Chapter 10

Using Mailer

Mailer is an application for sending, receiving, and managing your electronic mail (email) messages. It is fully integrated into the desktop, allowing you to drag and drop messages and files between Mailer and other applications.

• "Starting Mailer"

• "Logging In to Your IMAP Inbox"

• "Using the Mailer Main Window"

• "Viewing Your Mail Messages"

• "Acting on Your Mail Messages"

• "Sending Mail Messages"

• "Editing and Formatting Outgoing Messages"

• "Creating and Using Mailboxes"

• "Printing Mail Messages"

• "Working with Attachments"

• "Customizing Mailer"

• "Using the File Selection Dialog Box"

The instructions in this chapter assume you are familiar with basic desktop skills and keyboard navigation.

For more information, see Chapter 1, Basic Skills and Appendix A, Keyboard Shortcuts for the Desktop. Many of the tasks you do in Mailer can be done using drag and drop.

Starting Mailer

• Click the Mailer control in the Front Panel.

Figure 10-1 Mailer icon showing new mail

Figure 10-2 Mailer icon showing read mail

Figure 10-3 Mailer icon showing no mail

When you start Mailer for the first time on your system, it looks for a local or remote Internet Messaging Access Protocol (IMAP) mailbox in your email setup.

• If the setup does not indicate the type of mailbox you have, Mailer prompts you to specify the mailbox type.

• If the setup indicates that your mailbox is local, Mailer opens your Inbox (which usually resides in the directory /var/mail/username).

• If the setup indicates that your mailbox is remote, Mailer opens the Mailer Login dialog box so you can log in to the IMAP server.

After Mailer starts, the mailbox is displayed, along with message headers and a view of the selected message.

Logging In to Your IMAP Inbox

With the Login dialog box displayed, do the following:

1. Type the server name in the IMAP Server field.

   The name that you type in this field becomes the default. Next time you log in, Mailer displays it in the IMAP Server field.

   To change this default, see "To Change the Default Mailbox Directory".

2. Type your login name in the Login field.

3. Type your password in the Password field.

4. Determine when you want Mailer to load attachment contents when it loads messages.

   To have Mailer load both the message text and attachment contents when it retrieves a message, select Always under Retrieve attachments.

   To have Mailer load the message text but not the attachment contents when it retrieves a message, select When Open under Retrieve attachments. Mailer will retrieve the contents of the attachment when you double-click the attachment icon.

5. Click Login.

   Your IMAP Inbox opens.

Using the Mailer Main Window

The Mailer main window is shown in Figure 10-4.

Figure 10-4 Mailer main window

The main window contains the following areas:

Message Header List	Displays information about mail messages
Toolbar	Contains buttons for tasks that you perform frequently
Sash	Resizes the Message Header List and message view area
Message view area	Contains header fields and message text
Attachment list	Displays icons of mail message attachments, if any

Viewing Your Mail Messages

Once you've started Mailer and begun to collect email messages, you'll want to read and perhaps sort them.