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Is Mail not saving your iCloud password after the Mavericks update? Here's a work-around.
There's a lot to like about the newly released OS X Mavericks, but like any new OS there are a few bugs. We've noticed that some users are experiencing a problem with the Mail app not remembering their iCloud password when the program is opened. It's annoying to have to input your password every time you fire up the app, so here's a simple work-around. Open the Mail app. Go to Preferences. Click on the Accounts tab, and then the Advanced tab. Look for the Authentication box. If you're having this problem, it will be set to "Password." Click on the box and select "Apple Token." Apple uses Tokens as a secure way to access iCloud services without having to use your password, by providing your username and password to the app over an encrypted SSL connection.
How Mavericks ruined Apple Mail for Gmail users
Sorry, Mail. My fledging relationship with you was just killed thanks to OS X Mavericks. TidBITS confirmed what I suspected the first time I launched Apple Mail after upgrading to Mavericks on Tuesday -- Gmail and Apple Mail are no longer friends. It was always a tenuous relationship to begin with. As writer Joe Kissell pointed out, you had to do a bit of a runaround to bring Gmail onto your Mac without hogging your entire hard drive. But now Apple Mail is trying to act like Gmail, and in the process is running into numerous syncing issues, ballooning the size of your mailbox and forcing you to activate Gmail's "All Mail" on Apple Mail, lest you want to see your messages constantly reappear in your inbox. While I managed to escape Kissell's issue of having all three of my Gmail accounts download everything again, my smart mailboxes proceeded to break. It kept telling me I had numerous unread messages, but nothing was showing in the mailbox. In the screencap above, you can see the smart mailbox selected but nothing in the mailbox itself. When I checked the rules for that smart mailbox, it had a lot of blank rules that weren't there before. I deleted them, but the smart mailbox still didn't work. Your best solution for now? If you're a huge Gmail user on the Mac, it's worth checking into a third-party client, such as Sparrow, Postbox or Mailplane. I've gone back to the standard web client for Gmail for now, until I can try the beta of Mail Pilot. Sorry, Mail, our brief fling is over. Are you guys seeing issues with Apple Mail in Mavericks? Let us know in the comments.
Yahoo Mail gets some new threads for its 16th birthday
It's not a new sports car, but it'll have to do. In time for its 16th birthday, Yahoo Mail's getting a couple of nice tweaks, including the ability to thread conversations in its desktop, iOS and Android versions. Also on the list is one-click message deleting, starring and searching and some new mail themes drawn from curated Flickr images. Yahoo's also bringing a handful of Mail Plus features to free users, including enhanced filters, auto message forwarding and disposable address. Mail storage is also now at 1TB -- not quite unlimited, but still, not too shabby.
How to avoid iCloud email spam
It's nice to know that Makayla, Taylor, Olivia and Madeline are all thinking nice thoughts and letting me order my pills online. They're part of a rush of spam emails that showed up in my iCloud email last week. Apparently I'm not the only person who received those oddly written spam missives, since Chris Breen at Macworld ran a post today on how to report spam emails to Apple so that the next wave is caught by the company's spam filters. There are two ways to go about this, according to Breen. First, any emails that are marked as junk or dragged into the Junk folder are automatically reported to Apple. This is true whether you are using Mail.app on your Mac or iCloud webmail. It's rather easy to accomplish -- in Mail.app you can just click on the message and then click that thumbs-down button to mark it as spam. For iCloud webmail, just select the message, click the Mark As pop-up menu (or the "flag" in iCloud beta) and choose Junk Mail. Another method is to forward your junk email as attachments to spam@icloud.com. To do this, select the message in Mail.app and then choose Message > Forward as Attachment. Type the above email address in the "To:" field, and send the message on its merry way to Apple, which will use the information to filter future missives from the spammer. In case you're wondering, iOS 7 allegedly provides a way to mark email as spam from your iOS devices. At this time, there's no way to do so.
Yahoo to free up old usernames after a year of inactivity
Unless you're quick to sign up with new services, snagging a simple user ID with your name, or just about any word from the English dictionary, can be unlikely. If you're only first joining Yahoo today (for one reason or another), however, registering any account without a handful of random numbers tacked on at the end is downright impossible. That'll soon change. The internet giant has announced on Tumblr that come July 15th, IDs that have been inactive for more than a year will be released to the public, giving shoegurlmary1992@yahoo.com a chance to snag mary@yahoo.com, for example. The decision seems perfectly reasonable to us. We only hope that other sites (Twitter) follow suit.
