Mail not sending on iPhone? Check SMTP settings

Today I fixed a coworker's iPhone which could not send emails from both of his email accounts on his phone.  I discovered that the problem stemmed from the SMTP settings configuration, which did not enable authentication by default.  To correct the problem you will need to enable authentication under the SMTP settings pane; most people will be fine choosing password authentication.

 

The final pane is where you need to be in order to change the SMTP settings.  The server port will vary depending on your service provider.  Newer implementations will use port 587, some servers will use port 25, and yet others will use port 80.  Not all mail services will support SSL, but I highly recommend using it if it works with you server.
One last thing to note: In my example, I use gmail.  Setting up a gmail account using this method should not be necessary, as iOS implements gmail correctly and automatically configures the settings correctly.

Managing multiple email accounts with Thunderbird

If you are like me , then you probably have more than one email account.  And really, who doesn't these days.  You may even have more than one Gmail account, which can be hard to manage unless you have multiple sign in enabled in you Gmail settings.  But by far the easiest way to manage all of your email accounts in one place is with Thunderbird.  Thunderbird is an email client by Mozilla, the makers of Firefox.

Whether you run Windows, Mac or Linux, Thunderbird will work for you.  The newest version of T-Bird makes setting up accounts really easy.  You don't have to enter the name of your email servers anymore.  When you go to make an account, it will ask for your name, email address, and password.  Thunderbird figures out all the rest and finishes setting up you accounts.  It also has a feature called unified folders.  This  lets you view all your in-boxes, sent mail, trash, and archived mail from all your accounts together.  Of course you can still view them separately if you prefer.  Another handy feature of T-bird is the search feature.  Most other email clients have the search buried in some menu, but T-bird puts it right on the main page where it's easy to get to.  You also don't need to choose filters anymore before searching.  And, just like Firefox, Thunderbird has an extensive library of extensions if the vanilla program doesn't do everything you need it to do.  There are lots of extensions which add all sorts of functionality, including calendars, contact management, and news reading.  I use the Zindus contact sync extension to synchronize my contacts back and forth between my Gmail accounts.  This is useful when I have to log into the Gmail website from another computer, because all of my Thunderbird contacts will show up in Gmail.  Of course, these are just a few noteworthy features of Thunderbird, but there are many more.

If you are looking for a better way to read your email, try Thunderbird.   It is available here at Mozilla's website.