Avatars and sender colors
Each sender can show a small round avatar in the message list and in the reader. Initials and color are computed on this Mac. Images are optional and may leave the device.
What you see
Section titled “What you see”If Settings → Privacy → Load avatars from the network is on (the default; a saved off value is kept), Primail tries:
- Gravatar, using a hash of the trimmed, lowercased email. A hash is identifying, not anonymous.
- Clearbit for organization domains only. Consumer domains such as Gmail, Outlook, iCloud, and Fastmail stay on Gravatar or initials.
The first image that loads wins. Failed lookups are remembered for about 24 hours so the same address is not retried on every row. Turn the Privacy control off to keep initials only.
There is no inline sender photo from the message, no provider address-book photo, and no drag-a-photo override.
Initials and color
Section titled “Initials and color”When no image loads, Primail shows one initial: the first character of the display name, or of the email if the name is empty. The circle uses one of 13 hues from the full email. The same address gets the same hue on this Mac. That is not a color-blindness-tested palette.
Where avatars appear
Section titled “Where avatars appear”Settings → Appearance → Show Avatars (default Always):
| Choice | List | Reader |
|---|---|---|
| Always | Yes | Yes |
| Never | No | No |
| Unread only | Unread rows | Yes |
| Mail Viewer Only | No | Yes |
| Mail List Only | Yes | No |
Account color vs sender color
Section titled “Account color vs sender color”Settings → Appearance → Color coding for accounts (on by default) draws a thin ring on the avatar in the account’s accent color. That ring says which mailbox received the mail. The fill hue says who sent it. See Rename, recolor, and reorder accounts.
Settings → Support → Clean avatar cache clears remembered lookups for this session. It does not delete mail.