The Mail app is one of the most commonly used apps on the iPhone and iPad. Although there are many third-party e-mail apps out there, many ifolks still prefer to use the default Apple Mail app on their Apple devices. Apple has been working to make its e-mail application smarter and simpler. As with anything else, when there are changes it takes time to adjust to the new way of doing things. The iOS Mail app saw a lot of changes in iOS 10 and a few interesting changes in iOS 11.
In this article, we explore some of the changes that have been added to the iOS Mail app. We also highlight some tips that make it easy and convenient to use the app on your favorite iDevice.
There’s a known error causing some users to see an error message saying “Cannot Send Mail. The message was rejected by the server.” Apple and Microsoft worked to resolve this issue and released a fix in with the latest iOS 11.xx minor version software update.
If you don’t see that update or don’t want to update, Microsoft’s recommended workaround is to use the free Outlook for iOS client from the App Store. This app works on iOS 11 and supports these email services, including Outlook.com, Office 365, and Exchange Server 2016.
One of the new changes that you find in iOS 11 is the inclusion of ‘collapsed messages’ in the Mail settings. Tap on Settings > Mail and scroll down to the section titled ‘THREADING’.
The new ‘Collapse Read Messages’ in threading makes it easy to review your e-mails. When you turn on this option in the setting, any emails in the thread that you have already read will automatically be closed.
Other Changes to Mail
Apple decided to do away with scheduled fetch and notifications for favorited folders other than your Mail’s Inbox folder. So third-party mail account (like Yahoo) that do not support Push mode no longer work and are disabled in your iDevice’s Mail app in iOS 11.
Note that your Mail account’s settings for third-party services (like Yahoo) still has a Fetch New Data feature. However, that option is now only for fetching the main Inbox. It does not work on any other folder on IMAP mail accounts which do not support Push.
Unsubscribe from Junk Mail with a Single Tap
It is not uncommon to find junk mail taking up a lot of your e-mail space if you do not manage them. Starting with iOS 10, Apple made it easier to unsubscribe from junk with a single tap.
This is helpful if you cannot remember signing up for something and are now noticing newsletters clogging up your inbox.
In order to unsubscribe from these e-mails, simply tap on an email from the provider and then choose ‘Unsubscribe’ at the top.
Use 3D Touch or Siri to Quickly Open New Draft e-mail
You don’t have to go through all the various steps in order to create an e-mail draft. Give your 3D Touch or your Siri a chance to open a new draft with a single tap. Using 3D Touch, press long on the mail app on the home screen and choose ‘Create New mail” or invoke Siri and say something like “New e-mail to John Doe” to get going.
Use 3D Touch to Quickly React to e-mails
Press a message to peek at it, and then swipe up, left, or right to use quick actions. Press a little deeper to pop the message open. When you swipe left, you can send the message to trash. Similarly swiping right, lets you tag it as ‘read’/’unread’ . When you swipe up while on 3D touch you can choose the various actions to respond to that e-mail.
Filtering e-mails that only have attachments
Have you ever been in a situation where you are searching for a particular attachment that came to you in an e-mail? Instead of browsing through all the e-mails you can set up your Filter quickly in the Mail app, so that it only shows you the emails that have attachments.
Tap on the Filter button at the bottom of the Mail app screen. Tap on the ‘Filtered by’ dialog at the bottom to change your filter setting.
Scroll down and set the ‘Only Mail with attachments’ option to ON and tap on Done. Once you have reviewed the emails with attachments to locate the attachment, you can change this filter back.
This worked on iOS 10 and continues to exist in the filtering options for iOS 11.
Don’t want to Type your e-mail? No Problem with iOS 11
While drafting a new e-mail, you can now use the ‘Speak sentence’ feature to get the dictation going. Double tap on the email window while in the draft mode and choose the new ‘Speak Sentence’ feature to complete your e-mail.
How to Insert a Drawing Directly into your iOS e-mail
Double tapping on the e-mail draft allows you to choose ‘Insert Drawing’ now. This is an inline feature and when you select it, it opens up a window for you to draw out your idea. This works pretty well on an iPad Pro and you can use the Apple pencil to scribble out your idea and it automatically adds it to the e-mail.
Managing e-mail drafts Effectively on your iPhone
Many of us prefer to work on a large number of email drafts at any given point. This is especially true if you are using iOS Mail at work.
While working on an e-mail, if you prefer to leave it as a draft and check a different e-mail on your inbox, you can swipe down from the title bar of the drafted email.
When you are ready to return to the email, simply tap the bar at the bottom of the screen.
For those iFolks that use many draft e-mails using several email accounts, you can set up an All draft Mailbox to make it easier to manage.
While viewing the Mailboxes list, tap Edit > Add Mailbox, and then turn on the All Drafts mailbox.
iOS 11 Mail App Not Responding on iPhone
Several users find that occasionally their Mail app just freezes up. It doesn’t respond at all on the home screen. We have seen this happen right after an IOS upgrade. The best thing you can do when facing this issue after an upgrade is to delete the Mail app and then re-install it after a quick restart.
On the home screen, press and hold the Mail icon and you will find the familiar ‘X’ next to it. Choose it to remove the Mail app from your device. Restart your iPhone or iPad and then re-install the Mail App.
