Setting up Email in Apple Mail on macOS

If you want to use your CURIAWEB email address on a Mac, you can set up the account directly in Apple Mail. Apple Mail comes pre-installed on macOS and is ideal for daily email correspondence with private, business, or project-related mailboxes.

This guide explains how to manually add a CURIAWEB email account in macOS, what server details you need, and how to fix common issues with sending, receiving, deleting, or syncing emails.

Quick explanation: For Apple Mail on macOS, we recommend setting it up via IMAP. This ensures that your emails remain stored on the server and are synchronized between your Mac, iPhone, iPad, webmail, and other devices.

IMAP or POP: Which setting is correct?

Apple Mail supports both IMAP and POP. For most users, IMAP is the better choice. With IMAP, messages remain on the server and are synchronized across all connected devices. So if you delete, move, or reply to an email on your Mac, this change will also be visible in webmail or on your smartphone.

In contrast, POP typically downloads emails to a single device. Depending on your settings, messages may then be removed from the server. This can lead to missing emails on other devices and is usually not ideal for modern use across multiple devices.

Protocol	Description	Recommendation
IMAP	Emails remain on the server and are synchronized across multiple devices.	Recommended for Mac, iPhone, iPad, webmail, and multiple devices.
POP	Emails are retrieved locally and removed from the server depending on settings.	Only useful for specific single-workstation scenarios.

Information required before setup

Please have the following information ready before starting the setup:

Email address: Your full email address, for example info@yourdomain.ch
Password: The password for the email account
Incoming mail server: usually mail.yourdomain.ch
Outgoing mail server: usually mail.yourdomain.ch
Username: Your full email address

Important: Always use the full email address as the username. Example: info@yourdomain.ch instead of just info.

Recommended server settings for Apple Mail

In the following details, replace yourdomain.ch with your own domain.

Setting	Value
Account Type	IMAP
Username	Your full email address
Password	Password of your email account
Incoming Mail Server	mail.yourdomain.ch
IMAP Port	993
IMAP Security	Use SSL/TLS
Outgoing Mail Server / SMTP	mail.yourdomain.ch
SMTP Port	465
SMTP Security	Use SSL/TLS
SMTP Authentication	Yes, username and password required

If Apple Mail alternatively uses SMTP port 587 with STARTTLS, this setting can also work. However, for a clear manual configuration, port 465 with SSL/TLS is often the simpler variant.

Step-by-Step: Adding an email account in Apple Mail

Open the Mail app on your Mac.
Select Mail > Add Account from the menu bar.
Choose Other Mail Account and click Continue.
Enter your name, your full email address, and password.
Click Sign In.
If Apple Mail does not detect the settings automatically, enter the server details manually.
Select IMAP as the account type.
Enter the server mail.yourdomain.ch for both incoming and outgoing mail.
Use your full email address as the username for both.
Save the account and test receiving and sending messages.

Entering manual server details correctly

If Apple Mail does not automatically recognize the server details, a form for manual configuration will appear. Enter the following values there:

Email Address: Your full email address
Username: Your full email address
Password: Password of the email account
Account Type: IMAP
Incoming Mail Server: mail.yourdomain.ch
Outgoing Mail Server: mail.yourdomain.ch

After saving, Apple Mail will check the connection. If the details are correct, the account will then appear in the left sidebar of the Mail app.

Checking settings afterwards

If emails are not being received or sent correctly, you can check the account settings later. To do this, open Apple Mail and go to:

Mail > Settings (or Preferences) > Accounts > [Your Account]

Depending on your macOS version, you will find the settings under Server Settings. Check the following details in particular:

Username: full email address
Incoming Hostname: mail.yourdomain.ch
Incoming Port: 993
Use TLS/SSL: enabled
Outgoing Hostname: mail.yourdomain.ch
Outgoing Port: 465
Use TLS/SSL: enabled
Authentication: Password

Common source of error: Receiving works, but sending fails. In this case, the SMTP settings are usually incomplete. Check the username, password, port, SSL/TLS, and authentication for the outgoing mail server.

Setting up a signature in Apple Mail

You can store a separate signature for each email account in Apple Mail. This is particularly practical if you use multiple business and private accounts.

