APPLE MAIL ESSENTIALS. by Ruth Davis Mac2School

Transcription

1 APPLE MAIL ESSENTIALS by Ruth Davis Mac2School

2 Customizing Apple Mail Preferences... 5 General... 5 Accounts... 6 Mailbox Behaviors... 7 Server Settings... 8 Junk Mail... 8 Fonts and Colors... 9 Viewing Classic Layout Conversations (previously called Threaded Messages) Composing Signatures To create a signature Rules Customizing the Toolbars Mailboxes The Inbox The Drafts Mailbox Junk Mailbox Your Own Mailboxes Suggestions for New Mailboxes To Create a Mailbox Smart Mailboxes To Create a Smart Mailbox To Delete a Mailbox To Rename a Mailbox Favorite Mailboxes Moving Messages into Mailboxes Searching in Mail Flagging Messages Using Color to Highlight Important s Addressing s BCC Cleaning Out Incorrect Addresses Marking an As Urgent The Formatting Toolbar Editing Shortcuts Cut and Paste Changing Caps to Lower Case Checking Spelling How To Add Numbered Lists in an Using Stationery For Fancier s The Fastest Way to a Photo The Fastest Way to Send An Attachment Saving Photos You Get in an Saving s into the Documents Folder Exporting Entire Mailboxes The Lowdown On Downloads Mac2School page 2

3 Troubleshooting Mac2School page 3

4 Face it. Not everyone is born to have a zero count Inbox. That s why Apple Mail is packed with tools and features to help you find and create what you need when you need it. It also helps to know how you usually sort and find things in your life so you can work the same way with your . WHAT KIND OF ORGANIZER ARE YOU IN LIFE? The Folder Maven: You have a filing cabinet drawer full of manila folders, alphabetical and organized and you can open the drawer and find exactly what you need when you need it. Now you want to replicate this sense of order on your Mac. The Piler: Everything is in a big stack, or maybe even several stacks on your desk, the floor, the kitchen table. When you need something, you start with the first pile and keep looking until you find it. Or you give up and wait for it to show up again. The Once A Month Sort of Sorter: You have folders for the important stuff but everything else is in a pile that you sort once a month or whenever you can get to it. Once you figure out how you work, you can choose which tools in Mail will best support your work flow. Some strategies to consider: Create Mailboxes for pending projects, orders, organizations...things that you need to currently reference and find easily Create Smart Mailboxes to automatically put s into designated mailboxes Save archivable s into folders in your Documents folder--not in Save photos that people to you into Photos and then delete the Mac2School page 4

5 But first, let s customize Mail so that it looks, feels and sounds the way you like it. Customizing Apple Mail Preferences Under the Mail menu, choose Preferences General Click on the General icon to Set the frequency for checking mail Set the sounds for sending and receiving mail Choose where to download files (I recommend choosing the Desktop) 2018 Mac2School page 5

6 Accounts Click on the Accounts icon to Create or delete Mail accounts with the + and - buttons Click on the Account Information tab to change the name of the account as it is listed in the Sidebar 2018 Mac2School page 6

7 Mailbox Behaviors Click on the Mailbox Behaviors tab to choose how often Junk Mail is erased, and how often Deleted Messages are erased This is also where you can choose to save Sent and Drafts either On Your Mac, or within that account s Mailboxes so that it is available on all devices 2018 Mac2School page 7

8 Server Settings Click on the Server Settings tab to confirm all of the settings. You shouldn t have to change anything here, but if you are talking with tech support, this is where they may ask you to go. Junk Mail Click on the Junk Mail icon to Enable junk mail filtering Set rules for what is junk To set advanced actions, such as Label it as Junk and Move to Trash, click Perform custom actions, click Advanced, make the desired choices 2018 Mac2School page 8

