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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

Oct 16, 2020 7:26 AM in response to MikeE3

This kind of continuing failures by Apple to put the users FIRST is why I refuse to update my OS until it is shown (in this discussion forum, for example) that the Mail program works!! All of you who update automatically without checking things out first are making a BIG mistake. Witness previous issues with Photos and iMovie, for example. Mail appears to be in the same category....at least for me it does. In this case, I am waiting for all you guinea pigs to experiment and then tell us when it is OK to load.

Oct 16, 2020 7:32 AM in response to MacTonySD

Totally agree! I would have been LOST this past year if I had upgraded to Catalina but I got super lucky while searching for answers here to something else that was wigging out in my mail and saw that columns were gone. My son had updated already so I looked at his computer and tried to figure out how I would survive without this functionality and concluded I would NOT. I've been waiting a year, hoping something would change and fortunately I get alerts from this chat stream and recently learned Big Sur had the columns back. I too am not updating until I hear it's really good though so please don't close this chat! Would love more updates as people test it. I am worried that Mojave will corrupt my computer or something if I don't update soon but I'm holding out. Could not agree more that Apple's lack of response to everyone's concerns - no acknowledgment that DUMBING DOWN something so crucial to our functionality was a mistake. It has definitely hurt my confidence in the company.

Oct 16, 2020 7:42 AM in response to Michele from CT

The problem is that the Apple app designers are obviously not experienced app USERS. No one who is a routine Apple Mail user would think that getting rid of column customization, etc. was in any way a good idea.


We've seen this same attitude from Microsoft for ages. For example, MS Teams doesn't look like it was designed by someone who knows how collaboration software should work. So maybe Apple is now hiring Microsoft developers?


As many have commented about the Catalina Mail debacle, it makes no sense to remove key features. To what end?

Oct 16, 2020 9:30 AM in response to petemcl

There are two issues here (1) The stupidity of discontinuing an essential aspect of functionality of a Mail program, and (2) The poor customer service response of Apple.


It took a year during which multiple complaint and extensive customer feedback forced get Apple to reverse this change, but unfortunately they have imposed a complete no communication policy with their customers, which frankly comes across as hostile.


The result is that, like many of us, I am still on 10.5.2 and there are several apps that I can't update as they are not compatible. I am over-joyed mail columns are coming back in Big Sur, or so it is said (I look forward to getting my old Mail back), but although I scan update details, the web and various places, I have seen no confirmation of the fact, so I won't upgrade until I have proof that its there!


Apple - do us all a favour - without judgment or blame - just one sentence will do.

Oct 16, 2020 10:35 AM in response to Kernow13

Your first 2 paragraphs summarize the issue perfectly. Other users have said the mail functionality will return with new OS. We can hope for that. As to Apple returning to the helpful, good communicating company it may have been 10-15 years ago, there is no hope. Even Apple techs are dismayed at poor communication from engineers and higher-ups. All we are really left with is this forum to complain to one another...to very little effect. Arrogance has taken over and the willingness to acknowledge errors is a thing of the past.

Oct 16, 2020 10:44 AM in response to koeller

Well, technically they have plenty of competition so that's not the issue. Generally, what happens is that companies like Apple get complacent, especially with products that don't have a major profit margin. The watches, phones, earphones, etc. all have huge margin and so Apple concentrates on those to the detriment of the MacOS (which has not really seriously improved in years).

Oct 16, 2020 11:03 AM in response to Beeblebrox

To breeblebrox......yes, I suppose I agree on the competition part. But, then, the question should be asked: why update your own OS? What Apple offers in the form of new OS versions has no significant benefit to me as a businessperson using Apple machines, but rather they offer a bunch of changes using the (false) justification as being for "security".

Oct 16, 2020 11:25 AM in response to koeller

It's always a double edged sword with Apple when advancing to a new version of the OS. Catalina, like all previous versions, has advantages over the previous OS but it came (as usual) with some problems and, in the case of Mail, just idiocy.


I update to get the new features and, but in the case of Mail, had to move over to Outlook to allow me to do my work and still benefit from other features of Catalina. That's the first time I've ever had to do that, which is why I consider the Mail debacle to be such a blunder. Apple pushing its users over to Microsoft products is monumentally dumb.

Oct 22, 2020 10:58 AM in response to petemcl

Makes me want to load the beta version of Big Sur just to get this back - what the heck is up with Apple ? As I sit here with a Firewire to Thunderbolt 2 to thunderbolt 3 adapter and my mouse upside down while it's charging...I spend most of my time trying to get things to work as before as I tryiy to get work done.

Glad it is back.

Oct 23, 2020 10:49 AM in response to petemcl

But but but not all of us will want or be able to upgrade to Big Sur.

I just "upgraded" from High Sierra (2017 iMac). Took hours to sort out installation, Apple ID, iCloud and other problems, and gained nothing.


Apple: Can we please have a Catalina revision (10.15.8?) that brings back mail column controls?? Why go backwards with basic user functionalities??

I am seriously considering switching to Outlook for mail client. Used it for years at work and it was far superior to macOS mail.

Oct 23, 2020 11:05 AM in response to yoramguy

I have switched to Outlook, thinking MS would never be so foolish as to outrage their huge corporate base with a change like this.


Well guess what. There is a now a "New Outlook for Mac" coming out. It's available to try, but it's not complete yet.


It's not clear whether it still supports the customizable column view. Some online comments I've seen suggest unwelcome changes to column view -- but I'm not sure. There are many other major omissions at present (including no IMAP support!) but that are promised.


https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/outlook-blog/enhanced-performance-designed-for-simplicity-the-new-outlook-for/ba-p/1675505


https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/roadmap?filters=Outlook%2CMac



Oct 23, 2020 11:16 AM in response to yoramguy

Question to yoramguy: So WHY did you 'upgrade'????? Seems like if you were satisfied with High Sierra, there was no need to 'upgrade'!!! OR, ON THE OTHER HAND, did you believe all that marketing nonsense from Apple about improved 'security', having a more colorful screen, or being able to talk to your second cousin in Kyrgyzstan?


Oct 23, 2020 11:28 AM in response to koeller

Great question!! I hesitated for a very long time and I normally don't fix it if it ain't broke. I had an issue with the old OS of the computer trying to shut itself down when going to sleep and from searching for an answer online many suggested, right or wrong, first get all software and add ins, including the OS, upgraded to the most current version. That problem is now solved but I am not sure whether that success has anything to do with the OS upgrade. This is what happens when I don't obey my own rules. By the way, my second cousin in Kyrgyzstan and I are no longer on speaking terms after she posted all our private pics.

catalina mail column view

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