Specify "From" in an email script

[aricm]

I have a Filemaker database which runs on several terminals, some of which are dedicated to database operations and others that are used personally as well. I have a Send Mail script in the database which works well, except that I want the emails to always show up from the same (general) email address. That way all replies will come to the same email address, and all messages sent will be from the same address/name.

The problem is that when the script runs on a computer used for personal emailing, the Send Mail (and OpenURL, as far as I can tell) will send from the default email account on the computer, which is usually the personal account. In addition, if the user already has an email client open on their computer, the email will be sent from that account.

There are two solutions I can think of. The first is to try to find an email plug-in that allows me to set this value, which is undesirable because my terminals are running different versions of Filemaker on versions of MacOS ranging from 9.1 to 10.2, and loss of support on the plug-in as OSes change would be disastrous. The second answer that comes to mind is to create an AppleScript that opens a specific email client, sets the identity, sends the email, and closes the client. My only problem with this is that it would be open to problems as users change their email clients and configurations. It seems like a great deal of complexity when there should be a more simple solution to simply setting the "From" value.

I have looked into the OpenURL:mailto option, but it doesn't seem that mailto has a parameter for "From", instead simply using the mail client specified in Internet Config.

All help will be greatly appreciated!

[falkaholic]

I would look into some of the email plugins for FileMaker. You could send the email directly from FM.

[Geeksharka]

You could add the general email account (that you want the emails to be FROM) to all the email clients, and make it the Default account in each client.

That way when FMP creates a new email via a script, it will automatically be FROM the proper general account.

Of course, your users would need to select their individual email accounts whenever they send an email on their own behalf (and not FMP's), but this is easy to do on most email apps/clients. Just a matter of remembering to do so.