MAILROOM HELP

 Welcome to MailRoom's Help facility.  Select the topic you wish to learn about.

 Introduction to MailRoom

 How to Get MailRoom Help

 How to Get a MailRoom License

 How to Get a Copy of the Latest MailRoom Software

 Setting Up MailRoom

 User Preferences

 Configure Sound

 Schedule Call Times

 Set Speed Text

 Advanced Setup:  Configuring for special situations

 MailRoom Main Window

 Sending and retrieving messages from the Internet

 View:  How to display messages

 File Transfer:  Receiving attachments

 Folders:  Storing messages on your PC

 Moving folders/messages to another PC

 Compose:  How to prepare messages for Internet Mail

 Compose Options:  Special options for Compose windows

 File Transfer:  Sending attachments

 How to use forms with MailRoom

 Address Book:  How to use MailRoom's Address Book

 Internet Address Cards (including America On-Line, Prodigy, Microsoft Network)

 CompuServe Address Cards

 MCI Mail Address Cards for users on MCI Mail

 MCI EMS Address Cards for users on other MCI connected systems

 X.400 Address Cards for mail sent to an X.400 gateway

 Fax Address Cards for fax delivery

 Paper Address Cards for postal mail delivery

 Telex Address Cards telex messages

 Directory Lookup

 Searching MailRoom folders

 Setting up rules to filter messages

 How to configure MailRoom for multiple users

 Keyboard usage

 Additional User Preferences (MAILROOM.INI)

 MailRoom Password Facility

 MailRoom Logs

 Converting your Eudora, Lotus or MCI Mail Express messages

 Customization of MailRoom for your company


Introduction to MailRoom

 MailRoom is designed as an easy to use client for Internet Mail. It fully support the industry standard SMTP, POP3 and MIME protocols. It runs under Microsoft Windows 3.1 , Win95 and WinNT and will have familiar menus and screens to users of Microsoft Windows applications.

 MailRoom was developed at Sierra Solutions.  MailRoom will be enhanced and comments or suggestions for improvement are welcome.  A convenient message template has been provided for and can be found by clicking on Compose followed by To Sierra Solutions.

 Most of MailRoom runs off-line to Internet Mail.  Your mail messages are composed and mail messages are read while off-line to the Internet.  Mail messages are all stored on the local PC disk.  Connections to the Internet occur only while transmitting composed messages up to the Internet or for receiving messages from the Internet and storing them on the local disk.

 Note to first time user

 After your first Mail session, MailRoom will place a notice to Sierra Solutions in your Outbox folder.  It will be sent to us at the time of your second session so we will know you have been successful running MailRoom. General facts about your PC environment are included in this User Activation Notice and help us provide better customer service should you run into difficulties. This message will be sent one time only.  If you wish, you may delete the message before it is sent.

 MailRoom uses Sentry Spelling-Checker Engine Copyright 1993 by Wintertree Software:

 Wintertree Software

 43 Reuter St. Nepean

 Ontario, Canada K2J 3Z9


How to Get MailRoom Help

 MailRoom is a Microsoft Windows front end for the Internet. Some of your questions about the your electronic mail service will need to be directed to your Internet Service Provider. These include questions about your password, your Return Address, your POP3 and SMTP host information.

 Sierra Solutions provides technical support for MailRoom and encourages comments and suggestions for improvements in MailRoom.  You can do this conveniently by Clicking on Compose in the main MailRoom window and then selecting the "To Sierra Solutions" option.

 Sierra Solutions can also be contacted via postal mail at:

 Sierra Solutions

 637 Lucerne Road

 Cayucos, CA 93430

 Sierra Solutions' fax number is 805-995-0221.

 Sierra Solutions is available via telephone at 805-995-0220. If no one is available to take your call, please leave a message on the answering machine and someone will get back to you as soon as possible.


How to Get a MailRoom License

 The MailRoom software will run for 30 days without requiring a license so you can get some experience with it and decide if it meets your needs. After 30 days, it will not connect to the Internet without a valid license number entered in the Setup window.  (However, you can still access the message database you've established during your trial period.)  Licenses are calculated based on the email return address of the user.

 MailRoom for Internet licenses are priced at $55 each.  Quantity discounts are available.  Licenses can be obtained by sending a check or money order (in US dollars payable by a US bank) for $55 to:

 Sierra Solutions

 637 Lucerne Road

 Cayucos, CA 93430

 Remember to include the email return address for which the license is requested. Sierra Solutions will reply by email with your license number.  This license number is good for the current version of MailRoom for Internet and all future versions. Thus you will be able to download free upgrades from our web site.


How to Get a Copy of the Latest MailRoom Software

 Sierra Solutions has a site on the Internet World Wide Web.  This site contains information about the capabilities of MailRoom. Sierra Solutions also maintains copies of the latest production MailRoom software and the latest beta test software for interested users to download.  Upgrades are always free to our licensed users.

 Sierra Solutions' Web site is:

 http://www.sierrasol.com


Setting Up Configuration Parameters

 Once MailRoom is installed, the next step is to setup all its parameters.  The first time MailRoom is brought up, it will automatically display the Setup window to request these parameters. Or, at any time, you can click on File, Setup in the main window to change these configuration parameters.

