Mail Alert is an interface effect so to get the mail alert you need to switch on 'user interface sound effects' in the sound pref pane, and reduce the volume to zero if you don't like them elsewhere.
Oh. My. God. Thanks, that worked! But ironically now I'm pissed off! This better not be a deliberate decision on Apple's part. It's certainly not how this has worked in any version of OS X prior to 10.5 - in earlier versions the user can turn off "interface sounds" and the new message sound in Mail will still work, and rightly so. Off to file a bug report with Apple...
Did you install any Mail hacks that could be causing your problems?
The rules window has been broke since 10.5. Add more than 32 entries and the OK window will be off the bottom of the screen and can not be resized to be fully visible even using the max button. In fact the max button will resize the next window down instead of the active window.
The only problem I have with Mail is that it never plays the "new message" sound.
Go to your Accounts tab in Mail Preferences. Click on Advanced. At the bottom, you'll see "Use IDLE command if server supports it". UNCHECK THE BOX. Mail should now play the "New Mail" sound.
Oh. My. God. Thanks, that worked! But ironically now I'm pissed off! This better not be a deliberate decision on Apple's part. It's certainly not how this has worked in any version of OS X prior to 10.5 - in earlier versions the user can turn off "interface sounds" and the new message sound in Mail will still work, and rightly so. Off to file a bug report with Apple...
Go to your Accounts tab in Mail Preferences. Click on Advanced. At the bottom, you'll see "Use IDLE command if server supports it". UNCHECK THE BOX. Mail should now play the "New Mail" sound.
You will note that in this earlier post I said that I had tried this (as suggested in the MacOSXHints hint I linked to) and that it didn't help.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mdriftmeyer
RTFM for Mail.app on Leopard.
Don't tell me to read the manual. This is what Mail help on 10.5 says about the alert sound:
Quote:
Originally Posted by OS X 10.5 Mail "Manual"
Playing sounds when messages arrive
Mail plays a sound when new messages arrive. You can turn off the sound, or select a new one, in Mail preferences. You can also play sounds for Mail events, such as when messages are sent.
To play sounds for Mail events:
Choose Mail > Preferences, and then click General.
Choose a new sound from the “New mail sound” pop-up menu.
To use a different sound, choose Add/Remove from the “New mail sound” pop-up menu, and then select a sound file. The selected sound is copied to the Sounds folder, in the Library folder of your home folder. It will be available as a choice in Mail, System Preferences, iChat, and other applications that use sound.
By default, Mail plays sounds for other actions, such as errors retrieving messages or message sent events. If you don’t want to hear sounds for such actions, deselect the “Play sounds for other mail actions” checkbox.
If you have QuickTime Pro, you can use QuickTime Player to convert most sound files to AIFF, WAV, or other formats. See QuickTime Player Help for more information.
See anything in there that says that if you've disabled user interface sound effects in OS X's system preferences that the new message sound will stop working? No, neither do I. That's probably because it shouldn't, because a new message arriving is not a user interface interaction and Mail has its own mechanism for turning off the new message sound.
I still use the female "you've got mail" sound from eWorld. Yes, eWorld. They'll have to pry that from my cold, dead hard drive.
Can you share this sound with the rest of us please? Where can I get it? I remember eWorld. The good old days. Still have the floppies. You and I were 2 of the 37 total subscribers. :-)
You will note that in this earlier post I said that I had tried this (as suggested in the MacOSXHints hint I linked to) and that it didn't help.
Don't tell me to read the manual. This is what Mail help on 10.5 says about the alert sound:
See anything in there that says that if you've disabled user interface sound effects in OS X's system preferences that the new message sound will stop working? No, neither do I. That's probably because it shouldn't, because a new message arriving is not a user interface interaction and Mail has its own mechanism for turning off the new message sound.
They've unified the sound effects system for 10.5.6. I'd guarantee by 10.6 that all Application Sound Effects will be in a central location ala NeXTStep/Openstep.
Application specific sound effects were workarounds for legacy infrastructure.
You should be able to set sound effects for Mail in System Preferences ->Sound ->Sound Effects.
I'd verify this but I'm waiting on 10.6 to upgrade from 10.4.11.
Leopard has been very unstable for me on my rev B Macbook Air.
In what ways is of unstable? I have had a black and unibody MB running Leopard. Both are stable, except for some minor quirks which seem to be the result of the Nvidia IGP.
You will note that in this earlier post I said that I had tried this (as suggested in the MacOSXHints hint I linked to) and that it didn't help.
Sorry, I didn't see where you'd posted that you'd tried that and it didn't work. Just trying to help. I'm not having the problem you're having any longer. I did have it, but what I suggested you try actually solved the problem for me.
They've unified the sound effects system for 10.5.6. I'd guarantee by 10.6 that all Application Sound Effects will be in a central location ala NeXTStep/Openstep.
