MacMail has been updated with a new Categories feature, which will likely elicit mixed reactions among users. Users can opt to disable this feature to revert to the familiar layout.
( I suggest you give it a go and try it for a week or two as it has good potential.)
Prioritizing Emails
Access the top level or Favorites folder to view your email accounts. Select the Edit button at the top to customize the information displayed. You can enable or disable reminders, follow-ups, and other preferences.
If an email mailbox is not displayed, add it by clicking on the “Add Mailbox” button located in the lower right corner of the screen. Utilize the three bars to rearrange the accounts and arrange them in your desired order.
All Mailboxes
The All Mailboxes section displays emails that the app deems important and categorizes them in the Primary section for easy viewing and action.
Categories
At the top of each email, categories are represented as icons. These categories include Primary (personal and time-sensitive emails), Shopping/Transactions (related to orders, purchases, and shipping), Updates (news, social media, and newsletters), and Promotions (coupons and sales promotions).
Stacked Emails
The new system organizes emails within sections from the same sender. When an email is deleted, all subsequent emails related to the same topic are automatically deleted, facilitating the efficient cleanup of the Inbox.
Categorizing Incorrect Emails
If an email is not categorized correctly, users can rectify this by selecting the email and clicking on the three dots in the upper right corner. Choose “Categorize Sender” and select the appropriate category. This process will teach the app to categorize emails more effectively.
Time-Sensitive Emails
In the Primary section, some emails may display an icon indicating their time sensitivity, ensuring that users do not miss important deadlines.
To temporarily turn off Categories, tap the name of the section (category like Primary) you are already viewing and you will go directly to All Mail. Tap All Mail to go back to the previous category. If you prefer not to use the Categories feature, turn it off by tapping the three dots at the top level of you email. There you can click on “list view” to back to mail viewed without categorization. Another icon to review is one at the lower left corner that is a circle with three horizontal lines. Click this to see only your unread emails… things that may sort of scroll off your screen without review if you receive lots of emails. In the bottom middle of the screen you will see “Filters”. Here you can further refine what you want to see. You might want to consider going back to the default settings here so it does not eliminate too many emails. Best practice will be to try it in “on” and “off” so you will get a better feel of how this works.
Also at the top of the main screen of an email account is the Select button to allow you to choose multiple emails. As you do, you will see choices such as Mark, Move, Archive to help you process your email. When you are selecting, you can choose one at a time or hold you finger one the left and drag down to select multiple emails.
When viewing any list of emails you can use the Swipe function. If you swipe “right” on an email you can select to make it unread xor remind me to make it reappear on a certain so you can reply. Swiping “left” you’ll see Trash, Flag or More. Use Flags to make personal categories to help you manage your important emails. The More option includes: Reply, Forward, Trash and other choices.
After opening an email you will see four icons along the bottom of the screen. On the left is Trash, to the right is Folder where you can file the email in one of your email folders, next is Reply which has several options… reply all, forward, Remind Me, Flag and so on. The right most icon is for a new email. Use different colors on Tags for: orders, confidential, personal, high importance, etc. Additional options here include, move to Junk, Block Sender and Print. In the top right of an open email are up/down arrows to quickly scroll through your emails.
Create a new email. The small rectangle on the lower right on many email screens starts a new email. Type a few letters in the To line and it search your contacts until a match comes up. Select the proper recipient. If no name is found, then type in the email address. You can use the + symbol to search your address book or one of your contact lists to send to a group of people. Below the To line is CC and BCC. Name entry is the same. If you have multiple email addresses, you can use the From line to edit the origination. Add a phrase or comment in the Subject line. Always be sure to use a Subject otherwise your mail is likely treated as Spam. On the right of the subject line is an alarm bell icon. Click this will let you know via a Notification when someone replies to the message.
When your are finished you can send or you could save it as a draft. Click on the Cancel in upper left of screen. Now you can Save Draft, Delete Draft or Cancel. Additionally, you can use your finger on the top of the email where there is a small horizontal bar. Drag the bar down to the bottom of the screen. The email will stay here and the subject line will be visible enough so that tif you touch it, the draft message will open again so you can complete it. Draft messages are also stored in the Drafts folder in the email account you are working on. They will remain there until sent or deleted. Another easy way to see drafts is to press and hold the new email icon and all your drafts will appear in a list.
From the MacWhisperer. “iOS 18 Mail: Why Some Love Apple’s New Categories & Others Hate Them!”