Make Mail.app update dock for any mailbox

Feb 26, '02 11:18:44PM

Contributed by: zeusr

I noticed that Mail.app wouldn't show the number of new emails in the dock icon. This was because I have filters to move incoming mail to the appropriate mailbox and Mail.app doesn't show those new message items. Well, that's not entirely true...

Mail.app will show the number of new messages in Incoming mailboxes (denoted by an 'Incoming Drawer' icon rather than a folder icon). All 'Incoming' boxes from all accounts are 'Incoming', so they are automatically displayed in the Mail.app Dock icon. But there is a way to turn ANY mailbox into an incoming mailbox that will update Mail.app's Dock icon with new mail.

Read the rest of the article for the step-by-step instructions...

First, go to Preferences, and under Accounts select 'Create Account'.

Second, name the account (I name it the same as the folder or the filter that moves the mail there, but any description will do), give it an address name (your normal account name, or, if you have multiple accounts, the one you'd normally be replying to this mail from), what you want for the full name, your normal host name, the user name (which should be the same as the 'Description'), no password, and your normal SMTP information.

Third, under 'Account Options', select 'Enable this account', deselect the 'Include...' and 'Delete...' options, click on the 'Download messages...' option, and select the mailbox you want to turn into an Inbox.

The reason for making the account name the same as the description (or not your normal email account name) is because Mail.app only allows one occurance of an account name over all the accounts. The reasons this is fine are because it would be redundant to have the same account checked, we uncheck 'Include this account when checking for new mail', and the SMTP information can be entered seperately if needed. This is just my quick way to still have the account without messing anything up.

Now, when you look at that mailbox, it should no longer be a folder icon, but an INBOX icon! Any new mail is now updated in the dock. You can even test this out by going into that mailbox, and changing the status of a message to 'Unread' (right click and select 'Mark as unread'). Cool, eh?

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