BUTTONS AND MENUS


Main Screen - Top line

New Mail
This button pulls in all new mail from your system mailbox(es) into your inbox folder. New messages are flagged with the letter "U" to indicate that it is unread. When you press the button, the current folder will be updated, the new mail moved from the system folder(s) into the inbox folder, and then the inbox folder will be opened. The first unread message will be displayed.
Open Folder...
This button displays a menu created from the Mail folder directory. When invoked, the button displays an hierarchical menu list created from the current Mail folder directory. The maximum length of the menu is determined by an option in the User Preferences screen. At the end of the menu is a special menu entry. The "Other..." entry pulls up a file selector window that allows you to pick an existing folder or file. When a folder is selected, it will be opened as the current folder and a header listing of all messages in that folder will be displayed. The current message will be set to the first unread message (otherwise the first one listed) and displayed in the message window.
Other...
This button displays a menu that will set startup options and open other screens.
Help
This button opens the VMail help screens. The viewer used is NCSA Mosaic and the home page is set to the main VMail help file. The user interface is simplified and the rest of Mosaic cannot be accessed from here.
Save & Iconify
This button saves the changes to the current folder and then attempts to iconify VMail. The current folder is set to the inbox folder at this time as well.
Quit
This button quits the VMail application. An error message will appear if there are any "attached" compose windows active or iconified. If the option for using separate processes is set and compose windows have been created, they will not be affected when the main VMail application exits. Upon confimation from the user that they really want to exit VMail, the changes to the current folder are saved and VMail exits.

Main Screen - Other... menu items

Folder Management...
This menu item selects various functions to do with the management of mail folders.
Rebuild folder menus
This menu item will cause the Mail directory to be rescanned and the Open..., Move..., and Copy... folder menus to be rebuilt.
Create new folder(s)
This menu item pops up a window prompting for the name of a folder to create. The name is always relative to the Mail directory as a starting point. Separate multiple folder names with spaces.
Empty folder(s)
This menu item pops up a window prompting for the name of a folder to empty. The folder is emptied of all messages, but not deleted. Wildcards can be used and each matching folder name is prompted for verification. Separate multiple names with spaces.
Delete folder(s)
This menu item pops up a window prompting for the name of a folder to delete. Wildcards can be used and each matching folder name is prompted for verification if it is not empty. Separate multiple names with spaces. This menu item pops up a window prompting for a string to match in the message header listing. All messages that match the string (always including the current one) will be selected.
Forward a group of messages individually
This menu item bulk forwards all selected messages using prompts to obtain required addressing information. The same address is used for each message.
View options...
This menu item selects various functions to do with the viewing of folders and messages.
Show full message header information
This menu item
Normal message order
This menu item displays the message header list in the order that the messages are stored in the folder.
Reverse message order
This menu item displays the message header list in reverse order such that the last message in the folder is at the top of the list.
Sort by sender
This menu item sorts the message header list according to the sender. The sort is case insensitive.
Sort by date/time
This menu item sorts the message header list according to the date and time of the message. Note that if the folder contains messages that go back into a previous year, the sort will not be correct.
Sort by size
This menu item sorts the message header list according to the size of the message.
Sort by subject
This menu item sorts the message header list according to the subject. The sort is case insensitive.
Other Options...
This menu item sets miscellaneous user preferences that can be toggled or selected from a menu.
Open main window when new mail
This user option will pop up the main VMail screen when new mail arrives if is currently iconified.
Pull in new messages as they arrive
This user option will automatically pull new messages into the user's inbox as they arrive. The effect is the same as if the user pressed the New Mail button as soon as new mail was detected. Note that if the user is viewing a message at this time or is in another folder, then the current folder will be updated and the inbox folder opened. The message in the viewing window will be then jump to the first unread message. (This can be annoying)
Sound audible beep on new mail
This user option sounds an audible beep when new mail is detected. A BELL character is sent to stdout. If stdout was redirected to /dev/null when VMail was started, then no beep will be heard.
Sound audible beep on errors
This user option sounds an audible beep for error messages. A BELL character is sent to stdout. If stdout was redirected to /dev/null when VMail was started, then no beep will be heard.
Startup compose windows as separate processes
This user option will start NUAD, LIST, QUERY and compose windows as separate applications that are independent of VMail. If VMail is quit, these windows will remain.
Do not log messages
This user option disables logging to the File Carbon Copy on all compose windows.
Ask for a return receipt
This user option will automatically set the return receipt option on all compose windows. A "Return-Receipt-To:" header line will be inserted in the message before sending.
Encrypt messages
This user option will automatically set the encrypt option on all compose windows. (Note that encryption is not currently available)
Include message in Reply/Replyall
This user option will automatically include messages that are being replied to. If the message quote string is empty, the message will be included using the Sun style with "----- Begin Message -----" inserted at the start and "----- End Message -----" inserted at the end. If the message quote string is not empty, then the message will be quoted using the internet style. Note that the message will be wordwrapped in this case to the width of the compose window (normally 79 characters) less the length of the quote string.
Insert signature file in all compose windows
This user option will insert the user's ~/.signature file (if one exists) into all compose windows by default. For messages that are being forwarded or replied to, the signature will be inserted at the top of the message.
Show Bcc field in all compose windows
This user option will show the Bcc: (Blind Carbon Copy) field in all compose windows by default.
Show Fcc field in all compose windows
This user option will show the Fcc: (File Carbon Copy) field in all compose windows by default.
Default attachment format...
This user option selects the default attachment format to use when sending messages. Current options are "Sun attachment format", "Mime attachment format" and "Generic attachment format". The "Sun attachment format" is the default for new users and the recommended choice for sending email.
Edit User Preferences
This menu item opens a User Preferences screen.
Save Startup Options
This menu item saves the current state of the user options into the ~/.vmailrc file.
Edit Secondary Files...
This menu item shows a list of files that VMail uses that can be edited by the user.
Signature
Names menu
Subjects menu
VMail startup options
Attachment view options
Standard mail options
Gripe
This menu item opens a compose window with the To: and Subject: fields already initialized to send in a Suggestion or Gripe about VMail to its author.
NUAD Database
This menu item opens a NUAD Database update screen.
LIST Database
This menu item opens a LIST Database update screen.
General Query
This menu item opens a QUERY screen.

