Mailboxes

CommuniGate messages are stored in Mailboxes. Messages sent by CommuniGate users appear in their Out Boxes, incoming messages appear in In Boxes. Messages scheduled for processing by communication modules are placed in module queues, which are similar to user In Boxes. Additionally, users can create custom mailboxes - folders on their disks that are used to file incoming and outgoing messages.

This chapter explains how to work with server mailboxes, how to create custom mailboxes, and it describes the operations that can be performed on messages in a mailbox.

Mailboxes Window Out Box In Box  The Sent Messages Mailbox  Creating Custom Mailboxes  Renaming and Deleting Mailboxes Viewing Mailboxes  Transferring Messages between Mailboxes  Opening Messages in Mailboxes  Looking for a Message in Mailboxes  Marking Messages as Unread  Replying and Resending  Opening the Next Unread Message  Adding Notes to Messages  Printing Messages  Deleting Messages from Mailboxes  Finding the Message's Mailbox  Storing Messages as Disk Files

Mailboxes Window

Choose Mailboxes from Windows menu to open the window where you can view and manipulate mailboxes.

The upper part of the list contains service mailboxes: In Box, Out Box, Sent Messages and Trash mailboxes. these mailboxes get created by CommuiGate and always present. The lower part of the list contains optional user-createable Custom mailboxes.
You can open mailboxes by double-clicking their name in Mailboxes window; by selecting them and hitting Enter key; or by choosing their name from Windows menu.

Out Box

When a message is composed and submitted to the CommuniGate Server, it appears in the Out Box of the user who created it. Besides, it is placed into the queues of the communication modules that should process the message. When a message is sent to all its recipients of a given service type, it is removed from the communication module queue. When it is deleted from all module queues, it is deleted and removed from the sender Out Box. If the Keep Sent Messages on Server option was selected when the message was sent, the message is not deleted and stays in the sender Out Box.

Users can explicitly delete messages from their Out Boxes. If a message to be deleted is being processed by some communication module, processing is interrupted.

To view the content of your Out Box, choose Out Box from the Windows menu or double-click its name in Mailboxes window..

In Box

Each registered user has an In Box containing all messages stored in the CommuniGate Server queues and directed (routed) to that user. If a message is routed to several users on the same CommuniGate Server, it appears in all In Boxes of those users.

To view the content of your In Box, choose In Box from the Windows menu.

When a message appears in your In Box, it is marked as unread. Opening an unread message is processed as the "delivering" of that message to the recipient. If a Return-Receipt was requested by the message sender, the Return-Receipt message is generated and sent.

When you delete a message from the In Box, the message disappears from your In Box, but it is not removed from the Server disk immediately, since it can be routed to other users or communication modules. The address record of the recipient who has deleted a message in her In Box is marked as inactive. Only when all users and modules delete the message from their In Boxes and queues, so all address records are marked as inactive, the message is deleted completely from the Server queues.

It is very important to understand that each message submitted to the Server appears in several queues: in the Out Box of the sender, in the local recipients In Boxes, and in the queues of the modules that will deliver the message to non-local recipients. All these queues contain the same message, not multiple copies of it.

The Sent Messages Mailbox

Since sent messages stay is the Out Box only till they are delivered or sent to other mail systems, the Out Box should not be used to archive messages you send. Instead, the mailbox Sent Messages is created on your local disk. If the Keep Sent Messages on Disk option is selected, each composed message is copied to the Sent Mesages mailbox after it has been submitted to the CommuniGate Server.

Note: The message copies stored in the Sent Messages mailbox do not contain copies of attached files. Instead, only the attached file references (the names and disk locations) are stored with these message copies.

To view the content of your Sent Messages mailbox, choose Sent Messages from the Windows menu.

Creating Custom Mailboxes

The Sent Messages mailbox introduces the concept of local mailboxes. Local mailboxes are located on your disk, and they have no connection with the CommuniGate Server. It means that messages stored there do not transform or change, and they are not sent to anybody: local mailboxes contain inactive copies of the messages you have sent or received.

You can create as many local Custom mailboxes as needed. To create a custom mailbox, bring Mailboxes window to the foreground and choose New Mailbox from the Mailboxes menu. A dialog box appears and allows you to enter a new mailbox name. To create a sub-mailbox (a mailbox inside another mailbox), check "create sub-mailbox" checkbox and select the mailbox where the sub-mailbox should be created.

Names of the local mailboxes created appear in the Custom Mailbox submenu in Windows menu.

Renaming and Deleting Mailboxes

To rename or delete a custom mailbox, bring Mailboxes window to foreground, select one mailbox in the list of mailboxes and choose Rename Mailbox or Delete Mailbox from Mailboxes menu.

Only custom mailboxes can be renamed or deleted, and only one at a time.
Mailboxes that contain messages or nested mailboxes cannot be deleted. You should delete their contents first.

Viewing Mailboxes

To view a mailbox content, choose the mailbox name from the Windows menu, or double-click its name from Mailboxes window. A window appears and displays messages in that mailbox. For each message a set of its attributes is shown. The labels on the top of the window display the attribute names.

The Status attribute column contains status icons. The set of icons depends on the mailbox you are viewing.

Sent messages (in the Out Box) are displayed with the following status icons:

	the message is still in queues, i.e. it has not been sent to some recipients yet;
	the message has been sent and it is on its way to the recipients;
	the message has been received by the recipients;
	the message transfer failed;
	the delivery of the message was delayed by user;
	the message was suspended by the server;
	the message is being sent right now;

Received messages (in the In Box) are displayed with the following status icons:

	the message has not been opened yet ( an "unread letter");
	the message has been opened;
	the message has been replied to;
	the message has been forwarded;
	the message has been redirected;
	the message has been printed;
	the message is marked as an important one;
	the message has some attached files;

The From column shows the address of the message sender. This column is not displayed in the Out Box and in the Sent Letters mailbox, because all messages in those mailboxes are sent by you.

