Read webmail in local email client with MacFreePOPs

Apr 14, '06 05:08:00AM

Contributed by: shadownight

Although many tips exist about getting Hotmail mail into your email client, using the HTTP Mail Plugin didn't work for me, because my account with Hotmail was too recent, and paying this external service didn't make me happy. Although a solution called hotwayd is available, it is for advanced computer users, so here is my solution for normal people. Also, you can use any webmail service that don't offer POP as a free option, like Yahoo or FastMail (I think), with this solution.

First, you have to download the free utility MacFreePOPs, part of an open-source project. Open MacFreePOPs and click 'Start freepopsd server.' If I understand correctly, MacFreePOPs does the same thing as hotwayd: it emulates a POP3 server.

Next, go the your preferred email client (I use Apple's Mail), and create a new POP account. Provide your normal username and password, but for the Incoming Mail Server field, type the red number that appears at the bottom of the MacFreePOPs window. For your Outgoing Mail Server, you'll have to use something else (I use my ISP's SMTP server). When you're done, locate the Port Number field in the Advanced tab (in Mail.app), and replace 110 with 2000. If all went well, you should receive your webmail in your email client!

About the server: according to my experience, you can quit MacFreePOPs with the server running and it'll continue working. If you log out and log in again, it should still be running (even though MacFreePOPs won't be open). However, if you shut down your computer and open it again, you will have to open MacFreePOPs and start the server again. That's why you might want to include it in your login items.

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