So, I've read the topics on identities and the manual and I disagree with the experts on the topics and I don't think the subject is 100% clear in the manual. Nor is it very clear in the subjects I read here. Of course, this is all after I had identities working and THEN screwed it up by trying to go more granular.

I have five domains on one user and all of the domains have multiple alias but two have nine each. I don't understand the concept of a multi-user account based on what I have read and I don't want to sign in and out of separate single accounts to check my mail for these five domains. But that's all after.

So, I tried to make it granular by creating separate identities for each alias. Works a charm for incoming e-mail but it stopped my outgoing e-mail dead in the water.

so we have soandso@domain.com as the identity but I get the following error:

SMTP Network or Protocol Error sending mail

Hostname: smtp.mye-mailprovider.com
Name of SMTP profile: domain-admin rather than domain-soandso

Note: It's either picking up the correct domain or the wrong domain but it's always picking up the admin account.

Description of error: Handshake error: the server has either shut down the connection unexpectedly, or has returned a response Pegasus Mail cannot recognize

Then in the trace we get:
tds.772 -- 27 May 2023 16:22:42.772 ---
tds.775 Connect to 'smtp.mye-mailprovider.com', timeout 90 seconds.
tds.129:>>

I'm going to do some checking on my e-mail host's end to see if I've somehow forgotten how I've configured my SMTP (because I've long since deleted everything and redone everything several times over and still can't get it to work correctly) but I was hoping someone here could help me out of this mess and either explain to me how to set up multi-user mode so I don't have to mess with identities or how to clean up pegasus so I won't be in this mess anymore. After reviewing all the files that have been created, I've never seen my Pegasus in such a state and I've been on Pegasus since '97.

Broad overview:
Multi-user:

• Good for keeping mail from different email accounts in separate mailboxes.
• Good for multiple individuals to share the same installation of Pegasus Mail (eg: family members using the same PC, individuals using a shared installation of Pegasus Mail on a LAN)

Indentities:

• Good for keeping email from multiple email accounts in one mailbox
• Allows you to appear to be a different individual when sending mail (eg: JohnDoe_at_gmail.com, BillyBob_at_yahoo.com, JamesBond_at_HerMajesty.com)

Based on your post, Identities sound appropriate for what you need. Some important things to be aware of with Identities are:

• Most Pegasus Mail configuration settings are Identity specific. When you create an Identity you can base it on an existing Identity. The value of this is that it gives you most of the configuration settings that you want, but rarely all, otherwise you would not need an additional Identity. This means that you must review the configuration settings of each Identity (different Personal Name?, different Copy to Self folder?, different signature?, etc.)
• Internet options are Identity specific. If you are creating Identities for different email accounts then the Internet options for each Identity will be different. Obviously each different email account will require its own host files (SMTP, POP3 and/or IMAP).

When troubleshooting connection issues, enable Internet session logging. That setting is at the bottom of the General tab in Internet options. The log files are written to a TCPLogs directory in the Home mailbox directory. They are plain text files. They contain authentication credentials, sometimes encoded but in easily decoded base64 so don't post entire log content.

Each time you create an POP3 or SMTP host, its setting are stored in a file that is available to all Identities so as you create them you must be cognizant of the name you assign to each one so as to easily identify the Identity it should be enabled for. It is possible for the same SMTP host to be used for all accounts on that domain however I prefer to authenticate to the SMTP server with the credentials specific to the email account you are sending as.

All of that said, I believe you are on the right track in obtaining the current SMTP configuration setting for your email host.

I hope this is a reply to you, Brian. I simply cannot tell from this preview screen.

I'm nowhere near an answer some days later. I've tried uninstalling Pegasus (4.80) and copying in a version where I ripped out what I'd hoped to be a copy where there were no identities left - it mucked up my folder structure (big into organization) and I lost what few users I have. I can either create them but I can't access them or I can see them but I can't access them. (for all scenarios tested). Then I tried copying in just the backup copy onto the fresh install, same thing -- mucked up folders and no users. I think I have a better understanding of why that came about but none of it got me anywhere closer to being able to send outgoing e-mail.

