Why is Mac Mail Not Receiving Emails? Top 8 Tips to Fix It

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Written By Mohit Jha
Anuraag Singh
Approved By Anuraag Singh
Published On May 31st, 2024
Reading Time 8 Minutes Reading

For Mac users, Apple or Mac Mail is one of the widely known platforms for seamlessly managing or syncing email with other Apple devices. Often some disruptions like “Mac Mail not receiving emails” lead to inconvenience in accessing the Apple Mail emails seamlessly.

The issue of Apple Mail not sending or receiving emails on macOS, causes trouble for professional, business, and personal communication. Now, seeking ways to fix the problem of Mac Mail, here is the complete troubleshooting guidance to resolve it and improve your productivity.

What Happens If My Mac Mail Not Sending Emails?

Undoubtedly, the problem of Mac Mail not receiving emails offers numerous challenges for Mac users when it comes to organizing or accessing their mailbox data. From the fear of missing out on important emails, letting you skip crucial meeting updates. Certainly, the consequences of these glitches are disturbing, especially delays in sending or receiving emails.

Additionally, users might experience failing to get responses on time. However, many users deal with these same issues with other email clients too. Often problems happen due to various reasons, so let’s dive in to find them quickly.

Why Does Mac Mail Not Receiving Emails? Know Potential Reasons

Experiencing the issue of Mac Mail not sending emails on Sonoma, Ventura, or below macOS versions. Here are the most common factors behind raising the problem on any Mac system.

  • Incorrect Mac Mail Settings:- Unknowingly, Mac users alter the default setting to streamline their emails. On the flip side, it will result in preventing accessing or sending emails on Apple Mail. Some of the common misconfiguration happens with incorrect server addresses, port numbers, syncing issues, and more.
  • Connection Issue:- Many of you might be ignorant when checking the stable connection, causing Apple Mail not working on Mac. This issue is capable of halting the services of Mac Mail on Mac OS. Therefore, check the connection to prevent failure.
  • Wrong IMAP/ POP Settings:- For handling incoming or outgoing emails, Mac Mail provides IMAP or POP protocol. Hence, these two different protocols help to fetch new emails on Mac Mail. Unfortunately, some wrong configured settings bring the issue of Mac Mail not receiving emails on the Mac machine.
  • If Storage is Full:- Whether it’s Mac OS or Apple Mail, insufficient storage significantly impacts the complete mailbox. With this, users might face the issue of clogging of emails or errors in sending recent emails.
  • Unsupported/ Outdated Version:- If you’re using the outdated versions of both macOS and Mail Mail, it perhaps adds inconvenience in managing the inbox while loading, sending, or receiving the emails. Hence, this unfolds the compatibility issue, therefore, check out the recent updates of applications.

Overall, these are the common reasons behind can’t send or receive emails on Mac. This problem can happen to anyone, so don’t immediately panic. Here, we are going to provide some simple and best ways to fix this problem completely. Further, we will provide both basic and advanced level step guidance to fix Apple Mail not sending emails easily.

8 Easy Tips for Apple Mail Stopped Sending Emails – Troubleshooting Guidance

In the following section, we will list out some of the go-to manual troubleshooting tips to fix the two different issues of Apple Mail: can’t send or receive emails on Mac Mail. So, read and implement the below step guidance to resolve the issue quickly.

Tip 1: Get Seamless Connection

It is one of the basic troubleshooting steps when facing the issue of Mac Mail not receiving emails. For the same, Mac users can turn Off/ On the network connection to get the uninterrupted connectivity. It helps users to access the Apple Mail emails easily on macOS.

Tip 2: Restart Your Mac OS and Mac Mail

It is yet another basic tip for all Mac users if encounter the problem of Apple Mail not sending email messages. To resolve the issue, users need to first restart the Mac Mail and Mac OS to fix the minor syncing error.

