Using Insight e-mail

Arache e-mail client is called "Insight" - because of its main competitor, which is called "Outlook" ;-)

The easiest way to setup Insight is using e-mail setup wizard.

More advanced users can go to the options page. You should correctly setup SMTP and POP3 server name in network settings section, timezone and mail directory in local settings section and fill your personal information and mail transfer preferences to personal settings section. Another options is to edit ARACHNE.CFG - Arachne's plain text configuration file.

Once the e-mail is configured, you can use Insight graphical interface to compose, send, recieve and read messages and files, you can send mails using mailto type of URL, you can e-mail all displayed documents by just pressing the <F2> key and send other files by just clicking on their icons in directory listings.

Address book

Many Arachne testers were confused by absence of addressbook. There is nothing like e-mail only adressbook: however, there is Arachne Hotlist, which will hold any valid URLs, including the mailto: ones - which are also known as e-mail addresses. If you select mail address with right mouse button and click on "Add to hotlist" (or press "A" hotkey), you will be asked to edit hotlist item name - it means usually the name of the person you are adding to your hotlist.

Sending messages

You can use multiple e-mail addresses in To: or CC: fields. You can separate them using one of following characters: , ; + : .

When composing e-mail message, you don't have to specify e-mail addresses of recipients strictly manualy, from keyboard. You can use syntax @filename in To: or CC: field to use list of e-mail address stored in local file. No special formating is needed: it should be plain text file with one valid e-mail address on each line.

You can choose two ways to submit each e-mail: send it immediately to Internet (if you are online), or just to save it on your disk to OUTBOX folder. In the second case, message will actually leave your computer after clicking on the Send unsent mail icon in the Insight page (of course, you must be online to perform the upload). If you choose to send the mail when you are offline, the message will be saved to OUTBOX.

Folders

Received mail is stored in folders. Folders are simply subdirectories of your main mail directory. If you want to create, rename or remove them, just create, rename or remove the directory. You can do this using your DOS file manager - try Arachne Packages VC.APM or DC.APM if you don't have any file manager yet. Folders are listed in alphabetical order.

You can easily move received messages from one folder to another. New messages (in INBOX), archived and sent have "Move" button which allows you to move them to existing folder or even to create new folder and immediately move the message there. "Trash" button is shortcut for moving messages to TRASH folder and "Archive" for moving them to ARCHIVE folder.

Tip: to quicky delete unwanted message from folder, select it with right mouse button (or Shift+Enter) and press Delete.

e-mail Messages are stored on your disk as normal text files - following table explains the extensions:

*.CNM New mail (Compatibility: Pegasus mail for DOS on Novell networks)
*.MES Received mail - stored in folders (we avoided *.MSG because this extension was used for messages in Fidonet netmail directory, which used proprietary binary headers). "MES" is not only prefix of "message", but also prefix of "mess" ;-)
*.TBS "To Be Sent" - outgoing mail
*.SNT Sent mail

More tips & tricks

While viewing e-mail message, you can easily rename it and copy to another directory using <F2> key. You can use any filename you wish, but it is recommended to keep extension *.CNM, so Arachne or for example Pegasus mail for DOS can recognize the files later. <F2> key is also alternative way to forward mail message exactly as it is - most e-mail clients will recognize such attachment.

In case that you don't want your POP3 password to appear in ARACHNE.CFG file, you have to enter password to the input field in the top left corner of Insight page and press Accept button each time you restart Arachne.

You can also download mail by giving following URL to Arachne:
pop3://username:password@server

If you want to transfer e-mail for more mailboxes and/or send and receive e-mail at the same time, you can use Arachne script files.

Return to previous page.

*.CNM	New mail (Compatibility: Pegasus mail for DOS on Novell networks)
*.MES	Received mail - stored in folders (we avoided *.MSG because this extension was used for messages in Fidonet netmail directory, which used proprietary binary headers). "MES" is not only prefix of "message", but also prefix of "mess" ;-)
*.TBS	"To Be Sent" - outgoing mail
*.SNT	Sent mail