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Level 1

143 points

error using multiple email addresses in IMAP account

Thanks for reading - any help, advice or direction you can offer is very much appreciated!

Here is my situation: I use a single IMAP account with several email addresses. If it's important to know, they are all set up as aliases, so I can receive mail in one single account at all of the addresses and can send email from any of the addresses through the same SMTP account.

This behaves radically differently in Mail (iPhone and iPad) under iOS 6 than it did in iOS 5, and I need the behavior I had in iOS 5.

I am seeking help in figuring out how to make iOS 6 Mail behave the way iOS 5 Mail did.

Here's how I set it up in iOS 5: I used the primary email address (also my login for the IMAP/SMTP account) to set up the account on the iPad. This all worked. Once it was set up, I went back to settings and added the other email addresses as a comma-separated list in the "email" field after the primary one.

Then, when I went to compose a message (from mail, or from any other app), the default "from" address was the primary e-mail address (the first one listed), and it allowed me to tap on the "from" field and select a different one.

This changed in iOS 6, like this:

I set up the account the same way as above. With just the primary e-mail address it was fine. But when I added the other addresses and saved it, it seemed to choose one address at random from the list as primary (not the first one, not the last one, not the one first or last alphabetically, just one in particular - and the same one each time I tried this). Then when I compose mail, it defaults to that alternate email as the "from".

So:

I need to have it default to the primary email address as the "from," I need to have all the alternate emails available to me to choose from, and I need to have it all set up as one account. I have tried to set up a second account on the iPad with all the alternate email addresses, but since the IMAP and SMTP logins are the same, the iPad won't let me.

Any ideas, suggestions, direction, solutions, etc. are very much appreciated!

Details: iPad 2nd gen. WiFi+3G, iOS 6

iPad 2 Wi-Fi + 3G, iOS 5.1, iOS 6

Posted on Sep 21, 2012 1:59 PM

Best reply

Brian Pratt

Level 1

15 points

Posted on Sep 24, 2012 7:21 AM

I think this is a bug, and I've reported it as such. More reports usually equals faster service: http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html

For now, I've come up with the following work-around:

1. Leave your multi-account as-is set up on your iPhone, but remove your preferred default e-mail address from the list

2. Set up a new e-mail account with IMAP access (i.e. Gmail or whatever)

3. Create a new IMAP e-mail account on your iPhone/iPad with the details of this new account for the IMAP (receive) settings, but with your original e-mail account's SMTP (send) settings. Also, set the "Email" field in the account setup to be your preferred default e-mail address.

4. Set this new mail account as the default in Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars

Now, when you create a new message, you should see that your default "from" address is correct - since it is the only choice for the new mail account you set up in iOS. As long as the SMTP settings are correct, it doesn't matter that your IMAP settings don't match.

You should still be able to select any other "from" address as well, which will use your original multi-account settings, which are also correct.

All of your received mail will come in through your original multi-account inbox, and your new account's inbox will likely stay empty.

It seems like I'm forgetting a step here, but this should give you the right idea for a workaround if it isn't exactly right. Feel free to add corrections if you find them.

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46 replies

djwrek

Level 1

0 points

Oct 3, 2012 10:45 PM in response to Saphod

@Saphod I'm using the iPad, 3rd gen. It worked when I did it. Might be different with the iphone, but I'm sure it's got to be somewhere on there.

Oct 4, 2012 7:33 PM in response to JeffW

I noticed this error as well. In my case, I have my iCloud account set up as an IMAP account so that I can use the aliases (alumni addresses from schools). I have 3 addresses I want to use, and it defaulted to the second one (which is not first alphabetically, FWIW).

The IMAP server I am using is the iCloud one, but the SMTP server I am using is from the same domain as the address that is being chosen as default (the school offers it for alums to use with their alum email forwarding). Has anyone noticed if the address their setup picks as default is from the same domain as the SMTP server they are using?

LDG08

Level 1

8 points

Oct 7, 2012 3:59 PM in response to JeffW

I have this error, too. I cannot add multiple accounts or go through the steps detailed as workaround. It is now Oct 7 - how do we get any info about this obvious bug getting fixed, please?

I have iPad 2 and iPhone4.

