Some individuals obtain and preserve zero unread emails; some let that purple badge climb into the hundreds. It’s by no means too late — you possibly can grow to be a type of clear inbox individuals like me. What may help you alongside the best way to Inbox Zero are these six suggestions in Apple’s personal Mail app for iPhone and Mac that you simply may not have identified about.
Nicely, past the apparent Tip Quantity 0: It’s best to all the time hit the Unsubscribe button on the backside of each unsolicited promotional electronic mail as quickly as you get the primary one. After you kill all these undesirable subscriptions, these six lesser-known options of the Apple Mail app will make you a real professional at managing your electronic mail.
Secret options in Apple Mail app
When you’re too busy to learn our roundup of lesser-known Apple Mail app suggestions, you possibly can watch our fast video:
No. 1: Redirect as a substitute of Ahead
Think about somebody sends you an electronic mail that must be handed alongside to another person, however you don’t wish to be concerned within the dialog anymore. There’s a greater approach to deal with this — Redirect. It will take away you from the dialog from right here on out, so that you’re now not on the whim of everybody else within the chain. In accordance with Apple Assist, “Solely the handle of the unique sender is proven to the recipient, and the recipient’s reply goes solely to the unique sender.”
Screenshot: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
To allow this on the Mac, it’s good to add a Redirect button to the Mail toolbar. Proper-click (or maintain the Management key) on the toolbar and click on Customise Toolbar. Click on and drag the Redirect button into the toolbar. Sadly, this function has not made its approach to the iPhone or iPad. Perhaps we’ll see it in iOS 19. 🤞
No. 2: Customise the swipe gestures in Apple’s Mail app
I not often delete emails; I’m a serial archiver. Actually, I’m all the time alarmed after I arrange a brand new gadget and discover the default swipe-left motion tries to Delete as a substitute of Archive. And NetNewsWire, my beloved RSS consumer, has skilled me to make use of swipe-right as Mark Unread.
Perhaps your mind works completely in another way and you discover holding on to all of your outdated electronic mail horrifying. Fortunately, we are able to all have what we would like if we customise the swipe actions in Apple’s Mail app.
Screenshot: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
On the iPhone and iPad, go to Settings > Mail > Swipe Choices. You’ll be able to set completely different actions for left and proper swipes. I like to recommend retaining it constant together with your Mac settings so that you don’t get confused.
On the Mac, hit ⌘, (the shortcut is definitely command-comma) or go to Mail > Settings within the menu bar. Click on the Viewing tab. Sadly, you possibly can’t actually customise which swipe motion does what. Swipe-right all the time toggles Learn or Unread; swipe-left all the time discards the message. However you possibly can decide whether or not discarded messages go to Archive or Trash.
No. 3: Activate further mail classes
Screenshot: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
Swipe again in your checklist of emails and you will note an inventory of mailboxes with all the standard suspects: Flagged, Unread, Archive, and many others. However should you faucet Edit within the prime proper, you possibly can customise this checklist.
You’ll be able to activate sensible folders that present your muted threads, electronic mail that got here in right now, electronic mail with attachments, despatched mail you must observe up on, and emails from VIP contacts. I feel these are probably the most helpful ones, though there are a number of extra you possibly can select from.
No. 4: Compact multi-window mode on Mac model of the Apple Mail app
Screenshot: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
The total three-column format in Apple’s Mail app can take up lots of your Mac’s display house. When you use a 13-inch MacBook Air, you may not need the mailbox checklist and the e-mail preview on the display on a regular basis.
To alter issues up, hover your cursor over the divider between the 2 columns. Click on and drag it in order that the preview column disappears. You are able to do the identical factor for the sidebar (or simply go to View > Cover Sidebar). Then, you possibly can shrink down the Mail window to a lot smaller than earlier than.
To open an electronic mail, double-click it within the checklist. It’ll open in a brand new window which you could transfer round, resize and shut fully independently of the message checklist. You’ll be able to simply have a bunch of emails facet by facet. To navigate completely different mailboxes like Despatched and Archive, you need to use the keyboard shortcuts ⌘1 to ⌘7.
No. 5: See a number of emails without delay in Apple Mail app on iPhone and iPad
Screenshot: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
Within the Mail app on the iPhone, the New Mail window slides up and takes over the entire display. However what if you wish to return and have a look at a unique electronic mail for reference? What if it’s good to compose a number of emails without delay? There’s a simple approach to view a number of emails without delay. Simply swipe down on the pop-up and maintain looking the app. Come again to it at any time by tapping on the minimized title bar.
Actually, you possibly can compose one other electronic mail on the identical time. Faucet on the title bar on the backside to see every little thing you might have open and swap between your drafts.
No. 6: Larger previews
Screenshot: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
By default, the messages checklist of the Apple Mail app exhibits two traces of textual content to preview the contents of the e-mail. You would possibly wish to see extra; you may not want electronic mail previews in any respect. Fortunately, it’s straightforward to customise precisely how a lot or how little of a preview you see. On the iPhone and iPad, go to Settings > Mail > Preview and set it anyplace from None to 5 Strains. On the Mac, that’s in Mail > Settings > Viewing > Listing preview.
Some individuals set it to 5 traces to have the ability to see a very good chunk of the e-mail’s contents earlier than opening it. Personally, I attempted having them off for some time, however didn’t like how dense the checklist bought, so I set it again to 2 traces.
Get much more Apple Mail suggestions
Can’t get sufficient Apple Mail suggestions? We’ve bought a great deal of different how-tos that designate superior options like unsending messages and benefiting from Apple’s privateness options:
Study all of them and also you’ll positively spend much less time coping with electronic mail.
We initially printed this put up on six Apple Mail app suggestions for reaching Inbox Zero on Might 20, 2023. We up to date the knowledge.