This site will have limited functionality while we undergo maintenance to improve your experience. If an article doesn't solve your issue and you want to ask a question, we have our support community waiting to help you at @FirefoxSupport on Twitter and/r/firefox on Reddit.

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

Missent emails and incorrect email replies

  • 10 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 3 views
  • Last reply by barkdw

more options

I have 4 comcast.net and 4 gmail accounts on my T'bird sidebar. I have had sereral instances of emails being sent from one address appearing to the recipient as being from a different address and their replies are sent to that address. Weird!

I have 4 comcast.net and 4 gmail accounts on my T'bird sidebar. I have had sereral instances of emails being sent from one address appearing to the recipient as being from a different address and their replies are sent to that address. Weird!

Chosen solution

With all your help, a dollop of serendipity, and a cleansing of conflicting passwords I think my problems are solved. If my optimism proves to be unwarranted, I'll be back with another question.

Thanks for your contributions.


[Todd-Hall: I was unable to get your images into a readable format.]

Read this answer in context 👍 0

All Replies (10)

more options

not weird if you only have one gmail SMTP server for all 4 accounts.

Right click an account in the folder pane and select settings. At the bottom of the settings dialog list is Outgoing server (SMTP)

You should have 8 of them. One for each account. Add whatever is missing, and give them names that make sense to you.

Once you have enough SMTPS servers, click on the account names in the account dialog and check which SMTP server is used for each account. (it appears towards he bottom on the right.)

more options

Doesn't explain how an email sent form a comcast,net account was received and replied as a gmail account.

more options

is it showing in your sent items for the comcast account? If not it explains everything but you sending from the wrong account.

more options

Yes, it shows as "Sent" in the comcast account. The recipients reply header shows it from the gmail account. Too weary to continue tonight but I'll check out you suggestions tomorrow. Disclosure: I'm an old guy, not tech hip.

more options

Post this info so we can see what smtp you are currently using. in Thunderbird Help > Troubleshotting Information clickon 'copy text to clipboard'

in this forum question, right click in a 'Post a Reply' text box and selet 'Paste'.

more options

Listed below are the outgoing server descriptions (six)appearing for my email accounts. I have seven email accounts, two are missing from these descriptions and one is included (with differing information) twice. Hope you can help me sort this out. I have sent emails that intended recipients have claimed not to have received. Other emails I have sent from one address receive replies showing a different “sent” address. Could this be a Google mail error?

Two additional comcast.net accounts are not listed under the outgoing server section.

I have one account for which there are two descriptions concerning this account in the outgoing server section.


                  Description: None					
               Server Name: smtp.comcast.net
                              Port: 465
                  User Name: xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Authentication Method: Normal Password

    Connection Security: SSL/TLS

                  Description: gmail
               Server Name: smtp.gmail.com
                             Port: 587
                  User Name: yyyyyyyyyyyyyy

Authentication Method: Normal Password

    Connection Security: STARTTLS

                  Description: gmail
               Server Name: smtp.gmail.com
                             Port: 587
                  User Name: zzzzzzzzzzz

Authentication Method: Normal Password

    Connection Security:  STARTTLS

                 Description: Google Mail
               Server Name: sptp.gmail.com
                             Port: 465
                  User Name: kkkkkkkkkkk@gmail.com

Authentication Method: OAuth2

    Connection Security: SSL/TLS

                  Description: Google Mail                                           
               Server Name: smtp.gmail.com
                             Port: 465
                  User Name: llllllllllll@gmail.com

Authentication Method: Normal Password

    Connection Security: SSL/TLS

                  Description: lllllllllllll
               Server Name: smtp.gmail.com
                              Port: 1 
                  User Name: <not specified>

Authentication Method: Password transmitted insecurely

    Connection Security: None

Modified by barkdw

more options

It would be useful if you could supply the info in the format requested as it contains all information and will show up any typos and anomalies that are stored and to which account number. Just because you have an smtp server, it does not mean you are using it, hence why I asked for you to supply info in a specific way.

But First make a few changes to smtp servers as the info you did supply has several irregularities and then post the info as requested above without editing.

I would also suggest you edit the last comment you made and remove all of those Usernames as this is a public forum.

re: Could this be a Google mail error? No - more likely errors due to wrong smtp server settings and you not using the correct one.

I notice that the outgoing server (SMTP) 'Description' field does not state clearly any difference between certain smtp servers so making it more likely that you might have selected the wrong one. so edit the Description field for each smtp server.

Also, edit the 'UserName' fields this is usually the full email address for comcast and gmail Some other settings are not using the recommended ones as shown on their comcast website.

