Mail is one Mac application I’ve been deeply attached to since Mac OS X was released over two decades ago. I haven’t found another email app that’s as flexible or fully featured for managing my email in a delightful way. Maybe I have a narrow view of email but Mail works well for me.
However, since email requires a lot of focus and is easily a time suck, I’m always on the lookout for ways to save precious seconds and make my Mail experience even easier on the eyes. Below are some unassuming adages that I hope will help you remember to do the same.
To Save Eons, Send Again
When sending the same body text to a bunch of people, do you prefer to personalize each message, greeting just one recipient at a time? One tedious approach to this is to copy the body of the message and paste it in each successive message.
When you compose a message in Mail, the top command in the Message menu is Send. So, it shouldn’t surprise you that for a Message Viewer window, the top command is Send Again.
This action composes a new message with the same recipients, body, and attachments as the original. Both commands have the same keyboard shortcut: Shift+Command+D.
If you want to resend a message to someone else, just select the original message, choose Message > Send Again, and change the recipient and any personalized aspects of the message.
The Send Again command is also available on iPhone and iPad, though lacking the keyboard shortcut or the flexibility of acting on any message. View a Sent mailbox and select a message, or select any message that you previously sent, and tap the Reply button. One of the available actions is Send Again.
Read Quietly and Carry a Big Font
Do you find browsing or reading your email troublesome because the letters are the wrong size or typeface? You can change the font of plain/rich text messages you compose or receive as well as of the message list.
Prior to macOS Catalina 10.15, the latter was limited to “Classic View,” now called “Column Layout.” Since then, the Message List font now also applies to the default modern view where messages are listed in a unified column with at least three rows:
- Sender, mailbox, date, time
- Subject, size, attachments (and number in conversation)
- Plain text preview of message
To change these fonts, choose Preferences or Settings from the Mail menu and go to the Fonts & Colors section. Click Select next to Message font or Message list font.
This will reveal the system Fonts panel, from which you can select Typeface and Size within Collection and Family, the same hierarchy you’ll find in Font Book, the Mac’s systemwide font manager. If you don’t see listed the size you want, just type it in the field above the list.
Bonus Tip: If there’s a type size you consistently want listed in Fonts or you want to change the contents of the list overall, click the 
button on the toolbar and choose Edit Sizes. Then, you can customize the size list to your heart’s content.
To See Clearly, Enlarge the Mailbox
What’s the one thing in Mail, missing above, that you were hoping to enlarge and see better? Why, the mailboxes on the sidebar, of course! I always wondered why there wasn’t a size setting for this in Mail.
Well, it turns out this setting has for years been in System Preferences. Take a look in the General pane in macOS Monterey and earlier or Appearance in Ventura and later and seek out Sidebar icon size.
Prior to Monterey, the setting only applies to sidebars of the Finder and Mail. In Monterey and later, it applies to other sidebars as well, such as Music and Notes.
Mail is chock full of shortcuts and ways to increase efficiency and flexibility when dealing with email. What are you hoping you can do more easily?
Reply or comment on this