The easiest way to locate the Apple Mail app is to use Siri. Say something like ‘Siri show me the Apple Mail app on the appstore and it will take you directly there. Tap on Open to start re-installing the app.
The good news in iOS 11 is you don’t have to setup your e-mail accounts again after re-installing the Mail app. Due to the new app offloading feature, your credentials are stored on your device and it automatically gets setup when you re-install the app. We love this new feature in iOS 11.
Where are my e-mail Account Settings in iOS 11?
The familiar ‘Accounts’ setting has now been moved out from Mail Settings. iOS 11 starts with Message List grouping as opposed to the old Accounts. In order to review your e-mail accounts on iOS 11, tap on Settings > Accounts and Password. This is a brand new function that has been added in iOS 11. Using this section, you can set up and administer your Gmail, Yahoo mail or Outlook accounts.
Take some time to explore this new setting as you can manage various website credentials from here.
How To Delete All emails at once in iOS 11
There are always moments when you would like to select all the emails in a Mailbox at once. Typically you try to do this when you are trying to move all these emails into Trash or another mailbox. Rather then moving one email or a group of emails one by one, you can collect all the emails in your inbox and move them to trash in one go. Here’s how you can do this on your iPhone using iOS 11 and later versions.
Open the inbox and then tap on “Edit” at the top right corner of your screen. Tap on any message on screen so the checkbox appears next to it within the circle.
Now press and hold the “Move” button with one finger, and while holding the “Move” button, uncheck the message you previously checked.
Release the “Move” button once you have unchecked the email.
You’ll now be at the Inbox selection screen, at the top of the screen will show how many emails are selected, choose the “Trash” icon to move them all to trash and permanently delete them or you can move them to another folder of your choice.
Printing e-mails from your iPhone or iPad, Stay Sustainable
How many of us fire our emails, newsletters or WebPages to the printer only to realize that it has printed out 10 pages when we only needed a certain section of the content.
Instead of having to waste your printer ink and paper, you can preview the printer content and choose the pages that you want to send to the printer. Tap on Print from your email.
Use the Range feature to limit the pages or manually choose the pages by swiping and selecting and then choose Print at the top of your screen.
We hope that you found some of these tips helpful. Please feel free to share it with your friends and well-wishers.
Obsessed with tech since the early arrival of A/UX on Apple, Sudz (SK) is responsible for the original editorial direction of AppleToolBox. He is based out of Los Angeles, CA.
Sudz specializes in covering all things macOS, having reviewed dozens of OS X and macOS developments over the years.
In a former life, Sudz worked helping Fortune 100 companies with their technology and business transformation aspirations.
Sorry, that you are having problems with the Mac Mail App since updating your iOS on your iPhone. And the answer depends on what kind of mail accounts you’re using–if an iCloud email address (or the older Apple email accounts like me), then make sure that you have toggled ON the Mail App in your iCloud Settings on both your Mac and your iPhone.
For third-party IMAP mail accounts, like Gmail, Yahoo, and so forth, they should sync automatically across all devices. However, if your email account is POP, it’s normally deleted from the server when you download it onto your iPhone–i.e. email messages appear only on the first device that gets them.
Using IMAP is preferable, so if you have set-up your third-party accounts as POP we suggest you change to IMAP. This involves deleting your account from your iPhone and Mac and then adding it back in as an IMAP.
If your accounts are already IMAP, try deleting and then adding back in your account information using Settings > Account & Passwords on your iPhone and System Preferences > Internet Accounts on your Mac. Delete the accounts first from both your Mac and iPhone, then add them back in starting with your Mac and then your iPhone. It’s always best to backup your Mac and your iPhone before deleting anything, even your mail accounts, so do this step first if possible.
Your email history should be stored on the email provider’s servers, but just in case, back up especially if you have critical information in those emails.
Since iOS 11.0, the feature of scheduled fetch and notifications for favorited folders other than Inbox folder on non-push enabled mail accounts like Yahoo has been disabled in native mail app of iOS.
Thanks Elizabeth for getting back to Lizzy 9/11/2017 regarding me as a new Apple customer but I cannot follow your reply about navigating on the keyboard without forward and backward arrows to get to a word that has been typed incorrectly say halfway back in a document. All I can do is tap on the word delete it and retype it but sometimes [most times actually] I have difficulty placing the mouse right on the word. Is there any simpler process to do this please? Yor reply came back on 10/11/2017 if you are looking for it and it is in the section 11 tips for using ios 11 mail.
Liz, For placing the cursor precisely at any place in your draft, long press the ‘space’ bar on your iphone keyboard and then move your thumb to align the cursor to the place where you want it on. Takes a couple of tries if you have never used it before. Thanks for your feedback.
I’ve just finally uploaded iOS 11.2 & my sent box and trash box are gone. I’ve scrolled through all the comments and this doesn’t come up. Help! I’m crazy busy & every time I update iOS I want to pull my hair out. How can, if I can, get my sent & trash box back?
Sorry to hear that you’re having issues with the Mail App after updating to iOS 11.2. First, try and close the Mail app by double pressing Home or swiping up the Home Gesture Bar and swiping up the Mail App’s Preview to close. Then relaunch the Mail app and see if your mailboxes reappear.
