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Thunderbird replies to groups.io posts from the wrong email account

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I have four email accounts set up in Thunderbird, one of which is used to subscribe to several groups.io mailing lists. If I try to reply to a groups.io post, Thunderbird appears to choose the first email account in my account list as sender, rather than the email address that groups.io sent the email to. As this address is not subscribed, I then get a failure message from groups.io and have to re-send.

Why does Thunderbird not reply to the address the email is sent to?

Can I reorder the accounts list so Thunderbird defaults to choosing the correct account?

I have four email accounts set up in Thunderbird, one of which is used to subscribe to several groups.io mailing lists. If I try to reply to a groups.io post, Thunderbird appears to choose the first email account in my account list as sender, rather than the email address that groups.io sent the email to. As this address is not subscribed, I then get a failure message from groups.io and have to re-send. Why does Thunderbird not reply to the address the email is sent to? Can I reorder the accounts list so Thunderbird defaults to choosing the correct account?

All Replies (6)

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Tools/Account Settings, select an account in the left pane, then look at Outgoing Server (SMTP) in the right pane. Each selected account should be sending on an smtp with a matching User Name. Click Edit SMTP server... to see the smtp User Name. Add smtp servers if necessary in Outgoing Server (SMTP) at the bottom left of Account Settings, and check that all accounts send on the correct smtp.

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Thanks, the accounts all look OK in terms of SMTP settings. I also set the relevant account to be the default account in the Outgoing Server (SMTP) settings in the last item in the Account Settings menu , but when I reply to a groups.io posting it still defaults to sending from my primary email address instead.

Is it worth me posting an example message header to help diagnose this?

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When you are 'replying to a groups.io posting' is that by clicking a link on a webpage or replying to a message received in TB? Maybe you should post the account information: Help/Troubleshooting, Copy text to clipboard, paste in a reply here, omit everything except the Mail and News Accounts section. Indicate which account receives mail from groups.io.

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The replies are by replying to a message received in TB, not from web links.

Here is the Troubleshooting info:

 Mail and News Accounts
   account1:
     INCOMING: account1, , (pop3) pop.googlemail.com:995, SSL, passwordCleartext
     OUTGOING: , smtp.googlemail.com:465, SSL, passwordCleartext, true
   account2:
     INCOMING: account2, , (none) Local Folders, plain, passwordCleartext
   account3:
     INCOMING: account3, , (pop3) mail.btinternet.com:110, plain, passwordCleartext
     OUTGOING: , mail.btinternet.com:25, plain, passwordCleartext, true
   account4:
     INCOMING: account4, , (pop3) mail.btinternet.com:110, plain, passwordCleartext
     OUTGOING: , mail.btinternet.com:25, plain, passwordCleartext, true
   account5:
     INCOMING: account5, , (nntp) news.btopenworld.com:119, plain, passwordCleartext
     OUTGOING: , mail.btinternet.com:25, plain, passwordCleartext, true
   account6:
     INCOMING: account6, , (pop3) mail.btinternet.com:110, plain, passwordCleartext
     OUTGOING: , mail.btinternet.com:587, plain, passwordCleartext, true

It is not clear from this information which account is which - is the mapping to account numbers from email addresses held somewhere else? They are clearly not in the order they appear in Account Settings, where the googlemail account is fourth in the list rather than first, and local folders appears as the fifth item.

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Just found the tick box at the top of the troubleshooting info. Account 4 is the one where messages are addressed to and should be replied from. Account 3 appears as the default at the top of the sending email address options when replying to groups.io posts.

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Account 3,4 and 6 are BT POP accounts. You should have 3 BT smtp servers, all with the same settings except distinct User Names, and each incoming BT account should be set to send on the corresponding smtp with the same User Name, as explained in my first reply.

Perhaps part of the problem is incorrect settings for the accounts. For BT POP, use mail.btinternet.com on port 995 for the incoming and port 465 for the smtp; SSL/TLS security, authentication = normal password, User Name = email address.

https://www.bt.com/help/email/manage-email-account/manual-settings/what-are-the-settings-for-outgoing-and-incoming-bt-email-servers

The gmail account should use pop.gmail.com on 995 and smtp.gmail.com on 465; SSL/TLS, OAuth2 authentication, User Name = email address.