Mail files quickly
If you need to e-mail a file to someone, you can drag and drop the file onto Mail’s Dock icon to open a new message with the file attached. But what if Mail isn’t in your Dock? Or what if you don’t feel like dragging a file all the way across your screen? Wouldn’t it be easier to just control-click on the file and have the job done for you? All you need is Automator, OS X’s easy-to-use automation tool.
Launch the program (in /Applications) and then click on Finder in the Library column. Drag the Get Selected Finder Items action from the Actions column into the Workflow area on the right side of the screen. Next, click on Mail in the Library column, and drag the New Mail Message action into the Workflow area, below the Finder action you already placed there. Select File: Save As Plug-In, give your new action a name (Mail This File, for example), and make sure Plug-In For is set to Finder. Then click on Save.
Go back to the Finder, select a file (or files), control-click on the selection, and then choose Automator: Mail This File from the pop-up menu that appears. Mail will open a new blank message with the selected Finder file attached. —RG
Resize files via Mail
Reader Favorite: If you drag a large photo into an open Compose window in Mail, an Image Size pop-up menu appears in the bottom right corner of the window, offering options for resizing all the photos in that window. Of course, you can do this directly from iPhoto, but if you find iPhoto too slow to use (I prefer Rune Lindman Development’s QPict [$35]), this trick can come in handy.— Rube Redfield
[ Contributing Editor Christopher Breen writes Macworld’s Mac 911 column. Senior Editor Rob Griffiths runs the Mac OS X Hints Web site. Contributing Editor Ted Landau is the author of Mac OS X Help Line: Tiger Edition (Peachpit Press, 2005). Kelly Lunsford is Macworld’s senior how-to editor. Kirk McElhearn is a coauthor of Mastering Mac OS X , fourth edition (Sybex, 2005). Dori Smith is the author of Dashboard Widgets of Mac OS X Tiger: Visual QuickStart Guide (Peachpit Press, 2005). ]
This Automator plug-in lets you attach files to a Mail message with a single click.
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