The next thing to try is a normal restart–doing this simple thing often fixes these wayward problems after an update. If that doesn’t do the trick, force a restart on your iPhone (instructions depend on model) and make sure you hold these keys until you see the apple logo on-screen, then release.
If neither type of restart helped, let’s check your account settings. Open your Mail app and see which account does not have the Sent or Trash boxes. Once noted, go to Settings > Accounts & Passwords and tap the account that has a problem (or the first). Next, tap the account name again (usually your email address) and then select Advanced or Advanced Settings. Take a look at your settings here and update if needed–pay attention to Move Discarded Messaged Into: and select Deleted Mailbox.
Each type of account (gmail, yahoo, outlook, and so forth) shows different settings under Advanced so take your time looking through these settings and make adjustments. Once complete, tap the backward arrow at the top and tap Done.
Finally, close the Mail app by double pressing Home or swiping up the Home Gesture Bar and swiping up the Mail App’s Preview to close. Then relaunch the Mail app and see if your mailboxes reappear.
If nothing helps, delete the problem email account and then add it back in. Go to Settings > Accounts & Passwords and tap on the problematic account. Then select Delete Account and choose Delete from My iPhone (or iPad, iPod.) Once deleted, go back to Settings > Accounts & Passwords and select Add Account. Follow the on-screen instructions by choosing your account type and adding in all your identification and password.
Once you enter in all your account info and confirm, open the Mail app and see if your wayward sent and trash mailboxes return.
Sorry for the lengthy process to recover this info!
You wrote, “The Mail app is one of the most commonly used apps on the iPhone and iPad. Although there are many third-party e-mail apps out there, many ifolks still prefer to use the default Apple Mail app on their Apple devices. ”
Do we have a choice? I know many people who would prefer using a third-party app to manage their e-mail (me included) but there doesn’t seem to be a way to change the default mail client. If I choose to share an article via e-mail in Safari, I have to use Apple mail.
Gina, You are absolutely right. Many folks have moved onto Spark, Airmail and other third party email apps over the past few years but the integration with other Apple apps appears to be a gap in these apps. An optimist in me thinks that since Apple allows us to integrate third party keyboard apps in iOS, maybe someday those sharesheet options can be customized to apps of our choice. No harm in hoping. Right? Thank you for stopping by.
Since iOS 11, Apple has disabled scheduled fetch and notifications for favorited folders and sub folders for non-push mail accounts in the native mail app of iOS.
This fetch used to happen in iOS 10.3.3 without any problem.
This issue has not been resolved even in the latest iOS 11.2.5 beta 3.
I’ve been an emailaholic since the beginning of email, and have used an iPhone since the first iPhone was released. I would like to thank you for many of the tips in this article since, even as a retired geek and user of Apple Default Mail in iOS, I learned some new tricks while reading it.
Larry, Thank you for stopping by. We appreciate the comment. If there is a particular tip that you use often and we have not covered it, please let us know so that we can add it in as well. Happy New Year!
Using iOS 11.2.1 (latest version) on an iPhone 7, the follow tip, from this article, does not work. “Speak sentence” is not an available option when double-tapping the window in the draft mode.
“While drafting a new e-mail, you can now use the ‘Speak sentence’ feature to get the dictation going. Double tap on the email window while in the draft mode and choose the new ‘Speak Sentence’ feature to complete your e-mail.”
Thanks Larry. Unfortunately, this feature requires a minor change in your settings. We should have added it to the main article. Tap on Settings >General > Accessibility. Scroll down to Speech and tap on it. On the next screen, enable ‘Speak Selection’. Now, when you go back to your email, double tap on the draft and scroll right on the options, “Speak Sentence” will show up as the last selection. Just tested this on iPhone 7. Thanks for the feedback!
Since iOS 11, Apple has disabled scheduled fetch and notifications for favorited folders and sub folders for non-push IMAP mail accounts in the native mail app of iOS. This problem is for folders other than Inbox where the scheduled fetch does not work for folders other than Inbox. The problem occurs only on accounts not supporting Push.
This fetch for Inbox as well as favorited folders used to happen in iOS 10.3.3 without any problem.
Can someone tell me why I can no longer print an A4 copy of an attached document from an email message. I have not changed any settings and it’s really frustrating not to be able to print attachments in their full size state. How can I fix this issue?
Can someone tell me Why when I print out a copy of an email message it is printed in miniature form – hardly readable. I don’t think I’ve done anything to change my settings so can’t understand why this has started to happen on my iPhone 6 Plus.
The new IOS 11.0.3 doesn’t allow you to address deleting emails from the server so they may or may not be loaded onto other devices. On IOS 10.xxx this is addressed in each mail accounts advanced settings. Where can this be addressed in the new system. Emails received on the iphone with the updated system are removed from the server and cannot be retrieved on the apple computer.
Hopefully I am understanding you correctly. You want to delete emails from the server? If so, check out the new Accounts & Passwords setting in the Settings App. There you’ll find all your email accounts and under the Advanced option, you see the option to delete emails (vs. archive.)
New to Apple devices and I see no Spam folder in the mail app on iPad Pro 12.9 2nd gen 2017. Can anyone help me out on this please. I decided to use Google mail for this reason but I really want to use the iPad installed apps not 3rd party apps. Also I cannot find forward or backward arrow keys on the keyboard. Any help would be appreciated.
