What's with Mac Mail

Help, help

I can't believe nobody else has noticed

You don't seem to realize is that Apple computers are still a minority in computing. And even that not all Apple Mac users actually use Mac mail but use cloud based email services like Gmail, Live.com (formerly known as hotmail), etc....

i've never used an OS specific email (well i suppose hotmail/live could be thought of as a windows specific service to some degree)

i've also never used an isp associated email, i've always used something else, first yahoo, then hotmail and gmail

now i use hotmail for most official things and my gmail for most other purposes

Yes, no, Tsar, there's just a whole lot I don't know. Still I'm astounded that almost nobody else seems to have noted all its new peculiarities

Thanks for the suggestion but I'm reluctant at 81 with incipient Alz's to learn a whole new mail system

My hope was that Mac would eventually come to his senses; but if I'm the only apparent victim then there's little hope, nope, I'll just have to cope

What's the problem Dale? You need to be more specific. I use Mac Mail all the time and it always functions for me.

Recent updates to the MAC operating system have carried with them a few changes to Mac Mail Properties, but most of these can be configured in Preferences.

It would help if I knew what version of the Mac Operating System you are using.

Also the guys/gals at the Mac Store are usually very helpful, especially if you've purchased their AppleCare program.

There are dozens if not scores of such glitches. I could spend all morning describing them but one of the most frustrating is the access to a typical message from a listing such as "Sent" for instance. Instead of the original message what you get now is a display of all the original messages of which it's constituted, and what's even more annoying, all the cc:'s are missing

Of course you can get the original by accessing a Reply link but that risks the inadvertent transmission to all the recipients before you're even done composing the new massage


Incidentally another very annoying quirk of the new Mac Mail is the automatic "correction" of your spelling without your permission, without even leaving a flag. Thus "massage" in the previous parka which Mac substituted for my misspelling of "message" and by coincidence "parka" where "para" was intended. I've encountered this quirk so far hundreds of times, in many instances with the most absurd results

But to get back to message listings, the single most frustrating glitch is the disappearance of a message from a listing, e.g., "Sent". As soon as you incorporate one message in another (e.g. by simply replying to it), the original disappears from the listing and the only way you can recover it later is to laboriously scan each listing until you find the bone incorporating it

Incidentally "bone" was supposed to have been "one"

Enter the Mail application. Go the Menu bar at top of screen and select MAIL and drop down to PREFERENCES and open that window.

Once in Preferences, select VIEWING and then select the behaviors you want. Sounds like you want "Classic Layout" which you are used to.

Then choose COMPOSING and select what you want there as well. You can turn off Spell Checking in that window.

Hope that helps.

May thanks Ros for your interest in my frustration but Classic has been on all the time

Thanks again Ros but forgive me if I wasn't clear. I like spell checking just fine, I just don't like it to guess at the intended spelling, then "correct" it without asking my permission or even flagging the word

It didn't. However it grid give me the opportunity to switch from "Rich" text", which entails all sorts of weird glitches, to "Plain" so for calling attention to this capability I thank you again most kindly

As if to flaunt his crazy new routine, where I had intended "did", Mac changed to "grid" which I left in place to demonstrate the phenom described in the previous para

Then try de-selecting "Classic" and configuring the thread behavior the way you want it.

Then try having it do the spellcheck at the end of the document rather than during. I think it may prompt you to approve each spelling correction if you do it that way (but I don't have time to try it myself so see for sure, so you'll have to experiment a bit with each configuration).

Thanks again Ros but Mac, if you're listening, please change it back to the way it was before the last revision. It's ok if you still suggest spelling corrections as I type but for heaven sake please leave the flag in place so I don't leave your guess in place to embarrass me later

I guarantee they are not listening. Even at your age, you (as a human) are far more adaptable than your computer is. I suggest adapting rather than resisting. You'll save yourself a lot of frustration and time.

Wow Ros you can say that again

However some of the new routines are absolutely insulting. One of the very worst: It used to be if you slip a keystroke you could go on typing, to finish up your para before making corrections. However with the new routine if you're not gazing continuously at the screen, when you make such a slip Mac doesn't accept any of the subsequent strokes so when you finally glance up, you learn of all that wasted effort

Evidently some of Mac's latest hires--at least in the arena of editing routines--must be horribly deficient in the IQ category

But what REALLY gets me is why nobody else seems to notice

What version of the OS are you using? Click on the Apple icon and do "about machine".

OS X 10.7.4

Here's how Mac's edit programmer imagines we do it. Suppose I'm copying something out of a book

1. Look at the book
1. Type the first word
2. Look at these screen. If misspelled, correct
4. Return to the book
5. Type the second word
6. Look at the screen. If…..
7. Return…………

ad infinitum

I envision him as a savant capable of programming but incapable with the English language or keyboard. At the end of the day his boss comes over and snaps his finger in the guy's face, then leads him to the door where his wife drives him home

At dinner his kids feed him then read him the comics, then turn on the TV where he watches a blank screen until his wife takes him to bed

Did you upgrade from Snow Leopard (Version 10.6) to Lion (Version 10.7) or did you buy the machine with it's current OS version?

Dunno. Will post q to No. 1 Son who is in charge of that sort of stuff and if he replies I'll get back to you

But thanks again for your interest

My machines are running Mountain Lion, not Lion like yours is, so it's not an exact test, but I don't see the behavior you describe, nor do I remember it from when I was running Lion.

The only other place to modify controls like this is in System Preferences.

Go to the Apple icon and select System Prefs, then select Languages and Text, then select the Text tab. From there you can turn off Word Substitution and I think you can configure your own substitution selections (although I have not tried that). Anyway, it's all menu driven so you should be able to try things and see what works the best for you.

Have fun.

Thanks Ros, I'll try it herewith

And Mac has this terrible habit with each new revision, with which incidentally my Aerospace genius No. 1 Son agrees, that with each rev he resets your settings and provides need routines without telling you what he's done

Nah sorry Ron but again thanks. As you can see above "neew" got changed to "need" without my permission, without a "beep", without leaving a flag. It's unbelievable how dumb they can be but even more incredible that amongst the millions or billions of Internet users only I seem to have noticed

That is unbelievable, unless of course the problem lies with the user and not the computer If they are keeping millions and billions happy and only failing with one... then they're doing something right.