Mail - Classic view in Catalina

You can sort by message size but it doesn't show you how big each message is. Also why would you want to sort by who the message is sent to 'To' if it didn't actually show you who the message was sent to! Thats not a functionality issue that's a bug.

you can see the message size column under View Show message size. but no way to move the columns. So I've got message size, then date/time. Why can't i move the size right to the end (as i've done in all my mail client for literally the last 25 years), it's taking up valuable space. right in the middle in between Subject and Date .... it's just weird. Has nobody at Apple looked at this and said WTF?

I've just done it again, JAQ9, to ensure it works. You might have to drag the bar halfway up the window before anything happens. You start to drag and the bar STAYS AT THE BOTTOM as your cursor goes up. Then at halfway, after taking at least 3 seconds to get there, it WORKS.

It's poor, and it's stupid, but it does work -- but so did the previous method -- why change it? APPLE: You can be stupid, you know.

I use Apple Mail all the time. The Catalina version of mail is just impossible. Poor functionality, little flexibility. Why???

I actually switched back to Mojave, which wasn't easy, but it was the only way I could do my work. This means that until Apple actually puts Mail back the way it was, I'm stuck with this computer and this OS until the end of time. How is that in Apple's interest?

I called Apple and wrote and registered my thoughts about this big step backwards. But I don't think anything has changed.

Please do write to them with feedback and maybe, just maybe, they'll give us back the full functionality of Mail in Classic view.

They seem to have changed how the "dot" at the bottom of the Mail window works. I first dragged the dot down to the bottom of the window and saw only the list of messages. I then tried clicking and holding it for several seconds (which did nothing) for several attempts, holding it for longer and longer times before dragging upwards.

Then I tried holding the "command" key while clicking and dragging the dot up, and the first couple of times it did nothing, but on the third time it reopened a window area in which the selected message is displayed.

Hard to believe this is how it's _supposed_ to work - maybe it's a bug! I'll call AppleCare to pursue further and post what I learn in this Discussion.

I just called AppleCare and had a long discussion about this. The expert was unable to duplicate the behavior on his Mac, but he agreed with what I was seeing on my Mac.

After trying _many_ times to move the divider back up so that message content is displayed, we concluded that on my Mac it is sometimes reliable but sometimes unreliable, and it's hard to see a pattern in the (mis)behavior. Using the command key doesn't seem to correlate with whether dragging the divider up works or not. Holding the bar for awhile before dragging also doesn't seem to correlate.

We also identified a second bug: After successfully dragging the bar back up so that message content is displayed, often the content pane says that no message is selected, even if a message in the list pane is already selected. Selecting a different message and then going back to the message in question seems to rectify this.

He suggested reinstalling the OS to see whether that makes a difference. Whatever we learn, it is worth reporting on the Apple Product Feedback website https://www.apple.com/feedback/.

It is well known that the Apple developers don't pay attention to these discussion boards! To bring a problem to their attention one _must_ post it as Product Feedback, at the above URL. If you see something, say something.

You guys are providing info that is in no way, shape or form related to Version 13.4 (3608.80.23.2.2) in which you can't get mail preview or classic look even if you take a big hammer and hammer the app down ...I regret in so many ways ever switching on my hosts to the Catalina OS. So far THE biggest OS X junk in Apple's history!!!

In Catalina mail, on the view menu, uncheck "Show Side Preview" and it will put the preview back on the bottom. Do check "Use Column Layout".

In case It's not clear Pre catalina -> enable classic view, search mail. NO Top hits. Post catalina, no classic view, therefore no way to turn off top hits.

No. You have been taken out the possibility of organizing the columns the way you want and you need, and the way it makes YOU more efficient. But Apple knows best.

Apple knows best. Move to Thunderbird or MSOutlook, which is perhaps what Apple wants us to do. Next step: Move to Windows or Linux altogether.

Yeah. Again to the view header on the menu and click on "Show To/CC label" that will kill of the "To" that you currently see.

You can have preview on bottom just choose it from the menu.

i just want top hits to be got rid of at least.

Just a reminder: Apple engineers largely ignore these forums. You (and the rest of us) should give them feedback at https://www.apple.com/feedback/.