How to change order of mail accounts in iPhone 4 mail app

Settings-Mail-Default account, just for one mail account though

otherwise, you're right, you'll have to delete then
add back in the order you want

in iOS4 I just tried removing my accounts and setting them up again in order to get them in the order I wanted but it did not work. I had been hoping t o have the Exchange/Activesync account first since that is my work account, but it always seems to get pushed to the bottom of the list.

Have you found any solutions to this? I too would like my accounts ordered in a particular way.

I would like to do that too.

You all can request Apple add this feature in the future:
http://apple.com/feedback

(even just putting non-MobileMe Exchange accounts at the top would probably be a smarter default...)

This works:
http://www.iphonefaq.org/archives/97908

It's not quite as elegant as being able to drag the accounts into the right order, but at least I now have my accounts in the order I want...

This does not work for me.

I followed the directions provided at the link;

1. Make sure your iPhone is connected to the computer and iTunes is running.
2. Under DEVICES in the left menu of iTunes click on your iPhone.
3. Click the Info tab at the top of the screen.
4. Make sure the box next to "Sync Selected Mail Accounts" is checked.
5. Deselect all mail accounts except the account you want at the top of your list.
6. Click the Sync button. No messages will be lost.
7. After syncing, leave the previous account selected and select the mail account you want to appear next in line.
8. Repeat steps 6-7 until all of your accounts are synced.

When I get to step 5 I see that only one of my accounts is listed though I have 5 mail accounts active on my phone. Why don't the other accounts show up?

The list shown in iTunes is a list of the mail accounts you have configured in Apple Mail on your Mac. You need to have all 5 accounts also configured in Apple Mail.
When you click Sync, iTunes is pushing the mail settings from your Mac to the iPhone (but not the messages, just the mail settings).
It works perfectly for me...

Why is there no way to just drag them to the position you want them, a standard technique on so many Apple devices? (I think I was able to do that on my original iPhone).

Why do we have to go through this ridiculously convoluted rigamarole, which evidently doesn't work for everyone, anyway?

You can change the order by opening up the plist file for Mail.app and dragging the order to whatever you'd like. The file is in [Home]/Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail.plist. Then look for the section called MailSections and you just drag the item to where you'd like for it to appear. I've made a screenshot here:

http://skitch.com/scotchi/d6dig/abracadabra

Does anyone know the equivalent file or command sequence on a Windows 7 based system?

This is a frustrating ordeal for sure, but if you have a jailbroken iPhone, it's pretty easy. The above method is most likely for Leopard and not iOS 4.x.x

Here's the location on the iPhone:

/private/var/mobile/Library/Preferences/com.apple.accountsettings.plist

Your accounts are listed toward the bottom in the order in which they appear in the Mail application. Change the order by editing the plist. For Windows, here's a good plist editor: http://goo.gl/wj2qE

Rename the original in case something gets jacked. Respring and you're set.

Enjoy!