Default email address settings for Apple Mail

[MacInWin]

Think I'll stick to Mail for the time being and see if the next OS fixes the issue.

Would not hold out much hope for that. The issue is not a system issue, as it is unique to you. So nothing for Apple to "fix" here. But a reinstall as part of the upgrade might fix whatever is going on in your system.

 

[pine man]

a reinstall as part of the upgrade might fix whatever is going on in your system

Worth a try

 

[Jimmysb]

Whoa!!!

Just installed the free version of Microsoft Outlook. Every time I opened an inbox it was populated with spam and the Rules settings do not allow for iCloud email accounts so you can't even get them sent to junk.

Tried to revert to the legacy version of Outlook to see if it was any better. It was but you have to take out a subscription to continue using it!

Looked on the Microsoft support site and found loads and loads of complaints about the spam in free Outlook. The response from MS was, words to the effect, it's free what do you expect something's got to pay for it! Their solution was to take out a subscription which might, just might, remove the spam.

Think I'll stick to Mail for the time being and see if the next OS fixes the issue.

I bought the MS Office Suit, and thought I would try Outlook, having used it for many years with Windows, and been quite happy. I found both legacy and new had issues, both with mail and calendar, different issues in each. I used it for about 3 - months, and then tried Thunderbird, which seems to be memory hungry, I am now back with Apple Mail, it may not have the bell and whistles but I find it stable (most of the time )

 

[MacInWin]

Worth a try

I didn't suggest it because of how the reinstall process now works on Mx Macs. If there is anything wrong with any of the core functions, macOS is automatically re-initiated. What you boot is actually a snapshot of the Signed System Volume (SSV) that is read-only and hidden from anything but Apple's installation process. So, when you "reinstall" macOS, all it does is make another snapshot of that SSV and boot. Nothing else changes. So, whatever is funky in your Mail setup most likely won't change with a simple re-install. You can rest assured that the snapshot from which you are booted is intact because at boot time it's checked by a series of increasingly complex hashes to assure that no changes have been made to any of the files since the snapshot was created and that it matches with the SSV. If the snapshot is damaged, the system re-creates the snapshot on the fly during the boot process. I beleive Mail is inherent in that setup, so the Mail application itself is verified every time the machine boots. However, unique settings for YOUR setup are not in that secure snapshot so that you can customize Mail for you. Those customizations survive through pretty much all boots, all recreations of the snapshot, and even through most system upgrades. About the only way I can think of to eliminate those customizations is to boot into Recovery, wipe the boot drive to eliminate those customizations and reinstall the system totally from scratch, then restoring everything EXCEPT your settings for Mail, entering them by hand again so that you don't inherit whatever it is that is making your system act this way.

One way to test my theory is to create a new user on your system, put in your Mail details and see if that user has the same issues. If not, then the problem will be verified to be something in YOUR account and not something systemic to Mail that Apple will "fix" sometime.

In fact, if that new user works in Mail, you might even consider making that new user your account and move your files/apps/etc. from the current user account to that new one and deleting your current account to get back the drive space (after testing thoroughly, of course).

 

[pine man]

I found both legacy and new had issues

Me too that's why I went back to Mail but this issue is still causing problems. Every time I think I have resolved it, it comes back and bites me in the a***.

I had a look at it about half an hour ago and it has completely forgotten who I am!

Some while ago I gave Spark a try and it wasn't too bad so I've just installed it and added both iCloud and Google email. So far it is playing very nicely.

 

[pine man]

One way to test my theory is to create a new user on your system

That makes a lot of sense. Ironically when I had iCloud and gmail added to Mail it never forgot gmail settings - just iCloud.

Sounds like a plan for tomorrow, my wife's just opened a bottle of wine so it may not be safe to proceed further after that!

 

[IWT]

my wife's just opened a bottle of wine

Oh thank you. You are saving the economy!

Ian

 

[pm-r]

It appears that Hide My Mail cannot be removed as an option but, at least, Mail is now more usable.

