Useful macOS defaults: Mail

2013-12-02 17:00

com.apple.mail controls how Apple Mail looks and behaves. Several useful settings are hidden from the Settings window.

After changing these, quit and reopen Mail.

Copy addresses without names

When you copy an email address from Mail, it normally includes the person's name in angle brackets, like John Smith <john@example.com>. To copy just the address:

defaults write com.apple.mail AddressesIncludeNameOnPasteboard -bool false

To go back to including names:

defaults write com.apple.mail AddressesIncludeNameOnPasteboard -bool true

Turn off inline attachment previews

Mail shows images and PDFs inside the message body. To show them as icons instead:

defaults write com.apple.mail DisableInlineAttachmentViewing -bool true

This makes large emails with many attachments easier to read.

Send and reply format

Set the default message format to plain text instead of rich text:

defaults write com.apple.mail SendFormat -string "Plain"

To go back to rich text:

defaults delete com.apple.mail SendFormat

Thread collapsing

Turn off the threaded conversation view (show each message separately):

defaults write com.apple.mail DraftViewerAttributes -dict-add "DisplayInThreadedMode" -string "no"

Mark all messages as read when opening a mailbox

defaults write com.apple.mail MarkAllMessagesAsRead -bool true

Spell checking

Set when Mail checks spelling:

defaults write com.apple.mail SpellCheckingBehavior -string "InlineSpellCheckingEnabled"

Options:

NoSpellCheckingEnabled = never check
InlineSpellCheckingEnabled = check as you type
SpellCheckingOnSendEnabled = check when you send

Disable remote content loading

Stop Mail from loading images and other remote content in messages (this stops senders from tracking whether you opened their email):

defaults write com.apple.mail DisableURLLoading -bool true

Reduce animation

Speed up the reply animation:

defaults write com.apple.mail DisableReplyAnimations -bool true
defaults write com.apple.mail DisableSendAnimations -bool true

Read all current Mail settings

defaults read com.apple.mail

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