How Mail NEEDS to be Improved


Screen shot 2009-10-12 at 10.22.18 AMApple’s Mail program has been the same essentially for years. And even with the Exchange support added with Snow Leopard, the company’s main e-mail program really is lacking in features. Power e-mailers have turned to other options and as a result, the program sits in the dock, lonely and unused. So how does Apple fix the problem? Here’s how.

  1. Take some tips from the competition. Gmail is finally out of beta, and it’s been fine-tuned to perfection. Labels make organization easy, and are sorely lacking from Mail. The only way that articles can be marked is with a flag, and that’s not very efficient. Fact is, color coding is already included in the system, it’s just incredibly difficult to access.
  2. Folders. Entourage isn’t the best program in the world, but being able to sort e-mails into separate folders keeps the inbox free for current tasks. And with Inbox Zero being so popular nowadays, it’d be nice to include that with the base program.
  3. Take out the RSS. I’m an RSS feed guy, and I know most people aren’t. But why even include the reader in mail? Not only does it look horrible, it doesn’t work well either. Seems like there’s no point to it.

We’re hoping Apple might follow up on a few of our suggestions. If not, then it looks like we’ll continue hunting for other e-mail options out there.


Kokou Adzo

Kokou Adzo is a stalwart in the tech journalism community, has been chronicling the ever-evolving world of Apple products and innovations for over a decade. As a Senior Author at Apple Gazette, Kokou combines a deep passion for technology with an innate ability to translate complex tech jargon into relatable insights for everyday users.

3 Comments

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  1. ok I get where you see some area of improvements are needed for Mail.app…but don’t you think you are a little off on your assessment?

    first of all…mail is not a pro program it is a basic program for the basic person and it seems to work well for what it was made for…the normal email person…not the pro that needs all that extra stuff

    so therefore you are free to purchase or use some sort of professional program…adding exchange service to mail is pretty much for those iphone users that need it…it should not be confused with anyone thinking that Mail.app is some sort of pro app

    and as far as RSS is concerned…it works great for my needs…granted there are a bunch of different ways to access your RSS feeds available…I find that having them in my Mail program works best for me…because I have mail open 24/7 so when I want to read my RSS feeds I have that availability

    I have tried 3 party programs and don’t like them…that’s my taste but may not be everyones taste on the matter…but it causes me to have one less program running and hogging ram and cpu…

    so that’s how I feel on this matter

    as far as how the Apple Gazette has suffered since the change of ownership…that is next…

    your Impulsive review segment that seems to be the grunt of what comes from this blog now days is pathetic…

    I have yet to read a provocative or news worth post from this site since your taking over of it…

    it is sad because Michael may have had some issues lately and the site has had less than stellar number of articles in recent months…when there was one…it was interesting and readable…

    I don’t know if this is being run by one person at this time…but when Michael owned it…it was exquisite information…great articles that were worth reading…I saw this post in my RSS feeds in Mail.app and thought…oh finally a real blog post…but again I was disappointed by the level of writing and content…

    I don’t want to be mean to you by no means…but you really need to put together some real stories some real content and something REAL

    for the longest time the Apple Gazette was a favorite of mine and now it is my least favorite…

    it doesn’t have to be up to the minute reporting for people to come to your site…but it has to be REAL and INTERESTING…and those two things are missing from your articles

    please take some time to really make this blog a priority to you and your team…because the Apple Gazette name means something to some of us who have been fans for a while…

    I am done now with my rant…just remember that we are apple lovers…and we love to hear about apple products and how to use them or make them work for us…we don’t need to hear stories about how you feel Apple isn’t living up to your standards with a staple app that may be able to use some updating or adding of features…we need to hear poignant, interesting views on the world of Apple

    thank you for your time

  2. Yup.. Mail sure does have folders. And Exchange 2007 support baked into Snow. And the process is ridiculously easy. I flipped my internal Exchange 2003 to AppRiver (GREAT company BTW). Took about 24 hours for ALL of the setup (biggest wait? changing MX records). Got home and within 5 minutes (booting Mac, Starting Mail, inputting settings), I had ALL of mail, contacts, and calendars on my Mac. So easy a Caveman could do it. Or should I say, an apple gazette writer?