Author: Sharon Zardetto

The scenario is straighforward: You receive a message with an attachment in Mail and double-click the attached file to open it in the appropriate app. But what happens next is anything but straightforward: file attachments are stored in a hard-to-find folder; they are sometimes downloaded more than once; and different apps treat these opened files in very different ways.

Where is /Mail Downloads?

When you open a Mail attachment with a double-click, it opens in its parent app, just as you’d expect. But it’s also automatically (and secretly) downloaded into the aptly named Mail Downloads folder.

The folder’s name is the only thing that’s obvious about it: it’s deeply buried in a series of folders, one of which is invisible. To view its contents, choose Go > Go to Folder in the Finder, type (or copy and paste from here) ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.mail/Data/Library/Mail Downloads, and click Go.

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There are two extremes when it comes to email formatting: some people prefer strictly plain text, while others like fancy fonts, background graphics, and other kinds of embellishments. No matter where you fall on that spectrum, knowing how to set your personal approach as defaults—and how to override them when necessary for specific messages—means you can easily get your message across in your own inimitable style.

Set text formatting (and cross your fingers)

When it comes to formatting text in a message, you have one major choice to make: plain versus rich text. Plain text is a throwback to alphanumeric-only communications where, for instance, you add **asterisks** or __underscores__ for emphasis instead of using actual italics or boldface. Rich text provides an alternative, using behind-the-scenes HTML coding to format not only text, but also lists.

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Mail might not be perfect a email client, but it’s the one most of us use. Fortunately, there are things you can do to make it work better. Here are five of my favorite tricks for making Mail more efficient.

Swap the Find shortcuts

Mail lets you search two ways: through your list of messages (“Where’s that note from my lawyer?”) and inside the the current message (“Did he say ‘nolo contendere’?”). While there are keyboard shortcuts for both searches, the easy (and standard) Command-F combo is assigned to the less-common search inside the currently selected message, while Command-Option-F is used for the more common search through the message list. Fortunately, you can swap them easily.

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