Unlock the Power of iOS 18 Mail: Master Categories, Prioritize Emails, and Boost Efficiency

The iOS 18.1 update for Apple Mail introduces a suite of features designed to streamline your email experience, particularly through the use of categories. Here's how you can make the most out of these new tools:

Understanding Mail Categories

Apple Mail now sorts your emails into four categories:

• Primary: This category is for personal messages and time-sensitive information. Emails from people in your contacts, time-sensitive notifications, and emails from individuals rather than companies are typically found here.
• Transactions: Here, you'll find confirmations, receipts, shipping notices, and travel information.
• Updates: This category includes news, newsletters, and social updates.
• Promotions: Marketing emails, sales, and coupons are sorted into this category.
• All Mail Tab: Swipe left on the categories at the top of the inbox to access the All Mail tab, where you can view all emails in chronological order.

Customizing Categories

• Recategorize Senders: If an email from a sender consistently appears in the wrong category, you can manually categorize it. For example, if you want all emails from a particular sender to go into the Primary category, you can do so by tapping on the email, selecting the three dots (- - - ), and choosing "Categorize Sender".
• Turn Off Categories: If you prefer the traditional list view, you can disable categories. In the Mail app, tap the More (- - - ) button at the top of the screen, then choose "List View".

Alternative way to categorize sender.

Using Digest Views

• View All Messages from a Sender: When you tap on an email in the Transactions, Updates, or Promotions categories, a digest view opens, showing all messages from that sender in that category. This is particularly useful for quickly managing emails from frequent senders.
• Bulk Actions: In the digest view, you can perform bulk actions like marking all messages as read or unread, or even deleting all messages from a sender.

Priority Sorting

• Show Priority: If you have an iPhone 15 Pro or later running iOS 18.1 or later, you can enable "Show Priority" to have Apple Intelligence bubble up time-sensitive or important emails to the top of your inbox.

Tips for Efficient Use

• Apple Intelligence: Ensure Apple Intelligence is enabled to take full advantage of features like Priority Sorting and email summaries.
• Branded Mail: Look for the brand logo next to verified email senders for a more organized view.