Quick Actions in Mac Mail: Where They Are and What Works (2026)

Mail on the Mac has no Quick Actions menu of its own. The one-click actions live in a few places instead: point at the header of an open email to get Reply, Reply All and Forward buttons, swipe a message with two fingers for Read, Remind Me, Archive or Trash, and use Markup on attachments. Your own Shortcuts run from Mail > Services.

The name causes the confusion. "Quick Actions" is a macOS feature that belongs to the Finder, so people go looking for the same menu in Mail and come up empty. I went hunting for it the first time I wanted to rotate a scanned PDF before attaching it, and it took me a while to work out that Mail spreads those shortcuts around rather than collecting them. This guide maps every one of them on macOS 27, shows how to wire up a custom one, and covers what to check when a button you expect isn't there.

Where are Quick Actions in Mac Mail?

Mac Mail spreads its quick, one-click actions across the message header, the message list, attachments, the Services menu and notifications. The Quick Actions menu itself appears only in the Finder, where Apple's Finder guide describes it as a way to do tasks on a file without opening an app. Use this table to find the one you meant.

The buttons that appear when you point at an email

On macOS 27, moving the pointer over the header of an open email in Mail reveals Reply, Reply All and Forward buttons. Apple's reading guide says this header area is also where you find buttons for saving attachments and more. They stay hidden until the pointer is there, so they're easy to miss.

1. Open Mail and click a message in the message list.
2. Move the pointer over the email's header, the strip with the sender and subject.
3. Click Reply to answer only the sender, Reply All to include everyone, or Forward to send it to someone new.

Those three buttons and what each does come straight from Apple's reply and forward steps. They save a trip to the toolbar.

This is the action I use most without thinking of it as a feature. When I'm reading a long email and decide to answer, the pointer is usually already near the sender's name, so I nudge it onto the header and click Reply there instead of crossing the window to the toolbar.

The Summarize button above an email

On a Mac with Apple Intelligence, an open email also carries a Summarize button above the message. Apple's guide says to select an email, scroll up, then click Summarize. It's handy on a long thread you've been copied into late.

Swipe actions in the Mac Mail message list

Two-finger swipes on a trackpad or Magic Mouse are Mail's other built-in quick actions. A swipe right shows Unread or Read, per Apple's reading guide, and Apple's Remind Me page uses the same gesture to bring up Remind Me. A swipe left moves the message to the Trash or the Archive.

Which one a left swipe does is set in Mail > Settings > Viewing > Move discarded messages into. Apple's Viewing settings page describes that menu as the choice of where messages go when you swipe left on them in the message list. That's the only swipe you can change on a Mac; our guide to changing swipe actions in Apple Mail goes through it step by step, along with the iPhone options.

If you'd rather not swipe at all, Control-click a message in the list. Apple's Remind Me page lists Control-click as the other way to reach Remind Me. For when to use it and how to change a reminder later, see snoozing email with Remind Me.

Markup: the Finder-style Quick Action Mail builds in

Markup is the macOS Quick Action that Mail builds in. It lets you draw and write on an image or PDF you've added to an email, without opening Preview. Apple's Markup guide for Mail gives these steps:

1. In a new email or a reply, attach an image or a PDF.
2. Move the pointer over the attachment in the message.
3. Click the Action pop-up menu in the upper-right corner of the attachment, then choose Markup.
4. Add your notes with the Markup tools. Drag the blue handles to resize anything you've added.
5. Click Done.

Apple adds that you can change your annotations until you send the email, so a second look is free. When I send a contract back with a question, I circle the clause in Markup and write the question beside it. The other side sees exactly which line I mean instead of hunting for "section 4, second paragraph" in a long PDF.

For a quick sketch rather than notes on a file, the same Apple page says you can Control-click in the body of the email and choose Insert Drawing.

How to run your own Quick Action in Mac Mail with Shortcuts

A shortcut from the Shortcuts app can run inside Mail through the Services menu, which is the nearest Mail gets to a custom Quick Actions menu. Apple's Services guide explains that Services let you use features of other apps for what you're doing, and that items only show up when they're relevant to the app or the selection.

