Is it possible to set up a mail account to send items only?

[Chiquon]

I have a .com domain set up to forward any email to my .mac account. I've also set up my YahooPlus Pop account to send email from an address at this domain (info@domain.com).

I've not been able to set up an account in Mail without the incoming server details (I don't need these!) filled in. It forces me to complete the Incoming mail server details. I can't use the Yahoo ones as these then duplicate the ones I already have in for my Yahoo POP account and it therefore refuses to complete the set up.

I currently have the Domain account rigged up (and working) using an old POP account details entered under the incoming settings. I'm cancelling this account soon however and am worried that it will then give me constant error messages. Mail won't let me delete the old POP incoming settings.

What I really need is an account creating with the info@domain.com detailed completed, set up to send via the Outgoing Yahoo SMTP server, but with no incoming server details specified (as the incoming mail is forwarded to my .Mac mail)

I'm not sure I've done a particularly good job of explaing this issue, so thanks in advance to anyone who can work out the issue I am describing, let alone a solution!!!

Thanks

 

[MisterMe]

This issue has come up before. The first thing that you need to understand is that an email account is defined by its incoming mail server. Without that, you have no account. The outgoing mail server is a convenience. During the halcyon days of MacOS X 10.0, your Mac acted as its own outgoing mail server. You did not need to specify an SMTP server. Today, SMTP servers are used primarily as security measures. You may use almost any SMTP server for which you have access to send messages on almost any of your accounts.

The next thing that you need to understand is that you are not required to receive mail using an account just because it is setup. In each account's settings, Mail has a check box that must be affirmatively selected to receive messages automatically on that account. You just have to make sure that you don't manually check the messages on the account.

 

[Chiquon]

Thanks for the quick reply MisterMe.

You mention that an email account is defined by its incoming mail server and without that, you have no account.

Does this mean that I won't be able to set up an account to let me send emails under the name of my domain via Yahoo, because the only incoming mail server details I have will duplicate an existing account?

Am I therefore right in thinking that I will need to continue to buy a cheap pop email simply to enter incoming server settings (that go unused) so that I can enable an account to send mail from my domain address via another SMTP server?

Thanks again

 

[r0k]

Thanks for the quick reply MisterMe.

You mention that an email account is defined by its incoming mail server and without that, you have no account.

Does this mean that I won't be able to set up an account to let me send emails under the name of my domain via Yahoo, because the only incoming mail server details I have will duplicate an existing account?

Am I therefore right in thinking that I will need to continue to buy a cheap pop email simply to enter incoming server settings (that go unused) so that I can enable an account to send mail from my domain address via another SMTP server?

Thanks again

I have exactly the same problem you have. Apple refuses to allow "send mail as" options so I must set up an email account to retrieve mail for each and every email I want to "reply as". If you are a gmail user, you will probably notice that if you use a gmail account to "aggregate" a half dozen email accounts, there is a setting that allows you to "reply as" whoever the email was addressed to. Sadly Apple refuses to figure this out. To get around this, I purchased IMAP email for my personal domain (for around $20 a year) so I could "reply as" my domain rather than as mobile me from my iPhone.

This is less of a problem on OS X, but it is still something that is not that straightforward. Another thing you might consider is using an alternative email client such as Thunderbird. Thunderbird is much more flexible about where you retrieve your email and who you reply as and which smtp server is your default. Some ISPs have earned a bad rep for blocking SMTP (port 25). I think this funny business is behind us but I recommend you use SSL for each and every email account whether for sending or receiving. It makes it more difficult for the bad guys to pick up your password by sniffing network traffic and gets around possible ISP imposed smtp limitations.

I should add that mobile me is very stubborn about send as. You can set up smtp to log in with your mobile me credentials but if the from address is not your mobile me account, frequently the email will fail to go out. This is an absurd level of babysitting where Apple is trying to be everybody's nanny and enforce that we can't send spam. What they are really enforcing is that we can't use Apple products with the flexibility we could use competing email products, namely Blackberry and Android.

 

[MisterMe]

I have exactly the same problem you have. Apple refuses to allow "send mail as" options so I must set up an email account to retrieve mail for each and every email I want to "reply as". ...

You are blaming Apple for how email works. Also, Apple has nothing to do with the fact that many ISPs block access to SMTP servers on foreign domains. That is a decision made be each ISP in response to its own security issues. In most cases, using Port 587 rather than Port 25 for SMTP solves the problem. As for you screed on about the iPhone, my experience here tells me that you are totally misinformed. The iPhone is the most flexible in its use of SMTP. If you have multiple accounts setup on your iPhone, then it automatically falls through to the next SMTP server on your list until it finds one that will allow your messages to go through. This is much better than the Mac where you must manually select a different SMTP server when you first choice is unavailable.

 

[r0k]

You are blaming Apple for how email works. Also, Apple has nothing to do with the fact that many ISPs block access to SMTP servers on foreign domains. That is a decision made be each ISP in response to its own security issues. In most cases, using Port 587 rather than Port 25 for SMTP solves the problem. As for you screed on about the iPhone, my experience here tells me that you are totally misinformed. The iPhone is the most flexible in its use of SMTP. If you have multiple accounts setup on your iPhone, then it automatically falls through to the next SMTP server on your list until it finds one that will allow your messages to go through. This is much better than the Mac where you must manually select a different SMTP server when you first choice is unavailable.

Nice try. I've been through this with the Apple geniuses in the store and with first and second level Apple tech support. Apple considers the ability to reply as anything but who you use to receive email over POP or IMAP to be an "advanced feature".

Yes there is flexibility on the iPhone for picking SMTP server, but I've never had to deal with it as part of setting up my own IMAP involved setting up my own SMTP to get around mobile me's restrictions. And this does not change the fact that there is no flexibility to "reply to email as" whoever it was addressed to unless you want to use gmail or another third party email client. I keep the gmail client on my iPhone for just such situations and I know I was unable to reply as anything but my mobile me id until I set up my own IMAP server so I could reply as who I want to reply as.

Again nice try but it's always a good idea to check your facts before you correct somebody, especially if you provide inaccurate information that might mislead someone to think email on iThings is flexible. If you want a flexible email solution, BB is the platform for you. I've decided to find workarounds for Apple email constraints so I can enjoy the rest of the Apple ecosystem but when it comes to email, Apple has a way to go to match the competition feature for feature. Heck, we iOS users just got unified inbox within the last calendar year when the rest of the world has enjoyed this for the better part of a decade.

BTW, I'm sorta grateful that Mail on OS X works the way it does. It helped me pinpoint the problem that mobile me's SMTP server was refusing to let me send email with a from field set differently than my mobile me login or any of my active mobile me aliases (which all end in me.com by the way). Meanwhile, if you check gmail settings you can reply as any email you can prove you own by clicking a validation link in the email. Why can't Apple do this? I guess it's too "advanced" a feature for them to bother with. BTW, I'm not knocking Apple here. They are human and can only do so much and I like Apple's products or I wouldn't be on this forum in the first place. But it is just plain wrong to say they are even slightly flexible about email settings.