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Multiple Email Accounts
Introduction
You can set up your email software to handle email
accounts from different Internet Service Providers. Most modern email software
(also known as email clients)
allow user to handle multiple email accounts, however they have to be carefully
and properly configured. This page explains mechanisms involved in sending and
receiving email message from different accounts within one on different ISPs.
What Software To Use
Below a quick overview (in no particular order) of the most
popular email clients with comments how well they handle multiple email accounts
with one or multiple ISPs.
Calypso
see: http://www.mcsdallas.com/ |
Of the best (possibly the
best) email client. Unfortunately it is also the only one listed here
which is not free (it can be purchased on line for US$ 25). 30 days demo
available for download, free version does not have multiple account
option. |
Pegasus Mail
(claims to be the Internet's longest-serving PC e-mail
system)
see: http://www.pegasus.usa.com/ |
Excellent multiple accounts
handling capability. Uses "Identities", which are a collection of program settings within Pegasus Mail.
User interface getting a bit old, and a bit confusing because of many
options. Completely changed user interface promised for new version late
2000. |
Microsoft Outlook Express
(bundled with Microsoft Internet Explorer)
see: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/oe/ |
Excellent multiple accounts
handling capability. See setup instructions below this table. |
Netscape Messenger
(depending on version this software is known as
"Netscape", "Netscape Navigator" or "Netscape
Communicator". Netscape was taken over by AOL (America On Line) and
from mid 2000 user interface has been changed to reflect unique AOL look
and feel, which you may love or hate)
see: http://www.netscape.com |
Handles multiple accounts
with additional tool known as: "Profile Manager". The profile
Manager allows you to create many profiles, and select one when starting
Netscape Messenger. All emails received or filed in folders using one
profile are not accessible when different profile is active. Each profile
is fully independent. |
Eudora
(one of the best known email only tools, does not allow
to use newsgroups)
see: http://www.eudora.com/ |
Older Eudora Light could
not handle multiple accounts. Current Eudora handles multiple
accounts by allowing to set various "Personalities" (or
"Persona"). User interface is a bit complex, but easy to
understand. |
Background Information – What You Need
To send and receive email you have to know the following
details provided to you by your ISP:
your user name
|
this is first part of your
email address. If your email address is robaczek@hermes.net.au
your user name is robaczek |
your password
|
typically this is the same
password you use to connect to ISP |
POP3 server (or host) name
|
name of place from which
you want to retrieve your new mail |
SMTP server (or host) name
|
name of place where you
want to send your messages to. This place then sends your messages to
addresses you wrote in "To:" field of the messages
Note that names for POP3 and SMTP servers for one ISP do
not have to be the same! |
It is crucial to
understand that there are two independent places at
ISP site (also referred to as hosts, or servers) which handle your messages: one
handles the messages you are sending (SMTP), and the other one (POP3) handles
the messages you are receiving. Here is a bit more technical explanation, which
also tells you WHY? there are
two different mechanisms for sending and receiving mail:
 | POP3 (Post Office Protocol, version 3) is an Internet standard which defines a mechanism for accessing a mailbox located on a remote host machine. In order to use POP3 services, you require a user identity, or account on the host machine; when people send mail to you, they send it to your account on the host, which receives it and stores it in a mailbox for you. The next step is to run a program which supports the POP3 protocol
(any email client): the program logs into the remote host on your behalf and copies any unread mail on the host to your local machine for reading.
The copy of the mail remaining on the remote host can then be deleted (although most POP3 mailers make deletion an option). |
| SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) is the standard mechanism by which mail is delivered on the Internet and on TCP/IP networks. A very old protocol, its qualities are its robustness and ease of implementation. On the negative side of the ledger, SMTP is an extremely primitive protocol with no well-defined support for non-text attachments or international character sets. Because SMTP was originally designed for large multitasking systems which run continuously, it has certain design characteristics which make the reception of mail on PCs a difficult proposition. Because of this, most PC-based mailers which use the TCP/IP network protocols use SMTP to send mail, but use another protocol called POP3 to receive
mail – this is WHY you
need to define both POP3 and SMTP! |
Sample Configuration
We selected Outlook Express version 5 to explain sample
multiple account configuration. Depending on version used there may be some
differences. Outlook Express is installed on your computer when you
install Microsoft Internet Explorer, it is also standard module in current
version of Windows, and comes bundled with Macintoshes.
