Direct Mail’s built-in “Design Test” feature shows you pixel-perfect previews of your email in a wide variety of popular email clients. It is a handy tool to verify that your design will look great in all of the email clients that your subscribers use to read their email: Gmail, Outlook, iOS Mail, Yahoo Mail, and more. We recently expanded the list of supported email clients to include:

• Apple Mail 12 Dark Mode
• iPhone Xs
• iPhone XR
• iPad Pro 10.5″
• Samsung Mail
• Outlook for Android and iOS
• Outlook 2019 for Windows
• Gmail App on iOS
• T-Online.de

When you order a new design test, not all of these email clients are shown by default. To access the full list of email clients, click on the link titled “show more email clients”:

Retiring Sample Design Tests

In the past, a “sample” design test consisting of Outlook 2003 and Gmail was offered at no charge. In response to changes made by our design test service provider, we are discontinuing these sample tests.

If you’ve never used the design test feature and would like to see an example, check out the sample project that comes built-in to Direct Mail. Just choose “Help > Explore Sample Project” from the menu bar at the top of your screen. After the project opens, click the “Design Test” button in the toolbar, or choose “Window > Design Tests” from the menu bar.

Direct Mail 5.4.1 is now available to all of our users. This update includes several bug fixes that increase the reliability and performance of Direct Mail, especially for users running Apple’s new macOS 10.14 Mojave.

The Preview window has also been updated with support for the latest iPhone models. These can be found under the “Simulate Screen Size” pop-up menu.

Most customers will receive this update automatically over the next few days. If you want to update manually, simply choose “Direct Mail > Check for Software Update” from the menu bar at the top of your screen. If you downloaded Direct Mail via the Mac App Store, you can find the update there, as well.

Direct Mail 5.4 was just released today, and we’re excited to share with you some of the improvements that we have been working on…

Mojave and Dark Mode

“Mojave” is the name of Apple’s latest update to macOS, scheduled to be released later this month. If you’re planning on upgrading to Mojave, you’ll want to make sure you upgrade Direct Mail, too. One of the most eye-catching features in Mojave is an all-new “dark mode”. We have reworked Direct Mail top-to-bottom to make sure it looks great in this new mode, and we hope you’re as pleased with the results as we are:

Improved Design Test Browsing

Direct Mail Design Tests are a way for you to see pixel-perfect screenshots of what your email looks like in a variety of email clients (including mobile, web, and Windows email clients). Design tests are a great way to spot potential issues with your email design, or gain confidence that your email will look great when your recipients open it. In previous updates, we improved the process of ordering new design tests. In this update, we have improved the experience of browsing test results. Screenshots now fill more of the available screen space, and navigating between results is faster than ever. We’ve also made it easier to export the screenshots out of Direct Mail.

Sample Project and Tour

We wanted to make it easier for first-time users to learn about the powerful features packed into Direct Mail. New in Direct Mail 5.4 is a sample project that shows off some of the things you can do in Direct Mail. A guided tour at the top of the project window helps new users find their way around the app. The sample project and tour is available in the “Welcome to Direct Mail” window that appears on first launch, or at any time from the “Help” menu at the top of the screen.

More Than Meets the Eye

The improvements in Direct Mail 5.4 are more than just skin deep. We have squashed several bugs and streamlined the user interface to help you work more efficiently. We hope you to enjoy these new improvements, and look forward to your feedback! The Direct Mail 5.4 update will download to your Mac automatically over the next few days. If desired, you can update immediately by choosing “Direct Mail > Check for Software Update” from the menu bar at the top of your screen. Mac App Store customers will receive the update as soon as it is approved by Apple. Update: It has been approved, and Mac App Store customers can now download the update, as well.

Last month, Apple previewed the next big update coming to the Mac this fall: macOS 10.14 “Mojave”. We are hard at work getting Direct Mail ready for the new operating system, and will have an update ready before Mojave becomes generally available.

Please note that if you choose to install beta versions of macOS 10.14, you may encounter bugs that could interrupt your workflow. For business-critical tasks, we recommend remaining on macOS 10.13 until the public release version of 10.14 is available.

Update (August 3rd): The latest public beta of macOS 10.14 is not compatible with the current release version of Direct Mail. If you need to run Direct Mail, please do not install the public beta, and instead remain on macOS 10.13 or earlier.

Dark Mode Sneak Peek

One of Mojave’s headlining features is a brand new “Dark Mode”. We think Direct Mail looks great in dark mode and wanted to share a sneak peek of what you can look forward to in the fall!

Mojave and Apple Mail Stationery

Direct Mail has long been compatible with Apple Mail stationery (where it appears in the “Legacy” section of Direct Mail’s template chooser). However, Apple is removing Apple Mail stationery from macOS 10.14. This will not present a problem for most customers, since stationery is rarely used these days. If you are, however, using stationery in Direct Mail and wish to do so after upgrading to macOS 10.14, click here to learn what you can do to prepare. Hint: upgrade to Direct Mail 5.3 before upgrading to macOS 10.14.

Our latest free update to Direct Mail began rolling out today, and we’re excited to share with you some of the improvements you can look forward to!

Personal Data Reports

New data privacy laws around the world mean that our customers may find it necessary to respond to personal information access and erasure requests that they receive from their mailing list members. In order to make it easier for you to respond to these requests, Direct Mail now includes the ability to generate and print (or save) a formatted personal information report. If necessary, you can also now easily erase all personal information related to an individual. These features can be found by choosing Window > Personal Data from the menu bar.

Improved Performance

Updated database technology under the hood means that you should enjoy a smoother, faster Direct Mail experience, with less waiting on a spinning cursor. In addition, campaign deliveries now start 2× faster!

…and More

A new emoji button in the toolbar ?, a new “Starter” template, and a host of bug fixes are just some of the additional improvements you will find in Direct Mail 5.3. To get a full list, check out the release notes (or see them in-app by choosing Help > What’s New in Direct Mail from the menu bar).

How to Update

Your copy of Direct Mail will update automatically over the next few days. If you want to grab the update right away, open Direct Mail and choose Direct Mail > Check for Software Update from the menu bar.