I want to set up my email composition with a default me@alumni.myschool.edu address that is different from my ISP. How do I configure? Command line OK with me.

Do you have that account setup in Mail?

Hello, check this setting... Mail>Preferences>Composing, about in the middle under Addressing... Send new mail from... mine is set from account of last used Mailbox, but if you have that account setup, you can select it.

Confused Once Again wrote:

I want to set up my email composition with a default me@alumni.myschool.edu address in the "Reply-to" field that is different from my ISP. How do I configure mail to set this default?

Email preferences --> select Account --> Account Information tab --> Email address.

The Email address setting supplies the "from" mail address in a sent email for that account.

I been doing this for years (well in Eudora but it works in Mail too) since my return address is a mail forwarding service. That lets me switch ISP's and no one is ever the wiser. I just change the forwarding service "pointer" to point to my new ISP. But everyone else see sees the same "from" address as it's always been.

The following Terminal command works for me:

defaults write com.apple.mail UserHeaders '{"Reply-To" = "reply-to@address"; }'

Further details from:

http://email.about.com/od/macosxmailtips/qt/etalwaysreplyto.htm

I think I recall that in the past some large mail providers rejected, without warning, incoming mails with incorrect from addresses. They may also invoke some spam filters. I prefer to use the correct from address with a normal reply-to header. Most people just hit their reply button without bothering about the address used in which case reply-to works as intended.

Thanks, I bet that's the fix they wanted... couldn't remember that Reply-to yesterday! 🙂

I Googled !

Good work, thanks for the report! 🙂

Glad you got it working - well done

Confused Once Again wrote:

Neville,

I got it to work!!

Here is the exact syntax that needs to be used.

defaults write com.apple.mail UserHeaders '{Reply-To = "me@alumni.myschool.edu"; }'

Works like a charm.

I'll repeat, that is the incorrect way to do this. All you need to do is change the email address for the account. You shouldn't have to modify any plist value with a defualt write in apple's Mail. Any proper mail program has the ability to specify an account's desired return address through it's settings.

I previously said, "I recall that in the past some large mail providers rejected, without warning, incoming mails with incorrect from addresses".

There are exceptions to this. For example many ISPs accept emails from fixed IPs and add a header to this effect. I came across this alternative security check when I set up my own SMTP to experiment with alternative addresses and facilitate unlimited size emails.

It all depends upon the policy of your email provider and / or ISP - they are not necessarily the same - mine are different. In some instances the receiving email provider will block all emails they are not happy with - I think Hotmail did this for several weeks a few years ago.

It is always best to use the correct headers. If you are not happy with Mail's lack of header control you can always use a proper client such as Thunderbird.