Does MacMail have the equivalent of Thunderbird's "Multiple Identities?

Discussion in 'Mac Apps and Mac App Store' started by lms, Dec 13, 2008.

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  1. lms, Dec 13, 2008

    lms macrumors newbie

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    Dec 6, 2008
    #1
    I've searched the intertubes for a way to do this and can't seem to find one so here goes.

    Before my recent Mac purchase, I had been using Thunderbird for email. I like the integration between MacMail and the Mac Address Book and want to keep using it, but it's not doing something that I really liked from Thunderbird.

    I have a boatload of email addresses, and have rules at the mail handler at my domain autoforward them all to one address. I do this to be able to shut those addresses off easily, and to control who I give my real address to.

    In thunderbird, if I wanted to send mail from one of those addresses, I could set up what thunderbird called an "identity". Basically, just telling thinderbird to use foo@mydomain.com as the "from" address rather than myRealAddress@mydomain.com

    I want to do that in MacMail, but I haven't seen a way to. The only way seems to be to set up a real mail account using those fakish addresses and use the "From" pulldown in MacMail. But, there is no real account behind them so I can't go through the whole account setup process successfully.

    Any help or pointers is appreciated.

    LMS
     
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  2. MKnight, Dec 13, 2008

    MKnight macrumors regular

    MKnight

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    Oct 15, 2007
    #2
    You can do this in Apple Mail. Go into Preferences then accounts and in the email address field, add aditional email addresses in there separated by commas.

    i.e, joesmith@mydomain.com, joe@mydomain, blah@mydomain.com
     
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  3. lms, Dec 13, 2008

    lms thread starter macrumors newbie

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    Dec 6, 2008
    #3
    MKnight;

    Wow - exactly what I need! Thanks.

    PS - is this documented anywhere - I looked all over the place. EDIT: Found it under some context sensitive help....:eek:

    Thanks again.

    LMS
     
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  4. devburke, Dec 14, 2008

    devburke Guest

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    Oct 16, 2008
    #4
    Whoa! So I can send e-mails from addresses I don't even have?? Isn't that like...a HUGE hole in e-mail security? I just sent my other e-mail address an e-mail from my dad's address, and it went through fine.

    Just wondering though, how useful can this be (for purposes other than mischief) if you can't receive people's replies?
     
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  5. elppa, Dec 14, 2008

    elppa macrumors 68040

    elppa

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    Nov 26, 2003
    #5
    Well, to send from your Dad's account you would probably have needed a username and password, so it's not really that insecure.

    The best way multiple identities is giving each user their own account, then each user can have their own settings for all their applications, including Mail.
     
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  6. devburke, Dec 14, 2008

    devburke Guest

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    Oct 16, 2008
    #6
    Nope. I do know his password, but I didn't need it to send an e-mail from my school account to my Gmail account that said it was from my dad's address. I tested it again by sending an e-mail that said it was from my old MSN account that I use as a junk account now. Again, I didn't need the password for the account, and when I replied to it, I logged into my MSN account and had received the reply. I also used aliases that don't exist anywhere. They all worked. Basically this means anybody can send an e-mail and make it say it's from absolutely whoever they want.

    EDIT: For example, I just sent my girlfriend an e-mail from "John Locke" jlocke@island.org that said "Don't tell me what I can't do!" ...Lost fans know what I'm talking about.
     
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  7. devburke, Dec 14, 2008

    devburke Guest

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    Oct 16, 2008
    #7
    Actually, upon experimenting, I can only send from whatever made up account I can come up with through my school e-mail address. Gmail just sends it with my regular one.
     
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