Alles Voor Internet / Tout Pour Internet/alles voor internet.iso/MacInternet™/Mail/TechMail/TechMail Help

Text File | 1995-02-06 | 26.2 KB | 801 lines | [TEXT/MSWD]

© 1992 Massachusetts Institute of Technology

TechMail version 2 Help file

Send bug reports and comments to [e-mail]
For technical support call the Network Help Desk at x3-4101 or send
 e-mail to [e-mail].
To get the TechMail Getting Started Guide, TechMail User Guide and
the Upgrading to TechMail Version 2 quick guide, send e-mail to
[e-mail] or call x3-5150 and request copies.


CONTENTS

1. Overview

2. TechMail Basics
2.1 How mail is filed
2.2 Selecting messages
2.3. Entering your password

3. Reading and Responding to Mail
3.1 Checking your mailbox
3.2 Retrieving and reading incoming mail messages
3.3 Replying to a mail message
3.4 Forwarding a mail message
3.5 Saving a mail message
3.6 Printing mail messages
3.7 Printing a box listing
3.8 Deleting mail messages
3.9 Retrieving a deleted mail message

4. Creating and sending a mail message
4.1 Creating a mail message
4.2 Saving a draft
4.3 Sending a mail message
4.4 Automatically saving copies

5. Advanced topics
5.1 Opening boxes
5.2 Opening multiple mail messages
5.3 Refiling a message
5.4 Including text from another message
5.5 Including a text-only file to a message
5.6 Including a binary file in a message
5.7 Sending mail messages in batches
5.8 Creating your own personal mailing lists
5.9 Electronically looking up mail addresses
5.10 Setting user preferences

6. Menu selections and their definitions

1. OVERVIEW

TechMail is an electronic (e-mail) system that allows you to send and
and receive e-mail throughout the MIT campus and outside using your
Macintosh.

With TechMail, you can

-Receive messages
-Reply to messages
-Forward messages
-Create and send messages
-Organize and save incoming and outgoing messages
-Create and maintain your own personal mailing lists
-Electronically look up e-mail addresses

2. TECHMAIL BASICS

2.1 HOW MAIL IS FILED

Once you have retrieved messages from the post office server, they are
stored on your hard disk in "boxes" and deleted from the post office
server.  Multiple messages are stored in each box.

NOTE:  Be sure to include your TechMail boxes in your regular backup
procedure, since they contain the only copy of mail messages you've
filed.

TechMail creates and uses several special boxes on your Macintosh hard
disk:

- Inbox:  Stores all incoming mail messages when you get mail.

- Outbox:  Stores mail messages you've created and want to send in a
batch.

- Draftbox: Contains copies of messages you've created and plan to
revise before sending.

TechMail also creates a file called TechMail Addresses where it
stores address lists you've created.


2.2 SELECTING MESSAGES

-To select one message from the Inbox window, click once on the mail
message you want to select.

-To select several messages grouped together, hold down the shift key
and click once on each succeeding message you want to select.

-To select several messages not grouped together, hold down the command
key and click once on each message you want to select.

2.3. ENTERING YOUR PASSWORD

When you either check for e-mail or send or receive e-mail, you are
prompted to enter your password.  Type your password exactly as you
entered it when you registered, including upper- and lowercase.

If you've been running TechMail, with your password entered, for more
than ten hours and use check, send, or receive mail, the message
"Authentication failed: tickets expired" appears.  This is a function
of Kerberos which helps to prevent unauthorized use of your TechMail
account.  Click on the Try Again button and you will be prompted for
your password.


3. READING AND RESPONDING TO MAIL

3.1. CHECKING YOUR MAILBOX

Choose Check Mail from the Server menu. (If you have not already
entered your password or your Kerberos tickets have expired, you need
to re-enter your password.  See section 2.3,"Entering your password"
for instructions.)
    A screen appears telling you how many messages you
    have waiting on the post office server.

