bullets and numbering in mail.app

[mtfield]

My dad is a recent convert to the mac from a pc and outlook. He really likes it but is having trouble with putting in bullets after he writes a block of text... here are the emails we have shot back and forth... any help on them would be much appreciated thanks a lot!


"On Jul 5, 2008, at 1:15 AM, wrote:

Hey dad,
I was looking at your list thing and the easiest way to do it is just to go Format (at the top of your screen next to file, edit, view, etc.)->List->Insert Bullet/Numbered List. It seemed to be pretty quick and easy.. Is that the way you've been doing it?


Tanner-
Yeah, that's OK if, as you're writing, you know you want to list a few things. The problem comes when you don't realize you need to bullet the points until after you've written the entire e-mail. When using outlook, all you have to do is highlight the text and hit the bullet button up on the screen along with bold, italic and underline. But with Mail, you have to go into format, select the option, then backspace all the items into it. BIG PAIN unless there is an easier way. For example, try to go back into this e-mail and make numbered sentences out of the already written text. There must be a short cut, but I don't know it."

 

[clevin]

if mail.app isn't a must for him, there are always other options. such as Mozilla Thunderbird

 

[GGJstudios]

A workaround is to copy the list, paste it into TextEdit, add the bullets or numbers there, copy and paste back in the email. Not as efficient, but it works.

 

[mtfield]

Yea, I told him about the alternatives.. but he is quite a stubborn person and likes the program except for that part... so there just isn't a way to do it in the program then?

 

[robbieduncan]

I can't find a way to convert a selection in Mail. Which is quite frustrating as you can convert it in Text Edit so it should be possible. Submit a feature request to Apple: it should be possible but is not.

It almost seems like something that could be AppleScripted but I'm not 100% sure...

 

[mtfield]

I can't find a way to convert a selection in Mail. Which is quite frustrating as you can convert it in Text Edit so it should be possible. Submit a feature request to Apple: it should be possible but is not.

It almost seems like something that could be AppleScripted but I'm not 100% sure...

Yea that's what I thought.. seems frustrating that you can do it in equivalent programs outside of mail (even apple's own programs) seems like just an oversight maybe??? I'm putting in the request to apple.. thanks for the suggestion!

 

[robbieduncan]

Choose "Lists" and drag that to your desired place in Toolbar and press "Done"

Unfortunately we know that. What we want to do is turn some already entered text into a list.

So if I typed

I
Want
A
List

and then realised I had not done the insert bulleted list I can't turn the existing text into a list.

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

Unfortunately we know that. What we want to do is turn some already entered text into a list.

So if I typed

I
Want
A
List

and then realised I had not done the insert bulleted list I can't turn the existing text into a list.

I know that...now...after re-reading the thread once more and testing everything out accordingly...

I blame the fact that it has been a very long and warm day here, which resulted in me being way too slow at deleting my long post before anybody noticed it...

(And I think it used to work the way it should before... hmm... maybe I should try on my iBook, which still runs Tiger...but then again it's more than likely that I'm just delirious from sleep depravation... )

Edit: Well if it was there once, it must have been removed before Tiger, because I couldn't even find Lists there... So I might be thinking of Thunderbird or possibly Eudora, which I used ages ago...

 

[uly]

Has he considered using simple asterisks?

Like:

* Your
* Dad
* Wants A
* List

This way he can add/remove them as he types, and he doesn't have to take his hands off the keyboard. Some recipient email programs may automatically convert them into full bullets as well.

 

[robbieduncan]

(And I think it used to work the way it should before... hmm... maybe I should try on my iBook, which still runs Tiger...)

Oooh, that would be very annoying! I must admit it's not something I've tried to do, but I'd expect it to work...

 

[MamaWildBear]

Bullets are available in Mac Mail, just not obvious

This has bugged me for some time until I realize there is no icon for it when you are composing a message but it is available in the menu. When in the body of your message, choose Format - Lists from the menu and then select Insert Bulleted List or Insert Numbered List. You can also customize the New Message toolbar to add an icon for it. I have Mail 3.5.

 

[GGJstudios]

This has bugged me for some time until I realize there is no icon for it when you are composing a message but it is available in the menu. When in the body of your message, choose Format - Lists from the menu and then select Insert Bulleted List or Insert Numbered List. You can also customize the New Message toolbar to add an icon for it. I have Mail 3.5.

Nice bump of a 4 month old thread, but the OP already knows about the Format > Lists command. If you re-read the original question, they were looking for a way to add bullets after the list was created.

 

[MamaWildBear]

Yeah, I subsequently realized that after I did what I always do and typed my list first and then went to bullet it. Quite annoying. I had to bullet the first line and then go to the end of each line, delete the return and re-add it to get the bullet. Really cumbersome.

 

[atrevino]

This is an easy way to do it:

Copy the "bulleted" text, then paste using "shift-option-command-v" all together at the same time.

The text will be pasted without the bullets.

Regards!!!

Arturo

 

[GGJstudios]

Copy the "bulleted" text, then paste using "shift-option-command-v" all together at the same time.
The text will be pasted without the bullets.
Regards!!!
Arturo

So you join the forum and use your first and only post to revive a 2 year old thread to post something that doesn't apply to the discussion. Genius! The thread is about adding bullets to a list already made, not removing bullets. Please read threads before posting.

 

[mcp1999]

Copy the "bulleted" text, then paste using "shift-option-command-v" all together at the same time.

The text will be pasted without the bullets.

Regards!!!

Arturo

Fantastic. Just what I needed. Thanks for your help.