
Gmail: Send mail from another address without "on behalf of" - philfreo
http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/send-mail-from-another-address-without.html
======
thinkzig
Finally. I've been asking for this for years.

Allowing you to authenticate against another SMTP server always seemed like
such an easy win for them and I couldn't understand why they didn't just do
it. But I guess I'm not the one supporting millions of people on my platform.
:)

This makes GMail an even stronger candidate now to replace a desktop mail
client in my book. Thanks, Google.

~~~
scs
Why is this feature so important to you? Perhaps I can learn something useful.

~~~
philfreo
It's useful because if you're using Gmail to manage email from your own
domain(s), and have a non-Gmail primary email address, now people receiving
your email won't have to know that you're using Gmail. Often I would get
people start using my Gmail account even though I was sending mail from my own
domain's email address.

[http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/07/30/gmail-kisses-on-
behalf-...](http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/07/30/gmail-kisses-on-behalf-of-
goodbye-enables-support-for-third-party-outbound-servers/)

~~~
jonknee
Google Apps for your domain can help you out--use Gmail and your domain all at
once.

~~~
trinket
I wish I could migrate my normal Gmail account (all received email to date,
current labels and rules) to my Google Apps for your domain account.

~~~
johns
It would be time consuming especially if you have a lot of email, but it is
possible. Set up your current account in an IMAP client like Thunderbird,
download all the messages to local folders, set up the Apps account, move
messages into that account.

------
pilif
_We heard your request for another option that wouldn't show the "on behalf
of" text loud and clear,_

right. loud and clear. The imperative word there is probably "heard" - the
thread about this on their support forum was started around at the time when
gmail began adding support for 3rd party addresses and all the customers got
was a mixture between silence and "working as intended".

Don't get me wrong: I'm incredibly happy that this is fixed now, but talking
about how well they were listening to their users and how quickly they reacted
is borderline cynical.

Sorry. I just had to vent.

------
conorgil145
This is the feature that I have been waiting for! I can finally manage all of
my mail in one place and respond to professors in a professional manner
through the school email server and keep my gmail totally behind the scenes.
Awesome

------
mojaam
I'm also elated for this. Countless times at work, I send an email from gmail
using my work/school .edu email and when that mail gets replied and forwarded
around back to me with my gmail user name exposed. Not a lot of people know me
by my username (which is my gmail) and sometimes I want to keep it that way.

~~~
sfk
So you don't want your username exposed. On the other hand, some people do not
like to reply to Gmail addresses because they don't want their mail to be
scanned by an advertising company.

~~~
delayclose
Forwarding email from a random address to a gmail address has been possible as
long as gmail has existed. It's not a feature that depends upon Google
support.

~~~
sfk
I did not claim that forwarding email is a novelty. I'm against people using
it in this very specific case.

------
grinich
Now just for PGP support.

~~~
smanek
<http://getfiregpg.org/>

You don't want server side PGP support - you'd have to give your private key
to Google. As much as I trust Google, I still don't trust them that much.

Much more secure to handle the crypto client side. Ideally, Google should work
with the firegpg guy so that he has notice before they change the interface
(FireGPG tends to break for a day or two whenever there is any change to the
GMail UI).

~~~
mcav
Perhaps they could employ the HTML5 LocalStorage API to store keys.

------
delayclose
This change does not seem to affect secondary gmail accounts: does anyone know
of a way to get them to work too? Or is there a technical reason why Google
cannot do it?

In case someone does not understand the problem: I have a few gmail addresses
that I use in contexts where I don't want to disclose my real name. For
convenience, all mail sent to these addresses gets forwarded to my primary
account, which does use my real name. But because of the sender field, I can't
use my primary account to reply to these mails, which makes the situation
quite messy.

------
anthropocentric
Great! Now gmail needs to make the "conversations" view optional and give me
the ability to view my mail just like any other e-mail client (that is,
without automatically combining unrelated e-mails into the same "conversation"
just because they share a subject line).

------
zacharypinter
Anybody know if this will work w/ 3rd party email clients?

For example, if I use smtp.gmail.com, but I construct the from address
appropriately, will it relay to smtp.mydomain.com and put a copy of the
message in my sent items folder on my Gmail account?

~~~
neilc
Why would you want to use smtp.gmail.com, rather than the SMTP server that
matches your From address?

~~~
zacharypinter
My main concern is having the outgoing email archived by Gmail, preferably in
Gmail's Sent Messages folder.

Right now I have Emacs/Gnus configured to get mail via POP3 on Gmail, and
upload a copy of outgoing messages to an IMAP folder on Gmail. I'd prefer a
cleaner/quicker option.

------
jseifer
This is great news. Now, if only the iPhone web app of Gmail supported sending
from different accounts this would be perfect.

------
spydez
Sadly, not for the free version of Google Apps for Your Domain.

~~~
snprbob86
It works! The trick here is that you need to specify your own smtp server but
specify "smtp.gmail.com" anyway and for the user name, use the full address:
username@yourdomain.com - also, make sure to use SSL. Just tested, works like
a charm.