Additionally, users can refresh the inbox of Apple Mail in a few simple steps. First, go to the Mailbox and then, click on Get All New Mail or enter Command + Shift + N. Implementing these steps will help users to fetch new emails smoothly.

Tip 3: Re- Configure Your Email Account

Sometimes the authentication error is unable to connect with the Mac Mail. Hence, it disrupts the sending and receiving of emails on Apple Mail. Now, users need to logout and re-configure the existing account on Mac Mail. Here are the steps to perform on macOS:-

  1. Open your Mac OS, and select the Apple icon from the left corner.
  2. Go to System Preferences and then, Internet Accounts.
  3. Now, select the email address offering trouble.
  4. Move to (-) icon from the bottom.
  5. After this, click on (+) icon to provide the email.
  6. Lastly, again sign in to your Account and launch Mail App.

Now, try to monitor the working of your Mac Mail. In this way, users can fix the problem of Mac Mail not sending emails easily. Besides this, there are other methods to resolve the issue. So, dive in to find them.

Tip 4: Check the Mail Rules

Generally, making changes in mail rules causes trouble. Moreover, these rules are set for creating a clutter-free inbox. Unfortunately, playing with these settings brings errors in sending and receiving email messages on Apple Mail. Now, read the instructions to fix the issue easily.

  1. Open your Mac mail and then, click on Mail > Preferences.
  2. Go to the Rules section and either click on Remove or Edit the settings.
  3. In this way, users can resume the services of Apple Mail.

Tip 5: Check Server Outage

If facing the pesky issue of Mac Mail not receiving emails, it happens due to a server outage. In this situation, users need to first visit the official page of Apple support to find the recent updates and issues related to the Mac Mail on sending or receiving new emails. Now, if there is any available update, then wait for some time to get the accessibility.

Tip 6: Update the Mail Application and Mac OS

Using the outdated version may cause incompatibility issues as Apple Mail not working on Mac. To avoid these challenges, ensure working on the updated edition of Mac Mail and Mac system. Here’s the step guidance to update the Mac machine:-

  1. Move to System Preferences and then, select Software Update.
  2. If found any available updates, hit the update button.

Tip 7: Use Force Quit

One another method to fix the problem of Mac Mail not sending emails includes Force Quit. Here are the ways to implement it at once.

  1. Go to the Apple menu, and click on Force Quit.
  2. From the Force Quit Application, select Mail app and hit Force Quit.

Tip 8: Disable Email Account

There are several instances when the issue with the email account can prevent Mac users from accessing Apple Mail emails. In this case, users need to disable the account, here’s the quick steps to do it manually.

  1. Check the Apple Menu and move to System Settings.
  2. Go to Internet Accounts.
  3. Now, open the account, you want to delete > tab on Delete Account.
  4. Lastly, press OK.

Also, find out why is Apple Mail not syncing with Gmail.

Mac Mail Not Receiving Emails – FAQs
Q. Why is my Apple Mail app not receiving new emails?

There are multiple reasons behind not receiving or sending emails on Mac Mail:-

  1. Incorrect Rule Settings
  2. Bad Internet Connection
  3. Mac Storage is Full
  4. Using Outdated Software
  5. Apple Server Outage
Q. How do I fix Mac Mail not sending emails?

Follow the tips to resolve the problem of Apple Mail can’t send or receive new emails:-

  1. Look for Good Connection
  2. Check Mail Rule Settings
  3. Choose the Force Quit Option
  4. Restart Your Mac Email Account
  5. Update macOS System
Concluding Words

In summary, we have provided the best go-to troubleshooting step guidance to resolve the issue of Mac Mail not receiving emails. By implementing these ways, users can manually fix the Mac Mail problem irrespective of any data modification. Further, users can either backup the data in case of quick accessibility of Apple Mail mailbox.

  author

By Mohit Jha

Mohit is a writer, researcher, and editor. Cyber ​​security and digital forensics are the two subjects that keep Mohit out of his seat. In addition, he hopes that the well-researched and thought-out articles he finds will help people learn.