Mac Mail App Preferences You May Want To Customize
There are many important settings in Mail Preferences that you can use to customize your experience and improve productivity. Take this tour of the Mail Preferences and see which ones you should change.
Comments: 18 Responses to “Mac Mail App Preferences You May Want To Customize”
Ken Vignona
5 years ago
Gary, Always interesting tutorials. I checked my preferences as video went on. You mention local rules. I went to that preference. What type of local rules are there? I use gmail for mostly everything and have set up my inbox/junk mail that works great for me, but is there something "better" in local rules. Thanks again,
Ken
Ken: Server rules ("Filters" in Gmail) are better than local ones. Keep using them.
Peter Knight
5 years ago
Hi Gary,
Many thanks for the tutorial.
Is there any setting that can be changed in the mail app to set the viewing pane to display the email body/content below the message rather than to the right of the message?
I'm sure this was possible at one stage, but it seems to have been removed recently.
Peter: Go to the View menu, uncheck Show Side Preview.
Jim Rietz
5 years ago
HI Gary,
At 03:29, you mention "Empty the Trash". I have been working with a friend who mentions this and I have never seen Empt Trash outside of the Finder. You are normally very specific of exactly what is being talked about. I have not be able to find "Empty the Trash" in Apple Mail.
Peter: Mail settings are mostly in the Settings app on the iPad, though the app is very different there and these tips are for Mac Mail so many things will not apply.
Scott Hagarty
4 years ago
Gary:
Can you please explain in mail why attachments disappear? I went back to an old email where I received an attached document. The conversation went back and forth for many days. Now when I go back, the attachments are gone.
Also, would you please consider doing a video explaining the "conversations" setting.
Thank you
Scott: Attachments shouldn't disappear. But perhaps your email server is doing it? Hard for me to say. Conversations just group a series of emails -- people replying in a string of messages -- so you can see them all together. Try it to see if you like it. Easy to turn on and off. It doesn't change anything other than how you view messages.
Jerry Raphael
4 years ago
Annoying to me is mail window drops behind other windows say after watching one of your videos and closing video.
Another dislike is that after opening an email on the list then deleting it the next email automatically opens.
Hope this makes sense.
John Clark
4 years ago
As a way of compartmentalizing my life I use Apple Main on my Mac and iPad for personal stuff and I use MS Outlook for my full time job stuff. I have been really frustrated by the Outlook on the iPad having a Swipe to Archive. I am used to Swiping to delete on the Apple Mail. After seeing the above tutorial I was inspired and saw that I can customize the Swipe on Outlook. Now it goes to delete just like Apple Mail. Thank you for inspiring me to look.
Sal
4 years ago
After tweaking my preferenc
es, the first choice of the column to the left was headed by "all boxes" which when selected showed my all unread mail from all 5 of my email accounts. That has disappeared. How can I restore that option?
Sal: Do you see Favorites at the top of the left sidebar? Move your cursor over it and you'll see a ⌄ button to the right of Favorites. Click that to reveal Favorites and All Inboxes should be shown there.
Gary, Always interesting tutorials. I checked my preferences as video went on. You mention local rules. I went to that preference. What type of local rules are there? I use gmail for mostly everything and have set up my inbox/junk mail that works great for me, but is there something "better" in local rules. Thanks again,
Ken
Ken: Server rules ("Filters" in Gmail) are better than local ones. Keep using them.
Hi Gary,
Many thanks for the tutorial.
Is there any setting that can be changed in the mail app to set the viewing pane to display the email body/content below the message rather than to the right of the message?
I'm sure this was possible at one stage, but it seems to have been removed recently.
Many thanks,
Peter
Peter: Go to the View menu, uncheck Show Side Preview.
HI Gary,
At 03:29, you mention "Empty the Trash". I have been working with a friend who mentions this and I have never seen Empt Trash outside of the Finder. You are normally very specific of exactly what is being talked about. I have not be able to find "Empty the Trash" in Apple Mail.
Thanks for all the great videos!
Jim
Jim: It is actually called "Erase Deleted Items" and you'll find it in the Mailbox menu.
Jim: look at the menu Mailbox > Deleted Items > ...
Well, there you go! Thank you Gary!
Gary, there is 1 big issues involving MAIL: The software locks up often and the only solution is to RESTART your computer ... !!!
How do you access these same setttings on an IPad?
Joe: That's not normal. When Apple Stores reopen, I would have an expert (Genius Bar) take a look.
Peter: Mail settings are mostly in the Settings app on the iPad, though the app is very different there and these tips are for Mac Mail so many things will not apply.
Gary:
Can you please explain in mail why attachments disappear? I went back to an old email where I received an attached document. The conversation went back and forth for many days. Now when I go back, the attachments are gone.
Also, would you please consider doing a video explaining the "conversations" setting.
Thank you
Scott: Attachments shouldn't disappear. But perhaps your email server is doing it? Hard for me to say. Conversations just group a series of emails -- people replying in a string of messages -- so you can see them all together. Try it to see if you like it. Easy to turn on and off. It doesn't change anything other than how you view messages.
Annoying to me is mail window drops behind other windows say after watching one of your videos and closing video.
Another dislike is that after opening an email on the list then deleting it the next email automatically opens.
Hope this makes sense.
As a way of compartmentalizing my life I use Apple Main on my Mac and iPad for personal stuff and I use MS Outlook for my full time job stuff. I have been really frustrated by the Outlook on the iPad having a Swipe to Archive. I am used to Swiping to delete on the Apple Mail. After seeing the above tutorial I was inspired and saw that I can customize the Swipe on Outlook. Now it goes to delete just like Apple Mail. Thank you for inspiring me to look.
After tweaking my preferenc
es, the first choice of the column to the left was headed by "all boxes" which when selected showed my all unread mail from all 5 of my email accounts. That has disappeared. How can I restore that option?
Sal: Do you see Favorites at the top of the left sidebar? Move your cursor over it and you'll see a ⌄ button to the right of Favorites. Click that to reveal Favorites and All Inboxes should be shown there.