Several users have more than one email id. This is the minimum value where one is used for business and the other for personal reasons. Considering how many of us struggle to balance two lives at once, logging into Microsoft Outlook from both accounts makes sense. Sending email becomes easier if you can instantly change the From address in Microsoft Outlook.
This makes it easy to access the inbox of different email addresses and change the email sender’s name in Outlook. Note that you can add any email address in Outlook desktop apps like Gmail or ProtonMail.
Let’s start.
Add Email Account to Outlook Web App
First I will show you how to add a new email id in Outlook web app or OWA.
Stage 1: Open Outlook.com in your favorite browser and click the gear icon to select ‘View all Outlook settings’.
Step 2: You can add new email accounts under Sync email in the left sidebar. There is a separate option for Gmail.
Change Address in Outlook Web App
It’s really easy to choose a different Outlook email address to send an instant email. Simply click the From button to display a drop-down menu with all the email IDs you’ve added. The From button only appears when you have other email IDs to choose from.
Choose the one you want to use to send the email and compose your email as usual. The sender address field will reflect the change in real time.
There are a few things to keep in mind. You cannot add more than 20 accounts to the From field in Outlook. Adding more than the upper limit will render any added email id useless. That is, you cannot send emails from any of them. To fix this, remove some to meet the threshold limit.
Change Address in Outlook Desktop App
The desktop version works differently from OWA.
Stage 1: Open Outlook and compose an email as you normally would. The From field is not visible by default and is hidden under the Options menu. Click that first and then select From to make the option appear in the compose email section.
Step 2: Click the newly appearing From address button to instantly change the sending email address.
It’s also pretty easy to add a new email id on the fly. Click the From field again and this time click on Other Email Address. Enter the new email ID and then follow the onscreen instructions to add it quickly. You can always configure it later, like any other email id.
What Happens When You Change From Address In Outlook?
There are three main policies or frameworks that have been developed to address such situations. These are the Sender Policy Framework (SPF), Domain-Based Message Authentication, Reporting and Compliance (DMARC), and Domain Keys Identified Mail (DKIM).
One of the functions of these frameworks is to protect users from email spoofing, which means sending email from an address that does not belong to the sender. Although we own the address, it is not our primary email id. An example would be using a Gmail ID to send email from an Outlook application.
Here’s how Google will handle the situation. It does not filter or block email. Gmail ignores the new sender address and displays the Original Outlook email ID in the From field.
Things work a little differently for Microsoft Exchange servers. If the servers are configured to send emails from a different email address, emails will be sent normally. As long as you have access to and permission to use the e-mail address. This is true even if you haven’t added the email ID to Outlook yet. An example where this can play is ‘[email protected]’e. Most companies have this email id where certain replies are fed to go out when conditions are met. You don’t need to add this to the From address field of your Outlook client. This is often called an autoresponder.
Not everyone’s email address is connected to the exchange server. In case of a regular email ID, the email will not be sent. Instead you will get a Delivery Error Notification that will read something like ‘This message could not be sent’. You do not have permission to send messages on behalf of the specified user’.
Set Default Email ID
Users who have more than one email ID added to their Outlook account have been known to send emails from the wrong email ID. One way to fix this problem is to set a default email id in your settings. The option was added in Outlook 2016.
You will find the option under Settings > Mail. Just enable the ‘Always use default account when composing new messages’ option.
Balancing Law
The ability to send emails from different addresses in Outlook is a godsend. It’s a feature you’ll find yourself using almost every day. It’s easy enough to use and works like a charm. Make sure you select the correct email id before hitting the submit button.
Let us know if you have any questions in the comments section below.
Next: The Outlook email app is a pleasure to use with its built-in keyboard shortcuts. Read the next post to find the 15 best keyboard shortcuts for Outlook on Windows and Mac.