Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
•
VIP stars:
The star icon shown above next to the sender's name is what you
click to designate that sender as a VIP (see
VIPs
). But it doesn't appear until the
pointer moves over the message header area.
•
Outgoing message controls:
When you're composing a new message, the top
portion of the window contains an area beneath the Subject field with extra con-
trols, such as a From pop-up menu to choose the From account or email address.
Did you know you can customize this area—adding or removing controls for
SMTP server, signature, message priority, and encryption? Most people don't.
See
Message Header
for all the details.
•
Bcc and Reply-To fields:
You may need to specify one or more Bcc (Blind car-
bon copy) addresses for outgoing messages, so that
none
of the recipients (re-
gardless of which field contained their address) will see the Bcc addresses. You
may also want to specify a different Reply-To address, if you want replies to a
message to go to a different address than the one you sent it from. Mail offers
both Bcc and Reply-To fields, but they're hidden by default. To turn them on
when composing a new message, choose View > Bcc Address Field or View >
Reply-To Address Field. These fields will remain visible in all new messages you
compose, unless you return to that menu and choose the commands again to
hide them.
•
Toolbar buttons:
I probably don't need to mention this here because custom-
izable toolbars appear in lots of apps, but if you're looking for an Archive button,
say, or any of numerous other controls that don't appear there by default, check
Addressing
When you address an outgoing message, Mail usually does the right and expected thing, such
as autocompleting names or addresses based on what you've typed so far. Alternatively, you
can choose Window > Address Panel to display a floating panel with the contents of your
Contacts. Either way, Mail uses data from the Contacts app to help it fill in addresses, so be
sure you've entered your most important addresses there.
However, in a few cases Mail's addressing behavior may not be what you expect, so allow me
to clarify the following:
•
Previous recipients:
Addresses you've previously sent email to are added to
Mail's Previous Recipients list, and those addresses are also used for autocom-
plete. Over time, this list can accumulate cruft (including outdated and erro-
neous addresses), so you might want to clean it out occasionally to make ad-
