Block a contact
In Catalina, Mail can block any
sender you haven’t marked as a VIP. Just
click on their name or address in the top of
the mail message and select Block Contact.Have multiple
signatures
If you have to wear multiple hats, you can
create different signatures in Preferences >
Signatures and pick one in your message.
If you have multiple accounts, you can set
different default signatures for each one.Use Smart Mailboxes
Mail’s search can be horrendously
slow and occasionally hopeless. If you need
the same things frequently, create a Smart
Mailbox in Mailbox > New Smart Mailbox.Colour-code
your messages
Use Mail’s Rules to apply specific colours
to messages that meet particular criteria.Make Mail smarter
macformat.com @macformat1
Make the rules
To create a new rule, go into
Preferences > Rules. If you’ve already
created some Mail rules they’ll be listed
here: unticked ones have been created
but are switched off. Click on Add Rule
to create a new Mail rule.2
Set your criteria
Give your new rule a meaningful
name so you know what it does and
then set the criteria using the options
available. The first one enables you to
specify whether your rule should only
apply if every condition is met.3
Get complicated
You can create rules with multiple
conditions, so for example you can create
a rule that automatically deletes any
email containing a file attachment of
a particular type, but only if the sender
isn’t in Contacts.1
2
3
4
28 | MACFORMAT | DECEMBER 2019Master your Mail
Get on top of your
communicationsContacts you mark as
VIPs get a special Smart
Mailbox, and that enables
you to focus on your most
important contacts only. You simply click
on the sender name in the main message
window and select Add to VIPs. VIPs are
shared on iOS too.
We love Smart Mailboxes too. Go to
Mailbox > New Smart Mailbox and you can
set up a mailbox that filters messages by
specific criteria. So, for example, you can
create a mailbox that only shows messages
about a specific subject or from specific
people between specific dates with specific
kinds of attachments or that you haven’t
replied to. It’s a brilliant way to focus when
you have a really busy email inbox.
macOS Catalina introduced two
particularly useful features to Mail: the
ability to block specific senders, much
as you can do with contacts in iOS, and
the ability to automatically unsubscribe
from mailing lists.To block a sender, click on their name
or email address in the message window to
see a new menu. If the sender isn’t in your
VIP list, you’ll see an option to Block
Contact. If you choose that option a little
red hand appears next to their name in
the messages list, and the option to set
preferences will appear at the top of the
message window. This enables you to
mark the message but leave it where it is
or to automatically send future messages
from that address to the trash. You can
also add the address manually in
Preferences > Junk Mail > Blocked.FEATURE 87 timesaving tips
HOW TO Create Mail filters
If you’ve had an email from someone you’d rather
not hear from again, you can just block them.