The CommuniGator application can be used to compose, send, view and manage messages in the CommuniGate System. This chapter explains how to compose a message and to submit it to the CommuniGate Server for delivery.
Creating a New Message
When the CommuniGator application is connected to the CommuniGate Server, you can choose New from the File menu. A new window appears. The upper part of the window contains the Mailer fields, the rest of the window is used to enter the message text. The triangle in the top left corner of the message window allows you to close the Mailer and leave more space for the message text.
The From field in the Mailer contains the author of a message. This field is filled automatically and contains your e-mail address. It can also contain your real name, if you have specified it.
To specify your "real life" name, choose Options from the Edit menu, select the Personal Info icon and enter your name there. Wherever the CommuniGator application displays addresses, it shows real names if they are available.
The Subject field contains a plain text. Subject texts should specify the contents of messages in brief, so recipients can easily sort and view messages in their mailboxes.
The Recipients field contains addresses the message should be delivered to.
The field and pop-up menu in the bottom right corner of the Mailer are used to attach files and server documents to the message, and to set various options.
Message Text Format
CommuniGate messages contain styled text with embedded pictures and sounds. When you send a message locally, i.e. to other users of the same CommuniGate Server, messages are transferred "as is", i.e. the styling info, as well as the embedded pictures and sounds are transferred and can be seen by recipients. When a message has to be transferred with some communication module, some information can be lost: FaxGate cannot send sounds, and VoiceGate cannot transfer pictures. See the communication modules documentation for details.
Entering Message Text
The bottom part of a message window contains the text of the message. Use the standard Macintosh technique to enter and modify the message text. When you type a message, the Text menu appears in the menu bar and allows you to set fonts, font sizes, font styles and colors.
Note: If a module that should process your message does not support styled text, a message may be sent as a plain text.
Inserting Graphics into Message Text
You can create some graphics in any application, copy it on the Clipboard, and then Paste into a CommuniGate message text.
Note: If a module that will process your message does not support graphics, a message is sent with graphic elements excluded.
Inserting Sounds into Message Text
You can insert audio data (sounds) into a message by choosing Insert Sound from the Text menu. This option is available only if your computer is equipped with some sound-recording hardware. Sound objects are shown in the message text as the loudspeaker icons. By selecting that icon and choosing Play Sound from the Text menu, you can play back the inserted audio data.
Note: If a module that will process your message does not support sounds, a message is sent with sound elements excluded.
Inserting Signature
You can specify some text to be placed at the end of each message you compose. This text usually contains your signature. To enter the signature text, choose Options from the Edit menu and select the Personal Info icon. Enter your signature text into the Signature field.
When you create a new message, the signature text is placed at the the end of the message. You can edit it if necessary. If you compose a message and don't enter anything as the message text, the signature is deleted from the message before it is sent, so the text of the message sent is completely empty. It is useful when you send a message only to send the file-attachments (see below).
Addressing a Message
For each message you specify recipients - the addresses your message should be sent to. You can use the Address Books panel to specify the recipients. Click the Recipients icon and the Address Books panel will appear on the right side of the Mailer.
The Address Books panel allows you to type recipients addresses manually, or to select recipients from address books. One address book is always present. Its name is Local Users and it contains addresses of all users registered with your CommuniGate Server. To send a message to those users, select the Local Users address book from the panel pop-up menu, then select recipients from the address book list, and click the To button.
For more information about address books and addresses, see the "Address Books" chapter below.
You can use the Copy command from the Edit menu to copy addresses from the Recipients field of any other message, and you can use the Paste command to add the copied addresses to the Recipients list of the message you are composing.
Recipients addresses appear in the Recipients list. You can remove addresses from that list by selecting them and choosing Clear from the Edit menu.
Option: if the Auto Open Address Book option is turned on, windows for new messages appear with the Address Books panel already open. To set this option, choose Options from the Edit menu and select the Send Options icon.
Using Cc: and Bcc: address types
When you insert addresses into the Recipients list, they are marked as "To:", or "primary" addresses. If you want to send somebody a "carbon copy" of your message, you should mark that person's address as "Cc:", or "secondary" address. To mark addresses as "Cc:" ones, select them in the Recipients list and choose Cc: from the Recipients menu.
Sometimes you may want to send a copy of your letter to someone without letting other recipients know about that copy. You use "Bcc:" addresses for that. The "Bcc:"-type recipients will get a copy of your letter, but other recipients will not see the Bcc-recipients names in their copies of your message. To mark addresses as "Bcc:" ones, select them in the Recipients list and choose Bcc: from the Recipients menu.
You can insert addresses as Cc: addresses when you get them from the Address Books panel. Press the Option key on the keyboard and the To button will change to the Cc button. If you click that button while the Option key is pressed, the selected addresses will be inserted as "Cc:" addresses. If you press both Option and Shift keys, the To button will change to the Bcc button.
