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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

Dec 15, 2019 11:57 AM in response to Sorcerer2006

I just checked Outlook 365 for Mac and it does have the features (column sizing, column move and attachment icon) that have been omitted in the Catalina version of Mail. I hate to switch but if Apple middle managers don't fix this soon I will make the change. Actually this version of Outlook looks pretty good.


Outlook 365



Mac Mail Catalina version:


Dec 15, 2019 4:46 PM in response to petemcl

Thank you for the visuals, petemcl! Graphically demonstrating the problems with the newest (i.e. dumbed-down) Mail, c/w Outlook 365 (which is actually not quite as good as what Mac Mail used to be). Catalina's mail looks so stupid and Neanderthal compared with 365! With its "Sort By" click box, absence of personality (can't even decide on your own FONT!) and absence of USEFUL columns and column-headers that they USED to have in Mail! This is a graphic representation of why Catalina users would/will easily switch to the newest Outlook 365.

Dec 15, 2019 8:09 PM in response to Sorcerer2006

Another silly thing is the attachment column no longer says how many attachments are in each eamil. It just shows a paperclip to indicate there are attachments. Since almost all business emails include a logo, this becomes useless. I used to be able to quickly see from the number of attachments displayed whether it was an email with attachments I was looking for, or just a regular email. Why get rid of useful features like this?

Dec 18, 2019 11:14 AM in response to petemcl

Just sent to Apple via "Feedback":

. . . . . .

Running Catalina 10.15.2.


I have read that the lack of column headings and the lack of ability to select which columns to view, reorder columns or set column widths is a deliberate change by Apple.


However, I am reporting this as a bug because it is obviously a bug in the brains of the people making the decisions.


I have been a Mac user and influencer since early 1985, and your ever-acelerating push toward "usability" at the expense of true usability is infuriating.


PLEASE STOP DUMBING DOWN YOUR SOFTWARE.


PLEASE.


Thank you in advance for fixing this.

Dec 18, 2019 11:23 AM in response to ThoughtNozzle

I've been using Outlook last week and it's really pretty "slick" (hip, slick, and cool) and I don't work for MS. But I had Office 365 anyway, just never thought about using Outlook but it even asks you when you start it to tell it what accounts you want to install and register, and then does it. Very slick so I was dreading the setup because of multiple accounts but that was very fast and easy. And it's got lots of bells and whistles we don't have - and the columns are like the old AppleMail.

catalina mail column view

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