last modified 30 october 1998 - latest version usually available here
Welcome to PowerMail from CTM Development! PowerMail is an e-mail client for MacOS computers that combines a clear, intuitive interface with a rich set of functions for creating, sending, receiving, and managing e-mail. While novice users will be able to learn and start using PowerMail quickly, advanced users will find that PowerMail helps them organize and manage even very large amounts of e-mail with ease.
This guide introduces the PowerMail interface and the e-mail functions and options that PowerMail provides. If you have used an e-mail program before, you should be able to get started using PowerMail in a matter of minutes using this information.
PowerMail is an e-mail client for MacOS that combines powerful features with a clear, intuitive, and easy-to-use interface. PowerMail supports multiple e-mail accounts, both POP (Post Office Protocol) and IMAP (Internet Mail Access Protocol), has advanced indexing and searching capabilities, and supports multiple languages and script systems.
PowerMail is the work of a dedicated team of Macintosh software developers who appreciate the attention that you, as a user, are paying to our work. We hope to make your e-mail experience as easy and enjoyable as possible. We welcome your comments, suggestions, and feedback (feedback@ctmdev.com).
Our priorities in designing and implementing PowerMail are:
To install PowerMail, simply double-click the PowerMail Installer and follow the instructions that the installer gives you.The PowerMail installer places:
Unless you are running Mac OS 8.1, you should restart before starting PowerMail. The installer does not force you to restart, but we recommend you do so.
Note: If you are running a non-US version of Mac OS 8.0, you should install the free update to version 8.1 in order to avoid problems with Apple's Text Encoding Converter. You can find international updates to Mac OS 8.1 from the following link: http://swupdates.info.apple.com/cgi-bin/http_lister.pl?Apple_Support_Area/Apple_Software_Updates/Worldwide/Macintosh/System/Mac_OS_8.1_Update or from http://www.info.apple.com/wwswupdates
When you first run PowerMail, it creates a new folder called "PowerMail Files", which contains all the database files needed by PowerMail. You can move this folder to any convenient location on your hard disk or on a file server. (Storing the folder on a server makes PowerMail slower, but it may be useful for some situations, such as multi-user/kiosk usage). In the unlikely event that PowerMail loses track of its data files, it prompts you to locate the PowerMail Files folder again or to create a new folder.
To simplify configuration, PowerMail tries to use existing Internet preferences. If you have previously used Internet Config, PowerMail finds and uses your Internet Config setup. Internet Config is intended to simplify the lives of Internet users by allowing them to configure their Internet preferences in a single location and have all of their Internet-related programs use the same configuration. If you have previously used Internet Config, PowerMail opens its Account Setup dialog with the information from Internet Config already filled in. All you need to do is click OK. If you have not used Internet Config before, you may want to run it after installing PowerMail. Internet Config is installed in the PowerMail folder when you install PowerMail.You will need the account information provided by your network administrator or Internet Service Provider. If you need help configuring Internet Config, refer to the "User Documentation.html" file that is included in the Internet Config folder that is installed inside the PowerMail folder. If you are running Mac OS 8 and Internet Config has not been set-up, PowerMail tries to locate the Internet Setup assistant and starts it for you. Follow the instructions provided by the assistant. (Note that Internet Setup assistant is only installed if you explicitly choose to install it when installing the system software. It is not installed automatically.)
If you have not previously used Internet Config and do not have the Internet Setup assistant installed, you can create your account manually using the PowerMail Mail Accounts dialog, which is accessed through the Setup menu. See the section below on "Creating multiple accounts", which gives step-by-step instructions for setting up accounts.
Once you have configured at least one account, you can connect and read any pending incoming messages. This section takes you through the steps of connecting to a POP3 (Post Office Protocol) account and getting your messages. Once any pending messages have been transferred from the server to your computer, you can use the PowerMail browser to read and manage messages. (If you are using an account on an IMAP server, see the section below on "Using PowerMail to access an IMAP4 server".)To connect to a POP account:
PowerMail connects and retrieves any pending incoming messages. You can observe the progress in the Status Window. With a POP account, all pending messages are downloaded to your computer and appear in the In Tray in the PowerMail Browser window.
To make subsequent connections using the same settings, and without going through the Connect Dialog, choose Connect Again from the Special menu (or click the Connect Again button in the Toolbar).
PowerMail connects using the settings previously entered in the Connect Dialog.
Most of your time spent using PowerMail will be spent in the Browser window. The Browser window is divided into three panes: the In and Out trays and any local or remote storage folders that you create in the upper left, the contents of the currently selected message tray or folder in the upper right, and the contents of the currently selected message underneath.The In Tray, selected by default, lists all incoming messages. Unread messages are shown without a checkmark. Once a message has been read, a checkmark appears next to it. You can choose to view All messages, or only Read or Unread messages. Choose All, Read, or Unread from the View menu to display the messages you want to see.
