The Mail Composition Window

When you compose a new message in Mail, you are usually spending a very short amount of time in the Mail composition window and it is easy to miss some of the features. At the top of the window you can use various buttons and add more. You can also change the fields available to you, such as adding or removing CC and BCC fields and even a REPLY-TO field. In the message body area, you can use styling and also mark up images and PDFs.

Comments: 16 Responses to “The Mail Composition Window”

    Fred
    9 years ago

    Is there a way to make the "image" clickable or where it would "link" to another site in a browser? I haven't been able to do that with Mail....

      9 years ago

      You can, by making complex HTML mail documents. But I don't think you can do it in Mail. The problem is that even if you could do it, it wouldn't work for some people on the other end. It depends on what they are using to read their email with. Some people would see it as an attachment, some as an embedded image with no link, etc. Unless we could force everyone to use email apps with the same functionality, features like this will be tough to implement.

    nick
    9 years ago

    Gary, this may be more than you wanna address but Mail really has strange behaviours. For example, email messages that I sent days ago, sometimes they re-appear within a folder for that account, and they are marked as unread messages. Or messages that I know were sent and received sometimes they re-appear as drafts. Any ideas?

      9 years ago

      My first thought would be your email service, not the Mail app. After all, the Mail app is just reflecting what information it gets from the server. Secondly, it could be your settings on both the server-side and settings that affect how your Mail app communicates with the server, Lots of things to look into.

    Shirley Allan
    9 years ago

    Since Yosemite, my text that I type in the body of the mail has an inconsistent lag before it appears on the screen. Sometimes the lag is long enough for a few cuss words! I even added $200 worth of memory to 16 GB to see if that would correct it. Nothing seems to help. Any ideas?

      9 years ago

      Hard to say what could be causing this. It might be some other software that you have installed. I'd have an expert take a first-hand look (Genius Bar, maybe?)

        Shirley Allan
        9 years ago

        Thanks Gary, but I've not installed any new programs and it is a 27 inch, kind of hard to lug around. Apple Dicussinons has a lot to say on the Text Lag but no answers.

    Donald Geiling
    9 years ago

    Sometimes when I include an attachment, the recipient says, "there was no attachment" when I know there was. This happens even when I check the box to make it "windows friendly." Any way to fix this?

      9 years ago

      You've got to investigate to find the real problem. Most likely it is the recipient not understanding how to get to the attachment. It varies by email client which could be anything from Mac Mail, to Windows Outlook to web-based Gmail -- and hundreds of other options. Perhaps convince them to get some IT help on their end to figure it out.

    Jeff Widen
    9 years ago

    I send short stories I've written to friends after converting them to PDF for their convenience. When they appear on the mail text section, I haven't been able to write a comment about the piece just above it. I know (think I know) that it might be something simple. Any suggestions?
    I appreciate your tutorials a lot. Jeff

      9 years ago

      Hard to say without seeing what you are doing and knowing more. Are you using Yosemite? In System Preferences, Extensions, Actions is "Markup" turned on? If so, then what exactly do you mean by "haven't been able to?" For instance, do you not see the Mark Up button appear when you roll over the PDF?

      Scott Beattie
      9 years ago

      Jeff - I think I know what you are referring to. It seems that when I add an attachment (pdf, document, image, etc.) - it appears right in the body of the email - and at first it seems that it is not possible to type and introductory message directly above the email. What you need to do is carefully locate the cursor to the immediate top left of the image or document in the email body - and then press return to open up some space to type your response.

        9 years ago

        Oh, so you mean you just want to put some text in the body of the email message before the attachment. I thought you meant using the Mark Up feature to write ON the PDF. You could also just put the cursor anywhere in the message and backspace to the beginning. Or, use Command+A to select all and then backspace to go to the beginning, etc. Then insert a Return after your text so your image comes on the line after it, not on the same line.

        Jeff Widen
        9 years ago

        Thanks, Scott. I had to do one more thing (for that to work for me): I saved the Pages article to my desk top then share-email(ed) it. The pdf icon appeared on the text area of the email. Then I could use your advice.

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