Default Account and Signature Selection

[kwalinskas]

I use Outlook 2010 with several accounts, some IMAP and some POP. I have a different signature assigned to each and dowloaded a patch from this forum a few months ago that forces me to pick the account from a dropdown before sending. Works great except for one thing. Sometimes, rarely, I will select an account prior to send and the signature associated with that account as default will NOT change. The first signature that comes up when I send the email (just by clicking the compose button) stays, even though the account changes and the from email address changes correctly.

This has created several embarrassing moments where I am STILL sending an email to my boss that shows my own legacy company signature. I usually catch this if it is just a few lines, but if it is a long message that pushes the signature below the fold, I miss it.

My question:

Is there a way to set up Outlook so that when I compose an email, that NO signature shows up at all UNTIL I pick the account? This would solve the issue in my mind and not have to rely on the script changing the default email account (a POP).

The other possible fix is to be able to change the default email account.

Ideas?

 

[Diane Poremsky]

No, that i not possible - well, maybe if you use a blank sig. I'll have to test your scenario, but if every account has a signature assigned, it should change correctly. (use a signature called blank for the accounts that don't need a sig - i put -- in my blank sig so i can see where it begins.)

 

[kwalinskas]

No, that i not possible - well, maybe if you use a blank sig. I'll have to test your scenario, but if every account has a signature assigned, it should change correctly. (use a signature called blank for the accounts that don't need a sig - i put -- in my blank sig so i can see where it begins.)

Diane:

I kid you not. I have one POP account. It is NOT set as my default account. The rest are IMAPs. When I hit the "new email" button to create a new email, it always defaults to the POP account default signature. Then the script gives me a drop down to select the account, and when I do, it will "magically" change the signature, as it should. EXCEPT some times it doesn't. What I have seen is, when I am in a hurry and just start typing, if I get a lot of text/content into the email BEFORE I make that account selection, and then try to send, it stops me and tells me I have to pick an account. I do, BUT SOMETIMES in that scenario, it is like the POP signature is frozen and stays in. If I miss it, I end up accidentally doing things like sending my boss an email with my private consulting company on it, and it pisses him off.

The goofy part is, I would figure that when I hit the "new email" button, it would default to the signature I have in my account settings for the default email account, an IMAP. It does not, it always chooses the POP account signature, which also may be older than the other accounts, so I am not certain if it is seniority or POP that causes this to be the default signature displayed on ANY new email (until I change it).

If it HAS to display a signature on every new email, I cannot seem to control what it defaults to. Ideas?

 

[Diane Poremsky]

do you have office 2010 sp1 installed? It addresses the default account problem in outlook 2010. you may need to set the registry key to make it work as you need it to. http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/2010/multiple-accounts-and-the-default-account/

 

[kwalinskas]

do you have office 2010 sp1 installed? It addresses the default account problem in outlook 2010. you may need to set the registry key to make it work as you need it to. http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/2010/multiple-accounts-and-the-default-account/

Diane:

Thanks for the reference. Well, I already have the thing that makes you choose the account before sending. It always makes me choose but as discussed does not always change the signature. It appears what I need is this one to change the default account:

[h=2]Changes in Outlook 2010 SP1[/h]Update: Outlook 2010 SP1 addresses issues with multiple accounts in a profile and IMAP is set as the default account.

It addresses this problem: When you have multiple accounts and an IMAP account in Outlook 2010 and you change the default sending account to the IMAP account, you may experience the following issues:

• When you click a mailto link from a browser or from Outlook, the default sending account is the Exchange Server account instead of the IMAP account.
  
• When you create a new email message, the Exchange Server account is selected instead of the IMAP account.
  

Out of the box, the update uses the default account for Send to commands but not for new messages created while viewing the default pst file (when a POP account is assigned to the default pst file), unless you set a registry value to always force the use of the default account.

To force all new messages to use the default account, browse to the following registry subkey:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Outlook\Options\Mail
Create a new DWORD value named NewItemsUseDefaultSendingAccount
Value: 1

If you prefer not to edit the registry yourself, we have a registry file ready to run: NewItemsUseDefaultSendingAccount

When I click on this link for the registry file just above it opens a text file. I am not sure how to use that. Can you enlighten me?

 

[Forum Admin]

Are you using Firefox? Right click on the link and choose Save Link As - Firefox is trying to protect you from yourself. (Not that saving it first then double clicking to run is a bad idea, but at least with IE, you have the choice to save or run.) Other browsers (like Chrome) may behave the same way as FF.