Welcome to the Tribe! It does take a little time getting used to the Apple ecosystem. On iPads and iPhones, there is no back or forward arrow keys like Android uses (yeah, we know!) Instead navigation is done by following the the process backwards—so with your iPad’s screen real estate look towards your right or left to see the actions available to move back and forwards in content.
Now as far as spam folder, do you see anything called Junk? If so, that’s the spam folder.
Since iOS 11, Apple has disabled scheduled fetch and notifications for favorited folders and sub folders for non-push mail accounts in the native mail app of iOS.
This fetch used to happen in iOS 10.3.3 without any problem.
Apple is also saying this problem is not widespread and only a few users are troubled by it hence will resolve it later.
The scheduled fetch and notifications for favorited folders and sub folders have been discontinued since iOS 11 in the native mail app of iOS.
This feature used to work in the previous versions of iOS 10.x.
Swipe to delete quick option on the inbox mail is gone. Why would this very convenient option be removed to only be replaced by ‘Archive, Mark as Read, or None?’ Please fix this as we all want to delete our emails with ease rather than requiring a 3 step process. It’s really annoying how so many devices and apps want to prevent us from deleting our history!
For whatever reason, iOS chooses Archive as the default for swiping instead of Delete. You change this by going into Settings > Accounts & Passwords > Selecting Your Specific Account and then moving into the advanced settings.
We’re not sure why you’re NOT seeing Mail App’s unsubscribe feature. We tested on a couple of iPhones and iPads, all running either iOS 11.1 or 11.0.3 and all these devices show the unsubscribe at the top.
First think we suggest is force restarting your iPhone. Check the link on directions for your model–for older models and all iPad and iPod Touches, press both Home and Power together and maintain this hold until you see the Apple logo on-screen, then release.
Once restarted, open your Mail app and see if any emails show this option. Look at a few emails–the consensus is that the unsubscribe feature works for legitimate sites that offer an unsubscribe option within the text of the email. But generally spam email does not offer this option.
If you don’t see it, make sure your email account has Push selected:
Using your Google/Gmail account with Mail on iOS 11
Go to Settings → Accounts & Passwords
Select Fetch New Data
Toggle Push ON and scroll down to Fetch > select Automatically
Then update each email account to either Push or Fetch
Once you update these settings, return to the Home Screen and double tap the Home button, locate Mail and swipe up to close it. Next, shutdown and restart your iDevice and then check again.
If unsubscribe still isn’t an option, delete that particular email account from Settings > Accounts & Passwords and then add it in again. Once you re-add these credentials, perform a regular restart by powering off your iDevice and powering back on.
Make sure you check the Push Settings again and update those as described above.
The check again and see if the unsubscribe option is available.
I have a BT mail account which I have added to my iPhone mail – but cannot see my BT mail folders. There is only “inbox” and “trash”. Do you know how to add the rest of my BT mail folders so that they show up on my iPhone mail app?
How can I keep my iphone emails from automatically deleting? I need to keep some of my emails for reference. ( i am updated to IOS 11) Please help! Please!
You need to change your password via the Yahoo website or via the Yahoo App. You cannot change third-party passwords via Mail or Accounts & Passwords on iOS.
Is there a way to change how the Mail App handles attachments to NOT be embedded in the body of the email but rather above the body and below the header like just about every other email app on the planet? It is frustrating to have to type around an attachment or wait until I finish the email to add the attachment to the email.
Why can’t I see my old emails anymore? It’ll only give me emails from the last two weeks and no option to change this and no archive. I don’t use email on a computer and I have information in these older emails that I need to access. How about some customer research before making these ridiculous changes. Beyond frustrating and apple will quickly become obsolete if they think they know better than the customer what they need and want. If you have a fix, please let me know.
Your email account settings are now in Settings > Accounts & Passwords. This is no universal item for change mail days to sync, instead it’s within each individaul email account’s settings. And it’s not a feature on all accounts–for me, it’s available to change on my Outlook account but not my Gmail account.
To check, go to Accounts & Passwords > Tap a single account and look for that Change Mail Days To Sync option in the top menu, where you toggle the options for syncing Mail, Contacts, Calendars, and so forth.
In the new Account settings location, I can no longer select my Gmail account and change my swipe settings to delete, rather than archive. Neither is it an option for me in the swipe settings now embedded within Mail. Did we lose this option? Frustrating to have to manually move each message to the trash folder.
It’s a little more complicated but you can update your Mail Account Settings to allow swipe to delete messages. Go to Settings > Accounts & Passwords > Select Your Gmail Account > Tap the Account Name > Tap Advanced > Tap Deleted Mailbox under Move Discarded Messages > Press the back arrow > Tap Done.
Puki, Thanks for your comment. It appears that this feature has been removed. Unable to invoke this anymore with iOS 11.0.1. It was essentially similar to Dictation in its functionality. We will do additional testing and update the post. Thanks Again.
Since iOS 11 upgrade, apple mail no longer changes personal pronoun “i” to caps. There options at the bottom of thei screen and upper case I is among them but it requires a screen tap rather than auto cap the lowers case i. Really annoying to leave the keyboard for a screen tap rather than the old auto cap function. Surely I am not the only person who has a problem with this.
