[shinji]

Ok here is my basic setup:

-Main gmail address, which has all my ISP's email redirecting to it (me@isp.com), and 3 other gmail addresses which all forward to the main one. In the gmail web interface, I am able to send mail as all of these addresses, but I only have to login to my main one to see new mail coming from any address.

-Separately, I have a couple POP accts for domains I own. These have nothing to do with gmail, and I've never set them up to forward or anything like that.

Now I want to set this all up so I don't have to use the gmail web interface, just so I can do it in mail.app. I've followed the instructions for enabling POP in gmail, and it's currently downloading my old messages.

The issue is...I only setup my main gmail address in mail.app. I still want to be able to send mail as my other gmail addresses, however I don't need mail.app to check those addresses for new email, as they're already forwarded to the main gmail address.

So should I add separate mail.app mailboxes for each gmail address, and just set it not to check them when I do 'check mail'? Or is there some extra identity feature of mail.app I'm not seeing, like what Eudora (for windows at least) has/had?

[Cold Warrior]

You can set up additional smtp servers - even though they're all gmal, just configure them to log in and send using whatever account you want. On my setup, I have 2 earthlink accounts. Messages are downloaded via POP. When I want to send a new message, I can choose between the 2 accounts, depending on which one I want to send from.

[besson3c]

It sounds like the feature you need is what is usually called "multiple identities" (sending mail with different full names, from email, and reply-to addresses from within the same account). Unfortunately, OS X Mail does not support this.

You can enter your multiple email addresses with commas in your email account config and this will allow you to select which address you want your email to be sent as with a little pull-down menu, but there is no way to change your full name and/or reply-to for each account. If you need the latter, you will need an email client that supports multiple identities such as Mozilla Thunderbird.

It is a real shame OS X Mail doesn't support this, this is a very common need, and a feature covered by just about every other email app.

[shinji]

Originally Posted by besson3c 

It sounds like the feature you need is what is usually called "multiple identities" (sending mail with different full names, from email, and reply-to addresses from within the same account). Unfortunately, OS X Mail does not support this.

You can enter your multiple email addresses with commas in your email account config and this will allow you to select which address you want your email to be sent as with a little pull-down menu, but there is no way to change your full name and/or reply-to for each account. If you need the latter, you will need an email client that supports multiple identities such as Mozilla Thunderbird.

It is a real shame OS X Mail doesn't support this, this is a very common need, and a feature covered by just about every other email app.

Ouch...yeah that is pretty much what I was looking for. Any suggestions besides Thunderbird? I've never really liked the feel or setting up rules for it.

[peeb]

I'm not sure I understand - you want, when you are writing an email, to be able to choose which address it is sent from? That is easy, you just set up another 'account' in mail.app prefs.

[shinji]

I want a different full name to show up for each email address. So someone emails help@mydomain.com, and the full name for my reply automatically shows up as "customer support." When someone emails me@isp.com, the full name for my reply shows up as my real full name. Different signature for each email address would've been nice, too, but not really neccessary.

So can I do that by adding another account in prefs?

[peeb]

Yes. Mail --> Prefs --> Accounts.

[shinji]

So this comma thing Mac OS X: Using email aliases in Mail is just if I wanted it to keep the same full name and same sig?

[peeb]

Yes, but yours are not aliases, they are separate accounts.

"Note: An alias email address is an account in which all email sent to it automatically goes to a master email address. This is not the same thing as having different email addresses that aren't automatically tied to a central address."

[peeb]

What am I missing Besson - I don't see what part of this you can't do with mail.app?

[besson3c]

Originally Posted by shinji 

Ouch...yeah that is pretty much what I was looking for. Any suggestions besides Thunderbird? I've never really liked the feel or setting up rules for it.

Other email clients? Entourage, Mulberry, Eudora... None fare too much better AFAIK, with the possible exception of Entourage.

I've struggled with this exact same issue, which is part of why I switched to Thunderbird (that and folder subscriptions and indicating what folders to check for new mail)

[besson3c]

Originally Posted by peeb 

I'm not sure I understand - you want, when you are writing an email, to be able to choose which address it is sent from? That is easy, you just set up another 'account' in mail.app prefs.

That forces you to pull in mail for that account, which I don't think is what this user wants. Also, I don't believe that Mail works well or at all with multiple IMAP accounts logging in with the same user/pass... If I recall, it doesn't allow you to setup secondary accounts with the same login credentials.

Plus, it's a very lame workaround for a feature that OS X Mail definitely needs. No excuses for Apple overlooking this. A *lot* of people manage their email this way.

[besson3c]

Originally Posted by peeb 

What am I missing Besson - I don't see what part of this you can't do with mail.app?

He needs different full names, email and reply-to addresses for each account. He can only get a selection of from addresses, but there is no way to associate these addresses with different full-names.

Setting up duplicate accounts is not an option, because you don't want to be logging in twice, accessing the same Inbox twice, and maintaining duplicate data stores. This is exactly why multiple identities exist in just about every other email clients, and have literally for years.

[besson3c]

Originally Posted by peeb 

Yes, but yours are not aliases, they are separate accounts.

"Note: An alias email address is an account in which all email sent to it automatically goes to a master email address. This is not the same thing as having different email addresses that aren't automatically tied to a central address."

It does not matter how things are setup on the backend, this is a client issue. He needs to address people assuming the role of different identities within a single email account.

