Tips for Mac users

Are You a Power-User of Apple’s Mail Program?

tvalleau

If so, then you should take a look here:

http://www.indev.ca/

One of the most frustrating issues for those of us who “live in Mail” is that its “rules” (I prefer “filters”) are so minimal. In fact, most email software these days suffers from that condition.

Filters can be immensely helpful, but Mail doesn’t even have a way to filter outgoing email, much less anything remotely sophisticated.

Well, that’s solved with the add-ons from indev. Now, as usual, I only add my software thoughts about software I actually use, and that’s the case here as well.

Let me get my one less-than-positive thought out of the way first: the three plug-ins are too expensive. They should be sold as a bundle for $49 (US.) Am I griping because I paid full tariff? Not really. I’ve just been in the software game (as a programmer and a marketeer) for 30+ years, and that’s my opinion.

Now, what are they? In short, three plugins: Act-On, MailTags, and MiniMail.

MiniMail is a convenience: it’s a small window you can leave up and running that will show you incoming mail. Unobtrusive is its main quality, and I’ve grown accustomed to a quick glance to see if the mail is urgent, or something I can put off until later. Nice, but hardly a “big deal.”

What is a big deal, however, are the other two… and they work together so well that they really should be purchased as a pair.

MailTags is just what you’d expect from the name: you can easily add tags to mail, either incoming or outgoing. Identify each mail as belonging to a certain project; tagged with one or more keywords; add notes (!) or colors; add to iCal projects; create To_do’s and more.

Mail Act-On are the enhanced filters. Almost worth the price alone IMHO is the addition of outgoing filters. When I reply to my photo agent, my reply goes to the appropriate business folder, along with his emails in to me.

Further, greatly enhancing this is that the MailTags are available as filtering criteria as well.

Finally, the Act-On plug-in has a “public face” – a control panel that will let you do many things “by hand” but very quickly. For example, with one or more emails highlighted, I can just tap-tap (hit two keys, which takes, what? 1/2 second?) and move then directly into a sub-mailbox. Or I could add a keyword or set the project.

If you’ve never experienced the power of “real” mail filters (rules) then you’re in for a surprise. (However, I should note that using filters requires a logical mind-set, and some getting used to the logic, especially if you’re a “filter newbie.”)

OTOH, if you’ve used (and missed) strong filtering before, this software is a real no-brainer.

You should visit the site, of course, for details, and to discover the features I didn’t mention here.

For the right audience, this software is highly recommended.

http://www.indev.ca/

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