Which Layout Are You Using?

It offers two appearance options: default and classic.

The default layout includes preview text and puts the full emails in a pane to the right.

Mail > Preferences

Here’s how to switch between the two.

Open theMailmenu and selectPreferences.

it’s possible for you to also pressCommand-comma (,)on your keyboard.

Preferences in OS X Mail with the Viewing tab highlighted

smack the box next toUse classic layoutto turn that viewing mode on.

Leave the box blank to keep the default viewing mode.

The layout will change as soon as you poke the box, so you might decide which looks better.

Viewing pane of OS X Mail preferences with the box next to “use classic layout” highlighted

Choose the desired sort criterion from the list.

Your options are:

Below the sort types, you could choose which order to sort in.

Depending on how you’re organizing your inbox, these commands will have different labels.

OS X Mail in box with the Sort By header highlighted

The general choice, however, isAscendingorDescending.

Your inbox will arrange itself as you select options from the menu.

nudge the options you want to display in your inbox to make them active.

OS X Mail inbox with the sort menu highlighted

Active columns will have checkmarks next to them in the menu.

Click any of the visible columns to sort by that criterion.

Keep clicking to switch between ascending and descending order.

Sort menu in OS X Mail with the ascending/descending order choices highlighted

This menu includes both sorting criteria and the ascending/descending options.

Mail in OS X with the Columns heading under the View menu highlighted

Columns list under the View menu in OS X Mail with a checkmark highlighted

OS X Mail in classic layout with the columns highlighted

View > Sort By