Apple Mail - Start Talking

In Lion OSX 10.7 Apple added a feature to Mail called Conversations.

Conversations simplifies the process of browsing email threads without throwing away any of the information you need.

It’s an elegant solution to a complex problem.

How Do I Turn On Conversations

  • Open Apple Mail.
  • Go to Mail in the Menu Bar and select Preferences.

Apple Mail - Preferences

  • In the Viewing tab, under View Conversations, check Include Related Messages and Show most recent message at the top.

Apple Mail- View Conversations

  • Close the Preferences Menu.
  • In the Mail Menu, select View > Organize By Conversation. If you prefer, you can click the Conversations icon in the Toolbar.

Apple Mail - View - Organize by Conversation

In the Inbox, Conversations groups emails by thread under the last email received.

A number with a disclosure triangle indicates the number of messages in the Conversation that are in the current mailbox.

Apple Mail - Conversations - Disclosure Triangle

Click on the disclosure triangle and it turns down to reveal those emails.

Using Conversations

To see an entire message thread, click on a conversation in the Message List.

The Preview window shows all messages from that thread starting with the most recent.

Apple Mail - Conversations

In the setup above, we chose to Include All Related Messages, so we get to view our own responses in the thread. This makes it very easy to follow.

As you scroll up or down, notice that extraneous Header information has been removed for the sake of clarity.

If you’d like to see that Header data, click Show/Hide Details.

Apple Mail- Conversations - Show Hide Details

Double click on a Conversation to open it. You can now select any message from the thread and Reply, Forward, Flag, Print or Delete just that email.

Important Tips

To return to regular viewing mode, go to the Mail Menu, and select View > Organize By Conversation to uncheck this option. You can also ungroup messages by clicking the conversations icon.

If you delete the top email in a thread, you will delete the entire thread. Remember, if you make a mistake press Command Z to undo the last command.

The current location of an email is shown in the Header details underneath the date.

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Happy Monday. Hope this tip makes the week go a little faster.

If you have questions, please use the Comments section below.

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