What I ended up doing was just copying my original backup back into the directory it came from and all was back to it's identity mess non-sending e-mail self. I definitely don't want to do multi-users; I just want to get my identities back to the state where I had them where they were sending and receiving to/from all five of my domains (and their corresponding 'mailboxes', and filtering to my directories properly.

This started because I tried to make the identities from something like (and of course I broke the golden rule and didn't grab a screenshot) five + default identities to one identity for every single mailbox for each mailbox on each domain. That was not a good thing to try. Undoing that and trying to remember (my short term memory and even longer term sucks pretty bad) what I used to have is nigh on impossible.

I'm going to go looking for screenshots now...

I'd really appreciate any help you could provide. I can see from your other posts that you've untangled many such puzzles for folks. Perhaps not so ugly as this one...

Ruins

If I understand your original post you have 5 domains, each with multiple aliases but two with 9 aliases. That means you have at least 24 aliases. In attempting to be more 'granular' it sounds like you tried to create an Identity for each alias. That is doable, but is a lot of Identities to manage and will be a challenge to configure the options for checking multiple identities in each one. If one identity per alias is your goal then I suggest getting one identity working for your most used alias and then working through each Identity to resolve its problems. Don't hesitate to delete and recreate any that seem beyond hope. Maybe you delete them all and start from scratch. A clean slate can sometimes be the best place to start.

To provide context into where my brain is at...

I run Pegasus Mail as two users, one for my personal stuff and the other for my Pegasus Mail support stuff.

The Personal user services two domains with one alias each. It has two Identities, one for each alias.

The Support user services five domains with one alias each but it has twelve Identities. Several Identities exist for convenience when posting to different mailings list or replying to mailing list posts. A couple are test Identities.

I run both users simultaneously which means that I always have two instances of Pegasus Mail running. In my case, I have two separate installations of Pegasus Mail but that is not necessary or advisable.

So if I'm understanding you correctly I could have:

1@domain1.com
2@domain1.com
3@domain1.com
etc (up to 9)
1@domain2.com
2@domain2.com
1@domain3.com
2@domain3.com
1@domain4.com
2@domain4.com
3@domain4.com
etc (up to 9)
1@domain5.com
2@domain5.com

and this should be workable as unique identities.

What would default look like or does it really matter?

I did find out from my mail host that my port for smtp needed to be different. Since I didn't follow the golden rule (when in doubt, copy it out - or take screenshots) before trying all of this, what screenshots and copies I had weren't helpful since they seem to be after the fact.

I had so much going on technology wise that I made impulsive decisions rather than calm, reasoned ones. I thought I was doing things to make things better when all I was doing was adding to my computer woes and I had computer woes everywhere I looked.

I'm going to try adding one identity at a time and see if I can't keep it stable. But I think I will wait a week or so for things to really calm down. I still have some things to get fixed on my work computer and I don't want to start from a place of chaos.

I appreciate your posts. They really helped clarify things for me.

Yes, depending on your definition of "workable". It will definitely be a handful to get working effectively and to manage.

It really doesn't matter however I think having one that works is important.

My thinking is that you start off by creating the Default Identity so that it works for the alias and domain that you use most often. Then, as you create the other Identities for that domain, you can base them on Default. That will make those Identities fairly easy to setup. Then you create a working Identity for the next domain and do similar, rinse, repeat.

Be sure that you pay attention to the "Polling controls" and "Checking multiple identities" sections of Internet Options for each Identity as you create it. Some forethought about this could be valuable.

One other thing you might want to do.
I just use my local ISP identity and my gmail identity.
Have the ISP Identity selected to download all mail, so it checks both my ISP and gmail.
That works fine for almost everything, but I have a couple mailing lists that for some reason will not accept mail from my ISP email account (perhaps non-continental US IP). So I've had to register with the gmail account. Find if replying with the ISP account messages are rejected, and have to resent making sure to select the gmail identity.

Best solution I've found. Already have the message from list get filtered into a special folder, so set default identity to that folder, so any replies will automatically use the gmail identity. Still have to select identity if sending a new message to that list.

So depending on how you use lists, might be helpful. These lists are generally info incoming only, and occassionally will reply. Rarely send new messages, and since they get rejected, it is just a matter of resending, and making sure to select identity under special options.