DigitALL

Q: MacOS Sierra: How to highlight text mail?

Does the mail in Sierra has the capability to use highlight text? If yes, how exactly is supposed to use it?

With prior releases such as Yosemite, there was some mombo-jumbo procedure to create/copy a highlighted text in TextEdit, save it in Styles and then use it in Mail. However, this old procedure does not work in Sierra anymore. This procedure, nevertheless it seems a childish procedure and surprised than Apple people did not take care of this in later releases and not in Sierra.

Since "highlight text" feature is missing in Sierra (most advanced OS on the planet... some say, really???) I tried to do the same as previous in Yosemite, created a highlight text style in TextEdit but cannot be used in email. The context menu is different, does not allow to select "styles". If you go in Menu/Format/Style the "Styles" option is greyed out!

Posted on Sep 24, 2016 7:52 AM

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Q: MacOS Sierra: How to highlight text mail?

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  • by dianeoforegon,

    dianeoforegon dianeoforegon Sep 24, 2016 5:26 PM in response to DigitALL
    Level 5 (5,731 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 24, 2016 5:26 PM in response to DigitALL

    See this post. Re: Re: Highlight text & remove in Mail

     

    I have not tried this in Sierra.

  • by DigitALL,

    DigitALL DigitALL Sep 24, 2016 5:31 PM in response to dianeoforegon
    Level 1 (6 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 24, 2016 5:31 PM in response to dianeoforegon

    That is a meaningful reply! Share with us when you will try it.

  • by dianeoforegon,

    dianeoforegon dianeoforegon Sep 24, 2016 6:08 PM in response to DigitALL
    Level 5 (5,731 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 24, 2016 6:08 PM in response to DigitALL

    You can do it, but it's a real chore to do.

    Get the file mentioned in the other link I provided.

    Copy the style you want in the TextEdit window.

    copy-style.png

     

    In Mail, select to Paste the style.

    copystyle.png

     

    Results:

     

    highlight.png

  • by DigitALL,

    DigitALL DigitALL Sep 25, 2016 5:38 AM in response to dianeoforegon
    Level 1 (6 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 25, 2016 5:38 AM in response to dianeoforegon

    Again, to highlight a part of a message is when you wish to emphasize to the sender(s) what is important. To copy the email content to another app, change the style and then paste it back it is simply useless workflow.

     

    I wonder why Apple does not provide this feature in Mail called "Character Fill Color" in Pages? Is it a copyright issue or just stubbornness deemed as not useful by some Apple programmers?

    I bet the windoze users are laughing their ***** off reading on how macOS users should highlight a text in mail.

    Is there a way how to ask macOS people directly other than the forum?

  • by Tom Gewecke,

    Tom Gewecke Tom Gewecke Sep 25, 2016 6:23 AM in response to DigitALL
    Level 9 (79,395 points)
    Sep 25, 2016 6:23 AM in response to DigitALL

    DigitALL wrote:

     

    Is there a way how to ask macOS people directly other than the forum?

     

    Nobody can ever tell you "why", but you can ask for this feature to be added via

     

    http://www.apple.com/feedback

     

    Mail has always lacked certain features that some users find important, such as setting a default font for outgoing messages.  Some find it best to use another app like Outlook.

  • by VikingOSX,

    VikingOSX VikingOSX Sep 25, 2016 6:56 AM in response to DigitALL
    Level 7 (21,123 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 25, 2016 6:56 AM in response to DigitALL

    Paragraph styles that you have established in TextEdit, can also be used in Apple Mail. I have a Highlight - Yellow style configured in TextEdit. In Apple Mail, I select some text, and then right-click on it to reveal the Font : Styles... sub-menu.

    Screen Shot 2016-09-25 at 9.49.46 AM.jpg

     

    On the Font Styles drop down sheet, I select Favorite Styles, and then choose my Highlight - Yellow entry. When I click Apply, this highlight style is applied to the text in Apple Mail.

