Check out RFC 822 for an explanation... Sender is the actual email address sending the message. IT can be different than the from field if you would like for it to be, and helps to define a return path in case the message fails.
IE: If you send a message on behalf of another person... It can be From: [EMAIL PROTECTED], while having actually been authored and sent by his administrative assistant, [EMAIL PROTECTED] So if the message bounced, the mailserver would return the error to Hal so that he could fix the problem before Stan noticed and reprimanded him for mistyping the to address. However, if the receiver gets it ok, and hits "reply", it's gonna go back to the "from" address and not the sender. (Any example character's likeness to any individual real or imagined should be considered purely coincidental) The sender field is actually very useful when sending out blast emails from a CF application because you can use it to direct bounces back to a special mailbox and handle them with CFPOP while allowing successful messages to get through. The sender field will not be displayed in the receiver's email program unless they take a look at the message headers. As far as I can tell, though I haven't had the time to actually research this, I think that the sender field is typically re-written by the mailserver as the "Return-path:" mail header. Howie would probably know the answer to that question... Refer to quote from: http://www.w3.org/Protocols/rfc822/ --- 4.4.1. FROM / RESENT-FROM This field contains the identity of the person(s) who wished this message to be sent. The message-creation process should default this field to be a single, authenticated machine address, indicating the AGENT (person, system or process) entering the message. If this is not done, the "Sender" field MUST be present. If the "From" field IS defaulted this way, the "Sender" field is optional and is redundant with the "From" field. In all cases, addresses in the "From" field must be machine-usable (addr-specs) and may not contain named lists (groups). 4.4.2. SENDER / RESENT-SENDER This field contains the authenticated identity of the AGENT (person, system or process) that sends the message. It is intended for use when the sender is not the author of the mes- sage, or to indicate who among a group of authors actually sent the message. If the contents of the "Sender" field would be completely redundant with the "From" field, then the "Sender" field need not be present and its use is discouraged (though still legal). In particular, the "Sender" field MUST be present if it is NOT the same as the "From" Field. --- I think RFC822 has been replaced by a newer RFC, but it's still accurate enough for this question... -Cameron ----------------- Cameron Childress Sumo Consulting Inc. --- cell: 678-637-5072 aim: cameroncf email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > -----Original Message----- > From: Critter [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Saturday, October 12, 2002 9:01 AM > To: CF-Community > Subject: MailServer Rules > > > oi CF-Community,!! > > I'm setting up a few filter rules on my mailserver, but have a q. > > What is the difference between the from and the sender fields?? > > > > -- > Critz > Macromedia Certified Advanced ColdFusion Developer > <CFX_BotMaster Network="Efnet" > Channel="ColdFusion" Blog="http://blog.ctzc.com";> > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?forumid=5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/index.cfm?sidebar=lists&body=lists/cf_community Get the mailserver that powers this list at http://www.coolfusion.com