3.2. RETRIEVING AND READING INCOMING MAIL MESSAGES

When you retrieve incoming mail messages, TechMail transfers your mail
from the post office server to the Inbox on your Macintosh.

NOTE: Once you've retrieved mail messages from the post office server,
they are erased from the server.

3.2.1 RETRIEVING INCOMING MAIL MESSAGES

Choose Get Mail from the Server menu.  (If you have not already entered
your password or your Kerberos tickets have expired, you need to
re-enter your password.  See section 2.3, "Entering your password" for
instructions)
    If you have messages, a window appears with a listing of new
    mail messages you retrieved along with any other messages still in
    your Inbox.

    If you have no new mail messages, a message appears on the screen
    informing you of this.  If you want to open the inbox window anyway,
    click on the Open Inbox button.  Otherwise click on OK.

3.2.2 READING INCOMING MAIL MESSAGES

Click twice on the envelope icon next to the mail message you want to
read.
    A window appears with the mail message displayed. The title of the
    window is the username of the sender.

    You can make changes to the message using basic Mac editing
    techniques, refile it (see 3.5, "Saving a message"), or delete it
    (see 3.8, "Deleting a message").


3.3  RESPONDING TO A MAIL MESSAGE

When responding to a message, you can include the text from the original
message or leave it out.  You can also reply to just the sender, or to
all of the recipients.  To reply to an incoming message, you must have
the message open.

1. Choose an action:

-If you want to reply to the sender only and include the original
message, choose Reply with Text from the Local menu.

-If you want to reply to all recipients and include the original text,
choose Reply All with Text from the Local menu.

-If you want to reply to just the sender and omit the original message,
click once on the Reply button.

-If you want to reply to all recipients and omit the original message,
choose Reply All from the Local menu.
    A window appears with the header information filled in.  If you
    selected Reply with Text, or Reply All with Text, the original
    message appears indented in the window with space below for your
    reply.

2. Type your reply, then click once on the Send button.
    A message appears confirming that the mail message is being sent.


3.4  FORWARDING A MAIL MESSAGE

1. Click once on the Forward button in the incoming message
window.
    A window appears with a header that includes the original sender's
    address in the "Subject:" field, along with the original mail
    message.

2. Fill in the header.

3. Click once on the Send button.
    A message appears confirming that the mail message is being sent.


3.5  SAVING A MAIL MESSAGE

Use the Refile function to save an incoming message.  You can save a
message from either the incoming message window or from a box listing
window.  If you save a message from the the box listing window, you
must have the message selected.

1. Click once on the Refile button.
    A dialog box appears prompting you for a box name.

2. Choose an action:
-If you have a box created that you want to use, click twice on the
box name.

-If you want to create a new box, click once on the New button.
    A dialog box appears prompting you for a box name.
   >Enter a name and click on the Save button.

    The message is filed, the dialog box closes, and the Inbox window
    appears.  An "X" appears next to the mail message you've just saved
    indicating that it has been marked for deletion.


3.6 PRINTING MAIL MESSAGES

You can print either a message(s) you've selected in a box listing
window or you can print a message that is open in an incoming message
window.

1. Choose Print from the File menu.
    The print dialog box appears.

2. Change the settings to those you want, then click on OK.
    The mail message(s) prints to your local printer.


3.7 PRINTING A BOX LISTING

To print a box listing window, you must have the box open and active,
and none of the messages selected.

1. Choose Print from the File menu.
    The print dialog box appears.

2. Change the settings to those you want, then click on OK.
    The mail message(s) prints to your local printer.


3.8  DELETING A MAIL MESSAGE

You can either delete messages you've selected in a box listing window
or a message that is open in an incoming message window.

-Click once on the Delete button
    If you deleted messages in the box listing window an "X" appears
    next to the entries of the deleted messages.

    If you deleted a message in the incoming message window, the window closes
    and an "X" appears next to the entries of the deleted messages in the box
    listing window.