The Recipient column shows the recipient address. If a message has several recipients, only one is shown. This column is not displayed in the In Box, since the recipient of all messages in your In Box is you.

The Priority column is blank if a message has Regular Priority. Messages with other priorities have one of the following marks in that column:

	this marker is displayed if some recipients are marked with High Priority;
	this marker is displayed if the message was sent with Low Priority.

The Subject column displays message Subjects or Notes (see below).

The Size column displays message sizes on disk.

The Date column displays the date and time when messages were sent.

You can sort messages in a mailbox window using the View menu. The colnumn of the attribute used for sorting is displayed highlited. You can select other sorting attribute by clicking its header.

If you want to reverse the sorting order, choose Reverse from the View menu or click direction icon on the right side of the mailbox header. For example, if you select View by Size, the largest message is displayed first. If you choose Reverse, the smallest message is displayed first.

You select messages by clicking its attributes. The attributes of selected messages are highlighted. Use the Shift and the Command keyboard keys to select several messages in a mailbox window. You can also select several messages in a mailbox by clicking and dragging.

Transferring Messages between Mailboxes

You can transfer messages from the In Box and the Sent Messages mailbox to any other custom mailbox. Also, you can transfer messages from a custom mailbox to any other custom mailbox. To transfer messages, select them and choose Transfer To from the Windows menu. The submenu appears and allows you to choose the custom mailbox to transfer the messages to. You can also use the standard drag-and-drop technique to transfer messages between mailboxes.

Opening Messages in Mailboxes

To open and read messages, you select them and choose Open Message from the File menu. The other way to open a message is double-click it in a mailbox window. Also, you can select messages in a mailbox window and press the Return or Enter key to open them.

When you open an unread message, the message is marked as read. Then the return-receipt message is generated by the Server and sent, if this service was requested by the sender. Also, the Station Rules are applied to this message (see the Automated Mail Processing chapter).

Opening the Next Unread Message

When you are viewing your In Box or one of your custom mailboxes, you can use the Get Next Unread command from the Message menu. The command searches the mailbox in the order it is displayed on the screen, and opens the first message marked as Unread.

You can use arrow key on your keyboard to select messages in a mailbox window. If you press an arrow key with the Option key pressed, the next unread message is selected. If you press an arrow key with the Command key pressed, the next unread message is selected and opened.

Marking Messages as Unread

When you open messages in your In Box, they are marked as read. You can mark them as unread again. Select the messages and choose Mark As Unread from the Message menu.

Marking Messages as Important

You can mark messages as important ones. Select the messages and choose Mark As Important from the Message menu. You can clear this marking later by selecting these messages and choosing Mark As Unimportant from the Message menu.

Replying and Resending

You can select some messages in a mailbox and choose Send Again, Reply, Reply to All, Redirect or Forward command from the Message menu. The operation chosen will be performed on each selected message. See the Working with Messages chapter for details.

Adding Notes to Messages

Some messages do not have Subjects (incoming fax messages, for example). In order to manage your mailboxes better, you may want to add notes to such messages. The note text appears underlined in mailbox windows in the Subject column.

Select the messages and choose Add Note from the Message menu. A dialog box appears and allows you to enter the Note text. If you have already added Notes to some messages, the old Notes are removed.

Note: the Note text is limited in size.
Note: Notes are for your own use only. If you add a Note to a message to be transferred with some communication module, the Note text is not transferred with the message.

Printing Messages

You can print messages listed in a mailbox window. Select the messages you want to print and choose Print from the File menu.

When you print messages in your In Box, they are marked as printed.

Deleting Messages from Mailboxes

To delete messages from a mailbox, select them and choose Move to Trash from the Message menu. The selected messages are transferred to the Trash mailbox. If you have deleted a message by mistake, open the Trash mailbox by choosing Trash from the Mailboxes menu. You can transfer a message from the Trash mailbox to any of your local mailboxes.

To empty the Trash mailbox, choose Empty Trash from the Mailboxes menu.The messages are deleted and the disk space they occupied is released.

Station Setting: To actually delete messages when the Delete command is used, without moving them to the Trash mailbox, select the Delete Immediately option.

Station Setting: To empty the Trash automatically each time you disconnect from the CommuniGate Server, select the Empty Trash on Quit option.

Station Setting: Before messages are deleted from the Trash mailbox, a warning dialog box appears. If you do not want to see that dialog box each time you Empty Trash, switch the Warn when Emptying option off.

Note: Holding down the Option key while selecting the Delete command from the Message menu bypasses the Trash Station Settings: the selected messages are deleted immediately without being transferred to the Trash mailbox. This may be useful when deleting large messages.

Looking for a Message in Mailboxes

You can search all messages in a mailbox for some text. Choose Find from the Edit menu. The Find window appears and allows you to enter the text you want to find. You can set various search options in that window:

When you click the Find button, all messages in the open mailbox are scanned. When the text is found, the message is opened and the found text is highlighted. Choose Find Again from the Edit menu to continue search.

If you select the In All Mailboxes option, all your mailboxes (except Trash mailbox) will be scanned.

Finding the Message's Mailbox

To find the mailbox from which the message was opened, use the Find Mailbox command from the Message menu. 

Storing Messages as Disk Files

You can store messages as files on your disk. Select the messages you want to store and choose Save Copy As from the File menu. To open files with saved messages, choose Open from the File menu.