Obsidian SuiteDocumentation
Obsidian Mail Client: all chapters

Docs / Obsidian Mail Client / Mail

Writing and sending mail

Start a message

  • New email: Ctrl+N, or Home > New Email. New Items on any tab also starts an email, event, contact, contact group or task.
  • Reply: Ctrl+R. Reply all: Ctrl+Shift+R. Forward: Ctrl+F (the original attachments come along).

A message goes out from the account it belongs to: a reply from the account the original arrived in, a new message from the account whose folder is open.

Each message opens in its own window, so you can keep reading mail while you write.

Addresses

Type in To, Cc or Bcc. As you type, the app suggests your contacts and everyone you have written to before. Separate several addresses with ;. Typing the name of a contact group puts in all its members (see People).

Formatting

Messages are written in rich text by default. The toolbar above the text has:

  • B, I and U for bold (Ctrl+B), italic (Ctrl+I) and underline (Ctrl+U).
  • • List and 1. List for bulleted and numbered lists.
  • Link (Ctrl+K) to turn the selected text into a link.
  • Picture to insert a picture from your PC. You can also paste a picture or drop one in.
  • Table to insert a table, or change the one the cursor is in.
  • Clear to remove formatting from the selected text.

Clear Rich text to write in plain text instead.

Attachments

Click Attach and choose one or more files. Each file can be up to 25 MB.

If your message says something like "attached" or "enclosed" but nothing is attached, the app asks Forgot the attachment? before it sends. Only the words you wrote count, not the quoted message you're replying to.

Signatures

You can have several signatures, and a different default for new messages and for replies, per account.

  1. Go to File > Options > Signatures.
  2. Click New…, give the signature a name and type its Text.
  3. Under Default signatures, choose for each account which one goes into New messages and which into Replies and forwards.
  4. Click OK.

In a message, the Signature button swaps in another of your signatures, or No signature.

Templates

A template is a message you start from again and again.

  • In a message, click Templates and pick one: its subject goes in when there's none yet, and its text goes in at the cursor.
  • Templates > Save as template… saves the message you are writing as a new template.
  • File > Options > Templates (or Templates > Manage templates…) lets you make, rename, change and delete them.

Drafts

A message you are writing is saved as a draft automatically every so often. You can also click Save draft at any time. When you close a message window without sending, the app asks Save draft?: choose Save draft, Discard or Cancel.

Drafts go to your account's Drafts folder. To carry on with one, open it from the Drafts folder (or right-click it and choose Edit draft). For an Exchange or Obsidian account, drafts stay on this computer: Exchange ActiveSync has no way to upload them.

Discard throws the message away.

Send

Click Send or press Ctrl+Enter.

  • If the subject is empty, the app asks whether to send it anyway.
  • After you send, a bar at the bottom of the main window counts down for a few seconds with an Undo button. Click Undo to get the message back for more editing. When the countdown ends, the message goes out.
  • If you quit the app during the countdown, the message waits in the Outbox and is sent, so it isn't lost.

Send later

To schedule a message:

  1. Click the Send later… button next to Send.
  2. Choose Later today, Tomorrow morning, Tomorrow afternoon or Monday morning (the times are shown), or Pick a date and time.
  3. Click Schedule.

The message waits in the Outbox until then. If the app isn't running at that time, it goes out when the app next starts.

Remind me if nobody replies

When you need an answer, click Remind me in the message window and choose Tomorrow, In 2 days, In 3 days or In a week.

  • If someone replies in time, the reminder is dropped by itself.
  • If nobody does, you get a notification, and the message is listed in Search Folders > Waiting for Reply until someone answers or you stop waiting.

You can also do this after sending: open the message in your Sent folder and use Home > Remind Me. Above a message you are waiting on, a bar shows when you'll be reminded, with Follow up (to write again) and Stop waiting.

Encrypt and sign

Encrypt makes the message and its attachments readable only by the recipients. Sign adds your digital signature, so the recipients know it's from you and unchanged. Both need digital IDs (S/MIME certificates); see Encryption, app lock and S/MIME. If a certificate is missing, the app tells you which, and asks before sending without encryption or without a signature.

To send encrypted mail to someone who has no certificate, turn on Secure link instead: they get a link and read the message in their browser. See Secure links.

The Outbox

Send / Receive > Show Outbox lists messages waiting to go out: the ones scheduled with Send later, and the ones the server could not take right away (the app tries those again by itself).

  • Send now sends the selected message at once.
  • Delete… removes it from the Outbox; it won't be sent.