Yahoo Mail server settings (incoming and outgoing email servers)
The Yahoo Mail server settings are the connection information you need to check emails and send an email from an email application, using your Yahoo account. The "incoming server settings" are used to download new emails from the server, and the "outgoing server settings" determine how your email program will "talk" to Yahoo Mail when you try to send an email from your Yahoo email account.
This tutorial gives you the "raw" incoming and outgoing email server settings for your Yahoo Mail account: if you use one of the following programs, each of these tutorials walks you through setting up your Yahoo Mail account inside the particular email client, which will be easier:
• Add your Yahoo! Mail account in Windows Live Mail
• Add your Yahoo! Mail account in Outlook Express
• Add your Yahoo! Mail account in Mozilla Thunderbird
• Add your Yahoo! Mail account in Windows Mail
• Add your Yahoo! Mail account in Microsoft Outlook
Can you setup free Yahoo Mail in an email program?
Currently, Yahoo only lets you check your emails from an email account if you are subscribing to "Yahoo Mail Plus", the paid version of Yahoo Mail we'll discuss in a later tutorial. There is a simple reason behind this: Yahoo is able to offer its email service for free by displaying ads inside Yahoo Mail; when you check your emails from an email program, there are no ads to support the service. By upgrading to Yahoo Mail Plus, you are essentially allowing Yahoo Mail to remain profitable, while enjoying the convenience of Yahoo emails inside your favorite email client (and an ad-free experience when you login from a web browser!)
Yahoo Mail Incoming server settings ("POP", or "POP3")
Yahoo Mail's "incoming server settings" are the POP3 email settings you need to enable your email program to check for new emails on the server, for your Yahoo profile:
| Incoming mail server | plus.pop.mail.yahoo.com | This is the internet address your email program will use to connect to your Yahoo Mail account. |
|---|---|---|
| Incoming port | 995 | The "port" is an extension of the incoming mail server; while port 110 is standard for unsecured email checking, port 995 is the standard for secure email (where sending your user name and password to Yahoo's mail servers is encrypted). |
| SSL option (secure) | Yes (checked) | Checking the "This email account requires a secure connection" checkbox (or something approaching) should automatically change away from 110 and use port 995 instead. |
These incoming server settings are pretty standard, and as long as you ensure that these three options are properly configured, your email program should have no problem downloading emails from your Yahoo Mail account!
Yahoo Mail outgoing server settings ("SMTP")
The outgoing server settings for Yahoo Mail are a bit more tricky to setup, simply because of spam. To avoid having mail servers used as junk mail relays, nearly all email providers nowadays require "outgoing authentication", so that the only way to send emails through their service is to have a valid email account, and the proper credentials supplied.
Here are the SMTP settings for Yahoo Mail: (outgoing emails)
| Outgoing mail server | plus.smtp.mail.yahoo.com | Like the incoming mail server, the outgoing mail server setting for Yahoo Mail is the internet address your email program will use to connect to Yahoo's servers when you are trying to send an email. |
|---|---|---|
| Outgoing port | 465 or 587 | In an effort to reduce spam, many internet service providers block ports used by default to send emails (this would be 25 for unsecured mail, and 465 for secure-authentication email services, like Yahoo Mail). If you have problems sending emails when using outgoing port 465, it is possibly because your "ISP" is blocking it - in this case, use outgoing port 587 instead. |
| SSL option (secure) | Yes (checked) | Make sure to check the checkbox that enables secure authentication in your email program: plain text (unencrypted) email account credentials sent to Yahoo's servers will be automatically rejected. |
| Outgoing authentication | Yes (checked/enabled) | This setting instruct your email client to send your user name and password whenever it is about to send emails. |
| User name or email address | either "userName", or" userName@yahoo.com" | Depending on your email program, you may need to enter either your "login name" (the portion of your email address that comes before the "@" symbol) and/or your full email address (including the "@yahoo.com" part, "@yahoo.co.uk", etc.) |
| Password | ******… | This is simply the password for your Yahoo Mail email account - make sure it is correctly entered: this is the most common cause of problems with checking or sending emails from an email program, using your Yahoo Mail account. |
And this concludes it for the Yahoo Mail outgoing server settings; you now have all the information you need to check your emails, and send emails, from your favorite en application, using your Yahoo Mail account.