Mailbox is working on iPad app, desktop and other versions are in the future
In what should be one of those no-brainer decisions, the developers behind Mailbox have plans to bring the app to iPad, with desktop and Android clients not far behind, TechCrunch reports. There is no ETA on a desktop version, Mailbox developers tweeted, but it did confirm that the iPad version is in development. Mailbox did away with its reservation system last week, the first key step in expanding to the iPad and other platforms. While the app initially gained a lot of users, expanding beyond the iPhone is imperative for users to keep using it. It was one of the key criticisms TUAW staffers had when we reviewed Mailbox collectively, and my stint with Mailbox lasted a couple days until I realized that Mailbox just couldn't integrate with my workflow as long as it remained iPhone-only.
Outlook.com lets you sign in with an alias, adds 32 international email domains
Aside from the two-step verification feature revealed yesterday, Microsoft also rolled out a pair of updates for Outlook.com that are decidedly less important but welcome nonetheless. Namely, users are now able to sign in via a new alias instead of their initial username, and they can add a bit of international flair to their Outlook address with any of 32 new country-specific domains as well. It still might not have the support of trendy email apps, but at least Outlook seems to be trying to improve itself.
Mac 101: Beef up your spam filters in Mail (video)
Nobody likes spam, but if you use Apple's Mail on Mountain Lion, at least you have some tools to deal with it. Plenty of Mac users rely on Mail to read, manage and process their emails... and spam messages. If you use email, you have spam -- that's just the way it works. Following up on Kelly's how-to from a few months back, let's take a look at some ways to manage spam efficiently and decrease your email processing time. Built-in Spam Filtering Mail's built-in spam filtering is enabled by default. You'll find it in the Junk Mail setting in Preferences. Make sure that the box labeled "Enable junk mail filtering" is selected. You can also determine where spam messages go after detection, or add exemptions to your filter. [Note that some online mail services -- Gmail in particular -- recommend disabling Mail's onboard spam filtering. Be sure to check the setup instructions for your service provider. --Ed.] In the Viewing preferences tab, disable "Display remote images in HTML messages." Some spammers send out messages with web bugs -- invisible images linked to the specific message you received -- that notify the spammer that your email is an active email account once you click on the message. From the spammer's perspective, this "validates" you as a real, live address, which then generates more spam for you. Not good. Turning off this feature prevents the spammer from recognizing your email as an active email account. Creating Rules Mail lets you create rules to fine-tune your spam filtering. One helpful method is to create a new mailbox for messages that meet your spam criteria. Once your new mailbox is created and properly labeled (i.e., "Spam-ish"), go to the Rules setting under Preferences and create specific actions based on a predetermined set of criteria. For example: If all the Content-Type Contains 'multipart/related' then Move Message to [the mailbox you just created]. Now that you've set that rule, messages that meet your criteria are moved to that mailbox. Fine-Tuning No spam filter is completely foolproof, so you will get false positives and false negatives. Mail allows you to select a message and click on "Not Junk" or "Load Image" which will correct the labeling of the message. The more times you correct these errors, the better Mail gets at reducing them. A good rule of thumb is to review your Junk Mail folder periodically to make sure valid messages haven't slipped through the cracks. Cloud Mail If you're not using Mail on your Mac, you still have options in the cloud. An iCloud or Gmail account can act as a buffer between malicious spam and your computer. In some cases, the cloud service filters may be a bit too aggressive; if you suspect some of your inbound mail is being blocked incorrectly, be sure to check the support page for your provider and test with another account. Third-Party Spam Utilities Several third-party spam utilities are available to further enhance your spam-squashing powers, including SpamSieve from C-Command Software. It's been around for quite a while and works very well. A single license will cost you US$30; a free trial is also available. SaneBox is an online application which helps to sort your email into proper boxes and reduces your email processing time. An added feature is that it runs through spam amazingly well. The Smart filtering feature of SaneBox reads your email messages, determines the level of importance and moves unimportant messages out of the inbox. The @SaneBlackHole will not only delete your spam messages but makes sure you never receive email from the sender again and automatically unsubscribes you from the mailing list. You can also defer processing your email by placing your email in the "@SaneTomorrow" or "@SaneNextWeek" folder and it will automatically pop back into your inbox when the time comes. The cost for SaneBox is US$5/month but if you refer other people you'll receive extra credits. The free Mailstrom.co service also can help you reduce spam along with unwanted subscriptions, newsletters and so forth. Mailstrom groups your email by big-picture criteria (sender, subject, size, etc.) and lets you archive or delete in bulk with a single click. For catalog emails or newsletters, you can also unsubscribe in only a few steps, rather than having to track down and confirm individual unsubscribe requests. By using these techniques, hopefully the only place you will see spam is in your musubi.
