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catalina mail column view

In the new Mac osX CataIina I cannot find a way to change the columns viewed in Mail. You used to be able to change the field widths and add columns from the View/Columns menu. How can I accomplish this now?


Also, what does the black background TO next to the email title mean?




Posted on Oct 7, 2019 3:26 PM

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Question marked as Best answer

Hallelujah, Mail Column View, as it was, is back with Big Sur! I joined the Beta Program and installed the Beta version of Big Sur and I can confirm that the column view is restored to its original grandeur. Any information that you desire is available and sortable by the same.

Maybe Apple did realize they made a blunder with Catalina and maybe they do listen to us. Possibly it was a major software change and took a lot to restore it.

I only wish they would have let us know they planned to restore Mail so we would have not had to spend so much time writing to this post and sending service requests. Also, in the introductory clip for Big Sur, it would be nice if they highlighted the return of the column view as originally designed.


A message to Apple:

"Please do not be so distant from your loyal customers and fans!!!". You could have responded to this thread to give us hope.


Posted on Aug 8, 2020 7:24 PM

529 replies

Nov 6, 2019 12:44 PM in response to petemcl

So after a ton of negative feedback about the purposeless changes in Mail with Catalina, Apple release 10.15.1 update and ignore what must surely have been a very easy quick-fix which would have restored Mail to a degree of basic functionality and satisfied thousands of its users. The ability to size and personalise the columns in your mail box seems a relatively minimal expectation for a Mail application user. Even Apple know they have a problem today as they were apologetically telling people to restore Mojave today and appeared exasperated that this problem has not been corrected by their own tech department. The mark of a good company is not that it never makes mistakes, but it is how they respond to the feedback from its customers and at the moments Apple - your not looking good!


I despair of Apple, as previously no other OS release have been so awful and its response to its loyal customer base been so poor. I certainly won't be instantly updating in future. Come on Apple get 10.15.2 ready and restore Mail to pre-Catalina functionality!!


Apple - if you ever read these discussion forums please restore columns in Mail in 10.15.2 and then I'll update.

Nov 8, 2019 3:38 PM in response to theamspecial

I miss Eudora. Then along came Apple's Mail.app which was "good enough" and too cheap and easy so it killed the competition.


Maybe Apple is deliberately screwing up Mail.app to invite return of 3rd party mail clients?


Deleting Classic Layout and sortable re-arrangeable re-sizable columns is only the latest gaff.


Prior to that Apple decided contrary to decades of practice that the attribute line on replies should be quoted. And they started putting .signature above the quoted text. Both are dead wrong.


Before that Mail.app didn't have threading so Apple invented "conversations" based on the Subject: header, never mind the wonderful existing solution (that even Outlook gets right) of using Message-ID, References, and In-Reply-To headers. At least Apple sets In-Reply-To, haven't looked lately to see what they do with References but if there is a References in the message being replied to they should be able to add another Message-ID to the list no matter they otherwise ignore the header.


I miss Eudora, which got all of the above right. But if I recall correctly the end of Eudora was about the same time as the rise of IMAP4. And before iCloud. Eudora didn't sync message rules between one's multiple machines. Didn't work off a common Contacts/Address book.


Maybe I should return to mutt, vim, and procmail in a Terminal window?

Nov 9, 2019 2:23 AM in response to David Kelly1

This is a classic sign of developers and designers with very little experience. It is highly likely they outsourced a piece of code to online developers. Apple rarely makes mistakes like this if they are focused on an issue. They just don’t care about this issue. The connection to the new IOS13 mail bugs is quite interesting. My phone and iPad are experiencing all the same issues mentioned in the press.


Apple, you screwed the pooch on this one.

Nov 12, 2019 1:22 AM in response to petemcl

What a pain! I regret my upgrade to Catalina after a few hours of use.


How a new version of Mail can do much less than the previous one? Is that a progress?? This new design is really bad. I'm seriously thinking about changing to another mail client if apple doesn't restore ability to change columns order.


Also these new swipe gestures are irritating and not adapted to a desktop app at all. It's very easy to delete an mail by error ; at least a confirmation should ne asked!

Nov 12, 2019 2:11 AM in response to ma3j

Every single Mac owner who upgraded to Catalina and is frustrated as **** wth Apples silly manipulation of mail should silently protest....do not buy any apple product for a 60 days...it seem their only motivation is shareholder pacification...it used to be making great products for their customers....mail in Catalina is not a great product..I have taken Catalina of my Mac finally and will do the same to my lap top

Nov 12, 2019 6:30 AM in response to petemcl

Someone suggested we should stop buying Apple products until they bring us back classic view and adjustable columns.

Some say that Apple don't read anything on this forum. In that case, a "lock-out" is of very little value.

A better idea would be that all of us write and complain to apple using this link https://www.apple.com/feedback/

That should give a reaction if we all did this!

Nov 12, 2019 7:45 AM in response to ma3j

And if and when they do restore this feature - which I'm hoping they do - will all our mailbox column settings be restored? I have over 50 mailboxes and I use them for archive purposes and to manage my workload. If they're restored and we have to set them up all over again - if the settings weren't saved anywhere - omg I'll be ******.


HUGE FUBAR, Apple - this was a bad one.

catalina mail column view

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