Kurt J. Meyer

Q: Mail Ignores Group Address Setting

I have watched this since El Capitan: Mail ignores its own preference setting (in Preferences > Edit) to hide the addresses of group members when sending a mail to a group. With either setting "Show" or "Hide", all group members are listed in the To: field.

I hate sending mails with lists of 70 email addresses. So I am happy still to remember the syntax Mail is using to hide group members:

GroupName <GroupName>

But it is cumbersome to enter this syntax every time myself, while Mail.app used to have a working feature, but is ignoring that preference — since two versions!

 

Has anybody filed a bug report? Other ideas or workarounds?

Posted on Sep 22, 2016 11:09 PM

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Q: Mail Ignores Group Address Setting

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  • by dianeoforegon,

    dianeoforegon dianeoforegon Sep 27, 2016 4:33 PM in response to Kurt J. Meyer
    Level 5 (5,731 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 27, 2016 4:33 PM in response to Kurt J. Meyer

    Use your email in the To line. Enter the group in the BCC field. You will see the addresses, but not the recipients.

  • by Kurt J. Meyer,

    Kurt J. Meyer Kurt J. Meyer Sep 28, 2016 2:54 AM in response to dianeoforegon
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 28, 2016 2:54 AM in response to dianeoforegon

    OK, that's a workaround; the BCC address will not display the other group members to the recipients.

     

    But the problem remains: The group members are listed in the address field, while the preference is set to "Do not display group members".

    Bildschirmfoto 2016-09-28 um 11.45.26.png

    You see that when you save the mail as draft.

    Bildschirmfoto 2016-09-28 um 11.37.08.png

    The preference setting used to work, but is broken since – I think – Yosemite.

  • by Barney-15E,

    Barney-15E Barney-15E Sep 28, 2016 4:45 AM in response to Kurt J. Meyer
    Level 9 (50,401 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 28, 2016 4:45 AM in response to Kurt J. Meyer

    It has been disabled for longer than that (I think Lion was the last time it worked, but perhaps Snow Leopard). I don't know why they don't remove it from the preferences.

    And, that function was a workaround for Bcc, not the other way. Bcc is the email standard compliant way of doing what you want.

  • by Kurt J. Meyer,

    Kurt J. Meyer Kurt J. Meyer Sep 28, 2016 6:07 AM in response to Barney-15E
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 28, 2016 6:07 AM in response to Barney-15E

    I do not want this option to be removed from the preferences, I want Mail to work again the way it advertises itself.

     

    I do not like the BCC workaround; it lets recipients think they are the only recipient (beside the To: address).

     

    I prefer the built-in (but broken) option to hide group members. Recipients will see "Undisclosed recipients" in the address field.

     

    I know the syntax to let Mail work this way: GroupName <GroupName> hides the group members in the address fields (to:, cc:, bcc:), but it is cumbersome to add this syntax every time myself.

  • by dianeoforegon,

    dianeoforegon dianeoforegon Sep 28, 2016 11:30 AM in response to Kurt J. Meyer
    Level 5 (5,731 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 28, 2016 11:30 AM in response to Kurt J. Meyer

    Trying to workaround a standard compliant setting is not advised. IMHO, it's better than all recipients accidentally seeing all the emails for the group if the blind copy fails using an alternative method.

  • by Barney-15E,

    Barney-15E Barney-15E Sep 28, 2016 4:50 PM in response to Kurt J. Meyer
    Level 9 (50,401 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 28, 2016 4:50 PM in response to Kurt J. Meyer

    Kurt J. Meyer wrote:

     

    I do not want this option to be removed from the preferences, I want Mail to work again the way it advertises itself.

    It's never going to come back as it hasn't been "fixed" in five OS releases. The feature doesn't exist regardless of its appearance in Preferences.

    If you want Apple to replace it, send them feedback. None of us users here can rewrite the code to make it work the way you want.

  • by Kurt J. Meyer,

    Kurt J. Meyer Kurt J. Meyer Sep 28, 2016 9:09 PM in response to Barney-15E
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 28, 2016 9:09 PM in response to Barney-15E

    I already did that. I was just wondering if no one else is missing the "Undisclosed Recipients" option.

  • by Kurt J. Meyer,

    Kurt J. Meyer Kurt J. Meyer Sep 28, 2016 9:29 PM in response to dianeoforegon
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 28, 2016 9:29 PM in response to dianeoforegon

    What do you think where I found that syntax? Mail.app did use this syntax as long the "Undisclosed Recipients" preference option wasn't broken. You could watch this syntax in the "Former Recipients" list.

    FWIW, now you'll find there two instances of the GroupName only (without an additional <GroupName> tag) if you have used both kinds of addresses (disclosed and undisclosed).

    "Undisclosed Recipients" is a standard method, and it continues to work. How would any mail server understand this address syntax if it were not "standard compliant"?