the new Mail.app

[howard]

I was really hoping the new mail app would have a triple paned window instead of that split thing, or at least the option to have your to from subject area vertical next to the actual message.

aside from that, i think it looks slightly better than the old mail... though i liked the really hold screenshot they had better. at least the mailboxes arn't in a drawer.

 

[mad jew]

Yeah, I' really not a big fan of the drawer in Mail but the Tiger version doesn't look all that much better IMO. I'll still keep using it though. After all, it's a pretty neat program.

 

[howard]

i'm pretty excited about the smart folders to... to see what came in in the last few days or whatever.

i want to make a smart folder that automatically puts emails that i've read but need to reply to in it. i wonder if thats possible. kinda like the thing outlook has

 

[TigerPRO]

Does anyone else besides me think the new Mail interface utterly wretched? I'm going to have to pull myself together to force myself to use it. Although I'm sure I'll get use to it eventually. But it just that it's *looks* so chunky and doesn't resemble ANY other Mac OS X program. It's an ugly style in my opinion. Several months ago everyone said that "Tiger is not done", and "the interface hasn't been polished yet"; well, it hasn't improved, and Tiger is being released. I don't know what Apple designers are thinking when they let these things out the door.

But inspite of that harsh rubuke, I do have to take my hat off to their team that does user interface structuring. While I don't care for the styles, color, and shapes of the new mail, I do think the layout is excellent. Apple programs have also been very neat and well-thought-out in that way.

 

[sorryiwasdreami]

I like Panther mail and I'll be sure to use Tiger's mail.app, no doubt. The interface does look a bit like Outlook with the light blue buttons and mailbox bar to the left side, so I can see where you guys are coming from with the "wretched" look.

But I think the search and organizational features are going to make up for it. And who knows, someone may make something to skin the app, or Tiger may include 2 different interfaces like they do with some of the other cocoa apps.

 

[sorryiwasdreami]

Does anyone know a method to import Outlook mail into Mac mail.app? I've been searching and really can't come up with a way to do it. It would be taking an Outlook .pst mail archive and opening it with mail.

Maybe Tiger mail will be able to import it?

 

[TigerPRO]

Does anyone know a method to import Outlook mail into Mac mail.app? I've been searching and really can't come up with a way to do it. It would be taking an Outlook .pst mail archive and opening it with mail.

Maybe Tiger mail will be able to import it?

If I'm undestanding your need, I think you can do this right now in Mail. From the file menu chose "Import Mailboxes". That "wizard" (for lack of a better word) will guide you through setting up many different kinds of imported mailboxes.

 

[sorryiwasdreami]

If I'm undestanding your need, I think you can do this right now in Mail. From the file menu chose "Import Mailboxes". That "wizard" (for lack of a better word) will guide you through setting up many different kinds of imported mailboxes.

Yes, but you can only import the following:

Microsoft Entourage
Outlook Express
Claris Emailer
Netscape/Mozilla
Eudora
Mail for Mac
Other

There isn't an option for Microsoft Outlook. Is there an Outlook Express for Mac?

 

[mowogg]

PST Importer

Yes, but you can only import the following:

Microsoft Entourage
Outlook Express
Claris Emailer
Netscape/Mozilla
Eudora
Mail for Mac
Other

There isn't an option for Microsoft Outlook. Is there an Outlook Express for Mac?

If you have Entourage you can do it in a two-step process. Microsoft has provided a PST importer for Entourage whicj will extract the emails out of Outlook and will import them into Entourage. From there, you can use Mail.app to import them from Entourage. A little work, but not too bad. If you don't have Entourage, it won't work I'm pretty sure.

 

[jim.]

Does anyone else besides me think the new Mail interface utterly wretched? I'm going to have to pull myself together to force myself to use it. Although I'm sure I'll get use to it eventually. But it just that it's *looks* so chunky and doesn't resemble ANY other Mac OS X program. It's an ugly style in my opinion. Several months ago everyone said that "Tiger is not done", and "the interface hasn't been polished yet"; well, it hasn't improved, and Tiger is being released. I don't know what Apple designers are thinking when they let these things out the door.

I agree totally. When I first saw the new mail.app, I wondered how I was going to use something so ugly. I mean, aesthetics are important after all if you use something constantly. I think the only thing I really don't like about the interface is the toolbar buttons. I like the simplicity of the toolbar that we have in Panther. The new UI backdrop I can deal with. I actually kind of like the gradient look.

Jim

 

[iGary]

I personally really like the new interface, especially the smart folders (that was way behind the times) and the Spotlight interface.

I Think I may actually keep most of my e-mails now.

Looks really nice.

It also appear that the undelying 10.2 stripes on the menu bars and elsewhere are finally disappearing. Yay!

I like brushed metal.

 

[Brize]

Does anyone else besides me think the new Mail interface utterly wretched?

Yep, I'm with you on that. Still, they put a grey wheel on the iPod, so we shouldn't be too surprised.

 

[jim.]

It also appear that the undelying 10.2 stripes on the menu bars and elsewhere are finally disappearing. Yay!

I like brushed metal.

Yep, I'm glad the stripes are gone. They aren't as noticeable on my PB as they are on my wife's ibook, but I still don't like them there. I like brushed metal and aqua. In fact I'm one of the few that likes having the opposing textures in my running apps. Dunno why, it just looks a whole lot better than just one or the other.

