Mail on MacBook, very disappointed

[dyn]

1) folders, Outlook lets me set up folders and when emails come in they go directly to each specified folder for that particular person or group.

You can set up some mailboxes (or folders) and use mail rules (aka filters) in mail (settings > rules) so mail from $user ends up in a certain mailbox (folder). I think setting rules is a lot easier in Mail compared to Outlook.

If you have the option to set these rules on the server instead of your mail client do so because it will make life easier. You don't need to set rules in every mail client when you have them on the server. If you have a Mac and an iPhone (not uncommon for MacRumors people ) this is recommended since the iPhone is unable to set rules (mail will end up in your inbox which can be confusing).

2) HTML in the body of the emails that I send, I guess just the capitalization I already mentioned.

As far as capitalising words goes, that would be a setting in the application itself. Since OS X Snow Leopard you can even set these things OS-wide (check out Sky Blue's post). This has the added bonus that you can use it in almost every application (set it once, use it everywhere).

Mind you, using html is not a good thing to do due to a lot of differences in mail clients. Each mail client will render html messages differently causing things to look quite different than intended. When sending from Outlook to Outlook there are no problems (usually) but sending from Outlook to Thunderbird/Seamonkey or Mail will cause some differences in rendering. Thunderbird will most likely display different fonts and different font sizes. Don't expect other mail clients to display your html message the same way Outlook does and vice versa.

Those are the major ones. I do have iWork installed but haven't activated it yet so will that do the editing like I had in my Outlook email?

Editting is entirely done from within Mail (same goes for Thunderbird/Seamonkey). This is also the default behaviour in Outlook but you can set it up to use an external editor like Word (but only when using html/rtf mail). You don't need iWork for things like this.

And you're right...I do miss the Outlook suite...but am willing to do without it if I can get something close on the MacBook. If I buy the OFM 2011, I’m presuming I’d have to install Windows…or not?

No, it will be a Mac-only version, hence the addition "for Mac". The Windows version would be Office 2010.

There is an advantage to having email, calendar, tasks and address book functionality build into 1 application but it also comes with a disadvantage. If you only want to look up an address or view you calendar you need to fire up a big application and select the corresponding feature. When everything is a separate application you only need to launch the corresponding application. Not a big disadvantage but for people with a big mailbox it is.

 

[AnnaCody]

Thanks dyn for all this info. I've never spent much time on my server or provider (I still get those confused) so I'll check that out. I'll probably switch to an iPhone down the road so that's good to know. I did get some Smart Mailboxes set up, much less work then on Windows....one click and I'm done.

I did try Sky Blue's directions for getting the i to capitalize but could not get it to work. Sheesh, how lazy am I that I can't press the bar for capitalizing. (deadwulfe I hear ya) I just thought it was so neat after years of using the typewriter. Good point about the HTML not translating in other people's programs...I've seen that myself.

That's great Outlook will be totally Mac...I am starting to like my new MacBook. ...thanks to all you good folks. I'll have a month or so working with the programs separately...I might like it better that way as you say.

Thanks again for all this info,
Anna

 

[LoneRider]

On a Mac you can certainly edit in any word processor you want, select the text, and do Services->New Email from Selection.

As a new Mac user, coming over from Windows, THIS is a huge tip seems to work in just about every application.


Thanks, I'll be using that a lot

 

[MrCheeto]

I have still to get used to the shock of finding something in OS X that is so simple yet effective. It just makes you smack yourself and say, "well DUH! Of course it works that way!"

 

[bigmacman]

Just occurred to me that I haven't used an email program at home for the last six years...

 

[LAS.mac]

I use Mail since more than 2 years ago, when I changed to mac (after 12 years of win).
Overall, I'm quite satisfied, it does what I need it for, no frills.
I really don't understand what people does not like about Mail, why several "require" Outlook. I feel Mail is quite well integrated with Calendar; and with Mail Iconizer it manages the attachments very well.

