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An easy way to use .Mac aliases in Mail Apps
If you want use the new .mac email aliases feature in Apple's Mail, here is an easy way to do it:
  1. Delete your current .mac account from the Preferences Pane.
  2. Recreate the account, but choose IMAP instead of .Mac for the account type.
  3. In the email address field, add your email address plus all the email aliases you have separated by commas.
Now when you compose a new email message, you can choose which email address or alias you like to use. Enjoy!

[robg adds: Take care when you delete an account in Mail -- I'm paranoid of losing messages, so I always backup before doing anything like this. I have not tested this one yet, but will do so once I get around to setting up some aliases.]
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An easy way to use .Mac aliases in Mail | 11 comments | Create New Account
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An easy way to use .Mac aliases in Mail
Authored by: vertigo on Oct 14, '04 11:32:01AM

It may be sufficient to just disable the account in the "advanced" tab on the preference panel. Haven't tried it, however. This would keep you from losing any mail that is not on the .Mac server.

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~vert



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An easy way to use .Mac aliases in Mail
Authored by: mark hunte on Oct 14, '04 02:02:33PM

I just created a new mail account and then set it not to be included in the auto get mail, and also put a bogus POP mail server so if I did get mail it would not go bonkers and get the mail I have on .mac twice.

The SMPT server was set to the correct .dot mac address.

But I like the way the hint here may work, so I may just do it that way but Not Delete the .mac account and just disable it and create a new imap one.
which I think is what 'vertigo' mean's

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mh



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An easy way to use .Mac aliases in Mail
Authored by: mark hunte on Oct 14, '04 02:24:53PM

Ok just did it and it seems to work a treat (nice one)

Just to add, once I set this up I sent a test, to get my new sent folder, and then re-enabled the old account so I could move the sent items to the new one, All the other stuff in my inbox was the same.

once this was done I disabled the old account again.

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mh



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An easy way to use .Mac aliases in Mail
Authored by: kuginomura on Oct 14, '04 03:33:40PM

works perfectly. i even like the way the .Mac hierarchy is structured now in Mail.app...better than before.



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An easy way to use .Mac aliases in Mail
Authored by: mm2270 on Oct 14, '04 03:58:39PM

Seems like a nice tip. I wouldn't be too concerned about deleting the account inside the mail preferences. As long as your .Mac account was set correctly as an IMAP account, and you chose to store all messages on the server, even sent mail, you shouldn't lose anything.

I'll try this once I get home. It'll be nice to have all my new aliases at my fingertips inside Mail.app as well.



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An easy way to use .Mac aliases in Mail
Authored by: webbix on Oct 14, '04 04:28:14PM

I am not certain that the .Mac servers store indefinitely though. I have used the IMAP format from the beginning with my mac.com account. I also set to store all messages on the server. Unless my account is different, not saving things I specifically want to the local mailboxes can go missing after time. Also, for those who are changing to an IMAP protocol from POP there is potential to lose those messages. You could always simply create another folder within your local computer mailbox and move things there first.

As to the hint, too bad there is not an easy way to do so without deleting. I do not really use my .mac alias addresses as I have a couple of other servers but I did register some I wanted to make sure they did not get taken before I got them.



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Generalized Method
Authored by: jscarry on Oct 14, '04 06:45:55PM

This works for any pop account as well.
If you aren't intimidated by editing plist files, open com.apple.mail.plist. Look for
<key>EmailAddresses</key>
Note that the next line is an array.
<array>
<string>john@mydomain.com</string>
<string>ups@mydomain.com</string>
<string>staples@mydomain.com</string>
<string>nyt@mydomain.com</string>
<string>bam@mydomain.com</string>
</array>
I populate the array with the e-mail addresses I use for registering at sites that might spam me.

My plist has five different arrays, one for each real address. The hint seems to work for pop and imap. If you populate the list manually, the names don't show up in the Preferences panel.



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Generalized Method
Authored by: dfbills on Oct 14, '04 09:27:43PM

This is exactly what I've been looking for. Thanks! I wonder if someone could write an app to add these addresses easily.

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-d



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Generalized Method
Authored by: klgc on Mar 16, '05 11:39:09PM

Thanks,
I had set my .Mac up in Mail as a POP account as per the instructions in "Inside .Mac"

Editing the plist produced the results I was looking for. I saved a copy of the plist first though, which is prudent for anyone :~)

Thanks again,
Lee C



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An easy way to use .Mac aliases in Mail
Authored by: emendelson on Oct 18, '04 08:59:19PM

Very nice hint - but there's no need to delete the original account; just disable it.

Now a question: is there any way to specify a different "full name" for each alias?



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An easy way to use .Mac aliases in Mail
Authored by: Anonymous on May 24, '05 08:18:46PM

I tried the disable version and I still get duplicate messages in both accounts. Unless I'm doing some thing wrong, I don't see how to make it work. If anyone has any ideas or can possibly explain it a little better for the more obtuse here... ;)

klinux



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