3.9 RETRIEVING A DELETED MAIL MESSAGE

If you delete a mail message and then change your mind, you
can "undelete" it as long as the box listing window is still open and you
haven’t quit TechMail.

1. From the box listing window, click twice on the message you deleted
and want to retrieve.
    A window appears with the message displayed.

2. Click once on the Retrieve button.
    The Retrieve button is replaced by the Delete button.

3. Click once on the Close box to close the message.
    The box listing window appears.  The "X" next to the message you
    retrieved is replaced with an open envelope icon.


4. CREATING AND SENDING A MAIL MESSAGE

4.1 CREATING A MAIL MESSAGE

1. Select New Message under the Local menu.
    A window appears displaying a blank mail message form.

2. Fill in the header information.  To move from one header field to
another, press the tab key or click once in the field.

    "To:"  Type the e-mail address of the person to whom you want to
send the mail message, for example: [e-mail].  To send a mail
message to more than one address, separate each address with a comma
followed by a space.  If you need another line to add more addresses,
press the return key.

    "Cc:"  If you want to send a copy to someone else, type in his or
her e-mail address.  To send a copy to more than one address, separate
each address with a comma followed by a space.  To add more addresses,
press the return key.

    "Fcc:"  This field appears only if you activate the File Copy
function in the User Preferences.  By using this function you can either
specify a box in which you want to automatically file a copy of all mail
messages, you create or you can leave it blank and enter the box name in
the "Fcc:" field each time you create a mail message.

    "Subject:"  Type the subject of the mail message.

3. Press the tab key or click once in the text area and type in the text
of the mail message.  When you reach the end of a line, continue typing
and the text will automatically wrap to the next line.

4.2 SAVING A DRAFT

1. Click once on the Save Draft button.
    The message is saved in a special box that is automatically created
    by TechMail called Draftbox.  Each draft is filed by the date it was
    created.

Note:  Only outgoing messages may be put into the Draftbox.

To retrieve the draft, open the Draftbox.


4.3 SENDING A MAIL MESSAGE

-Click once on the Send button in the new message window.
    A message appears confirming that the mail message is being sent.

NOTE: If your mail message is not delivered, you will receive a mail
message to that effect the next time you retrieve mail.


4.4 AUTOMATICALLY SAVING COPIES

You can automatically save copies of all the messages you create by
setting an option in User Preferences.

1. Choose User Preferences... from the File menu.
    A window appears with a box for you to specify where you want to
    store a copy of your outgoing mail messages.

2. Click once on the File Copy to button and type the name of the box
you want to use.

If you prefer to specify different boxes depending upon the message,
leave the File Copy to box blank.

3. Click on the OK button.
    Each time you send a new mail message, a copy of it will
    automatically be filed in the box you specified.


5.  ADVANCED TOPICS

5.1  OPENING BOXES
1. Choose Open from the File menu.
    A dialog box appears listing the existing boxes.

2. Click twice on the box you want to open.
    A box listing window appears for the box you selected.


5.2 OPENING MULTIPLE MAIL MESSAGES

From a box listing window, you can open more than one mail message at a
time.

1. To open several messages grouped together, hold down the shift key
and click once on each succeeding message you want to open.  Then click
twice on any selected message.

To open several messages not grouped together, hold down the command
key and click once on each message you want to open.  Then click twice
on any selected message.


5.3  REFILING A MESSAGE

You can move stored messages from one box to another.  To do this, open
the box from which you want to move the messages

1. Select the messages you want to move.

2. Click once on the Refile button.

    The refile dialog box appears prompting you for a box name.

3. Fill in the dialog box as described in section 3.5.
    The messages are filed, the dialog box closes, and the box listing
    window appears.  An "X" appears next to the mail message you've just
    saved indicating that it has been marked for removal.


