Quick question about Mail

Hi All, being new to Macs and Mail, I was hoping to see that first letters of sentences/paragraphs and the personal 'I' would be automatically capitalised and that I could choose which national language I used (ie "s" and not "z" as in 'ised'), however, I am disappointed in both - unless of course I have missed something in the setup.

I have downloaded NeoOffice and that editor does the capitalisation thing so is there any way that I can use that as my default email editor - or change the way Mail capitalises?

Thanks for your help

unfortunately no and it drives me crazy as well. the iPhone can do it but Leopard doesnt and i have no idea why?

Does ANY MAC email client do this capitalisation??

Entourage does but its NOTHING like outlook in my opinion and i do not care for it at all. i am hoping that snow leopard or some update will make mail on my macbook as smart as mail on my iphone

Time to resurrect!!!

Same question, guys - does ANY Mac emailer automatically capitalise new paragraphs, sentences and the personal 'I'??

nope. apparently the iPhone has the technology but it has yet to be brought to 10.5 or 10.6.

drives me nuts

Indeed, got an iPhone which does exactly what I want - just a shame Apple can't get Leopards, be they plain, snowy or even purple spotted to do it!

Oh well, maybe next year..........

Are we really getting too lazy to hold down the Shift key? I can understand it on the iPhone and iPod touches because of it not being a full-sized keyboard like we're used to.

No, for me it's a half-assed implementation of an editor. A not-yet-finished product.

I could respond by saying are Apple really too lazy to implement what is a global standard when using 'western/Roman' script?

If MS can do it.....?

Or do/should Mac users expect nothing more? I think not, that's why we're Mac users!

pages has a capitalization option but most people arent as strict about capitalization in email as they are in print

computers are great they can do many things but if you rely on them to clean up after yourself your language muscles will atrophy and youll lose the ability to write clearly no spelling or grammar correction is perfect so its best not to rely on them

I found this, try giving it a look over. Maybe there's something in there that you can use:

http://www.hawkwings.net/plugins.htm

Are we really getting too lazy to hold down the Shift key?

Click to expand...

That's what I thought when I read this post! They keep convincing us that things need to be simplified that just don't. Just burn the extra half calorie it takes to stretch your pinkie slightly to press the Shift key. Things have already been made so easy for us that no one can even form a cogent sentence on their own anymore. I thought texting, IM and email would have made better writers of us all, but instead everything is written like those notes kids pass around in class. "do u like me? yes or no"

Maybe we have got 'lazy' perhaps primarily by having MSWord around for so long, however, capitalising the first letter of a sentence or paragraph and the personal 'I' is a global standard so why not have it done by the app and not the person?

Yes, I agree we all should know this (the fact we're having this discussion proves we do) and do it without questioning our actions by use of the shift key. However, why not have this function? I still say it smacks of an incomplete package and for me is a disappointment with respect to Apple of whom I expected more.

Still, if there's a specific/logical reason why this functionality is absent, it wouldn't mind knowing what that reason is.

technologist said:

pages has a capitalization option but most people arent as strict about capitalization in email as they are in print

computers are great they can do many things but if you rely on them to clean up after yourself your language muscles will atrophy and youll lose the ability to write clearly no spelling or grammar correction is perfect so its best not to rely on them

Click to expand...

Well played.

rholmes01 said:

However, why not have this function? I still say it smacks of an incomplete package and for me is a disappointment with respect to Apple of whom I expected more.

Still, if there's a specific/logical reason why this functionality is absent, it wouldn't mind knowing what that reason is.

Click to expand...

You're disappointed because Apple won't compensate for end user laze? Would you like your Mac to compose letters for you too? Why don't they develop some AI so that you don't even have to think about what to write - the machine will think of an appropriate response? Spell check/grammar check isn't an absolutely necessary feature and nor should it be. I can't begin to tell you how often people use spell check as their way of "proofreading". Is it really that hard to be responsible for what you write?

Logical reason? Perhaps not but maybe someone at Apple decided that people should be responsible for their own language use as opposed to relying on technology.

Guys, those of you who favour the absence of this capitalisation are obviously well entrenched in your opinion, which I accept.

