Setting up my MBA...two questions...

[davistld01]

Please don't flame me for my newbie ignorance...but, I've got my new (to me) 2013 MBA pretty much set up aside from two huge frustrations. I'm running Yosemite, by the way.

1. How do I change how my contacts are displayed? I want them alphabetized by first names...but they are done by last name now. I cannot find a way to change it.

2. My mailbox only displays my iCloud emails. I want my Gmail personal account emails to be added so I can switch between the two account inboxes. I do not want them combined. I've looked & looked for a way, but I see none.

Thanks for your help.

 

[Meister]

About 2.:
The mail app that comes with your macbook is very bad.
Purchase airmail. It let's you easily do what you are trying to accomplish and has worked reliably for me.

 

[drsox]

Please don't flame me for my newbie ignorance...but, I've got my new (to me) 2013 MBA pretty much set up aside from two huge frustrations. I'm running Yosemite, by the way.

1. How do I change how my contacts are displayed? I want them alphabetized by first names...but they are done by last name now. I cannot find a way to change it.

2. My mailbox only displays my iCloud emails. I want my Gmail personal account emails to be added so I can switch between the two account inboxes. I do not want them combined. I've looked & looked for a way, but I see none.

Thanks for your help.

1. Enter your contacts as Company Names (!), then they will be listed in alpha order from the first character of the first name. I had the same problem and this was all I could find as a solution. I'm still on Mavericks.

2. I have 2 email accounts, one POP and the other WebMail. Both are listed in Mail as 2 different folders under Inbox, Sent and Trash.

 

[davistld01]

1. Enter your contacts as Company Names (!), then they will be listed in alpha order from the first character of the first name. I had the same problem and this was all I could find as a solution. I'm still on Mavericks.

2. I have 2 email accounts, one POP and the other WebMail. Both are listed in Mail as 2 different folders under Inbox, Sent and Trash.

Got my Gmail account hooked up...but to go and re-enter all my contacts as company names (over 1000) is time consuming & completely bogus. Neither my iPhone or iPad require that...why does a $1000+ Mac require it? I'm not saying you're wrong...but this doesn't sount right. There has to be an easier & softer way.

 

[jdechko]

1) Contacts Preferences, there's a drop down box that says "Sort By"... Change it to First Name. (Just checked and it's definitely on Yosemite, but I'm fairly certain it's there on previous versions as well)

2) In the Mail sidebar, there are entries for each account, plus a single unified mailbox.

Also, MacRumors is a fairly accepting community. Although there are always jerks in every group, the majority of the members are here to help and wont flame you for asking simple questions. After all, we were once noobs too.

 

[drsox]

1) Contacts Preferences, there's a drop down box that says "Sort By"... Change it to First Name. (Just checked and it's definitely on Yosemite, but I'm fairly certain it's there on previous versions as well)

Yes, you're right. Doesn't completely solve my problem though as I have some company names listed as the name of the person I remember to contact, so I'll have to keep doing that for these companies.

WHAT ? I hear you ask. Here's an example.

Bill The Builder is listed under B
Fred The Treeman under F
etc

 

[jdechko]

Yes, you're right. Doesn't completely solve my problem though as I have some company names listed as the name of the person I remember to contact, so I'll have to keep doing that for these companies.

WHAT ? I hear you ask. Here's an example.

Bill The Builder is listed under B
Fred The Treeman under F
etc

Gotcha. I though you were suggesting to the OP that the persons name would completely go in the company field. IE:

"John Smith" would be entered as:

First Name:
Last Name:
Company Name: John Smith

For certain contacts, I agree that there are merits to your method. However, for most contacts, if you want to sort by first name, using the built-in preference is the way to go. Of course, with the great migration from dumbphones to smartphones, several people still just have "Name" which is both. That's a mess.

 

[Mo42]

Yes, you're right. Doesn't completely solve my problem though as I have some company names listed as the name of the person I remember to contact, so I'll have to keep doing that for these companies.

WHAT ? I hear you ask. Here's an example.

Bill The Builder is listed under B
Fred The Treeman under F
etc

I title some of my contacts in the same way, listing the name of the person and associate the thing that I know them for. I also use the list first name first preference (set this way on Mac, iPhone, and iPad).

What has worked for me is rethinking how to approach the title. For me, I had a hard time remembering Bill was a builder. But when I need a builder, I want to find Bill. So I changed the order of the the contact name, now listed as Builder (Bill), or Tree Man (Fred).

So some of the items listed in contacts are people that I know, friends family and co-workers, who are listed first name first. Other things listed are just that, things, and when I open it I will find the name and number of what I need for that thing.

This is works for me - good luck on whatever you decide to do.

 

[jdechko]

I title some of my contacts in the same way, listing the name of the person and associate the thing that I know them for. I also use the list first name first preference (set this way on Mac, iPhone, and iPad).

What has worked for me is rethinking how to approach the title. For me, I had a hard time remembering Bill was a builder. But when I need a builder, I want to find Bill. So I changed the order of the the contact name, now listed as Builder (Bill), or Tree Man (Fred).

So some of the items listed in contacts are people that I know, friends family and co-workers, who are listed first name first. Other things listed are just that, things, and when I open it I will find the name and number of what I need for that thing.

This is works for me - good luck on whatever you decide to do.

I'm also genuinely curious if something is wrong with search and why you wouldn't want to use that instead.

Just type in Tree Man or Builder and have it search for you. All of the notes and metadata about a person can be useful.