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Free Email TutorialsMac MailChange how often Mac Mail checks for new email messages on the server

Change how often Mac Mail checks for new email messages on the server

The default Mac Mail settings are to automatically check on the server for new email messages; this implies that while Mail is running, either in a background window, or minimized to the right side of the dock, you will occasionally see new emails arrive from the server, which will both display a number icon on top of the Apple Mail icon to show how many new messages were downloaded, and  play the new mail sound (and you can also turn off or change the new mail sound). We will show you in this tutorial how to customize how often Mac Mail will check for new messages on the server or disable this functionality.

Customize how frequently Apple Mail downloads new emails

Follow these steps to choose a number of minutes or disable automatic mail checks:

Note that this change takes effect immediately, and can be configured and changed later on to whatever you like. And you can always manually check your emails (described below) even if Apple Mail is set to "automatic mode".

Manually check for new emails in Mac Mail

Regardless of your email settings in Apple Mail, you can at any time "force" a manual check for new messages on the server in a couple of ways. If you have prevented Mac Mail from automatically checking for new emails, you will have to manually check for them (otherwise your email program essentially works as if you were offline, as far as receiving new messages is concerned).

The fastest way to manually check for new email messages in Mac Mail is to press the Command+Shift+N keyboard shortcut - of course, you need to be inside Mail.app for this keystroke to work: as soon as you do, Apple Mail will start downloading all new emails it found on the server, for all your email accounts (with the exception of those you have configured not to be checked - how to temporarily disable an email account in Mac Mail).

Another to manually receive your latest emails is to click on the Mailbox menu, and choose "Get All New Mail" - whether you choose this route or use the keyboard shortcut instead makes no difference, both achieve the exactly same end result.

Mac Mail Tip: your email program is by default configured to automatically check for new email messages on the server when it launches. Unless you have disabled this setting, or customized other options that affect the free flow of emails in and out of Apple Mail, the mere act of opening the program will download new messages.

Apple Mail Tutorial Setup an Email Account Adding Email Accounts Apple Mail's Interface Sending Emails Receiving Emails Configure Mac Mail settings Your Email Signature Email Account Settings Preferences Change email password Change default email on Mac Change how often Mac Mail checks for new emails Change new email sound Change download location Change your name in Mac Mail Keep or erase sent emails Auto junk mail deletion settings Auto empty Trash settings Disable an email account Change default RSS reader Disable spam junk mail filtering Disable email highlighting Send plain text email message Automatically Cc-Bcc yourself Show or hide the main toolbar Check for new email message Add a "To Do" reminder in Mail Change to large or small icons What version of Mail do I have What version of Mac OS X do I have on my computer? Managing Your Emails Using Mailboxes Rules with Apple Mail Spam & Junk Mail
 
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