AppleScripting Email > Developing a Quoted Reply Service
A reader recently wrote to me with a problem. Apparently, Microsoft Outlook no longer contains the ability to create quote level chunks of text when replying to messages in plain text format. Why this functionality was removed, I can't say. But, with a little help from AppleScript and Automator, I was able to help the reader to add this functionality back via a Service. Better yet, the Service can be set up to work in any email client, or even system-wide in any app. Here's how you can do it... Building the Service 1. Launch Automator (in /Applications) and create a new Service workflow. Creating a Service workflow in Automator 2. Configure the workflow (at the top) to process selected text in any application, or your favorite email client, such as Mail or Outlook. Then, select the "Output replaces selected text" checkbox. In this screenshot, the Service is set to appear only in the Outlook app. 3. Find and add the Run AppleScript action to the workflow. It should link up with the header, indicating that it receives text as input. Enter the following script into the action. Note: If you get stuck, you can download the completed script and workflow here. Example of the completed workflow 4. The script above is set to limit lines to a maximum of 42 characters. If you want longer lines, go ahead and adjust this in the script. Just set the theMaxLineLength variable to the desired length. Also, note that this is a guideline. The script tries not to break words in the middle. So, if an extra long word is encountered, you may still have lines longer than the maximum length. 5. Save the workflow as Email > Quote Selected Text. Automator puts it where it needs to go. Saving the Service workflow Using the Service Now, anytime you're in your email app and want to create quoted text in a plain text message, just select the desired text. Right-click it (or Option+Click it) to display the contextual menu. Then, select Services > Email > Quote Selected Text. Again, this is intended for plain text messages. It will probably generate inconsistent results with HTML formatted text. Triggering the workflow from the Services contextual menu in Outlook to process selected text in a message If you don't see the Services menu in the contextual menu, then whatever app you're using may not support contextual Services. In this case, try triggering the workflow from the App > Services menu instead. Triggering the workflow from the Application > Services menu If all goes well, your selected text is passed to the Service workflow, and the processed quoted text is inserted. Happy Scripting! A message containing processed text
AppleScripting Microsoft Outlook > Announce New Emails By Voice
In my last post, I demonstrated how to write an AppleScript that verbally announces when new emails arrive in Mail. Some readers asked whether the same thing could be accomplished with Microsoft Outlook. It certainly can. Here's how... Creating and Installing the Script 1. Launch AppleScript Editor (in /Applications/Utilities) and create a new script document. 2. Enter the following script into the document. NOTE: If you have any trouble following along, you can download the completed script here. NOTE: This script was written and tested with Microsoft Outlook 2011, version 14.3.2, running in OS X 10.8.3, Mountain Lion. You can test the script by running it in AppleScript Editor. Select a message or two in Outlook. Then, return to AppleScript Editor and click Run in the script document's window. 3. Make any adjustments to the properties at the top of the script to customize its behavior. For example, if you don't want the script to raise your volume if it's too low, change the raiseVolumeIfNeeded property value to false. If you don't want the script to read the first few paragraphs of each message to you, set the readFirstParagraphsOfEachMessage property value to false. Modifiable Properties in the Script 4. Save the script in Script format to your Desktop as Outlook > Announce New Emails By Voice.scpt. Saving the script to the Desktop 5. Launch Outlook. From its script menu, choose About This Menu... In the dialog that appears, click Open Folder. This opens the Outlook Script Menu Items folder, which is either in your ~Documents/Microsoft User Data folder or your ~/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Office folder, depending on the version of Office you have installed. The Microsoft Outlook Script Menu Click the Open Folder button to display the Outlook Script Menu Items folder. 6. Move the Outlook > Announce New Emails By Voice.scpt file from your desktop into the Outlook Script Menu Items folder. The Outlook Script Menu Items folder may contain some default scripts provided by Microsoft. Adding an Email Rule Now that you've installed the script, you can run it from the script menu in Outlook. But, you really want a script like this to run automatically when new emails arrive. So, you need to configure a rule to do this. 1. Select Tools > Rules... to display the Rules window. Outlook's Rules window 2. Click the appropriate type of account, i.e. Exchange, IMAP, POP, and click the + button to create a new rule. 3. Name the rule Announce New Emails By Voice and set it to trigger on All Messages. Set the rule's action to Run AppleScript. Click the Script... button and choose your saved script in the Outlook Script Menu Items folder. Click OK to close the rule. The configured rule, set to run your script Now, whenever a new email arrives for the specified type of account, the rule should trigger your script to announce the new messages. If you want to disable the announcements at any time, just go back to the Rules window and de-select the Enabled checkbox next to the rule. Happy scripting! You can disable the announcement script in the Rules window whenever you want
