I pressed Shift-Command-M and things just got worse. I restored the Sidebar and Toolbar, and now everything’s OK. I had another problem I didn’t even know about, having to do with message filtering, but I solved that one, and now everything’s the way it ought to be.
Thanks all for all your help. I’m just not comfortable with this way of dealing with mail. Too many tables and lists, and VoiceOver is far too chatty for my taste. I’d love to rearrange what VO speaks in the Messages table, making it speak the subject first, and never mind how many messages are in a thread if I don’t want to hear that. Unfortunately, that’s not customizable yet. Hopefully some day … > On Feb 11, 2026, at 8:53 PM, Frank Ventura <[email protected]> > wrote: > > Steve, if you press COMMAND SHIFT M, does that bring back your mailbox list? > >> On Feb 11, 2026, at 8:51 AM, Steve Matzura <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> >> >>> On Feb 10, 2026, at 10:30 PM, Frank Ventura >>> <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>> Steve, interacxt with the mailbox table. VO DOWN ARROW until you reach the >>> account you need and if it is collapsed expand it and DOWN ARROW to the >>> folder you want. Then stop interacting with the table and VO RIGHT to the >>> message list ads interact with that. >>> >>>> On Feb 10, 2026, at 9:44 AM, Steve Matzura <[email protected]> wrote: >>>> >>>> That would be good advice if it actually worked. Right now, I'm stuck in >>>> the Sent folder of one of the two mailboxes I have. If I Shift-TAB, I go >>>> to the Messages table. Another Shift-Tab takes me to the All Sent (toggle >>>> button) folder. Pressing VO-Spacebar doesn't toggle anything.If I TAB back >>>> to the Messages table and then Shift-TAB to go backwards again, every >>>> subsequent press of Shift-TAB takes me to a previous folder (toggle >>>> button) in some list. I eventually get to the All Inboxes folder, but I >>>> can't see any other mail accounts. VO-J doesn't do anything for me either. >>>> If I move to that list of folder names all of which say "toggle button" >>>> and then try to expand them, I go directly back to the Messages table in >>>> the Sent folder. I'm being held prisoner by my own computer! LOL. >>>> >>>> >>>> Mention was made to turn off Show Categories in the View menu. It's >>>> already off. Come to think of it, so is just about everything else. >>>> >>>> >>>>> On 2/10/2026 12:56 AM, Krishnakant Mane wrote: >>>>> I had a different issue understanding the mail app. >>>>> Although I am not facing the same issues mentioned in this thread, I >>>>> never realised that all the mail boxes are expanded by default and they >>>>> never collapse. >>>>> The simple way of navigating is to do a ctrl + option + up arrow and then >>>>> move using up and down arrows to navigate different folders. >>>>> Then do tab and shift tab >>>>> So when you move between folders you will hear inbox, sent, draft … etc. >>>>> If you have more than 1 email account set then this cycle of inbox, sent, >>>>> … will repeat that many times. >>>>> Then once you locate your folder just press tab once or perhaps 2 times >>>>> to get to the list of emails. >>>>> Regards. >>>>>> On 10 Feb 2026, at 5:33 AM, Hamit Campos <[email protected]> wrote: >>>>>> >>>>>> Hi Steve, was Mail better in the past? How different was it? I’m having >>>>>> this same problem and it’s really annoying especially from someone >>>>>> coming from windows and outlook where you can just F6 and shift F6 and >>>>>> it’s really easy to switch accounts it I’m still keeping an old PC around >>>>>> Sent from my iPhone >>>>>> >>>>>>> On Feb 9, 2026, at 6:59 PM, Steve Matzura <[email protected]> >>>>>>> wrote: >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Great googly moogly but the Mail app sure is different than it was on >>>>>>> the previous version of macOS. So different, in fact, that I can’t get >>>>>>> it to work at all! At first, I was stuck, unable to choose which of two >>>>>>> male accounts I wanted to read. Then, when I got into one of them, now >>>>>>> I am stuck in a folder I don’t care about and out of which I cannot >>>>>>> get. What happened? How do I learn this? Looking for a lifeline! Thanks >>>>>>> in advance. >>>>> >>>> >>>> -- >>>> The following information is important for all members of the Mac >>>> Visionaries list. >>>> >>>> If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or >>>> if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the >>>> owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. >>>> >>>> Your Mac Visionaries list moderator is Mark Taylor. You can reach mark >>>> at: [email protected] and your owner is Cara Quinn - you can reach Cara at >>>> [email protected] >>>> >>>> The archives for this list can be searched at: >>>> http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ >>>> --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>>> Groups "MacVisionaries" group. >>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >>>> email to [email protected]. >>>> To view this discussion visit >>>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/macvisionaries/c52e6062-ed39-4a88-9c40-05b62546bb96%40noisynotes.com. >>> >>> -- >>> The following information is important for all members of the Mac >>> Visionaries list. >>> >>> If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if >>> you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners >>> or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. >>> >>> Your Mac Visionaries list moderator is Mark Taylor. You can reach mark at: >>> [email protected] and your owner is Cara Quinn - you can reach Cara at >>> [email protected] >>> >>> The archives for this list can be searched at: >>> http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ >>> --- >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >>> "MacVisionaries" group. >>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >>> email to [email protected]. >>> To view this discussion visit >>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/macvisionaries/BBC5E274-2917-4C6D-8E6D-8E52C633E856%40littlebreezes.com. >> >> -- >> The following information is important for all members of the Mac >> Visionaries list. >> >> If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if >> you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or >> moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. >> >> Your Mac Visionaries list moderator is Mark Taylor. You can reach mark at: >> [email protected] and your owner is Cara Quinn - you can reach Cara at >> [email protected] >> >> The archives for this list can be searched at: >> http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ >> --- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "MacVisionaries" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected]. >> To view this discussion visit >> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/macvisionaries/D91158D2-AE7B-4FF9-BD18-BCD35EF52B36%40noisynotes.com. > > -- > The following information is important for all members of the Mac Visionaries > list. > > If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if > you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or > moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. > > Your Mac Visionaries list moderator is Mark Taylor. You can reach mark at: > [email protected] and your owner is Cara Quinn - you can reach Cara at > [email protected] > > The archives for this list can be searched at: > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "MacVisionaries" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/macvisionaries/336EDCC6-7305-4FAB-9250-A7973AB7B04E%40littlebreezes.com. -- The following information is important for all members of the Mac Visionaries list. If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. Your Mac Visionaries list moderator is Mark Taylor. You can reach mark at: [email protected] and your owner is Cara Quinn - you can reach Cara at [email protected] The archives for this list can be searched at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/macvisionaries/7A80806D-4D34-4CDC-9362-9A339220F2D2%40noisynotes.com.
