Tip: Hiding the drawer in Mail.app

As is common knowledge, the "drawer" in Mail.app - which displays all current inbox and sent message folders, as well as any custom folders you have established - can be hidden via the "View" menu, or the keyboard combination shift-command-M.

If you are trying to preserve screen real estate and do not need to rapidly switch between accounts or a large set of folders, you can hide the "drawer" and then have it spring back into position (much like the dock if it is hideden) if you drag an individual mail message to the right or left on the main Mail.app window. If there is not enough space to display the drawer on the side of the main window where you drag the message, Mail.app will behave itself and pop the drawer out on the opposite side. Unfortunately, Mail.app will not dynamically re-adjust the size of the main window to display the drawer if it is already occupying your entire screen from edge to edge.

So you can organize messages into various folders for later viewing without having the drawer persistently displayed. Alternatively, you can simply use the shift-command-M to regularly toggle the drawer in and out of view.

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