5.4 INCLUDING TEXT FROM ANOTHER MESSAGE

TechMail supports the standard Cut, Copy, and Paste features
of the Mac.

1. Open the message from which you want to take the text.

2. Click and drag over the selected text.

3. Choose Copy from the Edit menu.

4. Open the mail message into which you want to paste the text.

5. Click once where you want the text inserted.

6. Choose Paste from the Edit menu.
    The text is pasted into the mail message.


5.5 ADDING A TEXT-ONLY FILE TO A MAIL MESSAGE

1. Select New Message from the Local menu.
    A window appears with a blank mail message form.

2. Fill in the header and body of the mail message.

3. At the point where you want to insert the file, choose
Insert File from the Local menu.
    A dialog box appears allowing you to choose the text file you
    want to insert.

4. Locate the file you want to insert and click once on it.
    The file is inserted into your mail message.

5.6 INCLUDING A BINARY FILE IN A MESSAGE

1. Choose Enclose Binhex from the Local menu.
    A dialog box appears allowing you to choose a file.

2. Select the file you want to enclose and click once on the
Open button.
    The dialog box closes and the message "Enclosure" appears at the
    bottom of the new message.

3. Send the message in the usual manner.
    The message is sent with the file attached to it.  If the recipient is using
    TechMail version 2, the message "Enclosure" appears at the bottom
    left corner of the message indicating that a BinHex file is enclosed.

    If the recipient is using TechMail version 1, the message "BinHex
    enclosure follows.  Use BinHex 4.0 to convert" appears in the bottom
    left corner.  The recipient must save the message in a file, edit
    out the text part of the message using a word processor, then use
    BinHex to convert the file back into it's original format.

5.7  SENDING MAIL MESSAGES IN BATCHES

Rather than sending mail messages one at a time, you can use the Outbox
to batch them.

1. After you create a mail message, click once on the Outbox
button.
    The mail message is filed in the Outbox, and the window is closed.

2. Repeat step 1 for each mail message you're sending.

3. When you are ready to send all of the messages in your outbox, choose
Send Outbox from the Server menu.
    A message appears confirming that the mail messages have been sent.


5.8  CREATING YOUR OWN PERSONAL MAILING LISTS

You can store alias names and e-mail addresses in an e-mail
address book and use them in the header of an outgoing
message.

You can
 - Add and remove entries to the address book

 - Select entries from the address bookand insert them into a message you
are creating

 - Expand alias names in a mail message you're creating to include
their e-mail address.

-Add entries
1. To add an entry, choose Edit Addresses from the Address
menu.
    The Address window appears.

2. Type a nickname in the Alias field.  Spaces are not allowed in the
Alias field, but you can use an underscore to indicate a space.

3. Press the tab key, then type the person's e-mail address in the
Address field.

4. To add another entry, press the return key and repeat steps 2 and 3.

5. Close the Addresses window to save your changes.

You can include several e-mail addresses under one alias.  Enter a comma
and the cursor will automatically move down one line.

-Remove entries
1. Choose Edit Addresses from the Address menu.

2. Click and drag the cursor over the entry(s) you want to delete.

3. Choose Cut from the Edit menu.
    The entry(s) you selected is removed from the address book.

4. Close the Addresses window to save your changes.

-Select entries for a message you are creating
1. From the New Message window, choose Select Addresses from the Address
menu.
    The Address window appears.

2. Select the address(es) you want, by highlighting, then click once on
the Select button.
    The names and addresses are inserted in the field where the cursor
    is positioned in the New Message window.

-Expand alias names to include their addresses
If you type just the alias name in any of the fields in the header
or in the text of the message you are creating,  you can automatically
retrieve his or her e-mail address by using the Expand function.

1. To expand names in the header, type the alias name as it appears
in the Alias field of the address book, in the header fields of the
message you are creating.

To expand names in the text of the message, type the alias name in
the text of the message then click and drag over the name to highlight
it.

