Using Notes in Mail

Wednesday, January 13 2010

By: chrisb

Storing Tidbits of Info

Mail Note with To Do items
Click to see a larger image

The Apple Mail application includes a Notes feature. You can create Notes, add To Do items to them, and even email them to others.

To create a Note, click the Note button on the Mail toolbar. A new Note appears, looking like a yellow legal pad and using the slightly difficult to read Marker Felt font (*). Create your Note and click on the Done button. The first line of the Note becomes the title.

If you want, you can mix text and To Do items on a Note. Click the To Do button on the Note toolbar and you can start entering To Do items. Press Return twice to return to typing plain text. You can set due dates, alarms, priorities and the calendar of the To Do by clicking on the red arrow in a circle to the left of the To Do item. To Do items in Notes are synchronized with your other To Do items in Mail and in iCal.

If you wish to email your Note to someone, click the Send button in the Note toolbar. To Do items are changed to plain text in an emailed Note.

Notes are organized like email messages. Click the Notes item under REMINDERS in the left pane. There you will see all of your Notes. Double clicking on a Note will open it so you can edit it.

For some odd reason, Mail also put your notes in your Inbox. That doesn't make much sense to me, but that is easy to turn off. Go to Mail Preferences and click on the Accounts section. Then choose the Mailbox Behaviors tab. In the Notes section, uncheck Store Notes in Inbox.

Even though Mail Notes look somewhat like Stickies and Dashboard Stickies, they are not related and do not sync with each other.

If you have MobileMe, Mail notes are synced between your other computers. Mail Notes will also sync with your iPhone or iPod touch.

(*) You can change the font and color of a note on a message by message basis but clicking the Note toolbar buttons, but if you want to make a permanent change, go to Mail Preferences and click on the Fonts & Colors section. There you can set up the default font for Notes (and message fonts as well.)