Using same smtp server for multiple accounts

Using same smtp server for multiple accounts

I'm using Opera 10.51 on a netbook with Windows XP installed. I'm currently using Thunderbird on this computer, but I hope to switch to Opera's email client to keep memory usage down. However, I think I have a problem with the mail part (along with several annoyances with the browser, but not fatal ones).

My potentially clincher problem is that I have a number of pop accounts for which I use the same smtp server (gmail). In order for this to work, I have to configure those other accounts to use smpt.gmail.com as the outgoing server, with a different user name and password for outgoing mail than for the incoming mail.

Both Thunderbird and Outlook allow me to specify a different userid and password for outgoing mail, so that I can send mail from "myotheraccount" but the outgoing server is always gmail. Gmail will send the mail as "from gmail on behalf of myuserid@myotheraccount". Opera doesn't allow me to specify a different userid and password for my outgoing server, or at least I can't find a way to do this. I have to actually send all of my mail from the gmail account, and there's no way to make it appear to be coming from a different account. I can't use the "reply to" field in the gmail account, because the address isn't always the same.

If I've missed something, I would appreciate hearing the solution to this.

The New Mail Account wizard may not allow you to do this. But, if you goto Mail and chat accounts -> select the account -> edit -> servers tab and set a different username and password, it should work. Did you try this?

Originally posted by bvlenci:

I'm currently using Thunderbird on this computer, but I hope to switch to Opera's email client to keep memory usage down.

If you're using Thunderbird 3, goto tools -> options -> advanced -> general and uncheck "enable global search and indexer". Further, in the account's properties, edit the synchronization settings (if using IMAP at least) to not fully fetch all the messages at once. These things will greatly reduce Thunderbird's memory usage. It'll still be higher than Opera's. But, it'll be better. If doing this, it's best to start with a fresh Thunderbird profile and not let it connect to your account (by not entering your password first) until you turn off the search indexer etc.

I did go to the account settings to try to add a different username and password for the outgoing mail, but I see only one field for username and one field for password, whereas I need two different fields for each, so that I can have a different userid and password for the smtp server.

However, I'm also having a password problem with Opera Mail (see my other posting). If I don't resolve both of these problems, I'm stuck with Thunderbird. (Thanks for the Thunderbird advice, by the way.)

If you want to specify another smtp username and password to use when sending, you have to create another mail account. You can only do one per account.

Opera doesn't make smtp servers global like Thunderbird.

You can set up dummy accounts for the extra username and passwords where the incoming server is set to pop.example.com and adjust that account's settings to never check for mail. The downside to this though is that sent messages will be split between the accounts.

The other problem with that strategy is that if someone responds to a mail, it won't go to the right account. In fact, the whole thing will quickly become a mess.

Outlook doesn't make the smtp server global, but it does give you the option to use a different user name and password for the outgoing mail server. Outlook's behaviour seems to me the ideal, because it doesn't assume either that they're global or local. However, I have other reasons to want to stop using Outlook.