This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Manage Messages
It doesn't take long before email starts to pile up, and even though it's not the same as a foot-high stack of paper letters, I find there's a psychic drain when confronting an Inbox with hundreds of messages. Mail on the iPad doesn't have the same depth of features for managing email that you'll find in a desktop application, but it does let you delete, file, and search for messages.
Delete a message
Unless you're an obsessive archivist, don't try to keep every message that comes your way. To delete a message after you've read it, tap the Delete (
) button in the toolbar. The message is moved to the account's Trash folder.
Even better, you don't need to read a message to delete it. When you're viewing the contents of a mailbox and see a message that's clearly undesirable (yes, I get a lot of spam, can you tell?), do this: swipe one finger across the item from the left or the right. Then tap the Delete button that appears (Figure 4.15).
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Figure 4.15 Swipe to delete.
Move a message
To keep a message but get it out of the way in your Inbox, file it in another folder within your account.
- With the message open, tap the Move button (
). - Tap a mailbox in the Mailboxes list in the sidebar to move the message there (Figure 4.16).
Figure 4.16 Moving a message
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Delete or move multiple messages
Sending messages to the Trash or to other mailboxes one-by-one will make you crazy if there are many to process. Instead, delete or move them in batches.
- Display the contents of a mailbox, either by tapping its name in the toolbar in portrait orientation or by turning the iPad to landscape orientation.
- Tap the Edit button in the navigation bar.
- Tap the messages you wish to delete or move. The ones you select gain a red checkmark and appear in a stack to the right (Figure 4.17).
Figure 4.17 Process multiple messages
- Tap the Delete or Move button at the lower-left corner of the mailbox. Or, tap the Cancel button at the top if you change your mind.
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Search for messages
A powerful tool in managing piles of email is the capability to find something quickly by performing a search. In this respect, Mail provides some help, though I'm hoping for more in the future.
- Go to the mailbox you want to search and then tap the Search field.
- Tap a button to specify which portion of the messages should be searched: the From field, the To field, the Subject field, or All.
- Type a term in the Search field. Results appear in the list (Figure 4.18).
Figure 4.18 Searching a mailbox
- Tap a message to read it.
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Mail initially looks through the messages that have been downloaded to the iPad. If you don't find what you're looking for, tap the Continue Search on Server option at the bottom of the list to query the mail server for more results.
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Figure 4.19 Search results using Spotlight