Using AOL and AIM mail
AOL mail, AIM mail, and Compuserve mail all use AOL's IMAP server. Netscape mail accounts have been migrated to AIM mail. The main difference between the different versions of "AOL mail" is that a AOL account imposes the most restrictions on what you can do with the IMAP server and a AIM account the least. The IMAP server does not support AOL-only features such as AOL Return Receipts and checking a message's status.
Create a new account in Mozilla Suite or Thunderbird and choose IMAP as your server type. Then, use the following information to complete the fields:
Incoming server (IMAP) | imap.aol.com or imap.aim.com |
Port | Leave it to be set automatically: 143 (993 for SSL) |
Security Settings/connection | Select either Never or SSL (AOL supports SSL, so you should probably use it) |
Security Settings/Use secure authentication | Do not check; AOL does not support this; see Note, below. |
Username | Your screen name |
Outgoing Server (SMTP) | smtp.aol.com or smtp.aim.com |
Username | Your screen name |
Security/connection | AOL supports SSL, so you should probably use it; use port 465 in this case. |
Port | 587 ( 465 for SSL) |
Description Name | Whatever you wish |
You will be asked for the password when you connect for the first time.
AOL account:
- You cannot manually add messages to the Inbox or Sent Items folders. Messages will be added to those folders after messages have been sent and received by the AOL server. You should probably use Local Folders if you want to store sent mail, email drafts, and templates. You can configure this under the account settings by selecting "Copies & Folders" under Account Settings. However, if you use Thunderbird/Mozilla (not AOL webmail or the AOL mail client) to create folders with different names (e.g. Drafts--Tbird and Sent--Tbird) and change your "Copies & Folders" account settings appropriately, you may be able to get Thunderbird to save drafts and sent mail in them; I did.
AIM account:
- AIM doesn't have any of the AOL account restrictions. It will add a "Saved Mail" and "Spam" folder and any inbox child folders are displayed as peers rather than child folders.
Country server addresses:-
UK imap.uk.aol.com & smtp.uk.aol.com
Canada imap.ca.aol.com & smtp.ca.aol.com
Australia imap.au.aol.com & smtp.au.aol.com
Mexico imap.mx.aol.com & smtp.mx.aol.com
Argentina imap.ar.aol.com & smtp.ar.aol.com
Brazil imap.br.aol.com & smtp.br.aol.com
France imap.fr.aol.com & smtp.fr.aol.com
Germany imap.de.aol.com & smtp.de.aol.com
Japan imap.jp.aol.com & smtp.jp.aol.com
USA imap.aol.com & smtp.aol.com