MB	$10
50 MB	$30
100 MB	$50
200 MB	$90

As with purchasing additional iDisk space, when you purchase additional space for your Mac.com email, you will be charged a prorated amount for the remainder of the current year of your membership. After the current year of your .Mac membership is up, you will incur the full annual charge for the additional space.

To purchase additional email storage space, select the desired amount and click on the Upgrade Now button at the bottom of the page. You will be taken to the Billing Information page where you can enter your credit card and contact information. If you decide that you don't want to upgrade your email space, simply click on your browser's Back button and deselect the upgrade option, or close the browser window. To complete the transaction, click on the Buy Now button.