Sounds like a dreadful idea to me. Surely it is counter-intuitive to place preferences for application-specific things in system preferences? Why stop at just the sound effects? Why not put all of Mail's preferences into System Preferences? Because it's a bloody stupid idea that's why. System Preferences to set preferences for the system, application preferences for setting preferences of applications.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mdriftmeyer
You should be able to set sound effects for Mail in System Preferences ->Sound ->Sound Effects.
Nope, this is what the Sound Effects pane of 10.5.6 System Preferences looks like:
Which, IIRC, is pretty much how the pane looks in 10.4. As far as I can remember, there's been a "user interface sound effects" check box in system preferences for a long time in OS X, and it's never before de-activated Mail's alert sound at the same time.
The "user interface sounds" are for times when the user interacts with the user interface, for example moving a file from one folder to another, or moving an item to the trash. When the item moves, a sound is played.
New mail arriving is not a user interaction so it makes no sense to de-activate the sound if the user has de-activated "user interface sounds". Many people find user interface sounds annoying - I know I just moved a file, I don't need a stupid sound to accompany the action. On the other hand, Mail can be hidden or underneath other application windows so if it's set to check mail automatically every 5 minutes and a new message arrives, you may not see this in the GUI. Hence a sound being played when new mail arrives is a useful feature.
Sorry, I didn't see where you'd posted that you'd tried that and it didn't work. Just trying to help. I'm not having the problem you're having any longer. I did have it, but what I suggested you try actually solved the problem for me.
Good luck!
Sorry if I was a bit harsh. I appreciate you trying to help. One of the discussion threads meyer linked to mentioned that the Finder has a hidden preference to disable its sound effects - so you can have the "play user interface sounds" checkbox in system preferences ticked, but Finder won't play any sounds. I've activated said hidden preference so hopefully this workaround will get things working how I like them.
Sorry if I was a bit harsh. I appreciate you trying to help. One of the discussion threads meyer linked to mentioned that the Finder has a hidden preference to disable its sound effects - so you can have the "play user interface sounds" checkbox in system preferences ticked, but Finder won't play any sounds. I've activated said hidden preference so hopefully this workaround will get things working how I like them.
Anyone know if they are going to fix the problem that only millions of colors is selectable in display options??? Its ridiculous that I can't run some games because I can only run in millions of colors!!!!
Isn't Snow Leopard supposed to be ready in a few months, as well?
Well, that announcement was made, or leaked, before the market crashed...so all bets are off, hell, I would bet that a fair number of apple fans are laid off too...I know I am...
Comments
Mail Alert is an interface effect so to get the mail alert you need to switch on 'user interface sound effects' in the sound pref pane, and reduce the volume to zero if you don't like them elsewhere.
Oh. My. God. Thanks, that worked! But ironically now I'm pissed off!
Mail works fine for me.
Did you install any Mail hacks that could be causing your problems?
The rules window has been broke since 10.5. Add more than 32 entries and the OK window will be off the bottom of the screen and can not be resized to be fully visible even using the max button. In fact the max button will resize the next window down instead of the active window.
Jim
The only problem I have with Mail is that it never plays the "new message" sound.
Go to your Accounts tab in Mail Preferences. Click on Advanced. At the bottom, you'll see "Use IDLE command if server supports it". UNCHECK THE BOX. Mail should now play the "New Mail" sound.
Oh. My. God. Thanks, that worked! But ironically now I'm pissed off!
RTFM for Mail.app on Leopard.
Go to your Accounts tab in Mail Preferences. Click on Advanced. At the bottom, you'll see "Use IDLE command if server supports it". UNCHECK THE BOX. Mail should now play the "New Mail" sound.
You will note that in this earlier post I said that I had tried this (as suggested in the MacOSXHints hint I linked to) and that it didn't help.
RTFM for Mail.app on Leopard.
Don't tell me to read the manual. This is what Mail help on 10.5 says about the alert sound:
Playing sounds when messages arrive
Mail plays a sound when new messages arrive. You can turn off the sound, or select a new one, in Mail preferences. You can also play sounds for Mail events, such as when messages are sent.
To play sounds for Mail events:
Choose Mail > Preferences, and then click General.
Choose a new sound from the “New mail sound” pop-up menu.
To use a different sound, choose Add/Remove from the “New mail sound” pop-up menu, and then select a sound file. The selected sound is copied to the Sounds folder, in the Library folder of your home folder. It will be available as a choice in Mail, System Preferences, iChat, and other applications that use sound.
By default, Mail plays sounds for other actions, such as errors retrieving messages or message sent events. If you don’t want to hear sounds for such actions, deselect the “Play sounds for other mail actions” checkbox.
If you have QuickTime Pro, you can use QuickTime Player to convert most sound files to AIFF, WAV, or other formats. See QuickTime Player Help for more information.
