'Out' mailbox in Mail

[Lyra]

I switched from Entourage to Mail some months ago, and despite still having some misgivings, now use Mail exclusively - performance has certainly improved, I think, with OS10.2.5.

The thing that really bugs me, though, is that I can't find any way to make use of the 'Out' mailbox to queue mail for sending later: the only options seem to be either to send immediately, or to save as a draft. Since the 'Out' mailbox is created by Mail itself when you first set it up I still feel that I must be missing something. You can't transfer, as 'Out' doesn't show up in the list (and you can't make a rule, for the same reason) and you can't simply move mail there manually from, say, Drafts. Or at least, I can't. Every other mail app I've ever used has had a 'send later' option, which I don't see in Mail.

This is really bugging me, even though it isn't a big deal for me - I have a broadband connection so it doesn't actually matter, but I'm getting obsessed now. Am I missing something very obvious which is going to make me feel really really stupid when I find out about it so that I have to leave the site and change my identity?

 

[lurk]

All of your mail goes there before it is sent out if you send something with a big attachment or there are issues with the connecting to your mail server things will gather up there. However, if you are on line then it will just send it since there is no reason not to.

Now if you really want to pile stuff up in your out box select Mailbox->Go Offline from the menu bar. Then all of the email you send will just collect in the out box until it you take mail online again.

As for the lack of a send later option it really doesn't make sense as a feature unless you email client is not bright enough to know whether there is a net connection or not. Mail knows that so it will just send it the first chance it gets if you are not connected.

Another time the out box comes into play is with different networks. I have three different outgoing mail servers depending on where I am and if I am using VPN at the time. One server will not accept mail that is not "from" there so if I send mail from my work address while I am connected there the mail will sit in my out box until I connect to work via VPN at which point those messages get sent out.

-Eric

 

[Lyra]

Thanks, Eric - I hadn't thought of going offline, but on the other hand I do like to keep my incoming mail coming in frequently.

I'd still like the option to queue mail until I want to send it though: I find it too easy to fire something off in a hurry and then either have to follow it up because I've forgotten something or apologise because I've found what I was looking for, or whatever. So personally, it does make sense to me as a feature- in Entourage and OE I would schedule mail to be sent less often than I schedule to collect and I'd still like the option to do that without going offline.