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Take Control of Mail on the iPhone and iPod touch, iOS 4 Edition
Set up an effective mobile strategy and read your email with ease!
Obsolete: This title is specific to the iPhone and iPod touch using iOS 4.0 and 4.1 and was written when the iPad ran only iOS 3.2. However, because Apple finally came through with the great iOS version convergence in mid-November 2010, we've replaced this book with Take Control of Mail on the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch, Second Edition, which covers all three devices under iOS 4.2.
In this book, email expert Joe Kissell shares his real-world recommendations about the best ways to use the Mail app on your iPhone or iPod touch, helping you to develop a successful mobile email strategy. Whether you use IMAP, Gmail, MobileMe, or Exchange, you'll find advice and directions for how to set up your accounts, receive email, read and send email, and file messages. Joe also teaches you to solve connection problems and work around feature limitations.
- More Info
- Contents & Intro
- What’s New
- FAQ
- Blog
Questions answered in this ebook include:
- What are the new features in iOS 4 Mail, and how do I use them?
- Why is an IMAP account especially useful on a mobile device?
- How do I set up my email accounts?
- How do I move around in the Mail app?
- What's the best way to set up mailboxes for effective navigation and filing?
- How do I handle attachments?
- How does Mail integrate with other apps, like Calendar and Contacts?
- What are the best ways to find messages in the Mail app?
- What's the deal with Exchange ActiveSync accounts?
- Should I use push or fetch to get my messages?
- How do I integrate Gmail with Mail?
- Is there a way to move a message from one account to another?
- How can I set up Mail to use alternative From addresses for outgoing mail?
- Help! I can't send my email... what should I do?
Book Info
iPad & KindleAn EPUB is not currently available for this title. A Mobipocket file is not currently available for this title. |
About the Author
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Book Reviews
Author Interviews
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Joe Kissell has written numerous books about the Macintosh, including many popular Take Control ebooks. He's also Senior Editor of TidBITS and a Senior Contributor to Macworld, and previously spent ten years in the Mac software industry.
Table of Contents
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Read Me FirstThe iPhone and iPod touch are fantastic tools for accessing email on the go, but they also have limitations not found in desktop email programs. This book teaches you everything you need to know to use email effectively on your mobile device, including developing a strategy that makes the most of its unique strengths. This book was written by Joe Kissell, edited by Dan Frakes, and published by TidBITS Publishing Inc. |
Introduction
One of the things I like best about my iPhone is its power to keep me connected to my email wherever I am. For me, having a capable, always-connected email device (with a Web browser, RSS reader, Twitter client, and a few other tools thrown in as a bonus) more than justifies the expense of the iPhone.
In the midst of this shiny happy situation, however, are a few notable aggravations. As is often the case, Apple made several design decisions in the iOS 4 Mail app that favor ease of use over flexibility, making some things that you may want to do with email difficult or even impossible. In other instances, the ways in which you must perform some common task are obscure or confusing. And let’s not forget the idiosyncrasies of various email providers, which may make the Mail app behave unexpectedly.
Because I’ve written quite a bit about improving your email experience on a Mac, I’ve received lots of inquiries about how to do similar sorts of things on iOS devices. This book is my attempt to answer those questions. Beyond teaching the mechanics of configuring accounts, setting preferences, and navigating the interface, I want to show you how to think about email in a new, iOS-friendly way. By changing your habits and setup a bit (even on your Mac or PC), you’ll make your mobile device a better, more effective email tool.
I hope that by the time you’re finished reading this book, you’ll have all the information you need to make smart decisions about how to manage email on your mobile device, as well as know lots of tricks and hidden features that will save you time and effort. Your iPhone or iPod touch may still be less capable than a desktop email client, but I think I can get you close to the functionality most of us need from a mobile email program.
This book assumes that your iOS device is using iOS 4—specifically, 4.0.x or 4.1.x (4.1 is the latest version available as I write this). I based the text on an earlier title, Take Control of Mail on the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch, but updated the content to cover iOS 4 exclusively. Because, at publication time, iOS 4.x was not yet available for the iPad, this version of the book doesn’t discuss the iPad at all. However, don’t worry—we don’t intend to leave anyone stranded! Take note of the following:
- If you have an iPad (running iOS 3.x), buying this book entitles you to a free copy of Take Control of Mail on the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch, which does cover the iPad. To download it, go to Ebook Extras, located near the end of the book, click the “access extras related to this ebook” link, and look on the Blog tab.
- When iOS 4.2 is released for the iPad (currently scheduled for November 2010), I’ll definitely cover it in a Take Control publication, but I don’t yet have enough information to say exactly what form that will take. Click Check for Updates on the cover to find out about our latest plans. If your cover doesn’t have a button, use the link in Ebook Extras.
- If you have an iPhone or iPod touch running iOS 3.x (a.k.a. iPhone OS 3.x) that you can’t, or don’t want to, update to run iOS 4, once again, download a free copy of Take Control of Mail on the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch, which will provide much more information about dealing with some of the limitations of that older operating system that are no longer problems in iOS 4.
iOS 4 Mail Quick Start
This book shows you how to manage email on your iPhone or iPod touch. If you’re already comfortable with the fundamentals of sending, receiving, and working with email, you can skip Learn iOS 4 Mail Basics initially and refer back to it when needed. Other than that, this text makes the most sense when read in order, as later chapters build on earlier ones.
