• Installing
• Configuring
• UnInstalling

Installing

There are two ways to install Scribe, depending on which download you have. Either you have a .zip file or a .exe file.

• Installing the zip file
  Using a program like WinZip, extract the files in the archive to a new directory created for Scribe. Make sure the "Use Folders" options is on otherwise the help files won't be in the right place. To start the program, double click on the [In]Scribe.exe file.
• Installing the exe file
  Double click on the .exe to start the installation process. The setup program will guide you through the installation, just follow the prompts. Then when thats done double click on the desktop or start menu item called "Scribe" to start the program.

When you have installed the application there are some command line options you can use the start Scribe with.

• /o [filename]
  Sets the options file to use. Files with the extension ".ini" will be read and written in text, other extensions will be in binary. The default file is scribe.r in the same directory as the executable program.
• /m [address[,address]]
  
• /t [address[,address]]
  New email, specify the primary addressee of the message
• /f [filename]
  New email, specify the file which should be sent as the body of the message
• /b (no parameter)
  If present, indicates that the file is binary and should be attached.
• /c [address[,address]]
  New email, specify Carbon Copy (CC:) recipients of the message
• /s ["subject"]
  New email, specify the message subject (must appear in quotes)

When you run the program for the first time Scribe won't find any local storage for email and contacts, it will prompt you to create them. If you don't have existing folders then you should say yes. If you do have an existing installation with mail folders then say no, then use File -> Open Folders to browse to the location of the folders and open them.

Then once you have the folders setup you need to setup the options. Click File -> Options and begin filling out your identification and server details. The following is a description of the different options:

