The Best Apple Mail Tips and Tricks GA S REGULAR Menu Lifewire Tech for Humans Newsletter! Search Close GO Email, Messaging, & Video Calls > Email
The Best Apple Mail Tips and Tricks
Re-making Apple Mail to fit your needs
By Tom Nelson Tom Nelson Writer Tom Nelson is an engineer, programmer, network manager, and computer network and systems designer who has written for Other World Computing,and others. Tom is also president of Coyote Moon, Inc., a Macintosh and Windows consulting firm. lifewire's editorial guidelines Updated on June 23, 2020 Tweet Share Email Tweet Share Email Email Yahoo! Mail Gmail Apple Mail has been the standard Mac email client since the early days of OS X. Since then, many Mac-compatible email clients have come and gone, but Apple Mail remains. Apple Mail is versatile with plenty of options and features involving mail and events. It has tools to help you organize and stay on top of your mail so you spend less time in your inbox. Here are some tips to get the most out of Apple's built-in mail client. Instructions in this article apply to Apple Mail 13, 12, and 11. Keep an Eye on Important Email Messages
Use the flag feature in Apple Mail to mark important email messages for later reference. To use it, select an email and then do any one of the following: Right-click it and select Flag from the menu.Click the Flag icon at the top of the inbox.Open the Message menu and select Flag.Press Command-Shift-L on your keyboard. Combine this tip with smart mailboxes to have a mailbox that shows just the messages you have flagged. Find Messages Quickly in Apple Mail
The search function in Apple Mail can be unwieldy at times. To find certain email messages quickly, use Smart Mailboxes instead. Smart mailboxes use a set of rules you define to sort messages into a mailbox for quick viewing. Since Mail sorts messages in the background, the smart mailbox content is up to date before you look at it. Here's how to set up a Smart Mailbox: Click the plus sign next to Smart Mailboxes in the Mailboxes sidebar of Mail. The plus sign is invisible until you mouse over it. If you don't see the Mailboxes sidebar, click Mailboxes near the top left of the Mail screen under Get Mail to open it. Type a name for your Smart Mailbox. Choose whether Mail pulls messages based on any or all of the conditions you specify. Specify the items you want Apple Mail to search for to populate your Smart Mailbox. Some options are sender, subject, date, and whether you've flagged the message. You can also exclude items, but you'll likely get way more results that way. Click the plus sign to add more conditions. Click OK to save your Smart Mailbox. You can access it from the Mailboxes sidebar at the left side of the screen. Click and Drag to Customize the Apple Mail Toolbar
The default Apple Mail interface is clean and easy to use, but you can get much more out of the Mail app by customizing the toolbar. Open the View menu and click Customize Toolbar to open the menu. Drag the options you want to include to the toolbar to add them. Use Mail' s BCC Feature to Send Emails to a Group
When you send email messages to a group in Apple Mail, use the BCC (blind carbon copy) option to protect everyone's privacy. To use it, enter your recipients' email addresses in the BCC line. Nobody who receives the message cab see who received it as long as everyone is BCC-copied. If you don't see the BCC line when you create a new email, either select it from the View menu or press Command-option-B on your keyboard. Add a Signature to Your Email Messages
You can save yourself some time by creating a signature to use in your email messages in Apple Mail. You can even create multiple signatures and switch between them. Make a signature by opening Preferences (under the File menu or by pressing Command-comma and selecting the Signatures tab. Moving Apple Mail Transfer Your Apple Mail to a New Mac
Moving your Apple Mail to a new Mac or to a new, clean install of the Mac operating system may seem like a difficult task but it only requires saving three items and moving them to the new destination. Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Subscribe Tell us why! Other Not enough details Hard to understand Submit More from Lifewire How to Save and Use Messages as Templates in Apple Mail How to Set Up New Email Alerts in Apple Mail Hide the Preview Pane and Delete Mail Without Opening It How to Send a Web Page With the Mac's Email Program How to Send a Message Quickly in Apple Mail How to Send Email to Undisclosed Recipients From Gmail How to Show Message Sizes in Apple Mail How to Import Outlook Contacts Into Apple Mail How to Use Text Formatting and Images in Apple Mail Signatures How to View the Source of a Message in Apple Mail How to Use and Rename the Flags in Mac OS X Apple Mail How to Display Messages in a Larger Font in Apple Mail How to Sign a PDF on iPhone and iPad How to Move Hotmail Messages in Outlook.com How to Email Undisclosed Recipients in iPhone Mail How to Send Email to Bcc Recipients in iPhone Mail Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. Cookies Settings Accept All Cookies