2. Click once on the Expand button.
    The name(s) you've entered expand to include the e-mail addresses
    as they appear in your address book.


5.9 ELECTRONICALLY LOOKING UP NAMES AND ADDRESSES

There are two ways to locate someone's e-mail address.

 - If you want to find an e-mail address within MIT use the Server menu
option Directory.

 - If you want to find an e-mail address outside of MIT use the Server
menu option Finger.

-Directory
1. Choose Directory from the Server menu.
    You are prompted to enter a person's name.

2. Enter specific information, for example, Brown, John_Brown, or
John_Y_Brown then click on the Ask button.
    If an entry matches the name you requested, it is displayed on the
    screen along with the person's e-mail address and other information
    (if he or she has provided it).

    If there is no match for the name you requested, a message to that
    effect will be displayed on the screen.

    If more than one entry matches the name you requested, all matches
    appear on the screen.  To select one, enter the alias name of the
    person you want (replacing your original entry), then click on the
    Ask button

You can use the Macintosh Cut, Copy, and Paste features to include
information, such as the e-mail address from this screen in a mail
message you are creating.

-Finger option
1. Choose Finger from the Server menu.
    You are prompted to enter a username and the host computer, i.e.,
the computer on which his or her e-mail address resides.

2. Enter the person's username and host computer.  For example,
[e-mail].  Up to 100 characters are accepted
    A screen appears with all the entries that match the name on the
    host you specified.   The amount and kind of information will vary
    depending upon the host and its implementation of the Finger option.
    Also, some computers do not support Finger.

You can use the Macintosh Cut, Copy, and Paste features to include
information, such as the e-mail address from this screen in a mail
message you are creating.


5.9 SETTING USER PREFERENCES

The User Preferences feature allows you to customize TechMail.

1. Choose User Preferences from the File menu.
    A screen appears allowing you to set functions that will be performed
each time you run TechMail.

2. To set functions, click on the circle or box next to it and, when
indicated, enter the appropriate information.

The startup functions are
Get Mail:  Gets your mail from the post office server and transfers it
to the Inbox on your Macintosh.

Check for Mail:  Checks your mailbox on the post office server and
informs you of how many incoming mail messages you have.

Compose a new message:  Opens the New Message window and displays a
blank message form.

Do nothing:  Starts TechMail without performing a startup task or
displaying the startup screen.

Show spiffy startup screen:  Displays the TechMail envelope and stamp.

Other functions are
File copy to:  Saves a copy of your new messages (enter a box name, or
leave it blank to specify the box on each new message).

Custom Header Field:  Adds fields to the header of the messages you
create. If you want a custom header field that you can edit before
sending, enter it in the "One Header Field that can be edited when
sent:" box.  If you want one or more static header fields, i.e., headers
that you can't change, enter them in the "Static Header Field" box.

Auto-expand Alias on Send:  Automatically expands alias names in a mail
message header to include their e-mail addresses, using information from
your address book.

-To set the following functions, click once on the more button.

Post Office Server:  Do not change this entry from "eagle.mit.edu."

Use Hesiod to find POP server:  Looks up where your mailbox resides on
MITnet.

Outgoing Mail Server:  Do not change this entry from "mit.edu."

Directory Server:  Do not change this entry from "mit.edu."

Size to Display Text:  Specifies the size of the text displayed on the
screen.

Bcc Myself on all Outgoing Messages:  Have a blind carbon copy of all
outgoing messages mailed to you.

Show Long Headers:  Displays the entire header information on all
incoming mail messages.

Change file folder:  Changes the folder in which your boxes are stored
(Select a folder).

-To set the following functions, click on the more button:

Icon sets:  Specifies the type of icon that appears next to messages in
a box listing window.

Width of Send Window:  Sets the width of the TechMail windows.  (72 is
recommended.  Anything wider can cause unpredictable results for the
recipient.)

Use Kerberos Authentication:  Sends password encrypted over MITnet.

