I used to be able to set columns in mail when using the column layout feature. Now there doesn't appear to be a way to do this - also is it possible to rearrange the columns showing in mail other than turning a column off?
I started this thread and so will save you some time paging through the hundreds of replies: there is no workaround, Apple has said nothing, and the two most common mail apps that folks are migrating to get columns is Thunderbird and Outlook, both of which have improved and are more Apple friendly.
I have a different take on why. Columns still exist in every other OS function in Finder and elsewhere. Code like this are 'objects' that can be dropped into most other apps, so I do not believe it is lack of willingness to 'support the code'.
I do think they are trying to move the Mac OS to as close as possible to the iPhone/ipad OS to make the user experience nearly the same. But this makes for a big dumbing down of the Mac OS.
The mystery to me is that you can't change column width in iPhones-- so are they now going to remove the ability to do that in ALL Mac OS apps, finder etc.? I highly doubt that, so why selectively remove it from Mail?
I think they don't believe it is that popular so why not get rid of it. Hence the importance of letting our voices be heard.
The removal of the columns is a feature not a bug. I was told this week Apple wanted to speed up the rendering of the Mail UI in Catalina and one the ways was to remove columns and fix the UI so rendering and, thus, scrolling was smoother.
Ok, if that was the case, I can just about live with fixed columns, but they should still allow us to remove columns. I don't need to see the inbox source for example!
I'll post this again since there are quit a few new participants in this discussion since I last posted - try Thunderbird
This is my go-to mail app when OS X Mail acts up. You can configure it just about any way you need your messages displayed and best of all, it's free.
I'm posting below a copy of my Mar 30 post to thread "catalina mail column view":
A big thank you, Glenn Fleishman, for the article titled You’re not imagining things: Apple did remove the column option from macOS Mail, published in Macworld on 25 March 2020. Let's hope that other tech writers address this important matter in their columns and let's also hope that Apple wakes up from its long trance. Like many other participants in this forum, I have been a loyal user of Apple products for decades. It is high time that Apple displayed some loyalty to its users in return for our loyalty.
Lauraald4 wrote:
Apple, are you listening?
No, they are not, not here. The only people you are talking to here are other users.
If you want to complain to Apple, you must do so here:
I'll bet the developers couldn't give us a reason to make a function harder to use. Same as ditching the ability to color folders. Why get rid of these wonderful things that make Apple famous for ease of use?
Because they are merging the code base for macOS Mail and iOS Mail.
Is it easier to port a complex system of coloring folders from macOS to iOS, or drop the feature from macOS because it doesn't exist in iOS?
Even if that isn't the case, it also saves a lot of engineering time if they don't need to maintain the code base to implement features they believe most people don't use.
To be more precise got to:
https://www.apple.com/feedback/mail.html
Fill out the form and explain why we want our fully customizable columns selection back.
Please, all of you :-)
Set your column width by placing your cursor between the columns such that two parallel vertical lines appear in the cursor selection (instead of an arrow). Then drag the cursor left or right to set the column width.
Mail columns are now useless in Catalina . . . you cannot change what columns are displayed nor column width
When I go to my sent messages . . . guess who is in the name column - ME! For every single message sent no matter to whom.
How useless is that? How can I tell to whom did I send the message to without opening it???
Come on Apple, make Mail actually usable - as it is it is now in MacOS Cataline, it is a toy and functionally not usable for anything other than rare and casual email use.
There are people who actually use Mail as a business tool and need more than a super dumbed down POS mail app!
chim2 wrote:
Lame UI updates. Please roll back to customizable column headings with sort and placement function.
Comments like that here are useless as we are just fellow users and so can literally do nothing about it.
Let Apple know here:
Availlight wrote:
Please Apple, please I cannot function without this basic functionality. I guess it's back to Mojave.
Once again, posting here will accomplish precisely nothing.
Let Apple know of your concerns here:
Duchy777 wrote:
That's heartening, but what's disheartening is that it ever happened.... who could have thought for one millisecond that removing control of what's displayed in Mail was a good idea? Absolutely opposed to everything Steve Jobs and his team worked for.... I can see how they want Catalina to bridge with iOS.... but they should be bringing iOS up, not pulling MacOS down.
Sadly, Apple has been removing capabilities from macOS Mail for several releases now.
For example, note that the basic ability to show messages just marked as deleted was removed in 10.14 Mojave despite the fact that you can still just mark messages as deleted if you set the Trash mailbox to None. ☹️
MDF2, I agree with you - I have a whole office full of people who all rely on the ability to customize what columns you can see, to move them and to sort easily by that column by clicking on it directly. Result: we are not upgrading to Catalina. I personally know 14 Mac users in a work environment (and more who are personal users) who rely on this feature, and can only imagine that other professionals in office environments also do as well. As a 16+ year iMac and MacBook Pro user in a professional environment, I hope and believe I have a voice.
The biggest problem for our office is we communicate with clients and each other on emails addressed to a person (or persons) and cc:d to many others - this is because everyone needs to be kept in communications loops, but not all have an "action item" in an email received. By seeing the "From" field, I know who is sending the email and using the "To" field beside it, can see all who are in the loop. I myself am able to quickly and efficiently prioritize my day by knowing what emails require my personal immediate attention and what is an FYI for me - at a glance. I am also able to see who has been included and that they are up to date. I am able to prepare in advance for tasks I will be hit with and make sure all the info I need to succesfully complete those tasks is available to me.
I get anywhere from 50-80 or more emails every day in 3 different email accounts. Mail is only 1 of a few apps I use to keep on task and productive and the "From" and "To" fields are critical to my work day (along with folder sorting, flags etc.). And Catalina requires me to open up each and every email in order to see what I need to in order to determine where that email is in my priorities - it's hobbling my efficiency!
William, this feature is useless to you, but please respect and realize, it IS very important to many many people..... as the sheer volume of entries in this forum illustrates. Please do not generalize or put down the frustration that these forum users are expressing.
And for everyone reading - use the feedback url or call and speak with an Apple rep yourself. I have done this and requested it be tagged and escalated for attention - what will result, I can only hope is a return to the features many of us require.
Forgive the long post .... maybe not everyone uses the customization abilities like we do, but I hope I speak up for some! : )
Ups, I have not found a way to customise columns other than switching some of then on/off. Is there any chance to specify position or width? And I need urgently the column "to", allowing to see to who a email has sent to and allowing sorting by such.
William Kucharski said that column view is lightly used. I would be fine with using the standard view as long it would show me the "to" field.
Dear William, thanks for making me understand that this is a user forum only. I Would have assumed Apple provides such platform to listen silently...so I was thinking too loud. ;-)
Running Outlook and Thunderbird side by side sound little bit of an overkill. I have 50k messages in 20 mailboxes ...not sure if this would give too much load managing such twice?
tryingtowork: Here is the place that has been suggested to send the complain to apple: https://www.apple.com/feedback/mail.html
Myself and colleagues have sent messages and I encourage anyone in this forum who hasn't sent a feedback in to do so .... maybe something will happen if we inundate them with the same complaints!
Rowan Morrigan wrote:
Really, this is a reprehensible change to Apple Mail.
To not be able to alter columns is huge step backwards.
A ridiculous oversimplification.
Did you try Mail in Big Sur?!
You can change the columns to your heart's content.
Columns width isn't adjustable, Columns can't be rearranged any more :-(
I can't believe that - it looks like a joke!
Apple made a good program awful
[Edited by Moderator]
Column width in mail for OSX Catalina