For my part, I have to write some very specific, precise and unambiguous emails by virtue of my work and I chose (almost to the point of obsessiveness) my phrasing, grammar and words carefully since I hold with the "if I send you an email, you can't actually see or hear what I'm saying" perspective.

And yes, I do check spelling, for example, the spellchecker on this forum uses a US dictionary not a UK one, however, also having to check for capitalised sentences etc is, for me, an additional and unnecessary use of my time - in my opinion - and I would appreciate the option to switch this functionality on and for purists to be able to leave it switched off.

It is an annoyance I would rather be without. But, judging by the fact that not doing the capitalisation is the norm, I am obviously in the minority!

If the nature of your work requires that you have good spelling and grammar, you shouldn't need a spellcheck or a system that capitalizes words for you. In that field, you should have the proper English skills already.

I fail to see how checking for capitalization is an unnecessary concern. How is capitalization any different than spelling - both require that you pay attention to the letters used? I would be okay with your position as well but you seems to be contradicting yourself. On one hand, you are frustrated that the program doesn't correct these errors for you but on the other hand, you note how obsessive you are about grammar and how much you check for spelling. Again, the problem lies with my inability to differentiate between capitalization and other grammatical nuances.

This forum is amazing

hi!

I've been a lurker for a long time and finally decided to post .


What kind of cell phone do you use? I'm eligible for a new upgrade soon and was thinking about getting a samsung saga...anythoughts?

I think the spellchecker is there to sort of guide you in a sense. If you happen to mispell (which Safari says is misspell) a word, you learn it, especially if you use it enough. I think what needs to go is the ability to add words. I can't begin to tell you the million of misspelled words on MS Word that people are too freakin' lazy to simply correct in their documents at school. It's irritating. If it's a word that isn't there on the software's dictionary, I say, let the company who developed the software add it, not the user.

That's the last thing that needs to go. The nature of my program in school required the use of many words that aren't common in daily discourse and as such, I frequently saw Word underline words that I knew were correct. For instance, the word Foucauldian. I've had to use that word in theoretical contexts and if you type that word in a Word document, it gets underlined despite being a legitimate word.

Having the ability to add words is great if you know what you're adding. And again, all of this comes down to the responsibility of the end user. We can't expect software developers to compensate for the quite apparent drop in linguistic competence.

vansmith said:

If the nature of your work requires that you have good spelling and grammar, you shouldn't need a spellcheck or a system that capitalizes words for you. In that field, you should have the proper English skills already.

Click to expand...

I believe I do have good grammar and spelling skills, however, I don't have the best of 'finger' skills so as an aid, a spellchecker is valuable in pointing out my lack of keyboard abilities and allowing correction. And that, I believe was the original intent of spellcheckers - to point out a variance to the 'norm' and to allow correction of the typed text if desired or the addition of a new word into the dictionary, not to do your spelling for you.

vansmith said:

I fail to see how checking for capitalization is an unnecessary concern.

Click to expand...

Not what I said, the checking for correctly capitalised starts to paragraphs, sentences and the personal 'I' is an unnecessary use of my time.

vansmith said:

How is capitalization any different than spelling - both require that you pay attention to the letters used? I would be okay with your position as well but you seems to be contradicting yourself.

Click to expand...

You are right that within the varied construction of a sentence or paragraph there is no difference. However, the capitalising of the first letter of a paragraph or sentence and the capitalising of the personal 'I' is a standard, it does not vary and so, to my mind, could/should be automated.

vansmith said:

On one hand, you are frustrated that the program doesn't correct these errors for you but on the other hand, you note how obsessive you are about grammar and how much you check for spelling.

Click to expand...

Awkward bugger, aren't I?

vansmith said:

Again, the problem lies with my inability to differentiate between capitalization and other grammatical nuances.

Click to expand...

Perhaps now in this instance....?

A light-hearted but valid analogy, in days gone by, the starting of cars and motorbikes was done by physically cranking the motor over. Isn't it nice now to have that starter motor as an aid?? In my comments above, I am, if you like, talking about the starting of the vehicle, you, perhaps, about driving it?