SOLVED Mac mail - emails are not being received by users of gmail, hotmail, yahoo, etc.

[John Schambre]

Several months ago I installed Mojave 10.14.3. The first think I found out was that all my emails going to family and friends with gmail, hotmail, yahoo, etc. accounts were not getting my mail in their incoming mail boxes INSTEAD they were going to spam and junk! I kept trying and testing by sending text messages to my family and asking if they got my mail - if not, check spam. Every time they told me it went to spam. I contacted Apple help and they said this was a problem with the other providers (gmail, etc.). I tried three times to get Apple to deal with it and they won't. I even wrote a letter and they won't help. I contacted another provider of mail services and they said the problem was with Apple changing something in their OS or??? that won't let my mail go through like it did before. Is it really impossible for grown ups to work together to fix this?? Has anyone else had this problem? HELP!!

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hello,

Sorry for the late reply...did you ever get this resolved? It could definitely be an issue with your email provider...who is it? Also, did you change your ISP before the issue started?

C

 

[John Schambre]

Issue still not resolved. I wrote to Apple and the said nothing they can do! Told me to talk to genius bar. I use Mac.com for my email address so I guess that is my provider? I used to have Comcast but moved and Spectrum is my tv/cable/internet provider. The problem started quite awhile after I switched from Comcast to Spectrum but almost immediately after I upgraded my OS to Mojave. So far, no one has been able to help me with the issue and my mail continues to go to spam/junk on gmail, yahoo, etc. ANY help will be appreciated.
John

 

[Cory Cooper]

OK, sorry to hear that. This is an issue I haven't heard of before, especially if it is an Apple .Mac email address.

If your email is something like (e-mail address removed), then it is an Apple .Mac email account. If not, what is the @provider.com part of your email - @comcast.net, @hotmail.com, etc.?

-If it is a .Mac account, have you tried logging in to iCloud and sending an email from there? If it works there, then it is something with your Mojave installation.
-Does this happen to everyone that you send email to, or just members of your family or certain people?
-Do you have a work email that you could send a test to?
-You can receive email normally, from anyone including the folks where you're emails are ending up in the junk mailbox, correct?
-Do you have a custom signature for your outgoing emails?
-Do you only have the one email account setup in the Mail application?

It can be tough to troubleshoot some email iissues without being able to put hands on the Mac in person, so hang in there and we'll see what we can do.

C

 

[John Schambre]

Hi Cory: Yes, my email is (e-mail address removed) so guess that makes it an Apple .Mac account.

I had not logged in to iCloud and sent an email that way so I just logged in and sent an email to my sister on her gmail account. All my emails to her have been going to her spam so I asked her to tell me if the one from iCloud went to regular mail or spam. She just text me saying it still went to her spam.

To the best of my knowledge, it happens to all emails I send to people with gmail, yahoo, etc.

I'm not sure if I still have any other email addresses. I used to have a gmail (google), a yahoo and a comcast one but haven't used any for years.

Yes, I can receive email from all people regardless of their provider.

No custom signature on my outgoing mail.

I still get mail from my old comcast address but I have it linked with .Mac so everything comes to me in the incoming mail box. When I open mail and check 'internet accounts' it shows: mac.com (iCloud and 12 more), xxxxxxx(e-mail address removed) (mail), Yahoo! (inactive) and xxxxxxx(e-mail address removed) (mail). I'm not really sure what that means Cory, I'm not a real guru when it comes to computer stuff. I'm pretty basic with my knowledge.

Since even the iCould email to my sister went to spam, do you think its something to do with my Mojave installation? If so, how would I get rid of the bad one and re-install it??? That is getting pretty complicated for me without step-by-step tutorial :-(.

I really appreciate what you're doing for me here. At least it's helping me see that there are other things that could be causing this problem. I hope you will continue providing me with options/tests to see if it can be fixed.

Many thanks! John

 

[Cory Cooper]

OK, thanks.

If you sent an email when logged into icloud.com with your .Mac account, and it still went to her junk mailbox, then it isn't your Mojave installation, as that was sent directly from Apple's servers and not your Mac. It is starting to sound like an issue on the recipient's end, not yours.

-In Mail then, if you click Mail > Preferences... > Accounts, you have 16 accounts listed there as you stated: "mac.com (iCloud and 12 more), xxxxxxx(e-mail address removed) (mail), Yahoo! (inactive) and xxxxxxx(e-mail address removed) (mail)". Is that correct? If so, that could be part of the issue, as the .Mac account may be sending out email from the wrong "server".
-You only use the .Mac account now, correct?
-Do you have a current Time Machine or other backup of your data?

C

 

[John Schambre]

Hello:
Well, yesterday my sister writes to me and says "OH! I just saw your email in my mailbox. It came to my incoming mail and not junk or spam!"
So, I guess logging into iCloud and sending from there worked OK Of course, that makes me ask: Do I know have to log into iCloud to send ANY emails?
As you suggested, I'm going to try to send you an email to the address you provided BOTH through my usual email method and another through iCloud. Perhaps you can tell me if you get one or both of them and then what I need to do to make sure my emails reach everyone and don't go to spam anymore ????

Stay tuned. And thanks so much for your continued help!
John

 

[Cory Cooper]

No worries...glad to hear it worked via icloud.com.

I replied...yes, the one from your Mac was marked as junk. I looked at the header information for that one, and it shows as coming through comcastmailservice.net. Sounds like your .Mac account is using the old Comcast account's SMTP server to send mail in the Mail app.

So, here's the scoop:
-Do you use the Gmail or Comcast accounts at all any longer?
-Do you have any email saved in mailboxes in your Mail app for them?
-Do you save any emails from your.Mac email on your Mac at all?
-Do you know how to take a screenshot?

C

 

[John Schambre]

I don't use the gmail account and I never send from the Comcast one but wanted to make sure that I continued to receive any emails that people might still be sending to my old comcast account. Don't think I really need either one but its so odd that I've had them for so long and this problem just started with Mojave????

I still get quite a few emails with the comcast.net address but mostly junk now. When I delete them from my inbox, they go to trash and stay there until I empty it - which I do fairly frequently. I don't have any saved ones from gmail.

All of my .mac emails that I delete go to trash but I also have a lot of 'mailboxes' that I save them in (e.g., utilities, mortgage, friends, etc.) and wouldn't want to lose those.

I use "Control/ Shift/4" to take a screen shot - is that correct? They go to my desktop and then I can print them or save them elsewhere.

John

 

[Cory Cooper]

OK. Here's what to look at...

-In the Mail app, click on Mail > Preferences... in the menu bar
-Click the Accounts icon
-Click on the iCloud account once in the list on the left to select it
-Click on Server Settings tab
-It should say Outgoing Mail Account: iCloud

Let me know if it doesn't,

C

 

[John Schambre]

I followed the steps and "Outgoing mail account said : smtp.comcast.net. The little drop down menu next to that had no other options.

 

[John Schambre]

OOPS, mistake: The options in the drop down are gmail.com and mac.com ---- sorry

 

[Cory Cooper]

OK, that's the issue. Because Mail is sending .Mac emails through Comcast's server, they are being marked as SPAM. Try changing it to the mac.com one, then click the red button in upper left to close the window. It should ask you to save the changes. Then try to send another email and we'll see what happens.

C

 

[John Schambre]

OK, made the change now I'll send you an email.

 

[Cory Cooper]

OK

 

[Cory Cooper]

It worked! Not junk this time. Try sending to your sister too.

C