- Setting Up iCloud
- Exploring Unique iCloud Services
- Getting Started with Accounts
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Getting Started with Accounts
For all the fun and information the Internet has brought us, it has also created a mess in terms of managing all the accounts we use to communicate online. If you’re like many people, you have multiple email accounts—possibly one through iCloud, one from work, and one at home. You have accounts for chatting with instant messenger. You have accounts for sharing contacts and calendars. In other words, you’ve got multiple usernames and passwords that need to be configured in different applications, just so you can be connected.
In OS X, Apple has recognized the problem of account overload and worked to consolidate all your online account management in a single centralized preference panel—Internet Accounts. Here you can set up email, instant messenger, Exchange, Calendar, and other account types—without needing to figure out where they’re managed in your individual applications.
I show the use of this panel as needed in the relevant chapters, but let’s take a very brief look at how you interact with this tool on your Mac.
Adding an Account
To add an account for an online service (email, contacts, calendars, Exchange, etc.), follow these steps.
Open the Internet Accounts System Preferences panel.
Choose an online service provider that you want to configure by clicking its name. Select Add Other Account from the bottom of the list to pick from additional service types.
Fill in the requested information in the setup wizard that appears.
- The completed account is listed in the preference panel with its settings available on the right.
Close System Preferences when finished.
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