To view a specific message, simply select it in the list. The message contents are displayed in the pane below the list.
The Out Tray is where all outgoing messages, both "Waiting to be sent" and Sent messages appear.
All sent and received messages are stored in a database. To help you manage and organize messages within the database, you can create any number of Archive folders. Archive folders can be organized in a hierarchical fashion, that is, folders can be subfolders of other folders.To create an archive folder:
You can move one or more messages from one folder simply by dragging them.
To move one or more messages from one folder to another:
To make a folder into a subfolder of another folder:
Drag the folder you want to be a subfolder into the folder that you want to be its "parent" folder.
A triangle appears to the left of the parent folder in the folder list, indicating that it contains a subfolder. Click the triangle to open the parent folder and display its subfolders. Click the triangle again to close the parent folder.
If you have a POP account, all messages are stored and managed locally on the hard disk of your computer. If you are using an IMAP server, you can also create remote archive folders and manage messages and folders on the server.
The PowerMail Toolbar works in conjunction with the Browser window give you quick access to commonly-used functions. As you place the cursor over any of the buttons in the Toolbar, you see a verbal description of the button's function appear at the bottom of the Toolbar (for example, New, Print, Save, Reply, Forward, etc.).You can hide or show the Toolbar, as well as anchor it in place or unanchor it to move it using the commands in the Windows menu.
Reply creates a reply message to the current message. If you select part of the message before clicking Reply, the selection is quoted at the top of the reply, using the attribution line from the Replying preferences, if enabled. If no part of the current message is selected, the entire message is quoted at the top of the reply. (See the section on "Preferences" for more information on the attribution line and Replying preferences.
You can also reply to a message by choosing Reply or Reply To All from the Mail menu. Reply creates a reply message already addressed only to the sender of the original message. Reply To All creates a reply message already addressed to all recipients of the original message.
Forward lets you forward the currently selected message. Redirect forwards the currently selected message, but addresses it as if it had been sent by the original sender and not forwarded by you. For example, if you receive a message from Juanita and you Forward it to Istvan, when Istvan gets the message it appears to have been sent by you. If you Redirect the message to Istvan, the message appears to have been sent by Juanita. It is important to understand this distinction and to use Forward or Redirect as appropriate, according to your intentions.
The previous section explained how to create archive folders and drag messages to folders to organize them however you wish. You can also delete messages, sort messages according to a criterion you choose, and control which messages are displayed in the list.Selecting messages
Select messages by clicking on them one by one or clicking and dragging to create a multiple selection. To add messages to a selection, hold the shift key as you click on each message to add. To create a contiguous list of messages to be selected, click on one message, scroll to the last message you want selected and command-shift-click on it. To select all messages in one folder or tray, use "Select All" in the Edit menu.
Deleting messages
Delete messages by dragging them to the Mail Trash in the browser window or the Finder Trash,by selecting them and clicking the trash can icon in the Toolbar or by selecting them and typing cmd-Delete (the cmd or command key is the one with a clover and Apple logo on it). Messages remain in the Mail Trash until you explicitly empty the Mail Trash by choosing Empty Mail Trash from the Special menu. After that, they are gone, gone, gone.
Controlling message display
If you have a large volume of incoming and outgoing messages, you will probably to organize the messages into folders. Even with messages organized and divided into folders, you may want to view only some of the messages, for example the unread messages, at any given time. PowerMail displays the message list of the current folder in the upper right pane of the browser window. In order to make organizing messages and viewing message lists easier, you can choose which messages are displayed in the browser message list and sort the displayed messages according to different criteria.
To select the current folder, simply click the folder name in the scrolling list in the upper left pane of the Browser window. The contents of the folder are displayed in the upper right pane.
To select which messages are displayed in and incoming mail folder, choose All, Read, or Unread from the View menu. To select which messages are displayed in and outgoing mail folder, choose All, Draft, Waiting, or Sent from the View menu.
You can also choose which information is displayed in the message list using the View Options dialog in the View menu. Check each piece of information (Subject, From, To, Date, etc.) that you want displayed as a column in the message list.
E-mail messages contain protocol header information as defined by the RFC 822 protocol. You can choose to show or hide this header information when a message is displayed in the browser window. Most users probably have no need for this information and may wish to disable showing it in the browser window to gain screen space for the actual message content. You can enable or disable showing the RFC 822 header using Show Header in the View menu. When Show Header is checked, the header is shown. When Show Header is unchecked, the header information is not shown.
PowerMail also includes a summarization feature that allows you to display only a summary of messages to conserve screen space and make scanning message content easy. You can control the amount of summarization from none (the original message is shown in its entirety) to maximum (only a brief summary of the whole message is shown).
To display messages in summarized form:
To disable summarization and display entire messages, either set the slider all the way to the left (Original), or close the Summarization window, or choose Hide Summarization from the Windows menu.
