[bergy]

Hi .. I'm using Mail

I though I read somewhere recently that this was possible ..

I would like to have a template email saved where I could just alter a few things for example, and send a new email .. but keep the original email.

It's something to do with drafts ... but as you know it usually just keeps unfinished emails and sends it when you complete the email without saving a copy

It might have been in the last Machome magazine that I read of a way of doing it ...

[Fusion]

I have not heard of any way of doing this, but I have an idea that should work.

Technically, Mail.app's signature feature is just a template with the signature at the bottom. You can have multiple signatures and select which one you want on a per-message basis via a drop down menu.

Compose the email you want exactly how you want the template. Cmd-A to select all and then Cmd-C to copy it. Go into signatures and create a new one, you could even call it "Mail Template." Then when composing a new message, just select that from the menu.

If you do not use the signature feature already, just make another one that is blank and make it the default so the template won't show up unless you select it.

[bergy]

Hi Fusion ..

Thanks for the reply ...

I found the original article re: how to do this .. it was in the last MacHome magazine ..

According to them .. you save as a draft .. then go back to that message ...
select and then Message/"Redirect".

I tried that and it didn't work .. the original did not remain ...


I did try yours however and it works well so thanks again ....

[osxisfun]

i think (sorry dont have a link but i saw it on versiontracker) there is a contextual menu or apple menu that would do this. it was shareware and costs like 10 bucks or something...

don't know if this feature is in mail 2.0 but it would be nice.

[neon_duke]

So, two years later, is there any way to do this? I recently migrated to Mail, and I have half a dozen emails that I send out regularly and I would like to save a template for. I can probably figure out how to save the body of the email as a template, but that's not necessarily the important part. I've got smart mailing lists in Address Book, and they help, but my mail still has a fairly complicated address structure and it would be much nicer to simply save a template of the entire email.

I mean, c'mon, the archaic Netscrape 7 that I'm leaving behind supports this feature simply and easily. Anybody got ideas? Thanks...

[rickey939]

Save and Use Messages as Templates in Mac OS X Mail - About Email

Pretty easy.

[zro]

AppleScript, yo.

This is a snippet from Apple's Create New Message script, but it should be enough to get the gist of it. Though there are plenty of undefined variables.

tell application "Mail"
-- Properties can be specified in a record when creating the message or
-- afterwards by setting individual property values.
set newMessage to make new outgoing message with properties {subject:theSubject, content:theBody & return & return}
tell newMessage
-- Default is false. Determines whether the compose window will
-- show on the screen or whether it will happen in the background.
set visible to true
set sender to theSender
make new to recipient at end of to recipients with properties {name:theName, address:theAddress}
tell content
if (wantsAttachment is equal to "Yes") then
-- Position must be specified for attachments
make new attachment with properties {file name:theAttachment} at after the last paragraph
end if
end tell
if (theSignature is not equal to "") then
set message signature to theSignature
end if
end tell
-- Bring the new compose window to the foreground, in all its glory
activate
end tell


Open in Script Editor.app



Hell, just do it with Automator. Looks like just the thing you're looking for.

[neon_duke]

Thanks, guys. The "Send Again" thing looks straightforward, but it's pathetic that Apple didn't include this in Mail to begin with. I appreciate the info.

[Mithras]

You might also check out one of the keyboard-macro programs like the very lovely TextExpander.