When the Mail program runs, it displays the number of new messages as a white number in a red circle in the upper-right corner of the Mail icon on the Dock, as shown in Figure 44-2. (If you don't leave the Mail program running, it can't retrieve your messages automatically.)
To read your messages, do the following:
Click the Mail icon on the Dock. The Mail window appears.
Click the Inbox folder under the Mailboxes category in the left pane of the Mail window. The right pane displays all your messages, where new messages appear with a blue dot in front of them.
Click a message that you want to read. The contents of the chosen message appear in the preview pane of the Mail window, as shown in Figure 44-3.
(Optional) Double-click a message to display that message in a separate window, as shown in Figure 44-4.
Many messages contain only text, but some messages can include a file, which is called a file attachment. A file attachment can be a word processor document, a picture, a movie, a song, or any other type of file stored on your Macintosh.
When you receive a file attachment, you'll see two buttons labeled Save and Quick Look, as shown in Figure 44-5. You may also see an icon representing the file displayed in the Message window or preview pane.
To peek at the contents of the file attachment, click Quick Look. To save the file attachment into your Downloads folder, click Save.
Normally, Mail saves all file attachments in your Downloads folder, but you can specify a different folder to store file attachments. Here's how:
Select Mail ▸ Preferences. A Preferences dialog appears.
Click the General icon. The General dialog appears (see Figure 44-1).
Click the Downloads folder pop-up menu and choose Other. A dialog appears, displaying all the drives and folders on your hard disk.
Click a folder in which you want to store saved file attachments and click Select.
Click the close button of the General dialog.