 There are several parameters to fill in:

 Your Full Name - You should enter your complete name here for display purposes.  MailRoom will use this name in the "from" name field in messages you generate.

 Organization - You can optionally enter your organizations's name here.  MailRoom will add an Organization header line containing this name in messages you send. If you leave this field blank, MailRoom will not send an Organization header line.

 Return Address - You should enter your complete return address in the form name@org.com.  This will be the Internet Address your correspondents see on your messages.

 MailRoom License - After your evaluation period has ended, MailRoom will only work with a license.  See How to Get a MailRoom License to learn how to obtain a MailRoom license.

 POP3 Host - The complete address of your POP3 host

 POP3 User ID - Your User ID on your POP3 host

 Password - (Optional) Your password on your POP3 host. Do not enter your password here if you have security concerns regarding access to your PC. If you don't enter your password here, you will be prompted for it when it is required.  If you enter your password here, you will not be asked for it at any other time.

 SMTP Host - The complete address of your SMTP host usually this is the same as your POP3 host

 Mail Directory - defaults to the installation directory but you can select another directory for storing your messages.  Please note that if you don't use the installation directory, you will have to create this directory using the Windows File Manager. You will need to restart MailRoom for changes to Mail Directory to take effect.


Setting MailRoom User Preferences

 There are several parameters which can allow you to customize MailRoom for your own preferences.  These can be set by clicking on File, Preferences in the main window.

 These optional parameters are:

 Time Zone - defaults to EST but you can select your time zone here which will cause all your messages to be displayed with local time stamps

 Observe Daylight Savings - check if you observe daylight savings time in your time zone.  If you have checked this box, MailRoom will adjust your message times for daylight savings during the portion of the year when it is in effect.

 Window title - used as a leading string followed by the name of the current folder plus message count in the current folder.  This parameter is useful if you have multiple accounts for Mail and want multiple MailRoom icons on your desktop to access these accounts.  See Help topic How to configure MailRoom for multiple users or locations for more information.

 Indent string - used as a leading string when answering messages for which you wish to include the original message indented for emphasis

 tabToString - Normally, hitting the tab key in MailRoom's Compose window will insert five blank spaces into the message text.  You can change this behavior by setting tabToString to a string.  Then hitting the tab key will cause MailRoom to move the cursor to the next instance of tabToString.

 Auto Delete - This parameter controls the number of days messages are kept in MailRoom's Deleted folder before they are permanently deleted from your hard disk.  The default is 7 days.  Setting Auto Delete to 0 means messages are never automatically removed from your Deleted folder. Note that MailRoom doesn't actually check your Deleted folder for messages to remove until you shut it down.

 Word wrap column - this number indicates the column at which MailRoom will automatically word wrap during entry (or when using the Reformat command).  This must be an integer between 30 and 255.

 Logs - defaults to NORMAL. You can also set this to NONE to turn off logging or to FULL to turn on extra logging for lower level communications protocols used by MailRoom. See MailRoom's Help topic MailRoom Logs for more details.

 Show time in folder index - check if you want the folder index to show message time as well as message date.

 Show windows maximized - check if you want MailRoom View and Compose windows to be started maximized or covering your full screen.

 Screen and Printer fonts - You can select the fonts MailRoom should use for both message display and message printing.  Only fixed pitch fonts can be chosen. Within that constraint, you can pick the font type (Courier, Terminal etc.), style (bold, italic, etc.) and font size.  You might wish to use Terminal or other OEM fonts if your correspondents use special characters in the upper ASCII character set such as IBM PC line draw characters or national language-specific characters based on DOS international language support.

 Configure Sound

 Set MailRoom Call Times

 Set Speed Text

 Phone No - your voice telephone number.  If you enter a telephone number here, it may be sent as part of the cover sheet on faxes sent using Fax Address Cards. Note that fax servers may requires this information if you are sending a fax to an 800 number.

 Fax No - your fax telephone number.  If you enter a telephone number here, it will be sent as part of the cover sheet on all faxes sent using Fax Address Cards only.

 Retry period - period during which Fax server will repeatedly try to deliver your fax message.

 There are several additional parameters which can be set by special entries in your MAILROOM.INI file.  See help topic Additional User Preferences for more information.


Configure Sound

 You can configure two different sounds to be used with MailRoom.  You can configure a sound that will play when messages arrive during a session with the Internet. You can also configure a sound that will play when a MailRoom search terminates.

 You can select either no sound to play or set a sound of your choice. If your PC has a sound card, MailRoom will offer all sounds configured in Windows.


MailRoom Call Times

 You can configure MailRoom to automatically connect to the Internet.  This will allow MailRoom to retrieve your mail even though you are not present at your PC.  You can either select specific times for MailRoom to poll the Internet or request this be done at a specific calling interval.

 Call Times - times when MailRoom will automatically connect to the Internet to retrieve and send your messages. Entries must be in hh:mm format using 2400 hour notation.

 Call at MailRoom Startup - if this box is checked, MailRoom will connect to the Internet as soon as it is started

 Call every ... minutes - if you enter a number here, MailRoom will connect to the Internet at that interval in addition to the times specified in the Call Times boxes


Set Speed Text

 You can set up text to be linked to three different Function Keys in MailRoom's Compose window.  This will allow you to create a special block of text to be used as a signature at the end of your mail messages.  Or to create a set of common-used phrases to easily include in your messages.

