Social media may have taken over our world, but email still continues to be an indispensable part of it. That’s why we’re constantly on a lookout for the best email client for our phones and laptops.
Now, the Mail app for Mac may not be all that great, but the Mail app for iOS is certainly one of the best! Especially if you know your way around it, and by that we mean if you know these amazing hidden features in the Mail app for iOS!
- Quick Save Drafts
When you’re typing out a new email, simply swipe down from the top to save the draft. These drafts can be accessed anytime from the “bottom navigation”, i.e., just tap at the bottom of the screen and you’ll have all your drafts displayed as “stacks” (just like multiple open tabs in Safari).
- Delete and Restore Drafts
When you see the stack of drafts (from the previous step), you can just swipe away the draft you no longer need. Again this works just like Safari tabs.
And don’t worry if you accidently swiped away an important draft. Just go back to the main screen of the app and press and hold down on the “Compose” button. The app will show you a small list of all your recently discarded drafts.
NOTE: iOS doesn’t always show all the drafts. It’s a bit eccentric in this regard, and we have no idea how it prioritizes what to show and what not to show.
- Delete and Archive Emails from the Same Button
When you are reading an email, you’ll see a small “bin” icon in the bottom center section of your screen. By pressing it once, the app will either delete/archive the email according to your settings.
However, it can do BOTH functions simultaneously. Press and hold down on the icon and a small window will pop-up asking you to choose between Trash Message or Archive Message. So convenient, don’t you think?
- Organizing for the Super OCD Users
The Mail app places certain folders by default in the main Inbox screen. However, they are not the ones we use frequently. Fortunately, there’s a way to add custom folders to the main screen.
While in the inbox view, click on the small “Edit” icon that appears in the top right corner. You will see a curated list of all your folders (default and user made both). Here, you can select the folder of your choice, which will then appear on your main screen.
Using the three horizontal lines displayed against each folder, you can also arrange them in your preferred order.
Note: If the “Edit” option doesn’t appear for you, please update your app.
- Auto-Detect and VIP Contacts
The Mail app is exceptional at finding valuable information within your emails. You must have noticed that some of your emails have a small banner at the top saying “One Event Found” or “New Contact Found.” That is the auto detect feature at work.
Auto detect can find many things for you, such as:
- An event/meeting mentioned in your mail
- The contact information from the signature of a new sender
- A change in contact info of an old contact
- Your tickets (movies/flights/etc)
- Locations (on maps)
So the next time you find such a banner, click on it because it might be a special event!
And speaking of special events, there might also be some special people in your life. Enable the “VIP” mode in Mail to customize the ringtone and vibration pattern for an email from certain people. That way, even if the phone is silent, you’ll know if the message is an important one without even looking at the phone!
We know these features will be really useful to you. We’d love to find more such hidden tricks, so if you’ve uncovered some of them, do write to us! We’d be more than happy to feature you in our next post.