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Health & Fitness

The Benefits of Apple Mail!

We love to educate Apple users on the huge benefits to using Apple mail. Apple mail is the stamp icon on your dock that comes with all Apple computers. If you don’t see it on your dock you can search for it in your applications folder.When we meet people not using it we ask why and often hear some very common misconceptions that we can help clear up.

 These are often from people who go to Safari or some other web browser to log into their email directly, or people using Outlook for Mac. Some things to clarify:

1.) You do not need an Apple email address to use Apple Mail.  ANY email address will work.  If you have Gmail, AOL, Optonline, Verizon.net, they can all be added to Apple mail. Even if you have personal domain email addresses or work email addresses they can be added too, as long as your company allows it. (Yahoo works as well but you must first upgrade your Yahoo mail to Yahoo Mail Plus)

2.) One can have multiple email addresses in Apple mail. I have a personal domain email, AOL and a Gmail address all living in Apple mail.  This is a huge benefit to me as I don’t have to go back and forth logging into all of these different mail services and can check all of them individually or collectively from one place.

3.) Apple Mail works FAR better with many other programs on your computer compared to Outlook. Remember, with Outlook you are using a program designed by a different company, Microsoft. Apple’s Mail program is inherently more intuitive and easier to use, since it is designed to talk with your other programs.

There are many reasons to use Apple mail but the number one reason is INTEGRATION. Apple Mail is so well integrated with the Mac OSX operating system, and other Apple applications, that you lose a lot of cool features and productivity opportunities when you don’t use it.

Here is a list of features that are integrated between Apple applications: Mail, Calendar, Contacts, iPhoto, Safari and more:
Mail to iPhoto – when you receive an email with photo attachments in the message, click the Details link in the header, and the header will expand (this is a 1-time setup). Click the down arrow on the right side of the Save button. Select Add to iPhoto in that drop-down menu. It will automatically import your attached images into your iPhoto library.

Mail to Contacts – To add someone’s email address to Contacts, float your cursor over their name in the header of the email until it turns blue. Click the white arrow on the right side and select Add to Contacts in the drop-down menu. You will get the option to Create a New Contact or Add to an Existing Contact.

Mail Data Detectors – Inside of email messages, any piece of data that’s related to a different application will have what is called a Data Detector. Addresses can be added directly to your contacts. Websites can be opened in Safari. Phone numbers can be added to Contacts. Dates and times can be added to the Calendar by clicking the date and time within the message. To take advantage of this feature, place your mouse over the information and it will be outlined with a dotted line. Click the down arrow and select the appropriate option from the drop-down menu.The new Share button was introduced in Mountain Lion 10.7. It can be found in Safari, iPhoto, and even Finder windows. The Share button gives you access to sending content through Apple mail.

Safari to Mail – Click the Share button (the icon with the Box with the arrow going to the right) and then choose Email. Once the email is created, choose from the drop-down whether it is in Reader mode, a PDF, a link, or the entire webpage with graphics included.

These are all some wonderful tools to help make using your Mac faster, easier and to be more productive. We love to teach these features and with our Intro to Apple Mail personal class you can learn all about them. MacInspires personal classes can be either at our store or in the comfort of your own home. If you have further questions please feel free to call us any time at (203) 531-5720.

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