If you use the Mail app on your iOS device and Mac, then you already know it has some terrific features. You can quickly insert photos or videos, add drawings to your messages, and of course, use the VIP mailbox.
For those very important people, the VIP Mailbox holds emails you receive from them. This makes it simple to check for their messages in one spot instead of searching through your inbox. But, to make those emails stand out even more, you can customize the notifications especially for your VIPs and here’s how.
You have a couple of options for customizing your VIP emails on your iPhone or iPad. To access these settings, just follow these simple steps.
Customize the Notification Style
Open your Settings and select Mail.
Tap Notifications.
Choose VIP.
First, make sure that you enable Allow Notifications at the top by moving the slider to green.
Then, you can choose the style of alert you want to see. Select from Lock Screen, Notification Center, Banners, or pick all three. Directly below that selection, you can choose from Temporary or Persistent notifications.
Customize the Sound
On the same screen, tap Sounds.
Select Vibrations to assign a custom vibration pattern to your VIPs.
Under Alert Tones or Ringtones, choose a sound.
When you finish, you can go back to the main Settings screen or simply close the app.
Now, when those important emails come in, you can have distinctive sound alerts to go along with your visual notifications.
Custom Notifications for VIPs on Mac
Setting up custom notifications for VIPs on Mac is a bit different than on iOS, but it’s still easy to do using Rules. You cannot currently set a unique notification style for VIPs like you can on iOS. However, you can customize the alerts in other ways.
Customize the Notification
Open your Mail app, click Mail from the menu bar, and select Preferences.
Choose the Rules
Click Add Rule.
Enter a Description, for example, VIP Alerts.
Leave the If drop-down box as Any.
Below that, in the From drop-down box, select Sender is VIP for the condition.
Move down to the Perform the following actions section and open the Move Message drop-down box. You will see many actions that you can apply to your VIPs. Here are some examples of helpful customizations.
Play Sound: Select Play Sound from the list and then pick a specific sound in the next box.
Set Color: Select Set Color from the list, decide if you’d like to set the text or background color, and then pick a color.
Bounce Icon in Dock: Select Bounce Icon in Dock from the list and you’ll see a bouncy Mail icon when a VIP message arrives.
You can use one or all of these cool customization options for your VIPs. If you would like to use more than one, click the plus button next to one of the actions you create and then fill out the new action.
When you finish setting up your customizations, click OK. You’ll then see a prompt asking if you would like to apply the new rule to your existing emails. Just make your choice and you’re set!
You can visit this same area to change or delete the VIP Rules that you set up using the Edit or Remove buttons.
Conclusion
Setting up custom notifications for your VIPs in Mail is a convenient feature that lets you know in a unique way when those very important people send you an email.
Are there other features of the Mail app that you find extremely useful? If so, let us know what they are in the comments below or ping us on Twitter.
Sandy worked for many years in the IT industry as a project manager, department manager, and PMO Lead. She then decided to follow her dream and now writes about technology full-time. Sandy holds a Bachelors of Science in Information Technology.
She loves technology– specifically – terrific games and apps for iOS, software that makes your life easier, and productivity tools that you can use every day, in both work and home environments.
Her articles have regularly been featured at MakeUseOf, iDownloadBlog and many other leading tech publications.
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