Message List:  Specifies whether to display just the From: field in a
box listing, or both the From: and To: fields.

6.  MENU SELECTIONS AND THEIR DEFINITIONS
The following list includes all of the TechMail menu selections, their
keyboard equivalencies (indicated in parentheses), and their
definitions.  "cmd" represents the command key.

-File menu
Open Box (cmd-O) Allows you to select a box to open.  A listing of the
contents of the box appears on the screen.

Open Message (enter) Opens a selected message in a box listing window.

Close (cmd-W) Closes the active window.  (Hold down cmd/option then
press W to close all windows.

Save Draft (cmd-S) Saves a draft of a message you are creating.

Save Text  Saves a copy of an incoming message as a text file.

Print... (cmd-P) Prints the active window or selected messages.

Page Setup  Allows you to specify certain settings for printing.

Print (cmd-P) Prints the active window, selected messages or box listing.

Help (none) Displays this Help file on the screen.

User Preferences (none) Allows you to customize TechMail.

Hide Deleted Msgs (none) Removes display of deleted messages in a box
listing window.

Quit (cmd-Q) Exits TechMail.


-Edit menu
Undo (cmd-Z)  Undo the last action.

Cut (cmd-X)  Removes selected text from a mail message or address book
and stores it in the clipboard.

Copy (cmd-C) Copies selected text from a mail message or address book
and stores it in the clipboard.

Paste (cmd-V) Inserts text from the clipboard in front of where the
cursor is positioned in the active message.

Clear (delete) Removes selected text from a mail message or address
book.

Find (cmd-F) Searches for an occurrence of a specified string of
characters in one or more messages, box, or Help file.

Find Next (cmd-G) Searches again for an occurrence of a specified string
of characters.

Select All (cmd-A) Selects all messages in a box, or selects all
addresses in an address book.


-Local Menu
New Message (cmd-N) Opens a window with a blank mail message form.

Reply (cmd-R) Creates a blank reply addressed to the sender of the
incoming mail message you were just reading, i.e., the active window.

Reply with Text (cmd-shift-R) Creates a reply addressed to the sender and
includes the text of the message of the incoming mail message you were
just reading i.e., the active window.

Reply All (cmd-option-R) Creates a blank reply addressed to all
recipients of the incoming mail message you were just reading, i.e.,
the active window.

Reply All with Text (cmd-shift-option-R) Creates a reply addressed to all
of the recipients of incoming message you were just reading i.e., the
active window and includes text of the message.

Forward (none) Creates a message containing the text from the incoming
mail message you were just reading, i.e., the active window.

Refile (none) Allows you to file a mail message into a different box.

Delete (none) Deletes an empty mailbox.

Retrieve (none) Undeletes a message

Insert File...(cmd-I) Allows you to include the text from another text
file in front of where the cursor is positioned.

Enclose BinHex (none) Allows you to include a binary file with a
message.

-Address menu
Select Addresses (cmd-L) Allows you to select e-mail addresses to insert
in the header section of a message you are creating.

Expand Addresses (cmd-E) Expands recipient names in a message you are
creating to include their e-mail addresses.

Edit Addresses (none) Allows you to add and remove entries from your
address book.

-Server Menu
Send Message (none) Sends a mail message you’ve created and closes the
window.

Send Outbox (none) Sends all messages in the Outbox.  Hold down
shift/option while choosing the Server menu to select Send Outbox/Get
Mail

Get Mail (cmd-M) Retrieves incoming mail waiting for you on the post
office server and transfers it to the Inbox on your Macintosh.

Check Mail (cmd-K) Queries the post office server as to whether you have
any incoming messages.

Directory (cmd-D) Queries the MIT on-line directory for the specified
person’s e-mail address and other directory information.

Finger (none) Checks information about a specified user on a specified
host.

-Windows Menu
Next Window (none) Activates the next window.

Window "x" (none) Activates the next window with title "x".