Outlook: How to change “from” address

Outlook serves as the desktop mailing service provided within Microsoft’s office suite. While you may primarily use this service for mailing from a single email, the service offers support for mailing from a different email address (provided you have access to said address). This is ideal for those who manage multiple accounts, or managers who may need to send mail via 2 or more addresses; potentially a colleague’s or shared staff address.

Follow the steps below to change the “from” email address when sending an email in the Outlook desktop application:

Brief instructions

  1. Select “Home” -> “new email”
  2. Compose your email
  3. Select “Options” -> “…”
  4. Select “From” under “Show fields”
  5. Enter alternate address
  6. Send email

We’re going to walk through this step-by-step accompanied with screenshots, so please feel free to follow along. I’ll also explain why emails with an alternate address may be undeliverable, adding multiple accounts to Outlook and the purpose of changing your “from” address.

Quick links:

How to change “From” email address when sending an email in Outlook

Below, I’m going to walk through how you can change the “from” email address on the fly when you are sending an email in Outlook. 

Step 1 – Select “home”, followed by “new email” 

  • The home button will be located atop the window on the navigation bar.

Step 2 – Compose your email

  • To proceed further, it is important you fill all required fields. Failure to do so will make it impossible to send your email.

Step 3 – Select the “From” dropdown and select the email you wish to send from

  • The “from” option will be displayed underneath the “Show fields” category of the dropdown- after selecting it an additional composition field will appear. You will use this to select your desired “from” address. This can be done by manual entering the address, or selecting it from the field’s dropdown.

Step 4 – Send your email to it’s recipient

  • You may now send your email. To ensure it worked successfully, check for any new emails. In the event an error occurs, you may receive an email informing you your email could not be delivered. Without this however, it is safe to assume your email was delivered successfully.

Sending from an alternate address is a simple process possible on both the desktop and browser variants of Outlook. Doing so only requires access to both your primary email address, which you would normally use, and an alternate address from which you wish to send your email with. Provided you have both, you need only compose your email, locate the options tab (on desktop) and select the “…” button to access the additional options. From here, on desktop you will need to select the “From” option listed under the “Show fields” portion of the menu, or “Show From” if you’re on the browser version of Outlook. After doing so, an additional field will be made accessible via the composition field titled “From.” Using this field will create a dropdown menu from which you may select your desired address.

Why is my email with a different address undeliverable?

While you may now be able to cycle your address to and from various email addresses you may find you can not deliver emails with your alternate address. This is most likely the result of using an address you do not have access to. To resolve this issue, you will need to add your alternate email address to your instance of Outlook. Below we will go over how to do this via the desktop installation of Outlook.

Add more than one address to Outlook (desktop)

Step 1 – Open Outlook and select “File.”

  • This will open up a new menu, from which you may access various account settings.

Step 2 – Select “Add Account”

  • After clicking the “Add Account” button a new window will appear, requesting you log in to your alternate account. Ensure you have the account’s email and password at hand.

Step 3 – Restart Outlook

  • Outlook will not acknowledge your changes until you restart it. To do so, click the “X” located in the top right corner of the window and proceed to re-open Outlook after it closes.

Purpose of changing “from” address when composing emails

Now you’re able to alter your “from” address you may wonder under which circumstances you may need/wish to do so. In the workplace in particular this is a useful feature for employees who use both a personal and work address. As such, the feature makes managing outbound mail between both accounts significantly easier and faster. A good example of this in practice could be the last time you were working from home and inadvertently sent your manager a report from your personal email, causing justified confusion. To avoid this you could have added and switched to your other address- however, this could become tedious if you must do so frequently. Hence, you would instead utilise the “From” functionality to save time and effort.

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Jack Mitchell

Jack Mitchell has been the Operations manager at telecoms and MSP Optionbox for more than 4 years. He has played a crucial role in the company, from marketing to helpdesk, and ensures that the IT requirements of over 300 clients are continuously met. With his innate passion for technology and troubleshooting and a particular interest in Apple products, Jack now delivers the most comprehensive tech guides to make your life easier. You can connect with Jack on LinkedIn.

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