MacIssues Answers is a periodic column where I respond to questions asked by MacIssues readers. In this session, readers asked about styling text in Calendar entries, how to best switch from Thunderbird to Mail, and how to remove unused and cluttering apps that were purchased and are now sitting in iCloud.

MacIssues is intended to be a community effort and I welcome contributions from readers, so if you have any suggestions, corrections, or alternative approaches to these problems, then please post them in the comments below, in the MacIssues discussion forum, or use the contact form to the right of each page.

Question: Text styling in Calendar

MacIssues reader Stan asks:

Is there any way to style the text in Calendar? I would like to bold or line out text but haven’t been able to find a way. If I line out in a word processor and then cut & paste, the text gets pasted but the line out doesn’t. I’m still using OS 10.8.

Answer:
Unfortunately there isn’t. Apple’s text fields in Calendar only support plain text, and no styling or special formatting. I agree this would be a great thing to have, and am not sure why Apple has not included it. You can request it from Apple, but it will take a number of people requesting it to have it implemented.

Question: Switching from Thunderbird to Mail

MacIssues reader David asks:

I have been using Thunderbird for years, but given its quirky issues lately (changes font size without telling me, Templates folder doesn’t show properly, etc) and the impossibility of getting tech support on its issues, I am considering moving to Mail. Will it be possible to have subfolders exported into Mail? How about my current Message Filters: can they be exported into Mail? Is there a knowledgeable resource who can guide me in this process?

Answer:
Unfortunately Thunderbird has been discontinued by Mozilla, so over time it may acquire bugs and oddities as OS X and services it uses advance.

Are the mail accounts you are using IMAP accounts? If so, then any folders in the account will be on the IMAP server, and should show up in Mail when you configure your account to access them.

For local mailboxes, when you configure your account in Mail, choose “Import Mailboxes” from the File menu in Mail, and you should be able to select an option and follow on-screen instructions to import them from Thunderbird.

Question: Removing purchased apps from iCloud

MacIssues reader Bill asks:

Over the past few years I have downloaded a lot of apps and have deleted them from my iPhone. I will never use the ones I have deleted in the future but, they are still sitting in iCloud for me in case I need them. I am starting to fill iCloud with other docs and would like to be able to delete all the apps, that I have deleted from my phone.

Answer:
The apps you purchase on your phone should list in iTunes, but can be removed by right-clicking them (or holding the Control key when clicking) and then selecting “Delete” from the contextual menu.

Note that purchased items that are listed in iCloud will not take up your iCloud storage space, so deleting them will not give you any more storage. Their listing just confirms you have purchased them and that they are available for download to any relevant iOS or Mac OS device you use.