PowerMail displays messages in their entirety when the Summarization window is closed.
To sort displayed messages by a criterion, choose the desired sort criterion (Subject, Size, From, Date, etc.) from the Sort hierarchical menu in the View menu or click on the desired column heading in the browser window.
For example, to sort messages by date, with newest messages first, choose By Date from the Sort hierarchical menu in the View menu, or simply click the Date column header in the browser window. The messages are sorted by date.
Messages are normally displayed in descending order (for example newest messages first when sorted by date, or beginning of the alphabet first when sorted by subject). To sort in ascending order (oldest messages first, for example), click the downwards-pointing triangle at the top of the scroll bar in the upper right pane of the Browser window. Messages are sorted in ascending order and the triangle becomes upwards-pointing. Click it again to return to descending order.
The sort criteria are stored so that the next time you use PowerMail, sorting is the same.
PowerMail can import and export messages to and from other e-mail programs, such as Netscape communicator or programs able create Eudora mailbox format files (Eudora Pro 3, Eudora Pro 4, any version of Eudora Light, Claris Emailer - with the help of Richard Shapiro's Import/Export scripts found at ftp://ftp.fogcity.com/pub/Emailer/2.0/ImportExport3.1.hqx) - as well as any program that uses the Unix Mailbox (mbox) format, for example sendmail.
To import messages from another program:
PowerMail imports the messages stored in the file or files you chose. If you imported an In box from Eudora or Netscape Communicator, the messages appear in the In Tray. If you imported an Out box, messages appear in the Out Tray. You can then file the messages in PowerMail folders as you would any other incoming or outgoing messages. PowerMail
PowerMail can also import messages from several disk files contained in a single Finder folder in one go, creating one PowerMail folder for each imported disk file. folders in the current database in one go, creating one disk file for each folder.
Note: For best results when importing both Japanese and non-Japanese messages from Eudora, separate the Japanese and non-Japanese messages into separate files within Eudora before importing.
To export messages to another program:
PowerMail exports the messages in the selected folder to the file you chose. PowerMail can also export messages from all folders in the current database in one go, creating one disk file for each folder.
PowerMail allows you to manage incoming and outgoing messages automatically according to specified criteria using Mail Filters. For example, you could have all messages from your boss automatically stored in a special folder. Or, you could have all messages from the local used car dealership moved immediately to the Mail Trash.To set up a mail filter:
You can combine up to two criteria for acting on the filter, such as subject field contains "special offer" and sender contains "sales" and up to two actions such as File Letter in Mail Trash and Auto-reply with text "Don't send me any more junk mail".
The filtering criteria can be text in any field, or in From, Subject, To, CC, Reply-to. Actions that can be taken include filing the message in a particular mail folder or the Mail Trash, setting the label, forwarding, auto-replying using text you provide, or executing an AppleScript.
Each mail filter can be individually enabled or disabled in the Mail Filters dialog.
You can delete a mail filter by selecting it in the list and clicking Delete.
Note: Once you set up mail filters to manage messages automatically, it is up to you to keep track of where things go. PowerMail acts on your mail filters and places messages in folders, for example, according to your filters, but it does not give visual indications of where messages have been placed or which folders have unread messages in them. So, if you set up mail filters to place incoming messages in folders automatically, don't forget to check those folders periodically for new messages.
A mail database must be indexed before Find-by-content can be used. Indexing prepares your mail database so content searches are fast. An index contains significant words found in the names and contents of your files.When indexing is enabled, PowerMail indexes sender name and address, subject, recipients, and message body of all locally stored messages automatically using the Apple Information Access Toolkit (AITK). Indexing takes a little extra time after fetching messages from a server, but it allows you to find any message almost instantly, whether you have 50 messages or 5000 in your PowerMail database. Indexing is initially disabled until you do a Find operation, because this makes getting messages from the server as fast as possible. To find out more about indexing and searching, see the section below on "Using Apple Information Access Toolkit indexing and searching".
If you need to, you can add multiple accounts to be checked (Accounts dialog) as well as ask PowerMail to check your mail on a regular basis.To create additional POP or IMAP accounts:
Some of the fields, such as Description and Real Name are optional, but most must be filled in with correct information or you will not be able to connect successfully. If you want to use the account information stored using Internet Config, check "Use Internet Config", although if you are adding multiple accounts, you will probably want to enter the information directly for subsequent accounts after the first.
The "Email address" field is used for replying to received messages and to identify you in the message header of messages you send.
Be sure to choose either POP3 account or IMAP4 account from the Account Type pop-up menu. If you are not sure of the type, choose POP3, as at the time of this writing, most accounts are of this
Beside the Account Type pop-up menu, fill in your server address as provided to you. For example, for a POP account, this might be YourName@popserver.ISP.com. This information must be correct in order to connect and receive mail.