Microsoft updates Mail, Calendar and People apps in Windows 8, Windows RT
Just as last week was winding down, we heard a credible rumor that Microsoft was about to update some of the native apps found in Windows 8 / Windows RT. Turns out, that report was on the money: the company unveiled some changes today to Mail, Calendar and People, with a particular focus on speed improvements. None of these updates will be available to download until tonight or tomorrow, says a Microsoft rep, so don't all of you go making a beeline for the Windows Store at once now. If you're itching for a preview, though, we've got a summary of the new features after the break, along with a few extra screenshots.%Gallery-183670%
AppleScripting Mail > Announce New Emails By Voice
You're in the kitchen cooking dinner, or sitting down watching TV, or exercising. Ding! You have a new email. Quickly, run to your Mac to see who it's from. Meh, spam. Ding! Meh, a message from your boss. Ding! Meh. Sure would be nice if Mail could announce who's emailing you. That way, you could just listen for ones you care about. Well, with the help of AppleScript and Mail rules, you can set this up on your own. Think of it as an audible caller ID, but for email. Setting It Up 1. Launch AppleScript Editor (in /Applications/Utilities) and create a new script document. 2. Enter the following script into the document. NOTE: if you have any trouble following along, you can download the completed script here. NOTE: If you wish to test the script, which is always a good idea, you can do so by running it in AppleScript Editor. Just select a message or two in Mail. Then, return to AppleScript Editor and click Run in the script document's window. 3. Make any adjustments to the properties at the top of the script to customize its behavior. For example, if you don't want the script to raise your volume if it's too low, change the raiseVolumeIfNeeded property value to false. If you don't want the script to read the first few paragraphs of each message to you, set the readFirstParagraphsOfEachMessage property value to false. Modifiable Properties in the Script 4. Save the script in Script format to your Desktop as Mail > Announce New Emails By Voice.scpt. Saving the script to the Desktop 5. Launch Mail, open its Preferences window, and click Rules in the toolbar. Mail's Rule Preferences window 6. Click Add Rule to create a Mail rule. 7. Set the rule's description to Announce New Emails by Voice. 8. Set the rule to trigger if any of the following conditions are met: Account matches [Your Account]. If you have multiple accounts, click + and add each one. 9. Set the rule to perform the following action: Run AppleScript. From the list of scripts, choose Open in Finder. Configuring the Mail rule 10. Copy the Announce New Emails By Voice.scpt script file from your desktop into the newly opened folder (this folder is ~/Library/Application Scripts/com.apple.mail in Mountain Lion). Mail's rule scripts folder in Mountain Lion (in ~/Library/Application Scripts) 11. Go back to Mail and close and save the rule. The configured Mail rule, set to run the script Now, whenever a new message arrives for the accounts you specified, the rule should trigger the script, and the messages should be announced audibly. If you get tired of listening to the announcements or want to mute them, just open up Mail's Preferences > Rules window again and de-select the Active checkbox next to the rule. Happy Scripting! You can disable the Mail rule by de-selecting the Action checkbox
Ask Massively: Yes, we have heard of your game
Welcome back to Ask Massively, the place where Bree dispenses random thoughts about the sitemeta because you guys are cheaper than a shrink. About 20 people asked: Hey have you guys heard about Pathfinder Online and also why aren't you writing more about Pathfinder Online. P.S. Your coverage of Pathfinder Online is inadequate to my needs. And have you heard about Pathfinder Online?? Yes, we have heard of your game.
Yahoo launches Mail redesign, with eye on speed and simplicity
Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer used her company's official blog to announced a Mail redesign. According to the exec, the company's shiny new inbox was revamped with speed in mind, letting users access their messages "faster than ever before." Mayer also promised fewer distractions for consumers, with messages at the center of the new design, as well as a "consistent look and feel across devices," including platforms like Windows 8, iOS, Android and the web. All of Mayer's comments can be found in the source link below.
Gmail composer goes to a simple pop-up, gives multitaskers freedom to fly
As much as Gmail shines when it's on the web, some of its most avid users stay in native apps for the multitasking; having to check a past message in the web client has usually meant putting the current draft on hold, or at least maintaining a near-photographic memory. Google wants to translate some of that desktop experience to the web through a new composition interface it's testing as of today. New messages start off in a shrinkable pop-up that lets us find old threads without having to put the new conversation on ice, even we're indecisive enough to leave multiple unfinished e-mail messages open. Other upgrades lurk in the background for the more focused among us, such as a pared-back composition interface, in-line photos and a reply box that dynamically adapts to the space it needs. Only those in the preview will see the Gmail update for now; Google is promising a wider launch in the months ahead that could save us all a few precious minutes each day.