Delaying a Message
If you do not want a message to be sent immediately, you can delay message processing. Select addresses in the Recipients list and choose Delay from the Recipients menu. A dialog box appears and allows you to set the delay time. Each address in the Recipients list can be assigned a different delay time.
Changing Priority
By default, all addresses in the Recipients list have the "regular" priority. If you assign the "high" priority to one or several addresses in a message, the system will try to deliver your messages to those addressees immediately, even if there are other "regular"-priority messages in queue. If you assign the "low" priority to recipient addresses, the message will be sent to those recipients only after all other "regular" and "high" priority addresses are processed.
To change priority, select addresses in the Recipients list and choose the priority level from the Recipients menu.
Attaching Files to a Message
You can send one or several files "attached" to your message. Select Attachments in the options pop-up menu in the bottom right part of the Mailer. The field below the menu shows the list of files attached.
To add a file to that list, click the icon on the left side of the pop-up menu. The standard dialog box appears and allows you to select a file to attach. After you click the OK button, the name and icon of the selected file appears in the list. You can add several files to each message.
When you send a message, all files you've selected are copied and send to the CommuniGate Server along with the message. Make sure that the modules that will process your message support attachments. Some modules do not accept attachments at all, some ignore them (PagerGate), some support attached files of certain types only (FaxGate).
If you click the Attachments list and choose Paste from the Edit menu, the Clipboard icon will be added to the list. When the message is sent, the current content of the Clipboard is attached to the message.
Attaching Server Documents
When you often send the same documents, it is effective to store them in the Documents folder inside the CommuniGate Server Folder. You can attach those documents to your messages as you attach files, but only the document name, not the file itself is stored in the message and sent to the Server. As a result, submitting messages with server documents is faster, the disk space is saved, and all CommuniGate users always have access to the same documents.
You may want to use server documents to send data sheets, for example.
To attach server documents to your message, select "Server Documents" in the options pop-up menu. Click the icon on the left side of the pop-up menu and a dialog box appears and lists all the documents in the Documents folder. Select the documents you want to attach and their names will appear in the list below the pop-up menu.
Make sure that your message will be processed with communication modules that support Server Documents.
Requesting Return-Receipt
If you want to be notified when your message is delivered to the recipient(s), you may want to select the Return-Receipt option in the Mailer. When your message is delivered, a special "notification" message is generated and sent to you by the recipient's mail system. Please note that not all mail systems support Return-Receipts.
CommuniGate modules that perform "final" delivery (i.e. FaxGate, PagerGate, PrintGate) generate return-receipts when they transfer a message. Modules that work as links to other e-mail systems (UUCPGate, SMTPGate) do not generate return-receipts, since they don't deliver the message to the final recipient. Instead, the recipient's mail system is supposed to generate return-receipts.
Option: if the Request Return-Receipts option in Send Options is turned on, new messages have the Return-Receipt option selected by default.
Defining Supplementary Attributes
The options pop-up menu in the Mailer allows you to assign supplementary attributes to a message.
To specify the cover page to be used when faxing your message, select Fax Cover Page in the options pop-up menu and click the icon on the left side of the menu. A dialog box appears and displays all cover pages available on the Server. After you select one and close the dialog box, the name of the cover page selected appears in the field under the pop-up menu.
The same method is used to specify the voice system.
Sending a message; Out Box and Sent Letters
To send a message that you've composed, choose Send from the Message menu. The Send command is enabled if at least one address is placed into the Recipients field. When command is completed, the message is submitted to the CommuniGate Server and placed into its queues. The message can be seen in your Out Box. After the message is sent to all its recipients, it is removed from the Server queues, and deleted from the server disk. At this moment, the message disappears from the Out Box.
Option: if the "Keep Sent Letters On Disk" option in selected, a copy of the message is stored in the Sent Letters mailbox on your disk. These copies do not disappear when your messages are delivered. See the Mailboxes chapter for details.
Options if the "Keep Sent Letters On Server" option is selected, a message is not deleted from the CommuniGate Server queue even when it is sent to all recipients. The message stays in your Out Box until you explicitly delete it. Use this option only when necessary, since it can degrade the Server performance.
To set the Keep Sent Letters on Disk and Keep Sent Letters on Server options, choose Options from the Edit menu and select the Send Options icon.
Postponing Message Composing
You can store a message that has not been completed as a disk file in order to complete and send it later.
Choose Save As from the File menu, select Letter as the file format and store a message as a file anywhere on your disk. When a message is saved, you can close the message window, or you can continue composing it. You can save it again in some other file using the Save As command, and you can choose Save from the File menu to save it again into the same file.
Double click the icon of a file containing a postponed message to open it. When it is open, you can complete and send it.