See anything in there that says that if you've disabled user interface sound effects in OS X's system preferences that the new message sound will stop working? No, neither do I. That's probably because it shouldn't, because a new message arriving is not a user interface interaction and Mail has its own mechanism for turning off the new message sound.
I still use the female "you've got mail" sound from eWorld. Yes, eWorld. They'll have to pry that from my cold, dead hard drive.
Can you share this sound with the rest of us please? Where can I get it? I remember eWorld. The good old days. Still have the floppies. You and I were 2 of the 37 total subscribers. :-)
You will note that in this earlier post I said that I had tried this (as suggested in the MacOSXHints hint I linked to) and that it didn't help.
Don't tell me to read the manual. This is what Mail help on 10.5 says about the alert sound:
See anything in there that says that if you've disabled user interface sound effects in OS X's system preferences that the new message sound will stop working? No, neither do I. That's probably because it shouldn't, because a new message arriving is not a user interface interaction and Mail has its own mechanism for turning off the new message sound.
They've unified the sound effects system for 10.5.6. I'd guarantee by 10.6 that all Application Sound Effects will be in a central location ala NeXTStep/Openstep.
Application specific sound effects were workarounds for legacy infrastructure.
You should be able to set sound effects for Mail in System Preferences ->Sound ->Sound Effects.
I'd verify this but I'm waiting on 10.6 to upgrade from 10.4.11.
http://discussions.apple.com/search....ch=Go&q=sounds
You and I were 2 of the 37 total subscribers. :-)
And I was the 3rd.
Can you share this sound with the rest of us please?
Yes, please, please share.
I wrote an apple script to do it but started getting boot up issues after that.
Leopard has been very unstable for me on my rev B Macbook Air.
Leopard has been very unstable for me on my rev B Macbook Air.
In what ways is of unstable? I have had a black and unibody MB running Leopard. Both are stable, except for some minor quirks which seem to be the result of the Nvidia IGP.
You will note that in this earlier post I said that I had tried this (as suggested in the MacOSXHints hint I linked to) and that it didn't help.
Sorry, I didn't see where you'd posted that you'd tried that and it didn't work. Just trying to help. I'm not having the problem you're having any longer. I did have it, but what I suggested you try actually solved the problem for me.
Good luck!
They've unified the sound effects system for 10.5.6. I'd guarantee by 10.6 that all Application Sound Effects will be in a central location ala NeXTStep/Openstep.
Sounds like a dreadful idea to me. Surely it is counter-intuitive to place preferences for application-specific things in system preferences? Why stop at just the sound effects? Why not put all of Mail's preferences into System Preferences? Because it's a bloody stupid idea that's why. System Preferences to set preferences for the system, application preferences for setting preferences of applications.
You should be able to set sound effects for Mail in System Preferences ->Sound ->Sound Effects.
Nope, this is what the Sound Effects pane of 10.5.6 System Preferences looks like:
Which, IIRC, is pretty much how the pane looks in 10.4. As far as I can remember, there's been a "user interface sound effects" check box in system preferences for a long time in OS X, and it's never before de-activated Mail's alert sound at the same time.
The "user interface sounds" are for times when the user interacts with the user interface, for example moving a file from one folder to another, or moving an item to the trash. When the item moves, a sound is played.
New mail arriving is not a user interaction so it makes no sense to de-activate the sound if the user has de-activated "user interface sounds". Many people find user interface sounds annoying - I know I just moved a file, I don't need a stupid sound to accompany the action. On the other hand, Mail can be hidden or underneath other application windows so if it's set to check mail automatically every 5 minutes and a new message arrives, you may not see this in the GUI. Hence a sound being played when new mail arrives is a useful feature.
Sorry, I didn't see where you'd posted that you'd tried that and it didn't work. Just trying to help. I'm not having the problem you're having any longer. I did have it, but what I suggested you try actually solved the problem for me.
Good luck!
Sorry if I was a bit harsh. I appreciate you trying to help. One of the discussion threads meyer linked to mentioned that the Finder has a hidden preference to disable its sound effects - so you can have the "play user interface sounds" checkbox in system preferences ticked, but Finder won't play any sounds. I've activated said hidden preference so hopefully this workaround will get things working how I like them.
Sorry if I was a bit harsh. I appreciate you trying to help. One of the discussion threads meyer linked to mentioned that the Finder has a hidden preference to disable its sound effects - so you can have the "play user interface sounds" checkbox in system preferences ticked, but Finder won't play any sounds. I've activated said hidden preference so hopefully this workaround will get things working how I like them.
Indeed! Keep us posted.
Isn't Snow Leopard supposed to be ready in a few months, as well?
Well, that announcement was made, or leaked, before the market crashed...so all bets are off, hell, I would bet that a fair number of apple fans are laid off too...I know I am...