Mac OS X Mail: Detailed connection logging

Joachim — Wed, 11 Jun 2014 16:10:38 +0000

Almost every time Apple decides to release a new version of Mail I run into trouble connecting to my mail-server. This was true as Mavericks came out and now again with Yosemite. The normal activity window is not very helpful here, because it does not offer enough details about the dialog that is taking place between the client and the server.

To get a more detailed connection log, quit mail if it’s currently running and open “Terminal”. Type the following on the command line:
/Applications/Mail.app/Contents/MacOS/Mail -LogActivityOnHost YOUR.SERVER >& ~/Desktop/ConnectionLog.txt &
Replace YOUR.SERVER with the name of the mail server you are connecting to.

This will create the file “ConnectionLog.txt” on your desktop. Here you’ll find detailed information about what is going on between the Mail-Client and the Mail-Server.

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Mac OS X Mail: Detailed connection logging