Figure 11-1.The Mail application in Leopard
Mail has a single toolbar that, like in Safari, can be customized with a wide array of optional buttons. Besides the toolbar, many commands and options are located in Mail’s menus in the menu bar (Table 11-1).
Table 11-1.Mail’s Menu Bar Items
Item Keyboard Shortcut Description
About Mail Provides version information about Mail.
Preferences… Cmd+, Opens Mail’s Preference window.
Provide Mail Feedback Sends information about your e-mail accounts to Apple that Apple can use to improve the product.
Services Opens a submenu filled with commands and
features of other applications that can be accessed from within Mail.
Hide Mail Cmd+H Hides all open Mail windows.
Hide Others Opt+Cmd+H Hides all windows on the desktop except
windows used by Mail.
Show All Reveals all hidden windows.
Quit Mail Cmd+Q Quits Mail.
Item Keyboard Shortcut Description
File
New Message Cmd+N Opens a New Message window to create and
send an e-mail.
New Note Ctrl+Cmd+N Opens a New Note window.
Add To Do Opt+Cmd+Y Switches to your To Do list and adds a new To Do item.
New Viewer Window Opt+Cmd+N Opens a new view window, which is the default Mail window.
Open Message Cmd+O Opens selected message(s) in a new window.
Close Cmd+W Closes the active window.
Save Cmd+S Saves new or edited notes or current e-mail
messages as drafts.
Save As… Shift+Cmd+S Allows you to save a message or note as a separate file in a variety of formats.
Save as Stationary… Saves an e-mail message you create as a
template for other future e-mail messages.
Attach File… Shift+Cmd+A Opens a browser dialog box to select a file to attach to an e-mail message.
Save Attachments… Saves incoming e-mail attachments to a location
chosen by you (or you could just drag the attachments out of the message to your desired location).
Quick Look Attachments Cmd+Y Opens the attachment in Quick Look if the attachment is a supported type.
Add Account… Opens a window to walk you through adding a
new mail account.
Import Mailboxes… Aids you in importing e-mail messages from
other Mail mailboxes or even other e-mail clients.
Add RSS Feeds… Opens a dialog box to add URLs of RSS feeds
you want to subscribe to in Mail.
Print… Cmd+P Opens the Print dialog to print a Mail item.
Edit
Undo Cmd+Z Undoes your last command.
Redo Shift+Cmd+Z Undoes your last undo.
Cut Cmd+X Cuts the selected item or text, placing it in the
clipboard.
Copy Cmd+C Copies the selected area or item, placing it in the
clipboard.
Continued CHAPTER 11MAIL, ADDRESS BOOK, AND iCAL 199
Table 11-1.Continued
Item Keyboard Shortcut Description
Edit (continued)
Paste Cmd+V Pastes the item in the clipboard in the selected
location.
Delete Cmd+Del Deletes the selected item; if the item is a
message or note, the item will immediately be moved to the trash. For a To Do item, the item will be immediately deleted.
Select All Cmd+A Selects all items or text in a view area or window.
Complete Opt+Esc Opens a list of possible words for the word you
are typing.
Paste as Quotation Shift+Cmd+V Pastes the text in the clipboard into a new mail message formatted as quoted text.
Past and Match Style Opt+Shift+Cmd+V Pastes any text in the clipboard in a message matching the currently selected message text style.
Append Selected Messages Opt+Cmd+I Appends any selected e-mail messages into a new message.
Link Opens a submenu containing items dealing with
hyperlinks in mail messages.
Link ➤Add… Opens a dialog box to enter a URL to create a
hyperlink in a mail message, which will either link the selected text or insert the URL if no text is selected.
Link ➤Remove Removes a selected hyperlink from a mail
message.
Attachments Opens a submenu containing options for dealing
with attachments in mail messages.
Attachments ➤Include Includes in replies any attachments that are Original Attachments included with an original message when this is
in Reply selected.
