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Obsidian Mail Client: all chapters

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Reading mail

Click a message in the list to read it in the reading pane, or press Enter to open it in its own window. This chapter explains what you see above and around a message.

The buttons above a message

Above the message are the most used actions: Reply, Reply all, Forward, Mark as unread, Flag, Spam, Create rule from this message and View source. When the sender runs a mailing list, an Unsubscribe button appears too (see Organizing your mail).

The same commands are on the Home tab of the ribbon, and on the menu you get by right-clicking a message in the list.

Who sent it

Under the sender, small labels tell you what the app found out about the message:

LabelWhat it means
Verified sender (with the domain)The sender's domain vouched for this message. Point at the label to see the SPF, DKIM and DMARC results your mail server recorded.
Sender not verifiedThe sender's domain doesn't publish the checks that would prove it sent this. Many small senders look like this; be more careful with requests for money or passwords.
Sender could not be verified - may be forgedThe sender's domain did not vouch for this message. Treat it as suspicious.
Trackers blockedThe message contained invisible tracking images. They were blocked; point at the label to see which tracking services they belonged to.

When a verified sender has a registered brand logo, the logo shows next to the message, so a fake from the same name stands out. To turn the logos off, clear Show the brand logo of verified senders (BIMI) in File > Options > Security.

Warnings

A yellow bar titled Be careful with this message appears when the app sees signs of phishing or impersonation, for example:

  • the links show one address but open another,
  • the links go to look-alike domains,
  • the sender's address imitates a well-known brand, or uses international characters that can imitate another domain,
  • the sender calls themselves by a brand's name but writes from an unrelated address,
  • replies go to a personal address instead of the sender's,
  • the sender uses the name of someone you know, from an address that person has never used,
  • the sender's domain looks like a domain you deal with, but isn't.

The bar says which of these it found. It doesn't block anything: it's there so you stop and look before you click.

Pictures

Pictures from the internet stay off until you ask for them, because loading them tells the sender that you opened the message. Pictures attached to the message show at once.

  • Click Show images above the message to load them this once.
  • Click Always from sender to always load pictures from this sender.

Tracking images stay blocked even when you show the pictures. The list of senders whose pictures always load is in File > Options > Safe & Blocked Senders.

Attachments

Attachments are listed above the message text.

  • Click an attachment to open it in its app.
  • Click the arrow next to it for Preview safely, Open and Save as….
  • Save all… saves every attachment to a folder. So does File > Save Attachments.

Preview safely lets you look inside Word, Excel and PowerPoint files, PDFs, pictures and text files without opening them. A locked-down helper turns the file into pictures or plain text; no macro, link or script in the file can run. If the preview looks fine and you trust the file, you can still choose Open in its app….

Package tracking

When a message has a tracking number from UPS, USPS, FedEx, DHL or Amazon, a card shows the carrier and the number, with a button to track it on the carrier's site. Tracking numbers are checked digit by digit, so order numbers aren't mistaken for them. Nothing is looked up until you click.

Meeting invitations

An invitation shows a card with the meeting's time and place, and Accept, Tentative and Decline. Show in calendar opens the Calendar on that day. A cancelled meeting offers Remove from calendar. Your answer goes to the organizer. Invitations need a calendar: see Calendar.

Signed and encrypted mail

A message signed with a digital ID (S/MIME) shows Digitally signed message, with who signed it and whether the signature is valid and trusted. An encrypted message shows Encrypted message and opens only if your own digital ID is on this computer. See Encryption, app lock and S/MIME.

Dark mode

In a dark theme, messages are darkened to match. If one looks wrong, View > Switch Background shows it in its own colors on white. See Finding your way around.

  • Print: Ctrl+P, Home > Print or File > Print. The message prints with its header.
  • File > Save As saves the message as an .eml file. To open an .eml file, use File > Open & Export > Open Message; once the app is your default for .eml files (see Options), double-clicking one opens it here too.
  • View source (Home > View Source) shows the whole message as it arrived, with every header.