How to Set Up Mac OS X Mail for Lazy but Correct Replies

Mac OS X Mail automatically does the right thing when you reply to an email. It includes and indents the original message and formats the text correctly when you place your reply directly below quoted passages you are referring to. You can be lazy and write beautiful emails without worrying.

But what if your idea of lazy is just starting to type and not having to think about where to place your reply, what to quote and what to cut at all? Mac OS X Mail helps you, too. Of course, setting up Mail for this top-posting style of replying is not hard either.

Set Up Mac OS X Mail for Lazy but Correct Replies

To set up Mac OS X Mail for replying in a relaxed yet correct fashion:

• Select Mail | Preferences... from the menu.
• Go to the Composing category.
• Under Responding:, make sure
  • Quote the text of the original message is checked while
  • Increase quote level is not checked.
• Go to the Signatures category.
• Make sure Place signature above quoted text is checked.
• Optionally,
  • edit your existing signature(s) or create a new one and
  • add an empty line or a line of dashes ("----") as a separator to the bottom.
• Close the preferences window.