Mac OS X Leopard: The Missing Manual

Stationery

Rich text—and even plain text—messages are fine for your everyday personal and business correspondence. After all, you really won't help messages like "Let's have a meeting on those third-quarter earnings results" much by adding visual bells and whistles.

But suppose you have an occasion where you want to jazz up your mail, like an electronic invitation to a bridal shower or a mass-mail update as you get your kicks down Route 66.

These messages just cry out for Mail's new Stationery feature. Stationery means colorful, predesigned mail templates that you make your own by dragging in photos from your own collection. Those fancy fonts and graphics will certainly get people's attention when they open the message.

Note

They will, that is, if their email programs understand HTML formatting. That's the formatting that Mail uses for its stationery. (If the nerd-word HTML rings a bell, it's because this HyperText Markup Language is the same used to make many Web pages so lively and colorful.)

It might be a good idea to make sure everyone on your recipient list has a mail program that can handle HTML; otherwise, your message may look like a jumble of code and letters in the middle of the screen.

To make a stylized message with Mail Stationery:

1. Create a new message.

   Click File→New Message, press ⌘-N, or click the New Message button on the Mail window toolbar. The choice is up to you.

2. On the right side of the toolbar on the New Message window, click Show Stationery.

   A panel opens up, showing ...