 The Function Keys available for this purpose are F8, F9, and F11.  The text can either be entered in the window provided or you can create it with an editor and save it in your MailRoom Mail Directory under the names TEXTF8.TXT, TEXTF9.TXT, and TEXTF11.TXT.

 Once the text is entered, hitting the proper Function Key will cause it to be pasted in a MailRoom compose window at the point of the cursor.


Configuring MailRoom for special situations

 The following settings are controlled here:

 POP3 Leave downloaded messages on the server - Check this box if you don't want MailRoom to delete messages from your server after it has downloaded them.  Use of the leave messages on server option requires a compatible server. An incompatible server will result in receiving duplicate messages. You should turn this option off periodically, so MailRoom can delete old messages from the server.  If you don't do this periodically, your server may reject new mail for you when your mail file gets too large. Setting this option on your home PC would allow you to read messages from home and still have them downloaded to your office PC.

 Dial Up Networking - Choose a connection name and check the Auto Dial box if you want MailRoom to automatically dial that connection before it sends or receives email. If MailRoom auto dials the connection, it will automatically disconnect when it is finished. Note that if the connection has been previously made (manually, or by your browser), MailRoom will use that connection, but will not automatically disconnect it.  To use a connection, you must store your connection password with the connection properties.  MailRoom will not prompt for your connection password.  This feature is only available on Windows 95 and Windows NT 4.0 and later.

 Fax Server - Enter the host name of your fax server. This is the host to which faxes are sent for FAX address cards.

 Memory - MailRoom normally requests 250K of dynamic memory.  This keeps the amount of memory it requests of Windows low enough to allow it to operate on PCs with 2 MB memory. If you have large folders or receive long messages, you may find this amount insufficient.  If you have additional memory on your PC that you would like to allocate to MailRoom, you may enter a value up to 800K.  Be advised that a larger number might cause MailRoom some degradation in MailRoom performance.  For the new value to take effect, you will need to restart MailRoom.

 Timeout - the number of seconds MailRoom waits for a response from the mail server before disconnecting. The default is 60.

 Delay Recv - Check this box to prevent MailRoom from sending and receiving at the same time. Some TCP/IP stacks (including some versions of IBM OS/2) can't handle this correctly.


MailRoom Main Window

 Mail messages are kept in MailRoom folders When MailRoom is started, all active folders will be displayed in a scrolling listbox in the left of the MailRoom window.  When you select a folder, the right side of the MailRoom window will display all the messages in that folder.  The name of the selected folder and the number of messages in that folder will show in the title bar of the MailRoom window. There is special keyboard support for moving between folders. See the Keyboard Help Topic for more details.

 For MailRoom's Inbox and Desk folders, messages delivered with the Priority option will be marked by ! in red - [image] Messages for which a Return Receipt was requested by the sender will be marked by R in red -

 Once a folder has been selected and its messages displayed, you can then select a message in the folder by clicking on the message in the message list.  From the keyboard, messages can be selected by using the up and down arrow keys until the desired message is highlighted.

 More than one message at a time may be selected using the standard Windows multiple selection facilities.  To select a block of messages, click on the first message and then shift-click on the last message.  To select a group of non-contiguous messages, click on the first one, ctrl-click on the next, ctrl-click on the next, etc.

 Once a message is selected or several messages are selected, options are available under the File menu selection as follows:

 File In will allow the selected messages to be moved to another folder.

 Copy To will allow the selected messages to be copied to another folder.

 View will bring up the selected messages in a View window.  (This may also be done by double-clicking on a message or hitting Enter after a message is selected.)  See View for further details.

 Print will allow the selected messages to be printed on your Windows system printer.

 Delete will delete the selected messages by moving them to the Deleted folder where they will automatically be purged after 7 days.  (Deleting messages from the Deleted folder will purge them immediately.)

 Export will bring up a File Dialog to allow placing the selected messages in a file, choosing a name for it, and putting it in a DOS directory.

 Selected message(s) can also be answered or forwarded from the main window.  Or a new message can be composed.  These choices are under the Compose option as follows:

 New will bring up a new Compose window.

 AnswerSender will bring up a Compose window addressed to the sender of the message.

 AnswerSender with Original will bring up a Compose window addressed to the sender of the message and include the original message, indented by a string which can be set in the MailRoom User Preferences window.

 AnswerAll will bring up a Compose window with the sender's name placed in to "To" address portion of the new message and the other receivers of the messages placed in the "cc" area.

 AnswerAll with Original will bring up a Compose window with the sender's name placed in the "To" address portion of the new message and the other receivers in the "cc" area.  The body of the window will include the original message, indented by a string which can be set in the MailRoom link PREFS,User Preferences window.

 Forward will bring up a Compose window with the message(s) contained in the body of the window.  The message can then be addressed to send.

 Resend will bring up Compose window(s) with each selected message contained in the body of a windows with the To and cc addressees properly displayed in the To and cc boxes.

 To Sierra Solutions will bring up a Compose window with a message addressed to Customer Service at Sierra Solutions.  You can use this to send bug reports or suggestions for improvements to the authors of MailRoom.

 See Composing mail messages for further details.