I'm also glad that they are toning down the apple menu icon. I don't like the shiny, bubbly apple in my corner. Something a little more muted is right up my alley.

I'm going to stop before I hijack this thread.

Jim

 

[shidoshi]

I like the new look of Mail.app, except for the new toolbar buttons - they look absolutely terrible, and clash with every other toolbar example in Mac OSX. I have no clue what Apple is thinking on that one.

Day one when I get Tiger, I'm digging into Mail.app and seeing if I can change those buttons.

 

[one3]

I like the new look of Mail.app, except for the new toolbar buttons - they look absolutely terrible, and clash with every other toolbar example in Mac OSX. I have no clue what Apple is thinking on that one.

Day one when I get Tiger, I'm digging into Mail.app and seeing if I can change those buttons.

Hahaha ... that's funny! ... and true. That was my first thought too ..... "It's great that Tiger has over 200 new features, but can I change those Mail.app buttons?"

Standarization of their interface is something Apple should really put some renewed efforts into. It was great with the early releases of OS X ... but with each new release their standards seem to be 'loosening'.

 

[anonymous161]

What the hell is that?
I haven't looked at mail.app until just now- it looks a wayward linux app.

Why has apple fractured the interface so much? One of things I really enjoyed about 10.1 was the uniform look of the interface. Then the lines began to disappear- ok i didn't really miss those- and then brushed metal came along on some apps only. Its starting to look like other operating systems, with each program having its own look. Not cool. Like one3 said, Apple needs to put some more effort into bringing this all together- just don't make everything look like mail.
On a side note- has anyone noticed how much of the new stuff in Tiger is showing up in the contextual (ie right-click) menu? Like Open With? I guess it will be more welcoming to windows users, but the damn menu takes up the whole screen.

 

[TigerPRO]

It also appear that the undelying 10.2 stripes on the menu bars and elsewhere are finally disappearing. Yay!

I like brushed metal.

Let me ask you a question. Would you like brushed metal menus?

 

[TigerPRO]

I like the new look of Mail.app, except for the new toolbar buttons - they look absolutely terrible, and clash with every other toolbar example in Mac OSX. I have no clue what Apple is thinking on that one.

Day one when I get Tiger, I'm digging into Mail.app and seeing if I can change those buttons.

Yeah, the toolbar buttons are really all I'm complaining about. I hope there is an easy way to tweak the interface. Or maybe at least someone will make a hack to get the good toolbar buttons back. In any case, I'm considering backing up a copy of the old Mail, and seeing if it'll work in Tiger. I'm probably going to be able to tolerate it, but just in case I can't, I won't be tortured.

Am I being to picky about these things? It seems like most people don't even notice that the toobar is different! They would use it if it was pink.

 

[Logik]

i'm pretty excited about the smart folders to... to see what came in in the last few days or whatever.

i want to make a smart folder that automatically puts emails that i've read but need to reply to in it. i wonder if thats possible. kinda like the thing outlook has

I really wish this was possible, however I'm not sure if Mail allows you to mark mail messages for reply. Otherwise it would be simple as pie. I guess you could mark those mails as like Urgent or something like that, then setup a smart folder based on that... however I'm not so sure I would want to use "Urgent" for that ya know?

EDIT:

correctly, you can mark it as "Flagged" not "Urgent"

so, with that said, you can mark the mail as Flagged, then setup a smart folder for flagged mails, and non-replied to easy as that.

 

[ct77]

A little odd

The new look for Mail.app looks little strange to me, especially the negative space in the top left corner.

But, I'm sure I'll get used to it.

 

[bluebomberman]

Does anyone know a method to import Outlook mail into Mac mail.app? I've been searching and really can't come up with a way to do it. It would be taking an Outlook .pst mail archive and opening it with mail.

Maybe Tiger mail will be able to import it?

Here's some links that have a few answers.

http://www.macosx.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-25787.html
http://www.reitter-it-media.de/software/osxhints.html

I ended up using The Bat! to convert all my Outlook Express mailboxes (which has the same file format as Outlook, I think) to the Unix standard mbox format on my Dell Inspiron PIII 600 laptop with a busted keyboard, intermittent hangups during bootup, and Windows ME. Frankly, it sucked. Transferring all my files from my PC to Mac took about an hour; prepping several years' worth of email and transferring the files took over five hours!

Mileage varies, I guess, depending on how fast your PC is and how much email you have to convert first.

 

[TheWitePony]

The new look for Mail.app looks little strange to me, especially the negative space in the top left corner.

But, I'm sure I'll get used to it.

Yeah, hopefully when you customize the toolbar you can utilize all that space, otherwise that would be horrible inefficient with regards to UI design.

 

[TigerPRO]

Yeah, hopefully when you customize the toolbar you can utilize all that space, otherwise that would be horrible inefficient with regards to UI design.

I'm sure you'll at least be able to move those toolbar buttons over. That empty space is probably just a couple toolbar spacers. I'm wondering what the "hide toolbar" button in the uppder right hand corner of the window will do. Or actually, "no!", I don't wonder; I don't even want to know!

 

[ja0912]

Agreed. Those icons with that blank space are horrible. Luckily they should be easily correctable by either toolbar settings or a re-skin of the app like those that exist for iTunes and such.

 

[TigerPRO]

Agreed. Those icons with that blank space are horrible. Luckily they should be easily correctable by either toolbar settings or a re-skin of the app like those that exist for iTunes and such.

A reskin would be great. And I'll bet it'll be one of the first for Tiger.