In past versions of Mail you were able to specify an outgoing mail server through a pull-down menu, but that feature seems to have vanished. How can I now specify which outgoing mail server to use when composing a new message? Thanks..
MacBook Air (13-inch Mid 2013), OS X Yosemite (10.10.2), Mail ver 8.2
Hello WSMeFL,
Welcome to the Apple Support Communities! When composing a new message in Mail in OS X Yosemite, you can change the “From” address if you have multiple mail accounts setup. Is this what you are looking for?:
Mail (Yosemite): Address an email message
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH19137
Set the From or Reply To address
If you use several email accounts in Mail, your messages are sent from the account of the currently selected mailbox. However, you can change which account is used to send messages. You can also specify an address where you want to receive replies to your message.
Change the account for the current message: Move the pointer over the From field, click the pop-up menu that appears, then choose an email address. If you set up email aliases, those are also shown. For some accounts, you can choose or change the outgoing mail server.
Cheers,
Matt M.
Has Apple ditched the option to chose different SMTP Servers? Like the threadstarter wrote, in Apple Mail up to ver. 7.3 on 10.9 "Mavericks", there was always the option to select a certain SMTP Server from a 2nd drop down menu, living next to the 1st menu, the one Matt described above (the one for selecting the „From:“ address/account). The 2nd menu seems to be gone.
I have quite a number of email accounts. Occasionally a certain SMTP server is not available or I don’t want to use it for other reasons. Hence it is important for me to be able to chose an SMTP server on an „as needed“ basis, a feature that I rely on and got used to since decades and utilized until recently, lastly w. OSX 10.9 w. Mail 7.3
Example
User has the following 3 accounts:
Account 1: user@gmail.com
SMTP Server: smtp.gmail.com
Account 2: user@aol.com
SMTP Server: smtp.aol.com
Account 3: user@provider.net
SMTP Server: smtpmail.some.provider.net
In previous versions of Apple Mail, user could e.g. use his AOL address from account # 2 as sender („From: user@aol.com“) but chose to use his local providers SMTP server for sending mail from this second menu. Or when this server was offline, he could pick the GMAIL SMTP server of account # 1 from the drop-down.
In Mail 8.x, the drop-down menu to select the outgoing SMTP server has vanished and is not available anymore.
Additionally, if no dedicated SMTP Server is selected w. an account (which happened to me when upgrading from 10.9 to 10.10 resp. Mail 7.3 to 8.1), Mail automatically selects the first server in the SMTP server list. As a result, it can happen that user assumes to be writing as user@provdier.net, but email is delivered via his myname@gmail.com account consequently showing myname@gmail.com instead of user@provdier.net. This means that emails become just "wrong“, an issue that has been reported in several forums on the web in threads like "Mail sends e-mails with wrong return address", "Email messages go to company address", etc.
Have I missed something and simply didn’t find the option or has Apple definitely and entirely removed it with Mail 8? This would be fatal for me.
Do I have to switch after 12 happy years with Apple Mail to some 3rd party app like e.g. Thunderbird?! 😮
Create a new message. Click on the "From:" field (the name of the SMTP server).
The "From:" Field/Menu sets the account you are using incl. the SMTP Server associated to that specific account. It doesn't let you chose a different SMTP Server with that account. That's what I tried to explain in my post above, please re-read it, I am sure you can help, thanks.
Here 2 screenshots to visualize the issue:
Mail 8.x with simple "From:"-Filed:
Old Mail with "From:"-Filed and second menu to select SMTP Server.
User Oliver Thomas sends mail as "othomas@alumni.mit.edu" using the SMTP Server from his account "dirk.secret@gmail.com".
The recipient will see an email from MIT.edu and never notice the Gmail SMTP Server was used (unless of course he looks into the mail headers :°)
It is that second menu we are missing.
Thanks for your help/proposals/feedback/solutions!
Riesling Trocken has hit the nail on the head, and much more eloquently than I did in my original post. The pull-down menu to select the Outgoing SMPT Server used to appear to the right of the pull-down "From" box and to the left of the "Signature" pull-down box. It's completely gone in the current version of Mail.
Control of the Outgoing SMTP Server is especially important if you travel, as many, or most, Wi-Fi systems do not allow the user to send email on their server using another SMPT server that does not use password protected outgoing security. This means that when you use the default outgoing server that Mail has automatically selected for you, the mail does not get sent, and the user must wait until the system recognizes this error and then, and only then, offer a menu to select another outgoing server.
That's a waste of time, especially when you know the situation exists and you could short-cut the error by simply selecting another outgoing server that is password protected. BUT, Mail does not offer this preemptive resolution.
It sure would make life a lot easier if future updates added this important feature.
Send Apple feedback. They won't answer, but at least will know there is a problem. If enough people send feedback, it may get the problem solved sooner.
I just ended a chat session with Apple on this topic.
It turns out that this field only shows up if you have more than one email account using the same SMTP server. I changed all of my email accounts to use the same SMTP server, clicked the button to compose a new message and viola...there it is.
STEPS: Mail > Preferences > Accounts > select account from the left column > Account Information tab (on the right) > then change this setting: Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP)
Hope this helps!
Hi RON8O,
I did as you explained : unfortunately, it doesn't work for me... Any extra clues ??? How many SMTP do you have ?
I spoke a couple of minutes ago with the french AppleCare Support to share : "Wait for the next release/update" :-(
Bye
Try Mail/Preferences/Accounts /Account Information. Select an account, then go to Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP). From the drop down menu select Edit SMPT server list. Then set up a server for each mail account so that is associated with the e-mail address. Then go to each account and set that server as the Outgoing Mail Server (SMPT). You can click Use only this server if desired.
Hi Eric,
I know how to setup a SMTP server for a dedicated account ;-) What we expect is the pop-up menu available under Apple Mail V7.3 (Maverick).
Below, some screen shoots to explain/show.
I have one email account. I have a MacBook, which I use in different locations. When I am at work I have to use the work SMTP server for outgoing email, at home I need to use a different one. I don't want to have to keep reconfiguring my email account twice a day.
As others have stated, in earlier versions I could select which outgoing SMTP server to use when I sent an email. Now the system guesses which one I want to use. If it guesses incorrectly it eventually times out and then me a choice. This is a real pain and makes for an unreliable mail client.
Apple: please give me back the option to select the outgoing SMTP server - I know what I'm doing and which SMTP server is available, while my MacBook often doesn't (and can't do a simple ping to determine which servers might be available).
Mail/Preferences/Accounts/Account Information has the drop down menu.
Try Mail/Preferences/Accounts /Account Information. Select an account, then go to Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP). From the drop down menu select Edit SMPT server list. Then set up a server for each mail account so that is associated with the e-mail address. Then go to each account and set that server as the Outgoing Mail Server (SMPT). You can click Use only this server if desired.
Reconfiguring the outgoing SMTP server every time I move my MacBook from one network to another (i.e. twice a day - home to work, work to home) is obviously a possibility, but not a practical one.
The drop-down list of servers was fine and made it simple to select the server at the point of sending email. It is a real annoyance that it has been removed.
Select Outgoing Mail Server for Mail 8.2
