The MacSparky
Email Field Guide
by David Sparks
Current version: 1.2 (November 2014)
This book tackles your over-stuffed inbox. The Email Field Guide covers both why email has become such a problem for everyone and how to manage it more effectively. The book was built entirely in iBooks Author and features a gorgeous craftsman-inspired design with illustrations by Mike Rohde. There are 36 screencasts, 8 audio interviews, over 46,000 words, and other rich-media assets to help you become the boss of your email. The material is accessible to beginners and power users alike with a thoughtful, fun, and systematic approach to managing your email.
Chapters include:
1. The Email Problem
What is it about email and why does it make us crazy? This problem of overwhelming mail isn’t new. It has existed a long time but the digital age makes it worse, exponentially.
2. Tactical Email
This chapter explains some of the best practices for managing email from any platform. Topics include inbox management, email bankruptcy, best practices for processing your inbox including a detailed workflow, email notifications, reply write order, best practices for Cc: and Bcc: email, how and when to Reply All, creating useful subject lines, inline replies, email signatures, and automated replies.
3. How Email Works
If you want a leg up against email, you need to understand how it ticks. This chapter explains in plain languange the basics of most email technologies including POP, IMAP, iCloud, Gmail, and Microsoft Exchange. This chapter also explains the most common email settings and how they work. Finally, this chapter describes some third party services that use these email technologies to help you manage your email better.
4. Apple Mail
Apple’s own email application is the most popular email client for the Mac, iPad, and iPhone. There is a lot of power under the hood in Apple Mail and this chapter explains how to get the most from Apple Mail on the Mac, iPad, and iPhone including set-up, sending, receiving, filing, keyboard shortcuts, managing email, VIPs, smart mailboxes, mail rules, automation, Apple Mail plug-ins, and much more.
5. Gmail
Gmail has some truly unique features. Learn how to use Gmail features like inbox categories, labels, stars, keyboard shortcuts, server-side mail rules, and other power user tips to get the most from Gmail.
6. Other Mail Clients
This chapter includes a survey of other mail clients for the Mac, iPad, and iPhone with explanations of their best features and ideal uses.
7. Fighting Spam
Learn about why you get so much Spam and the best tools and workflows to get rid of it.
8. Email Security
Security should be important to every email users. This chapter explains about common email security issues including appropriate passwords, 2-factor authentication, phishing attacks, and email encryption. This chapter also demonstrates how to encrypt PDFs before sending as email attachments.
9. Archiving and Storing Email
As our email libraries grow, we require tools to archive, PDF, and save all or portions of our email. This chapter shows you how.
10. Email Workflows
The author shares an extended explanation of how he manages email. Also, listen to audio interviews of other power users from several walks of life, ranging from surgeons to movie stars, and learn and how they manage email. Interviews include Serenity Caldwell, Rob Corddry, Merlin Mann, Fraser Speirs, Jeff Taekman, Aisha Tyler, David Wain, and Gabe Weatherhead.
This is the fourth book in the MacSparky Field Guide Series. This book is a large file (1.1 GB) and includes extensive media, screenshots, illustrations, audio interviews, and nearly 1.5 hours of video screencasts.
Praise for the MacSparky Email Field Guide
"By exhaustive, I mean that this iBooks masterpiece is loaded with information. It's over 46,000 words in length (just under one NaNoWriMo novel long), has eight audio interviews, 36 detailed screencasts totaling almost 90 minutes in length and a lot more material to get your email problem under control.
Sparks doesn't just talk to the Apple cognescenti about email in his interviews; he's also nabbed such folks as actress/comedian Aisha Tyler and director and writer David Wain to lend their perspectives (and humor) on taming the inbox. The 1.15 GB iBook looks like it's going to be an instant classic …"
"As a former tech writer, I appreciate the clean, uncluttered look and how the book is thoughtfully organized. As a fiction writer, I love the often witty and breezy flow. I love the tone, the voice. It’s almost like David is there with you, physically showing you things.
If you work on a Mac and you’re inundated with emails or you’d just like to get the most from your email, don’t think twice. Pick up David’s book today or gift it to your favorite geek."
"I've read/watched/listened from virtual cover to virtual cover twice. I found new and interesting things both times. He hits every significant aspect of dealing with Email on a Mac and iOS. It's also one of the best iBooks editions I've seen of any book.1
Even if you've been using email everyday for the past 20 years, like me, you're going to find something new in David's book. I also enjoyed seeing how someone else manages the deluge of email, and David's approach is easily adaptable."
"I especially like the entire chapter Dave devotes to "Tactical Email" early in the book discussing best practices for making email more manageable. Later he gets into the nitty-gritty of working with different email clients, tools to manage email more productively and then wraps it up with audio interviews with people from all walks of life … The book is beautiful, featuring a custom craftsman-style design David created himself and is illustrated by Mike Rhode. David and I have talked a lot about the subject of email on Mac Power Users and even I learned several new things from this book."
"David Sparks nails it again with another stellar addition to his Field Guides series. This one, deals with email and it is stunning. I’m still a big believer and fan of email as a medium but understand why some have lost the love. This will help you get it back."
"There isn't a more comprehensive guide to email on the market than Email: A MacSparky Field Guide. Chock full of screencasts (36 in all), interviews with some very smart email power users (including some you may not have thought of, like Rob Corddry, Aisha Tyler, and David Wain), and illustrated by Mike Rohde (author of The Sketchnote Handbook and another friend of mine), David Sparks' latest effort is well worth the $9.99 asking price."
"Like his other guides , Email has been designed for the iPad, taking full advantage of the iBooks format. There’s text, screenshots, video, and audio interviews galore … I’m working my way through the interviews in Email, and the book is really great. As with all MacSparky Field Guides, it is written from a Mac perspective, but the “Tactical Email” section is absolutely cross platform. I’m going to start implementing some tips from there soon."
Brooks Duncan, Documentsnap.com
"We all use email every day, throughout the day. If you want to become even more productive with your email, you'll enjoy this book."
"David Sparks is a legend among men. In addition to being an attorney, half of Mac Power Users and blogger, he has written several great ebooks … His most recent — released last night — is a beast. At 300 pages with nearly 1.5 hours of video screencasts and 200 screenshots, the book covers the world of email."
Stephen Hackett, Tools and Toys
My friend, David Sparks (MacSparky), just released his latest Field Guide: EMail. In true MacSparky fashion, there is lots of useful information for both novice and seasoned email users.
Podcasts about the Email Field Guide: