mail uses wrong sender address

This does not really address the issue. When composing a new email from the inbox for one account, say “john@abc.net”, the MacOS Mail app will for some reason incorrectly guess that I intended to send the email from a different account, say “john@xyz.org”, and replace the @abc.net address in the From field with the unintended @xyz.org address. I need to access all addresses associated with my personal contact card; deleting any of them is not an option.

What I don’t need is for the Mail app to arbitrarily change the address in the From field based on an address I typed in the To field. Apple telephone support has no solution for this issue. All the support tech could say was “that’s just the way it works.” Users have two options: 1. selecting a static default sender address for all emails and all accounts (not useful) or 2. letting the Mail app arbitrarily choose an incorrect sender address based on what recipient address is typed into the To field.

How about a 3rd option: the sender address always matches the mail account active at the time the email is composed?

This is clearly a “flaw" not a “feature” in the Mac OS Mail app. I have 10 email accounts for different organizations, businesses, and personal use and I often send emails from multiple accounts every day. But, opening a “new message” in one account does not guarantee the message will send from that account. Depending on the recipient address I place in the “To” field, the Mac Mail app seems to arbitrarily change the sender “From” address to one of my other account without my input. WTF! I have unintentionally sent email from business accounts to recipients I intended to send from my personal account. There appears to be no logic behind how the Mail app automatically chooses the “best” account. This is truly maddening and a major flaw in the operation of the Mac Mail app.

Hi aschafu.

Apple is not here to see your request, as we are all Apple users, like yourself in the community.

If you wish, you can send. feedback to reach those who work on the Mail app behind-the-scenes.

They will likely not reply, yet your feedback. will reach those who can make changes, if others are also experiencing similar issues.

Web-form for MacOS Mail feedback: Feedback - Mail - Apple

I would like to second this suggestion, because Apple Mail's behaviour is really starting to get on my nerves. It regularly picks my private address for sending business mail and I do not always notice which is just unprofessional.

I cannot see any rule in why it picks my private address over the professional one. I also do not see any way to train the system what the "best" one would really be and am afraid that the more often I do not notice the mistake the more it will "believe" that the wrong choice was correct.

So @Apple: Please fix this and at least give the user a way to correct wrongly learned (?) behaviour!

Thank you for joining the discussion, and for sharing your experience with us, Stephen Zwerling1.

Seems you had enabled: Use Hide My Email in Mail on Mac - Apple Support and somehow disabled that.

Eg: Above linked article says:

"If you subscribe to iCloud+, Hide My Email allows you to send and receive messages without having to share your real email address by using unique, random email addresses that forward to the email address associated with your Apple ID.

Tip: You can see and manage your unique, random addresses, or create new ones, in iCloud settings on your Mac or in Account Settings on iCloud.com".

Try opening the Contacts app, and use the "edit" button to ensure that only the eMail addresses that you want to be able to select from are listed there.

(ie : Open "Contacts" > Select your name (or create a card for yourself). You can then add, change or delete eMail addresses using the "Edit" button.)

Hi pjstarich, welcome to the discussion, and thank you for your thoughts on this,

4th option that is already in place: If the default address isn't wanted: always select the address you want to send from, from the easily-available drop-down list of all the addresses listed on your Contacts card.

(ie: With the cursor on the (auto-populated) "From" field ... click arrows at end of field to see the full list of your addresses, so you can choose the most appropriate.)

Am using the setting "Automatically choose the best account" (Mail > Settings> Composing) and notice gratefully that Mail mostly selects whichever address is in constant use for that receiver. Yet nothing is perfect in this world. Your experience / expectations / seems to differ.

Along with this irritating behaviour, I have an additional problem: When I click on the drop-down box to select the email address I wish to use, only the one, previously show address, is offered and with a check mark to it's left. Beneath that address it reads: Hide my Email. I have had 2 calls with Apple support which could not solve this. However, during these calls, after closing and opening mail, restarting the mac, and checking settings, etc., eventually, following no actual solving action, the drop-down box will show the multiple emails that it should. This has happened on both my MacBook Pro and Studio Mac on several occasions. I have sent Feedback to Apple.

Thank you for replying, and letting us know!

Cheers :-)

Thanks brbo for the suggestion. Have submitted feedback to Apple. And I would encourage the others reading here to also do so. I hope this will get fixed if enough users complain.

Thank you kindly for your reply, and for taking action as you see fit, aschafu :-)