How to use a vanity From address?

Question

How to use a vanity From address?

My alma mater provides alumni a funky e-mail service. I'd like to have mail that has been sent to that account forwarded to another service (perhaps MobilMe) so I can use Apple's Mail program. That part is easy. How can I get Mail to show my alma mater's e-mail address in the From field? Mail can't send via that account because that service is so funky. Yeah. It's vain. But, I payed those tuition bills and suffered that pain. I'd to see my alma mater's name in the From field.

Thanks

Macbook Pro, MC118LL/A, Mac OS X (10.6.3)

Posted on May 9, 2010 8:51 PM

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Answer 1

May 10, 2010 1:06 AM in response to oldmancoyote1

Set up a new (dummy) account in Mail. Give it a suitable name for your reference, enter your alma mater email address as the email address; but for incoming mail server, username and password enter garbage. Set the outgoing mail server to whatever server you want to use.

In the 'Advanced' pane check 'Enable this account' but don't check 'include when automatically checking for new mail' or you will keep getting error messages.

Now when you create or reply to a message this address will appear as an option in the drop-down menu at the bottom left of the toolbar above the message area.

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Answer 2

May 10, 2010 3:18 PM in response to Roger Wilmut1

Thanks Roger. I'll give it a try later this or next week. Then I'll give you credit for the answer after I have checked it out.

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Answer 3

Jul 22, 2010 12:01 PM in response to Roger Wilmut1

Thanks for your help, but this does not work. Mail replies: Cannot send using the server smtp.me.com

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Answer 4

Jul 22, 2010 12:28 PM in response to oldmancoyote1

The smtp.me.com specifically will not allow sending from addresses of other domains. Use the SMTP provided by your ISP, and it may work. The one provided by my ISP allows sending from other addresses.

Ernie

Message was edited by: Ernie Stamper

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Answer 5

thomas_r.

Level 7

32,031 points

Jul 22, 2010 12:24 PM in response to oldmancoyote1

Yeah, no offense to Roger, but that wasn't a very good suggestion, especially since we knew you were dealing with MobileMe. Most - not all, but most - SMTP (outgoing) servers will adamantly refuse to send e-mail having a From address that doesn't match the address of their service, as a measure to protect them against abuses by spammers. MobileMe is one of those. So, if you have an e-mail address like coyote@someuniversity.edu, and you try to use the smtp.me.com server to send mail from that address, it will refuse. The smtp.me.com server will only send mail from addresses ending in @me.com.

What this means, unfortunately, is that there really isn't a way to do what you're asking, unless you have another account on a server that will allow this sort of thing. If you want to send mail from your university address, you'll have to send it using the university servers.

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