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Check your email in Mail on iPad

In the Mail app, you can read emails, add contacts, and preview the contents of an email without opening it.

The Mail Inbox, with the list of emails on the left and an open email on the right.

Read an email

  1. Go to the Mail app on your iPad.

  2. Tap the message you want to read.

    Tip: Tap the Expand Message button to hide the message list when reading a message.

Use Remind Me to come back to a Primary message later

If you don’t have time to handle a primary message right away, you can set a time and date to receive a reminder and bring the message back to the top of your inbox.

  1. Go to the Mail app on your iPad.

  2. Tap a Primary message, tap the Reply button at the bottom right of the message, tap Remind Me, then choose when to be reminded.

Tip: You can add Remind Me to the toolbar in the Mail app, to make it easier to access. See Customize the Mail toolbar.

Quickly mark multiple emails as read

  1. Go to the Mail app on your iPad.

  2. While viewing a message list, tap the More button, tap Select, then select the messages you want to mark.

    Important: When you select a Transactions, Updates, or Promotions message, you’re selecting all the messages in that category from the sender.

  3. Tap the Mark button at the bottom of the message list, then choose Mark as Read.

Note: The number of unread messages shown on your Home Screen reflects the number of unread messages in your Primary category. To show your total number of unread messages in all categories, go to Settings > Notifications > Mail > Customize Notifications, then turn on All Unread Messages.

Preview a Primary message and a list of options

If you want to see what a Primary message is about but not open it completely, you can preview it.

  1. Go to the Mail app on your iPad.

  2. In the Primary message list, touch and hold a message to preview its contents and see a list of options for replying, moving it, and more.

Show a longer preview for every email

In your inbox, Mail displays two lines of text for each email message by default. You can choose to see more lines of text without opening the message.

Go to Settings  > Apps > Mail > Preview (below Message List), then choose up to five lines.

Show the whole conversation

Go to Settings  > Apps > Mail, then turn on Organize by Thread (below Threading).

Note: You can also change other settings here—such as Collapse Read Messages or Most Recent Message on Top.

Show To and Cc labels in your Inbox

Go to Settings  > Apps > Mail, then turn on Show To/Cc Labels (below Message List).

You can also view the To/Cc mailbox, which gathers all mail addressed to you. To show or hide it, tap the Show Sidebar button in the upper-left corner of the Mail app, tap Edit above Mailboxes, then select “To or Cc.”

Add someone to your contacts or make them a VIP

You can save someone to your contacts to easily find their email messages again in the future, or make them a VIP so any message you receive from them is automatically starred.

  1. Go to the Mail app on your iPad.

  2. In a message, tap a person’s name or email address, then do one of the following:

    • Add a new contact: Tap View Contact Card, then tap Create New Contact. Fill in any other contact information, then tap the Done button.

    • Add the email address to an existing contact: Tap View Contact Card, then tap Add to Existing Contact. Select a contact, then tap the Done button.

    • Add to your VIP list: Tap Add to VIP.

Show or hide contact photos

  1. Go to the Mail app on your iPad.

  2. In an inbox, tap the More button at the top of the screen, then select or deselect Show Contact Photos.

View email summaries

If Apple Intelligence* is turned on, you can use it to summarize the most important points in an email message or email thread. See Use Apple Intelligence in Mail.

*Apple Intelligence is available in beta with support for the following languages: English, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese. Some features may not be available in all languages or regions. For more information on language and feature availability and system requirements, see the Apple Support article How to get Apple Intelligence.
See alsoSend email in Mail on iPadReply to and forward emails in Mail on iPadGet started with Mail on iPad
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