Setting up your mailbox in Apple Mail should take just a few minutes.

This guide shows you how to connect to your mailbox using POP or IMAP.

You can connect to your mailbox using either the POP3 or IMAP protocols. We generally advise that you use IMAP, especially if the mailbox is accessed by more than one person or if the mailbox is accessed on multiple devices.

If you connect using POP3 then emails are downloaded to the single device and deleted from the server. This may be preferable for privacy but this limits accessibility and leaves you with only a single copy of all mail unless you perform backups.

Step 1

Open Mail on your Mac

Step 2

If you already have an email account setup, you will need to select Mail > Add Account... otherwise skip to the next step.

Step 3

Select Other Mail Account...

Click Continue

Step 4

Enter the following in the text boxes provided:

Name: Enter your full name.

Email Address: Enter the full email address of the mailbox you are setting up.

Password: Enter the mailbox password.

Click Sign In

Mail will attempt to automatically connect with these simple settings.  This attempt will fail and you will be asked to provide more information.

Step 5

Enter the following server settings.

User Name: Enter your email address.

Incoming Mail Server: pop.hosts.co.uk for POP or imap.hosts.co.uk for IMAP (Recommended)

Outgoing Mail Server: smtp.hosts.co.uk

Click Sign In

Step 6

You will be asked which apps to synchronise with the server.

This is useful for sharing data between devices.

Click Done

Step 7

We will now go back and reconfigure the SMTP settings for which we had a warning for in Step 7.

Select Mail > Preferences

Step 8

Click the Accounts icon.

Step 9

If you have multiple account setup, make sure the correct account is selected and click Server Settings.

Step 10

Under Incoming Mail Server (IMAP) untick the Automatically manage connection settings box. You now need to change these settings.

User Name: Enter your email address.

Password: Enter your password.

Host Name: Enter pop3.hosts.co.uk for POP or imap.hosts.co.uk for IMAP (Recommended).

Port: Enter 993 for IMAP or 995 for POP.

Use TLS/SSL: Tick this box.

Authentication: Select Password from the dropdown menu.

Step 11

Under Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP) untick the Automatically manage connection settings box. You now need to change these settings.

User Name: Enter your email address.

Password: Enter your password.

Host Name: Enter smtp.hosts.co.uk.

Port: Enter 465.

Use TLS/SSL: Tick this box. 

Authentication: Select Password from the dropdown menu.

Once done, click Save.