Thunderbird for Mac: Adding ECN SMTP as Outbound Server

In a situation where your regular @purdue.edu email is being rejected, using ECN's SMTP server with a secondary(backup) identity can potentially be used as a workaround/backup.

For example, ECN's SMTP server may work as a temporary solution if you receive a message such as the following:

-------- Original Message --------

Since you use smtp.purdue.edu by default, ECN's SMTP servers should only be used on an as-needed basis for this purpose.

It is also important to note that when your password changes, you will have to edit the account information for ECN's SMTP server on EVERY computer/identity that uses ECN's SMTP server as a backup.

To set up ECN's SMTP as an outbound server in Thunderbird for Mac, do the following:

With Thunderbird as the active window, go to "Tools" and select "Account Settings"

On the left-hand side of the menu, find "Outgoing Server (SMTP)" and click "Add..."

Fill out the following information:

• Description: smtp.ecn.purdue.edu

• Server Name: smtp.ecn.purdue.edu

• Port: 465

• Connection Security: SSL/TLS

• Authentication Method: Normal Password 

• User Name: Your Purdue Career Account Username

Select "OK"

On the left-hand side of the menu, select youraccount@purdue.edu. 

In the lower right-hand corner of the screen, click "Manage Identities..."

On the right-hand side click "Add..."

Fill out the following information:

• Your Name: This name MUST be different from the name of your default identity. We suggest using "Your Name ECN SMTP."

• Email Address: youremailaddress@purdue.edu

At the bottom of the menu, open the drop down menu labeled "Outgoing Server (SMTP)" and select "smtp.ecn.purdue.edu"

Click "OK"

Check that there are two identities for your account and click "Close"

Click "OK" to close the account settings menu

In the event that an email is rejected, you should now be able to send the email again using the backup identity which uses ECN's SMTP server. To do this, expand the drop-down menu in the "From" field and select the backup identity before sending.

This can also be used to send email to addresses which have had mail rejected in the past.

This setting will reset to the default identity when a new email is composed so you should only have to change this when you encounter an issue such as a blocked email.