9 Fonts and Colors Click on the Fonts and Colors icon to Make choices for the colors used when you reply and quote s Choose the font and size of the text for the list of s in the Sidebar, and also for the s that you write: Click Select to see your choices To see a preview of the font, hover your cursor on the horizontal line separating the darker gray area that includes the search box, and the columns of choices. When you see a four arrowed tool, drag it down to reveal the font preview pane Mac2School page 9

10 Viewing Click on the Viewing icon to Choose the familiar Classic layout (see below) Make choices about Conversations (see below) Set how many lines you see in the preview pane of each If you want the s that you delete to be moved to the Trash to be permanently deleted, or moved to Archive, where they are forever stored on the server, and, therefore, findable and retrievable. Choose to display unread messages in Bold so they stand out Choose to display or hide people s names and address when you address an Set your preferences for how you use Conversations 2018 Mac2School page 10

11 Classic Layout The current version of Apple Mail uses a vertical column to display messages with a preview panel on the right side. You can widen and narrow the columns, change the sort order, even choose to read only unread messages Mac2School page 11

12 In earlier versions of Apple Mail, you viewed Mail in rows. You could still sort by From, Subject, Date Received, etc, and adjust the column widths, and, if you wanted to see the , you could either double-click it to open in a new window, or shorten the list of messages and use the preview pane at the bottom of the window. To use this old, familiar layout, click to Use Classic Layout. Conversations (previously called Threaded Messages) By default, all s that are related with the same subject from the same person are grouped together in your Inbox, instead of being listed as individual s. This is called a Conversation. This may be great for organizing but, many users miss incoming messages because they forget to look in the grouped conversation. In Mail Preferences, you can customize how you use the features of Conversations. Even if you choose to turn off Conversations, you can still click Show Related Messages in the Inbox Toolbar to see all related s grouped together when needed. Composing Click on the Composing icon to Set preferences for spell checking Include a person s text when you reply to their Choose which account to use for your default return address Choose whether you want to include (quote) the text of the original in your reply. You can also choose to only include some text in the reply, so that you can copy a section of the person s and then click reply and only that text will be included in your reply Mac2School page 12

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14 Signatures Click on the Signatures icon to create an automatic text that will appear at the bottom of your s. To create a signature 1. First, create a new message so you have a place to type 2. Type everything you want to appear, including choosing the font, size, color 3. Highlight it all 4. From the Edit menu, choose Copy 5. Then, under the Mail menu, choose Preferences 6. Click on the Signatures icon 7. Click the + sign at the bottom of the middle column to create a new signature 8. Title it in the middle column where it is highlighted in blue 9. In the right column, delete the text that appears there 10.From the Edit menu, choose Paste Your typed text will appear Mac2School page 14

15 To actually USE the signature, you have to now assign it to an account. 1. Drag that named signature from the middle column to on top of the address in the left column that you want to use it with. 2. Click on that address and, at the bottom, under Choose Signature, decide whether you always want that signature to appear or, if you choose None, then you can select the signature when you want to use it in a particular . Rules Click on the Rules icon to create your own filters, ie., if the subject of an contains certain words, or is from a certain person, you can teach Mail to move it to a different folder, etc. Click to create a new rule, then choose your conditions Mac2School page 15

16 Customizing the Toolbars Each window in Mail has its own toolbar. The Inbox Toolbar is different than the toolbar you see when composing a new message, and different than the toolbar you see when reading an , and replying to an . You can choose which tools you use most in each window and add them. To change what s on each Toolbar 1.Go to that window, either the Inbox, or a New Message or open an that s been sent to you 2.From the View menu, choose Customize Toolbar 3.You can rearrange existing icons in the Toolbar, drag unused icons off, and drag additional ones into the Toolbar. And you can choose to see only the icons, only text or both. 4.Click DONE when you re done Mac2School page 16