 In addition to the various message manipulation commands, the following options are also available (click on each one to see more details):

 Transmission of messages to/from the Internet

 Folders:  Storing messages on your PC

 Address Book:  How to use MailRoom's Address Book


Sending and Receiving Mail messages

 Connect will connect to the Internet.  Connections to the Internet are made using the parameters entered in the Setup window The Call window is launched from the MailRoom main window as an icon.  You can maximize it at any time to watch the various steps it goes through (described below) if you wish.

 There are several connection options offered for use with Internet sessions. The first is the Normal Session option.  Using this connection,  MailRoom will first check the Outbox folder any messages waiting there will be transmitted up to the Internet for further distribution.  At the same time, MailRoom will check to see if any messages are waiting for you and begin downloading them if some are found.  As MailRoom downloads the messages, it will sound a beep tone after each message. Messages will be placed in your Inbox folder as they are downloaded.

 If you wish, you can alter this default message transmission process by requesting MailRoom to either Receive Only or Send Only. Once these message transmission tasks are completed, MailRoom will disconnect from the Internet.

 Occasionally, a message may have an unsendable name in the address portion of the message.  When this happens, MailRoom will terminate transmission of the message and place it in the Draft folder.  A notification of the problem is left in the Inbox folder.  You can then correct the addressing problem and re-send the message.


Viewing Mail Messages

 MailRoom messages are displayed in a View window.  Once a message is displayed, hitting enter will close the window.

 MailRoom messages are initially displayed in a view window with the ability to change them disabled.  If you want to edit your messages, you must select Edit followed by Allow Editing.   You may also select other choices as follows:

 File In under the File menu will allow the message to be moved to another folder.

 Copy To under the File menu will allow the message to be copied to another folder.

 Print under the File menu will allow the message to be printed on your Windows system printer.

 Delete under the File menu will delete the message by moving it to the Deleted folder where it will automatically be purged after 7 days.

 New under the Compose menu will bring up a new Compose window.

 AnswerSender under the Compose menu will bring up a Compose window addressed to the sender of the message.

 AnswerSender with Original under the Compose menu will bring up a Compose window addressed to the sender of the message and include the original message, indented by a string which can be set in the MailRoom User Preferences window.

 AnswerAll under the Compose menu will bring up a Compose window with the sender's name placed in to "To" address portion of the new message and the other receivers of the messages placed in the "cc" area.

 AnswerAll with Original under the Compose menu will bring up a Compose window with the sender's name placed in the "To" address portion of the new message and the other receivers in the "cc" area.  The body of the window will include the original message, indented by a string which can be set in the MailRoom User Preferences window.

 Forward under the Compose menu will bring up a Compose window with the message contained in the body of the window.  The message can then be addressed to send to someone else.

 Resend will bring up a Compose window with the message contained in the body of the window with the To and cc addressees properly displayed in the To and cc boxes.

 To Sierra Solutions under the Compose menu will bring up a Compose window with a message addressed to Customer Service at Sierra Solutions.  You can use this to send bug reports or suggestions for improvements to the authors of MailRoom.


Receiving Files

 MailRoom supports receiving of standard MIME formatted attachments in messages that are sent to you via the Internet.  MailRoom automatically receives the attachments along with the message.  MailRoom will automatically decode MIME attachments.

 To View, Print or Copy message MIME attachments, open the attachments icon or use the File, Attachments ... menu choice in the message view window.

 To delete message MIME attachments, click on Edit followed by Allow Editing. Then, do any sort of editing on the message.  Then save the message.  You will be warned that this action will delete all attachments.  Click on OK.  MailRoom will save your message without the attachments.

 To view the files attached to a message, you need to have the appropriate software.  For example, suppose someone sent you an Excel spreadsheet and called it MYDATA.XLS.  To view this spreadsheet, you would need to have the correct version of Excel.

 Some older Internet mail clients use UUENCODE to encode attachments in messages.  If the attachment is UUENCODED, you will have to use MailRoom's UUDECODE utility to decode the attachment.  Click on File followed by UUDECODE to use this facility.


Folders

 Mail messages are kept in MailRoom folders.  When MailRoom is started, all active folders will be displayed in a scrolling listbox in the left of the MailRoom window.  When you select a folder, the right side of the MailRoom window will display all the messages in that folder.  The title bar of the window shows the currently-selected folder as well as the  number of messages in that folder.  You may scroll through the available folders by using the PgUp and PgDn keys or the left and right arrow keys.

 MailRoom supports sub-folders or folders nested within folders. If a MailRoom folder has sub-folders, this will be indicated by

 To view the sub-folders, double-click on the folder name.  The folder image will change to [image] and the list of sub-folders will appear.  Double-clicking on the folder name again will remove the list of sub-folders.  There is also a menu item under the Folder menu to display or hide the list of sub-folders.

 Messages in a folder can be selected by clicking on them once or by using the up and down arrow keys.  To select multiple messages, click on the first one, Ctrl-click on the next, Ctrl-click on the next, etc.  Or, to select a contiguous range of messages, click on the first one and shift-click on the last one in the range.

 Once a message or several messages are selected, you can view them, and print, delete, forward, or file them in a new folder by selecting the appropriate command in the File menu.