Get to know Mail on your iOS device:
- Discover how to do the essential tasks of sending, receiving, reading, and filing mail; see Learn iOS 4 Mail Basics.
Create a plan of attack:
- Learn about email protocols, push and fetch, Gmail oddities, and other essential background information that can affect how you use your iOS device for email; see Understand Email Account Options.
- Decide which accounts you should access using your iOS device and how to organize them for maximum efficiency; see Develop a Mobile Mail Strategy.
Deal with the nuts and bolts of email configuration:
- Set up and customize the email accounts on your iOS device; see Configure Email Accounts.
- Solve email problems; see Troubleshoot Email Problems.
What's New in IOS 4 Mail
If you were previously using iOS 3.x on your iPhone or iPod touch, you may want to be aware of several major changes to the Mail app that I cover in this book:
- Mail now offers a unified Inbox for multiple accounts. See The Mailboxes View.
- Conversation threading automatically groups related messages together. See The Message List.
- You can now move a message from one account to another. See the sidebar Moving Messages across Accounts.
- MobileMe aliases are now supported automatically. See Change Your From Address.
- It’s now possible to open Mail attachments in a variety of other apps. See the sidebar Ins and Outs and the section File Management.
- Data Detectors now detect dates and times. See Use Data Detectors.
- Mail can interact with Gmail accounts in more sophisticated ways. See Four Methods to Access a Gmail Account.
- You can now type email messages on an external Bluetooth keyboard—with certain iOS devices. See Touch Typing.
- Thanks to improvements in MobileMe, you can now use your MobileMe account to send mail with a From addresses other than username@me.com or username@mac.com. See Decide Which Account(s) to Use.
- Some account types can now sync calendars, contacts, and/or notes. See Service Switch(es).
Which iPhone and iPod touch models does this ebook cover?
This ebook covers the iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, and iPhone 4, as well as the second-, third-, and fourth-generation iPod touch. In all cases, the ebook assumes that you're using iOS 4 as the operating system on the device. If you are using an iPhone 4 or a fourth-generation iPod touch, it came with iOS 4 installed. If you are using an iPhone 3G or iPhone 3GS, or a second- or third-generation iPod touch, you can upgrade for free and this ebook assumes that you have already done so.
This ebook does not cover the original iPhone or iPod touch. This is because these devices can't run iOS 4. For help with using the Mail app with one of these devices, see Take Control of Mail on the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch, an earlier ebook by Joe that covers the Mail app and related considerations in the iPhone 3 (iOS 3) operating system.
How can I figure out which iPhone or iPod touch I have?
An Apple support article has photos and other details to help you pinpoint your model. For the iPod touch, try Apple's Identifying iPod models article.
Does this ebook really cover the iPod touch?
Yes. It is entirely meant to cover the iPhone and iPod touch equally.
Does this ebook care which type of computer I sync my iPhone with?
Whether you sync with iTunes on the Macintosh or Windows, this ebook has you covered.
Can I read this ebook on an iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, or Kindle?
There are lots of great ways to read our ebooks on these devices. For more details, please read our latest Device Advice.
Ask a Question
Feel free to ask us if you have a question about this title!
Send Us Your Comments!
How could we not publish such kind words? If you'd like to send us your comments (good or bad, though we hope they're all good), just click the Feedback link on the cover of your copy of the ebook. Be sure to let us know if we can publish your comment. Thanks!
Update Plans
To cover the changes in iOS 4.2, we abandoned this ebook in late 2010 and replaced it with a new one, called "Take Control of Mail on the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch, Second Edition." At this time (December 2011), the replacement ebook has advanced to a third edition, which covers iOS 5.
—Tonya Engst
Google Sync Being Sunsetted and What It Means
December 21, 2012 --
Google has announced that Google Sync, its syncing method that uses Microsoft's ActiveSync technology, will no longer be available as a syncing option for most users. Support for it, except for paid users of its Google Apps service, will end on January 30 for Mail and Contacts; it is already unavailable for Google Calendar syncing. Instead, IMAP, CardDAV, and CalDAV are the preferred protocols for syncing. This means, in the case of iOS devices, that push email and calendar events will no longer be available to new users for Gmail, Google Contacts, and Google Calendar (Google, however, will continue to support accounts that have already been set up to use Google Sync). You can find out more about this change in the TidBITS article, Google Drops Google Sync for Most iOS Users, and in Joe Kissell's Macworld article, What the End of Google Sync Means to You.
—Michael E. Cohen
iOS 4.3.3 and iOS 4.2.8 Address Location Tracking Bugs
May 5, 2011 --
The "discovery" by two researchers in April 2011 that iOS devices were storing far more location-related information than necessary, and that the information could be accessed relatively easily, incited a firestorm of criticism. Apple has now addressed those criticisms with two iOS updates.
—Michael E. Cohen
Joe Talks about Email and iOS 4
October 4, 2010 --
In MacVoice podcast episode #10112, Joe chats with host Chuck Joiner about email on the iPhone and iPod touch. Find out what's new in Joe's personal life (hint, it's about the size of a breadbox). Once that's covered, find out why this ebook has such a long name, and find out what Joe thinks about the Mail app in iOS 4.
—Tonya Engst
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