Mac OS® X Leopard™ All‐in‐One Desk Reference For Dummies®

Chapter 2. Using Apple Mail

In This Chapter

• Adding and configuring Mail accounts

• Receiving, reading, and sending e‐mail

• Filtering junk mail

• Opening attachments

• Configuring and automating Apple Mail

Okay, how many of you can function without e‐mail? Raise your hands. Anyone? Anyone at all?

I suppose that I can function without my Internet e‐mail, but why should I? Mac OS X includes a very capable and reliable e‐mail client, Apple Mail (affectionately called Mail by everyone but Bill Gates).

In this chapter, I discuss the features of Apple Mail and show you how everything hums at a perfect C pitch. However, you have to sing out, “You've got mail!” yourself. Personally, I think that's a plus, but I show you how you can add any sound that you like.

Know Thy Mail Window

To begin our epic e‐mail journey, click the Mail icon on the Dock. Figure 2-1 illustrates the Mail window. Besides the familiar toolbar, which naturally carries buttons specific to Mail, you find the following:

• Status bar: This heading bar at the top of the Mail window displays information about the current folder — typically, how many messages it contains, but other data can be included as well.

• Message list: This resizable scrolling list box contains all the messages for the folder that you've chosen. To resize the list larger or smaller, drag the handle on the bar that runs across the window. You can also resize the columns in the list by dragging the edges of the column heading buttons.

  To specify which columns appear in the ...