"Mail" seems inferior to "Outlook Express"

[novetan]

I used to Microsoft Outlook Express and below are questions on the default Mail.

1) I have a signature but whenever I click New Message (meaning to compose a mail), the signature isn't there. I have to everytime click on the right signature box to have the signature pasted.

I want my signature to be there always after one click when composing a mail. Have I missed any step in my setup?

2) There seems we cannot sort mail in ascending or descending order. The nearest is by date recieved or sent which is not exactly ascending or descending. Again, have I miss it?

Thanks for help

 

[Bisz]

Ok, I'll bite... ascending and descending what?

Ascending and descending are just descriptions of how something is sorted, not what is sorted. So sorting something by the date it was sent or received is sorting ascending/descending... by date.

 

[Tumbleweed666]

I used to Microsoft Outlook Express and below are questions on the default Mail.

1) I have a signature but whenever I click New Message (meaning to compose a mail), the signature isn't there. I have to everytime click on the right signature box to have the signature pasted.

I want my signature to be there always after one click when composing a mail. Have I missed any step in my setup?

You must have missed something but there arent really any steps I can think of so I am at a loss to think of why it doesn't come up unless you have "none" selected in the drop down box ?

2) There seems we cannot sort mail in ascending or descending order. The nearest is by date recieved or sent which is not exactly ascending or descending. Again, have I miss it?

click on any of the headings, such as, from, date , subject, etc and it switches between ascending and descending order of that column.

 

[novetan]

Ok, I'll bite... ascending and descending what?

Ascending and descending are just descriptions of how something is sorted, not what is sorted. So sorting something by the date it was sent or received is sorting ascending/descending... by date.

If you choose either sort by date sent or date receieved in Mail, the latest date is always right at the bottom. Its never at the top. So if we want to retrieve it, we always have to scoll all the way down. In Outlook and let say we sort by Descending under Sent, then the latest sent date will always be on top without scrolling all the way down. Seems like Mail don't have this option.

Can someone testify I miss something as I'm new to Mail.

You must have missed something but there arent really any steps I can think of so I am at a loss to think of why it doesn't come up unless you have "none" selected in the drop down box ?
.

The signature box did appear at the right box and I can click it to have it imprinted in the mail. But that means I have to do one more step everytime I want to compose a mail, right? That goes the same as forwarding mail which I always have to click the signature box one more time.

What I mean was how come its not always auto generated?

 

[Lone Deranger]

If you choose either sort by date sent or date receieved in Mail, the latest date is always right at the bottom. Its never at the top. So if we want to retrieve it, we always have to scoll all the way down. In Outlook and let say we sort by Descending under Sent, then the latest sent date will always be on top without scrolling all the way down. Seems like Mail don't have this option.

Can someone testify I miss something as I'm new to Mail.

Click twice on a tab to reverse the order.

 

[Tumbleweed666]

Can someone testify I miss something as I'm new to Mail.

You are missing something. Every time you click on a column header it switches between ascending/descending. There is a little triangle in the column heading to show you which way its currently sorting.

The signature box did appear at the right box and I can click it to have it imprinted in the mail. But that means I have to do one more step everytime I want to compose a mail, right?

Wrong Once you have set a signature up its automatically added every time you create a new mail if you have selected it to do that. I suspect in preferences you have selected "none" against your email account. Go into preferences, signatures, click on the account name, click on the signature you want for every mail.

That goes the same as forwarding mail which I always have to click the signature box one more time. What I mean was how come its not always auto generated?

As per above, it is if you select the right option in preferences which you obviously haven't done.

 

[Makosuke]

Click twice on a tab to reverse the order.

It's worth noting that this works in more or less any Mac app, period--the first click on a column header sorts by it, the second click on the same header sorts in the opposite direction. Most apps (Mail included) will display a small triangle to the right of the column header name showing you which direction it's currently being sorted--up or down.

I actually thought Windows used the same sort order selection mechanism, but I guess I'm remembering wrong.

As for your signature problem, I can't figure out why you're not getting it automatically with a new message, either--I certainly do. Are you sure that, under the "Signatures" tab of Mail's preferences you have the signature you want at the top of the list corresponding to your main mail account? It's possible you created a signature but didn't actually apply it to the mail account--I assume you'll get nothing as the default if you don't do that.

 

[novetan]

Wrong Once you have set a signature up its automatically added every time you create a new mail if you have selected it to do that. I suspect in preferences you have selected "none" against your email account. Go into preferences, signatures, click on the account name, click on the signature you want for every mail.

As per above, it is if you select the right option in preferences which you obviously haven't done.

Thank you. Surely I've missed a step. Its ok now. Thanks alot

 

[novetan]

It's worth noting that this works in more or less any Mac app, period--the first click on a column header sorts by it, the second click on the same header sorts in the opposite direction. Most apps (Mail included) will display a small triangle to the right of the column header name showing you which direction it's currently being sorted--up or down.

I actually thought Windows used the same sort order selection mechanism, but I guess I'm remembering wrong.

As for your signature problem, I can't figure out why you're not getting it automatically with a new message, either--I certainly do. Are you sure that, under the "Signatures" tab of Mail's preferences you have the signature you want at the top of the list corresponding to your main mail account? It's possible you created a signature but didn't actually apply it to the mail account--I assume you'll get nothing as the default if you don't do that.

I missed the small little triangle thing. I kept on right click the mouse and found nothing. All ok now.


BTW, this one I think I didn't miss any. How to include "read receipt"

 

[Tumbleweed666]

BTW, this one I think I didn't miss any. How to include "read receipt"

You are correct, whilst it can be done its a PITA to set up, its a workaround, and also it will apply to all emails, not just specific ones, which is what you normally would want.

You might want to try Thunderbird instead of mail, its a pretty good email client (I'd say better than Mail) and it does have this, frankly very basic feature that Mac Mail should have. But doesn't.

If read receipt is something you "must have", I'd say Tbird is the way to go. Though I take it you are aware that RR is something the mail system you are sending to can ignore if it wishes to?

 

[novetan]

You are correct, whilst it can be done its a PITA to set up, its a workaround, and also it will apply to all emails, not just specific ones, which is what you normally would want.

You might want to try Thunderbird instead of mail, its a pretty good email client (I'd say better than Mail) and it does have this, frankly very basic feature that Mac Mail should have. But doesn't.

If read receipt is something you "must have", I'd say Tbird is the way to go. Though I take it you are aware that RR is something the mail system you are sending to can ignore if it wishes to?

Any idea will there be an update version?

Yeah, sometimes I don't reply RR myself.

 

[Makosuke]

I kept on right click the mouse and found nothing.

It's again worth noting, for future reference, that while many, many Mac apps have very useful right-click menus, on Apple apps (and almost all others) there will NEVER be a feature that you can only access through a right click. That is to say, even if it is available via a right-click menu, you'll be able to do the same thing either via a left click, a visible, left-clickable button, or a regular menu.

If by "Any idea will there be an update version?" you meant an update to add RR support to Mail.app, I would guess never. It was never a popular feature, it's gotten less and less used over time (I haven't seen a message with a RR for literally years), Gmail doesn't support them and apparently never will (nor does most other webmail that I'm aware of), and the chances of Apple adding a fading, limited-utility feature to their mail client are between slim and none unless they actually plan to do something new and innovative with it.

So if you really need RR, I'd try Thunderbird (it's a nice client, and in ways feels a lot like Outlook for Windows), or maybe Outlook Mac once Office 2011 ships in a few weeks. Personally, I'd reconsider how useful they are at all.