Suggest: In Account Settings > Outgoing server (SMTP) select each smtp server in turn and click on 'Edit' button In the 'Description' field type something more meaningful to help with identification. example:

  • Description: Comcast dwb
  • Server Name: smtp.comcast.net
  • Port: 587
  • User Name: full email address
  • Connection Security: STARTTLS
  • then click on OK

suggestion for the first gmail -

  • Description: gmail - garcodems
  • Server Name: smtp.gmail.com
  • Port: 587
  • User Name: enter full email address
  • Authentication Method: Normal Password
  • Connection Security: STARTTLS
  • click on OK
  • Description: dwan gmail
  • Server Name: smtp.gmail.com
  • Port: 587
  • User Name: Enter full email address
  • Authentication Method: Normal Password
  • Connection Security: STARTTLS
  • click on OK

suggestion for this particular gmail one - modify the Description field - check there is no typo on the server name as you have: sptp.gmail.com and it should say smtp.gmail.com

  • Description: Google Mail -bark
  • Server Name: smtp.gmail.com
  • Port: 465
  • User Name: full email address was already entered
  • Authentication Method: OAuth2
  • Connection Security: SSL/TLS
  • click on OK

Continue altering info as above. Enter proper description Enter full email address for UserName. gmail smtp is now using authentication OAuth2, so if some of those conections fail to work, we can alter them later on.

Then make sure each mail acount is actually using the correct smtp server - it should be much easier because you have modified the 'Description field. Start with the one at the top and work down through each mail account correcting the smtp server it uses.

Select the mail account name in the left pane. On the right side at the bottom it will say 'Outgoing server (SMTP) and it allows you to select the appropriate server.

When all the mail accounts are actually using their own smtp server click on OK to save and close the Account Settings window.

I have included a couple of images to help. as I only have one 'Google Mail' account - I left the 'Description as 'Google Mail', but if I had more then I would alter the 'Description' to be more useful eg: 'Personal Gmail' for my personal email address as opposed to my Business Gmail for business gmail address. then when I need to select a specific smtp server for a mail account, I can tell from the Description which one I have selected to use.

When all is done, post the original info I requested.

Modified by Toad-Hall

more options

Thanks very much for your informative response. I have a very busy schedule today (for an old retired guy) and will not be able to follow up on your suggestions until late tonight or, more likely, tomorrow. I will have some questions on finding some of the info you ask for and will frame my questions with as much specificity as I can summon.

Thanks again.

more options

Posted below the line is the info (I hope) that you requested. A couple of anomalies popped up - the two Comcast accounts had different port numbers , I changed the one that was the same of several gmail accounts to agree with the other Comcast account. Two of the gmail accounts had the same user name but different port numbers.

