Email Client Software

Save and Use Messages as Templates in Mac OS Mail

To save a message as a template in macOS Mail:

  1. Open Mail.app > Mailbox (in menu bar) > New Mailbox.
  2. Select for the mailbox and type "Templates" into the name field.
  3. Create a new message.
  4. Edit the message to contain anything you want in the the template.
    o You can edit and save the message subject, contents, recipients and/or the message priority.
  5. Select, File > Save as Draft from the menu.
  6. Close the message editing window.
  7. Go to the Drafts folder.
  8. Move the message you just saved from the "Drafts" folder by dragging it to the "Templates" folder.

 

To use a message template in macOS Mail to create a new message:

  1. Open the "Templates" folder containing the desired message template.
  2. Highlight the template you want to use for the new message.
  3. Select Message > Send Again from the menu.
  4. Edit and send the message.

You can also use any message you previously sent as a template by copying it to your "Templates" folder (or using Message > Send Again directly). To edit a template, create a new message using it, make the desired changes and the save the edited message as a template as described above while deleting the old template.

Where does my email client store my email?

Windows:

Outlook: C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook

Mac OS X:

Eudora: /Macintosh HD/Users/<username>/Library/Qualcomm/Eudora/
Entourage 2004: /Macintosh HD/Users/<username>/Documents/Microsoft User Data/Office 2004 Identities/Main Identity/
Entourage 2008: /Macintosh HD/Users/<username>/Documents/Microsoft User Data/Office 2008 Identities/Main Identity/

Email Configuration: IMAP or POP3?

Use POP if you...

...are the type of computer user who will only access your email using one email client (in this case Outlook). This way all your email is downloaded to you computer and you will always have access to your email whether you are online or offline. (If you use this setting, I recommend that have a robust backup system, since the only copy of your email will reside on your personal computer. You can configure Outlook to leave a copy of your email on the server, but you have a limited amount of storage on the server, so your email box could reach capacity and you will no longer receive email until you free up space.

Follow the instructions in the following link for steps to configure POP.

Use IMAP if you...

...access your email from multiple locations or devices and you are confident that you can configure your email settings properly. The IMAP email protocol enables a user to access their email from multiple interfaces while maintaining the presence and status of all the emails in your account (i.e. read vs un-read, replied/forwarded, deleted/moved/sorted, etc.). This is essential if you access your email from your computer in your office, your computer at home, your smartphone, a web browser on a shared computer, etc. The thing about IMAP is that you need to make sure it's configured to download the entire email message and attachments and you'll want to backup your emails to the local hard drive on one of your computers (gmail offers backup guarantees, but they are limited). I recommend IMAP to most computer users. It's especially helpful if you don't have access to your computer for some reason (because it crashed, or you forgot your power supply, or your dog ate it).

Follow the instructions in the following link for steps to configure IMAP.

Please remember that these are simply my personal preferences and recommendations, you are responsible for configuring, maintaining and backing up your own email. I cannot take responsibility for lost email or other problems that can result from improperly configured email clients.

Compact Thunderbird Folders

[OLD] Compact Folders in Thunderbird to improve performance and reliability

To compact folders manually:
  1. Open Thunderbird.
  2. Select Compact Folders from the File menu.
  3. Wait for the folders to compact.

 

To compact folders automatically (recommended):
  1. Open Thunderbird.
  2. Go to Tools > Options > Advanced > Network & Disk Space > Disk Space.
  3. Set Thunderbird to "Compact folder when it will save over 100 kB".
  4. Click OK.

More information about compacting folders in Thunderbird is available here:
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Compacting_folders

Delete Batches of Email using an Email Client

 

You can Delete email messages from the Gmail All Mail folder using your email client:

Apple Mail:

  1. Open your email client. (For this example I'll use Apple Mail)
  2. Configure your email client as recommended in Gmail Help:
    http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answ ... swer=78892#
    • Be sure that you configure Mail > Preferences > Accounts > Mailbox behaviors > Trash > [Gmail]/Trash
    • Open Window > Activity - so you can view the progress of the email move operations
    • Backup your email messages to a folder on your local computer using your email client. (I recommend creating yearly archive folders for your incoming and outgoing email messages as follows):
      • On My Mac (Local Folders)
        • ARCHIVE
          • IN
            • 2008
            • 2009
          • OUT
            • 2008
            • 2009
    • Move your email messages (500 - 1000 at a time) from your Inbox and Sent folders to the corresponding folders in your email archive. (Watch the Mail Activity window and wait until the move operation completes before moving the next set of emails or proceeding to the next step)
    • Verify that you have backed up all your email messages locally as described in the previous step and that the Mail Activity window indicates that there is no longer any email activity, then quit Apple Mail and restart the application.
    • Synchronize your gmail account with Apple Mail (Mailbox > Synchronize "Google")
    • Quit Apple Mail and restart the application.
    • Now that you have backed up all your email messages and synchronized your email account, you can start deleting email messages from the Gmail All Mail folder.
    • Click on the [Gmail] / All Mail folder in Apple Mail.
    • Move your oldest email messages, 500 - 1000 at a time, from "[Gmail] Gmail / All Mail" to the "[Gmail] / Trash" folder.
      (Watch the Mail Activity window and wait until the move operation completes before moving the next set of emails or proceeding to the next step. It is recommended that you move and delete less than 5000 emails per day.)
    • Synchronize your gmail account with Apple Mail (Mailbox > Synchronize "Google")
    • Verify that the Mail Activity window indicates that there is no longer any email activity, then quit Apple Mail and restart the application.
    • Login to the SJSU Gmail web interface and click on Trash.
    • Click the Empty Trash now link. Click OK to confirm.
    • Click on All Mail then click Oldest to verify that the email messages have been deleted from All Mail.