What happened to the Mail "Bounce to Sender" menu item in Lion?

If mail is coming from a legit address and they won't remove you from the list, just block the address - you'll never see it. And it is probably a "do not respond" address so it doesn't go back anyway. Bounce is another legacy that we don't need.

YOu guys are missing the point. We don't use bounce to bounce mail back to spammers, we use it to bounce mail back to people we can't get to quit sending us dumb jokes, political crap and other BS or someone we are mad at. Blocking your mail often just lets it build up in some other mailbox. And unless they are a mac owner (not likely), they can't tell it's not a real bounced email. I've used it a lot over the years and I really miss it, as do hundreds or thousands of others judging from the number of forums discussing it. And yes, on every forum there are a few idiots (some guy named Ernie) telling us we don't need it or it doesn't really work. OK, you gearheads, it didn't work for you, but it does for the rest of us. Don't take utilities away from us when you (apple) upgrades... just give us more utilities and eye candy. There is a link in your "mail" icon that says "feedback." Send feedback to apple so they can judge how many people want it brought back in future updates. I'll bet it comes back!

Thanks Earnie,

Very thoughtful and thorough reply. Thanks! I stand corrected regarding bounce, though I do think it ended some spams, (maybe just through the aggravation of continuously returned e-mails, though on the other hand, probably represented a grain of sand on the beach). I still think the advice not to use unsubscribes on spam mail websites holds.

I also really miss Bounce.

Thanks for the information, Ernie.

I, like others, thought that Bounce would end our problems with Bad emails. But after reading through the post here I now see what needs to be done and have made the changes. I went to my email server, pulled up my prefferences there and, after making a list of emails to be blocked, added them so they will not be accepted by my server. I have noticed that on a lot of new "Unwanted Emails" there is no removal by web, so you have to write to them by snail mail to be removed. And that is not happening. (I'm trying to get rid of them not give them my home address)

So now I'll just keep me a file of unwanted addresses and add them to my server list maybe once a month.

It doesn't matter why the person wants to keep bounce. It was a feature they used and its loss is a serious inconvenience. In just the same way I miss it. I also miss not being able to use the ****** modem I bought. It's a cheek to supply a device and then drop support for it because of someone else's vision of what THEY think I should be using, or not using. Perhaps Apple should get it's people and put their feet on the ground, with th rest of us. Emporers new clothes? And Lion *****. I've had nothing but triuble since the upgrade is loads of areas.

Don't upgrade to Lion, then. If you need to buy a new machine, buy a used one that can still run Snow Leopard. You can then still bounce and still use your modem. If its feature set is insufficient for your needs, don't use it.

spydie2 and chipmunk6 are exactly right!

I know high-volume spammers won't be affected, because they don't clean their lists. They don't care if they get thousands of returned emails. But it's an excellent feature for the specific reasons you just described.

We don't want to jump through hoops trying to block senders. And we don't need self-appointed "experts" telling us it isn't needed, or we shouldn't upgrade to Lion.

I don't care if we were just using this feature to make ourselves feel good, Apple is stupid and arrogant to drop it.

It is gone, just like Sherlock.

You should be able to create an Automator workflow to Bounce email:

1. Open Automator

2. From the Menu Bar choose File, choose New

3. In the active window choose Services

4. Your workflow will be as follows:

a. service receives No Input in Mail.app

b. Actions will be Mail > get selected mail messages (drag to the working window if you aren't familiar with Automator)

c. Actions will be Utilities > Run AppleScript (again just drag to the working window)

d. Copy and paste the following as the text for your AppleScript

on run {input, parameters}

tell application "Mail"

repeat with eachMessage in input

bounceeachMessage

deleteeachMessage

end repeat

end tell

end run

Now open Mail and when you find a mail to Bounce simply go the the Menu Barselect Mail then choose Services at which point you should see an option to Bouncethe email.

If Apple have not reintroduced Bounce in the last ten months then I would not hold my breath. It became useless and turned bouncers to spammers whether they realized it or not. Only a handful of people have missed it and gone with hacks, while other email program developers have also dropped the bounce function (or misfunction). Do a forum search for more in dept explanations as to why bounce does the opposite to what people believed it did.

Cheers

Pete