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TICKET ARCHIVE -> OS X Mail keyboard shortcuts?

RobinS - May 14, 2006 - 5:21 pm

I get a lot of junk mail in one of my POP accounts but some of it I need to redirect to a specific mailbox. It would be great to be able to have a message highlighted and then type a shortcut and that message is instantly moved to another mailbox. Dragging with the mouse is a total timewasting exercise.

earthsaver - May 14, 2006 - 11:22 pm

Best, I think, is to setup a system of rules in Mail preferences to automatically move messages to their appropriate folders or change their colors and so forth. You'll always know how many unread messages are in each folder by the number shown next to the folder.

I've also created a smart mailbox for unread email, so regardless of the location of a message among my 50 or so folders, I always have a single place to see all the messages I haven't read. A smart mailbox tracking unread messages doesn't update until I go to another mailbox and then return, so I can always choose to remark a message as unread before it disappears from view.

- Ben

RobinS - May 15, 2006 - 7:15 pm

No - I need shortcuts - keyboard shortcuts. So you don't know of any?

Rules are useless when subject name, from name, and content of email is always changing. Only I can determine if its junk. I've lost enough good email through lousy filtering to never trust it again.

earthsaver - May 16, 2006 - 8:10 am

I figured it out, Robin. There are menu commands providing the ability to move or copy messages to each of your mailboxes. So, you can use these to your advantage and setup your own keyboard shortcuts to move messages to particular ones.

Hopefully by now, since you're addicted to keyboard shortcuts, you're using Menu Master. This will ease your process of creating these shortcuts, allowing you to simply highlight the menu command and press the shortcut. Plus, shortcuts set this way will work immediately, without the need to restart the application.

RobinS - May 17, 2006 - 7:25 pm

Another example of Apple's addiction to all things Mouse. Ugh. OS X is such a poor operating system that to fully get outfitted with good software one could easily spend multi thousands a year. Unbelievable. And they wonder why people pirate........lol.

Thanks for the tip. I'll get it. Unsanity's Menu Master.

earthsaver - May 17, 2006 - 7:33 pm

Historically, and I think even today, Apple has been far better with keyboard shortcuts (and the Human Interface Guidelines, in general) than Microsoft and PC developers. However, if you prefer to do everything on the keyboard and avoid the mouse, you'll turn into a Terminal junkie who uses the command line instead.

RobinS - May 17, 2006 - 7:56 pm

Dude......there are so many instances where by allowing a Tab function one could zip through things so easily. But Apple insists one hop on to the mouse and click click click. Its all through their programs. And it sucks. Every program should be usable (albiet a little awkwardly at times) without a mouse. What happens if you have a crushing deadline and your mouse dies? Windows always seems to allow for tab functions. I wish OS X did the same. But I realize as my knowledge of this OS increases I solve these problems one by one. And you people are helping me down that long road. And for that, I think you profusely.

RobinS - May 17, 2006 - 7:57 pm

lol........that should have been......
and for that I THANK you profusely.

earthsaver - May 17, 2006 - 8:07 pm

Mac OS X *is* completely usable without a mouse. Just use (change if you prefer) the shortcuts for accessing the menubar, dock, etc. Use the application switcher, or get your hands on LiteSwitch X, a better app switcher than Apple's (from Proteron). Use LaunchBar or Butler or QuickSilver to access your stuff faster. Only use Spotlight when you don't know where to find something. And use Exposé (with tab and/or return) to switch among clutter.

There's much more and you're learning!

RobinS - May 17, 2006 - 8:33 pm

So if I'm in Safari (I use OPera but it doesn't matter) and want to change something in the View menu, in Window I'd use Alt+V to highlight View, then a letter of whatever I'm activating. Alt+V+X brings up a text size changer. For me to type Alt+V+X takes about 1/2 a second. In OS X I have to lumber over to the mouse, click View, then click the next thing - several seconds. Am I missing something? Is there a better way? This is just an example of hundreds of times I have to use the mouse. Say I want to make the screen as large as possible. Sometimes the green button does that, sometimes not.

One problem with OS X is the focus is often off. I Command+Tab to another app then come back and focus is in limbo. What's with that? You'd think it would remember where it was on that page/app. So I have to click with the mouse on the page to bring back the focus. Perhaps If I could fix th focus problem, that would solve a lot of other problems as well.

These are basic things that should be part of the OS. They should fix this before they bring out their newest portable i..... toy. Or latest mediocre app (iTunes, Aperture, Finder, etc, etc........basically most of them except for Mail. That is great.)