Email

I have used PC's all my life and now I find myself with a Mac. I am using the email program that came with the mac and all I can say is it hard to use and understand. I have used windows live forever and liked it very well and i was wondering if there was a better email program out there for the Mac that was similar to WL? I looked at Entourage and it looked promising buy wasn't sure. Any suggestions would be appreciated, Mike

I use Google gmail in the browser. Works great for me. I'm not a fan of the Mac mail either. I really liked MS Outlook. Google is not perfect by any means but it works well enough for me.

Mac Mail is very easy to use, however, not everyone may like it. I suggest using Thunderbird as it's free and generally similar to live mail and the older Windows mail.

Can you be at all specific about what you find difficult to understand about it? Mail is structured exactly like EVERY OTHER email program around: mailboxes on the left, list on top, content on bottom. What about that is in any way different from any other email program?

mac mail

Like I said, this is my first Mac and I am learning as I go; but

1. when I sent an email in WL I would click on the (To and all the contacts would open up...very easy to find.
2. Contact tab was up top so I could easily open and edit contacts. One time I accidentally hit something and the contact list did appear with me going to look for it. Is there a shortcut to the contact page?
3. Like I said, I don't hate it I am just having trouble learning this new program.

Thanks for the replies and if there are any more suggestions please let me know, Mike

I just found out how to place the "address" button on the tool bar...great. Can I edit an address without going back to address book in the Bar?
Thanks again.

It's me again. There is one thing I can't figure out how to resolve. When i send an email, under the subject line there is a bar displaying "from". There are three names with email addresses in that drop down box. Every time I send an email, my wife's name is tagged and i have to manually change her name and enter mine. Can I set my name and email as the default or can I delete the other two names? All I want is my name and email to appear. I can click on my name, go to customize and check the "box" but next email...her name is entered in again. Anyway...thanks again, Mike

Whose name is on the account you're using, yours or your wife's? Mail is going to default to using the name of the account holder.

I like Mail. It is different than Outlook Express and other Windows options. I know there were a few things I missed when I first switched just over a year ago, though I think most of them disappeared when I upgraded to Lion.

Switching to a Mac is a learning experience. I am still learning new things I can do, and hopefully next time I am on vacation, I can take a class in Mountain Lion at the Apple Store.

reply to whose name

My wife's name is on the account. How do I change or can I change that?

Is there a way to edit the names in the address book without going to the "contact book" in the DOC? Thanks again, Mike

I suggest you create your own account on the computer and set up everything for you so that your email defaults to your own name. It's always going to default to your wife's name since it's her account.

There are a couple of ways of accessing the address book, but probably neither is exactly what you are after:

-When compiling a new email, you can click on a recent, bring up the option to edit the Contact.
-By choosing the Window->Address Panel menu item, it brings up a list of Contacts in your address book...but doesn't seem to allow editing.

But the question is this: how frequently do you need to edit Contacts? On a newly installed/migrated system, this will be a requirement for the first few days, after which things should settle down.

I too am a recent switcher and I decided to give Outlook a miss, initially because of the premium MS puts on it and then also because I prefer the separate approach OSX takes. Mail, Calendar, Contacts, Tasks & Notes all in one app makes for a very cluttered environment.

Give it some time, I think you'll grow to like the modular approach.

While I love my Imac, the email client I really find it to be annoying. As you can see by the picture I have 3 sections. I have one that says mailboxes and another that says gmail. However, when I open the mail application, it downloads to both the mailboxes and gmail. So basically I am getting double the emails. Also, when I delete from one, it doesn't delete from the other. So I am doing twice the work. But that's just my 2cents.

Hwilensky

The "GMail" section is showing you what GMail is retaining on its server. Close it (using the disclosure triangle next to the [GMail] name) and ignore it. You aren't getting duplicate emails -- you are are seeing the difference between what is stored on YOUR machine and what is stored on GMail's server (because its an IMAP account).

Checco: you can access the Address Book (now called Contacts in Mountain Lion) directly by adding (if it's not already there) the Contacts or Address Book button to the Mail's menubar. Just go to view, Customize and add or rearrange the buttons as you like.

Is there anyway to remove it all together or because its an IMAP account it has to stay there.

Hwilensky

If you delete it you are telling GMail to delete all the email on its server. Probably not what you want to do.

I reiterate my previous advice: close the listing with the disclosure triangle and ignore it. It's there as a convenience for people who wish to manage their account server-side (add mailboxes etc) without leaving Mail.

you mean instead of going to gmail.com and deleteing all my emails, I could do it from there?

Hwilensky

Yes, that's what I mean. The [GMail] section should be just a reflection of what's stored on Google's servers, as I said before.

OK, I called Apple and they resolved the issue with the email. They advised me to delete the two accounts that were interfering with my preferred email and now it is going strong. If i may, I have yet another problem. On my previous PC I used the clipboard a lot! Mac support says there is no clip board on my Mac that will hold more than 1 clip so they suggested I install an app. I downloaded "flycut". It appears in launcher but it will not launch. If I click on it nothing happens. What do I do? I placed it in the trash and down loaded it again but with the same results. If I go to the contents, there are 7 files that show up but thats a s far as I know how to go. What can I do to make this program open and run? Thanks, Mike

That clipboard app will not work on your new iMac as it's PPC. I suggest downloading "The ClipMenu app" instead which is what I use. It's free and works well with Mountain Lion.