Attachments ➤Always Encodes any attachments to be included in a Send Windows Friendly manner that is compatible with most Windows
Attachments mail clients.
Attachments ➤Always Always inserts attachments at the end of the Insert Attachments at message rather than allowing attachments to
End of Message be inserted inline.
Find Opens a submenu of Find options.
Find ➤Mailbox Search Opt+Cmd+F Highlights the search text field in the toolbar to begin a string-based search for items in your Mail folders.
Find ➤Find… Cmd+F Opens a dialog box to begin a search for a string within a message or note.
Item Keyboard Shortcut Description
Edit (continued)
Find ➤Find Next Cmd+G Selects the next match when using the Find command.
Find ➤Find Previous Shift+Cmd+G Selects the previous match when using the Find command.
Find ➤Use Selection Cmd+E Begins a search using the selected text as the
for Find search string.
Find ➤Jump to Selection Cmd+J Centers the selected region of an item in the window.
Spelling and Grammar Provides the standard spelling and grammar
options; one unique variation in Mail is the Check Spelling option.
Check Spelling Provides a submenu to select whether to check
spelling while you type, before you send a message, or never.
Speech Opens a submenu to have the default system
voice start and stop reading your mail message aloud.
Special Characters… Opens a character palette to choose characters or symbols to insert in your text.
View
Columns Opens a submenu containing a list of message
properties that can be viewed as columns in the message list area of Mail’s View window.
Sort By Includes the list of potential column items.
Selecting one will cause your messages to sort themselves based on the selected field (alternately, you can just click the column header to sort your messages by that field).
Organize by Thread Keeps messages that are part of the same
message thread (which is a series of messages related to the same subject) together in the e-mail list view.
Expand All Threads Reveals all messages in all threads.
Collapse All Threads Collapses threads so that only the most recent message is shown (you can expand or collapse each thread individually as well).
Cc Address Field Toggles the Cc address field for a new message.
Bcc Address Field Opt+Cmd+[B] Toggles the Bcc address field for a new message.
Reply-To Address Filed Opt+Cmd+[R] Toggles the Reply-To address field in a new message.
Continued CHAPTER 11MAIL, ADDRESS BOOK, AND iCAL 201
Table 11-1.Continued
Item Keyboard Shortcut Description
View (continued)
Select Opens a submenu of options for easily selecting
messages that are part of the same thread.
Select ➤All Messages Shift+Cmd+K Highlights all the messages in a specific e-mail
in this Thread thread.
Select ➤Next Message Selects the next message in the same e-mail
in this Thread thread as the currently selected message.
Select ➤Previous Message Selects the previous message in the same e-mail
in this Thread thread as the currently selected message.
Message Provides a submenu containing view options for
individual messages.
Message ➤Long Headers Shift+Cmd+H Reveals additional header information about each e-mail message.
Message ➤Raw Source Opt+Cmd+U Reveals the entire contents of an e-mail message in plain text including all header information and all formatting.
Message ➤Plain Text Opt+Cmd+P Views a message if it’s sent with a plain-text
Alternative alternative message.
Message ➤Previous Opt+Cmd+[ Displays the previous alternative format for the
Alternative selected e-mail message.
Message ➤Next Opt+Cmd+] Displays the next alternative format for the
Alternative selected e-mail message.
Message ➤Best Alternative Selects the best alternative text format for viewing the message in Mail (this is the default).
Display Selected Messages Hides all messages in the message list except
Only those that you have selected (which is useful if
used in combination with Select ➤All Messages in this thread).
(Hide|Show) Mailboxes Shift+Cmd+M Toggles the visibility of the left column in the message view area, which contains the list of mailboxes and folders.
(Show|Hide) Deleted Cmd+L Toggles the visibility of deleted messages in your
Messages Inbox. This option depends on both the type of
server and your account settings.
(Hide|Show) Toolbar Toggles the visibility of Mail’s toolbar.
Customize Toolbar… Opens a sheet allowing you to customize your
toolbar with various alternate commands and options.