 

[AnnaCody]

2. HTML has nothing to do with the capitalization issue. Open the System Preferences on your Mac, and select Language and Text. Click the 'Text' heading. Add a new substitution Replace i with I. Go back to Mail, compose a new email. From the menu bar along the top of the screen, choose Edit > Substitutions > Text Replacement. Now the i at the start of the sentence will be replaced with I.

Sky Blue: it worked!!! Now if it would just capitalize the first word of each sentence I'd be really happy

Thanks so much!
Anna

 

[MrCheeto]

I simply love laze enablers. Let's all be lazy forever!

 

[GGJstudios]

Sky Blue: it worked!!! Now if it would just capitalize the first word of each sentence I'd be really happy

Thanks so much!
Anna

I'm still on Leopard, so I don't have the text substitution feature to test with, but here's an idea. If it will allow you to substitute a group of letters, such as replacing ibm with IBM, you could achieve what you're looking for, although it would be tedious. You could set up substitution for the following (without the quotes):

replace ". a" with ". A"
replace ". b" with ". B"
replace ". c" with ". C"
replace "! a" with "! A"
replace "! b" with "! B"
replace "! c" with "! C"

 

[AnnaCody]

I'm still on Leopard, so I don't have the text substitution feature to test with, but here's an idea. If it will allow you to substitute a group of letters, such as replacing ibm with IBM, you could achieve what you're looking for, although it would be tedious. You could set up substitution for the following (without the quotes):

replace ". a" with ". A"
replace ". b" with ". B"
replace ". c" with ". C"
replace "! a" with "! A"
replace "! b" with "! B"
replace "! c" with "! C"

This is a great idea but much too tedious for someone as lazy as I

I'd still like to know why this feature is so difficult to include. It was included FREE on my first laptop in 1998 when MS was providing Word in their basic package. Seems to me a $2000 piece of equipment should have it.....especially one as intuitive (as you all love to say) as Apple.

Next to seeing my first PPC sync info back and forth like magic, this was the other piece of magic that I grew to love. Why should I have to pay another 2C's for such a simple feature? And just when I wanted to stop doing business with MS all together!!

 

[MrCheeto]

Mmmhm, such a small feature should certainly be included in Mac OS by now, right?

Shall we count the features that took Microsoft a decade to emulate? Even the features that Microsoft still doesn't offer?

Sounds like a fair trade-off.

 

[AnnaCody]

Mmmhm, such a small feature should certainly be included in Mac OS by now, right?

YES, it should.

Shall we count the features that took Microsoft a decade to emulate? Even the features that Microsoft still doesn't offer?

Could you name a few...seriously as a newbie I'd like to know.

Sounds like a fair trade-off.

Pending what you list above.

 

[MrCheeto]

Virtual desktops

Linux and OS X have had this for MYAWS and MYAWS now! Well, OS X has only had it for three MYAWS but... you get the idea.

Plug and Play!

How hard is it to integrate this? For years now, if I plug any camera or printer into a Linux machine or my Mac, it just works. (Unless it's not supported. Otherwise it will work off the bat) In some cases, a printer might ask to download a driver but it does so very cleanly, with no need for a separate install process that the user must initiate and run. Whereas, I can't even get my camera to show up in Windows without installing all kinds of proprietary bullcrap. Sure I get the "install drivers for this device" prompt, but dammit I shouldn't have to install a driver for every camera I use!

A half-decent power management scheme, maybe?!

What makes Apple's notebooks excel in battery performance? Partly it's OS X itself! When I run Windows 7 (with appropriate bootcamp drivers) on my MacBook Pro, my battery life cannonballs from 7-8 hours to 4-6 hours!!!! This is basic stuff, Microsoft! Day-one topic! Hello!!!

Best of all, everything just works. It works well and works seamlessly. I simply love how well Mail, iLife, Safari, Finder, iCal, iTunes, iChat, QuickTime and all the other apps (which, btw, are included with every Mac by default! No "Basic" or "Premium" packages!) work together and flow. They just work together and work seamlessly. Using Windows applications is like a fat ass tower of babel, whereas Mac OS X is like a harmonious symphony.