Fill in your password in the "Email password" field using the information provided by your administrator or ISP.
Fill in the name of your SMTP host for outgoing mail using the information provided by your administrator or ISP. This should be something like smtpserver.ISP.com. This information must be correct in order to be able to send mail.
Many e-mail programs, including PowerMail, support signatures. Signatures are text that is added to outgoing messages. The text for a signature can be anything you want. In PowerMail, you can have a signature for each account you create. To set the signature for an account, click Custom Signature in the Accounts dialog and enter the text you want to be used as a signature for the account. To change a signature once it is created, click Set and fill in the new text. Each message sent from the account will have the signature for that account appended at the end.
You can create as many mail accounts as you need. To delete an account that is no longer needed, simply select it in the list, then click Delete.
You can duplicate an account by selecting it and then typing Command-D. The account is duplicated and then you can rename it and modify the fields as needed.
Once you have configured one or more e-mail accounts, you can send and receive messages easily. The basic steps to connect to a POP3 server and read pending incoming messages were covered in the previous section, "First Steps with PowerMail". The particular aspects of using IMAP servers are covered in the following section, "Using PowerMail to access and IMAP4 server". This section reviews the process of connecting and receiving messages and also explains how to create, address, and send outgoing messages.
To receive incoming messages:
If you want to connect using the same account or accounts you used previously, choose Connect Again from the Special menu, or click the Connect Again button in the Toolbar.
PowerMail connects to each account you checked in the Connection dialog. For POP accounts, messages are downloaded to your local disk and decoded for reading. If indexing is enabled ("Receiving and Sending" Preferences in the Preferences dialog in the Setup menu), incoming messages are indexed for fast content searching. Indexing and searching is covered in the later section, "Using Apple Information Access Toolkit indexing and searching".
Incoming messages appear in the In Tray, which is selected by default. To read a message, simply click on it in the list. The selected message appears in the display pane below the list. If you wish to open a message into a separate window, double-click it in the list of messages. After a message has been read, a checkmark appears next to it in the list. To mark a message as unread, select it and then choose Mark Unread from the Mailbox menu.
To archive a message in a storage folder, simply drag it from the list to the desired folder.
To reply to a message, select it and then click Reply in the Toolbar. To forward a message to someone else, select it and then click Forward in the Toolbar. To redirect a message (so that it appears as if it were sent by the original sender, as opposed to being forwarded), select it and them click Redirect in the Toolbar.
Creating, addressing, and sending messages using PowerMail is easy. While there are a number of options for sending messages, you will find that sending is quite simple and straightforward. You can enclose files as attachments with your messages. Messages can be sent to any number of recipients.To create a new message:
You can determine the scheduling that PowerMail uses to transfer outgoing messages to servers. PowerMail can send messages immediately or place them in a queue of messages waiting to be sent. This allows you to send messages in batches and minimize connect time if you wish.
To schedule outgoing mail:
Choose Schedule from the Setup menu. The Schedule dialog appears.
Select one of the radio buttons in the list under "Send mail to SMTP servers". If you choose "As soon as message is sent", messages are actually sent over the network when you send them. This is the default. If you choose "When next connected to the network", messages remain waiting in the Out Tray until you connect to the network. Choose this setting if you use a dial-up connection and want to minimize connect time. Choose "Manually" if you want to send messages manually. To send a message manually, select it in the Out Tray, then choose Send from the Mail menu.
Depending on your scheduling choice and whether or not you are currently connected to the network, PowerMail handles sending mail differently and the status of messages in the Out Tray may be different.
Messages that have been saved, but not explicitly sent, appear in the out tray with the status Draft. Draft messages are never sent until you explicitly send them by opening them and choosing Send from the Mail menu, or by selecting them in the Out Tray and choosing send from the Mail menu.
Messages that you have sent, but are waiting for you to be connected to the network (if you chose "When next connected to the network") appear in the Out Tray with the status of Waiting.
If you chose Manually, when you send a message that is open, it is transferred to the Out Tray with the status of Waiting. The message is not actually sent across the network until you select it in the Out Tray and choose Send from the Mail menu.
|
To |
Primary recipients of your message. |
|
CC |
Carbon Copy, for secondary recipients. |
|
BCC |
Blind Carbon Copy, for secondary recipients not identified to the other recipients, including those in the CC list. |
PowerMail offers a rich set of options for scheduling sending outgoing mail and checking for incoming mail. Using the options in the Mail Scheduling dialog, you can configure PowerMail to check for mail and send mail in the exact conditions that you specify.Note: The options for incoming mail apply only to POP servers. Since IMAP servers are connection oriented, and since mail stays on the server except when being read, these scheduling options do not apply to IMAP servers.
To set the scheduling options:
Choose Mail Scheduling from the Special menu. The Mail Schedule dialog appears. The following sections explain the options in the Mail Schedule dialog.