Thanks!

thebfg

Level 1

0 points

Oct 9, 2012 3:08 PM in response to KellyTheK

Using an iPhone 5 and iOS 6 and having the multiple e-mail address problem. Started with two e-mail addresses, and it always defaulted to the wrong one, regardless of order. Added a few more to see if I could get the "5th" one (out of 5-6) to be the default, but that didn't work. Kept deleting the one it would default to and it would pick another one (and never the one I wanted), until I was back at one address!

Seems like I could play this game with my iPhone all day and still lose. Argh...

Alright, I finally decided to add more e-mails than I need and put in 10 and the last one (which I wanted) showed up as the default.

Oct 11, 2012 4:11 AM in response to JeffW

I found a 'solution' of sorts. It's working reliably for me, but I couldn't reproduce it 100% of the time.

Put quotation marks around the email address you want as default: "email[at]example.com".

It's working for me, and the quotes don't affect the sending of the mail (I checked the detailed headers and they get completely stripped out).

Details here:

http://www.isthisyourhomework.com/how-to-choose-a-default-from-address-in-ios-6/

Good luck!

Saphod

Level 1

5 points

Oct 11, 2012 5:46 AM in response to Craig Temple

Sorry, Craig, that ain't working for me, either. Still stuck with the first e-mail address in alphabetical order.

djwrek

Level 1

0 points

Oct 12, 2012 1:03 PM in response to Craig Temple

@Craig thanks for this. It works in some ways for me on my iPad 3rd generation. Putting the quotes did default the email I wanted to be as a "main" email address, but now I'm not recieving emails on my ipad. I'm getting a

"Cannot Get Mail" notice and it says "The mail server imap.gmail.com is not respnding. Verify that you have entered the correct account info in mail settings.

When I sent out emails using this method, I checked on the computer and the emails were recieved, it's just not recieving emails on the mail app now. Also there was a weird "<" sign that appeared before the email address when I tested it. So this almost works but not reliable. Thanks for the try though Craig!

jgilber0

Level 1

4 points

Oct 22, 2012 7:26 PM in response to JeffW

ARRRRRGH.

After hours of aggravating fiddling, I found a workaround for my iPhone 4S running iOS 6. My workaround: capitalize the first letter of the e-mail address that you want as default. Leave all others lowercase. Amazingly, that worked perfectly.

Prior to the great eureka moment, I tried Kelly's "rule of fives" workaround to no avail. Craig's quotation marks didn't work either. I also rearranged the order of my e-mail alias list about 30 times, also without any effect. I didn't try to set up a second IMAP account, for fear that it would mess up my otherwise perfect gmail / iOS 6 integration.

I hope this helps others too. Apple - it's time to fix this!!

Saphod

Level 1

5 points

Oct 23, 2012 12:57 AM in response to jgilber0

Sorry, but unsuccessful on the iPhone 5. It still picks the first one alphabetically...

jgilber0

Level 1

4 points

Oct 23, 2012 2:43 AM in response to Saphod

Saphod -

This really is a bizarre little puzzle. I expect better from Apple.

Good luck!

Oct 24, 2012 6:45 PM in response to Saphod

Mine isn't even picking alphabetically. I tried the capitalization technique and it made a completely different address the default.

Oct 24, 2012 6:52 PM in response to Saphod

I just put the address that I want as the default twice in the list and it worked for me. It only comes up once on the scroll bar too.

djwrek

Level 1

0 points

Oct 25, 2012 12:47 PM in response to fatboyangst

@fatboyangst that was a good try, it did change the email defaulted for me but not to the email address I wanted. It went around every method I tried of putting different email addresses twice and what not. Thanks for the try though. Apple really needs to fix this. This has been giving me a headache ever since I got iOS 6. Now sometimes emails dont send or get recieved too.

Nov 1, 2012 10:44 AM in response to djwrek

This issue does not seem to be fixed in iOS 6.0.1, released today.

jgilber0

Level 1

4 points

Nov 6, 2012 1:06 PM in response to Rusty Ross

Rusty -

IOS 6.0.1 seems to have broken it altogether. After the "upgrade" I can't get it to recognize multiple send addresses anymore, nevermind a default...

error using multiple email addresses in IMAP account