Mail Questions 2 & 3

My @iCloud.com e-mail uses my first and last name. How is that derived?

I'd rather just have it as my last name, or as my first name + "& Wife'sName".

Next: I don't readily see a way to add a sender's address to Contacts. Are Mail and Contacts linked in that way and I'm just overlooking it?

If you right click on the sender's address one of the options should be "Add to Contacts". If you do it this way I think a new contact card is created in the "Contacts" program. The other option is to right click and copy the sender's address you can the open Contacts and paste it into the email address of a specific contact card.

@toMACsh

I don't think you can change the iCloud address you have been give - I assume it is "[email protected]", or similar.

But you can create email aliases:

To create an email alias:

In iCloud Mail, click the Action pop-up menu in the sidebar, then choose Preferences.

Click Accounts.

Click “Add an alias.”

Provide the requested information: Alias: The text you provide becomes the email address ([email protected]). ...

Click OK, then click Done.

This Link gives more detailed information: https://support.apple.com/kb/ph2622?locale=en_GB

Ian

Slydude said:

If you right click on the sender's address one of the options should be "Add to Contacts". If you do it this way I think a new contact card is created in the "Contacts" program. The other option is to right click and copy the sender's address you can the open Contacts and paste it into the email address of a specific contact card.

Click to expand...

I also found it in the Messages menu of Mail. Thanks!

IWT said:

I don't think you can change the iCloud address you have been give - I assume it is "[email protected]", or similar.

Click to expand...

You are correct. In fact, when setting up the account, it warns you that the address cannot be changed.

But, that's not what I'm pursuing here. Our address is a combination of our initials and house number (er, address!).

What I want to change is who our messages are from, when the recipient gets our e-mail. Currently it is my first and last name. I want it to be our last name only, or from "He and She" (our names).

toMACsh said:

I also found it in the Messages menu of Mail. Thanks!

Click to expand...

I forgot about it being there as well. Thanks for the reminder.

I just checked through preferences to see if I could change the name that shows up in Sent messages. No luck. There is a signature option, but I assume that would go in the message, at the bottom.

toMACsh said:

You are correct. In fact, when setting up the account, it warns you that the address cannot be changed.

But, that's not what I'm pursuing here. Our address is a combination of our initials and house number (er, address!).

What I want to change is who our messages are from, when the recipient gets our e-mail. Currently it is my first and last name. I want it to be our last name only, or from "He and She" (our names).

Click to expand...

Launch a web browser on your PC and go to iCloud.com. Sign in. Click the Mail app. In the bottom left, click the Gear icon and choose Preferences. In the dialog that comes up, Click the "@ Accounts" option on the top. Set the "friendly name" that you want to use. This will sync over to the Mail application on a Mac automatically.

On an iOS device, you need to go to Settings -> Mail -> Accounts -> (iCloud Account) -> (your iCloud name) -> (your name) -> Contact information and change the values in there.

@Ember
Thank you!

I wonder why in the world this setting is not available within the Mail app itself. I'm assuming your post is giving two options for changing this, not that it has to be done on the Mac and iPhone separately. We'll check it out.

Edit:
Well, if you are in Mail and choose Preferences > Accounts, in the Account Information tab it shows you your iCloud address, preceded by the "salutation name". If you click that line, you are given the option to "edit email address". Select that, and it takes you to the "@ Accounts" page in the browser where you can edit the name, but not the actual e-mail address. Hmm.

toMACsh said:

@Ember
Thank you!

I wonder why in the world this setting is not available within the Mail app itself. I'm assuming your post is giving two options for changing this, not that it has to be done on the Mac and iPhone separately. We'll check it out.

Edit:
Well, if you are in Mail and choose Preferences > Accounts, in the Account Information tab it shows you your iCloud address, preceded by the "salutation name". If you click that line, you are given the option to "edit email address". Select that, and it takes you to the "@ Accounts" page in the browser where you can edit the name, but not the actual e-mail address. Hmm.

Click to expand...

You can't edit the email address - it's permanent. What you -can- do is make a new one and add it or replace the old one with it.

Editing your name information in the Mac -or- web version of iCloud Mail will sync the change to the other one. iOS devices do not appear to pick up this information through a sync operation and you have to edit it there by hand.

Ember1205 said:

You can't edit the email address - it's permanent. What you -can- do is make a new one and add it or replace the old one with it.

Click to expand...

Yes, I suggested that as an option to my better half already. It was met with that "I don't think so" look. We've always shared one e-mail account.

Editing your name information in the Mac -or- web version of iCloud Mail will sync the change to the other one. iOS devices do not appear to pick up this information through a sync operation and you have to edit it there by hand.

Click to expand...

Interesting. Technically (being pedantic) you cannot change the info within the Mac's iCloud Preferences. As mentioned above, you get bumped to the browser's "@Accounts" page.

toMACsh said:

Interesting. Technically (being pedantic) you cannot change the info within the Mac's iCloud Preferences. As mentioned above, you get bumped to the browser's "@Accounts" page.

Click to expand...

Very true. I actually know that, and wrote it wrong anyhow.

Interesting. Technically (being pedantic) you cannot change the info within the Mac's iCloud Preferences. As mentioned above, you get bumped to the browser's "@Accounts" page.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

I'm coming in a bit late here but from what I read at the iCloud Read More page, it seems to me it should possible to setup and use the name you want to use by using an alias.

As it says on one's iCloud page:

Create or change email aliases

An email alias is an email address that conceals your actual email address from a recipient. An alias can help you manage the email you receive, and monitor the sources of unwanted messages. You can both send and receive email from an email alias using Mail on iCloud.com.