 MailRoom comes with six folders established:

  Deleted - all deleted Mail messages are placed here and aged off after 7 days.  Note that MailRoom doesn't actually check your Deleted folder for messages to remove until you shut it down.

  Desk   - all messages are moved here (by default) once viewed in the Inbox folder

  Draft   - this folder is used to save work in progress

  Inbox - all new Mail messages are placed here

  Sent   - all messages already transmitted to the Internet are placed here

  Outbox - all messages waiting for transmission to the Internet are placed here

 You can add new folders or sub-folders by clicking on the Folder option in the main window.  Folder names can be changed or empty folders can be deleted (except for the six standard folders listed above).

 MailRoom folders and sub-folders are actually DOS directories of the MailRoom Mail Directory (set in the Setup window).  Messages in the folders and sub-folders are stored in separate DOS files with a naming convention that ensures no duplicate names are generated when new messages are retrieved from the Internet.  This facilitates using the Windows File Manager or Explorer to move messages from PC to PC or to do any other "housekeeping" activities.  See Help topic Moving messages to another PC for more details.

 Normally, messages in MailRoom folders come up sorted in message date order with the most recent one first.  However, you can alter the sort order by selecting View by Name in the Folder menu.  This will sort your messages in Name order.  Please note that MailRoom uses the literal name string of characters so that this will generally sort in first name/last name order. Or you can select View by Subject and MailRoom will sort your folder in alphabetic order by Subject.

 MailRoom supports a utility to search your folders and messages. This utility can be run by clicking on the Search option in the Folder menu item.  See Searching MailRoom folders for more details.

 MailRoom also supports a utility to convert your folders and messages in your Eudora, Lotus or MCI Mail Express database to MailRoom's folders. This utility can be run by clicking on the Convert option in the Folder menu item.  See Converting your Eudora, Lotus or MCI Mail Express messages for more details.


Moving messages to another PC

 MailRoom folders are actually DOS sub-directories of the MailRoom mail directory.  Messages in the folders are stored in separate DOS files with a naming convention that ensures no duplicate names are generated when new messages are retrieved from the Internet.  This naming convention uses your PC clock to generate a unique time and then MailRoom translates this into a file name.  (For the curious, the time is translated into the number of seconds since Jan 1, 1980, base 32 and then this number is made into a string.)

 With MailRoom's open structure, it is easy to use the Windows File Manager to move folders and messages from one PC to another.

 First you create a TRANSFER folder in MailRoom on both PCs.  Then, you move the messages on the PC you are transferring from into that folder.

 Close MailRoom and open the Windows File Manager.  Go into the C:\MAILROOM\FOLDERS\TRANSFER directory and move all the message files you see there onto a floppy diskette.

 Take the floppy diskette to your PC you want to transfer the messages to and open the Windows File Manager on that computer.  Copy the messages from the floppy diskette into C:\MAILROOM\FOLDERS\TRANSFER on that computer.  Next, open MailRoom and go into the TRANSFER folder.  MailRoom will automatically build the message index file and you can see your recently transferred messages.


Composing messages
Compose

 Compose opens a window and allows you to create a message. The window is divided into several sections.  You can use the Tab key to move from section to section.

 Messages may be addressed by clicking on the Address Book available here.  Individuals can be selected out of the Address Book and placed in the To or CC boxes.  Or you can use Mailing Lists you have previously set up.

 You can also simply enter the names and addresses by typing in the To or CC boxes, each recipient on a separate line. (Note that blind copies or BCC addresses can be entered by clicking on the Options button .)

 Here are some examples:

 MailRoom <info@sierrasol.com>

 info@sierrasol.com

 info@sierrasol.com (MailRoom)

 MailRoom <545-0183@mcimail.com>

 "Sierras @ MCI Mail" <545-0183@mcimail.com> (Your comment here!)

 The text of the message can be entered in the body section of the window.  This area has all the standard Windows editing features such as cut/paste/copy.  If word wrap has been enabled in the Setup window, then it will be invoked as the message is typed.  Selecting text and then clicking on Reformat will also invoke word wrap and reformat the selected lines using word wrap column as the line length (preserving paragraphs). Note that word wrap is NOT invoked with cut/paste/insert commands.  Additionally, it is not invoked if you begin inserting text in a line by typing.

 If you wish a page break to occur in your message when it is printed, then enter Ctrl-L at the desired page break point.

 There is support for special keys enabled for the body section of the Compose window.  See the Keyboard Help Topic for more details.  You can also link three Function Keys (F8, F9, F11) to "speed text" which will cause text associated with these keys to be imported into the Compose window at the cursor point.  See Speed Text for more details.

 IMPORTING FILES

 If you wish, you may create your message in your favorite word processor and save the message as an ASCII text file.  It can then be imported into the body of the message in the Compose window by clicking on File, Import and selecting the appropriate file in the file dialog presented.

 Once your message is composed, you can spell check it for spelling errors by clicking on Edit followed by Spell Check.  MailRoom uses Sentry Spelling-Checker Engine Copyright 1993 by Wintertree Software.

 The Options button allows entry of other options.

 Once the message is created, clicking on the Send button will place the message in MailRoom's Outbox folder for later transmission to the Internet.

 If you don't know the address, you can use the Directory Look-up feature to look for it.  You'll need to know the Internet domain of your correspondent to do this.  See Directory Lookup for more details.