Checking for incoming mail from POP servers
There are three options for checking for incoming mail automatically. They can be used together or separately. Check "When sending mail" if you want PowerMail to check for incoming messages each time you send outgoing mail. check "On startup" if you want PowerMail to check for incoming messages each time you start the program.
You can also configure PowerMail to check for mail at regular intervals measured in seconds, minutes, or hours. Since PowerMail is multi-threaded, it can check for mail in the background without interrupting what you are doing, such as creating an outgoing message or reading received messages. PowerMail keeps track of when you are connected to the network, so you can ask it to check for mail at the interval you specify only when connected (by checking "only if connected to network" in the Mail Schedule dialog).
Sending outgoing mail to SMTP servers
You can configure PowerMail to send mail at specified times. If you check "When getting mail" in the Mail Schedule dialog, PowerMail sends any pending messages each time you connect to check for incoming mail. If you check "Before quitting", PowerMail sends pending messages when you quit the program.
PowerMail normally sends mail according to the setting of the group of radio buttons in the list under "Send mail to SMTP servers" in the Mail Schedule dialog. If you choose "As soon as message is sent", messages are actually sent over the network when you click Send (without placing them in the Out tray. This is the default. If you choose "When next connected to the network", messages remain waiting in the Out Tray until you connect to the network. Choose this setting if you use a dial-up connection and want to minimize connect time. Choose "Manually" if you want to send messages manually. To send a message manually, select it in the Out Tray, then choose Send from the Mail menu.
You can tell when there are messages waiting to be sent in the Out tray. When there are messages waiting, the text "Out Tray" is displayed in bold type to remind you.
Minimizing connect time
Users who connect to a network or Internet Service Provider through a dial-up connection using the PPP (Point-to-Point) protocol typically want to minimize their connect time and only connect when there is actually mail to send or to check for incoming messages. PowerMail can, in some configurations, help to minimize connect time automatically by keeping track of the PPP connection and disconnecting when there is nothing to do. PowerMail tries, as far as is possible, to keep track of your PPP connection and you can configure PowerMail to force a PPP disconnect when it has finished sending mail or checking for mail. That is, PowerMail knows when it initiates a PPP connection and may be able to disconnect automatically after performing mail tasks. However, this is only possible in certain configurations. At the time of this writing, PowerMail can only manage PPP connections automatically if you are using either Open Transport PPP or Apple Remote Access 3.0 or later. Future versions of PowerMail may be able to mange connections automatically with other PPP software.
To configure PowerMail to manage PPP disconnects automatically:
If you are using one of the PPP version mentioned above, PowerMail disconnects automatically after sending mail or checking for incoming mail. If you are using different PPP software, you need to manage the PPP connection manually. This option only applies to POP accounts. Since IMAP accounts are connection oriented and the mail resides on the server, you need to connect manually to perform mail tasks when using an IMAP account. For more information on IMAP accounts, see the section below on "Using PowerMail to access an IMAP4 server".
PowerMail includes an Address Book so that you can create recipients and groups, filter the list of recipients for searching, and manage recipients. Using the Address Book to create, edit, and delete recipients and groups is extremely simple.To access the Address Book:
Choose Address Book from the Windows menu. The Address Book window appears.
The Address Book window shows all entries, or only those entries that start with text you type in the View Only filter field, in a scrolling list in descending alphabetical order. Along the bottom left of the Address Book window is a row of buttons. Each button lets you perform a common address book function, such as creating or editing entries. Some buttons are disabled (grayed out) unless an entry is selected. When you place the cursor over one of the buttons, a brief description of it appears below the row of buttons.
Use the buttons to create a new recipient, create a new group, edit the selected recipient or group, duplicate the selected recipient or group, or delete the selected recipient or group (left to right in the row of icons).
Type into the View Only text field to filter the display to include only those entries that begin with the text you type. For example, to display only those entries that begin with "vin", type "vin". This would display "Vinnie" and "Vinelands", but not "Vito" or "Au Bon Vin".
To create a new message that is already addressed to a recipient or group:
You can also drag address book entries to the recipients field of an open message to add them to the recipients list.
You can add address book entries from another e-mail program by dragging and dropping them from the other programs address book window to the PowerMail Address Book window. You can export addresses to another program in the same way if the other supports drag-and-drop importing of addresses.
Address Book entries are sorted by name in descending alphabetical order by default. To sort entries according to another criteria (address or comment):
Click on the column heading of the desired sort criterion.
The list of entries is sorted in descending alphabetical order according to the criterion you chose.