17 Mailboxes Mailboxes look like folders and serve as the containers for s. Each of your accounts has its own Inbox, Sent, Drafts and Trash mailbox. You can also create your own Mailboxes to sort and organize s. You can Show or Hide the column of Mailboxes by clicking the Mailboxes icon in the Favorites Bar. Your Inbox is one mailbox and, if you have more than one account, there will be a triangle to the left of the Inbox. Click it to reveal all of your Inboxes. In the left Sidebar, above the Inbox is Mailboxes. Further down, in the same light gray font is On My Mac. Below that, icloud, and any other providers you use. Hover over each of these and click Show to reveal the Mailboxes that are stored on the servers of each of these locations. The Inbox Unread messages have a blue dot next to them. They might also be bold if you ve made that choice in Preferences. To see only Unread s, click the circle with horizontal lines in it, next to Sort by Date, and above the first listed. Messages are, by default, sorted by Date Received. You can change the sort order by clicking on Sort by Date above the first listed, and making a new choice. You can widen and narrow the columns by hovering the cursor to the right of the scroll bar of each column until you see an arrow tool. Drag the vertical line that separates the columns Mac2School page 17

18 The Drafts Mailbox If you are working on an and want to save it to finish later, you can save it as a Draft. In the newest versions of Mail, there is no longer an obvious Save As Draft option. Instead, simply close the you are in the middle of working on, and THEN you will be asked if you want to save it as a Draft. A Draft Mailbox that looks like a dog eared piece of paper will now appear. To continue working on an in Drafts 1. Click once on the Drafts Mailbox 2. Double click on the mail you want to work with to open in Junk Mailbox If you have turn on the Junk Filter in Preferences, an that is considered Junk is brown. If it s labeled as junk and, in fact, is not Junk, click on the NOT JUNK icon. If it s in the Junk Mailbox, after you set it to be Not Junk, drag it onto the Inbox to keep it. Your Own Mailboxes In addition to these Default Mailboxes, you can also create your own Mailboxes. But before you start creating Mailboxes for every topic or person, consider why you need to separate them. With the Search tools, you can quickly find an by Sender, Subject, etc, so you don t need to physically separate s like this. Suggestions for New Mailboxes Create an Orders Mailbox to track open and pending things you have ordered but not received Create a Travel Mailbox for easy access to reservations, tickets, etc Keep track of RSVP s for an upcoming event Create a Pending Projects mailbox for all s relating to a particular project so you can quickly find them all at once Create Priority Action Mailboxes so you know what to address first For s that you need to keep forever, for reference, for tax purposes, etc., consider, instead of creating Mailboxes within Mail, save the s into folders on your Mac. This way, they are saved as files, which can be grouped in folders with related items that aren t necessarily s. For example, if you re working on a project that also includes Word documents, maybe a spreadsheet, or a collection of photos, and you also want to have easy access to the correspondence related to the project, save them all on your Mac in one folder. (See Saving s Outside of Mail) 2018 Mac2School page 18

19 To Create a Mailbox 1. Hover to the right of the word Mailbox above the Inbox and click the + or, from the Mailbox menu choose New Mailbox or, Right-Click or Control-Click on Inbox and choose New Mailbox 2. Title it 3. Select WHERE you want it--on My Mac or in the icloud so that is available on all of your devices 4. Click OK 5. It will appear at the bottom of the list in that location Smart Mailboxes A Smart Mailbox will automatically put items into it that meet specific filter rules you create. Instead of you, manually dragging s into a Mailbox folder, Mail will do it for you. Keep in mind, when you manually put an into a Mailbox, you are MOVING it from the inbox INTO a mailbox. Everything in a Smart Mailbox will ALSO STILL be in the Inbox. If you delete it from the Inbox it will be GONE from the Smart Mailbox too. And if you delete it from the Smart Mailbox, it will also be deleted from the Inbox. To Create a Smart Mailbox 1. From the Mailbox menu, choose New Smart Mailbox 2. Title it 3. Set the criteria for what you want to automatically go into this Mailbox 4. Click the plus sign to add additional criteria 5. Click OK 2018 Mac2School page 19

