Happy Birthday, Leopard!
Just last week, Apple celebrated the iPod’s 7th birthday. Today, Mac OS X v.10.5 “Leopard” has been out for a year. It was a slightly rocky launch, but Leopard introduced us to 300+ new features from its predecessor, 10.4, Tiger.
See all 300 new features here.
So, to celebrate All Things Leopard, I’ve compiled a list of our top 5 Leopard tips and tricks we’ve featured in our newsletters and blog over the last year. We’ll post one a day until Friday!
#5: New Stationery and Templates in Mail, by Don@smalldog.com
(as featured in Kibbles & Bytes Issue #540)
Apple has thoughtfully provided stationery templates to use in Mail to allow you to add a personal touch to messages. It reminds me of the Pages templates since there are placeholders for pictures and text that make it easy to use the templates for your personal message. There is also a much more convenient “Photo Browser” that will allow you to quickly access your iPhoto or Aperture library or Photo Booth or any folder or image that you drag into Photo Browser. When you paste an image into your message there is now a convenient image size drop-down
box that will allow you to size the image properly or double click on the image when in a placeholder to display a slider to zoom in.
This Photo Browser is a huge enhancement to Mail. I frequently send photos and it is a multi-click process. Open a message, open iPhoto, select the photo, select email, select size and then drag the image from the new message iPhoto makes to the actual message you are sending. That’s the old way. The Photo Browser allows you to search your images and drag them to your message with a quick way to size your image.
In Leopard Mail, there are templates for Birthday Greetings, Announcements (like dinner invites), Picnics, Save the Date, New Address, etc. There are several
templates just to highlight and present your photos and simple stationery, as well as thank you notes. To use any of the supplied templates follow these steps:
1. Open a new message window
2. Click on the “Show Stationery” button
3. Select a template by clicking on one of the categories, i.e. Birthday, Announcements, etc.
4. Apply the template to your message by clicking on the thumbnail of the template
5. Change the color of some of the templates by repeatedly clicking on the thumbnail
6. Click on “Hide Stationery” when you have selected the template you want to get the full message window
If you decide that you don’t like the template after completing your message, you can easily remove it by clicking on the “Original” thumbnail in the Stationery category. All the text, images and formatting is retained.
If you frequently use the same template you can add it to your “Favorites” category by dragging the thumbnail over the category list. To remove it from your favorites, just click on it and click the “Remove” (X).
You can also create your own stationery! I haven’t had the time to make my own yet but soon I’ll have my own stationery in email—how cool is that?! To make your own, all you have to do it enter and format your message including text and images and then choose “Save as Stationery” from the File menu. Your new stationery will be in the “Custom” category and of course, you can then drag it to your Favorites.