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How to Make New Stationery for Mail (Getting Started)

This post will outline everything someone will need who wants to start designing new Stationery for Mail in OS X Leopard. Hopefully, this will turn into an ongoing series about Stationery in Mail.

First Attempt at Skinning the Air Mail Stationery

What you will need to create new Stationery for Mail:

• OS X 10.5 Leopard
• XCode Installed
• Photoshop (or other Image Editor capable of editing .jpg and transparent .png)
• HTML / XML Editor
• Package Maker (installed w/ XCode)

Do not overwrite existing files. If you wish to the modify existing files, backup the originals before changing anything!

The default Stationery you see in Mail is stored in a folder at the following location:

/System/Library/Application Support/Apple/Mail/Stationary/Apple/Contents/Resources/

If you navigate to this folder, you will notice a file called TableofContents.plist. This file contains the XML necessary for Mail.app to list the Categories of Mail Stationery.

Notice how each Category has it’s own Folder? By default there are Announcements, Birthday, Photos, Sentiments, and Stationery Folders. If you click on one of these folders, you will see it has it’s own directory structure: /Announcements/Contents/Resources. You will find the the actual stationery in the Resources folder for a specific Category.

There are two oddball files among the Stationery, another TableofContents.plist and an English.lproj Folder (I imagine for others running Leopard in other languages this folder may change, can someone confirm?). TableofContents.plist here is another XML document that lists the Category’s Stationery in a format Mail.app can understand. Does anyone know what the Stationery ID parameter in this file might be for? How can I create a new Stationary ID or a new piece of Stationery? The English.lproj folder contains a file called DisplayName.strings. In this file there is a comment that says: “Stationery category name as appears in the stationery selection pane in the New Message window after clicking Show Stationery toolbar item.”

If you go back to the Resources folder and Ctrl+Click on a .mailstationery file, you can select Show Package Contents from the menu. This will open the Stationery’s Directory Structure which is the same: /Stationary/Content/Resources/. Here you will find the files that make up a piece of Stationery in Mail.

There will most likely be the following basic files:

• bg_pattern.jpg : The Background Image
• top.jpg : Header Image
• bottom.jpg : Footer Image
• content.html : The HTML Template
• Description.plist : The XML File Necessary for Interactivity in Mail.app
• English.lproj folder : Contains DisplayName.strings (file that names the Stationery for Mail.app)
• thumbnail.png : The Thumbnail for the Selection Screen in Mail

Photo Stationery may have the following:

• Mask1.png : The Mask for Drop Zones
• placeholder1.jpg : The Placeholder Image for Drop Zones
• banner.jpg : Usually the Background for the Masked Drop Zones
• frames.png : The Template for the Drop Zones

The Workflow:

Do not overwrite existing files. If you wish the modify existing files, backup the originals before changing anything!

• Create New Folder for “Custom” Stationery in the Resources folder, give it the Directory Structure /Content/Resources/
• In this folder, make a file called TableofContents.plist. You will need to enter XML data here for the Individual Stationery inside the “Custom” Category. Project Folders and eventually Packages will go in this folder. An English.lproj folder with DisplayName.strings (for the Category name) must be in this folder as well.
• Make a New Folder for the new Stationery and give it the same directory structure: /Content/Resources/
• This is the folder you will place the HTML template (content.html), XML template (Description.plist), all images, and the English.lproj folder with DisplayName.strings (Name of the individual Stationery)
• Use Package Maker to create a Package for the Stationery (must have .mailstationary as a filename and the correct Directory Structure)
• Backup TableofContents.plist in /System/Library/Application Support/Apple/Mail/Stationary/Apple/Contents/Resources/
• Add new lines in TableofContents.plist for the new Category

Can anyone tell me what that the Stationery ID is for in TableofContents.plist and how to create unique Stationery IDs for new Stationery and is this necessary?

If anyone ends up creating new Stationery because they read this tutorial, I would gladly post custom templates on iUseApple.com.

   Advanced OS X, Apple How To, Cool Mac Tips, Intermediate OS X, Mail, OS X Leopard 10.5, OS X Tips, Safari    22 Comments

Create Cool E-mails in Mail With Stationary

One of the coolest new features in Mail is the ability to make cool looking emails with a few simple clicks. Want to send a birthday party invitation or a wedding announcement via e-mail? Maybe I just want to thank my dinner guests for attending or show off some pictures from my last vacation. Well Apple thought of everything it seems in the new version of Mail for OS X 10.5 Leopard. Now I can create cool looking emails with Stationary. I can even throw in photos from my iPhoto library with simple drag and drop fashion.

Open Mail and Click New Message.

Stationary Is Fun

I could just write out a simple e-mail here, but why not include some flair? If I click Show Stationary in the top right of the Compose New Message window, all the Stationary templates will appear organized by Category.

Select the appropriate Category for the Stationary E-mail. For instance, if I wish to send a couple photos from the latest family vacation, I should select Stationary from the Photos tab.

Below is a sample of the Air Mail Stationary. Highlight any text and start typing to personalize the e-mail.

Why send stock photos when I can personalize this e-mail with my own digital photos? Click Photo Browser in the top right of the New Message window and the iPhoto Library will appear.

Select a photo and add it to the template by dragging and dropping the photo from the browser into any photo box already in the template. Switch photos around by dragging them in between photo fields in the template.

Personalizing e-mails was never so much fun!

   Beginner OS X, Cool Mac Tips, Mail, OS X Leopard 10.5, OS X Tips    Add a comment

Take Notes and Schedule To Dos in Mail

One new feature of Mail is the ability to make Notes and Schedule To Dos. This is to help me organize my life based on appointments and dates I receive in e-mails.

Take Notes

To make a new Note, just click the Notes icon in Mail. This will give me a notepad to jot down anything I want. I could take notes in a class, copy and paste a recipe from e-mail, anything really. Just type the note and close the note window and it will be automatically saved to your Notes. Select Notes from the SideBar in Mail to view all the Notes.

Schedule To Dos

To Dos are Notes that can be scheduled. I can highlight any text or date in an e-mail and Click the To Do icon. The new To Do will drop down. I can schedule the To Do by Clicking the Arrow next to the Name of the To Do.

The Options Panel for the To Do will appear, allowing me to specify a Due Date and Priority for the To Do in iCal.

To Dos are listed in Mail. If I select To Do from the Side Bar in Mail, I can view all my scheduled To Dos. I can make quick changes to the options of To Dos by Ctrl + Clicking or Right Clicking the To Do from the list and selecting the appropriate option like Due Date or Calendar color from the pop up menu.

Find To Dos in iCal

If I open iCal, I will now see the To Do listed in the right Side Bar of iCal. Open this Side Bar by clicking the push pin icon in the bottom right hand corner of iCal.

To schedule the To Do in iCal, simply drag and drop it to the correct date on the calendar.

To Do Scheduling Shortcut in Mail

I can hover my mouse over any Date in Mail and a dotted box will highlight the date.

Click any date in an e-mail and select Create new iCal Event.

An Options window will pop up, allowing me to customize the event name, color, and other options typically found in an iCal event dialog. Click the Add to iCal Button and the new event will appear on the specified date in iCal.

Complete a To Do?

Click the checkbox in the To Do, this signifies a Completed To Do.

   Apple How To, Beginner OS X, Mail, OS X Leopard 10.5, OS X Tips    Add a comment