MOBILEME BASIC HOW-TOs

Apple's online 'MobileMe' service supplants its previous '.Mac' service, and provides online email, contacts, calendar and picture gallery, and server space called 'iDisk' which can be accessed via a web browser or, on a Mac, mounted on the Desktop as a network disk.

To try out MobileMe go to http://www.me.com and click the link for the free trial. Note that you will be asked for your credit card details: the free trial runs for 60 days after which it will automatically convert to a paid-for subscription unless you cancel it. To cancel it, log in at the same address, click on the account button: click on Account Options in the left sidebar and click the Cancel Account button at the bottom (note that this only appears during the free trial or during the first 45 days after subscribing or renewing). To convert to a paid-for subscription using a 'retail box' (available in the Apple Store) go to https://secure.me.com/wo/WebObjects/Signup.woa/wa/activation and choose the option 'renew an existing account'. (If you still have an old .Mac retail box that will also work.) Note that your subscription will start immediately, not at the expected end of your 60 day trial: you could wait until a day or two before the trial expires.

To enter your username and password, check your iDisk usage and initiate syncing:
In Mac OSX Leopard, System Preferences >MobileMe. (Enter your username without the '@me.com' or '@mac.com'.)
In Mac OSX Tiger, System Preferences>.Mac (the name hasn't been updated at the time of writing, but it still works).
In Mac OSX Panther some facilities work, though it isn't supported: System Preferences>.Mac doesn't recognize more than 2GB in the iDisk, and there is no syncing, but the iDisk mounts normally as below.
Windows users will need to download a Control Panel and have iTunes installed (free): please see this page which gives some information and up-to-date links for those programs.

 

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To mount your iDisk on the desktop: in OSX, command-shift-i or Finder menu 'Go'>'iDisk'>'My iDisk'. This page explains how you may be able to do it in Windows.

To mount your iDisk automatically on startup in OSX: Copy the following into the AppleScript Editor:

(note that from 'mount volume' to 'password"' is all one line, no line break; and obviously replace 'username' and 'password' as appropriate.) Save it as an Application and set it in System Preferences>Accounts as a login item.

To copy files to your iDisk: in Mac OSX just dragging and dropping like any other disk works, but can be quite slow: also the Finder tends to claim that the file has uploaded while it's still in progress.You might think it worth investing $29.95 in Transmit, which will access, upload to and download from your iDisk faster and more reliably than the Finder.

Windows (or Mac) users can use either the online application or a downloadable application at http://www.anyclient.com to connect to the iDisk: I have not tested this so cannot personally recommend it but others have had success with it.

In both OSX and Windows you can use most browsers to access your iDisk at http://idisk.mac.com/username and upload and download files (though only one at a time), or log in at http://www.me.com with supported browsers (see below) and click on the iDisk button in the toolbar.

At the time of writing there is a bug in the uploading process if you do it through http://www.me.com: pages uploaded this way appear correctly in Safari but FireFox treats them as if they were an application and offers to download them. The interface at http://idisk.mac.com/username does not exhibit this bug, neither does uploading in Transmit or in the Finder to the mounted iDisk.

 

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To synchronize your iDisk (making a 'local copy') if you must (and I advise against it) - please see this page.

To post to, access and password-protect your Public Folder please see this page.

Safari Bookmarks are no longer visible on MobileMe when synced: to view them online please see this page.

 

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To access your MobileMe mail, contacts, calendar, settings: in Safari or Firefox 2 on  Mac or Windows, or Internet Explorer 7 on Windows:
http://me.com 
in Panther this will work but only in FireFox 2, not in Safari 1. Syncing and 'Push' will not work. Linux, originally unsupported, now appears to work with FireFox.

 

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To share files: go to http://me.com and click on the button with the folder to go to your iDisk. Navigate to the folder and file you want to share, and in the pane to the right you will see the details of that file, together with a 'Share File...' button.
Click this and you will get a pop-up window giving a URL for sharing (this takes the form http://files.me.com/username/ followed by a code) which you can copy, an option to send the link by email, and options to limit the period of availability and password-protect the file. The link, when clicked in an email or pasted into a browser, will download the file (even if it's a type a browser could display). You can share files in any folder, including your Documents Folder,  except Library, Groups and Software.

When you first share a file a new folder called 'Shared Files' will appear in the left sidebar of the page at http://me.com for your iDisk; shared files will appear here (while remaining in their original location) - it's like a 'smart folder', and will show you the current status of file sharing. Clicking on a file in this list will bring up the information pane seen above left.

 

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IE6 on Windows does not work,  thus blocking users of most Internet Cafes and many corporate users (where upgrading is forbidden): you can check your MobileMe mail (and reply to it) at http://www.mail2web.com. You could also set up MobileMe mail to forward to a Google Mail account, which you would be able to use to access and reply to your messages; or use Google Mail to access your MobileMe mail.

 

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To redirect your me.com mail to another address such as Google Mail: in the online Mail application: log in as above; click on button in the toolbar with the cogwheel and the down arrow ; select 'Preferences' and in the pane which opens click the 'Other' button. You will see a checkbox for forwarding mail and an entry field for the new address. You can choose to leave a copy at MobileMe when you do this.

 

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To make aliases in the online Mail application: log in as above; click on the button in the toolbar with the cogwheel and the down arrow ; select 'Preferences' and in the pane which opens click the 'Aliases' button. An alias is another email address which sends mail directly to your main email inbox.

 

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The old HomePage online web-page creation program: this service was discontinued in July 2009.

To upload web pages to your iDisk: please see this page.

To contact Apple when things go wrong:  go to
http://www.apple.com/support/mobileme/
click on a category in the left-hand side (it may be slow to open), then on a sub-category: at the bottom of the page you will see a link for 'live chat' .

You can send feedback about MobileMe to Apple at http://www.apple.com/feedback/mobileme.html
(your comment will be noted but you will not get a reply).

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To cancel MobileMe: you can cancel your subscription and get a full refund within 45 days of starting or renewal:  Log in at http://me.com and go to your Account: click on 'Account Options' in the left sidebar and then click the 'cancel' button (this is now available for subscribed as well as trial accounts). Your credit card will be refunded: if you subscribed using an activation code then you will have to contact the retailer you bought it from. After the 45 days have passed you cannot cancel the account, you can only wait for it to expire.

Before cancelling or allowing the account to expire, if you have turned 'iDisk syncing' on (not a procedure I recommend) you should turn it off first, or you may be landed with persistent error messages. After you have cancelled you should go to System Preferences>MobileMe, logout and remove your username and password.

A common question is whether the email will continue after expiry/cancellation: it is not a free service and all email services will cease to function. There is a short period of a few days before the contents of the iDisk are erased.

You may have an 'Apple ID' for iTunes, the Discussions Forum, and registration of hardware, and often is the same as your MobileMe (or .Mac) email address. Your Apple ID continues to be the same, and will work on the forums. Your email address doesn't have to be the same as your Apple ID, and if you are cancelling the account you will need to change it.

To change your email address for iTunes, open iTunes, go to menu Store>View My Account, sign in with your Apple ID and password, then click on the 'Edit Account Info' button in the top right-hand.

To change your email address for registrations etc., go to

https://myinfo.apple.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/MyInfo

log in and edit the account details there.

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I have also posted some frequently asked questions (together with the frequently answered answers) here.

© Roger Wilmut. This site is not associated with Apple