Please check these Settings to make sure they are toggled ON. Often, when we update iOS is sets these back to defaults rather than retains our personalized settings. Go to Settings > Keyboard > and check that Auto-Capitalization, Auto-Correction, and Smart Punctuation are all ON.
Hope this was the problem and these the quick solution. Keep us posted if not and we’ll look into it further.
How can we get the mailbox name to appear when in that particular inbox?
I have LOTS of mail accounts set up in the mail app but once in an inbox … I don’t know which one I’m in!
I hope I explained this correctly.
If you want to see new mail in each mail account, tap on the upper left button named Mailboxes. That takes you to your email mailbox menu, where each account is listed separately. To see an account, tap its name and then you ONLY see mail associated with that particular email address.
In previous versions of IOS I could remove my POP3 emails from the server when deleted. This saved me having to delete them on my phone and tablet. This facility seems to have disappeared in IOS 11.
From what I understand iOS 11 support POP email just like iOS 10. Have you checked the new Accounts & Passwords Setting? You may need to manually update some settings there.
Go to Settings > Mail > Accounts & passwords
Tap the POP email account
Tap Advanced, then Remove
Choose a new time frame for deletion
Tap Done and save your settings
Breaking press news. IOS Mail app won’t work with any Microsoft email accounts. Is this correct? If so why was this not checked and fixed in advance? What other email providers such at Yahoo and Gmail are similarly affected? Until all such failures are fixed and confirmed surely the advice must be do not upgrade!!
You are correct in that there significant problems between Exchange and iOS 11 right now. However, both Apple and Microsoft are actively fixing this issue and a statement was issued regarding this error for Exchange and Office365 users:
Known Issue: Email access in iOS 11
MC119966
Prevent or Fix Issues
Published On : September 19, 2017
If you are using the native mail app on your iPhone or iPad, and upgrade to iOS 11, you may encounter issues.
How does this affect me?
Do to an incompatibility in the new release of iOS, users of the built-in Apple Mail app in iOS 11 may be unable to sync their Office 365 mailbox or login to their accounts. iOS 9 or 10 users are not affected.
What do I need to do to fix this?
Microsoft and Apple are working to resolve this issue and will post more information to the article, below, when it becomes available. In the meantime, we recommend you download the free Outlook for iOS client, available in the App Store. Alternatively, you can avoid updating to iOS 11 until the issue has been fixed.
It’s hard to believe that Apple’s on IOS 11 and it still hasn’t figured out how to make personal folders collapse in its Email app. It’s a feature that everybody wants (just google it to see) but Apple routinely ” fine tunes” their operating system with “important updates and changes”, yet can’t seem to get their arms around a feature that’s intrinsic to so many users.
I cant set up email folders on the new IOS 11. Message says not possible
Since updating, if I download mail on my iPhone, they wont appear in my mac mail. How do I fix this?
HI Nigel,
Sorry, that you are having problems with the Mac Mail App since updating your iOS on your iPhone. And the answer depends on what kind of mail accounts you’re using–if an iCloud email address (or the older Apple email accounts like me), then make sure that you have toggled ON the Mail App in your iCloud Settings on both your Mac and your iPhone.
For third-party IMAP mail accounts, like Gmail, Yahoo, and so forth, they should sync automatically across all devices. However, if your email account is POP, it’s normally deleted from the server when you download it onto your iPhone–i.e. email messages appear only on the first device that gets them.
Using IMAP is preferable, so if you have set-up your third-party accounts as POP we suggest you change to IMAP. This involves deleting your account from your iPhone and Mac and then adding it back in as an IMAP.
If your accounts are already IMAP, try deleting and then adding back in your account information using Settings > Account & Passwords on your iPhone and System Preferences > Internet Accounts on your Mac. Delete the accounts first from both your Mac and iPhone, then add them back in starting with your Mac and then your iPhone. It’s always best to backup your Mac and your iPhone before deleting anything, even your mail accounts, so do this step first if possible.
Your email history should be stored on the email provider’s servers, but just in case, back up especially if you have critical information in those emails.
Hope this helps your problem,
SK
Since iOS 11.0, the feature of scheduled fetch and notifications for favorited folders other than Inbox folder on non-push enabled mail accounts like Yahoo has been disabled in native mail app of iOS.
Thanks Elizabeth for getting back to Lizzy 9/11/2017 regarding me as a new Apple customer but I cannot follow your reply about navigating on the keyboard without forward and backward arrows to get to a word that has been typed incorrectly say halfway back in a document. All I can do is tap on the word delete it and retype it but sometimes [most times actually] I have difficulty placing the mouse right on the word. Is there any simpler process to do this please? Yor reply came back on 10/11/2017 if you are looking for it and it is in the section 11 tips for using ios 11 mail.
Thanks again
Lizzy
Liz, For placing the cursor precisely at any place in your draft, long press the ‘space’ bar on your iphone keyboard and then move your thumb to align the cursor to the place where you want it on. Takes a couple of tries if you have never used it before. Thanks for your feedback.
I’ve just finally uploaded iOS 11.2 & my sent box and trash box are gone. I’ve scrolled through all the comments and this doesn’t come up. Help! I’m crazy busy & every time I update iOS I want to pull my hair out. How can, if I can, get my sent & trash box back?
