Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

macstatic

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Oct 21, 2005
2,029
168
Norway
I know it's possible as I've done it before, and I should have taken notes as I'm struggling to set this up on another Mac.....
I'm trying to (1) add a Yahoo POP3 account to the Apple Mail app, and (2) once that's done, change that account to POP. I've managed the first step, but not the second.


The first challenge (step 1) is adding a Yahoo POP account to Apple Mail in the first place: here's the trick (which IMHO isn't so obvious):
a) create a "Other mail account..." (i.e. do not click on "Yahoo mail") in Apple Mail, but don't (not just yet) insert the account password
Screen Shot 2021-10-18 at 19.04.45.png



b) log into your Yahoo mail account from a web browser.
c) go to your Yahoo account's "Settings", then "Account security"
d) scroll down to the "How to sign in to Yahoo" section, then click on where it says "Generate and manage app passwords"
e) generate the single-use password, and copy it to the clipboard
f) go back to the Apple Mail app, where you continue where you left on (step a) by pasting the single-use password into the "password" field and it should work

So now a working account has been set up in the Apple Mail app, but it's an IMAP account (which I could much easier have created in the first place by simply selecting "Yahoo Mail" when choosing which account to set up), but how do I proceed to change this to a POP account instead?
 
  • Like
Reactions: dombi
UPDATE: I think I solved the problem myself!
The key is to create the new account from the Apple Mail app's "Add account..." menu (and not from within its "Preferences"-"Accounts", nor from the "Internet accounts" system preference):
Screen Shot 2021-10-18 at 20.56.22.png


Then, use the single-use password (as described in my previous posting above).
This will (partly) allow the new account to be logged in with an error message:
Screen Shot 2021-10-18 at 20.56.49.png


So now we can proceed by changing "IMAP" to "POP"
and likewise change the IMAP incoming server address to the correct POP address.
Also replace "Automatic" with your user name,
then press the "Sign in" button.

Now it should work!
And this time I'm going to keep note of what I've done :) 👍
 
  • Like
Reactions: dombi
You are my hero!
Yahoo has been broken in Mail for almost year.
And then I ran into your post, and was able to get it working again.

A big, big thank you for sharing this.

Shame on Yahoo for making something so basic, this difficult...
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.