Mailbox
Take All Accounts Online Takes all of your e-mail accounts online.
Take All Accounts Offline Takes all of your e-mail accounts offline.
Item Keyboard Shortcut Description
Mailbox (continued)
Get All New Mail Shift+Cmd+N Checks for and retrieves any new messages from all online accounts.
Synchronize All Accounts Synchronizes all IMAP and Exchange accounts, updating both remote and local mailboxes with any changes.
Online Status Displays a submenu allowing you to view and
toggle the online status of each account individually.
Get New Mail Displays a submenu allowing you to choose a
specific account to check for new mail messages.
Synchronize Displays a submenu allowing you to choose a
specific account to synchronize.
Erase Deleted Messages Displays a submenu that presents options for removing deleted (trashed) messages permanently, including each individual account separately as well as a few other options.
Erase Deleted Messages ➤ Cmd+K Erases all deleted items in all accounts, including
In All Accounts expunging messages from IMAP and Exchange
servers (though server settings may override this).
Erase Deleted Messages ➤ Deletes any trashed messages stored in Mail’s
On My Mac trash; this won’t immediately erase any messages
stored on remote servers (such as IMAP and Exchange).
Erase Junk Mail Opt+Cmd+[J] Permanently removes any junk e-mail messages stored in the Junk mailbox. For this option to be available, you must activate the “When junk mail arrives: Move it to the Junk Mailbox” option in Mail’s preferences.
New Mailbox… Opens a dialog box allowing you to name and
choose a location for a new mailbox.
New Smart Mailbox… Opens a dialog box to allow you to configure a new smart mailbox.
Edit Smart Mailbox… Opens a dialog box allowing you to alter the selected smart mailbox’s rules.
Duplicate Smart Mailbox Creates a new smart mailbox with the same rules as the selected smart mailbox.
New Smart Mailbox Folder Opens a sheet to enter the name of a new smart mailbox folder for organizing smart mailboxes.
Rename Mailbox… Highlights the name of the selected mailbox or
folder to be renamed.
Continued CHAPTER 11MAIL, ADDRESS BOOK, AND iCAL 203
Table 11-1.Continued
Item Keyboard Shortcut Description
Mailbox (continued)
Delete Mailbox… Deletes the selected mailbox. Depending on the
type of mailbox, this may delete all the messages the mailbox contains as well. You will be prompted to verify this action.
Archive Mailbox… Saves an archive file of the selected mailbox,
which will allow you to import the mailbox and data back into Mail at a later date.
Go To Opens a submenu of common mailboxes and
folders. Selecting an item here will take you to that mailbox.
Go To ➤In Cmd+1 Takes you to Mail’s Inbox.
Go To ➤Out Cmd+2 Takes you to Mail’s Outbox.
Go To ➤Drafts Cmd+3 Takes you to Mail’s Drafts folder.
Go To ➤Sent Cmd+4 Takes you to Mail’s Sent Items folder.
Go To ➤Trash Cmd+5 Takes you to Mail’s trash.
Go To ➤Junk Cmd+6 Takes you to Mail’s Junk folder.
Go To ➤Notes Cmd+7 Takes you to Mail’s Notes folder.
Go To ➤To Do Cmd+8 Takes you to Mail’s To Do items.
Go To ➤RSS Cmd+9 Takes you to Mail’s RSS feeds.
Use This Mailbox For Opens a submenu that allows you to designate the specific purposes of mailboxes, such as storing mail drafts, trash, junk, and so on.
Rebuild Rebuilds your mailboxes. This can help fix
potential (or real) corruption and can help save space by reorganizing your mailbox files. It’s good to use this every once in awhile.
Message
Send (Again) Shift+Cmd+D If you are writing a new message, this option will be Send and will send the current new message.
Otherwise, this option will be Send Again, which will allow you to resend the selected message from your Sent mailbox.