[peeb]

Well, it sounds like he actually needs to do is to POP each Gmail account separately to mail.app, then each one will be its own account, and can have its own account information, no?

[peeb]

Here is my settup, which I think is similar to what you want to do:
1. an account with my (part time) employer. POP.
2. an account that I use for consulting. POP.
3. a personal account. POP.
All of these are popped into the same mail.app inbox, and when I send email, I get a drop-down that asks me which account I want to use - each has a different (somewhat) name and sig.

[Cold Warrior]

That's my approximate setup too. Same thing - all email to one Inbox. With replies or new messages, I have a drop-down menu to select the account to send from and therefore which From header the recipient will see.

[besson3c]

Originally Posted by peeb 

Well, it sounds like he actually needs to do is to POP each Gmail account separately to mail.app, then each one will be its own account, and can have its own account information, no?

From the original post:

The issue is...I only setup my main gmail address in mail.app. I still want to be able to send mail as my other gmail addresses, however I don't need mail.app to check those addresses for new email, as they're already forwarded to the main gmail address.

[besson3c]

Originally Posted by Cold Warrior 

That's my approximate setup too. Same thing - all email to one Inbox. With replies or new messages, I have a drop-down menu to select the account to send from and therefore which From header the recipient will see.

This works great so long as you don't need to change the full name and/or reply-to address of emails sent from these different addresses/personas.

[peeb]

OK, each address has it's own full name / reply to. Does the OP need more than that? Sorry, I really don't understand what more he needs.

[besson3c]

Originally Posted by peeb 

OK, each address has it's own full name / reply to. Does the OP need more than that? Sorry, I really don't understand what more he needs.

You are accessing three separate accounts. He only wants to access one, because all mail is being directed to his single account. It is likely that one of his email aliases don't correspond to a standalone email account.

Pretty standard type of setup.

[shinji]

In other words...I need mail.app to remember which email address received the email, even though it went to the one inbox, and then automatically make sure all replies come from that email address with the corresponding full name. In the test I just did, it doesn't do that, unless I missed something.

Is it possible to do that, automatically choose the correct email address to reply with?

I get a lot of business-related email I need to deal with that comes to multiple addresses, and it makes me look like an ass if I forget to pick the right email. Gmail with my setup does this automatically.

The reason I have multiple accounts forwarding to a master account is so that if I'm not at this computer, I can check my email with gmail's web interface just needing to remember the master account password and not having to hassle with multiple windows etc.

[besson3c]

Originally Posted by shinji 

In other words...I need mail.app to remember which email address received the email, even though it went to the one inbox, and then automatically make sure all replies come from that email address with the corresponding full name. In the test I just did, it doesn't do that, unless I missed something.

Is it possible to do that, automatically choose the correct email address to reply with?

I get a lot of business-related email I need to deal with that comes to multiple addresses, and it makes me look like an ass if I forget to pick the right email. Gmail with my setup does this automatically.

Ahhh... Perhaps I misunderstood you then, if this was your original problem you were trying to solve. Multiple identities in and of themselves won't change this behavior.

[shinji]

Originally Posted by besson3c 

Ahhh... Perhaps I misunderstood you then, if this was your original problem you were trying to solve. Multiple identities in and of themselves won't change this behavior.

Let's say I am person1@gmail.com, person2@gmail.com, and person3@gmail.com

person1 is the master account, person2 and person3 are separate accounts that just forward to person1. When I receive email coming to person2 or person3, I can view it in person1. When I want to reply, gmail automatically makes sure that the 'from address' is person2@gmail.com or person3@gmail.com

I just wanted that same behavior in mail.app, which it doesn't appear to do. I'm sure it would if I didn't have all the accounts redirecting to person1@gmail.com, and if I were checking each account individually.

Can that be done in Thunderbird?

[shinji]

If you don't mind, that would be a huge help, thanks.

[besson3c]

Originally Posted by shinji 

Let's say I am person1@gmail.com, person2@gmail.com, and person3@gmail.com

person1 is the master account, person2 and person3 are separate accounts that just forward to person1. When I receive email coming to person2 or person3, I can view it in person1. When I want to reply, gmail automatically makes sure that the 'from address' is person2@gmail.com or person3@gmail.com

I just wanted that same behavior in mail.app, which it doesn't appear to do. I'm sure it would if I didn't have all the accounts redirecting to person1@gmail.com, and if I were checking each account individually.

Can that be done in Thunderbird?

Ahhh.. I see.

I don't think that is a user-defined feature persay, but just thoughtfulness on the part of the way the client is designed. One could also argue that Mail's behavior is a bug.

Would you like me to check to see how Thunderbird handles this?

[shinji]

not sure how my reply showed up before yours heh...

[besson3c]

Originally Posted by shinji 

If you don't mind, that would be a huge help, thanks.

Thunderbird does indeed handle mail as you desire...

- Sent an email to account #1 from account #2, replying addresses email as from account #1
- Sent an email to account #2 from account #1, replying addresses email as from account #2

[shinji]

thanks, gonna set it up now

[besson3c]

Originally Posted by shinji 

thanks, gonna set it up now

Let me know what you think of it!

It's definitely not as Mac-like as OS X Mail, but OS X Mail is pretty light on advanced features...

[peeb]

Thanks Besson - I get it now!

[besson3c]

Originally Posted by peeb 

Thanks Besson - I get it now!

No problem!