TMO Quick Tip - Mail: Leopard's New News Reader

by , 8:40 AM EST, November 14th, 2007

Keeping track of what's new on your favorite Web sites isn't a big deal if you only have one or two sites to follow. If you have several, however, it can become a time consuming chore that eats away at your day -- unless you use an RSS news reader, and that's exactly what Apple added to Mail in Mac OS X 10.5.

To add a news feed to Mail, do this:

• Launch Mail, and then choose File > Add RSS Feeds.

Add RSS feeds to Mail.

• If you already have news feeds you watch in Safari, you can select them from the Add RSS dialog. or you can select Specify a custom feed URL, and add any feed URL you like.

Enter the news feed URL.

• If you want news updates to appear in your Inbox, be sure to check Show in Inbox.
• Click the Add button.

Mail adds an RSS section to your Mailbox list that shows all of your news feeds. Just select a feed to see all of the available articles. Clicking a specific article shows the article synopsis.

Mail groups RSS feeds for you.

Mail's RSS feature is a handy tool for keeping up to date on what's new at your favorite Web sites. If you already use a full-on news reader application, like NetNewsWire or Vienna, however, you may find Mail's RSS features a bit thin. It doesn't import OPML, and it lacks some of the powerful organizational features found in complete news reader applications.

Despite Mail's RSS limitations, it still works great for managing a handful of news feeds, and since Mail is likely open and running most of the time while you are at your Mac, it makes for a nice one-stop-shop for news and communication.

Jeff Gamet is TMO's Morning Editor and Reviews Editor. He lectures, teaches and speaks on Mac OS X and design-related topics, and is the author of The Designer's Guide to Mac OS X from Peachpit Press.

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