    Screen Shot 2016-09-25 at 9.52.19 AM.jpg

  • by VikingOSX,

    VikingOSX VikingOSX Sep 25, 2016 7:33 AM in response to VikingOSX
    Level 7 (21,123 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 25, 2016 7:33 AM in response to VikingOSX

    Well, this gives false hope, as sending and receiving the highlighted text to/from Apple Mail results in loss of the highlight.

  • by DigitALL,

    DigitALL DigitALL Sep 25, 2016 12:24 PM in response to VikingOSX
    Level 1 (6 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 25, 2016 12:24 PM in response to VikingOSX

    Guys, I asked specifically for macOS Sierra, not older releases. With Sierra it is NOT applicable the procedures described above. When right-click in mail over a highlighted text you have only "Remove Style", you can not apply a different or previous saved style.

  • by dianeoforegon,

    dianeoforegon dianeoforegon Sep 25, 2016 12:50 PM in response to DigitALL
    Level 5 (5,731 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 25, 2016 12:50 PM in response to DigitALL

    Check out the demo for Postbox. It's possible they offer highlighting.

    http://www.postbox-inc.com/

     

    FWIW, highlighting rarely comes up as a requested feature. I've supported Microsoft Entourage and Outlook since the late 90's and this is a topic that does not come up except on rare occasions. I've seen it more for Apple Mail but again it's a rare request.

     

    You can select to use asterisks and underscore around words to highlight.

     

    Some of these words *are emphasized*.
    Some of these words _are emphasized also_.

    Use two asterisks for **strong emphasis**.
    Or, if you prefer, __use two underscores instead__.

  • by Tom Gewecke,

    Tom Gewecke Tom Gewecke Sep 25, 2016 1:39 PM in response to dianeoforegon
    Level 9 (79,395 points)
    Sep 25, 2016 1:39 PM in response to dianeoforegon

    dianeoforegon wrote:

     

    I've supported Microsoft Entourage and Outlook since the late 90's and this is a topic that does not come up except on rare occasions.

     

     

    Outlook for Mac (at least the 2016 version) supports highlighting with a simple button in the toolbar, so it's not an issue there.

  • by dianeoforegon,

    dianeoforegon dianeoforegon Sep 25, 2016 2:20 PM in response to Tom Gewecke
    Level 5 (5,731 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 25, 2016 2:20 PM in response to Tom Gewecke

    Outlook 2016 has it as well as you pointed out, but previous versions of Outlook and Entourage did not. OneNote has it as well.

     

    For users that are not familiar, both OneNote and OneDrive are free apps. It's a good way to share/save your Microsoft files.

     

    OneDrive for Mac - FAQ

     

    5GB Free. https://onedrive.live.com/about/en-us/plans/

  • by Tom Gewecke,

    Tom Gewecke Tom Gewecke Sep 25, 2016 6:55 PM in response to dianeoforegon
    Level 9 (79,395 points)
    Sep 25, 2016 6:55 PM in response to dianeoforegon

    TThanks for that info about pre 2016 outlook.

  • by dianeoforegon,

    dianeoforegon dianeoforegon Sep 25, 2016 7:16 PM in response to Tom Gewecke
    Level 5 (5,731 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 25, 2016 7:16 PM in response to Tom Gewecke

    I went back to verify both Entourage and Outlook 2011. Entourage does not have highlight but Outlook 2011 does. Shows how popular this feature is in Outlook.

     

    highlight-Outlook2011.png

  • by DigitALL,

    DigitALL DigitALL Sep 26, 2016 4:54 PM in response to dianeoforegon
    Level 1 (6 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 26, 2016 4:54 PM in response to dianeoforegon

    The original thread was about highlighting text in Mail. While Mocosoft products may be an alternative for some, it doesn't mean that we have to highjack this thread. Why not opening another thread about how beautiful are windoze products.

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