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How to Bounce a Message to the Sender with Mac OS X Mail

By , About.com Guide

Whenever I get a message from somebody called "mailer daemon", I expect nothing good. Usually, this indicates that a message I sent did not reach its recipients. The reasons are manifold: maybe the mailbox was full, quite possibly I mistyped the address, or maybe the address does not exist at all.

But maybe the recipient uses Mac OS X Mail and wants me to believe that her address does not exist (so that I send no more emails). The powerful email client that comes with Mac OS X can bounce emails and make it look as if an email address did not exist.

Bounce a Message to the Sender with Mac OS X Mail

To bounce a message back to its sender with Mac OS X Mail:

  • Highlight the message in the mailbox view.
  • Select Message | Bounce from the menu.
    • In some versions of Mail, the command is called Bounce To Sender.
  • Click OK.

Note that bouncing mail is not available in Mac OS X Mail 5 and later.

(Updated July 2011)

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