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Change default 'From' field value in Outlook 2010

Hi,

We currently have clients running Outlook 2010 and within that we often have multiple mailbox accounts added. The additional mailboxes are set up as actual e-mail accounts (via Control Panel > Mail > E-mail Accounts). In Outlook 2010 this gives the end-user more functionality within the mailbox itself to manage rules etc without having to log into a separate PC or instance of Outlook.

Anyway, the issue we're having is that if a user has highlighted a secondary mailbox and they send an e-mail from it, the 'From' field in Outlook will default to the mailbox that is highlighted. What we are wanting to do, is to set the default 'From' field value to always be the user's default mailbox (i.e. their own account). I've browsed around and haven't been able to find a solution for this, or any reg settings that I could change to set this behaviour - so I would appreciate any assistance you can offer.

If you need further information/clarification, please let me know.

Thanks,
ESMC

Steve McAuliffe

ASKER

As a further update to this, I have created a Macro attached to a custom group icon in the ribbon for 'New E-mail':

Public Sub New_Mail()
Dim oAccount As Outlook.Account
Dim oMail As Outlook.MailItem

For Each oAccount In Application.Session.Accounts
   If oAccount = "Mailbox Name" Then
      Set oMail = Application.CreateItem(olMailItem)
      oMail.SendUsingAccount = oAccount
      oMail.Display
   End If
Next
End Sub

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I'm using this as a workaround for the time being, however it would be great to know if there's a way of hard-coding the above script into the default 'New E-Mail' icon within Outlook 2010. Appreciate any help.

Thanks,
ESMC

Blue Street Tech

Unless i am missing something, I think it would be much easier to manage if you just set up these other accounts as aliases to the default account in the mail server rather than separate mailboxes since all the replies are going to be coming from one address (the default mailbox) anyway, No? If I understand you correctly, it will result in the same way without the complications of multiple email accounts. Sorting can be handled by using Rules and Categories.

Blue Street Tech

This is how it is typically handled which is likely why you are not finding solutions on the web for it. That's not to see it can't be done. But it’s just much easier and less problematic to do so the way i outlined above.

Steve McAuliffe

ASKER

Thanks for your assistance. The main reason we're using Outlook 2010 is so we can attach as mailboxes rather than as aliases. This is primarily because the mailboxes are hosted on different servers, plus we do have some IMAP/POP servers as well which host web based mailboxes for external clients that are managed by ourselves. Generally the guys who manage these mailboxes will send e-mails directly from their default account (unless it's one of the web based services), and we're basically trying to cut down on user error from sending mail "from" the incorrect mailbox to a different client. Unfortunately we can't just remove the 'Send As' permissions either, as there are occasions when they need it.

Cheers,
ESMC

Blue Street Tech

Ok. If you hard code this you would not be able to perform your last sentence ("Unfortunately we can't just remove the 'Send As' permissions either, as there are occasions when they need it.") It would always be sent from the default address.
With any decent mail server you can create forwarders on them to point all your accounts to the default email account, regardless if you have multiple servers or different protocols, e.g. (POP, IMAP, and/or Exchange).

Despite everything, if you still want this hard coded I would have to defer that to another expert.

Steve McAuliffe

ASKER

My intentions were to (if possible) change the behaviour of the default 'New E-mail' icon to pick up the default mailbox address in the 'From' field, but not to make that 'From' field unchangeable (i.e. users can still change the address in the 'From' field manually if needed).

If there is in fact a way to change the behaviour of the 'New E-mail' icon, I'd assume it'd also be plausible to do so without writing off the option to manually change the 'From' field if necessary.

Appreciate your help :)

Cheers,
ESMC

Blue Street Tech

I c. i was thinking in a different direction using VB. There is a very easy way to do this with no prgramming whatsoever.

If you do not have to run separate mailboxes, then you can run all the accounts under one mailbox and separate them using rules and folders. Select the default account under Email Accounts and it will do exactly what you want it to.

Blue Street Tech

Every email that is replied to etc, will be sent out by the default account and you will still have the option to manually change if desired.

Steve McAuliffe

ASKER

I understand where you're coming from, but as I mentioned earlier the reason we're using Outlook 2010 is so we can run separate instances of mailboxes (rather than aliases).

Cheers,
ESMC

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Blue Street Tech

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Steve McAuliffe

ASKER

This is an acceptable and worthy workaround to use - thanks for the advice.

Blue Street Tech

Glad I could help - Thanks for the points!