With iCloud Mail, you can have up to three active email addresses, and you can turn an email alias on or off at any time. You can also delete email aliases that you no longer want to use. While turning off an email alias is temporary, deleting it is permanent. When an alias is turned off or deleted, email sent to that alias is returned to the sender.

Click to expand...

You'll still basically end up using a single shared one e-mail account.

Or else I'm really missing something or not understanding properly what your wife wants.






- Patrick
======

pm-r said:

I'm coming in a bit late here but from what I read at the iCloud Read More page, it seems to me it should possible to setup and use the name you want to use by using an alias.

As it says on one's iCloud page:


You'll still basically end up using a single shared one e-mail account.

Or else I'm really missing something or not understanding properly what your wife wants.






- Patrick
======

Click to expand...

Patrick,

If I were to send you an email, it would have two different attributes to it that we've been discussing. One is the -actual- email address ([email protected]). The other is a "Friendly Name" (Some User).

Creating an alias crates a new email address ([email protected]) that is tied to your original email account ([email protected]) and has the ability to have its own Friendly Name (Other User).

What toMACsh wants (I believe) is simply to be able to modify the Friendly Name from "John Smith" to "John and Joan Smith" without necessarily changing the actual email address of [email protected].

What you're describing will certainly provide for another Friendly Name, but it also creates another email address as well. It would accomplish the end goal, but may add more complexity than is desired.

If I've understood toMACsh's request correctly, then you can evaluate whether my description is helpful.

If I were to send you an email, it would have two different attributes to it that we've been discussing. One is the -actual- email address ([email protected]). The other is a "Friendly Name" (Some User).

Click to expand...

I guess I may not be understanding what you're describing but in my experience an email using an alias just shows the "alias" address and the "alias" name wanted or used — in other words it's just a working dummy and can use any proper characters email address/name. i.e.: legitimate characters and no spaces.

i.e.: the OP could possibly have john&[email protected] or just [email protected]
Heck, you can have 5 different alias variations names with a Mac OS X Mail iCloud account I believe. Maybe fewer with iOS.

Maybe using google for some examples might help, and using something like:
https://www.google.ca/search?client...&oe=UTF-8&gfe_rd=cr&ei=d7U9WZHYHe7e8AeH_rTYBw
and some hits like:
https://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/icloud-using-email-aliases
https://www.macobserver.com/tips/how-to-use-email-aliases-in-apple-mail/
https://support.apple.com/kb/ph2622?locale=en_CA

Then when that's done and working, the new "alias" address(s) can be added to the Contacts name and/or as a completely new Contact. i.e.: john&helen smith






- Patrick
======

pm-r said:

I guess I may not be understanding what you're describing but in my experience an email using an alias just shows the "alias" address and the "alias" name wanted or used — in other words it's just a working dummy and can use any proper characters email address/name. i.e.: legitimate characters and no spaces.

i.e.: the OP could possibly have john&[email protected] or just [email protected]
Heck, you can have 5 different alias variations names with a Mac OS X Mail iCloud account I believe. Maybe fewer with iOS.

Maybe using google for some examples might help, and using something like:
https://www.google.ca/search?client...&oe=UTF-8&gfe_rd=cr&ei=d7U9WZHYHe7e8AeH_rTYBw
and some hits like:
https://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/icloud-using-email-aliases
https://www.macobserver.com/tips/how-to-use-email-aliases-in-apple-mail/
https://support.apple.com/kb/ph2622?locale=en_CA

Then when that's done and working, the new "alias" address(s) can be added to the Contacts name and/or as a completely new Contact. i.e.: john&helen smith






- Patrick
======

Click to expand...

Your understanding about the alias is correct.

What I understood toMACsh to be asking for was a simple way to edit the "friendly name" of the existing account.

Ember1205 said:

Your understanding about the alias is correct.

What I understood toMACsh to be asking for was a simple way to edit the "friendly name" of the existing account.

Click to expand...

OK.

I guess the simplest way and it seems the only way for an Apple iCloud type email account is to setup any alias at the iCloud site or just get there following the setup directions using the Mail.app Preferences > Accounts and do it from there.

Apple isn't always renown for having a "simple" or easy way of doing things, even though they say they do IMHO.






- Patrick
======

pm-r said:

OK.

I guess the simplest way and it seems the only way for an Apple iCloud type email account is to setup any alias at the iCloud site or just get there following the setup directions using the Mail.app Preferences > Accounts and do it from there.

Apple isn't always renown for having a "simple" or easy way of doing things, even though they say they do IMHO.






- Patrick
======

Click to expand...

While I would say that setting up an alias is simple, all toMACsh wants to do is change the "friendly name" for the account he already has. Think of it this way...

If your name were Jane Doe and your email address were [email protected], what's the -simplest- change you can make if you get married to John Smith and take his last name? Your email address can stay exactly the same, but you change the "friendly name" (the display name that recipients actually -see-) to Jane Smith.

Creating an alias would be akin to setting up a PO Box at the Post Office just because your last name changed. Just update -some- of the information without actually changing the -delivery address- that it goes to.

Your email address can stay exactly the same, but you change the "friendly name" (the display name that recipients actually -see-) to Jane Smith.

Click to expand...

That's just what an email alias is intended to do.

If "[email protected]" is the real email address, it's just like a house address, but if someone wants to have "jane&[email protected]" as there email address, that appears to be a different email address but in actual fact is basically just acting as a pointer to the real email address.

That's just the way email addresses work if one wants all the related email, both real address and alias address emails to arrive or be sent from a single email account.

Phew… but I didn't makeup the rules or the various methods to change or implement them.

And please don't get us into spammers and forged email addresses etc.






- Patrick
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While I find the discussion of an e-mail alias interesting, it does go beyond what I needed to do, and have now done.

Good analogy about a woman getting married and taking her husband's last name.