iPhone: The Missing Manual, 8th Edition

Chapter 13. Email

Email on your iPhone offers full formatting, fonts, graphics, and choice of type size; file attachments like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF, Pages, Numbers, photos, and even .zip compressed files; and compatibility with Yahoo Mail, Gmail, AOL Mail, iCloud mail, corporate Exchange mail, and any standard email account.

And in iOS 8, the Mail app might well be called “Mail: The Anti-Annoyance App.” For example, new finger-swipes let you delete or flag messages; you can now flip between an email you’re writing and one you’re referring to; and with one tap on an outgoing message, you can request to be notified if anyone replies.

Dude, if you want a more satisfying portable email machine than this one, buy a laptop.

This chapter covers the basic email experience. If you’ve gotten yourself hooked up with iCloud or Exchange ActiveSync, see Chapters Chapter 15 and Chapter 17 for details.

Setting Up Your Account

If you play your cards right, you won’t have to set up your email account on the phone. The first time you set up the iPhone to sync with your computer (Chapter 14), you’re offered the chance to sync your Mac’s or PC’s mail with the phone. That doesn’t mean it copies actual messages—only the email settings, so the iPhone is ready to start downloading mail.

You’re offered this option if your Mac’s mail program is Mail or Outlook/Entourage, or if your PC’s mail program is Outlook, Outlook Express, or Windows Mail.

But what if you don’t use one of those email programs? No sweat. ...