Mac Mail Display Problems with On My Mac Sent Mailboxes

[Scirroco]

Hello!
I’m using Mac Mail (v14.0) and have met an irritating problem, which I have met on previous versions of Mac OS.

Clearing and organising my over-loaded InBox and Sent folders, I create new mailboxes On My Mac, “Family Stuff > Family In and also Family Sent”. I go to my InBox, select all of the Family emails and drag them to the “On My Mac > Family In” mailbox. Everything fine in the display of the emails, with the sender being listed at the top of each email.

I go to my All Sent mailbox, select all the Family ones and drag them to the “On My Mac > Family Sent” mailbox. And here is where the irritation comes in. Inspecting those moved Sent emails, the main listing of the emails is not the person to whom the emails got sent, but me!
If I’ve explained that clearly, are there any solutions for how to display the recipients name, rather than mine?

Thank you for any help.
Tech details: Mac Mini M1, Beta Big Sur 11.3.

 

[adrianlondon]

Unfortunately, that's the way it works. Apple don't like giving people choices, and they've decided the only mailboxes that show recipient instead of sender is official "Sent" mailboxes. They're the ones defined in the properties for your relevant IMAP (or whatever) account.

 

[BrianBaughn]

I'm on Mojave and I've never been able to move sent email to a folder other than the official "Sent" folder and have the recipient shown. So…I don't know how you were able to do this previously.

 

[0128672]

After experimenting a bit, I might have found a solution for you. In the Family Sent folder (or any folder), go to the View menu and select Use Column Layout. Then right click on any column header to see the list of available columns, and include the To column. You could even remove the From column if you wanted to.

 

[Scirroco]

After experimenting a bit, I might have found a solution for you. In the Family Sent folder (or any folder), go to the View menu and select Use Column Layout. Then right click on any column header to see the list of available columns, and include the To column. You could even remove the From column if you wanted to.

View attachment 1725725

Almost Bingo!!!


Thank you for your very helpful suggestion and for your time in trying to sort my problem.
I did exactly what you said and, indeed Bingo, it worked …. ish.
However, the -ish bit is where the changes that I made were global throughout the Mail display. Bearing in mind that I have multiple email accounts and multiple OnMyMac email folders, the changes in View that you suggested were reflected in each of the email folders. So I have my On My Mac > Family Sent folder, successfully change the view so that I can see to whom I sent the emails, delete the “From” column, as you suggested, and that change in view was reflected in every email folder; it was not specific to the Family Sent folder.
But ……. you have given me a solution for the times that I need to go in and easily check the Family Sent emails and I can change it back whenever I want.
So I thank you again; it was very kind of you.

 

[Anthony p]

Hi,

I'm having the same problem in that I can't see the 'Sender' in my 'On My Mac' sent folders. I could also live with the solution offered above but can't access it as the Column Header is not displayed. How do I get it to display?

Many thanks,

 

[0128672]

Hi,

I'm having the same problem in that I can't see the 'Sender' in my 'On My Mac' sent folders. I could also live with the solution offered above but can't access it as the Column Header is not displayed. How do I get it to display?

Many thanks,

I'm not 100% I understand, but have you already selected the Column Layout found in the View menu?

 

[Anthony p]

Hi,

I have selected Column Layout but the column header you display in your post of Feb 5th, which provides the ability to view the sender column, does not display. My only 'header' is the sort facility and right clicking this only provides the ability to sort by various groupings.

Any help gratefully received.

 

[0128672]

If you right click on one of the column headers, you don't see a menu to select others columns to add to your view? If not, would you post a screenshot?

 

[Anthony p]

Hi,

Thanks for your continued assistance.

My screen is as follows and I'm unable to display the column headings.

If I click on 'Sort by' I get a similar drop down menu to yours but, as you can see, I have no Column headings visible>

Many thanks for your persistenc

 

[0128672]

Hi,

Thanks for your continued assistance.

My screen is as follows and I'm unable to display the column headings.

View attachment 1812098

If I click on 'Sort by' I get a similar drop down menu to yours but, as you can see, I have no Column headings visible>

Many thanks for your persistenc

Hmm, I'm thinking about what the difference might be. To me this looks like an older version of Mail. Which Big Sur version are you on? What is the "connection logging enabled" message in your screenshot? Why does it say "Login Failed" on the right side?

 

[Anthony p]

Hi,

I'm on version 13.4.

I'm not certain what the two messages mean. However, I have just had fibre installed connected to one ISP (which has prompted me to clear up my email box) and I still have the copper connection connected to a different ISP, which I have disabled but not removed as yet, and guess this is probably the reason for these messages. In a few days I'm optimistic I'll have cleared up my email account and can cancel the copper connection and the ISP.

I hope this helps.

 

[0128672]

Hi,

I'm on version 13.4.

I'm not certain what the two messages mean. However, I have just had fibre installed connected to one ISP (which has prompted me to clear up my email box) and I still have the copper connection connected to a different ISP, which I have disabled but not removed as yet, and guess this is probably the reason for these messages. In a few days I'm optimistic I'll have cleared up my email account and can cancel the copper connection and the ISP.

I hope this helps.

My screenshots are Mail version 14.0 on Big Sur 11.5.1. If you can update, maybe that will help with the visibility of the column headers, although I'm sure they were there in previous versions because I've used them for quite a while. Other than that, I'm not sure what else to advise.

Edited: actually I found that the lack of being able to edit the column headings is an issue in Mac Mail in Catalina. Assuming that's the version you have, apparently if you upgrade to Big Sur, you'll be able to customize them.

 

[Anthony p]

Hi,

You're absolutely right - now I've updated to v14 everything works. I can even customise each Folder AND show attachments. Just what you want in a Mail system. Many thanks for your help.