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Read, reply and send email

Read your conversations in Mail, reply, reply all, forward or write a new message, confirm who it goes to, and move through the inbox from the keyboard.

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Mail shows your inbox as conversations: a message and the replies to it sit together in one row. Open one to read it, then answer it from the same screen. Everything you send goes out from your own email address, and nothing leaves until you have seen exactly who it is going to.

Before you start

Read your mail

  1. In the side menu, open Apps and click Mail under Tools.
  2. Click a conversation in the list. Its newest message opens in the reading pane on the right, and is marked as read in your mailbox too.

What you will see in the list

  • Who it is from. One or two names, or the first two and a count, such as Sam Lee, Priya Nair +2, when more people have written in the conversation.
  • A dot and bold text for a conversation with unread mail in it.
  • A number for how many messages the conversation holds. Rest the pointer on it to read, for example, 4 messages in this conversation.
  • A paperclip when a message in it has an attachment.
  • The time for mail from today, or the date for older mail, then the subject on the line below.

Replies are grouped with the message they answer. Messages that share the same subject are grouped too, even when they come from different people.

What you will see in the reading pane

  • The subject, then the sender's name and address, and the date.
  • The buttons: Reply, Reply all, Forward, Send to desk and Make a task. When the message has attachments, a note such as 2 attachments sits beside them.
  • The message.
  • Attachments, listed by name at the bottom.

When you open a message, Plexii may also show a Suggested reply above it. See AI reply drafts in your voice.

Pictures in HTML email

Mail holds back pictures that a message loads from the internet. When a message has them, a bar above it says Remote images are blocked to stop senders tracking when you open mail. Click Load remote content to show them for that message. The next message you open starts with them held back again.

Older mail

Mail loads your newest messages first. At the bottom of the list:

  • Show more fetches the next batch of older mail from your mail server. While it works, the button reads Fetching from the server….
  • A count such as 80 of 860 messages says how many you have loaded of all the messages in your inbox.
  • That is the whole inbox. means there is nothing older to fetch.

To find an older message without scrolling, search for it. See Search your mail.

Reply or reply all

  1. Open the message.
  2. Click Reply to answer the sender, or Reply all to include everyone else it was sent to. A Reply window opens.
  3. Check the recipients. Reply fills in To with the sender. Reply all also puts the other recipients in Cc, leaving out you and the sender.
  4. Write above the quoted message. The subject starts with Re:, and the original is quoted underneath, after a line saying when it was sent and who wrote it.
  5. Click Send, then check the recipients and click Confirm send. See Send and confirm.

Your reply is threaded with the original, so it joins the same conversation in your recipient's mailbox and in yours.

Forward a message

  1. Open the message and click Forward.
  2. A New message window opens with the subject starting Fwd: and the original text under a ---------- Forwarded message ---------- line, with its sender, date and subject.
  3. Type who it goes to in To, add a note above the forwarded text, and send it.

Write a new message

  1. Click Compose a new message (the pencil at the top of the message list).
  2. In the New message window, fill in To. Click Cc/Bcc to add copies.
  3. Type a Subject and your message in Write your message….
  4. Click Send, then Confirm send.

You can also start a new message from anywhere: press ⌘ K on a Mac or Ctrl K on Windows and choose Compose mail, or click Compose email on Office Home.

Separate several addresses with commas, semicolons or spaces. The top right of the window shows the address you are sending from.

Send and confirm

Every message takes two presses to send, so you catch a wrong address before it leaves.

  1. Click Send, or press ⌘ Enter on a Mac or Ctrl Enter on Windows.
  2. A line appears above the button, such as Sending to [email protected] · cc [email protected], and the button changes to Confirm send.
  3. Click Confirm send, or press the same keys again.

If you change the recipients, the subject or the message after the first press, you are asked to confirm again. When the message has gone, a notice says so, for example Sent to [email protected] (+1 cc/bcc).

To close the window without sending, click Discard or press Esc.

Work through the inbox from the keyboard

When you are not typing in a box:

Key What it does
j Open the next conversation down the list.
k Open the conversation above.
r Reply to the message that is open.
a Archive the message that is open, and open the one that takes its place.

A reminder, j / k move through the inbox, r replies, a archives, sits at the top of the list. The keys move through your whole inbox, even while a tag or a search narrows the list.

Archiving moves the message out of your inbox into your mailbox's archive folder on the mail server, so it is out of the inbox everywhere you read your mail. See Keyboard shortcuts.

When something goes wrong

Mail says What it means
Add at least one recipient in the To field. Type at least one address in To.
That does not look like an email address: followed by the address Correct the address shown. Check for a missing @ or a stray character.
Could not load your inbox. Mail could not read your mailbox. Click Refresh. If it keeps happening, check your connection in Account > Account settings. See Connect your email account.
(This message has no text body.) The message was sent without any text, for example with only an attachment.

If sending fails, the window stays open with the reason, so you can fix it and send again.

Tips

  • Read the confirm line. It names every recipient, including cc and bcc. It is the moment to spot the wrong Sam.
  • Clear the inbox with a. Read with j, archive with a, and the next message opens by itself.
  • Turn a message into work. Use Send to desk to keep it with a project, or Make a task to put it on your list. See Put an email on a desk or turn it into a task.

Common questions

Can I attach a file? Not from Mail. Messages you write in Mail are plain text.

Can I open an attachment? The reading pane lists attachments by name. Open the message in your usual email app to save one. Search in Mail can find text inside attachments. See Search your mail.

Where does archived mail go? To your mailbox's archive folder on the mail server. If your mailbox has none, Mail makes one called Archive.

Can I reply from a desk? Yes. Open a message in an Inbox widget and click Reply or Reply all.

Still need help? Contact support at [email protected].