Mail.app: ordering of messages in columns

sliberty · 03-01-2013, 02:32 PM

If I click on the column header in my inbox for sender, it sorts the column by sender. Then, if I type a V, I would expect that the inbox would advance to the first instance of a sender whose name starts with V, but instead, it advances to the first msg where the SUBJECT starts with V. This makes no sense. Is there something I am doing wrong?

macosnoob · 03-01-2013, 04:31 PM

Mail (under SL) recognizes the leftmost text column to respond to such keyboard shortcuts, regardless of the column you have selected for sorting. If Subject is your leftmost column, that's what Mail will use when you type a letter to navigate. Consider moving From to the leftmost column.

sliberty · 03-01-2013, 07:53 PM

Actually, though, it isn't my leftmost column. Not counting the Unread, Flag, and Attachment columns, the leftmost column is From.

Now that you said that though, I did some more testing. It appears that it is searching both From and Subject for the letter I type, and jumping to the next row that matches in either column. That is really weird behavior for someone who comes from a Windows world originally.

macosnoob · 03-02-2013, 07:14 AM

Well, you're right! I don't navigate Mail via letter shortcuts and my sample was too small for proper testing. I rushed to a conclusion.

Further testing reveals that Mail 4.6 searches via letter shortcuts all visible text columns, even ones that make little sense. For example, with the Inbox selected as the current mailbox and the "Mailbox" column visible, typing an I hits on each message.

For a moment I thought that one might temporarily hide all text columns except From, but Subject cannot be hidden. So much for a workaround.

I'll stick to my arrow keys.

03-01-2013, 02:32 PM	#1
sliberty Prospect Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: East Brunswick, NJ Posts: 49	Mail.app: ordering of messages in columns If I click on the column header in my inbox for sender, it sorts the column by sender. Then, if I type a V, I would expect that the inbox would advance to the first instance of a sender whose name starts with V, but instead, it advances to the first msg where the SUBJECT starts with V. This makes no sense. Is there something I am doing wrong?

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03-01-2013, 04:31 PM	#2
macosnoob MVP Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 1,751	Mail (under SL) recognizes the leftmost text column to respond to such keyboard shortcuts, regardless of the column you have selected for sorting. If Subject is your leftmost column, that's what Mail will use when you type a letter to navigate. Consider moving From to the leftmost column.

03-01-2013, 07:53 PM	#3
sliberty Prospect Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: East Brunswick, NJ Posts: 49	Actually, though, it isn't my leftmost column. Not counting the Unread, Flag, and Attachment columns, the leftmost column is From. Now that you said that though, I did some more testing. It appears that it is searching both From and Subject for the letter I type, and jumping to the next row that matches in either column. That is really weird behavior for someone who comes from a Windows world originally.

03-02-2013, 07:14 AM	#4
macosnoob MVP Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 1,751	Well, you're right! I don't navigate Mail via letter shortcuts and my sample was too small for proper testing. I rushed to a conclusion. Further testing reveals that Mail 4.6 searches via letter shortcuts all visible text columns, even ones that make little sense. For example, with the Inbox selected as the current mailbox and the "Mailbox" column visible, typing an I hits on each message. For a moment I thought that one might temporarily hide all text columns except From, but Subject cannot be hidden. So much for a workaround. I'll stick to my arrow keys.