Take Control of Apple Mail in Lion

Are you using Apple Mail in Lion effectively? In this book, email expert Joe Kissell provides the comprehensive guidance you need. Perhaps you want to fully understand the basics of receiving, composing, and sending email. Or maybe you want to master many advanced options—including account setup, employing multiple accounts, formatting, rules, smart mailboxes, and iCloud or Gmail integration. Either way, you'll find helpful advice and detailed steps, based on extensive real-world experience. You'll also find tips on various third-party add-ons that make Mail smarter and more enjoyable to use.

This book will teach you to:
• Comprehend account options: Understand the difference between POP and IMAP, plus learn about special aspects of iCloud, Exchange, and Gmail accounts. Discover how to integrate all these types of accounts, and more, into your overall Mail setup, as well as learn how you can manage Gmail’s labels in an IMAP environment.
• Read: Learn efficient ways to quickly open, read, process, and file your messages. See how best to use Lion’s three-pane view (or turn it off if you prefer), and how to follow email threads and conversations. You'll also get tips for handling incoming attachments, flagging messages, avoiding spam, and using Mail's built-in RSS feed reader.
• Write and send: Read about different methods for quickly addressing your email, how to take control of the From, To, Cc, and Bcc lines, and how to create multiple signatures. Find out how to address a single message to a group of recipients, and how to decide whether you should use digital signatures or encryption, plus what to do when you want to send a digitally signed or encrypted message. And, get advice about formatting an email message—and why you might not want to, plus learn how to include URLs, add attachments, and include quoted text from other messages.
• Find your stuff: Keep Mail organized with advice on how to arrange Mail's sidebar, Favorites bar, and your various mailboxes so you can easily locate messages using a variety of techniques—including search tokens and Boolean expressions. Joe covers simple features, such as making a new mailbox and rearranging your mailboxes, as well as advanced techniques, such as creating rules and smart mailboxes.
• Use Notes: Mail has a Notes feature for leaving yourself reminders. Learn the strengths and limitations of Notes, and make it work for you.
• Unravel Mail mysteries: Understand the sometimes-present Outbox, sort out the Dock unread count, learn why smart addresses can be stupid, avoid "unsafe" addresses, manage the Previous Recipients list, wrangle attachments, and determine why certain mailboxes appear in particular categories on Mail's sidebar.
• Avoid and fix problems: Get advice on how to back up your email, and find out how to restore it from a backup. Also read the dozen pages of hard-won troubleshooting advice with tips on managing a misbehaving mailbox, fixing sending problems and delays, resolving connection errors, and more.

Table of Contents
• Read Me First
• Introduction
• Quick Start to Controlling Apple Mail
• Learn What’s New in Lion Mail
• Learn about Email Protocols
• Set Up Your Accounts
• Read Incoming Messages
• Read RSS Feeds
• Address Addressing
• Compose and Send Messages
• Sign and Encrypt Messages
• Manage Your Mailboxes
• Keep Track of Notes
• Find Your Messages
• Automate Mail with Rules
• Fix Mail Problems
• Back Up and Restore Your Email
• About This Book

Read Me First
Mail, Apple’s full-featured email application, is the most popular way for Mac OS X users to send and receive email. This book helps you get more out of Mail by explaining its most important features, providing useful tips, and solving problems. This book was written by Joe Kissell, edited by Michael E. Cohen, and published by TidBITS Publishing Inc.