Mail (Apple)

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Mail
Apple Mail.png Mail iOS.svg
Operating system macOS, iOS, and watchOS
Type Email client
Website www.apple.com/osx/apps/#mail

Mail (also known as Apple Mail or Mail.app) is an email client included by Apple Inc. with its operating systems macOS, iOS and watchOS. Mail grew out of NeXTMail, which was originally developed by NeXT as part of its NeXTSTEP operating system, after Apple's acquisition of NeXT in 1997.

Email client computer software that allows sending and receiving emails

An email client, email reader or more formally mail user agent (MUA) is a computer program used to access and manage a user's email.

Apple Inc. Technology company; developer of consumer electronics and multimedia platforms

Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, that designs, develops, and sells consumer electronics, computer software, and online services. It is considered one of the Big Four of technology along with Amazon, Google, and Facebook.

Operating system collection of software that manages computer hardware resources

An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware and software resources and provides common services for computer programs.

Contents

The current version of Mail utilizes SMTP for message sending, POP3, Exchange and IMAP for message retrieval and S/MIME for end-to-end message encryption. [1] [2] It is also preconfigured to work with popular email providers, such as Yahoo! Mail, AOL Mail, Gmail, Outlook and iCloud (formerly MobileMe) and it supports Exchange. [3] iOS features a mobile version of Mail with added Exchange ActiveSync (EAS) support, though it notoriously missed the functionality of attaching files to reply emails until the release of iOS 9. [4] EAS is not supported in the macOS version of Apple's Mail app, the main issue being that sent messages will incorrectly be duplicated in the sent messages folder, which then propagates via sync to all other devices including iOS.

The Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) is a communication protocol for electronic mail transmission. As an Internet standard, SMTP was first defined in 1982 by RFC 821, and updated in 2008 by RFC 5321 to Extended SMTP additions, which is the protocol variety in widespread use today. Mail servers and other message transfer agents use SMTP to send and receive mail messages. Proprietary systems such as Microsoft Exchange and IBM Notes and webmail systems such as Outlook.com, Gmail and Yahoo! Mail may use non-standard protocols internally, but all use SMTP when sending to or receiving email from outside their own systems. SMTP servers commonly use the Transmission Control Protocol on port number 25.

In computing, the Post Office Protocol (POP) is an application-layer Internet standard protocol used by e-mail clients to retrieve e-mail from a mail server.

Microsoft Exchange Server is a mail server and calendaring server developed by Microsoft. It runs exclusively on Windows Server operating systems.

Features of Mail include the ability to configure the software to receive all of a user's email accounts in the one list, ability to file emails into folders, ability to search for emails, and ability to automatically append signatures to outgoing emails. It also integrates with the Contacts list, Calendar, Maps and other apps.

History

NeXTMail

Mail was originally developed by NeXT as NeXTMail, the email application for its NeXTSTEP operating system. NeXTMail was innovative for its time.[ according to whom? ] It supported rich text formatting with images and voice messaging, and MIME emails. It also supported plain text (TUI) to allow for backwards compatibility.

Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) is an Internet standard that extends the format of email to support:

Text-based user interface type of interface based on outputting to or controlling a text display

Text-based user interface (TUI), also called textual user interface or terminal user interface, is a retronym coined sometime after the invention of graphical user interfaces (GUI). TUIs display computer graphics in text mode. An advanced TUI may, like GUIs, use the entire screen area and accept mouse and other inputs.

When Apple began to adapt NeXTSTEP to become Mac OS X, both the operating system and the application went through various stages as it was developed. In a beta version (codenamed "Rhapsody") and various other early pre-releases of Mac OS X, Mail was known as MailViewer. However, with the third developer release of Mac OS X, the application had returned to being known simply as Mail.

macOS Operating system for Apple computers

macOS is a series of graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac family of computers. Within the market of desktop, laptop and home computers, and by web usage, it is the second most widely used desktop OS, after Microsoft Windows.

Rhapsody was the code name given to Apple Computer's next-generation operating system during the period of its development between Apple's purchase of NeXT in late 1996 and the announcement of Mac OS X in 1998. At first more than an operating system, Rhapsody represented a new strategy for Apple, who intended the operating system to run on x86-based PCs and DEC Alpha workstations as well as on PowerPC-based Macintosh hardware. In addition, the underlying API frameworks would be ported to run natively on Microsoft Windows NT. Eventually, the non-Apple platforms were dropped, and later versions consisted primarily of the OPENSTEP operating system ported to the Power Macintosh, along with a new GUI to make it appear more Mac-like. Several existing "classic" Mac OS technologies were also ported to Rhapsody, including QuickTime and AppleSearch. Rhapsody could also run Mac OS 8 in a "Blue Box" emulation layer.

First release

Mail was included in all versions of macOS up to and including Mac OS X Panther, which was released on October 24, 2003. It was integrated with other Apple applications such as Address Book, iChat, and iCal. Some of its features that remain in the most recent version of Mail include rules for mailboxes, junk mail filtering and multiple account management.

Mac OS X Panther fourth major release of macOS

Mac OS X Panther is the fourth major release of Mac OS X, Apple’s desktop and server operating system. It followed Mac OS X 10.2 and preceded Mac OS X Tiger. Apple released Panther on October 24, 2003.