20 VIPs A new kind of Smart Mailbox is the VIP, where you can designate a person as a VIP and then all s from that person automatically go into a separate Mailbox with their name on it. To set someone up as a VIP 1. Open an from that person 2. Hover over their name in the From header 3. Click the down-facing triangle to the right of their name 4. Choose Add to VIPS 5. A new Mailbox appears in the left column with a big star next to it 6. Click the triangle next to the VIP mailbox to reveal who s in there 7. Click on any name to see their s To remove their VIP status 1. Open an from that person 2. Hover over their name in the From header 3. Click the down-facing triangle to the right of their name 4. Choose Remove from VIPS IMPORTANT! If an is in a VIP mailbox, the original is still in the Inbox. If you delete it from the Inbox it is also deleted from the Smart Mailbox! To Delete a Mailbox 1. Click once on it 2. From the Mailbox menu, choose Delete Mailbox or, Right-Click or Control-Click to reveal choices 3. All s in that Mailbox will also be deleted To Rename a Mailbox 1. Click once on it 2. From the Mailbox menu, choose Rename Mailbox or, Right-Click or Control-Click to reveal choices and choose Rename Mailbox 2018 Mac2School page 20

21 Favorite Mailboxes The Inbox, Sent, Flagged, and Drafts Mailboxes are considered favorites, since we tend to use them most frequently. They appear across the top of the screen below the toolbars as Favorite Mailboxes. To remove a Mailbox from this bar, simply drag it off. It will poof. The original is still in the Mailboxes column. To add your own Mailboxes to this Favorites Bar for easy access, first create the Mailbox, then drag it onto the bar. Moving Messages into Mailboxes You can manually drag an on top of a Mailbox to put in inside. You can also select the and From the Message menu, choose Move To and make your choice Or Control-Click or Right Click and choose Move To and make your choice Or Click on the Move icon in the Toolbar and make your choice 2018 Mac2School page 21

22 Searching in Mail Use the Search feature in Mail to find anything you are looking for. Whether you have 100 or s in your Inbox, this is the most efficient way to find something. 1. In the Search box in the top right, begin typing what you are looking for. If you don t see the Search box, position your cursor on the edge of the window until you see the double arrow tool, and drag to make your window wider. 2. A list appears. With each letter you type, the list will get more specific, showing all s containing that text as a person, subject, content, etc. 3. Click on the one you want Flagging Messages You can use Flags to mark an as Important, so it s easier to find. You can assign different colored flags for different subjects. All s that you have flagged will appear in the Flagged Mailbox, in addition to being listed in the Inbox. If you move a Flagged , or delete it, it will still be in the Flagged Mailbox, until you Unflag it. To Flag an 1.Click once on the 2.In the Toolbar, click on the Flagged icon or the down triangle to choose a special flag color. Or, Right-Click or Control-Click on the to reveal choices. 3. To clear a Flag, click on the , click on the Unflagged icon or Right- Click or ControlClick and click the X next to the flag color choices Mac2School page 22

23 Using Color to Highlight Important s When Flagging an isn t enough for it to stand out in the message list, consider using Color. 1.Select the 2.From the Format menu choose Show Colors 3.You can simplify the color choices by clicking on the crayon box 4.Choose a color 5.Unselect the and you ll see it is now that new color If you use this feature often, consider adding the Color tool to the Toolbar. Addressing s If a person is in your Address Book or if you have recently received an from them, their address with automatically fill in when you begin to type their name in the TO box. Their full name or their address will appear, depending on the settings you ve chosen in Preferences. BCC When sending an to more than one person, it is best practice to put all of the addresses in the BCC (blind carbon copy) line, instead of the TO line, so that others do not see each other s addresses. The exception to this is if you are sending to people and they need to see that each person received the same . If you don t see a BCC line, from the View menu, choose BCC Address Field Mac2School page 23

