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Email3 min read
Setting up your company mailbox in Thunderbird and Mail on a Mac
Two programs that work most of the settings out for themselves. Here's what to do when they don't.
Thunderbird and Mail on the Mac both try to work the settings out on their own — you give them an address and a password and they fill in the rest. Sometimes they get it wrong, and that's when it helps to know what belongs in those boxes.
Mozilla Thunderbird
- 1In the top menu choose Tools, then Account Settings.
- 2At the bottom left click Account Actions and choose Add Mail Account.
- 3Fill in your name, full email address and password, then continue.
- 4Thunderbird will try to find the settings itself. If it offers IMAP, confirm it and you're done.
- 5If it fails, click Configure manually and fill in the details from the table below.
- 6Click Re-test, then Done.
Mail on a Mac
- 1In the top bar choose Mail, then Add Account.
- 2Pick the last option in the list — Other Mail Account.
- 3Enter your name, full email address and password, then click Sign In.
- 4Mail will usually report that it couldn't verify the account name or password. That's fine — a window with the detailed settings opens.
- 5Leave the account type as IMAP and fill in the servers from the table below.
- 6Click Sign In and on the next step leave at least Mail ticked.
What belongs in the boxes
| Box | What goes in it |
|---|---|
| Incoming mail server | imap.hostcreators.sk, port 993, SSL/TLS |
| Outgoing mail server | smtp.hostcreators.sk, port 465, SSL/TLS |
| Username | your full email address, including everything after the @ |
| Password | the mailbox password we sent you |
If the program offers to leave the connection unencrypted or to accept an unknown certificate, don't agree. It means there's a typo in a server address — go back and check it.
Thunderbird found the settings by itself. Can I trust them?
Check that it's offering IMAP rather than POP3, and that both servers show SSL or TLS. If so, go ahead and confirm.
Mail on the Mac reports a password error even though the password is right.
That's normal and not a fault. Mail first tries to find the mailbox on its own, and when it can't, it opens the manual settings window. That's exactly where you fill in the server addresses.