If you’ve ever used and loved the “Archive” function in Gmail or MobileMe, then found yourself missing it while using Apple’s own Mail application, this simple free plugin is a dream come true.
It’s an Archive button for Mail, and you can guess what it does. Instead of having to mess around with filing messages into folders, a single click will throw them into the archive. It even comes with its own ready-made keyboard shortcut (Command+Option+S), to make archiving even faster and easier.
When you need to find something specific, use Mail’s own search, which is quite up to the task of hunting through enormous archives (I’ve used Mail in this way, as a backup for my Gmail account, for years now).
If you need Mail to be a little more flexible, try Mail Act-On, which we mentioned back in number 8 in this series.
(You’re reading the 33rd post in our series, 50 Essential Mac Applications: a list of the great Mac apps the team at Cult of Mac value most. Read more, or grab the RSS feed.)
Giles Turnbull is a freelance writer in England. He also writes for the Press Association and The Morning News. You can find out more at his website, and follow him on Twitter @gilest.
6 responses to “Archive Button Gives Mail Some Of That Gmail Magic [50 Mac Essentials #33]”
Or you don’t. All archive is doing is moving the mail to another mailbox. So just do it by hand. Takes no more than the same number of steps and you can actually archive with more specificity.
If you set Gmail up properly and set the mailbox preferences properly in mail.app you don’t need that at all. Google automatically “Archives” your messages when it’s delivered into your All Mail and Inbox mail boxes separately. Deleting from Inbox leaves the message in All Mail (aka Archive)
Excellent… I have been wanting something like this for a while. I like the Mac mail app and it’s just not convenient to have gmail open in a browser all the time.