how to configure only ONLY outgoing email

The following assumes Apple Mail.app, and not a Microsoft mail client. (From another recent thread, I'm not certain which mail client you're using here.)

Why not just set multiple return addresses in Mail.app specifying the address you want the replies to use, and select that? Mail > Preferences > Accounts > select account > add additional comma-separated addresses into the email address field. Over in the Mail.app message compose window — start sending a new message, to nobody in particular — select the icon with the three horizontal lines and the disclosure triangle located at the left of the header section of the new mail message, select Customize, and then use the customization features to add the "from" return address field to the message compose window. That'll let you set the reply address, without setting up the half-account.

FWIW, there are various different push notification mechanisms around. I'm told that Google supports IMAP PUSH and which should work with various desktop clients, but that won't work with iOS devices. The only stuff that will is Microsoft ActiveSync (what Google had been using) and Apple's push notifications.

I've been using that sequence for multiple OS X releases, so I know it works.

The instructions posted were tested on OS X 10.7.5.

Create a comma-separated list of return ("from") addresses for the chosen account in the field circled at 1, then select customize and enable the "from" address selection in the message-compose window in 2. Once these steps are done, you can select the desired "from" address from the list when you compose the message.

The solution posed by MrHoffman does in fact create the option to whom the message should be sent from, however, when I used it to send a test email to another address of mine, it still appeared to be from my main account.

Is there not a way to setup an outgoing mail account only?

forbes2000 wrote:

Is there not a way to setup an outgoing mail account only?

Other than what I've written previously, and without switching tools or bouncing messages at the mail server (if you have that access), there really isn't a send-only mechanism available in Apple Mail.app. Well, other than using an intentionally "broken" POP or IMAP account, and Apple Mail.app will generate diagnostics for that and will generally refuse to play nicely.

As for your observed behavior, the message is still being sent from your account. What I posted was how to adjust the so-called Reply-to field in the mail headers. There are various from fields in the SMTP headers.

Without a look at the particular mail message headers and without a few details of the clients and versions, I can only speculate. I'd guess that your email client on that other system might be reading and displaying a different part of the mail headers (as various mail clients react differently to the reply address setting), or your ISP might possibly be rewriting the mail headers.

Much further along this general path that you're following here is what various spammers implement. The headers are written by the application and can reference anybody, and the messages are relayed through whatever handy open (spam) relays might accept the messages, or via a mail server with compromised access credentials.

Depending on exactly what you're seeking to implement here, I would generally recommend using a customer relationship or customer contact management system or equivalent software (eg: SugarCRM), or using a dedicated email service for sending out mass mailings.

I'd also suggest starting a new question with whatever details you might have available to offer around the particular tools and clients and goals here, as I'm guessing your question might not be directly related to the original Gmail question.

My solution to the problem was to change my Mail Account from Gmail's IMAP settings to their POP servers and disselect "Incliude when automatically checking for new messages" in the advanced tab. Works perfectly–now I can select which account to use when composing or replying to a message while not downloading any messages from the second account.

forbes2000 wrote:

The solution posed by MrHoffman does in fact create the option to whom the message should be sent from, however, when I used it to send a test email to another address of mine, it still appeared to be from my main account.

Is there not a way to setup an outgoing mail account only?

I'm unsure if this will suffice, but set up the account fully and tell Mail to not include that account when automaticlly checking for new messages (Mail Prefs, Accounts, Advanced tab).

Make sure you set it as the From account when sending.

You might want to set it up while Offline so it doesn't download all the email.