Digital Home Leopard coverage: Mail

Mail has always been one of my least favorite applications on Mac OS X. Generally speaking, it has always been underpowered and lacking in some of the functionality that I have come to expect from an Apple product.

But with the release of Leopard, Mail is finally a useful and I can now justify using it as my main mail application.

The most obvious addition to Mail is Apple's decision to make the RSS reader a highlight of the new version. And while I use both Bloglines and Google Reader, I found that this RSS reader is quite useful and handy to consult when I don't want to log onto the others. In fact, I think I'll be using the Mail reader at home and the alternatives when I'm using a different computer -- it's just that good.

The first time you start up Mail, a new database upgrade will run for about five minutes (depending on the amount of mail you have). And along with the feature upgrades added to Mail, this update also makes it a much quicker application. In fact, it's much faster than my previous version of Mail, and my overall experience was greatly improved.

One of my favorite new features on Mail is the To-Do option. As someone who needs to remember far too many things, I like having the ability to jot down a few notes that are left in my e-mail program. Not only does it make my life just a little easier, it's quite easy to use and flexible to boot. Even better, the To-Do function allows you to take a section of an e-mail and use that as your To-Do notice. It may seem like such a simple thing, but once you use it for a little while, you quickly realize just how helpful it can be. Believe it or not, I've created over fifty "To-Dos" already just by referencing some part of the e-mail text.

Besides that, Mail also now offers a Notes function that, so far, has proven to be a bit extraneous. I've always felt that a note and to-do were quite similar, and although Notes will show up in your Inbox, I simply don't see too much need for them. Simply put, it's a nice addition, but something I probably won't use.

Other than that, most of the changes to Mail were behind the scenes. With greater usability and a much faster experience, Mail on Leopard is a worthy upgrade to a program that I never thought was that great. That said, there is still work to be done, and hopefully it'll continue to improve going forward.

Overall Mail grade: 8/10

[William Crow]

Mail upgraded in Leopard?

I'm somewhat new to the Mac but if I'm correct mail only works with a few
"carriers." I don't use gmail and finding a workable no-charge alternative has
been futile. My understanding is that with Tiger in order to use Mail with yahoo
mail one has to upgrade to the paid version of yahoo mail.

I hope Leopard version of mail will allow for a broader choice of what I call
"carriers."

[parmesian]

@Wiliam Crow

upgrading to paid yahoo mail to use the mac mail isn't the fault of the mac mail
program. the ability to access the yahoo mail servers from a third party program
is part of the benefits of upgrading to the paid service. no third party (as far as i
know) mail programs can use yahoo mail without the upgrade.

[psedog]

RE: Yahoo Mail

I don't know if this will work or not, but my iPhone connects to Yahoo! mail without having to upgrade to the paid version. iPhone connects through imap.apple.mail.yahoo.com
Who knows, this may work as a way to do it.

[rcrusoe]

re: mail.app and Yahoo

Apple Mail (mail.app) works with any carrier that offers POP or IMAP. I use it
with GMail (free), Yahoo (Paid), and my company's email. This has been true for
years.

However, Yahoo's free email is only accessible via webmail.

If you want to use a desktop email client (Outlook, Outlook Express,
Thunderbird, Apple Mail, etc) with Yahoo mail you have to pay.

[Galaxy5]

Re: Mail "carriers"

The Yahoo mail issue is one with Yahoo - only the paid version of Yahoo mail
offers support for POP and IMAP - the two most popular Internet mail
protocols. If you wish to use the free version only, you must use Yahoo's web
interface - this isn't mail's fault. If Yahoo offers an RSS feed of your e-mail
page, that's an option you may want to use with Mail.

The only protocol in wide use that Mail doesn't support is Microsoft's MAPI -
which is used by Exchange server in many medium and large businesses.
Microsoft Entourage (part of Office for the Mac) offers MAPI support through
Outlook Web Exchange.

Unfortunately, Apple can't address the MAPI or free Yahoo mail shortcomings,
as these feature sets are either proprietary (MAPI) or simply don't offer the
ability to download e-mail to a client application (free Yahoo).

Hope this is helpful.

[MyRightEye]

You'e a little confused. Mail works with ALL carri

Where did you get the idea that it doesn't?

[randomplace]

Stationary in Mail

I have been waiting for Stationary in Mail for a long time. You can make your
own stationary. I use if for plain text emails that I send out frequently.

[allstar919]

Hmm... just like Microsoft Outlook

If Windows fanboys existed like Mac fanboys, they would be all over this post. Microsoft Outlook has had these features for probably over a decade.

That said, I'm not going back to Windows any time soon.

[the Otter]

Well, yeah.

That?s kind of the point. Apple?s slowly but surely trying to make sure there?s
absolutely no reason for *anyone* to use M$ Windows (or M$ anything, for that
matter).

Also, to be totally fair: most of these features have been in Mac OS X and/or
iCal for the better part of a decade, just not in Mail. It?s more of a synergy thing
that anything.

Personally, I think the coolest new feature is one that wasn?t even mentioned
here: if you receive an e-mail that says ?meet me at Ben & Ari?s for lunch,
Tuesday at noon,? Mail can automatically translate that into an iCal event.
*Very* slick.