This help article is for an old version of Direct Mail.
The easiest way to handle subscribe and unsubscribe requests is to let Direct Mail do the work for you. For example, if you use a subscribe form, then new subscribers are added to your mailing lists automatically. If you use Direct Mail's built-in unsubscribe link, then unsubscribes are taken care of for you, too.
However, if you want to handle requests that are emailed to you, Direct Mail can help out, too. The "Scan Incoming Mail" feature can connect to your POP3 or IMAP mailbox and automatically process messages that meet certain criteria.
To handle subscribe requests that have been emailed to you:
- Choose Addresses > Scan Incoming Mail from the menu bar.
- Enter your incoming mail server details.
- Click the Subscribes tab.
- Check "Look for subscribe requests".
- Click Scan.
Direct Mail will connect to your mailbox and process any matching email messages.
To handle unsubscribe requests that have been emailed to you:
- Choose Addresses > Scan Incoming Mail from the menu bar.
- Enter your incoming mail server details.
- Click the Unsubscribes tab.
- Check "Look for unsubscribe requests".
- Click Scan.
Direct Mail will connect to your mailbox and process any matching email messages.
If you think that Direct Mail is missing messages, please keep in mind that Direct Mail can only see messages that are still on the server. For POP3 mailboxes, this means that you must set your email client to not remove downloaded messages from the server.
By default, Direct Mail will remember the last message it processed and only download and process new messages. If you want force Direct Mail to start from the beginning of your mailbox, choose "All emails on server" from the Scan popup menu.
If you are using Gmail or Google Apps
If you are connecting via IMAP or POP3 to a Gmail or Google Apps server, please consult this guide for the correct settings to enter into Direct Mail. If your Google account does not have two-step verification turned on, then you will need to turn on the "Access for less secure apps" option inside of your Google account (as per the instructions). This option has a scary-sounding name, but what it really means is that you are okay with typing your Google account password into the Direct Mail settings window (instead of using a technology named OAuth to authenticate). All connections to Google use encryption, so you can rest assured that your password is safe from anyone trying to eavesdrop on your connection. Direct Mail saves your password securely to the macOS Keychain.
If you are using an iCloud account
If you connecting via IMAP or POP3 to an iCloud email account, you may need to use an app-specific password provided by Apple instead of your regular iCloud password. Please see these instructions for generating an app-specific password.