Hi Lea,
Sorry to hear that you’re having issues with the Mail App after updating to iOS 11.2. First, try and close the Mail app by double pressing Home or swiping up the Home Gesture Bar and swiping up the Mail App’s Preview to close. Then relaunch the Mail app and see if your mailboxes reappear.
The next thing to try is a normal restart–doing this simple thing often fixes these wayward problems after an update. If that doesn’t do the trick, force a restart on your iPhone (instructions depend on model) and make sure you hold these keys until you see the apple logo on-screen, then release.
If neither type of restart helped, let’s check your account settings. Open your Mail app and see which account does not have the Sent or Trash boxes. Once noted, go to Settings > Accounts & Passwords and tap the account that has a problem (or the first). Next, tap the account name again (usually your email address) and then select Advanced or Advanced Settings. Take a look at your settings here and update if needed–pay attention to Move Discarded Messaged Into: and select Deleted Mailbox.
Each type of account (gmail, yahoo, outlook, and so forth) shows different settings under Advanced so take your time looking through these settings and make adjustments. Once complete, tap the backward arrow at the top and tap Done.
Finally, close the Mail app by double pressing Home or swiping up the Home Gesture Bar and swiping up the Mail App’s Preview to close. Then relaunch the Mail app and see if your mailboxes reappear.
If nothing helps, delete the problem email account and then add it back in. Go to Settings > Accounts & Passwords and tap on the problematic account. Then select Delete Account and choose Delete from My iPhone (or iPad, iPod.) Once deleted, go back to Settings > Accounts & Passwords and select Add Account. Follow the on-screen instructions by choosing your account type and adding in all your identification and password.
Once you enter in all your account info and confirm, open the Mail app and see if your wayward sent and trash mailboxes return.
Sorry for the lengthy process to recover this info!
SK
You wrote, “The Mail app is one of the most commonly used apps on the iPhone and iPad. Although there are many third-party e-mail apps out there, many ifolks still prefer to use the default Apple Mail app on their Apple devices. ”
Do we have a choice? I know many people who would prefer using a third-party app to manage their e-mail (me included) but there doesn’t seem to be a way to change the default mail client. If I choose to share an article via e-mail in Safari, I have to use Apple mail.
Gina, You are absolutely right. Many folks have moved onto Spark, Airmail and other third party email apps over the past few years but the integration with other Apple apps appears to be a gap in these apps. An optimist in me thinks that since Apple allows us to integrate third party keyboard apps in iOS, maybe someday those sharesheet options can be customized to apps of our choice. No harm in hoping. Right? Thank you for stopping by.
Since iOS 11, Apple has disabled scheduled fetch and notifications for favorited folders and sub folders for non-push mail accounts in the native mail app of iOS.
This fetch used to happen in iOS 10.3.3 without any problem.
This issue has not been resolved even in the latest iOS 11.2.5 beta 3.
I’ve been an emailaholic since the beginning of email, and have used an iPhone since the first iPhone was released. I would like to thank you for many of the tips in this article since, even as a retired geek and user of Apple Default Mail in iOS, I learned some new tricks while reading it.
Larry, Thank you for stopping by. We appreciate the comment. If there is a particular tip that you use often and we have not covered it, please let us know so that we can add it in as well. Happy New Year!
Using iOS 11.2.1 (latest version) on an iPhone 7, the follow tip, from this article, does not work. “Speak sentence” is not an available option when double-tapping the window in the draft mode.
“While drafting a new e-mail, you can now use the ‘Speak sentence’ feature to get the dictation going. Double tap on the email window while in the draft mode and choose the new ‘Speak Sentence’ feature to complete your e-mail.”
Thanks Larry. Unfortunately, this feature requires a minor change in your settings. We should have added it to the main article. Tap on Settings >General > Accessibility. Scroll down to Speech and tap on it. On the next screen, enable ‘Speak Selection’. Now, when you go back to your email, double tap on the draft and scroll right on the options, “Speak Sentence” will show up as the last selection. Just tested this on iPhone 7. Thanks for the feedback!
Since iOS 11, Apple has disabled scheduled fetch and notifications for favorited folders and sub folders for non-push IMAP mail accounts in the native mail app of iOS. This problem is for folders other than Inbox where the scheduled fetch does not work for folders other than Inbox. The problem occurs only on accounts not supporting Push.
This fetch for Inbox as well as favorited folders used to happen in iOS 10.3.3 without any problem.
I had many doubts about a solution before reading this but this time all is clear. all tips are very useful
Can someone tell me why I can no longer print an A4 copy of an attached document from an email message. I have not changed any settings and it’s really frustrating not to be able to print attachments in their full size state. How can I fix this issue?
Can someone tell me Why when I print out a copy of an email message it is printed in miniature form – hardly readable. I don’t think I’ve done anything to change my settings so can’t understand why this has started to happen on my iPhone 6 Plus.
Here is a good post about to best for the mail app. It is a good way to explain and it is an informative post regarding mail app. Thanks!
The new IOS 11.0.3 doesn’t allow you to address deleting emails from the server so they may or may not be loaded onto other devices. On IOS 10.xxx this is addressed in each mail accounts advanced settings. Where can this be addressed in the new system. Emails received on the iphone with the updated system are removed from the server and cannot be retrieved on the apple computer.
