Apple Mail 3.x for Mac OS X 10.5: Configure for MIT IMAP Email

 

 

This document provides instructions for configuring Apple Mail 3.0, on Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard), for use with MIT's email system.

Before You Begin
Before you can configure Mail, you will need to install the MIT CA (Certificate Authority) into the System keychain, if you have not already done so. For details on installing, see Safari 3 for Macintosh OS X 10.5: Obtaining MIT Certificates

Configure Incoming Mail for IMAP

  1. Click the Mail icon in the Dock.
    Result: If you are launching Mail for the first time, it prompts you to set up an account. If you already have an account in Mail, and wish to add another account for your MIT email, open the Mail application and follow the menu path Mail > Preferences > Accounts, then click on the + (plus) sign in the lower-left corner.
  2. Enter the following information in the initial Welcome to Mail window:
    • The Full Name field contains the name from your Mac OS X user account; you may change it if you wish.
    • In the Email Address field, enter your MIT email address (username@mit.edu).
    • Leave the Password field blank.
      Note: Password security "best practice" is to not store your Kerberos password in any program on your system.
    Result: The Welcome to Mail window should look similar to the following:
    welcome
  3. Click Continue.
  4. In the Incoming Mail Server window, enter the following configuration settings:
    • On the Account Type pop-up menu select IMAP.
    • For Description enter MIT IMAP.
    • For Incoming Mail Server, enter your username for the dynamic MIT mail server: username.mail.mit.edu (for example, caltest.mail.mit.edu).
    • Leave the Password field blank.
    Mail automatically fills in the User Name field for you.
    Result: The Incoming Mail Server window should look similar to the following:
    step4
  5. Click Continue.
    Result: The error message shown below appears in the window, and is because your password has not been entered. In Step 7 you will set Mail to prompt you whenever your password is needed.



  6. Click Continue again.
    Result: The Incoming Mail Security window is displayed.
    insec
  7. Use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) should be checked, and the Authentication dropdown menu should say Password. If not, set accordingly, then click Continue.
    Result: The Outgoing Mail Server window is displayed.


    Configure Outgoing Mail for SMTP Authentication

  8. In the Outgoing Mail Server window, enter the following configuration settings:
    • In the Description field, enter MIT
    • For Outgoing Mail Server enter outgoing.mit.edu.
    • Leave Use only this server checked.
    • Click the Use Authentication checkbox.
    • Enter your User Name.
    • Leave the Password field blank.
      Result: The Outgoing Mail Server window should look similar to the following:
      outgoin
  9. Click Continue.
    Result: Mail displays an Account Summary, which should look similar to the following.
    Note: If Mail reports that it is checking connection to mail server "outgoing.mit.edu" for more than a few seconds, click Cancel and then click Continue again. This problem has been reported to Apple.
    account summary
  10. Click Create.
    Result: Your account has been created. You will be prompted to enter your password to log into the IMAP server; for now, click Cancel to continue with Mail configuration. Also, if this is the first time setting up Mail for this Mac OS X account, you will be asked "Would you like to see what's new" in Mail; respond as you wish.
  11. In Mail, follow the menu path Mail > Preferences > Accounts.
  12. In the list of accounts at the left, click to select your MIT IMAP account.
    account
  13. From the pop-up menu for Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP), select Edit Server List.
    Result: The server window opens.
  14. In the list of servers at the top, click to select the MIT outgoing mail server, then click Advanced.
  15. In the Advanced settings window, enter the following:
    • For Server Port, enter 587.
    • Leave Use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) checked.
    • Mail fills in your User Name.
    • Leave the Password field blank
      Result: The outgoing server window should look similar to the following:
  16. Click OK.
  17. In the Accounts window, click Advanced.
  18. In the Advanced window, do the following:
    • For the IMAP Path Prefix, enter INBOX (in all uppercase letters)..
    • Click the Use SSL checkbox.
      Result: Port should change to 993.
    • In the Authentication pop-up menu, select Password (if not already selected).
      Result: The Accounts > Advanced window should look similar to the following:
      acct advd
  19. Add the MIT LDAP server to enable Mail to access the MIT directory.
    In the toolbar at the top of the Preferences window, click on the Composing icon.
    Result: You will be prompted to save changes to your MIT account. Click Save.


    Configure Mail for LDAP (MIT Directory)

  20. Click the Configure LDAP button.
  21. Click the + (plus) button.
  22. In the Server Info dialog box, enter the following:
    • For Name, enter MIT LDAP.
    • For Server, enter ldap.mit.edu.
    • For Search Base, enter dc=mit,dc=edu (do not include any spaces).
    • Leave the other fields with their default settings.
    Result: The Server Info window should look like the following:
  23. Click Save.
  24. Click Done.


    Turn Off Apple Mail Junk Mail Filtering

  25. Junk Mail filtering should be turned off for now, so that e-mail imported from another mail program will not be marked as junk mail or spam. Also, MIT's spam filtering is preferred. At the top of the Preferences window, click the Junk Mail icon.
  26. Uncheck Enable Junk Mail filtering.
    Result: The Junk Mail settings should look like the following:
          
  27. Close the Preferences window by clicking the red button in the upper-left corner of the window.
  28. In the Mail window, click Get Mail to retrieve new email.

Note: The first time you connect to the IMAP server to retrieve your email, Mail will attempt to download all of your email and attachments from the server to your hard drive. If you have a large amount of email, or if you are on a slow Internet connection, it may take a long time for Mail to complete the download.

For more information about using Apple Mail, see Apple Mail 3.x: Using.

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