Several Hawk Wings readers have asked if the very successful trick of speeding up Mail.app by “vacuuming” the Envelope Index still works in Leopard.

I figured that there was only one way to find out.

I have no knowledge at all of SQL or the technical aspects of the management of data in relational database systems, and my post should be read in that light. However, I also have no fear, because I have backups.

So, as a lack of fear naturally produces recklessness, I decided to use the biggest weapon in the arsenal first. I quit Mail, made a copy of the Envelope Index file in my ~/Library/Mail folder by dragging it to the Desktop. Then I deleted the original in my Mail folder and started up Mail again.

It imported all the messages (with several heart-stopping pauses) and things looked good. The Envelope Index file was reduced from 37.4MB to 24.8MB.

However, doing it this way had two unpleasant side-effects, one of which I expected and one not. Mail then wants to re-cache all your IMAP messages and attachments. Even with ADSL2+ this takes a long time.

Secondly, the rebuilding somehow “broke” the syncing of to-dos between Mail and iCal. Mail told me that they were out of sync and asked if I preferred the list from Mail.app or from iCal. With iCal syncing in its current unworkable state, this lead to many opportunities for contemplating the spinning rainbow-coloured mandala of karmic retribution.

But eventually all was well, and Mail did feel faster. Then I tried with the Terminal commands. This was faster and resulted in a further small reduction. But it broke the to-do syncing as well.

Rumours suggest that the 10.5.1 update has already been released to developers for testing, and that it will fix many of the things which currently afflict users of minor, peripheral apps like Mail and iCal, including the stability of syncing. Perhaps it would be smart to wait until 10.5.1 is out and then try this.

In the meantime, I hope that someone smarter than me will tell me why this breaks the syncing of to-dos. Just for curiosity’s sake. mail.app, apple mail, tips, envelope index, speed trick, vacuuming, productivity, ical

When Tiger came out, some people noticed right away that Mail.app no longer allowed itself to be launched in a hidden state. An AppleScript fixed the problem in 10.4, but it doesn’t work in Leopard.

Martin Patfield has created a fix for Leopard users who want to launch Mail but not see it.

Installing the app is easy, and follows the same procedure as the old Tiger fix. First you need to download it, and install it somewhere on your hard drive (in the Applications folder perhaps).

Open System Preferences and navigate to the Login Items tab of the Accounts Preference pane. Select the “Plus” button underneath the list:

Navigate to wherever you saved the “Launch and Hide Mail.app” app and add it:

There’s only one problem. It doesn’t work. It launches Mail.app alright, but doesn’t hide it. At least, for me it doesn’t, although you may have better luck. I noticed that 98 people have downloaded it from MacUpdate and no one else has complained.

Try it out for yourself. It’s freeware (donations not refused!).

UPDATE: The developer has just sent me a tweaked copy of the app. Now it works! The entry on MacUpdate now points to the updated file.apple mail, mail.app, hidden state, launching, add-ons, tips, leopard mail

In the quest for interface purity, Apple has taken the information pane out of Leopard iCal. A cleaner look for sure, but also an inconvenience for users.

In Tiger you could edit events and to-dos from the information pane. Now, to edit an iCal item, you need to double-click it, wait for the details pane and then click again on the edit button on the bottom.

These extra clicks add up over time. Especially if, like me, you live in a fluid world in which tasks and meetings are always changing. Plus, of course, there’s the principle: It ought to be more efficient. Lots of Mac users are grumpy about it as you can from a very long thread on Apple’s Discussions site.

Luckily, there is a short cut to get straight to editing an event or a to-do.

Click once on the item to highlight it. Then press ⌘-e (Command + ‘e’) and you launch into an edit dialog straight away. Nifty!

[Via Dan Miller via Daring Fireball ]ical, productivity, tips, editing events, to-dos, interface purity

I would rather cut my own heart out with a teaspoon than use Leopard Mail’s HTML stationery.

But I know not everyone shares my view.

If you are a lover of this kind of thing, Josh Pigford at The Apple Blog has a long and detailed post on how to edit or create your own stationery for use with Leopard Mail.

He explains where the HTML files are stored within Mail’s package and how to get at them, as well as what files are required if you are working up a new template from scratch.

He even provides some “walkthrough” files to act as a pattern for your own creations. mail.app, apple mail, html, templates, oh the horror the horror, tips, hacks

Hawk Wings reader René Boekhorst sent me a nice collection of mail stamp style icons featuring the characters from the Peanuts.

They are not tilted at 11.7 degrees (more or less) like other Mail.app icons, but they are still sweet.

All your best friends are there — Snoopy, Linus, Schroeder and Lucy. Even people I can’t recall at all get an icon (who is Marcie?).

Here they all are:

Changing Mail.app’s Dock icon is easy.

Get them from Pixel Girl’s web site .

I’ve added them to the Hawk Wings Alternative Mail Stamps Icon list, which which now breaks through the 450+ mail stamp icon barrier.mail.app, apple mail, icons, dock icon, hack, tips, charlie brown, linus, snoopy, peanuts, woodstock

Some time ago, while I wasn’t watching, Thomas Aylott updated his clever scripts which make iCal able to pipe its alarms through to Growl.

Previously, when Hawk Wings last blogged it, the process of activating the scripts was rather difficult and involved a lot of digging around in iCal’s guts.

Now Thomas has packaged up the scripts in a disk image along with step-by-step instructions on how to install them:

Four steps and you are done. Then you can enjoy Growl’s alerts instead of the iCal’s big scary messages with the jangly alarm clock.

The disk image is available on Thomas’s web site.ical, growl, notifications, scripts, hacks, tips

Mail Badger offers users the ability to set more than one new mail badge on Mail.app’s Dock icon.

It is cheaper and more flexible than DockStar, although the eye-candy is not quite as well developed.

Mail Badger installs itself as a bundle in your ~/Mail/Bundles folder. (Uninstalling it again is as easy as deleting the Mail Badger.mailbundle file from that folder.)

Once installed, new badges are created in Mail Badger’s preference pane within Mail’s Preferences:

Options are provided for the shape of the new badge (spiky or smooth circle, star or heart, or you can add your own images), its size and colour and for the size of the text on each badge. You can also choose where to place it on Mail’s Stamp icon.

The count for each new badge is controlled by the user-customizable rules that operate very much like the Mail’s native rules. Here is the combination that gives me instant notice of the new mail from my wife in a pink love heart:

Beautiful!

New mail from my boss also strikes my eye at once with a black star badge:

You can probably think of even better uses for the extra mail badges in your own context.

You can also use Mail Badger as an easy way of changing the existing single “spiky circle” mail badge, giving it a different shape, size or colour.

Mail Badger is donation-ware and available from the developer’s web site .mail.app, apple mail, notification, dock, badges, roll your own, tips, plugins