Avoid embarassing message mix-ups

One thing that can create an enormous pothole in your road to success is sending a scathing message to the wrong recipient. For example, say youre having a problem with the boss. You complain to a coworker about it in an email message, you carelessly overlook the fact that autofill has inserted the bosss name (Jane Jones) instead of the intended recipient's name (Jane Smith) into the To: field, and you blithely press Send. Had you taken the following preventive measure, you wouldnt now be cleaning out your desk.

The trick is to open the Contacts application (or Address Book, if youre running OS X Lion or earlier) and select Card -> Add Field -> Edit Template. In the Template window that appears, click the Add Field pop-up menu, select Nickname, and close the Template window. Select your bosss contact entry, and click the Edit button at the bottom of the page. In the nickname field enter Boss, delete the bosss first and last name, and click Done.

Return to Mail, choose Window -> Previous Recipients, select your bosss name in the list, and delete it. This action will prevent Apple Mail from autofilling with your boss's name. Now, when you want to send a message to the boss, simply enter Boss in the To field rather than his or her name. The message will go to the correct recipient, and youll keep your job.

See the same messages on all devices