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Subjectivity 1.0 - Mac OS X Mail Add-On

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By Heinz Tschabitscher, About.com

Subjectivity - Mac OS X  Mail Add-On

Subjectivity - Mac OS X Mail Add-On

Heinz Tschabitscher
The Bottom Line
Subjectivity warns you when you are about to send an email with a blank Subject: line from Mac OS X Mail and can insert your message's first words in it automatically. It would be nice for Subjectivity to focus the Subject: line for editing (should you not want to use what it suggests), though.
Pros
  • Subjectivity alerts you about emails that are about to be sent sans Subject:
  • With a single click, you can have Subjectivity insert the email's first few words as the Subject:
Cons
  • Subjectivity does not offer a way to edit the Subject: directly and does not focus the field either
  • Subjectivity could have more fun guessing essential Subject: words, should not include signatures
  • A script for uninstalling Subjectivity is missing
Description
  • Subjectivity alerts you when you are about to send an email that lacks a Subject: line in Mac OS X Mail.
  • Subjectivity pops up a sheet that lets you cancel sending, continue or use a Subjectivity-fabricated Subject: line.
  • For the generated Subject: line, Subjectivity uses the first few words from the message body or a list of attachments.
  • Subjectivity supports Mac OS X Mail 2.
Guide Review - Subjectivity 1.0 - Mac OS X Mail Add-On
It is disheartening: you've just composed an important email, and you crafted it masterfully. After much pondering, you even sent it. Then you had a look in your "Sent" folder.

An email with no subject not only looks a bit odd, it can also leave a less than optimal impression, possibly makes recipients take longer to respond (they're busy working on the emails that have proper Subject: lines) and might even make it look like spam and worthy of immediate deletion.

All right: we all know empty Subject: lines are bad. How, how, can the mishap be averted? How, if Mac OS X Mail will happily deliver messages, Subject: line blank or not, without warning.

Subjectivity to the rescue. If the simple Mac OS X Mail add-on finds the Subject: line to be blank as you click "Send", it will pull out an alert.

Not only does Subjectivity ask you whether you want to send the email in such subject-less a state, it can even take matters in its own digital hands and insert the first few words of the message's body in the Subject: line. That this automatic editing is possibly not ideal — but then, I figure, any subject is better than none.

Of course, Subjectivity could be a bit more creative about picking keywords (using just verbs and nouns perhaps) and probably should not include signature text. More importantly, though, it could either focus the "Subject:" line after you have cancelled sending or offer direct Subject: line editing itself.

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