AOL unveils Alto: a web-based email client with an emphasis on aesthetics and organization
A cleanly organized inbox may be a holy grail that's seemingly out of reach, but AOL (which happens to be our parent company) has unveiled a web-based e-mail client dubbed Alto to help cut through clutter. Instead of signing up for a brand-new email address, users log into the service with an existing Gmail, Yahoo Mail, AOL or iCloud account and can use Alto to organize, send and receive messages. In addition to the traditional list view of received emails, Alto takes a cue from analog letters and automatically sorts mail into stacks depending on whether they contain attachments, photos, daily deals, notifications from social networks and bulletins from retailers. Users can customize and hide existing piles or even create new stacks based on key words, recipients, senders and other parameters. Have more than one email account that needs its contents wrangled into order? No problem. Alto can handle up to five accounts per user. If you're intrigued by the cloud-based client, you can take a gander at the gallery of screenshots below or head past the break for more details in the press release. Alto is currently accepting users on a first come, first serve basis in a limited preview, so hit the source link if you feel inclined to take it for a spin.
Mozilla releases Thunderbird 15 with Firefox-like UI, live chat
Mozilla might be scaling back its official support of Thunderbird, but it still has love left for those who yearn for more in their e-mail clients than OS developers can give. The newly-released Thunderbird 15 update's most conspicuous change is a deliberate visual harmony with its Firefox cousin: the company wants its apps to have more in common than just a shared name on the About screen. Under the hood, there's now a live chat feature to skip the wait for e-mail, a Do Not Track option for web searches and the choice of using Ubuntu One cloud storage for large attachments. It's hard to know if future Thunderbird releases will be as substantial once the community takes the reins. For now, though, Thunderbird aficionados can relax. [Thanks, Keith]
Apple posts OS X 10.8.1 update, mends your Mountain Lion
There's a special moment in every operating system's life when it loses its innocent .0 status and grows up. It's OS X Mountain Lion's turn to mature, as Apple has just pushed out the 10.8.1 update for early adopters. Most of the fixes are for issues that plague specific use cases, such as audio output from a Thunderbolt Display or crashes in Migration Assistant. There are a few remedies that a wider audience might appreciate -- a fix for iMessages that don't send and an improvement to Exchange compatibility in Mail, for example. We don't yet know of any surprises lurking underneath, but it can't hurt to have a smoother-running Mac while we investigate.
RIM says BlackBerry Enterprise Server 10 users will get legacy device support, IT admins (may) rest easy
Corporate server managers everywhere were given a jolt this week when rumors emerged that RIM might implement a hard cutoff for BlackBerry Enterprise Server 10: any devices based on BlackBerry 7 and earlier might not connect at all, leaving IT leads with the uncomfortable choice of either running a BlackBerry server platform that's supposedly without a future (BES 5) or having to upgrade both the servers and phones all at once. RIM is putting minds at ease -- more or less. The company's Kim Geiger has confirmed in a statement to the media that BES 10 will support legacy devices when it ships in the first quarter of 2013, and that existing server customers will get an upgrade for smooth sailing around when BlackBerry 10 arrives. That's no doubt a comfort, but there are lingering doubts. Rumor source BGR maintains that companies will have to run both the old and new servers side-by-side to address everyone, which could make a truly harmonious environment complex, expensive or both. We've reached out to RIM for a more definitive explanation to hopefully settle the matter. In the meantime, we wouldn't panic; no one is being pushed to adopt BES 10 right away, and those that want to upgrade don't have to give up their legacy hardware.
Outlook.com hits 10 million users in just two weeks, gives webmail a kickstart
E-mail isn't typically known for generating the kind of rabid adoption that you see with, say, smartphones. Microsoft, then, may have some room to brag when Outlook.com produces similar numbers. Tucked in amidst news of the finished SkyDrive app remake is word that the new webmail service already has 10 million members in its first two weeks of action. That's fast when you put it in the context of Gmail's slow but steady growth, although the boasting doesn't tell the whole story. As many with Hotmail spam addresses can attest, there's a difference between signing up and becoming an active user. We wouldn't be shocked if some of that 10 million was part of an early gold rush for the best names -- no one wants to be stuck with janesmith197904, after all.
