Mail (El Capitan): Set up a secure connection for an account
If the provider of your email account supports SSL (Secure Sockets Layer, a security technology), you can use the information supplied by your provider to set up SSL to ensure a secure connection to the mail server, and prevent others from gaining unauthorized access to data.
-
Choose Mail > Preferences, then click Accounts.
-
Select an account, click Advanced, then select Use SSL.
The port number is automatically changed; edit the number, if necessary, to match the information supplied by your provider.
-
Close Mail preferences, then click Save in the message that appears.
If your account provider doesn’t support SSL, you receive an “Unable to connect” error message when you try to connect to the server. If this happens, deselect Use SSL and contact your provider.