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Quick-send Text with Mail's Send Selection Service

TMO Quick Tip - Quick-send Text with Mail's Send Selection Service

by , 7:30 AM EST, February 22nd, 2008

Mac OS X has a very powerful yet generally unknown feature called Services. One of the many useful things you can do with Services is email someone text from any document without relying on the old cut-and-paste routine.

Here's how:

  • Select the text for any document that you want to include in your email.

  • Select the text you want to send in an email message.
  • Choose Application name > Services > Mail > Send Selection. For example, if I wanted to copy and email part of a BBEdit document, I would first select the text and then choose BBEdit > Services > Mail > Send Selection.

  • Choose Services > Mail > Send Selection
  • A new message will open in Mail with your selected text already inserted in the message body. Enter the email address you want to send the text to, add a subject, and your message is ready to go.

  • Your text is automatically pasted into a new Mail message.

I use this trick when I need to send someone text, code snippets, and other content that I would otherwise have to first copy and then paste in an email message. It's a real time saver and cuts out several steps for me every time I need to email some text from a document.


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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Observer Comments

Show: Subjects Only | Full Comments
Close Name:Guest
Subject: True, but...

Services are a pet peeve of mine-- well, actually, it's where services are. They're out of sight and out of mind. Just the other day I was using the File menu and literally said to myself, "oh, yeah. Services." Yes, it feels lazy to say, "but they're in the File Menu, that's too hard," but I wonder if there isn't a better access point for these handy little fellas (say, in the menu bar?) I dunno.

Close Name:Guest
Subject:

I meant Application menu. My bad. (See?! They're too well-hidden!)

Close Name:Wings Posts: 89 Joined: 30 Mar 2004
Subject: Try it in Safari

And if you select part of a web page, your email will contain the selection exactly as you have it selected in the page, formatting, links, pictures, everything, just as it is. Cool. (I think that's a Leopard-only feature.)

Close Name:Guest
Subject: Very Useful

Very useful...but what I really want to know is how you get that even more useful looking formatting pane on the right of your message composing window in mail! Now, that is something I have never seen.

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