Mail - Classic view in Catalina

Stephen Pollak wrote:

That view shows only the FROM column but not the corresponding TO column.

All sent messages are of course FROM me, so that's a useless column when viewing sent messages..

Yet, in the view, one cannot see to whom the messages were SENT. That too is wholly useless. Unfathomable.

So at least it's not worse that viewing my sent messages (Cc:ed to myself) in the Inbox (where the To column is missing too)! I never kept anything in the Sent box.

This is exactly why I do not ever want to upgrade my OS. Why do you continue to remove functionality whenever you “upgrade” the OS and associated apple programs?

For instance:

In Mail under OS Catalina, I can no longer re-order my columns, resize them, or sort by simply clicking on a column heading. That’s removing a lot of the ease, control and customization that I am used to having. That is a step backward in my opinion.

Another example of a useless change in this upgrade is: after so many years of the keyboard command for creating an alias (command L), you arbitrarily changed it the the much less easy Option Command A. Not an improvement, just someone’s hair-brained idea. When you change long-standing features or functionality, you dumb-down the product and really annoy your long-time users, which is your most solid base of supporters.

Please bring back the customization options in Mail.

I totally agree with this big issue on MacMail. I had a 2011 MacBook Pro and the mail had the side reading pane. My new MacBook Air is making me crazy as I so preferred the other view. It takes too long to search for emails. Would it be simpler to migrate to Outlook instead if I have it?

I have no idea how many focus groups it took to come up with the idea of removing column sizing and being able to choose the columns I want and to move them to where I want them. Whoever came up with this idiotic idea must be an imbecile!!! I know Apple’s philosophy is "if it is working let’s see what we can do to mess it up" (wink wink nudge nudge). Your customers would like to pay for what they want not what some geek thinks they want. PUT THE OLD COLUMN FEATURES BACK!!!!!

I have no idea how many focus groups it took to come up with the idea of removing column sizing and being able to choose the columns I want, and to move them to where I want them. Whoever came up with this idiotic idea must be an imbecile!!! I know Apple’s philosophy is "if it is working let’s see what we can do to **** (mess) it up" (wink wink nudge nudge). Your customers would like to pay for what they want not what some geek thinks they want. PUT THE OLD COLUMN FEATURES BACK!!!!! PLEASE

Related to this; it seems that I can't re-size the columns in this view because the headers are missing! IS there some one way to resize the columns? Iused to be able to size the columns so I could see more of the subject line; now I can't! :(

wdav48 wrote:

I have no idea how many focus groups it took to come up with the idea of removing column sizing and being able to choose the columns I want, and to move them to where I want them. Whoever came up with this idiotic idea must be an imbecile!!! I know Apple’s philosophy is "if it is working let’s see what we can do to **** (mess) it up" (wink wink nudge nudge). Your customers would like to pay for what they want not what some geek thinks they want. PUT THE OLD COLUMN FEATURES BACK!!!!! PLEASE

You're not talking to Apple here.

Your message of ten weeks ago -- "I am now looking for a different email program" -- have you found one? Have you a short list? How was/is the copying-across process?

I too am utterly frustrated by Apple's careless attitude, but I suppose they have shareholders who don't want the company to be employing expensive intelligent programmers if they can get away without. Nor would I, if I had Apple shares, but their gear is infamously more expensive than others' with a similar spec precisely because it is intelligent.

This decision is incomprehensible to me.

I found nothing better.

Besides the column view problem, the other issues I had have finally disappeared.

Especially Undo/Redo works great and stable now (earlier after undoing Delete a message couldn't be deleted again).

No, no alternative, and nothing from apple either (eg, to say we're sorry, it was a mistake, or, we're sorry, this feature has been removed, or, we're looking at this one, or, Xxxxxmail has this feature . . . nothing). We pay extra for a decent service but are still disappointed.

I've used Mac Mail for almost 25 years. I use it alot and, specifically, I use the Inbox in 'Classic' layout to keep track of my work-in-progress. I REALLY miss being able to see the 'From' column. Also, not being able to see attachments at the beginning of the row is very unhelpful.

There is no logic to undoing features that carry no significant weight in the interface, but clearly have a solid class of users still using them. If Apple is trying to cut ties with 'Classic' b/c it sounds dated, rename it Phred! But stop causing these disruptions to workflows and productivity just to make something look different.

Hey, since updating to Catalina I have a problem with my preview pane in mail, its hidden and I cannot seem to retrieve it. I have gone to view and changed the layout options but still the preview is nowhere to be seen. I tried clicking on the little dot underneath the messages etc and still no... any ideas, its very frustrating as I like to see my messages in a preview underneath...I have also tried quitting mail and opening again..also the preferences... am at a loss..help please thank you..

I had this. You have to drag the separation bar up from the bottom slowly for more than a certain quite long (3 or 4 sec) time. T O T A L L Y unintuitive, unpredictable, and completely unreasonably different from the previous Mail.

This has been an issue for me for a looong time. It is easier to resolve these days. Go to the bottom of the window, in the preview area, and look for a tiny dark grey dot. It is fairly obsure. Put the cursor on that dot and click/hold as you very slowly move the cursor up. IT LOOKS LIKE NOTHING IS HAPPENING! Keep at it, and suddenly the list of mail will separate itself from the Preview and all will be well.

I just tried this a couple of times to help me remember for future use.

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.