1. Open the Shortcuts app and double-click the shortcut you want.
2. Open the shortcut's details.
3. Select Services Menu. Select Use as Quick Action too if you also want it in the Finder.
4. Optionally, click Add Keyboard Shortcut and press a key combination, so it runs without the menu.
5. In Mail, select the text or item the shortcut works on, then choose Mail > Services and pick the shortcut.

Apple's Shortcuts guide covers both checkboxes, and it treats them as separate things: Use as Quick Action puts a shortcut in the Finder's Quick Actions menu, while Services Menu puts it in the app menu's Services list. For Mail, Services is the one that matters. Apple also notes that some key combinations are reserved for the system and can't be used.

Apple's own example of a Services shortcut sorts lines of text, and that's the sort of small job this is good for. I keep one like it for the moment I paste a list of names into an email and want them in alphabetical order before anyone reads it. Select the lines, open Mail > Services, done.

Turn Services on or off

If a shortcut doesn't appear, check Apple menu > System Settings > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts > Services. Apple's Services page says to select an item there to add it to the Services menu, or deselect it to remove it. A long list of services you never use makes the menu harder to scan, so this is also the place to tidy it.

Build one in Automator instead

Automator still makes Quick Actions too. Apple's Automator guide says to choose File > New, pick Quick Action, choose the type of input and the app the workflow works with at the top, add your actions, then save. The saved workflow is then available from Finder windows, the Services menu and the Quick Actions menu. For anything new, I find the Shortcuts app easier to read and edit; if you already have Automator workflows, they land in those same menus.

Quick actions from Mail notifications

Mail's banners and alerts carry their own one-click action. Point at a Mail notification and a button appears to archive or delete the message, depending on your settings. Apple's Viewing settings page says Move discarded messages into also decides whether you can delete or archive messages from Mail notifications, and Apple's older Mail guide describes moving the pointer over a notification and clicking the button.

I keep that setting on Archive. A notification arrives while I'm in another app, I clear it without switching to Mail, and if it turns out I need it later, it's in the Archive mailbox rather than gone.

Mac Mail quick actions not showing? What to check

When a quick action in Mail doesn't appear, the cause is usually where the pointer is, what's selected, or a setting elsewhere in macOS. Start with the first and go down the list.

1. No Reply buttons in the header. Open the email first and move the pointer onto the header area itself. The buttons only show while the pointer is over it.
2. Swipes do nothing. Mail's swipes need two fingers on a trackpad or Magic Mouse, as Apple's reading guide describes. A regular mouse can't make the gesture.
3. A swipe archives when you wanted delete. Change Mail > Settings > Viewing > Move discarded messages into to Trash.
4. No Markup option on an attachment. Markup works on images and PDFs. For those, turn it on in System Settings > General > Login Items & Extensions, as in the tip above.
5. Your shortcut isn't in Mail > Services. Check that Services Menu is selected in the shortcut's details, select something it can work on (Apple says services only appear when they're relevant to what you're doing), and confirm it's turned on under Keyboard Shortcuts > Services.
6. Your shortcut shows in the Finder but not in Mail. That means only Use as Quick Action is on. Quick Actions are a Finder menu, so select Services Menu as well.

For a one-click button that's always visible instead of hidden behind the pointer, add it to the toolbar. Our guide to customizing the Apple Mail toolbar covers putting Archive, Flag or Print a click away.

Which quick action to reach for

Each of Mail's quick actions suits a different moment, so the useful question is what you're doing when you need it.

• Answering the email you're reading: the header buttons, right where your eyes already are.
• Triage with a hand on the trackpad: swipes, with the left swipe set to the destination you trust.
• Sending back a marked-up file: Markup, before you hit Send.
• A small text job you repeat: a shortcut in the Services menu with its own key combination.
• Speed with no mouse at all: keyboard shortcuts. The full list of Mail's keyboard shortcuts also explains binding keys to commands that have none.