Address Book (application)

Address Book is an address book software application made by Apple that runs on Mac OS X. The Contacts app replaced Address Book in Mac OS X 10.8.

iChat built-in instant messaging software application for Mac OS X

iChat is a discontinued instant messaging software application developed by Apple Inc. for use on its Mac OS X operating system. It supported instant text messaging over XMPP/Jingle or OSCAR (AIM) protocol, audio and video calling, and screen-sharing capabilities. It also allowed for local network discussion with users discovered through Bonjour protocols.

Mac OS X Tiger

In Mac OS X Tiger (version 10.4), Mail version 2 included a proprietary single-message-per-file format (with the filename extension .emlx) to permit indexing by Spotlight. Additional features were:

Mac OS X Tiger fifth major release of OS X

Mac OS X Tiger is the fifth major release of Mac OS X, Apple's desktop and server operating system for Mac computers. Tiger was released to the public on April 29, 2005 for US$129.95 as the successor to Mac OS X 10.3 Panther. Some of the new features included a fast searching system called Spotlight, a new version of the Safari web browser, Dashboard, a new 'Unified' theme, and improved support for 64-bit addressing on Power Mac G5s. Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger shocked executives at Microsoft by offering a number of features, such as fast file searching and improved graphics processing, that Microsoft had spent several years struggling to add to Windows with acceptable performance.

A filename extension is an identifier specified as a suffix to the name of a computer file. The extension indicates a characteristic of the file contents or its intended use. A file extension is typically delimited from the filename with a full stop (period), but in some systems it is separated with spaces.

Spotlight (software) system-wide desktop search feature of Apples OS X operating system

Spotlight is a system-wide desktop search feature of Apple's macOS and iOS operating systems. Spotlight is a selection-based search system, which creates an index of all items and files on the system. It is designed to allow the user to quickly locate a wide variety of items on the computer, including documents, pictures, music, applications, and System Preferences. In addition, specific words in documents and in web pages in a web browser's history or bookmarks can be searched. It also allows the user to narrow down searches with creation dates, modification dates, sizes, types and other attributes. Spotlight also offers quick access to definitions from the built-in New Oxford American Dictionary and to calculator functionality. There are also command-line tools to perform functions such as Spotlight searches.

The new version also changed the UI for the buttons in the toolbar. Whereas previous buttons had free-standing defined shapes, the new buttons featured shapes within a lozenge-shaped capsule. [5] According to many users, and even Apple's own human interface guidelines at the time, this was worse for usability. [6] An open-source third-party application that reverted the icons to their former shapes was available. Nevertheless, Apple updated their guidelines to include capsule-shaped buttons, and the new UI persisted. [7]

Mac OS X Leopard

In Mac OS X Leopard (version 10.5), Mail version 3 included personalized stationery, handled in standard HTML format. In addition, it offered notes and to-dos (which could be synced with iCal) as well as a built-in RSS reader. It also introduced IMAP IDLE support for account inboxes.

Mac OS X Snow Leopard

Mac OS X Snow Leopard (version 10.6) brought Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 support. The iCal and Address Book applications bundled with OS X 10.6.

Mac OS X Lion

In Mac OS X Lion (version 10.7), Mail featured a redesigned iPad-like user interface with full-screen capabilities, an updated message search interface, support for Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 and Yahoo! Mail (via IMAP). Also added was the capability to group messages by subject in a similar fashion to Mail on iOS 4. The bounce function, where unwanted emails could be bounced back to the sender, was dropped, as was support for Exchange push email.

OS X Mountain Lion

In OS X Mountain Lion (version 10.8), Mail received VIP tagging, Safari-style inline search for words within an email message, the ability to sync with iCloud and new sharing features. Notes was split off into a stand-alone application. The RSS reader and to-dos were discontinued.

OS X Mavericks

In OS X Mavericks (version 10.9), Mail ceased support for plain-text MIME multipart/alternative messages and solely retained the HTML or rich-text version.

OS X Yosemite

In OS X Yosemite (version 10.10), Mail introduced Markup (inline annotation of PDF or image files) and Mail Drop (automatically uploads attachments to iCloud, and sends a link in the message instead of the whole file).

OS X El Capitan

In OS X El Capitan (version 10.11), a filter was added to the message list to filter by various options such as Unread, Flagged, or messages with attachments. The conversation display was also redesigned and various disk space saving optimizations were implemented. Streaming notification support for Exchange accounts was also added.

macOS Mojave

Support for macOS's new "dark mode" was added to Mail.

See also

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References

  1. ↑ "Mac OS X 10.3: Mail - How to Use a Secure Email Signing Certificate (Digital ID)". support.apple.com. Retrieved March 17, 2018.
  2. ↑ "Use S/MIME to send encrypted messages in an Exchange environment in iOS". apple.com. Retrieved March 17, 2018.
  3. ↑ "Set up iCloud, Twitter, Facebook, and other Internet accounts". support.apple.com. Retrieved March 17, 2018.
  4. ↑ Clover, Juli (June 8, 2015). "iOS 9 Tidbits: Battery Saving Features, Search for Settings, Keyboard Changes, Email Attachments, and More". MacRumors . Retrieved June 19, 2015.
  5. ↑ "inessential: What I think happened to Mail". inessential.com. Retrieved March 17, 2018.
  6. ↑ "Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger". arstechnica.com. Retrieved March 17, 2018.
  7. ↑ "Guides and Sample Code". developer.apple.com. Retrieved March 17, 2018.
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