Additional Compose Options
Compose Options

 Several compose options are available on messages. The following options are available:

 Receipt - Check here if you want to request that a receipt be sent when the message reaches its destination.  Not all Internet mail systems support this option, so not getting a receipt does not prove that it was not received. Note that the MCI Mail Internet gateway does not send receipts.

 Priority - Check here if you want priority handling of your message.  There is no universal standard for priority handling on the Internet. But, most mailers will flag a priority message in some way. Note that the MCI Mail Internet gateway does not support priority from the Internet.

 Document Format - This option suppresses the to and cc lists as part of the message.  Thus, the recipients will not see who else was copied on the message.  All of the recipients are listed at the end of the sender's copy for reference, however.

 Attach - This button allows you to select files to attach to your message. It opens a standard file dialog. This will allow you to select files to be sent as a MIME attachment. Any file can be sent as an attachment to your message (including binary or executable.) You may also enter the full path of attachment files (one per line) directly into the text box, bypassing the file dialog.

 BCC: List of blind copy recipients of this message


Sending Files
File Transfer (Sending Attachments)

 MailRoom supports a file transfer capability.  You can send any DOS file (including binary or executable) to another email user.  To send a file, compose a "cover" email.  Then click on the Options... button in the Compose Window and then click on the Browse button. A file dialog will be presented for you to choose the DOS file(s) to transmit.  Or alternatively, you can enter the "name" directly in the list box in the Attachments dialog.  Remember to specify the full path name of the file you want to send.  Multiple files can be listed in the list box.

 MailRoom sends attachments using the Internet standard MIME protocol. Your recipient will need a MIME compliant mail client (like MailRoom) to decode your attachment.


How to use MailRoom with Forms

 By taking advantage of several MailRoom features, you have the ability create and use forms.

 To begin, create a FORMS subdirectory in a convenient location to place all forms you will want to use with MailRoom.  A suggested place is under your MAILROOM directory.  Using the Windows Notepad or any other editor, create your forms and save them with meaningful names in the FORMS directory.

 To send one of these "forms" in MailRoom, bring up a Compose window and click on File followed by Import.  This will bring up a File Dialog which you can point to the FORMS directory you created.  (MailRoom will remember the last directory you selected with this File Dialog.)  Choose the form you wish to import and click on OK.

 The "form" should now be in the body of the Compose window. You can customize it with any desired changes.  To preserve spacing, you can hit the Ins key to cause MailRoom to overtype in the Compose window.

 Sometimes you will want to create forms with fields for entry of additional data and then tab between the fields with the tab key. You can do this by setting up a special entry in Preferences window for tabToString.  For example, to use [        ] in your form for data entry fields, you can set tabToString to [.  Then, hitting the tab key in the Compose window will cause the cursor to move to the next occurrence of [.  See User Preferences to set tabToString.


Address Book

 The Address Book facility allows you to build a list of those individuals to whom you frequently send email messages.  While use of the Address Book is optional, it has some important benefits:

 You can avoid mistakes on difficult to spell names or complex mail addresses.

 You can build Mailing Lists to groups of addresses to avoid repetitive entry of names.

 Address Books can be created from the main MailRoom window by selecting the Address Book menu item.  New entries can be made in your Address Book and Mailing Lists can be created.  All MailRoom Address Cards have a unique card name.  This name can be anything you choose.  To be able to conveniently add complex addresses, Shift-Ins or Ctrl-V will work as paste in the various data entry boxes.  MailRoom supports the types of Address cards corresponding to different types of addresses:

 Internet Address Cards

 MCI Mail Address Cards

 MCI EMS Address Cards for users on Mail Systems connected to MCI.

 CompuServe Address Cards

 Fax Address Cards for fax delivery

 Paper Address Cards for postal mail delivery

 Telex Address Cards for telex messages

 X.400 Address Cards for mail sent to an X.400 gateway

 When in the Compose Window, either individuals or Mailing Lists can be accessed to address messages.

 If you don't know the address, you can use the Directory Look-up feature to look for it.  You'll need to know the Internet domain of your correspondent to do this.  See Directory Lookup for more details.


MCI Mail Address Cards
Instant Address Cards

 Instant Address Cards are used for MCI Mail users.  Enter the MCI Mail Name and MCI Mail ID in the following format:

 MCI Name:  John Doe / 123-4567

 MCI Name:  JDoe / 123-4567

 MCI Name:  MailRoom / MCI ID: 545-0183

 While the MCI ID is not required if the name is unique, it's preferable to include it in case, later, another user registers on MCI Mail with a duplicate name.  MCI Mail will always ensure the MCI ID is unique.

 The last address above is for Sierra Solutions.  You can use it to reach Sierra Solutions if you wish.


CompuServe Address Cards

 CompuServe Address Cards are used for messages to be delivered to users on CompuServe.  Enter the recipient's Name and CompuServe ID in the following format:

 Name:  Sierra Solutions

 CompuServe user ID:  72260.2734

 (Either a comma or a period is allowed in the CompuServe user ID.)

 The above CompuServe address is for Sierra Solutions.  You can use it to reach Sierra Solutions via CompuServe if you wish.


