Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
Automate Email
Probably 90 percent of the time I spend using my Mac involves one of three apps: a word
processor (I am an author, after all), a Web browser, and an email client. I send and receive
large quantities of email, and I use email far more frequently than phone calls or instant
messaging—maybe even more than speaking. It's my main means of communication.
Because my incoming and outgoing email volume is so high, I can't bear to spend any more
time or effort than is absolutely necessary on filing or searching for messages. So I've thought
long and hard about how to automate as much of that process as possible—while still ensuring
that important messages never slip through the cracks.
One of my key strategies is to use
rules
(sometimes referred to as filters) to process messages
as they come in. Each rule looks for certain
conditions
(criteria such as a sender, subject, or
words in the message body), and then takes one or more
actions
whenever a match is found.
Forexample,therulemightmovethemessageintoacertainmailbox,sendanautomaticreply,
or delete the message.
If you're trying to keep your Inbox under control, rules are one of the most powerful tools
available. Because I presort my email with rules, tons of messages that don't require
immediate attention never reach my Inbox at all; instead, they're safely shunted to other
mailboxes where I can review them at my convenience. Creating a good set of rules requires
a bit of thought and effort, but once you've done that, those rules operate invisibly in the
background.
Rules are a very powerful organizational aid, butmaking them is just one aspect ofautomating
email. You may also want to simplify the manual filing of messages that aren't picked up
by rules, add plug-ins that automate various other email actions, or use smart mailboxes as
search shortcuts. I cover all those activities in this chapter.
Use Server-based Rules
Rules can operate either in your email client (such as Apple Mail) or directly on your incoming
mail server. The huge advantage to server-based rules is that they can presort messages before
you see them, even if your Mac email client isn't running. That greatly reduces the amount of
mail you need to deal with on your iPhone or iPad.
