How to change the "From" name when sending Gmails through automations

[Susie_Carr]

Hey guys,

I’ve got several automations set up where the action is sending emails from my Gmail account. However, the “From” name in these emails isn’t aligned to the “From” name on my Gmail account - it’s simply displaying my email address as the “From” name.

Can anyone help?

[Bill_French]

Susie_Carr:

the “From” name in these emails isn’t aligned to the “From” name on my Gmail account

The From identity is typically off-limits to change by you, Airtable, or anyone else. It’s a security thing.

And email clients typically determine how to render the From address, so something from you@abc.com might use your contact info to pretty it up with your name instead of your email address.

If you contact support about this, I predict the response will be -

For security reasons our policy is to use only the email address of the linked account.

[ScottWorld]

Bill.French:

The From identity is typically off-limits to change by you, Airtable, or anyone else. It’s a security thing.

And email clients typically determine how to render the From address, so something from you@abc.com might use your contact info to pretty it up with your name instead of your email address.

If you contact support about this, I predict the response will be -

For security reasons our policy is to use only the email address of the linked account.

No, this is not true.

@Susie_Carr To designate your “From” address, just click on the button that says “show more options” and you can specify your “From” name, amongst many other options.

Also, if you want to get even MORE ADVANCED email options, be sure to check out Make's automations & integrations for Airtable — they support Gmail, Outlook, and many more — including a generic IMAP email function to work with all IMAP email providers.

p.s. If your company has a budget for your project and you’d like to hire an expert Airtable consultant to help you with any of this, please feel free to contact me through my website: Airtable consulting — ScottWorld

[Susie_Carr]

I hadn’t seen that! Thanks so much

[Bill_French]

ScottWorld:

To designate your “From” address, just click on the button that says “show more options”

Ah, so help me understand - it is possible to change the from address? I could literally use president@whitehouse.gov?

[ScottWorld]

• Susie_Carr:

I hadn’t seen that! Thanks so much

You’re welcome! Glad I could help! 🙂

• Bill.French:

Ah, so help me understand - it is possible to change the from address? I could literally use president@whitehouse.gov?

The “From Name” can be anything you want it to say. For example: “The President of the United States”.

But the “From Email Address” must be one of the authorized email addresses that has been added to your Gmail account. Gmail lets you authorize as many email addresses as you’d like, even if they’re not from the Gmail domain, and you can add them to your Gmail account. You have to prove ownership of the email address, and then you can use your Gmail account to send via those addresses.

You can also set the “Reply-To email address” and several other options as well.

For even more advanced options when using Gmail (or Outlook or other email apps), check out Make's Gmail automations & integrations. They offer lots of other integrations as well, such as Outlook. They have over 1,600+ native integrations.

[Bill_French]

ScottWorld:

The “From Name” can be anything you want it to say.

Ahhhh, my bad. I conflated “From” with address, and @Susie_Carr was clear - it’s the name, not the address.

[Abby_Doyle]

I know this is an old thread but has anyone experienced the From Name field not being recognized by a Gmail->Send Email automation? I built an automation yesterday that was using the From Name as I had configured it but today, after making some changes to the automation, it is no longer reading the From Name Airtable field and instead just using the “From Name” on the Gmail Account. Thoughts?

[ScottWorld]

Did you retest each one of your automation steps in order, including the trigger?

[Abby_Doyle]

Yes, and I have rebuilt it. I am wondering if it has to do with the email address I’m currently using for the Send Email action. It is not configured in my Send Email As settings yet therefore, it might just be defaulting to my gmail account and pulling my name. I am working to get the Send As Email configured correctly and will retest at that point. Thanks!