Possible to remove unread message count badges from mail folders?

[tanstaafl]

Does anyone know of a way to make the unread message counts WITHIN Apple Mail disappear? (Aside from the obvious of actually marking all the mail as read every day.)

I'm not asking about the red notification badge on the toolbar, I'm referring to the message counts that appear to the right of all Apple Mail subfolders.

I know it's a bit OCD but it is driving me crazy. I don't want to see the counts. Ever. In any of the folders. I clean out my inbox every day or have rules that automatically move things to the correct folders. I don't want some of my folders having these numbers show up because then they don't all look the same and it drives me crazy. I thought there used to be a way to turn this off but I can't find it.

Would be willing to do a weird workaround with rules or AppleScript if anyone had any suggestions. I tried creating a rule to mark things as read but it doesn't seem to work.

I apologize if I've posted in the wrong place. This is my first post. I've been trying to figure this out for two days and I'm desperate. Thanks for any help in advance.

 

[inscrewtable]

...

I feel confident that that is not possible. There's no point in running MacOs unless one is at least moderately OCD. This is what my desktop looks like most of the time, I use slightly different shades of grey for different spaces. I want to emphasise this is the actual desktop, not a desktop background...

 

[Dimwhit]

Outlook (at least for Windows) let's you adjust that (no count, unread count, or total message count) for every folder individually. It would be nice if Apple Mail would do it. But I don't know of a way. You could probably hack the Mail app, but that could be risky, and you'd have to redo it after every update, I would guess.

 

[tanstaafl]

Outlook (at least for Windows) let's you adjust that (no count, unread count, or total message count) for every folder individually. It would be nice if Apple Mail would do it. But I don't know of a way. You could probably hack the Mail app, but that could be risky, and you'd have to redo it after every update, I would guess.

Thanks. It's good to know it isn't possible so I can quit trying.
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I feel confident that that is not possible. There's no point in running MacOs unless one is at least moderately OCD. This is what my desktop looks like most of the time, I use slightly different shades of grey for different spaces. I want to emphasise this is the actual desktop, not a desktop background...

You are my kind of person. This is my iPhone screen:

 

[Alrescha]

What kind of OCD person can stand to have unread mail in the first place?

A.

 

[960design]

Does anyone know of a way to make the unread message counts WITHIN Apple Mail disappear?

How about:

1. Select the first unread email
2. Then Edit > Select All from the menu
3. Finally Control Click Mark as Read

 

[tanstaafl]

How about:

1. Select the first unread email
2. Then Edit > Select All from the menu
3. Finally Control Click Mark as Read

I've tried that, but since my rules put things that I haven't read in the trash and in junk mail it gets pretty old having to do that to two folders every time I glance at my mail during the day.

I'm going to mess around with the rules some more to see if I can fix this.

 

[Alrescha]

it gets pretty old having to do that to two folders every time I glance at my mail during the day

You can create a smart "Unread" mailbox and then you only have to do it to one folder.

A.

 

[960design]

I've tried that, but since my rules put things that I haven't read in the trash and in junk mail it gets pretty old having to do that to two folders every time I glance at my mail during the day.

I'm going to mess around with the rules some more to see if I can fix this.

Rules! Rules! We don't need no stinking rules!

What about the seat being left up? ​

Okay, sometimes we need one rule, but that is it!

What about liquor before beer and you are in the clear?​

Two rules and no more!

​

 

[inscrewtable]

You are my kind of person. This is my iPhone screen:

Quite similar to mine, I can't take a screenshot because the top button doesn't work any more on my iPhone 4s (currently using a software button) except that I'm using a dark grey background with the phone and messages icons on either side of the 'settings' icon. Yours is a bit too colourful for my taste, and those bubbles in the background, what's that about. Not OCD enough sorry.

btw here's another OCD tip of the day, if you have your Dock set to the side (LHS in my case) and also set to 'hide dock' you might want to run this handy terminal command which will make it appear instantly instead of that interminable delay that is the default. Run them both separately.

defaults write com.apple.dock autohide-delay -int 0

defaults write com.apple.dock autohide-time-modifier -float 0

 

[tanstaafl]

Quite similar to mine, I can't take a screenshot because the top button doesn't work any more on my iPhone 4s (currently using a software button) except that I'm using a dark grey background with the phone and messages icons on either side of the 'settings' icon. Yours is a bit too colourful for my taste, and those bubbles in the background, what's that about. Not OCD enough sorry.

btw here's another OCD tip of the day, if you have your Dock set to the side (LHS in my case) and also set to 'hide dock' you might want to run this handy terminal command which will make it appear instantly instead of that interminable delay that is the default. Run them both separately.

defaults write com.apple.dock autohide-delay -int 0

defaults write com.apple.dock autohide-time-modifier -float 0

THANK YOU! That delay is so annoying! I thought it only bothered me. My day just got brighter.

 

[HenryAZ]

THANK YOU! That delay is so annoying! I thought it only bothered me. My day just got brighter.

Create a rule, move it to the top of the rules list. Have it Select "Every Message" for the criteria, and the action would be "Mark as Read". Then your other rules can sort them to folders as you wish, and the ones remaining in the Inbox would be already "read".

 

[tanstaafl]

Create a rule, move it to the top of the rules list. Have it Select "Every Message" for the criteria, and the action would be "Mark as Read". Then your other rules can sort them to folders as you wish, and the ones remaining in the Inbox would be already "read".

Thank you. That does seem like a logical solution. Unfortunately I did that, and it didn't seem to have any effect. Possibly it's because I have an exchange account to set up also? Do you the rules only apply to things that come in through your iCloud account?

 

[HenryAZ]

Thank you. That does seem like a logical solution. Unfortunately I did that, and it didn't seem to have any effect. Possibly it's because I have an exchange account to set up also? Do you the rules only apply to things that come in through your iCloud account?

I cannot answer that, as I use Mail as a POP client, and do not use iCloud mail. Perhaps the way that Exchange and iCloud incoming messages are delivered has something to do with the rule not working. You might try that same rule but experiment with different conditions, other than "Every Message", such as "To", "Account", etc.

 

[raecom]

I feel confident that that is not possible. There's no point in running MacOs unless one is at least moderately OCD. This is what my desktop looks like most of the time, I use slightly different shades of grey for different spaces. I want to emphasise this is the actual desktop, not a desktop background...

I thought it was just me, except I have found that a dark grey is easier on the eyes. I keep Nightshift running 24/7.
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What kind of OCD person can stand to have unread mail in the first place?

A.

I don't care if I have it, I just don't want to know about it !!

 

[kohlson]

What about liquor before beer and you are in the clear?

And here I've been doing it all wrong!

Beer on whiskey - mighty risky
Whiskey on beer - all is clear

 

[rocketbuc]

Create a rule, move it to the top of the rules list. Have it Select "Every Message" for the criteria, and the action would be "Mark as Read". Then your other rules can sort them to folders as you wish, and the ones remaining in the Inbox would be already "read".

That's what I have been doing for years. Never have unread e-mail in my inbox, every message is automatically marked as read directly on our server.

Just moved to Monterey and in the new Mail window, it does show the count of draft e-mails with a number regardless of whether they are read or unread. Very annoying as my nice rule prevented exactly those counters in Mail.
Let me know if you have any ideas...