Using Yahoo email in Mac OS mail app

It does seem as if Cox or Yahoo or both failed to QA their solution for Mac users--not the first time the Mac community has been orphaned.  Even when I did find the answers in a yahoo support page--they were lacking in sufficient detail for the average user to follow.  That's why Imde the post--we have to stick together an save ourselves.

Yours already transitioned? Were you "prompted" to go to Yahoo? I'm still receiving my email via my regular Cox mail app.

Yes.  They are phasing the transition so as to avoid overburdening the system and the CSRs.  I received an email from Cox (be aware there are many scam emails so do not click links if it isn't legit).  The post I made was due to the difficulty I had getting clear direction how to handle the Mac part.  As noted the iPhone part is straightforward. Just create a new account on your phone of the type Yahoo and it will work as billed.  You should use your cox username but provide the new Yahoo password you will be prompted to create in signing into Yahoo web mail.   But that same approach of creating a Yahoo account on your Mac will not work so follow the directions I posted and you will be fine.  

Thank you so much for your help. I worked for hours on this until I found your solution which was the only thing that worked. There are so many Mac users having problems on all social media.

If only Cox would provide your instructions on their help page. My cox email is one of the major reasons I didn’t switch providers. I wonder what will happen if I now move to another internet provider.

In theory--nothing.  The ISP is just providing a pipe not email.  When Cox transitioned email to Yahoo they severed any hold they have over folks who kept their accounts solely to have the cox.net email address. 

So, my usual MO is to google first but I have found that the results--whether a YouTube video or even a support page can be incomplete, misleading or in a few cases absolutely useless.  Google does not curate or vette results--and you can burn up a lot of time looking for an answer.  That's why forums like this are valuable--and why I posted a detailed step by step instruction on resolving this issue last week.   

Your advice is good and thanks for posting it. I've found that providing the answer and then the additional advice on how to solve future issues is what most folks want--an answer, now, and someone to reach out to if they have any additional problems. Having said this--I truly fault Cox. They had to know that this would be an issue-so the emails they send out should provide a link to an FAQ for users-regardless of which platform--who may require a non-standard approach. Mac users may only be 14% of the marketplace but they should not be left to fend for themselves.

But I guess at this point Cox just wants to offload this entire email business as fast as possible and get out of Dodge. 

Hello, I am very sorry you have not had the best experience with Cox. We understand how important communication and email services are. We value your business, and I would be happy to help if needed. Please email us your “full” name, “complete” address, and a copy of your post to Cox.Help@cox.com for further assistance. Thank you!

Many thanks for this. I had several cox.net email addresses. I've successfully migrated my primary Cox email, but can't discern how to retrieve the others. Using the link in the original email Cox set to me re: migration to Yahoo did not work, as I've now already set up a Yahoo account for the primary Cox email address. Setup for additional Yahoo accounts (one for each of the other Cox addresses was my thought) fails because it wants to assign a Yahoo mail address to me, it won't let me enter the other Cox email addresses. I'm stumped; any suggestions?

My secondary user’s cox.net e-mail was not migrated at the same time as my primary e-mail was. They received the migration announcement e-mail separately perhaps a week after I received mine. I do not know the order of operation for the migration but apparently it is not by Cox account. 

Several things to unpack:

1. Try waiting till Yahoo has fully populated your email to see if your outgoing email works--it may be that the server is busied out.  
2. If that does not work--as was the case for me you may need to delete the app password you generated--and generate a new app password and paste it into both the imap (incoming) and smtp (outgoing) fields.  Be sure the TLS/SSL checkbox is selected and port 465 is selected for outgoing.
3. gmail uses its own smtp server--you cannot use a gmail server with Yahoo mail.
4. Finally, f all else fails try appending apple to the yahoo smtp server path ( apple.smtp.mail.yahoo.com
5. I too have had issues the past 2 days and spoke to Yahoo tech support today. They claim everything is fine but I was not able to send email--although receive is just fine. I am awaiting a call back from a senior tech-someone who actually knows anything about the Apple OS.  Yahoo has had intermittent issues with Mail for mac in the past and it may be that it is the case once again.  If I learn anything I will post it.

So grateful for your suggestions. 
I was on hold with Yahoo for an hour and then was disconnected. I am beyond frustrated and need to work but am unable to since I can’t send emails. 
Please keep me posted with what you find and I will do the same. Thanks again! :)

Not a great workaround but you can use Yahoo webmail--it should work for outgoing email.  If this continues I may look into Edison mail.

Unfortunately, I’ve had zero luck getting it to work, so I just deleted the account. I have been working on this since this morning. I’ve tried everything I know to do. Have not been able to speak with a cox or yahoo rep. When the account was active, I could receive emails, but could not send any. If you have any other suggestions, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks again for all your help.