One of PowerMail's most powerful features is its integrated support for both POP and IMAP servers. An IMAP4 (Internet Mail Access Protocol) server has certain advantages over a POP server, particularly for mobile users. For example, an IMAP server allows you to view messages without having to transfer them to your computer first. When you connect to an IMAP account, only the subject headers are transferred. You can then access selectively only those messages that interest you at the moment. This can be particularly significant if you receive large quantities of mail or if you are traveling and accessing your mail from a slow or unreliable dial-up connection, such as in an airport or hotel, for example. This is possible only with accounts that are specifically set up as IMAP accounts. Not all Internet Service Providers offer IMAP accounts. Contact your network administrator or Internet Service Provider to find out if IMAP is available.Unlike POP3 which is batch-oriented, IMAP4 is connection-oriented. This means that there is a notion of session, during which PowerMail will be actively be in contact with the server whether you are doing something or not.
Creating an account for use with an IMAP server requires the same information to be entered in the accounts dialog as for a regular POP3 account except that you select "IMAP" in the pop-up menu.
While you can select several POP3 accounts to be checked one after another, at any given time you may only have one IMAP session active in PowerMail. Once a connection is established, PowerMail will obtain a list of all messages from the server, write this summary to a local cache file, and display these in a folder named INBOX which will become selected.
These messages will be marked in the In Tray as Remote items, meaning that they are not physically on your own hard disk and will disappear once disconnected. You can read a remote message the same as a local message, by clicking on it to select it. The message is then read from the server and appears in the Browser window. However, since the message remains on the server, the only way to view it after disconnection or to copy any enclosure to your hard disk is to make a local copy of the message.
To make a local copy of a remote message that can be accessed when disconnected:
To delete a message from an IMAP server:
The message is deleted from the IMAP server.
Due to the way the IMAP specification was designed, the action of moving a message from one folder to another does not exist. When you drag a message from one IMAP folder to another, you actually make a copy. You can delete the original manually. Or, if you wish, you can have PowerMail delete the original by option-dragging the message from one folder to the other. Since it is the remote server that makes the copy and deletes the original, there is a slight risk that the original gets deleted even if the copy wasn't successful (lack of server disk space, for example).
The IMAP4 protocol also defines the notion of server-based folders. These are similar to the local folders that you can manage using PowerMail, except that they remain on the server and their contents are only available while you are connected.
Remote folders appear with a distinctive icon below the "Trash" icon in the upper-left pane of the Browser window.
To create a remote folder:
Your folder is created on the server.
Note: You can create remote subfolders on an IMAP server with the restriction, at this time, that a remote folder cannot be a subfolder of the In Tray. Remote folders can, however, be subfolders of other remote folders.
To move a message from one remote folder to another or from the In Tray to a remote folder, simply drag the message to the desired folder.
To delete a remote folder:
The folder is deleted from the server.
Remember that when you are managing messages and folders on an IMAP server, PowerMail is merely issuing commands to the server according to the IMAP protocol. This differs completely from the way that PowerMail manages messages and folders locally when dealing with POP servers. Under certain circumstances, the exact behavior may vary slightly based on the IMAP implementation of any given server. PowerMail has been tested with a number of different IMAP servers.
You can configure the root folder path for your IMAP account. PowerMail only displays the portion of the server folder hierarchy that you dteremine.
To configure the root folder path:
For example, to make the path the Mail folder inside the User folder inside the Omar folder, enter Omar/User/Mail/.
You can use wildcard characters. For example, Mail* will list all folders whose name begins with "Mail", while Mail/* lists only folders and messages inside the "Mail" folder.
To see all folders on the IMAP server, leave the root folder path blank.
PowerMail does not currently have an interface mechanism to subscribe to IMAP folders; however, using the root folder path described in the previous section, you can display subscribed folders previously set up by another e-mail client.
One of PowerMail's most powerful features is the ability to index and rapidly search local message content for user-defined search terms. PowerMail is able to do this through support for the Apple Information Access Toolkit, specially-developed technology for efficient indexing and extremely rapid searching.Important: PowerMail can only index and search locally stored messages. This means that the indexing and searching options described here apply only to incoming messages downloaded from a POP account or messages that have been copied locally from an IMAP server to your hard disk. PowerMail cannot index and search messages that are stored remotely on an IMAP server.
Indexing messages
In general, indexing is done automatically when messages are fetched from the server. Aside from enabling indexing, which defaults to off, there is nothing that the user needs to do regarding indexing. You can also build or rebuild the index manually at any time.
To enable automatic indexing:
To build or rebuild the index manually (whether or not indexing is enabled):
Choose Rebuild Index from the Folders hierarchical menu in the File menu.
If the messages were not previously indexed, PowerMail builds the index for the first time. If the messages had already been indexed, PowerMail rebuilds the index. Ordinarily, you only need to build or rebuild the index the first time you enable indexing, or when you re-enable indexing after it has been disabled. When indexing is enabled, PowerMail automatically indexes incoming messages as they are received and outgoing messages as you create them.
Finding search terms in message content is extremely simple. Searching applies to the sender name and address, subject, recipients, and body of the searched messages.
