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Tech Tip

Picking a Default Account in Mac Mail

Q. I have multiple accounts set up in the Mac’s default Mail program. I notice sometimes when I create a message, Mail automatically sets the sender address to the account I use for personal correspondence and not my preferred home-business account. How can I specify that my business account should be the default sender address?

A. You can manually switch accounts on a new Mail message by selecting an address from the drop-down menu in the Sender field, but if you have a preferred address, you can designate it as your default outgoing address for new messages. To do so, open the program and, under the Mail menu in the top-left corner, choose Preferences. (If you are already in the Mail program, press the Command and comma keys to open the app’s Preferences box.)

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In the Mail preferences box, use the drop-down menu to select the default account for sending new messages.Credit...The New York Times

In the Mail Preferences box, click the Composing tab and go to the Addressing section in the middle of the box. In the “Send new messages from” setting, click the drop-down menu and select your preferred account, then close the Preferences box. The messages you create from this point should have your chosen address set in the sender.

Personal Tech invites questions about computer-based technology to techtip@nytimes.com. This column will answer questions of general interest, but letters cannot be answered individually.

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section B, Page 6 of the New York edition with the headline: Choosing a Default Account in Mac Mail. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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