Maybe you’re new to Lion (welcome newly acquainted Mac users), or maybe you’re not much of a Mail user to begin with. Well, “Hello From Cupertino, CA”! Much of the hype around Lion has revolved around the iOS-inspired changes made to Mail, which aims to make reading messages, composing email, and navigating through conversations really easy. To do this, Mail likes to hide the Mailbox List, while getting you comfortable with the new Favorites Bar. Lion’s new vertical message list and message-preview pane better make use of wide-screen displays, especially while full-screen. If you’re not familiar with this terminology yet, don’t worry. Grab a cup of coffee, your favorite morning or afternoon pastry, and get ready to set up Lion with your account.

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Whether I’m installing OS X for myself or for another person, there’s always several things I do first before anything else. The steps I take aren’t too different in Lion, and whether you’re getting a new Mac, finding ways to install Lion fresh, or looking to see if you’ve missed anything, let’s take a quick five minute tour of the OS’s settings.

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Last Updated: 05/20/2013

In 2010, Outlook poorly supported Gmail accounts, but today it’s a lot better. Most of the setup that was previously required is now automated. In this revised guide, you’ll now find two major sections. The first shows you where to plug in your account information, and I’ll also walk you through some extra steps to remove a couple unnecessary folders. The second details how you can make Outlook feel more like Mail, and includes some of what was previously covered in the 2010 tutorial. I’ve also removed the previous introduction — I’ll get straight to the point. I hope you find this guide more more relevant and useful than it was before.

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