To search for text in one or more messages (assuming the messages have already been indexed automatically or manually):
If no match for your search criteria is found, then "No match found" appears in the Find dialog. Otherwise a window appears with the results ranked according to relevance (relevance ranking is explained below).
If you want to search for additional occurrences of a string that occurs in a message, select the text you want to search for, then choose Find. The Find dialog appears with the selected text in the search string field.
To find other messages similar to the ones in the search results list, select one or more messages in the list, then click Find Similar. You can choose up to ten messages as criteria for a subsequent search using Find Similar.
While the technology behind message indexing and searching is complex, using it is extremely simple. In order to make the best use of PowerMail's searching capabilities, keep the following in mind:
You can turn indexing on in the Receiving and Sending panel of the Preferences dialog (found in the Setup menu). The first time you do a Find, PowerMail asks you if you want to build an index. Click OK. PowerMail builds an index for existing messages and turns on indexing so that subsequent messages are indexed automatically.
To turn indexing off, check Disable Indexing of Messages in the Receiving and Sending preferences. You can always build or rebuild the index manually by choosing Rebuild Index from the Archive Folders hierarchical menu in the Mailbox menu.
The results are shown in a window with a "Score" shown as a percentage and ranked according to this score. The relevance, or score, is ranked according to the frequency that the search terms are found within the message. Ordinarily this results in the closest match at the top of the list.
PowerMail has been specifically designed to be world-ready. Great care and emphasis has been placed on using all enabling technology from Apple and making sure that PowerMail is particularly well-adapted for non-English users, including users of non-Roman script systems such as Cyrillic, Arabic, Japanese, Chinese, or Korean. PowerMail can send, receive, index, search, and decode mail messages in any of these languages or script systems, including multiple languages and scripts within the same message.Note: While PowerMail correctly handles message content containing non-Roman characters, if you are using a non-roman language (i.e. Japanese, Korean, Cyrillic, Arabic, etc...) that requires a Language Kit or a localized system, you need to use the "Language Register" application on PowerMail first.
Language Register is found in the Apple Extras folder after you install a language kit or international system) in order to properly display non-Roman characters in Preferences, attribution lines, Mail Filters, and folder names.
Text encodings
In general, dealing with non-Roman script systems and encoding and decoding of messages is transparent and does not require any intervention by the user, with the exception of setting a couple of preferences. See the section below on Encoding preferences for more information on these settings. These preferences affect only the way that messages are sent. PowerMail tries to encode messages for maximum compatibility regardless of the encoding method specified in the preferences. (For example, if you specify ISO-Latin 1 for encoding, but your message does not contain any characters outside the US ASCII range, PowerMail sends the message using US ASCII encoding for maximum compatibility. This is automatic and requires no intervention from the user.)
Messages are always decoded using whatever encoding they had when they were sent. (Some messages, particularly in Japanese, are sent with no indication of their encoding, although this is in violation of the MIME specification that governs encodings. In such cases, PowerMail uses its default settings to decode the message.)
You can set your preferences for many settings in PowerMail using the Preferences dialog.To set your preferences:
There are preference categories for:
The General preferences let you set the default account for new messages and for replying.
The Replying preferences let you set the behavior for replying to messages you receive. You can set the default to reply to either the Sender only, or to the Sender and all other recipients.
You can choose to have replies use the standard "Re:" subject, or to use numbered subjects "Re(2)", "Re(3)", and so on.
You can choose to use an "attribution line" that appears above quoted text when replying to a message. (To quote text from a received message in the reply, select the message to quote, then click the Reply button in the Toolbar.) If you check "Use attribution line when quoting" checkbox, the attribution line you create appears above the quoted text. You can create an attribution line from a combination of text you type and placeholder fields such as date and time, that are filled in automatically when the reply is sent. A default attribution line is provided, but you can change it to anything you want.
To create an attribution line:
You will end up with something like the following:
Well, <sender name>, I was shocked when on <short date> at <time>, you sent me:
Place holder fields enclosed in brackets, are filled in accordingly when you send the reply.
The Receiving and Sending preferences let you set the default behavior for how messages are decoded and indexed. Check Disable indexing of messages if you do not want messages to be indexed automatically. Retrieving messages from a POP server is somewhat faster if indexing is disabled.
The Encoding preferences let you set the behavior for encoding messages you send. (Received messages are always decoded using whatever encoding they were sent with.) Whatever script systems you have installed appear in the Script pop-up menu. Many users will only have Roman installed, but if you have others, choose whichever one you want.
Based on the script you choose, relevant options appear in the Encoding pop-up menu. Only choices that are relevant to the chosen script appear. Choose the encoding method you want to use.
You can also choose the encoding method used for enclosures. The choice will depend to some extent on the type of computer your recipients are using. You can also choose whether or not to compress enclosures using Stuffit. If your recipients are not using MacOS computers, or you are not sure what type of computers they are using, leave this option unchecked.
