Revise account so that it is never checked for email
I had a university account with faculty status. My email address (say, myname@uw.edu) formerly was an IMAP account that specified the server name etc. (say, myname.deskmail.washington.edu) so that email there could be fetched. The university now has discontinued providing this IMAP account and the server no longer functions, but they are willing to forward email that arrives addressed to the old faculty email address (myname@uw.edu) to an outside address (say, myname@gmail.com). I want to be able to continue sending email from this university email address, myname@uw.edu as the sender. However, since the server no longer works for storing email, attempts to check it for email causes an error message "failed to connect to server myname.deskmail.washington.edu". I wish to keep the account and sender address but disable TB from ever checking this server, so that for instance invoking "Get all new messages", which I do frequently because of multiple accounts, does not try to fetch from this server and cause an error. However, I find that Thunderbird will not allow me to simple delete the server name (myname.deskmail.washington.edu), it just keeps reappearing. Is there a way to disable and prevent TB from ever checking an account's server while retaining the name of the sender for sending out email?
All Replies (2)
What you have cited there "myname.deskmail.washington.edu" is not a regular email address. Is there not an @ in it?
It's possible this is a so-called mailspool account, which may be problematic for you to use via a regular email service.
What exactly did you do when you "removed the server name"? That's an unusual form of words; most users would talk in terms of "removing an account".
In Thunderbird, when you remove an account, it stays removed, much to the chagrin of those who unintentionally remove one. So we need to understand what you actually have (or haven't) done.
Given the redirection that has graciously been offered, you need to find a "real" account that will host the old address. Gmail in particular will allow you to add an alien email address and use it as a "from" address. The main caveat in setting this up is that you can receive messages in the old account so you can reply to them, probably by visiting a link, to affirm you are the true owner of that address. This cycle of events would appear to be possible with your current arrangement.
But if your old account was indeed based on a mailspool account, you simply may not be able to use it in a regular POP/IMAP/SMTP context.
Thank you Zenos.
In order to attempt to stop email checking for myname@uw.edu, I tried to delete Server Settings > Server Name (thus "myname.deskmail.washington.edu" and Server Settings > User Name (thus "myname") from the relevant Thunderbird IMAP account settings, but neither was allowed. I hoped to keep the account in TB because I hoped it could keep active the sender (from) email address, myname@uw.edu, thus did not wish to delete the account if possible.
Interesting that you comment that I can accomplish my goal with an alien "from address" in Google. I could try this, but It would be a less desirable choice for me, as I try to not depend on commercial and potentially snooping services if I could accomplish my goal within the TB / University realm, but perhaps this is not possible.
Much appreciate your input and any further ideas beyond abandoning TB as the "host" of this "from" email address.
Thank you.