MAIL sorting on iMac

RideForever

Well-Known Member
The most important option for me is Date but Mail automatically adds Subject so that it is not possible to get a string of emails just by date. Is that not possible?
 

Cougurr

Well-Known Member
I agree that the settings as shown above work for me however I selected Newest message on top so when I look a my list of emails the top of the list is the most current by date and time. The subject simply appears to the left of the date line I believe because Apple is using the top of the actual email layout to display for you as listed.

Expanded it looks like this for me.
The first screen shown below is showing the list by date newest on top and you can see where the actual email heading on the right seems to just be narrow and the subject line does show to the left of the date but the order is still by date.Screen Shot 2022-09-04 at 4.01.17 PM.pngScreen Shot 2022-09-04 at 3.57.39 PM.png
 

RideForever

Well-Known Member
I agree that the settings as shown above work for me however I selected Newest message on top so when I look a my list of emails the top of the list is the most current by date and time. The subject simply appears to the left of the date line I believe because Apple is using the top of the actual email layout to display for you as listed.

Expanded it looks like this for me.
The first screen shown below is showing the list by date newest on top and you can see where the actual email heading on the right seems to just be narrow and the subject line does show to the left of the date but the order is still by date.View attachment 663View attachment 662
Thanks Cougurr and Dave WT.

I am the President of our 30+ unit strata and have created many separate folders for a variety of issues. One could be Alterations in which there is a subfolder for a Unit #. Even if I created another subfolder under that Unit # for a specific alteration like Kitchen, all the emails relating to that Kitchen alteration may have multiple Subject headings that I cannot necessarily always control and when I sort by Date, whether Oldest or Newest at top, the result is sorted by Date / Subject and all I want is just Date so that I can quickly see the thread of emails one after the other.

In your example Cougurr, what would happen in Hagerty News if you had multiple messages for each of those 3 Subject headings but all you wanted was just a date string of all messages under Hagerty News?

In some Microsoft Excel financial investment spreadsheet tables I created, I can sort by only one variable (ETFs for example) but I can also choose to sort 1st by one (ETFs), then a second (Sector), even a third (Industry). In MAIL, it seems choosing the DATE variable automatically also gives a second variable (Subject). This is what I am trying not to have.
 

DaveWT

Well-Known Member
What happens if you UNcheck "Organize by Conversation". It seems that would then make all your emails fall in order strictly by date.

Screen Shot 2022-09-04 at 10.49.06 PM.png
 

Cougurr

Well-Known Member
Morning
I can confirm that removing the Organize by Conversation will not change what you see on the preview listing of my Hagerty news (after just testing this for you). HOWEVER in other folders I do use this view option to both Highlight and Organize by conversation to reduce the number of visible items all with the same subject line. Then within that group they are all listed by the date order I have asked for. It appears Apple is giving you a choice of what to sort by, not what to view by the selection you make. It works within a range of available headings such as Subject, date, from, to, attachments etc. but it will not turn off those other options when you select the one you want.

Perhaps the way to look at it is a bunch of playing cards where there are two colours along with 4 suits and all the numbers. You can ask to view all the red one but the numbers are still going too show for both groups of colours and suits. If you ask to sort by numbers they will all show in number order but not removing the colours of red and black nor the suits on the cards. Bottom line is all the information will always be visible but you can have the newest one at the bottom or top of your list as desired but all the rest of its information will always be visible.

You can then go down a level and ask to organize by conversation such as "Alterations" (but this must be in all the Subject lines) then they will all appear in one Highlighted block for the emails (if you turn on "Highlight Conversations) and all of the Alteration emails will be in order of date within that subgroup. This can also be achieved by using the folder and subfolder method but you have to move all the emails yourself into those folders (or use rules to do so) then ask them to view by date.

In all methods the Subject is not going to be hidden from your view the way Apple displays the email information , just the order of presentation as you see it listed. This is my personal take on how I have found running my business emails within the mac Mail program for many years now. I employ many folders and subfolders (mail boxes) organized by year, month, project titles in order and finally content of the project by date received/replied. This is also partially controlled by some basic rules to land emails within the correct mail box at least by year and month.

Hope this helps to clarify your concerns and not muddy the water for you.
Regards
Colin
 

DaveWT

Well-Known Member
Perhaps the way to look at it is a bunch of playing cards where there are two colours along with 4 suits and all the numbers. You can ask to view all the red one but the numbers are still going too show for both groups of colours and suits. If you ask to sort by numbers they will all show in number order but not removing the colours of red and black nor the suits on the cards. Bottom line is all the information will always be visible but you can have the newest one at the bottom or top of your list as desired but all the rest of its information will always be visible.

Isn't that what the original poster wanted.? He just wants to have it in date order (with all the others still there but not in order of subject. When I tested with my folders, it sure seemed to work for me.
 

Cougurr

Well-Known Member
Dave
I believe the original poster wanted it in date order Yes, however without the subject still showing which is not possible the way I understand its functionality.
...Colin
 

DaveWT

Well-Known Member
Hi Colin,

My understanding was he wanted the emails sorted strictly by date, but I didn't get the impression he cared if the subject was "showing", as long as it didn't influence the sort.

Perhaps he will weigh in again...
 
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