BUG: Reply-To is broken

Hi silverlightbill,
I will ask the product team about this.

I'm trying to repro this - but my tests all go through. I tried to repro it when i first saw someone complain and couldn't so i didn't ask support about it. I went ahead and forwarded your post to support before trying to repro again - but they will likely need to be able to repro it.

My steps are:
Open message, click options, enter a routable address - in my tests, i tried a real address on another server, added +test to my real address (diane+test@), and made up an address in my business account. I tested with both outlok.com and office 365 business accounts. All went though.

FWIW, Replies to the +test in my office 365 business account bounced because office 365 does not support using + addresses but worked with my outlook.com account. 


(PS... the recipient of your mail will have both your From and reply to address, so it's not really a good spam prevention technique).

Diane, thanks for noticing my post.  The steps to reproduce: In the account properties, set the Reply-To field to an alias email address, and save. Then, just send an email from that account. I didn't know that the Options existed until you referenced it in your post. So, I tried that technique, and my test email was rejected just as if I had used the alias email in the Reply-To field in the account properties.

Just to clarify, the problem is not that replies to the alias email address bounce -- that wouldn't be an Outlook issue -- but rather that when the email with the Reply-To is sent, it is immediately rejected.  Not by Outlook, but by the System Administrator. This "feels like" Outlook is using the Reply-To to replace the From address. If I tried sending an email using the alias as the From address (although I'm not sure how to do that), this is the result I'd expect.

As for the spam prevention, I named the account with the alias email address, so I was hoping that the From address was hiding my real email address. That's the way it appears when composing the email. Because you questioned that, I examined the From address on sent emails I sent prior to May 21. Unfortunately, you're correct -- despite the attempt to hide it, the From address was indeed the real, physical address. Now I realize that this bug is not as important as I thought.

>>
This "feels like" Outlook is using the Reply-To to replace the From address. If I tried sending an email using the alias as the From address (although I'm not sure how to do that), this is the result I'd expect.
>>
That is my suspicion too. When i used an invalid entry (just an alias) , Outlook did an address check and brought up the Check Names dialog, so it's definitely checking that field to verify it's valid.

My support contact can't repro the 550 error but said his reply to address was broken - so there is a bug somewhere in the process.

His suggestion for Outlook.com accounts: add alias to use for these messages. If they start spamming, you can delete the alias. You are limited to 10 addresses on the account - they can either be outlook.com aliases or 3rd party addresses. They limit how frequently you can add new aliases so if you use a service that generates a one-time address, it won't work.

BTW - if that's what you are doing, which service do you use?

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Just to clarify, the problem is not that replies to the alias email address bounce -- that wouldn't be an Outlook issue -- but rather that when the email with the Reply-To is sent, it is immediately rejected.
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Right. That was more of a comment on the way to create identifying emails in Outlook.com and Office 365. You can use alias+somewebsite @outlook.com to track or filter mail from that site.

>> Now I realize that this bug is not as important as I thought.
While its not important for this usage, understanding why its not working is important (at least to me :))

I use Outlook 2016, not outlook.com, and I'm not aware of any way to add alias email addresses, within Outlook 2016. If you know of such a procedure, I'd like to know how.

My email provider is AOL, which uses SMTP. (Not that I ever would have picked them, but Verizon transferred all of their email responsibilities to AOL about 2 years ago.) I have my own domain, and my domain provider (GoDaddy) charges me about $2.50/year to provide what they call "email redirects". So, I name my Outlook account, and (prior to May 21) set the Reply-To to the alias I set up in the GoDaddy admin. My real email address has a verizon.net domain. This pattern is reproduced across three different pairs of aliases and verizon.net underlying email addresses, and the Reply-To bug affects all of them.

Ah. Thanks for clarifying it. That should make it easier to test it - i have the godaddy service too. It's possible that its AOL bouncing, not Outlook, but I will test with different services to see.

I am using a POP account and have an alias through an university server. I could not use the alias since last year. Tried to put it in Reply-To several times over time. In past, couldn't have a test message sent after changing the account. Would work when I had true email address. Then started getting the 550 message with correct address in Reply-To box. Cleared the box and was able to send messages. Later I was able to put the Verizon address in again.

Is there anyone having this problem who is not on AOL with Verizon account?

I use the alias because I can keep the same "email" address if I change providers. I switched off of Comcast but sadly thinking about returning. This would create havoc because of not having alias account showing.

I do remember that at one time, anything could be put in Reply-To, even invalid email addresses.

Diane,

I hope you're monitoring this thread. On June 12, you said my last post "should make it easier to test it", and you would "test with different services to see." You haven't posted since then, and I was just wondering it you had anything to report.

As of today's Office update, which includes Outlook version 1906, the Reply-To is still broken.