MCI EMS Address Cards
EMS Address Cards

 MCI External Mail System (or EMS) Address Cards are used to communicate with users on other Electronic Mail Systems with gateways to MCI Mail.  Enter the full name of the addressee and then in the Mail System box, enter the name of the system with which MCI has a gateway.  The additional address lines are for use in the connecting system to properly locate the addressee.  Examples are given below:

 Name:  John Doe

 Mail System:  AnyMailSystem

 Line 1:  AnyAddress

 For users on CompuServe or Internet, you will want to use a CompuServe or Internet Address Card.  For users on or other mail systems served by an X.400 gateway, you will want to  make an X.400 Address Card. Should you enter CompuServe, Internet or X.400 addressing information in an MCI EMS Address Card, MailRoom will recognize this and convert your MCI EMS Address Card to the appropriate Address Card type.  See CompuServe Address Cards or Internet Address Cards or X.400 Address Cards for more details.


Fax Address Cards

 Fax Address Cards are used to send faxes.  You must know the full name, fax number and country code of the addressee.

 Name:  John Doe

 Company:  Haas Lumber Company

 Fax Number:  40 123456

 Country Code:  31

 Some commonly-used country codes are:

 Australia:  61 	Austria:  43 	Belgium:  32

 Brazil:  55 	Chile:  56 	Colombia:  57

 Denmark:  45 	France:  33 	Germany:  49

 Greece:  30 	Hong Kong:  852 	Ireland:  353

 Italy:  39 	Japan:  81 	Korea:  82

 Kuwait:  965 	Luxembourg:  352 	Mexico:  52

 Netherlands:  31 	New Zealand:  64 	Norway:  47

 Panama:  507 	Philippines:  63 	Saudi Arabia:  966

 Spain:  34 	Sweden:  46 	Switzerland:  41

 Taiwan:  886 	United Kingdom:  44 	United States:  none


Internet Address Cards (also America On-Line, Prodigy, Microsoft Network)
Internet Address Cards

 Internet Address Cards are used for messages to be delivered to users on Internet.  Enter the recipient's Name and Internet address in the following format:

 Name:  John Doe

 Internet Address:  doe@system.com

 Internet Address Cards can also be used to reach users of America On-Line (aol), Prodigy, and Microsoft Network (msn).

 America On-Line example:

 Name:  John Doe

 Internet Address:  johndoe@aol.com

 Prodigy example:

 Name:  John Doe

 Internet Address:  MCTX36A@prodigy.com

 Microsoft Network example:

 Name:  John Doe

 Internet Address:  johndoe@msn.com


Paper Address Cards

 Paper Address Cards are used to send messages via the postal mail system.  You must know the full name and postal address of the recipient.  For example:

 Name:  John Doe

 Title, Company:  President, Haas Lumber Company

 Line1:  1200 Main Street

 Line2:  Suite 200

 City:  Pleasantville

 State:  WA

 Zip:  93456


Telex Address Cards

 Telex Address Cards are used to send telex messages.  You must know the full name of the recipient, country name (or code), telex number and answer back if known.  For example:

 Name:  John Doe

 Company:  Haas Lumber Company

 Country:  Netherlands

 Telex Number:  620134

 Answer Back:  620134XYZ UW

 For U.S. telexes, the Country field is used to designate the code for the carrier network that services your correspondent. The following list is a partial listing of these codes:

 Network or Carrier	Code

 MCI/WUI(OR OTHER IRC TELEX NETWORK)	-

 WESTERN UNION TELEX I NETWORK	0

 (Including EasyLink)

 WESTERN UNION TELEX II (TWX)	5

 (Including EasyLink TWX)


X.400 Address Cards

 X.400 Address Cards are used to communicate with users on other Electronic Mail Systems with X.400 gateways.  Only MCI Mail X.400 addresses (A=MCI or A=MCIMAIL) are currently supported.


Directory Lookup

 If you don't know the address, you can use the Directory Look-up feature to look for it.  You'll need to know the Internet domain of your correspondent to do this.

 To use this feature, you'll need to enter the name you wish to search for in the first box of the Directory Lookup window.  In the second box (after the @ character), you place the Internet domain name.  Then click on the "Search for" button to start the search.

 When the search has completed, the results will be shown in the scrolling box.  You can view them and select the address of your correspondent. When the address is highlighted, you can click on the Address Card button to make a new Address Card for this address.  If you have accessed the Directory Lookup feature from a Compose window, you'll also have an option to add the selected address to the To or CC box. Or you can click on the Copy button to copy the address to the Windows clipboard.


Searching MailRoom Folders

 You can search MailRoom folders for messages which match specified search criteria.  Clicking on Folder followed by Search in MailRoom's main window will activate this feature.

 MailRoom supports entering the following search criteria.  If you select more than one criteria, messages will be selected only if they match ALL criteria:

 Begin date - Enter the beginning date for the search (in mm/dd/yy format).   MailRoom will find all messages sent on or after this date.

 End date - Enter the ending date for the search (in mm/dd/yy format).  MailRoom will find all messages sent on or before this date.

 name - Enter the name to search for.  MailRoom will find matches on this name only when it is in the index list to the folder. (The name used in the folder index is the message author name unless you are the author.  Then the name of the first recipient is used.)  If you want to search for any addressee name, you'll need to enter the name in the message text box discussed below.)

 subject text - Enter text to search for in the message subject.

 message text - Enter text to search for in the body of the message.

