When writing emails, there may be times when you need to get serious about making them as strong as possible. You might be communicating with someone important or need to get your point across in a way that’s professional, friendly, or concise.
If you regularly have trouble composing the perfect email or reply, Apple Intelligence — the company’s suite of artificial intelligence (AI) tools — integrates with Apple Mail to simplify and improve the task.
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Released last month along with MacOS 15.1, Apple Intelligence includes a Mail integration, which can serve as a writing aid with the help of AI. Of course, it’s not all about composing emails: The Mail integration also features the ability to summarize and send emails for you, and can even sort the body of an email into bullet points.
How to use Apple Intelligence with Apple Mail
What you’ll need: To use this feature, you’ll need a supported MacOS device (Apple Silicon only) with the most recent OS update (minimum MacOS 15.1).
First, you’ll need to enable Apple Intelligence on your device.
The first thing to do is open the System Settings app by clicking the Apple icon in the upper left corner of your desktop.
As long as your device supports Apple Intelligence (meaning it uses Apple Silicon and not Intel), type “Apple Intelligence” in the search field and hit Enter on your keyboard. You should then see a listing for Apple Intelligence & Siri in the results. Click that entry.
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On the resulting page, you’ll find the Entry for Apple Intelligence. Make sure the On/Off slider is in the On position. Once you’ve taken care of that, close System Settings.
If you’re running the most updated version of MacOS, you’ll see this slider.
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When you go to reply to an email, you’ll see the Apple Intelligence logo in the compose window toolbar. The logo looks like it was drawn using a spyrograph (GenXers unite). Click the Apple Intelligence logo to reveal the pop-up where you can use the features. There are essentially two actions: Proofread and Rewrite.
I suggest composing your email in its entirety and then clicking the Apple Intelligence icon. Select the entire body of the email reply, and if you feel the email is structured properly and conveys the necessary message, click Proofread. If you feel the email needs more overall help, click Rewrite.
Apple Intelligence can really make a difference your missives.
Jack Wallen/ZDNET
You’ll see the selected text flash a couple of times as Apple Intelligence does its thing. Once the process is complete, your email is ready to send.
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One thing I’ve found fairly interesting is selecting the body of an email I’ve written, opening Apple Intelligence, and clicking one of the three tones offered to see how they compare. I was surprised to find the tone does change quite a bit with each selection.
You can keep using Apple Intelligence until you’re 100% satisfied. Once everything is all wrapped up, click Send, and you’re done.
Artificial Intelligence