I did try something that got mine working. Follow the steps as I outlined above using Other Mail as your type.  But when it comes to the smtp (outgoing) use the following path:  apple.smtp.mail.yahoo.com    Enter port 465  and make sure the TLS/SSL box is checked.  Be sure to delete the old app generated password in the Yahoo Security page and then create a new one entitled Mail and copy the new password in both the imap and smtp password fields. Make sure you do not have the Automatically Manage Connection settings box selected. Finally be sure that the 

Mine has been sending and receiving for several hours now with no hiccups so far. 

It seems that appending apple in front of the yahoo smtp path was always the way it was done in the past but I could not find any info on it since 2021 and it isn't on the Yahoo site as a solution but it was accepted /verified and seems to work.  I had a similar issue many years ago with Cox --they had a relay rule in place that would not allow you to reply to an email from another account (like Google) . 

Help me clarify something.   When you say that you know what the password should be having logged into Yahoo's webmail--are you using the same password that you use for webmail, or are you following this step:

When it comes to the password, do not use the password you created for Yahoo webmail--that is fine to use on the phone but not here. Instead you must go up to the Yahoo web site--login with your new Yahoo password. Then select your account and you'll be prompted to login again (I know--you did that already to get into your webmail but that is how they do it), and then navigate to Security just below the header, select that. Scroll down and on the right hand side you'll see an option to Generate an App Password. Select that and you'll be given the option to create and copy a unique password--and that is the password you want to paste into the password field on your mac.

Others have had the same issue--no option to de-select automatic --but when the verification failed they got a different dialog box and that allowed them to enter the correct information along with the app generated passwords.  Another option is to navigate to email preferences (under the Mail menu in mail) Select the Yahoo account (the one you just created but did not work, and choose Server Settings from the subheader--you should then see the full setup screen as well as the two checkboxes for "automatically manage connection settings" -which should be deselected if they aren't already.

If the outgoing fails--when you try to save it--you should be given the option to edit the SMTP server, and that too would present the full setup screen, as above. 

Go back to yahoo to generate app password & the one they give you is the password to use. Then set up imap & smtp settings for yahoo email on Mac 

Thank you! I was trying the new password and the old password. I didn’t know I was at the point yet to enter the App password. I really appreciate your help. There’s almost no documentation out there to fix this. You’re the only person with a comprehensive answer when I google how to fix this. You are a savior!

Lyndonb95 - thank you so much!  I've  been studying your earlier posts (from 2 months ago) on two different days but it wasn't until I saw this that it all clicked for me and I figured it out!  Thank you so much!  I really appreciate you taking the time to interact on this forum to make our lives easier!  

You are welcome.  There are differences with versions of the os do some tweaking is needed but the key is the correct impa and smtp addresses and the user name and app generated password in both inclusions Ming and outgoing fields. Glad you got it working 

Several folks have reported this:  Just fill in the information and enter the app generated password. When the dialog box comes up saying it cannot verify--it may offer you the option to enter the ports OR edit the SMTP list--choose the yahoo account you created and server settings from the sub header--you will see the full setup screen.  Alternatively go to the Mail menu and choose Preferences--then select thr Yahoo account, sever asettings as above and complete the set up.

I have this same issue. The problem with the solution is that when you get that “unable” dialog box, no new mail account has been created to select and enter server settings. If anyone gets a workable solution, please post it here n

What app generated password?? This is way too complicated as we just created new passwords for our business accounts and now do I really have to have new passwords again just to get mail on my MacBook? this is absurd!

Then just use the Yahoo webmail.  I don't work for Cox or Yahoo i'm just a guy trying to be helpful to people in this forum.  Vent at someone else.   Given your reaction maybe you would be best served by hiring someone to do this for you since you find it too difficult.  

when you say 'app generated password'. which app?  cox, yahoo, or mac mail, or????

because none of the above apps generate passwords in ios..

I can’t fault your reasoning, but one suggestion is inspired by something some computer programmers do. (Some love it, many hate it when their employers foist it upon them) It’s called Peer Coding/Peer Programming. In the case of coders, one person sits at the keyboard and does the typing, writing the code, and a second person sits with them and they actively talk through what they are doing, bouncing ideas back and forth. That also puts two sets of eyes on the screen to look for errors. 

If you have an indulgent friend you can convince to be your co-pilot they might be able to help you spot any discrepancies in how your system is set up or what might be. They don’t have to be better at tech than you; they just need to be able to follow instructions and have enough computer familiarity to watch for anything that doesn’t look like what they expect from those instructions. Even if they don’t understand it all, by you answering their questions you may spot exactly what isn’t as if should be. (I’ve even found that people with a little less understanding sometimes are better at seeing mismatches because they are only looking at patterns, symbols, and general concepts rather than meaningful details that they have preconceived notions about. Not always, but often; as long as they aren’t feeling like they are going to be quizzed on the information.) 