Hi David,
Hopefully I am understanding you correctly. You want to delete emails from the server? If so, check out the new Accounts & Passwords setting in the Settings App. There you’ll find all your email accounts and under the Advanced option, you see the option to delete emails (vs. archive.)
Hope I got it right.
SK
New to Apple devices and I see no Spam folder in the mail app on iPad Pro 12.9 2nd gen 2017. Can anyone help me out on this please. I decided to use Google mail for this reason but I really want to use the iPad installed apps not 3rd party apps. Also I cannot find forward or backward arrow keys on the keyboard. Any help would be appreciated.
Many thanks
Hi Litzy,
Welcome to the Tribe! It does take a little time getting used to the Apple ecosystem. On iPads and iPhones, there is no back or forward arrow keys like Android uses (yeah, we know!) Instead navigation is done by following the the process backwards—so with your iPad’s screen real estate look towards your right or left to see the actions available to move back and forwards in content.
Now as far as spam folder, do you see anything called Junk? If so, that’s the spam folder.
Hope these help,
Liz
Sorry about your first answer but I must be dumb because I cannot work it out but the junk folder is great. Thanks heaps
Since iOS 11, Apple has disabled scheduled fetch and notifications for favorited folders and sub folders for non-push mail accounts in the native mail app of iOS.
This fetch used to happen in iOS 10.3.3 without any problem.
Apple is also saying this problem is not widespread and only a few users are troubled by it hence will resolve it later.
Thanks for the update on Mail Fetch for favorite folders and subs. Hopefully that bug is fixed soon. I know a lot of folks who love this feature!
Liz
The scheduled fetch and notifications for favorited folders and sub folders have been discontinued since iOS 11 in the native mail app of iOS.
This feature used to work in the previous versions of iOS 10.x.
Thank you for clarifying SN! We’ll update the article with that info so everyone knows!
We love sharing reader insights!!! Awesome. Thanks again,
Liz
Swipe to delete quick option on the inbox mail is gone. Why would this very convenient option be removed to only be replaced by ‘Archive, Mark as Read, or None?’ Please fix this as we all want to delete our emails with ease rather than requiring a 3 step process. It’s really annoying how so many devices and apps want to prevent us from deleting our history!
Hi Rastio,
For whatever reason, iOS chooses Archive as the default for swiping instead of Delete. You change this by going into Settings > Accounts & Passwords > Selecting Your Specific Account and then moving into the advanced settings.
Here’s the latest step-by-step guide to follow, if needed.
Liz
The “iOS Mail’s auto unsubscribe” feature seems to have disappeared after updating my iOS to 11.1.3….any idea where this may have gone??
Hi Jenn,
We’re not sure why you’re NOT seeing Mail App’s unsubscribe feature. We tested on a couple of iPhones and iPads, all running either iOS 11.1 or 11.0.3 and all these devices show the unsubscribe at the top.
First think we suggest is force restarting your iPhone. Check the link on directions for your model–for older models and all iPad and iPod Touches, press both Home and Power together and maintain this hold until you see the Apple logo on-screen, then release.
Once restarted, open your Mail app and see if any emails show this option. Look at a few emails–the consensus is that the unsubscribe feature works for legitimate sites that offer an unsubscribe option within the text of the email. But generally spam email does not offer this option.
If you don’t see it, make sure your email account has Push selected:
Using your Google/Gmail account with Mail on iOS 11
Go to Settings → Accounts & Passwords
Select Fetch New Data
Toggle Push ON and scroll down to Fetch > select Automatically
Then update each email account to either Push or Fetch
Once you update these settings, return to the Home Screen and double tap the Home button, locate Mail and swipe up to close it. Next, shutdown and restart your iDevice and then check again.
If unsubscribe still isn’t an option, delete that particular email account from Settings > Accounts & Passwords and then add it in again. Once you re-add these credentials, perform a regular restart by powering off your iDevice and powering back on.
Make sure you check the Push Settings again and update those as described above.
The check again and see if the unsubscribe option is available.
Cheers,
SK
I don’t understand reason of people’s frustration I have been having really good experience with iOS 11 so far hadn’t faced any issue.
How do I get all my old emails back they are important to me .. the new update deleted all my old emails
I have a BT mail account which I have added to my iPhone mail – but cannot see my BT mail folders. There is only “inbox” and “trash”. Do you know how to add the rest of my BT mail folders so that they show up on my iPhone mail app?
How do I stop my mail app from receiving emails when the app is not open.
I only what my app to send and receive when im in the app and not to receive emails in the background.
Many Thanks’
Suhayl
How can I keep my iphone emails from automatically deleting? I need to keep some of my emails for reference. ( i am updated to IOS 11) Please help! Please!
Hi Holly,
What kind of email account are you experiencing problems with? We normally don’t see this behavior.
Liz
How do I change my Yahoo email password for the mail app on my 6S running 11.0.3? I can’t find it in any of the menus.
Hi Joe,
You need to change your password via the Yahoo website or via the Yahoo App. You cannot change third-party passwords via Mail or Accounts & Passwords on iOS.
Liz
Frustrated, I think you can load back to 1 month and from there load more as needed when searching your server for emails.
Is there a way to change how the Mail App handles attachments to NOT be embedded in the body of the email but rather above the body and below the header like just about every other email app on the planet? It is frustrating to have to type around an attachment or wait until I finish the email to add the attachment to the email.