If you need any more information , let me know and I will try to furnish it,

Thanks very much for you help. ___

   Name: Thunderbird
   Version: 38.5.1
   User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:38.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/38.5.1
   Profile Folder: Show Folder
             (Local drive)
   Application Build ID: 20151228123010
   Enabled Plugins: about:plugins
   Build Configuration: about:buildconfig
   Memory Use: about:memory
 Mail and News Accounts
   account1:
     INCOMING: account1, , (none) Local Folders, plain, passwordCleartext
   account2:
     INCOMING: account2, , (pop3) mail.comcast.net:110, plain, passwordCleartext
     OUTGOING: smtp.comcast.net:465, SSL, passwordCleartext, true
   account3:
     INCOMING: account3, , (pop3) mail.comcast.net:110, plain, passwordCleartext
     OUTGOING: smtp.comcast.net:465, SSL, passwordCleartext, true
   account4:
     INCOMING: account4, , (pop3) mail.comcast.net:110, plain, passwordCleartext
     OUTGOING: smtp.comcast.net:465, SSL, passwordCleartext, true
   account5:
     INCOMING: account5, , (pop3) pop.gmail.com:995, SSL, passwordCleartext
     OUTGOING: smtp.gmail.com:587, alwaysSTARTTLS, passwordCleartext, true
   account6:
     INCOMING: account6, , (pop3) pop.gmail.com:995, SSL, passwordCleartext
     OUTGOING: smtp.gmail.com:587, alwaysSTARTTLS, passwordCleartext, true
   account10:
     INCOMING: account10, , (pop3) pop.gmail.com:995, SSL, passwordCleartext
     OUTGOING: smtp.gmail.com:587, alwaysSTARTTLS, passwordCleartext, true
   account11:
     INCOMING: account11, , (pop3) pop.gmail.com:995, SSL, passwordCleartext
     OUTGOING: smtp.gmail.com:587, alwaysSTARTTLS, passwordCleartext, true
 Crash Reports
   http://crash-stats.mozilla.com/report/index/bp-b71fc4d1-61c9-45d4-8322-5ce622141002 (10/1/2014)
   http://crash-stats.mozilla.com/report/index/bp-8b6c670b-88de-44e0-9395-9368f2131212 (12/12/2013)
 Extensions
   Lightning, 4.0.5.1, true, {e2fda1a4-762b-4020-b5ad-a41df1933103}
   Manually sort folders, 1.1, true, tbsortfolders@xulforum.org
   Use Bcc Instead, 3.4.1, true, {cc138c46-ac77-4397-afc0-6cb6a13b7242}
   Extra Folder Columns, 1.1.5, false, extra-cols@jminta_gmail.com
 Important Modified Preferences
   Name: Value
     accessibility.typeaheadfind.flashBar: 0
     browser.cache.disk.capacity: 358400
     browser.cache.disk.smart_size_cached_value: 358400
     browser.cache.disk.smart_size.first_run: false
     browser.cache.disk.smart_size.use_old_max: false
     browser.display.foreground_color: #330000
     browser.display.use_document_fonts: 0
     extensions.lastAppVersion: 38.5.1
     font.internaluseonly.changed: true
     font.minimum-size.x-western: 12
     font.name.monospace.el: Consolas
     font.name.monospace.tr: Consolas
     font.name.monospace.x-baltic: Consolas
     font.name.monospace.x-central-euro: Consolas
     font.name.monospace.x-cyrillic: Consolas
     font.name.monospace.x-unicode: Consolas
     font.name.monospace.x-western: Times New Roman
     font.name.sans-serif.el: Calibri
     font.name.sans-serif.tr: Calibri
     font.name.sans-serif.x-baltic: Calibri
     font.name.sans-serif.x-central-euro: Calibri
     font.name.sans-serif.x-cyrillic: Calibri
     font.name.sans-serif.x-unicode: Calibri
     font.name.sans-serif.x-western: Times New Roman
     font.name.serif.el: Cambria
     font.name.serif.tr: Cambria
     font.name.serif.x-baltic: Cambria
     font.name.serif.x-central-euro: Cambria
     font.name.serif.x-cyrillic: Cambria
     font.name.serif.x-unicode: Cambria
     font.name.serif.x-western: Cambria
     font.size.fixed.el: 14
     font.size.fixed.tr: 14
     font.size.fixed.x-baltic: 14
     font.size.fixed.x-central-euro: 14
     font.size.fixed.x-cyrillic: 14
     font.size.fixed.x-unicode: 14
     font.size.fixed.x-western: 12
     font.size.variable.el: 17
     font.size.variable.tr: 17
     font.size.variable.x-baltic: 17
     font.size.variable.x-central-euro: 17
     font.size.variable.x-cyrillic: 17
     font.size.variable.x-unicode: 17
     font.size.variable.x-western: 12
     gfx.blacklist.direct2d: 4
     gfx.blacklist.layers.direct3d9: 4
     mail.openMessageBehavior.version: 1
     mail.winsearch.firstRunDone: true
     mailnews.database.global.datastore.id: c81efd33-cc8a-490c-96d8-66089bdabad
     mailnews.database.global.views.conversation.columns: {"threadCol":{"visible":true,"ordinal":"1"},"flaggedCol":{"visible":true,"ordinal":"21"},"attachmentCol":{"visible":fals…
     mailnews.database.global.views.global.columns: {"threadCol":{"visible":true,"ordinal":"1"},"flaggedCol":{"visible":true,"ordinal":"21"},"attachmentCol":{"visible":fals…
     network.cookie.cookieBehavior: 2
     network.cookie.prefsMigrated: true
     network.predictor.cleaned-up: true
