How to Color Code Text in Mac OS X Mail

Like most things in the Mac OS X operating system, adding a color preference to your Mail application is relatively easy and straightforward. You can specify background and text color of your Mail messages by setting up rules. You can also choose colors for quoted text, and color your own text in your outgoing replies and new messages.

Instructions

Specify Color of Incoming Messages with Rules

1. Open up the Preferences panel by going to the Mail menu and selecting Preferences, or typing "Cmd-," (command comma).

2. Click on the Rules tab.

3. Click "Add Rule," or highlight an existing rule and click "Edit."

4. Type in a description for your rule, and decide on the criteria you want for your rule in the top half of the box (under "If any/all of the following conditions are met:")

5. Choose "Set Color of Message" from the first pop-up menu in the bottom half of the box (under "Perform the following actions:").

6. Choose "of background" or "of text" from the second pop-up menu.

7. Choose the color you want from the third pop-up menu.

8. Click "Yes" or hit enter when it asks if you want to apply your rules to messages in open mailboxes, if you want it to apply to previous messages. Click "No" if you want your rule to apply only to new incoming messages.

Choose Colors for Quoted Text

1. Open up the Preferences panel by going to the Mail menu and selecting Preferences, or typing "Cmd-," (command comma).

2. Click on the Fonts & Colors tab.

3. Make sure the check box next to "Color quoted text" is checked.

4. Choose colors for Levels One, Two and Three of quoted text. You can choose a preset color or choose your own by selecting "Other" and choosing from the color picker wheel.

Colorize Text in Outgoing Messages

1. Reply to an incoming by clicking the "Reply" button or typing Cmd-R; or start a new message by clicking the "New" button or typing Cmd-N.

2. Show the color picker wheel by clicking the Colors button in the Mail message toolbar, selecting "Show Colors" from the Format menu or typing Cmd-Shift-C.

3. Choose a color from the wheel to apply to future text. To apply to previous text, highlight the text you want colorized, then select the color from the wheel.

Tips & Warnings

• You can get more help regarding any Mac OS X Mail questions by selecting the Help menu from within the Mail application on your Mac.