So stop whining!

 

[dyn]

I'd still like to know why this feature is so difficult to include. It was included FREE on my first laptop in 1998 when MS was providing Word in their basic package. Seems to me a $2000 piece of equipment should have it.....especially one as intuitive (as you all love to say) as Apple.

It still amazes me why people want that feature. Capitalising the first letter of each sentence is something that should come naturally. I think Apple agrees with that and is the main reason why OS X doesn't have this option. Some apps do have this option (like OpenOffice.org) so you can use it in that specific application. I like the fact it isn't there in OS X since I consider this to be a retarded "feature" (it's something you can do yourself very easily). Just spent a little bit more time on ones language and one should be fine.

A spell checker is nice to have since it quickly points you at mistakes you made but I wouldn't want it to auto-correct it for me on my desktop/laptop. On a small device like my iPhone I find the auto-correct useful as it enables me to type faster and with less characters. This same feature can be found in OpenOffice.org and it makes typing long documents a bit easier (especially in Dutch since we can have quite long words (we sometimes glue words together)). However automatising the capitalisation of the first letter of a sentence does not give you much advantage over manually capitalising the first letter of a sentence.

Having the OS do something that should come naturally is not very intuitive imo.

 

[talmy]

It still amazes me why people want that feature. Capitalising the first letter of each sentence is something that should come naturally.

It might depend on one's age. I'm 61 and learned "keyboarding" on a manual typewriter. No auto-correct anything there! So I reflexively capitalize the first letter in a sentence, the word "I", and proper nouns. I did have to un-learn hitting the space bar twice after a sentence.

Someone learning keyboarding with a modern word processor might simply rely on the auto-correct features, so it comes as a shock to use an application that doesn't do it.

 

[arjen92]

Oh yeah? Do you sync iMail from your M.A.C. to your iTouch?

Always But gmail is really great to have your mail everywhere, on my iPod touch, macbook pro or where ever I go.

But I still need to set my agenda and notes proper.

 

[AnnaCody]

Having the OS do something that should come naturally is not very intuitive imo.

Then why is my grandson, who is in 1st grade, bringing home worksheets teaching him to capitalize the first word of each sentence? How rude that his teacher doesn't respect the intuitiveness of her students

Capitalising the first letter of each sentence is something that should come naturally. I think Apple agrees with that and is the main reason why OS X doesn't have this option.

It only becomes "natural" after years of doing it.

Saying it's intuitive is a lame excuse imo

 

[AnnaCody]

Virtual desktops

Linux and OS X have had this for MYAWS and MYAWS now! Well, OS X has only had it for three MYAWS but... you get the idea.

Plug and Play!

How hard is it to integrate this? For years now, if I plug any camera or printer into a Linux machine or my Mac, it just works. (Unless it's not supported. Otherwise it will work off the bat) In some cases, a printer might ask to download a driver but it does so very cleanly, with no need for a separate install process that the user must initiate and run. Whereas, I can't even get my camera to show up in Windows without installing all kinds of proprietary bullcrap. Sure I get the "install drivers for this device" prompt, but dammit I shouldn't have to install a driver for every camera I use!

A half-decent power management scheme, maybe?!

What makes Apple's notebooks excel in battery performance? Partly it's OS X itself! When I run Windows 7 (with appropriate bootcamp drivers) on my MacBook Pro, my battery life cannonballs from 7-8 hours to 4-6 hours!!!! This is basic stuff, Microsoft! Day-one topic! Hello!!!

Best of all, everything just works. It works well and works seamlessly. I simply love how well Mail, iLife, Safari, Finder, iCal, iTunes, iChat, QuickTime and all the other apps (which, btw, are included with every Mac by default! No "Basic" or "Premium" packages!) work together and flow. They just work together and work seamlessly. Using Windows applications is like a fat ass tower of babel, whereas Mac OS X is like a harmonious symphony.

thanks for the input

So stop whining!

you got it ace