When you use different email software, different platform (for
example Macintosh computer) setup will be a bit different, HOWEVER the
principle and information required are the same as in the sample below.
Start Outlook Express (you do not have to be connected to the
Internet), and go to:
| Tools, Accounts and select Mail tab |
You may already have one or more mail account defined, or
none.
| to add a new account select button Add -- Mail. A Wizard
starts and you will go through a series of panels asking you for information
as listed in the above table. For detailed steps see our page explaining how
to configure Microsoft Internet Explorer. |
| to modify an existing account select it and click on
Properties button. See "Help" build into Outlook Express for
explanation of all user options. |
Multiple Accounts
You can create as many accounts as you like with different
definitions of places from where you want to retrieve you messages (POP3) and
different places you want to use for sending your messages through (SMTP). Here
are some specific examples:
first account, named "my hermes mail":
Server Information:
Incoming mail (POP3): mail.hermes.net.au
Outgoing mail (SMTP): mail.hermes.net.au
Incoming Mail server: type in account name and password you have from Hermes
Internet
second account named "my dingo blue mail":
Server Information:
Incoming mail (POP3): mail.dingoblue.com.au
Outgoing mail (SMTP): mail.dingoblue.com.au
Incoming Mail server: type in account name and password
you have from Dingoblue
The above case is simple: you defined two different accounts
for two different ISPs. Please note, however, that when
connected to Hermes Internet you will be able to: send
messages ONLY using "my hermes mail" account, but receive the
messages from both accounts. If you try to send messages from "my dingo
blue" accounts, you messages will be rejected by Dingoblue as coming from
an alien server – this is known as 'relaying' and is described on our Frequently
Asked Questions page.
| IMPORTANT TIP: to send or receive messages selectively
deselect "Include this account when receiving mail or
synchronising" for each account profile, and drop down menu "Send
and Receive" to select an account. If you leave the tick in
"Include this account..." and simply click on "Send and
Receive" button, Outlook Express will go to the first account, and if
it is not valid, will get stuck on it forever. |
Now, you can combine which mail server to use for what task
differently. For example:
if you wish to connect to Dingoblue and collect mail from
Hermes Internet, but send mail using Dingoblue SMTP server, define account:
third account, named "collect from hermes but send via dingoblue":
Server Information:
Incoming mail (POP3): mail.hermes.net.au
Outgoing mail (SMTP): mail.dingoblue.com.au
Incoming Mail server: type in account name and password
you have from Hermes Internet
Finally, if you wish to connect to Hermes Internet and collect
your mail from Dingoblue, but send mail using Hermes Internet SMTP server,
define one more account:
fourth account, named "collect from dingoblue, but send via
hermes":
Server Information:
Incoming mail (POP3): mail.dingoblue.com.au
Outgoing mail (SMTP): mail.hermes.net.au
Incoming Mail server: type in account name and password
you have from Dingoblue
The above four examples can be summarised as follows:
| connection to |
collection from |
servers |
| Hermes |
Hermes |
POP3: mail.hermes.net.au
SMTP: mail.hermes.net.au |
| Hermes |
Dingoblue |
POP3: mail.dingoblue.com.au
SMTP: mail.hermes.net.au |
| Dingoblue |
Hermes |
POP3: mail.hermes.net.au
SMTP: mail.dingoblue.com.au |
| Dingoblue |
Dingoblue |
POP3: mail.dingoblue.com.au
SMTP: mail.dingoblue.com.au |
When using multiple accounts it is important to define clear,
meaningful names (like for example: "collect mail from dingoblue and send
through hermes", rather then "dingoblue/hermes") and to select
the right account when sending / receiving your mail from different ISPs. If in
doubt, send some test messages addressed to yourself from different accounts. To
see full header of a messages (which shows additional details, amongst them
where it came from), right click on a message title in Outlook Express, and from
a menu which pops up select: Properties – Details.
Finally, please check "Help" of your email software,
it is very likely to have answers to most of your questions.
Questions? If you are a member of Hermes Internet, please send
your questions to our technical support address: help@hermes.net.au
and we will try to help. Please note however that we do not provide direct
technical support for Microsoft Outlook Express or other software: it is not our
role to replace support provided by Microsoft and other software companies for
their products.
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