Setting up Mail for Proxies

Mail is Apple's proprietary email client that comes bundled with all versions of Mac OS X. There are no options for configuring proxy server settings within the Mail application itself, but Mail should read its connection settings from the global Network Preferences dialogue. Here is a brief description of how to set up the global proxy settings. If you need more information, please see our guide to Setting up Proxies on the Mac.

1. Open up System Preferences, and navigate to the Proxies tab. You will be faced with a number of options. The box on the left contains a list of several different kinds of proxy servers that you can set up. Contact your network administrator to find out which of these you need to fill in, but make sure you leave the SOCKS Proxy option unchecked if you are using Mail 4.7. If you need to use the SOCKS Proxy, you will have to disable it every time you want to check your email, and re-enable it again afterwards. This is a bug, and should hopefully be fixed in subsequent versions of the program.

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4. You will then need to fill in the details of your proxy server, as well as the port through which you will be connecting to the Internet. Again, ask your network administrator if you don't know these already.

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5. If your proxy server connects to the Internet using a password, click the Proxy server requires password checkbox and enter your Account name and Password in the box that appears. Click the OK button to save your details.

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6. Repeat the procedure for as many of the options as you need to configure, and then click on Apply Now to save your changes. Assuming everything has worked as expected Mail should automatically detect your proxy settings and connect to your email account as soon as you launch the program. If you seem to be having issues connecting, refer to the section on Bugs and workarounds below to see if there is a fix for your specific problem.

Bugs and workarounds

Although in theory Mail should use the proxy settings specified in Network Preferences, there are a number of bugs which may crop up to prevent the software working correctly. I have attempted to outline some of these here, as well as any solutions that I am aware of.

Version 4.7 of Mail doesn't work properly if you have the SOCKS Proxy option checked in Network Preferences. The only solution seems to be to deselect this option whenever you want to check your email, but this is evidently not an acceptable long-term solution as many applications may require the SOCKS Proxy to be enabled. Apple is aware of the problem and it should be fixed in subsequent versions of the software.

Some older versions of the software are not proxy aware, and won’t attempt to use proxies to connect, even if you have set the up correctly in the global network preferences. If you have this problem, you might be able to use SquidMan to work around it. For more information, see this article about Using OS X Software behind Proxy Authentication.