Hi, I'm using a MacBook Pro 2014 and recently did a fresh install (= wiped the SSD before installing) of El Capitan. When I wanted to set up my e-mail accounts in Mail it worked fine for the first one, but the other one gives me an 'This account already exists.' I already checked System Preferences – Internet Accounts but it's not listed there.

1. Qq1.15 For Mac

I also removed the credentials for the account from my keychain, because I thought it might be an iCloud sync issue. Nothing helped so far. Does anyone know how to fix this?

Out of curiosity, is the email account you're trying to add also the same email address for your Apple ID? I just had the same issue.

I had to completely logout of iCloud on the Mac (by going through the 'Internet Accounts' preference pane of Settings) before I could add the email account that 'already existed'. I was able to add the account then, but I wasn't able to log back in to iCloud after that (it said it was already logged in even though no iCloud account showed up on in the preference pane). I then had to leave the 'Internet Accounts' preference pane and click on the iCloud preference pane in Settings.

Sure enough I was still logged into my iCloud account there. I just had to click on all the programs that I wanted to use iCloud.

Everything worked fine after that. Nomadic yeti wrote:. Is the email account you're trying to add also the same email address for your Apple ID? I just had the same issue. I had to completely logout of iCloud on the Mac (by going through the 'Internet Accounts' preference pane of Settings) before I could add the email account that 'already existed'.

I was able to add the account then, but I wasn't able to log back in to iCloud after that (it said it was already logged in even though no iCloud account showed up on in the preference pane). I then had to leave the 'Internet Accounts' preference pane and click on the iCloud preference pane in Settings. Sure enough I was still logged into my iCloud account there. I just had to click on all the programs that I wanted to use iCloud. Everything worked fine after that.

Thanks @nomadic yeti, that worked for me with an Internode IMAP email account, that failed to log in when I upgraded to El Capitan. I would repeatedly enter the password to no avail. So I deleted the mail account and tried to set it up from new, couldn't do this as I was getting 'This account already exists' lies.

And yes, that email address is my iCloud/Apple ID email. I was able to log back in to iCloud in the Internet Accounts pane however, unlike you. So for me the whole process was: 1) quit Mail app 2) System Preferences Internet Accounts select iCloud account “-“ key to delete account. (say yes to all the warnings) 3) start Mail app, Preferences Accounts “+” button 4) enter email account info, account gets created in Mail. Quit Mail app 5) System Preferences Internet Accounts “+” to add your iCloud account (tick boxes for which services you wish to have synced). Out of curiosity, is the email account you're trying to add also the same email address for your Apple ID?

I just had the same issue. I had to completely logout of iCloud on the Mac (by going through the 'Internet Accounts' preference pane of Settings) before I could add the email account that 'already existed'. I was able to add the account then, but I wasn't able to log back in to iCloud after that (it said it was already logged in even though no iCloud account showed up on in the preference pane). I then had to leave the 'Internet Accounts' preference pane and click on the iCloud preference pane in Settings.

Qq1.15 For Mac

Sure enough I was still logged into my iCloud account there. I just had to click on all the programs that I wanted to use iCloud. Everything worked fine after that. Thanks for this thread. I just did a clean install and had the same exact issue. Until this thread, I have not been able to find anything about this issue.

I too use the same email address for my Apple ID. Logging out of Icloud to set up the email account did the trick and then I was able to lock back into Icloud with no problem. The question I want to throw out there (and I know this thread is about a month and a half old) is this: I now have my email account set up and as I stated I 'relogged' into Icloud account through settings/Icloud.

When I look at the preference pain/accounts tab in Mac Mail, I still see an 'inactive' Icloud account for the Apple ID email. I have not encountered this before. I have another machine running El Capitan and I did not have this issue nor do I see an 'inactive' Icloud email address in Mac Mail preferences.

What's that doing there? Not a huge deal but just wondering. Thanks for the advice. I tried it and didn't have the same success others have had, perhaps I needed to log out after deactivating the iCloud account, I don't know. These types of problems really bug me. However, your thought helped me resolve the problem in another way.

I had the same problem with my email address = apple ID. We're with Comcast and so I chose to create another Comcast email account, a dummy account if you will with a different email address, username etc. I then went back into the Mac and it was happy to set up this account for me using the standard automated process. I then went into that account and edited the fields such that it matched how things should look for the account I wanted to set up in the first place but wasn't able to because of the error message 'this account already exists'. All the fields were editable and no complaints from the OS were generated.

I then went back into Comcast and deleted the dummy account. All seems to be well (fingers crossed). Nomadic yeti wrote:. Is the email account you're trying to add also the same email address for your Apple ID?

I just had the same issue. I had to completely logout of iCloud on the Mac (by going through the 'Internet Accounts' preference pane of Settings) before I could add the email account that 'already existed'. I was able to add the account then, but I wasn't able to log back in to iCloud after that (it said it was already logged in even though no iCloud account showed up on in the preference pane). I then had to leave the 'Internet Accounts' preference pane and click on the iCloud preference pane in Settings.

Sure enough I was still logged into my iCloud account there. I just had to click on all the programs that I wanted to use iCloud. Everything worked fine after that. Thanks @nomadic yeti, that worked for me with an Internode IMAP email account, that failed to log in when I upgraded to El Capitan.

I would repeatedly enter the password to no avail. So I deleted the mail account and tried to set it up from new, couldn't do this as I was getting 'This account already exists' lies. And yes, that email address is my iCloud/Apple ID email. I was able to log back in to iCloud in the Internet Accounts pane however, unlike you. So for me the whole process was: 1) quit Mail app 2) System Preferences Internet Accounts select iCloud account “-“ key to delete account. (say yes to all the warnings) 3) start Mail app, Preferences Accounts “+” button 4) enter email account info, account gets created in Mail.

Quit Mail app 5) System Preferences Internet Accounts “+” to add your iCloud account (tick boxes for which services you wish to have synced). You don't have to delete anything, you can but you don't have to. There is a better solution. 1) Quit Mail app. 2) Go to System Preferences Internet Accounts.

3) You should see your iCloud account to the left. Under that you should see all your other email account(s) listed as 'inactive'. Click the one you want to activate (it'll prompt you for your password) then to your right there are check boxes. Check all that you want applied, particularly the check box for 'mail.' It would not allow you to add your email account, because it was already there (hence the message saying 'account already exists.' ) It was merely 'Inactive' and needed to be reactivated. Apple Footer.

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