     places.database.lastMaintenance: 1453798051
     places.history.expiration.transient_current_max_pages: 96641
     plugin.importedState: true
     plugin.state.flash: 0
     plugin.state.np32dsw: 0
     plugin.state.npauthz: 0
     plugin.state.npctrl: 0
     plugin.state.npdeployjava: 0
     plugin.state.npdgnria: 0
     plugin.state.npfoxitreaderplugin: 0
     plugin.state.npgarmin: 0
     plugin.state.npgoogleupdate: 0
     plugin.state.npitunes: 0
     plugin.state.nppdf: 0
     plugin.state.npqtplugin: 0
     plugin.state.npspwrap: 0
     plugin.state.npwatweb: 0
     plugin.state.npwlpg: 0
     print.print_printer: hp photosmart 1215 series
     print.printer_HP_Color_LaserJet_2600n_(Copy_2).print_bgcolor: false
     print.printer_HP_Color_LaserJet_2600n_(Copy_2).print_bgimages: false
     print.printer_HP_Color_LaserJet_2600n_(Copy_2).print_colorspace:
     print.printer_HP_Color_LaserJet_2600n_(Copy_2).print_command:
     print.printer_HP_Color_LaserJet_2600n_(Copy_2).print_downloadfonts: false
     print.printer_HP_Color_LaserJet_2600n_(Copy_2).print_duplex: 0
     print.printer_HP_Color_LaserJet_2600n_(Copy_2).print_edge_bottom: 0
     print.printer_HP_Color_LaserJet_2600n_(Copy_2).print_edge_left: 0
     print.printer_HP_Color_LaserJet_2600n_(Copy_2).print_edge_right: 0
     print.printer_HP_Color_LaserJet_2600n_(Copy_2).print_edge_top: 0
     print.printer_HP_Color_LaserJet_2600n_(Copy_2).print_evenpages: true
     print.printer_HP_Color_LaserJet_2600n_(Copy_2).print_footercenter:
     print.printer_HP_Color_LaserJet_2600n_(Copy_2).print_footerleft: &PT
     print.printer_HP_Color_LaserJet_2600n_(Copy_2).print_footerright: &D
     print.printer_HP_Color_LaserJet_2600n_(Copy_2).print_headercenter:
     print.printer_HP_Color_LaserJet_2600n_(Copy_2).print_headerleft: &T
     print.printer_HP_Color_LaserJet_2600n_(Copy_2).print_headerright: &U
     print.printer_HP_Color_LaserJet_2600n_(Copy_2).print_in_color: true
     print.printer_HP_Color_LaserJet_2600n_(Copy_2).print_margin_bottom: 0.5
     print.printer_HP_Color_LaserJet_2600n_(Copy_2).print_margin_left: 0.5
     print.printer_HP_Color_LaserJet_2600n_(Copy_2).print_margin_right: 0.5
     print.printer_HP_Color_LaserJet_2600n_(Copy_2).print_margin_top: 0.5
     print.printer_HP_Color_LaserJet_2600n_(Copy_2).print_oddpages: true
     print.printer_HP_Color_LaserJet_2600n_(Copy_2).print_orientation: 1
     print.printer_HP_Color_LaserJet_2600n_(Copy_2).print_page_delay: 50
     print.printer_HP_Color_LaserJet_2600n_(Copy_2).print_paper_data: 1
     print.printer_HP_Color_LaserJet_2600n_(Copy_2).print_paper_height: 11.00
     print.printer_HP_Color_LaserJet_2600n_(Copy_2).print_paper_name:
     print.printer_HP_Color_LaserJet_2600n_(Copy_2).print_paper_size_type: 0
     print.printer_HP_Color_LaserJet_2600n_(Copy_2).print_paper_size_unit: 0
     print.printer_HP_Color_LaserJet_2600n_(Copy_2).print_paper_width: 8.50
     print.printer_HP_Color_LaserJet_2600n_(Copy_2).print_plex_name:
     print.printer_HP_Color_LaserJet_2600n_(Copy_2).print_resolution: 0
     print.printer_HP_Color_LaserJet_2600n_(Copy_2).print_resolution_name:
     print.printer_HP_Color_LaserJet_2600n_(Copy_2).print_reversed: false
     print.printer_HP_Color_LaserJet_2600n_(Copy_2).print_scaling: 0.70
     print.printer_HP_Color_LaserJet_2600n_(Copy_2).print_shrink_to_fit: false
     print.printer_HP_Color_LaserJet_2600n_(Copy_2).print_to_file: false
     print.printer_HP_Color_LaserJet_2600n_(Copy_2).print_unwriteable_margin_bottom: 0
     print.printer_HP_Color_LaserJet_2600n_(Copy_2).print_unwriteable_margin_left: 0
     print.printer_HP_Color_LaserJet_2600n_(Copy_2).print_unwriteable_margin_right: 0
     print.printer_HP_Color_LaserJet_2600n_(Copy_2).print_unwriteable_margin_top: 0
     print.printer_HP_Color_LaserJet_2600n.print_bgcolor: false
     print.printer_HP_Color_LaserJet_2600n.print_bgimages: false
     print.printer_HP_Color_LaserJet_2600n.print_colorspace:
     print.printer_HP_Color_LaserJet_2600n.print_command:
     print.printer_HP_Color_LaserJet_2600n.print_downloadfonts: false
     print.printer_HP_Color_LaserJet_2600n.print_duplex: 0
     print.printer_HP_Color_LaserJet_2600n.print_edge_bottom: 0
     print.printer_HP_Color_LaserJet_2600n.print_edge_left: 0
     print.printer_HP_Color_LaserJet_2600n.print_edge_right: 0
     print.printer_HP_Color_LaserJet_2600n.print_edge_top: 0
     print.printer_HP_Color_LaserJet_2600n.print_evenpages: true
     print.printer
more options

Chosen Solution

With all your help, a dollop of serendipity, and a cleansing of conflicting passwords I think my problems are solved. If my optimism proves to be unwarranted, I'll be back with another question.

Thanks for your contributions.


[Todd-Hall: I was unable to get your images into a readable format.]