Why can’t I see my old emails anymore? It’ll only give me emails from the last two weeks and no option to change this and no archive. I don’t use email on a computer and I have information in these older emails that I need to access. How about some customer research before making these ridiculous changes. Beyond frustrating and apple will quickly become obsolete if they think they know better than the customer what they need and want. If you have a fix, please let me know.
How can I change mail days to sync? I don’t see that option anywhere anymore.
Hi Heather,
Your email account settings are now in Settings > Accounts & Passwords. This is no universal item for change mail days to sync, instead it’s within each individaul email account’s settings. And it’s not a feature on all accounts–for me, it’s available to change on my Outlook account but not my Gmail account.
To check, go to Accounts & Passwords > Tap a single account and look for that Change Mail Days To Sync option in the top menu, where you toggle the options for syncing Mail, Contacts, Calendars, and so forth.
Keep us posted,
Liz
In the new Account settings location, I can no longer select my Gmail account and change my swipe settings to delete, rather than archive. Neither is it an option for me in the swipe settings now embedded within Mail. Did we lose this option? Frustrating to have to manually move each message to the trash folder.
Hi Kristen,
It’s a little more complicated but you can update your Mail Account Settings to allow swipe to delete messages. Go to Settings > Accounts & Passwords > Select Your Gmail Account > Tap the Account Name > Tap Advanced > Tap Deleted Mailbox under Move Discarded Messages > Press the back arrow > Tap Done.
That should do it! Learn more about this new Accounts & Passwords Setting in this article.
Let us know if this works! (or doesn’t :()
LIZ
What exactly is the „speak sentence“ feature in Mail vs dictation via Siri?
I haven‘t got this feature on my German iPhone 7 iOS 11.0.1?
Puki, Thanks for your comment. It appears that this feature has been removed. Unable to invoke this anymore with iOS 11.0.1. It was essentially similar to Dictation in its functionality. We will do additional testing and update the post. Thanks Again.
Since iOS 11 upgrade, apple mail no longer changes personal pronoun “i” to caps. There options at the bottom of thei screen and upper case I is among them but it requires a screen tap rather than auto cap the lowers case i. Really annoying to leave the keyboard for a screen tap rather than the old auto cap function. Surely I am not the only person who has a problem with this.
Best regards,
Larry
Hi Larry,
Please check these Settings to make sure they are toggled ON. Often, when we update iOS is sets these back to defaults rather than retains our personalized settings. Go to Settings > Keyboard > and check that Auto-Capitalization, Auto-Correction, and Smart Punctuation are all ON.
Hope this was the problem and these the quick solution. Keep us posted if not and we’ll look into it further.
Cheers,
Liz
Would it been so easy to add a delete all function in mail when you search for common emails to delete?
How can we get the mailbox name to appear when in that particular inbox?
I have LOTS of mail accounts set up in the mail app but once in an inbox … I don’t know which one I’m in!
I hope I explained this correctly.
Hi Nikki,
If you want to see new mail in each mail account, tap on the upper left button named Mailboxes. That takes you to your email mailbox menu, where each account is listed separately. To see an account, tap its name and then you ONLY see mail associated with that particular email address.
Cheers,
Liz
In previous versions of IOS I could remove my POP3 emails from the server when deleted. This saved me having to delete them on my phone and tablet. This facility seems to have disappeared in IOS 11.
Hi Alwyn,
From what I understand iOS 11 support POP email just like iOS 10. Have you checked the new Accounts & Passwords Setting? You may need to manually update some settings there.
Go to Settings > Mail > Accounts & passwords
Tap the POP email account
Tap Advanced, then Remove
Choose a new time frame for deletion
Tap Done and save your settings
let us know if this works for you!
Cheers,
Liz
Breaking press news. IOS Mail app won’t work with any Microsoft email accounts. Is this correct? If so why was this not checked and fixed in advance? What other email providers such at Yahoo and Gmail are similarly affected? Until all such failures are fixed and confirmed surely the advice must be do not upgrade!!
Hi, Peter,
You are correct in that there significant problems between Exchange and iOS 11 right now. However, both Apple and Microsoft are actively fixing this issue and a statement was issued regarding this error for Exchange and Office365 users:
Known Issue: Email access in iOS 11
MC119966
Prevent or Fix Issues
Published On : September 19, 2017
If you are using the native mail app on your iPhone or iPad, and upgrade to iOS 11, you may encounter issues.
How does this affect me?
Do to an incompatibility in the new release of iOS, users of the built-in Apple Mail app in iOS 11 may be unable to sync their Office 365 mailbox or login to their accounts. iOS 9 or 10 users are not affected.
What do I need to do to fix this?
Microsoft and Apple are working to resolve this issue and will post more information to the article, below, when it becomes available. In the meantime, we recommend you download the free Outlook for iOS client, available in the App Store. Alternatively, you can avoid updating to iOS 11 until the issue has been fixed.
We’ll update as we know more.
Cheers,
Liz
It’s hard to believe that Apple’s on IOS 11 and it still hasn’t figured out how to make personal folders collapse in its Email app. It’s a feature that everybody wants (just google it to see) but Apple routinely ” fine tunes” their operating system with “important updates and changes”, yet can’t seem to get their arms around a feature that’s intrinsic to so many users.