How do I make Mail show unread msgs in bold?

Switch to Classic view in the Mail Viewing Preferences. Check the box to display unread messages in bold.

I just use an "Unread" smart mailbox in the Lion view.

I'm working from the Lion Mail view and not Classic with these instructions.

Show the Mailbox list (button on toolbar or View menu in Mail), if it is not already.

Click the plus ( + ) button at the bottom of the list and choose New Smart Mailbox:

Set the criteria as follows:

Click OK. It will show up under Smart Mailboxes.

I dragged it up to my toolbar so that it was handy. I generally keep my Mailbox List closed.

I can select which mailboxes I want to view from the toolbar:

Some more ideas on Smart Mailboxes.

Please note that a Smart Mailbox does not move any email. It is just a search that collects matching email and displays them all together. You can move emails from the Smart Mailbox, and it will move the email from wherever it happens to be, into the folder you drop it into (except another smart mailbox)

You can create smart mailboxes to group emails by date, also. I've got Last Week, This Week, and This Month set up. Notice how you can drop smart mailboxes on top of one another to group them. It doesn't affect the search that is conducted, just puts them together. You can also add that group of Smart Mailboxes to the toolbar.

I use smart mailboxes for certain mailing lists where I just want to read and delete the list email, not move it into a mailbox for long-term storage. So, I create a smart mailbox for those list emails and I can show all the ones I haven't read/deleted.

Barney said: It will show up under Smart Mailboxes.

I dragged it up to my toolbar so that it was handy. I generally keep my Mailbox List closed.

I can select which mailboxes I want to view from the toolbar:

It's funny how ruts form and it's hard to get out of them. This simple tip was obvious... as soon as I read it here. Thanks.

this was so great ... i just called my local apple guy to try to figure this out ... thanx soo much this kind of thing is maddening and at the prices of apple products, should occur less frequently than in the everyday world, but not necessarily so.

i also had a hard time transitioning from spaces and expose and the new gestures, which i still don't grok but will go there next.