Mac OS X: Mail SMTP Authentication

I think one of the biggest issue people run into when switching to or running Mac OS X is that things are just not named the same as they are on Windows based computers and programs. With such a high user rate of Windows many vendors that you will deal with on a day to day bases use terminology that does not match up to what the Mac OS X users are seeing.

One of these is "SMTP Authentication". This is used by most ISPs and e-mail hosters to force the mail server to require the username\password combination before it will send mail. It will generally allow you to send mail to the same domain name even when it is not working, but will fail when you try to send to any other domain name. 

The issue for Mac OS X users that are using the built in Mail for e-mail services, is there is no setting called "SMTP Authentication" or "Require SMTP Authentication" like you would see in Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express. This setting is what most ISPs and e-mail hosters will tell you to look for, and you may be stumped when you are unable to find it.

Like so many other features between Mac OS X and Windows the same ability really is there, it is just laid out differently.  Assuming that your mail provider is using basic password authentication, to turn on SMTP authentication for your Mail account you will need to following these steps:

1. Open Mail.
2. From the Mail menu, choose Preferences.
3. Click the Accounts icon.
4. Click the arrow box on the Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP) pop-up list and choose Add Server.
5. In the Outgoing Mail Server field, type in your mail providers SMTP server address (e.g., mail.orcsweb.com).
6. Click the arrow box on the Authentication pop-up list and choose Password.
7. In the User Name field, type your full email address or username.
8. In the Password field, type your e-mail password.
9. Click the OK button.
10. Close the Accounts window.
11. Click the Save button.

Step 6 is the one to really pay attention to. There is where you are actually turning on SMTP authentication. Now you know when someone says to turn on SMTP authentication, and you are using Mail on Mac OS X, where to go and turn that on.