🌐 Overview: What Is IMAP?
IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) is a standard protocol used by email clients to retrieve emails from a mail server.
Here are two key things to know when connecting an IMAP email account to Mailbird for Mac:
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✅ Mailbird for Mac will automatically detect server settings for most email providers.
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🛠️ If detection fails, you can manually enter the server settings.
Most email providers publish their IMAP (incoming) and SMTP (outgoing) settings on their websites.
For a quicker route, you can use our Mail Settings page to look up these settings easily.
🔌 How to Connect an IMAP Email Account
Mailbird for Mac will automatically detect the correct server settings if your email is hosted by one of the following providers:
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iCloud
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Gmail
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Microsoft 365
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Yahoo
If your provider isn’t listed above, select Other email provider during the setup process (see screenshot below).
✍️ Manually Entering IMAP Settings
If Mailbird for Mac cannot auto-detect your settings, follow these steps:
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Find your provider’s IMAP and SMTP settings.
Visit our Mail Settings page and search for your provider (e.g., hotmail.com). -
Enter the IMAP server, SMTP server, and port numbers in Mailbird for Mac.
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Click Continue to finish connecting your account.
🔄 Note: You may notice a Connections slider during setup (as in the screenshot above). This controls the number of simultaneous IMAP connections. Unless you're having issues like delays or syncing errors, we recommend leaving this at the default setting. Learn more here about how this slider works.
🤝 Need Further Assistance?
We hope this article helped you get connected! If you need more support, don’t hesitate to reach out via our Contact Form. Our team is always happy to assist.