• Identity Tab
  • Name
    Enter your name. (If you are using InScribe then use the name that you registered the product with)
  • Software Key
    InScribe only: enter the software key from the purchase response email. If you have lost your key then send me a mail stating the name you purchased InScribe with and I can reply with your key. (Also when Scribe supports multiple profiles in the future you will be able to have different keys for different names.)
  • Email Address
    Enter in your email address.
  • Reply Address
    If you have a reply email address different to your normal email address, enter it here, otherwise leave it blank.
  • Signature XML
    Use the "..." button to select a file you wish to use as a signature. The file's contents will be appended to all new email and if selected in the options, replys and forwards as well. The signature file's contents can contain commands that are executed when the signature is added to an email. These commands are formatted in SGML and are inserted amongst the text of the signature. The following commands are available:
    • <random-line filename="filename.ext">
      Prints a random paragraph from the file specified.
    • <include-file filename="filename.ext">
      Inserts the file specified.
    • <cursor>
      Sets the cursor position.
  • Mail Folders
    This is the location of the file that contains all your email and contacts. You shouldn't need to change this, it's more for information. The sub folder locations dialog specifies which folder to use for InBox/OutBox etc. When you rename a system folder then these values change to track the current name. If something goes wrong then you can use the sub folder location dialog to fix it up again.
• Send Tab
  • Server
    This is the domain or IP of your SMTP server. If you need to specify a non default port for your SMTP server then use the syntax: <server>:<port>
  • User Name
    If you log into your SMTP server using an ESMTP user/password for authentication then put your user name here. If your using a normal SMTP server then leave it blank.
  • ESMTP Authenticate / Password
    Switch for ESMTP. Enter password here as well. Check the features for supported login methods.
• Receive Tab
  If you are using InScribe this tab contains a list of accounts, if you are using i.Scribe then this tab shows the options for a single account. In either case the actual options for a mail receival account are the same.
  • Mail Box Type
    Set this to the tpye of mailbox. Usually this is POP3, leave blank if your not sure. The IMAP4 support only fetchs mail from the server in much the same way that POP3 does. It doesn't allow managing of mail on the server yet.
  • Server
    Enter in the addres of the server. You can specify a non-default port using the <server>:<port>. Most servers are similar to mail.isp.com if your looking for a setting from your ISP.
  • Name
    Name is the user name you have been given for your email account. It's not your actual name, although it may be similar.
  • Password
    Your password goes here, it will be given to you with your username.
  • Check every ?? minutes
    If this isn't blank then every so many minutes Scribe will check the account for new email.
  • Leave messages on server
    If you select this option then new email will be downloaded but not deleted from the server. All email currently on the server is stored as a list of unique identifiers in the Scribe options file. That way scribe can track the old mail on the server and download ones it hasn't seen yet. If the options file goes missing all mail will be considered "new" and be downloaded at the next connection.
  • Destinaion folder
    This folder is where new email from this account will be put. If this is blank then by default the email goes into the /Inbox folder specified in the sub folder locations dialog.
  • Currently ?? are on the server
    This is an old option that shouldn't be used. Just ignore it.
• Options Tab
  • Quote when replying with ???
    This option allows your to quote the contents of the incomming mail when replying. This adds the specified characters to the start of each line. Typically the string "> " if used for quoting.
  • Append signatures to replies and forwards
    Automatically adds your signature to the bottom of a reply or forward.
  • Populate recipients from clipboard
    If this option if switched on scribe checks the clipboard when a new email is created, if a string with a '@' symbol less than 100 characters long is present it assumes its an email address and puts it in the recipients feild by default. This is really usful for emailing to an address without a hyperlink. Copy the address to the clipboard, hit new mail... and off you go. Sometime you'll have an email address in the clipboard thats not who you want to send to, in which case you have to delete the recipient. Or turn off the option.
  • Minimize to tray icon
    This just hides the main window while minimized. So the window doesn't clutter the start bar.
  • Check default email client on startup
    Win32 supports a default email client for mailto: URL's. If this option is set then Scribe will monitor that setting on startup and prompt you if it doesn't point to Scribe.
  • New Email Sound
    If this points to a wav file then that sound will be played when new email arrives.
  • Log File
    If you need to see the client/server dialog that scribe goes through when connected to a server then set this to a file name (doesn't have to exist by default). Then as Scribe sends and receives information it will write a copy to this file. However now days the status window contains a visual log of the transaction so it's easier to see whats going on. So this option is not really needed anymore.
• Connection Tab
  • SOCKS5 server/username/password
    If you access the internet through a firewall running socks5 then set this to the address of the firewall, otherwise leave it blank. The username/password is only required for authenticated access. Use if required.
  • Check for dialup connection before receive
    If you use a dialup connection to the internet this option will stop Scribe from automatically checking email while there is no dialup. If you access the mail server over a LAN or broadband connection this switch this off.
  • Download mail on startup
    This option will make Scribe check mail as soon as it has loaded.
  • Default receive action
    InScribe only: specify what the "receive mail" button does.
• Appearence Tab
  • Editor Font
    Select the font to use in the preview pane and the mail compose/view window.
  • Wrap lines at ??
    Wraps the text in the mail window at a specific column or at the edge of the window if no value is supplied. Replys are wrapped to the column value specified or the default of 76 if nothing is specified.
  • Wrap received mail as well
    With the addition of a wrapping text view, this option no longer does anything.
  • Draw grid
    Draws a grid in the main windows's item list.
  • Preview first lines of email
    Shows the first few lines of an email in the main window's list. The text is in a smaller font coloured blue. Often you can tell the basic content of the message from the first few lines and decide whether to read the email or discard it.
• Plugins Window
  To access the plugin window click File -> Plugins. This window allows you to load, unload and configure plugins for scribe. If you a 3rd party developer looking to create a plugin for Scribe then I'm more than happy to help you. The architeture is fairly flexible. However I'm still adding the the functions that can be performed by a plugin. Currently plugins can handle directory services, content display and text processing.
  • Add
    Loads a new plugin into Scribe. The menu shows any plugins in the same directory as scribe and gives you an option to browse for plugins elsewhere. If you load a plugin and it doesn't say "loaded" then the most likely problem is that it's an old plugin that doesn't support the latest format for plugins. You will need to get a recent version from the Scribe website or the plugin vendor.
  • Remove
    Remove the selected plugin(s).
  • Configure
    Open the configure dialog for the selected plugin. Some plugins have some properties that can be edited. Others have full blown user interfaces. Some just work.
  • About
    About displays some information about the plugin, including the file that it's loaded from and a description from the object.
  Heres the current list of plugins available:
  • IE Html display.
  • Open LDAP directory service.
  • International PGP plugin.

How you uninstalling Scribe is dependent on which method you used to install it. If you used the zip file to install Scribe with then you can just delete the directory containing Scribe and your done.

If you used the self contained installed exe then go into Scribe's entry in the Start Menu and select "uninstall".

No settings are left in the registry and no dll's or other files are put into system directories. If you want to keep your folders and email then don't delete the folders.mail file in Scribe's directory.