The Display preferences let you set the display font according to the script system and to select how to display mail headers.
The Folders preferences let you set the location of the PowerMail Files folder and the folder where incoming enclosure files are stored after downloading.
IMAP
The IMAP preferences let you set the behavior for options related to IMAP servers.
The Notifications preferences let you set the notification sound used for sent messages, errors, and the arrival of new mail. You can also choose to display an alert when new mail arrives.
The Labels preferences let you assign names and colors to the priority labels of messages displayed in message lists.
To customize a label:
The Indexing preferences let you enable or disable automatic indexing of messages and choose a method for processing Roman text.
See the section above on indexing for an explanation of indexing options.
PowerMail provides mechanisms for multiple users to use the program on a single computer, each with his or her own set of message folders, preferences, address book, etc.To create a new environment for a different user:
PowerMail creates a new folder containing an entirely new user environment with the name and location you chose. This includes a mail database, preferences, and address book, and everything else you need to use PowerMail.
You can create an environment for each user. Once these have been created, you can access the environment for a given user by double-clicking that user's Message Database file. You may wish to create an alias for the Message Database file and give it the name of the user. Then, to activate that user's environment, simply double-click the appropriately named alias. For example, if you have created user environments for Martina and Kim and created aliases for their Message Database files using their names, Martina can activate her PowerMail environment by double-clicking the alias named Martina, and Kim can activate hers by double-clicking the alias named Kim. This makes it possible for several users in a home or small office context to user PowerMail on a single computer while maintaining separate e-mail environments including messages, addresses, and preferences.
Once you have your account or accounts set up correctly, you should find that connecting to accounts, sending and receiving mail, and managing messages is incredibly easy and trouble-free. If you have trouble setting up your account or accounts, the information below may help you resolve problems. Most problems involve incorrect information entered into the Accounts dialog when setting up accounts. In all cases, you will need to know the account information from your network administrator or Internet Service Provider and to enter the pertinent information EXACTLY correctly into the appropriate field of the Accounts dialog. In particular, you must have the correct account type (POP3 or IMAP4) selected in the account type Pop-up menu, and the address, password, and SMTP host information must be correct.Dialup
If you are using an Internet Service Provider (ISP) account to provide a network connection over a phone line, when you choose Connect from the Special menu, PowerMail tells your modem software to dial up a connection to your ISP account, if a connection isn't currently established. To send and receive messages, you must be able to establish a connection.
If you cannot establish a connection, ensure your PPP and TCP/IP software is configured correctly, and that your ISP account is configured for PPP access. Your ISP representative should be able to assist you with configuring your network software.
POP Accounts
For POP servers that do not support "UIDL" command, make sure that "Systematically retrieve all messages" is checked in the POP Account Options dialog.
To set this option:
In an IMAP server takes too long to disconnect, hold down the Option key when choosing Quit. PowerMail ignores the server's response and Quits immediately.
Some IMAP servers do not support all IMAP commands. If you connect to an IMAP server but are unable to see the list of messages, it may be that the server in questions does not support the RFC.HEADER.LINES command, which is the command that PowerMail uses to build the message list as fast as possible. This command requests the server to send only the subject line of the message header. If your server does not support this command, you can configure PowerMail to use the RFC822.HEADER command instead. This command, which should be supported by all IMAP servers, requests the entire message header information. Building the message list will be slower, but you should be able to access any IMAP server using this command.
To configure PowerMail to request the entire header:
The most important thing to know about text encodings is that PowerMail requires Text Encoding Converter 1.3.1 or greater. This is installed with PowerMail. In the event that you experience problems (such as error -8749) when trying to send messages with accented characters in the subject line, try removing the Text Encoding Converter extension from the Extensions folder in the System folder and then reinstalling PowerMail and restarting your computer.
CTM is serious about providing our customers with the finest quality software possible. We want your experience using PowerMail to be enjoyable. If you have trouble using PowerMail, first be absolutely certain that your account is set up correctly. Contact your network administrator or Internet Service Provider if you need help setting up your account. Also, please make sure that your TCP/IP and/or PPP settings are correct for the type of connection you are using. If you are unable to resolve the problem, you may be able to get additional help from the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) document on the CTM web site (http://www.ctmdev.com/faq.shtml). The FAQ will be updated as we receive feedback from users.PowerMail is developed by a dedicated team of Macintosh software professionals who take pride in their work and care about your opinions. We have made every effort to create a program that is at once powerful, rich in features, and easy to use -- and to offer it to our customers at the lowest possible cost. While we are proud of what we have achieved in developing PowerMail 2.1, we are also committed to continuing to enhance and develop PowerMail with the objective of offering our customers the best in ongoing service and support. We welcome your comments, questions, and suggestions at (feedback@ctmdev.com). We hope that you enjoy using PowerMail !