catalina mail column view

Sorry for beating this dead horse, but we should be thinking twice (or more!) before updating system software. Listening to all these complaints and having used Mail for my business for many many years, I did not update from High Sierra to Catalina and will NOT be doing so. Why do Apple users think that every update is an "improvement"? (a rhetorical question) In fact, if you haven't already, check out the so-called "improvements" with Big Sur.....nearly all cosmetic, hyping all kinds of nonsense changes that don't help me in my business at all. What a waste!

I learned that the hard way years ago. My problem is I wasted $4K on a new MacBook Pro that came with the Catalina OS so now am stuck with a near useless version of MacMail, unless I can roll it back to an earlier OS

I've been BCCing myself for the past half dozen years or so, because too many of my outgoing messages never arrived. And yet Mail always showed that the email was successfully sent, even though it never got through, and I never received anything from Apple about it. So after doing searches and experimentation, I eventually discovered unequivocally, that Apple was censoring my outgoing email. Email subject matter was being arbitrarily scrutinized.

I first contributed to this discussion many months ago and have been watching frustrated messages come into my in box ever since. As an Apple user since the late 1980s I understand and have suffered myself the incredulity at the seeming indifference of Apple to the needs on one hand and genuine enthusiasm of users for user friendly technology on the other. The sad fact seems to be that whatever cutting edge thinking and grass roots appeal were once the province of the company, the original character expired alongside Steve Jobs. Now Apple is simply a faceless corporation without responsiveness, with its own agenda that puts mass profit before its longtime supporters. A rebranded Microsoft! One of the steps in coming to terms with mourning is accepting that death has happened. In many ways, this thread is an epitaph. Those who loved her leaving flowers on the grave. RIP Apple. RIP the era when a small company could compete against implacable money. RIP freedom of thought, innovation and social togetherness. RIP column views. Rise the corporate view. The King is dead. Long live the King.

If you want to take the view that "changes to MacOS have not helped my business"-- I would add that nothing since Snow Leopard has helped my business. Other than security, it is mostly fluff, with a few small stability changes for the worse or the better.

Thank you for that, jasimon9, you are absolutely correct. In fact, in addition to iMacs running High Sierra here, I also have two more daily-use machines still running Snow Leopard!!! I never saw a reason to update anything to Catalina. And, to persons in the market to purchase new, you can still find brand new machines that run a version previous to Catalina..... you just have to look!!! Or, alternatively, buy a new machine but have the OS changed to Yosemite, High Sierra, or ??? There are very capable independent shops that can do that for you, believe it or not.

jimonga.....if you think the sycophant Apple media (e.g., MacWorld, et. al.) is going to go against the Apple "grain", forget it. They are too busy touting Big Sur right now with all kinds of nonsense "reporting".!

I submitted one of those forms too. I hope everyone who came to this thread did also. But I don't think Apple will listen even if 10,000 people complained. I had a 2011 Mac Book Pro that had a mother board problem related the GPU. It was a well know problem. But it took a number of years and losing a class action lawsuit before Apple replaced my mother board for free even beyond warranty.

If these unofficial rumours are correct then it’s good news and Apple should be congratulated.

However the fact remains that Apple took this catastrophic decision in the first place, which was so alien to its reputation for producing intuitive products that it caused widespread shock and let’s be honest here —- ‘reputation damage.’ It was hated by thousands, who Apple then chose to ignore, while adopting a zero communication policy.

Like many of thousands my trust in Apple has been adversely impacted and like thousands I WILL NOT be immediately upgrading to the ‘Big Sur’ upgrade unless - Apple officially communicates to me that this mistake has been corrected. I trusted them with Catalina and it ruined my Apple Mail and has caused me much inconvenience and business difficulties, so I won’t trust them again without evidence.

A report of one contact or a hearsay that Beta version corrects this destruction of Mail is insufficient.

One simple press release or a one line official statement here is all that is required and would resolve this fiasco and ultimately get thousands of loyal customers back on board

Apple your customers will judge you by your response now and this is your opportunity to convince thousands of previously loyal customers that you are a listening company and placing our trust, loyalty and money with you is the correct thing to do.

We are all watching you !!

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.

Thank you for letting us know what Apple should have told us.

I asked the engineer who I contacted why they had been so secretive and why they had not acknowledged all the concern from loyal Apple users. All I got was "We haven't been secretive" but no response to why they hadn't kept us informed about the restoration of column view.

Oh well.

Thank you very much Gary for joining the Beta Program, installing the Beta version of Big Sur and confirming that the column view is restored. For many this whole experience has been bruising! (yes, we all know there are more important things in the World at present). Apple customers used to think they had a special relationship with Apple and that was based on Apple's intuitive development - giving us what we wanted before we even knew it and designing products and systems that were simplicity itself to use. The last year shattered that!

(1) Thousands of us remain deeply shaken by the absolute stupidity of Apple's decision to remove an aspect of basic functionality that for most of us seems a self-evident crucial requirement of a any mail program.

(2) We remain appalled by the lack of response to the thousands of complaints and the emergence of an obvious widespread discontent in a significant number of its customers.

(3) The fact that they waited for over a YEAR to correct their mistake is, also, truly shocking.

All Apple had to do was either a one sentence 'we hear you' post or a correction in the numerous updates since launch. Apple - we know you read this - so be clear your action and then your response to us your loyal customers has caused reputation damage. Like most, I'm less likely to advocate for your, think twice before buying another Apple product (and I've bought Apple since the 1980s) and have turned off auto-update, until I'm sure you won't destroy more of what I value in Apple.

Kernow13, thank you for the update. I had spoken with a very senior Apple exec regarding column view about a year ago (it's in one of my earlier posts), and he said the missing feature was not an accident. What he failed to mention, which would have been very helpful, was that it would be restored. In any case, it's great news to hear it's "back" ... but it's a little like Jack Nicholson in The Shining when he announced "Here's Johnny!", I wonder what's next.

Do you also happen to have issues with your battery draining ~10-15% in Sleep Mode overnight? If so, did the upgrade solve that problem?

Thanks again for letting us all know about this "upgrade". I'm sure there will be other gremlins in there that we have yet to discover.

"...he said the missing feature was not an accident. "

Was this "senior Apple exec" recruited from Microsoft? Because that's the kind of idiocy you'd expect from MS.

They dropped a critical mail feature ON PURPOSE??

Apple essentially forced me to abandon my decades-long workflow in Mail in favor of Outlook in order to have a tool that performs like a real mail program instead of the abortion that is the Catalina Mail app.

Although I dislike Outlook, now that I'm using it, I've gotten used to it enough that I won't likely go back to Mail, even if they do fix column view.

Kernow13, your post is spot on.

The amazing thing that Apple don't seem to have registered is their failure to acknowledge the significant negative feedback.

Apology would be good but at least recognise the anger and disappointment coming from so many PREVIOUSLY loyal supporters.

The damaged reputation will be very difficult to overcome.