Mail.app

Mail.app’s Photo Browser
Mac Tip #319/12-Dec-2007

While you’re free to use whatever software you like on your Mac, there can be advantages to using the software Apple provides. That’s because it’s highly integrated, allowing you to easily move information between applications.

iPhoto is a good example of this integration, as it shows up in many applications in the form of the Media Manager or Photo Browser.

Note: I’m using Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5) when I write these Tips. If you’re using an older version of the Mac Operating System some things may not be the same.

Find a photo

In the old days you had to begin in iPhoto if you wanted to email a photo. Now you start by creating a new message in Apple Mail.

To include a photo from your iPhoto Library click the Photo Browser button in the email message’s Toolbar. The Photo Browser window appears.

Resize the window if you like

The Photo Browser window can be resized in the usual ways. I like to drag the diagonal bars in the bottom right corner to make it bigger so it displays more photos at a time. Drag the dividing line between the list of albums and the photos themselves to make either part bigger.

Find a photo

Select an album in the top part of the window and scroll around or use the search field to find the photo you want to send. Type part of a filename into the search field to filter the list of photos.

Customise the display

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Hold down the Control key and click in the photo area. A contextual menu appears. If you’d prefer to see a list of photos choose Display as List. Call up the contextual menu again to choose to display extra columns for dimensions and file type.

Insert a photo into a message

Select the photo to send and drag it into the body of the email message. Then close the Photo Browser window, or move it out of the way.

Status Bar information

The Status Bar at the bottom of the email message now displays information about the size of the message. It also includes an ‘Image Size’ pop-up that allows you to resize the included image on the fly.

Resize the image

Experiment with different sizes from the pop-up. You’ll see the image dimensions change. In general, as the image is made smaller, so the message size decreases.

In two screenshots I have the photo at its actual size — it fills the message window and ‘weighs’ 79Kb; and at a small size — around a quarter the size of the message window, and ‘weighing’ only 61Kb. I used the OmniDazzle software for the screenshot to add a highlighted border around the Status Bar and darken the rest of the image.

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Because the photo I started with was already sized for a web page or email message the difference wasn’t very noticeable, but if the photo had come straight from my camera the difference in both size and ‘weight’ would have been dramatic.

Keep it small

People who use dial-up don’t appreciate huge email messages, and even people with broadband might not want huge emails. A handy rule of thumb is to try to keep email messages below about 100Kb for dial-up users and below one or two megabytes for broadband users.

If you have a lot of photos to share consider finding another way to do it, such as Flickr or a file-sharing service.

Useful Learning Centre articles

1. Flickr your photos
2. Flocking to the pictures
3. Be careful with Filenames
4. Get the picture
5. Power Up to a Flash Slideshow
6. The 12 Days of Email
7. YouSendIt — email attachments made easy

And be sure to check the full list of Learning Centre articles.

Mail.app has other interesting ‘integration’ features too. We’ll look at them in other Tips.

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Integrated Email
Mac Tip #300/01-August-2007

I have a confession to make: I don’t actually use Apple’s Mail.app, even though the recent series of Tips was about that application.

Even so, sometimes other software requires us to use Mail.app.

Suppose you grab a quick photo using the built-in iSight camera on your Mac. Photo Booth provides a Toolbar button to email that photo. (See Picture yourself in Photo Booth, Mac Tip #282/28-March-2007)

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But when you select a photo and click the Email button it’s Apple’s Mail.app that pops open. There is nowhere to set Photo Booth to use any other email application.

It’s a similar story in Apple’s iCal: set an email alarm to remind you of an event and again, it’s Mail.app that will be used. And again, there’s nowhere to change that setting.

This means it’s a good idea to set up Mail.app to send mail, even if you don’t usually use it. Tip #296/04-July-2007 Configure Email Account Settings explains how.

Fortunately both iMovie and iPhoto allow you to choose your email application.

In iMovie go to the Share menu and select Email. Choose your email application from the Send email using: popup.

In iPhoto go to Preferences — General and select an email application from the Email photos using: popup.

Other programs, such as Address Book, use the default email application. Set the default email application in Mail.app’s Preferences — General tab.

See Newbies Guide to Apple’s Address Book for some extra information about how to send an email from the Address Book.

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Customise Toolbars
Mac Tip #299/25-July-2007

Many programs include a Toolbar at the top of the window. Even Finder windows have a Toolbar. Look under the View menu and choose Show Toolbar, if you don’t see a Toolbar in Finder windows. You can also click the ‘lozenge’ in the top right corner of the window to toggle Sidebar and Toolbar display.

You can customize the items in the toolbar: add icons, remove icons and move icons around. And that’s not just in the Finder, but in many programs, including Mail.app, Safari and Preview, as well as many third-party applications.

Using the Finder as an example, open a window and ensure the toolbar is visible. Now either Control click on the Toolbar or go to the View menu and choose Customize Toolbar…. A sheet appears containing various icons. The specific icons that are available depend on the program.

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To add a new icon drag it from the sheet to the place on the Toolbar where you want it to appear. For example, I like to have the Delete button in the Toolbar, but I don’t like to put it close to any other icon I might click, in case I accidentally delete something. I drag the Delete button to the right-hand side, next to the Search field.

Move an icon to any other location by dragging it. To remove an icon drag it down into the sheet where it disappears in a puff of smoke.

Choose an appropriate setting from the Show pop-up: text only, icons only, or both text and icons. Check the Small Size box, if you prefer small icons or text.

When you’re happy with your choices click the Done button. The screenshot shows that I’ve added an Info and a Delete button to my Toolbar.

Investigate the Toolbar options in every program you use. Remove those buttons you never use, and see if you can add buttons for things you’d normally get from the menu bar. You’ll enjoy your computer just a tad more.

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