To do this, open:

Mail > Settings > Signatures

Select the desired account on the left and create a new signature. You can then specify whether this signature should be used automatically for new emails.

Example of a simple business signature:

Best regards,
John Doe
Doe Ltd
www.yourdomain.ch

Correctly assigning mailbox behaviors and folders

When you use IMAP, folders like Sent, Drafts, Trash, and Junk are synchronized with the server. Apple Mail needs to know which server-side folders should be used for these functions.

If deleted emails do not disappear, sent messages are missing in webmail, or drafts do not sync correctly, this is often due to incorrect folder mapping.

Check the settings in the Mailbox Behaviors section or the mailbox mapping in Apple Mail. Make sure that Apple Mail correctly uses server-side folders such as Sent, Trash, Drafts, or Junk.

Tip: If emails cannot be deleted, first check whether the Trash in Apple Mail is mapped to the matching server-side folder like Trash or Deleted Items.

Deleting, archiving, and syncing emails

With IMAP, actions such as deleting, moving, or archiving are performed on the server. Therefore, it is important that the folder structure on the Mac matches the server cleanly.

If deleted messages keep reappearing, Apple Mail may not be able to use the Trash correctly. If sent emails are visible on the Mac but missing in webmail, a local folder is probably being used instead of a server-side folder.

In such cases, open the account settings and check the folder mapping. Only remove old or duplicate local folders if you are sure that no important messages are stored in them.

Changing or updating your password

If you change your email account password in cPanel, you must also update the new password in Apple Mail. macOS may automatically ask for the new password. If not, you can enter it manually in the account settings.

After a password change, always check both the incoming and outgoing mail servers. It can happen that receiving works again, but sending still fails because the SMTP password is still outdated.

Common problems in Apple Mail on macOS

Problem	Possible Cause	Solution
Account cannot be added	Server name, username, or password is incorrect	Check hostname, full email address, and password
Emails are received but not sent	SMTP server is incorrectly configured	Check SMTP port, SSL/TLS, username, password, and authentication
Certificate warning appears	Hostname does not match the SSL certificate or was misspelled	Enter the server name exactly as mail.yourdomain.ch and check the domain
Deleted emails reappear	Trash is not correctly mapped to the server folder	Check Mailbox Behaviors and assign server-side Trash
Sent emails are missing on other devices	Apple Mail stores sent messages locally instead of on the server	Map the folder for sent messages on the server side

Checking the connection: Testing receipt and sending

After setup, you should test both receiving and sending. To do this, send a message from Apple Mail to an external email address and then send a reply back to your CURIAWEB mailbox.

If receiving works but sending does not, the problem is almost always with the SMTP server. If sending works but no new messages arrive, check the IMAP server, the password, and any error messages in Apple Mail.

Spam protection for Apple Mail

Apple Mail can mark unwanted messages locally as junk. However, server-side spam protection makes more sense so that disruptive messages are not synchronized to your Mac in the first place. This keeps your mailbox clearer and Apple Mail has to download fewer unwanted messages.

Note: If you receive a lot of unwanted emails, check the spam filter settings in cPanel. Depending on your needs, an additional spam filter can help reduce spam before it is delivered to Apple Mail.

Further information about the optional SpamExperts spam filter can be found here: SpamExperts Spam Filter at CURIAWEB.

Summary

Apple Mail on macOS can be set up quickly for CURIAWEB email accounts with the correct server data. For most accounts, use IMAP so that your messages remain in sync with webmail and other devices. The correct hostname, the full email address as username, and the appropriate SSL/TLS and port settings are crucial.

If problems occur, first check the server settings for incoming and outgoing mail. Incorrect SMTP settings, missing authentication, or incorrectly assigned IMAP folders for Trash, Sent, or Drafts are particularly common.

Apple Mail is not working as expected?

CURIAWEB Support will gladly assist you in checking your IMAP/SMTP settings, folder mapping, or with issues regarding sending, receiving, and synchronization.

Contact Support

Tip: Always test sending and receiving after setup. Send an email to an external address and then check if the reply arrives correctly in Apple Mail.

Setting up Email in Apple Mail on macOS