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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 12, 2019 8:15 AM in response to petemcl

Outwith Outlook as I don't have 365 has anybody found a similar email client thats free to use along the lines of Mail.


Tried Spark, but it doesn't have the features that have just been removed from Mail that has me looking for a new email client in the first place and I can't adjust the size of the fonts in the reading panels.

Nov 14, 2019 12:25 PM in response to petemcl

Well, my original post was just deleted, so I'll edit it to say:


It's really distressing how often now a new release just means trouble. I used to hate the people who decried every change as ruining their life because for decades Apple has brought joy to my work. I'm for innovation, not against change. But so many changes of the last several years arbitrarily destroy meaningful and established functionality. With the original decimation of features in iWork, and the dilution of column views in Music, and this, and the rampant elimination of ports, as well as many other moves, it seems like Apple's actively trying to dissuade anybody even close to a power user.


The support pages aren't monitored for feedback, so mentioning it here won't do much good.

I sent something to this effect to Apple Feedback, and urge everyone else to do the same:

https://www.apple.com/feedback/mail.html


Nov 15, 2019 1:00 AM in response to petemcl

I love my apple products but it’s stuff like this that makes me wish there was an alternative out there. I’ve changed my phone to android, no real change to be honest, but I can’t face ever going to windows! Makes me feel like Apple have abso No regard for their customers when they remove client functionality like this... I’ve logged a complaint too...

Nov 19, 2019 3:36 PM in response to petemcl

This is very lame. The new view is atrocious and big step backward. I like to organize my columns with date and time received on left, then sender, attachment, etc. Also like to re-sort occasionally based on attachment size when cleaning up or by sender specifically when tracking historical responses. What is purpose of decreasing functionality Apple?


Nov 20, 2019 5:23 AM in response to petemcl

Apple's answer should not be "this is not a a malfunction but just a change in program" when the program worked before but now doesn't. Obviously users have grown accustomed to varying the header features to suit their needs and the programming for Mail in Catalina was inadequate. The answer should be "We are on it."

Nov 23, 2019 9:15 AM in response to i4wicki

I just discovered how much functionality and usability mail has lost in Catalina. I posted feedback to Apple, but now I seriously wish I had not upgraded. For the way that I use mail in my business (different columns/arrangements in different mailboxes, missing fields to sort by, etc) this is a catastrophe.


I guess I'll run mail in a Mojave VM in my mac and disable it in Catalina.

catalina mail column view

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