Main Screen - Message management

Next
This button selects the next message and displays it in the message window. The current message is marked in the header window with a ">" symbol.
Prev
This button selects the previous message and displays it in the message window. The current message is marked in the header window with a ">" symbol.
Move...
This button copies the selected message(s) into a folder and then marks the message(s) for delete. (See Copy...)
Copy...
This button copies the selected message(s) into a folder. When invoked, the button displays an hierarchical menu list created from the current Mail folder directory. The maximum length of the menu is determined by an option in the User Preferences screen. At the end of the menu are two special menu entries. The "File by Sender..." entry selects a folder named for the sender's userid in the "Sender" subdirectory. The "Other..." entry pulls up a file selector window that allows you to pick an existing folder or file, or to enter a new folder name. If the name entered does not exist, you will be asked to confirm the creation of the file.
Delete
This button marks the currently selected message(s) for delete. The folder is actually updated and the marked messages physically deleted only when you press New Mail, Open Folder... (and choose one), Save & Iconify, or Quit (and confirm exit).
Undelete
This button unmarks the currently selected message(s) if they were marked for delete. It cannot undelete messages that do not show in the header listing.
Print
This button prints the currently selected message(s). The default print string is "lpr". This should be set to whatever a user would normally use to print a plain unix ascii file. The message (without attachments) is piped into this command in the standard unix style. The PRINTER environment variable controls which printer it is sent to.

For AIX users, the suggested command is "fold -s | lpr".

For Sun users, the suggested command is "fmt -s -79 | lpr" when using non-Postscript printers and "mp | lpr" when using Postscript printers.
Forward
This button opens a compose window for each currently selected message and includes them with all attachments. The subject and classification header lines are set to the same as what are in the original messages.
Reply all
This button does the same funtion as the Reply button with one exception. The Cc: field will be filled in with the addresses of all those listed in the original To: and Cc: fields. All addresses will be sorted alpabetically and duplicates removed. Your own userid will also be removed.
Reply
This button opens a compose window for each currently selected message and includes them with all attachments (if the user option is turned on). The classification will be set to the classification of the original message. The subject will have "Re:" prepended to the original subject if it is not already there. The To: field will be filled in with the address of the sender in the original From: line.
Compose
This button opens a new compose window. Note that no default classification will be inserted and that one must be selected before the message can be sent.

Main Screen - Attachments

View
This button attempts to launch an appropriate application to view/edit the attachment. If the attachment is encoded, it will be decoded first and then the the file type determined by its contents. If there is not a viewer listed in the vviewrc file for that type of file, an error message will appear.
Save
This button prompts for a file name to save the selected attachment. If the attachment was encoded, it will be decoded before it is saved.

Compose Window - Top line

File...
Edit...
Options...
Spell Check
NUAD
LIST
Send
Cancel

Compose window - Addressing

To: header line
Cc: header line
Bcc: header line
Fcc: header line
Subject: header line
Classification: header line

Compose window - Attachments

View
This button attempts to launch an appropriate application to view/edit the attachment. If the attachment is encoded, it will be decoded first and then the file type determined by its contents. If there is not a viewer listed in the system vviewrc file or the user's .vviewrc file for that type of file, an error message will appear.
Save
This button prompts for a file name to save the selected attachment. If the attachment was encoded, it will be decoded before it is saved.
Add
This button opens a file selector window for selecting a file to be included as an attachment. If a selected file or directory cannot be read, an error message to that effect will appear. Non-ascii type files will be uuencoded.
Delete
This button deletes the selected attachments from the message.
Attachment Format...
This button selects the attachment format. The default format is the Sun Mailtool style of formatting and most email interfaces should be able to detect attachments formatted in this way. The Mime format can be used when sending to persons that are using a Mime compatible email interface. The generic format can be used when none of the other two formats are acceptable at the other end.

NUAD Database

Search

LIST Database

Search

General Queries

Search