I'm not familiar with Apple Mail's new feature and haven't been forced to use it staying with an older macOS version, but it seems that you might have a few options and maybe save you some annoyance by some of the suggestions say glanced out at some of these web pages:

Mac Mail Hide My Mail cannot be removed as an option - Google Search

What is Hide My Email? - Apple Support (CA)

Hide My Email lets you create unique, random email addresses to communicate with apps and websites so your personal email remains private.

support.apple.com

what is apple mail "hide my email" - Google Search

- Patrick
=======

 

[MacInWin]

"Hide my email" is actually pretty handy in some spots. If you are forced into providing an email to gain access to someplace on the web, use "hide my email" to have an alias created for that one access. Apple will then forward any email to that address to your icloud email address, so that you can, if needed, do whatever verification the requesting site needs to let you in. If you start to get spam at that fake address, just shut it down and it's gone.

 

[pm-r]

too that's why I went back to Mail but this issue is still causing problems. Every time I think I have resolved it, it comes back and bites me in the a***.

@ pine man
If it helps with your problems, there's a fairly clear tutorial-type explanation of how to use Apple's hide my email feature here:

I couldn't understand Apple's explanation, especially with the language they use.

PS: I hope you and your wife enjoyed your nice bottle of wine and then enjoyed life for a bit.




- Patrick
=======

 

[Jimmysb]

@ pine man
If it helps with your problems, there's a fairly clear tutorial-type explanation of how to use Apple's hide my email feature here:

I couldn't understand Apple's explanation, especially with the language they use.

PS: I hope you and your wife enjoyed your nice bottle of wine and then enjoyed life for a bit.




- Patrick
=======

 

[pine man]

Hi Everybody!

After a couple of glasses of wine I set too again last night and played with Mail and just the iCloud address. Most times it worked but not always so when it worked I added the gmail address and, again, most times it seemed to work and if it didn’t a fiddle with settings got it going again. Not ideal but useable.

I downloaded Spark email and I’ve got it set up with iCloud and gmail. It works perfectly albeit with a bit of fiddling. I’ve got it set up in the same way as Apple Mail. This is the standard version of Spark (Free) but there is also a new version called Spark Desktop (also free) but virtually impossible to set up like Apple Mail with the Accounts in the sidebar and their folders below, which is the way I like it.

I am going to run Apple Mail and Spark side by side for a while but I will not give up on Apple Mail. I have some information on how to force it to reset by deleting various folders, which I might try - but probably after a couple of glasses of wine!

Thanks to everybody for your input. It’s people like you that continue to make this a great forum

 

[pm-r]

@ Jimmysb

Thanks for the heads up Jim B, and I have no idea why the link I provided produces the "Video unavailable" notice.

Anyway, it's available on works if one clicks on the" Watch on YouTube" link.

I posted that just in case others need a better and clearer explanation then what Apple provides and gives a much easier-to-understand explanation as to why and how Apple's Mail "Hide my email" works.



- Patrick
=======

 

[pine man]

Think I'll stick to Mail for the time being and see if the next OS fixes the issue.

Having run with Spark for a while, in isolation, I decided to give Apple Mail another go after the recent update to Sonoma 14.5.

When first opened it was still the same defaulting to Google and no iCloud. So I set it up again and, believe it or not, it has been running faultlessly for over a week now!

I have no ides what was going on and why it's ok now but it's good to have it back and working properly.

 

[Rod]

I may be missing something here but in the first post you state you have Hide My Email enabled. I have never tried this iCloud+ option but it seems logical to me that you would not be able to select your @icloud address as default sender when the Mail app is set to hide it. I feel like we're missing something else.

 

[pine man]

in the first post you state you have Hide My Email enabled.

I didn't actually have Hide My Mail enabled. When I wanted to compose a new email the drop down menu only gave me two options. Google Mail or Hide My Mail, when what I actually wanted was iCloud Mail which didn't appear.

For some reason, even though iCloud was enabled, it wasn't showing as an option for composing a new email.

I did actually check the Hide My Mail settings and it definitely was not enabled but just showing as an option when composing a new email.

Now that the iCloud settings are remembered I get iCloud showing when composing a new email and if I check the options there are now three. iCloud, gmail and Hide My Mail.

For some obscure reason, since the last update to Sonoma, Mail is now working exactly as it should with iCloud the default setting.

 

[IWT]

For some obscure reason, since the last update to Sonoma, Mail is now working exactly as it should with iCloud the default setting.

Great news. Been a long haul to get there. Hope it remains that way.

Ian

 

[Rod]

Yes, 10 out of 10 for perseverance, we may never know what the problem was.