Reply Cmd+R Opens the New Message window all set up to
send a reply to the sender of the selected message.
Reply All Shift+Cmd+R Like Reply, but in addition to sending your reply to the initial sender, the reply will also be sent to everyone included in the original message.
Reply With iChat Shift+Cmd+I Allows you to start a chat with the sender of a message if the sender.
Item Keyboard Shortcut Description
Message (continued)
Forward Shift+Cmd+F Opens a New Message window with the current
selected message pasted in it so you can easily forward that message to another recipient.
Forward as Attachment Allows you to forward a message, but rather than pasting the original message in the New Message window, it will attach the original message.
Redirect Shift+Cmd+E Redirects a selected message to another
recipient. This is very different from Forward in that the redirected message will be removed from your Inbox and sent to the recipient without comment. The original sender will remain as the sender (though it will be known that you redirected it). This option is handy for redirecting phishing messages to security personal and such.
Bounce Shift+Cmd+B Bounces a message you receive back to the
original sender as if your account doesn’t exist.
Although in theory this sounds like a good way to make spammers think your e-mail address is no longer valid, the most annoying spammers probably don’t use their own return addresses, so it’s likely using this will just end up spamming some other poor random soul with a bunch of bounced messages.
Mark Opens a submenu to provide options for marking
or labeling e-mail messages in your mailboxes.
Mark ➤As (Unread|Read) Shift+Cmd+U Toggles selected messages as being unread/read.
Mark ➤As Shift+Cmd+L Toggles a flag for the selected messages, which
(Flagged|Unflagged) is a common way to mark e-mail messages for
follow-up.
Mark ➤As (Not) Junk Mail Shift+Cmd+[J] Toggles the current message as junk mail or as not junk mail.
Mark ➤As Low Priority Marks the selected message as low priority.
Mark ➤As Normal Priority Marks the selected messages as normal priority.
Mark ➤As High Priority Marks the selected messages as high priority.
Move To Opens a submenu containing a list of all of your
mailboxes, allowing you to move selected messages into a different mailbox.
Copy To Marks a submenu containing a list of all your
mailboxes, allowing you to copy selected messages into a different mailbox
(Move|Copy) To “x” Again Opt+Cmd+T Moves another message into the mailbox used in the last Move To command.
Continued CHAPTER 11MAIL, ADDRESS BOOK, AND iCAL 205
Table 11-1.Continued
Item Keyboard Shortcut Description
Message (continued)
Apply Rules Opt+Cmd+L Applies your mail rules to selected messages.
Add Sender to Address Shift+Cmd+Y Adds the e-mail address (and name if available)
Book of the sender of selected messages to your
Address Book.
Remove Attachments Removes the attachments of a selected message.
Text Encoding Opens a submenu allowing you to encode the
text using different languages and character sets.
Format
Show Fonts Cmd+T Opens the system font dialog to choose a text
font for the selected text.
Show Colors Shift+Cmd+C Opens the system color palette to choose a color for your selected text.
Lists Opens a submenu to help you format different
types of lists in a note or message.
Style Opens a submenu with options for formatting
text in a note or message.
Style ➤Bold Cmd+B Makes selected text bold or makes all new text beginning at the cursor position bold.
Style ➤Italic Cmd+I Makes selected text italic or makes all new text beginning at the cursor position italic.
Style ➤Underline Cmd+U Underlines selected text or makes all new text beginning at the cursor position underlined.
Style ➤Outline Makes selected text outlined or makes all new
text beginning at the cursor position outlined.
Style ➤Bigger Cmd+[+] Makes selected text bigger.
(or Cmd+[=])
Style ➤Smaller Cmd+[-] Makes selected text smaller.
Style ➤Copy Style Opt+Cmd+[C] Copies the style of selected text.
Style ➤Paste Style Opt+Cmd+[P] Pastes the previously copied style onto selected text.
Style ➤Styles… Opens a style pane displaying various system
level styles.
Alignment Opens a submenu providing text alignment
options.
