iCloud Has Apple Totally Broken iCloud SMTP/IMAP Email?

[jseymour]

When I first moved over to Apple I added my iCloud email account to my desktop email client. Worked well... well, except when Apple's servers occasionally went Tango-Uniform.

I eventually grew tired of that, cleared out what little email I had in my iCloud mailboxen, and stopped using it. (No loss. I rarely used it for anything, anyway.)

Today I went to use it again. It would receive email, but, when I tried to send my email client would simply say "Unable to queue message for send." Then I found it couldn't delete emails received.

Thus the question: Has Apple managed to totally break SMTP/IMAP support for iCloud accounts? It sure looks like they have.

 

[hg.wells]

Have you double checked the settings you have setup:

iCloud Mail server settings for other email client apps - Apple Support

Use these iCloud Mail server settings to manually set up your iCloud Mail account in an email client app.

support.apple.com

 

[jseymour]

Yes, I did, @hg.wells - checked and double-checked.

FWIW: I used to be a senior IT guy, administering, among other things, mail servers, before I retired. I know how it works

 

[jseymour]

Ok, I figured it out. Well, more accurately: I fixed it. I don't know whether it was something Apple did, something I did at some point, or combined effort between both of us, but, somehow my iCloud folder structure got all messed up.

Solution was to delete the iCloud account on my email client entirely, delete all the non-default folders with the iCloud web interface (thank God I didn't have anything in them), and re-configure the iCloud account in my email client from scratch.

Even then: For some odd reason my email client creates duplicate Sent and Trash folders. I'm not gonna question it. It works. Hopefully it'll keep working. (Though if history is any guide: Confidence is low.)