24 Cleaning Out Incorrect Addresses If an incorrect address keeps appearing as a choice, even after you have corrected it in Contacts: 1. From the Window menu, choose Previous Recipients. Mail remembers everyone you ve ever sent and received from, even incorrect addresses 2. Find the bad address and click on it 3. Click Remove From List You ll notice that many names in the list have an icon of an index card next to them. These people are in your Contacts. You can go through the list, select people who don t have the card next to their name and click to Add to Contacts. Marking an As Urgent You can set the priority of an , though every recipient may see the setting. 1. Create a new message 2. From the Message menu, choose Set Priority 3. Choose a priority for the The Formatting Toolbar When writing a New Message, you can click on the A tool in the Toolbar to Show and Hide the Formatting Toolbar so that you can easily change fonts, size, color, alignment of any text. Remember to highlight the text you want to change before you make your changes Mac2School page 24

25 Editing Shortcuts To highlight a single word, double click in the middle of the word To highlight an entire paragraph, triple click within it To highlight a section (a sentence, paragraph, long section, click at the beginning of the section, hold down the SHIFT key and click at the end of the section Cut and Paste 1. Highlight the text you want to work with 2. From the Edit menu, choose Cut (or Right Click the mouse and choose Cut) 3. Click your cursor where you want to put the text 4. From the Edit menu, choose Paste (or Right-Click the mouse and choose Paste) Changing Caps to Lower Case 1. Highlight the text you want to change 2. From the Edit menu choose Transformation 3. Choose Capitalize to make the first letter of the word uppercase and all others lowercase Checking Spelling If you do not have the Spell Checking feature turned on in Mail Preferences, you can still Spell Check individual s. 1. In the , from the Edit menu choose Spelling and Grammar 2. Slide over to reveal more choices 3. Choose to check your spelling To correct words underlined in red: 1. Hold down the control key and click in the middle of the word (or rightclick in the middle of the word) 2. Choose the correct suggestion from the list 3. If the word is correctly spelled you can have Mail learn the word by choosing Learn Spelling How To Add Numbered Lists in an Sometimes you may want to add a list in an and you d like to number or bullet the list so that it stands out and indents and lines up perfectly when it wraps. 4. In a new message, begin typing your regular text. 5. When you re ready to start your list, press return for a new paragraph 6. In the Formatting Toolbar, click on the Lists icon and choose either a Bulleted List or a Number List. Begin typing. 7. Mail will automatically number or bullet each line when you press Return. 8. To stop the numbering, press Return a second time Mac2School page 25

26 Using Stationery For Fancier s Yes, you can change your fonts and colors, even the color of the page using the Formatting Toolbar. But there is a built-in Stationery feature that can make your s really stand out. 1. Create a new Mail message 2. In the top right corner click on Show Stationery. If you don t see it, make your window wider 3. A collection of categories and thumbnails appear 4. Look through the different choices and then choose one to play with 5. You can highlight the placeholder text and type over it with your own message 6. You can drag photos from the Photo Browser into the photo placeholders 7. You cannot change the background colors or the stationery objects 2018 Mac2School page 26

27 You can create your own stationery and save it for frequent use 1. Create a new Mail message. 2. Type in all of the text, format it, bring in the photos you want so that you have the completed stationery 3. From the File menu choose Save As Stationery 4. The next time you want to use it, click on Show Stationery 5. Scroll down the list on the lest of the various categories and click on Custom 6. All of your saved Stationery is shown here. 7. Click one to use it. 8. To delete a custom Stationery, click on it, then click the X in the top right corner of the thumbnail. The Fastest Way to a Photo Instead of going into Photos to find the pictures, use the built-in Photo Browser. 1. Create a new message 2. Click on the Photo Browser icon of a stack of photos in the Toolbar 3. Scroll through that window to look through your entire Photo Library or limit your search by clicking on a moment or album in the list 4. Drag the desired photos one at a time into the body of your 5. Set the photo size using the Image Size menu on the right side of the window, below the addressing fields Adding Text to a Photo You re ing Now you can add text right on a photo 1. Click on the down facing triangle in the top right corner of the photo 2. Choose Markup 2018 Mac2School page 27