Alignment ➤Align Left Cmd+{ Aligns text to the left side of the text area. (This is the default text alignment for most languages.) Alignment ➤Center Cmd+| Centers text in the text area.
Alignment ➤Justify Aligns text on both sides.
Item Keyboard Shortcut Description
Format (continued)
Alignment ➤Align Right Cmd+} Aligns text along the right side of the text field.
Alignment ➤Float Left Floats the image in your message to the left of the text (allowing the text to flow along the right side of the image).
Alignment ➤Float Right Floats the image to the right of the text.
Alignment ➤Remove Float Removes the float from an image. Text will not wrap along the side of the image. This is the default.
Alignment ➤Writing Changes the direction of the text. The default is
Direction left to right, which is most common; however, this
will accommodate languages that flow right to left (including most Semitic languages such as Arabic and Hebrew).
Indentation Opens a submenu that allows you to control the
indentation of text blocks.
Indentation ➤Increase Cmd+] Increases the indentation of text.
Indentation ➤Decrease Cmd+[ Decreases the indentation (and is valid only on indented text).
Quote Level Opens a submenu to allow you to format blocks
of text as quoted text.
Indentation ➤Increase Cmd+' Increases the quote level.
Indentation ➤Decrease Opt+Cmd+' Decreases the quote level.
Make (Plain|Rich) Text Shift+Cmd+T Toggles the formatting of the text in a message from plain text (which is no formatting) to rich text (which is actually formatted using HTML and allows formatted text and images). Traditionally, e-mail was all plain text, and today some people and e-mail clients still prefer it that way.
NOTE When sending a message using rich text from Mail, the Mail application will also include a plain-text version of your message for people who prefer plain text or can’t or won’t except rich text.
Window
Minimize Cmd+M Minimizes the current window into the Dock.
Zoom Zooms the current window.
Message Viewer Selects the Message Viewer window (Mail’s
default window).
Photo Browser Opens Mail’s Photo Browser window that will
allow you to browse iPhoto libraries for images to include in your messages.
Continued CHAPTER 11MAIL, ADDRESS BOOK, AND iCAL 207
Table 11-1.Continued
Item Keyboard Shortcut Description
Window (continued)
Address Panel Opt+Cmd+A Opens a window containing an abbreviated view of contacts from your Address Book, displaying only their names and e-mail addresses.
Previous Recipients Opens a window to keep track of all your
previous message recipients. Whenever you start to type an e-mail address in a To, Cc, or Bcc field, the Mail application will use this list to attempt to autocomplete the name.
Activity Cmd+0 Opens the activity viewer window showing any
background activity taking place in Mail.
Although this is still available, there is now an option to toggle mail activity in the left column of the Message Viewer window.
Connection Doctor Opens a window that will check all the network
connections used by Mail. This will help determine whether a network failure is on your end or on one of your mail servers. This will also help verify that all of your accounts are properly set up and working.
Bring All to Front Brings all of Mail’s open window to the
foreground of the desktop.
Following these Window menu items, there will be a list of your currently open windows to choose from, which will vary depending on how many or what kind of windows you have open in Mail.
NOTE The Help menu contains fairly standard help items for using Mail, so it isn’t covered in this table.
Adding Mail Accounts
The easiest and most effective way to add a new e-mail account is to use the File ➤Add Account menu option that will walk you through adding a new e-mail account step by step. You can also access this account setup walk-through when you add an account from the Accounts tab in Mail’s System Preferences. The information you’ll need to know varies with the type of account and the mail service you use.
The first bit of information you will need to know for all e-mail accounts is your e-mail address and your password (Figure 11-2).
Depending on your account, your name, e-mail address, and password may be all you need.
New in Leopard, Mail will autoconfigure a number of accounts from popular ISPs and e-mail service providers, including .Mac, Gmail, Yahoo, Earthlink, and more. If you get the option to automatically set up an account, select the option, and let Mail do the rest.