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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