28 A toolbar appears, with several new tools 1. To add text, click the Text tool, the T in a box. It will place a text box on the photo 2. Type your text 3. To reposition the words, drag in the middle of them 4. To change the color, size, font, double click on the words to highlight them, then click on the Format tool, the A, and make your choices 5. To delete a text box, click once on it and press the Delete key You can experiment with the other Markup tools to freehand draw, add shapes and borders, even create and insert your signature. The Fastest Way to Send An Attachment You could create a new message, click on the paper clip icon in the toolbar, navigate to find the thing you want, and attach it. But here s an easier way: 1. Find the item or items you want to attach and select them 2. Drag them on top of the Mail icon in the Dock 3. A new will automatically be created with the items already attached 2018 Mac2School page 28

29 Saving Photos You Get in an If you are saving certain s because they contain photos you want to keep, consider saving the photos into the Photos app so you can delete the . If an has a photo attachment, hover over the horizontal line between the address header information and the body of the . You ll see icons: arrows to delete, reply, reply all, forward and, if you click on the paperclip with the number on it, you have options to Save the photo someplace or Export to Photos. Choose Export to Photos. After you put it in Photos, confirm it s there before deleting the Mac2School page 29

30 Saving s into the Documents Folder To save an entire or an AND the attachment into your Documents folder Simply drag it to the Desktop and then drag it into your Documents folder (or wherever you want to put it) or 1. From the File menu, choose Save As, 2. Title it with a useful name 3. Navigate to where you want to save it and choose Save To save only the Attachment(s) in the desired folder: From the File menu, choose Save Attachments or 1. Hover the mouse on the horizontal divider line between the address fields and the contents to reveal the shortcut buttons 2. Click on the icon with the paper clip and choose where to save it 2018 Mac2School page 30

31 Exporting Entire Mailboxes If you have Mailboxes filled with s that you want to keep just in case but maybe don t NEED them cluttering your mail program, consider Exporting the entire Mailbox into your Documents folder. It will save the mailbox in mbox format that you can always Import it back to Mail if needed. The Lowdown On Downloads By default, all things you download from Mail go into a hidden Mail Downloads folder. You can change this setting in Preferences to Save everything to the Desktop so you can then work with it or move it to a particular folder. In Mail: 1. Under the Mail menu, choose Preferences 2. Click the General tab 3. Next to Downloads folder, click on Other 4. Choose Desktop To see what has been previously downloaded in to this secret folder: 1. In the Finder, hold down the Option key and click on the Go menu 2. Choose Library 3. Find the Mail Downloads folder and open it 4. Sort through what s in here, deleting what you don t need, filing things you want to keep. IMPORTANT! If you receive a attachment that you need to edit and then send back, DO NOT just double click it and start typing. If you do you won t have a copy for yourself. Instead, first save it to the Desktop, THEN open it so that you are working on your own copy. Save it. THEN that version back. Troubleshooting If you are suddenly unable to send or receive mail, first check to see if it is an internet issue. Can you go online with Safari? If it is an issue with all s, quit Mail, restart the computer, and try again. If it is an issue with sending to a particular , double check the person s address, and make sure you typed it correctly. You may have to re-write a new with the new address. From the Help menu, choose Mail Help and click on Troubleshooting at the bottom of the list. You may need to contact Apple or your internet provider for further assistance Mac2School page 31

32 Learn more great tips, strategies and shortcuts with the other Mac2School printable e-books: iphone Essentials Mac Essentials Photos for Mac Safari for Mac Apple Mail Essentials and, coming soon, All About Contacts Ruth Davis, Mac2School helping people love their Macs since Mac2School page 32