The peer doesn’t need to learn or teach. They are a sounding board. but I totally understand the e-Mail address having been the reason to stay. It’s a nightmare to change addresses. At least with the webmail access you could transition gradually.

Actually, that’s a question… How long will Cox give customers before telling Yahoo to close e-mail accounts that are associated with closed Cox accounts? I mean now the process of severing from your cable company involves canceling with two companies. (Unless they give Yahoo control to create and close cox.net addresses?) It really bothered me when Cox disallowed extra e-mail addresses. We had a family address as our primary used only for the cox account purposes and then each had our own personal e-mail addresses. When Cox changed that policy and required me to make my personal address the user account that meant I had to give my password to the second head of household so that they could also manage the account. Otherwise their e-mail only gave them limited access to the account management, no authority to billing, customer service, etc. it was totally inappropriate that I should have to share my personal e-mail password with another person. Each e-mail had to have a real person, no second addresses for a person allowed. I wonder if that policy still stands. Presumably Yahoo has the capability to handle more addresses (I assume Cox was just minimizing the number of e-mail accounts they had to manage, and the associated server storage space.)

At least Apple lets + users create anonymized e-mail addresses so that their 3rd party account logins do not connect directly to their personal address, reducing the risk of identity thieves connecting all of your accounts. (If all of your various website accounts use your same personal e-mail address as the username then it is easier for scummers to use social media data mining to break into more of your accounts. They just keep trying to login with your address. But if you have an anonymized address then your actual personal address won’t be recognized by the website. Plus you’ll be able to tell an e-mail is phishing if it comes addressed directly to your personal address (instead of forwarded to it) since that isn’t the address associated with that website. 

Anyway, enough of my bird walking. I hope you find your best solution. 

Great response.   Are you by chance a fellow former coder?  Sounds like you know your way around.

Aw thanks! 
No, I am just in that age group who started with the first real home computers (Apple ][+ and so forth) as an elementary kids so I was a young digital immigrant. I eventually morphed into an uneducated database developer before retiring.

My first computer was an S-100 bus and I graduated to a PDP 1104 with a paper punch-tape reader. When they added a 5.25 floppy drive I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. I can't believe we actually programmed those boxes.  The PDP used RTOS which some might know became PC-DOS by way of C/PM and DR DOS.  I am always amused that Gates sold IBM a product based on a competing OS that itself was based on something IBM originally wrote and owned. 

By the time the (Trash) TRS 80 and Apple came on the scene I was wrangling big iron but owned a couple of software development and networking companies later .  My last IT role was running web development for a very large company with half a dozen verticals.  Now I am just a gadfly and provide pro bono tech support for several orgs in the area and a few friends in between my IRL work.  Nice to meet a fellow traveller, so to speak. 

I like your digital immigrant line BTW.  I used to say we learned digital as a second language--our kids grew up speaking it. 

20 years working with preK-6th graders and the affiliated adults on computers was a fun way to experience the varied relationships between humans and the technology. You haven’t really lived until you teach twenty 6-7 year olds to use Microsoft Word all at once. It was always a riot. And many of the staff members were in the awkward position of having to learn the tech along with the students, trying desperately to stay ahead of those spongy digital natives. It was something they had never experienced before, not knowing more than the kids. 

I really am grateful for your posts here. Thank you for being a kind tech supporter. It’s stressful enough when stuff doesn’t work; we all need somebody willing to stop and spell it out. 

It should be easier5--just use your cox address and the Yahoo password you use to access Yahoo web mail as the credentials--create new account for Yahoo in settings and enter the credentials.  Was that not successful?

This all works on a DESKTOP MAC, but after selecting the Yahoo among the list, on my iPHONE, the OUTGOING Mail user name, password boxes are grayed out, not allowing me to input anything. I can only change the port number, but that’s correct. I can RECEIVE mail, just get an error when trying to SEND. Again, this only pertains to Mac Mail on my iPHONE.

I had the same issue on my iPhone until I deleted my old Cox account on my phone (after I made sure I had everything downloaded).  For some reason it was using the old smtp.west.cox.net instead of the Yahoo servers.

Same with me. On my iPhone I had to turn off my old Cox account before it would let me send mail using Yahoo. You don’t have to delete the old Cox account, just turn off the mail setting. Then if you need to access any old mail you can turn it back on temporarily. 

THANK YOU, Billy03!!! IPhone Mac Mail can now SEND, and as a backup, I can send/receive on my Yahoo mail, as well.