 Search all folders - Check this box if you want MailRoom to search all folders.  Otherwise, select individual folders in the folder list to search.

 Match case - Check this box if you want the search to be case sensitive.  Note that this applies to name, subject and message text searches.

 When you have completed setting up the search criteria and the list of folders to search, click on the Search button to start the search.

 If you have a very large message database, searches can take quite a while.  The MailRoom search window will show the progress made against the search criteria (folders searched, messages searched, matches found) so you can judge the results before the actual search completes.  If you wish, you can cancel the search at any time.  Or you can suspend the search and resume it later.  (Note, the MailRoom search facility will run in background mode.  You can be performing other tasks in Windows while it is running.  You can also minimize the search window.)

 MailRoom folder searches will run quicker if you ask for searches by either date or date range, addressee (the one shown in the folder list), or subject.  This is because the MailRoom search facility will only open the index file to each folder.  However, you can ask for message text to be searched, causing MailRoom to open message files when necessary to find matches on message text.


Setting up rules to filter messages

 You can establish rules to apply against incoming or outgoing messages or against messages in any folder you wish to designate. To setup rules, click on File followed by Rules in MailRoom's main window. You will see three boxes, one for rules to apply to the INBOX folder for incoming messages, another to apply to the SENT folder for outgoing messages, and the third box for rules against a specific folder you select. Checking the Automatic checkbox will cause the rules to be automatically applied to messages.  Unchecking the Automatic checkbox will disable rules. You can force MailRoom to apply the rules folder by clicking on the Apply button.  To setup the rules, click on the Edit button.

 MailRoom supports entering the following types of rules. If you select more than one criteria, messages will be selected only if they match ALL criteria:

 In the From box, you can select a criteria to match on for the author of the message.

 In the To box, you can select a criteria to match on for any person in the To list of the message.

 In the CC box, you can select a criteria to match on for any person in the CC list of the message.

 In the Subject box, you can select a criteria to match on for the subject of the message.

 For the From, To, CC and Subject boxes, the following criteria are supported:

 Any - any text will be accepted

 Contains - the rule will be true if the text contains the entered string

 Ends with - the rule will be true if the text ends with the entered string

 Equals - the rule will be true if the text matches the entered string

 Is Empty - the rule will be true if the item selected isn't present (for example, there is no subject)

 Starts with - the rule will be true if the text starts with the entered string

 In the Priority box, you can select a criteria to match on for the priority of the message.  The available criteria are ANY (no check will be made of message priority), HIGH or NORMAL.

 Once MailRoom determines that all selected criteria are true, then the rule's action will be applied to the message.  You can select an action to take from the list below:

 AutoAnswer - Select this if you want an answering message to automatically be sent.  You can select any message in MailRoom's DRAFT folder you wish.

 Copy to - Select this if you want the message to be copied to another folder

 Delete - Select this if you want the message deleted

 File in - Select this if you want the message to be moved to another folder

 Forward to - Select this if you want the message forwarded to another address

 MailRoom will usually go through all the rules for each message.  If you want a particular rule (if true) to be the last one applied, check the box "Last rule to apply if true".  There is also a Match Case box if you want the application of the rule criteria to be case sensitive.  And, there is a Active checkbox which you can uncheck to disable the rule.

 MailRoom will log the application of the rules in MailRoom Recv or Send Logs. For each message received or sent, a line in the logs will be added which documents the rule applied and the result.  If you manually apply the rules, a special Rule Processing Log will be created.


How to configure MailRoom for multiple users
Configuring MailRoom for multiple users

 MailRoom keeps the configuration information entered in the Setup window in a MAILROOM.INI file.  See topic Additional User Preferences for more information.  By default, MailRoom will open the MAILROOM.INI file when it starts up to retrieve the values previously established in the Setup window.  Other .INI files can be used and this feature allows you to have multiple MailRoom icons on your desktop, each referring to a different .INI file.

 For example, suppose you have two users (Bob and Carol) who share a computer.    To make this simple, you could establish two MailRoom icons on your desktop as follows:

 Description:   MailRoom for Bob

 Command line:  MRWINET.EXE MR_BOB.INI

 Description:   MailRoom for Carol

 Command line:  MRWINET.EXE MR_CAROL.INI

 You will probably want to establish different Mail Directories for each user. To do that, create directories (using File Manager or Explorer) for each user, for example: C:\MR_BOB and C:\MR_CAROL. You can now double-click on the "MailRoom for Bob" icon and enter all appropriate values in its Setup window. Make sure you set Bob's Mail Directory to C:\MR_BOB This will customize the MR_BOB.INI file for Bob.  Do the same for Carol. (Note that the directory names and INI file name need not be the same. In Windows, all .INI files are normally found in your Windows software directory.)

 If you have multiple MailRoom icons on your desktop, your might want to especially configure the title of MailRoom's main window to identify which running version of MailRoom goes with which icon.  To do this, you can customize the window title by placing a string in the Window title box in MailRoom's User Preferences window.  See Help topic User Preferences for more details.


KEYBOARD HELP

 MailRoom can be run without a mouse.  MailRoom supports the standard windows conventions for keyboard use.  Menu items each have a letter underlined which allows that item to be selected by typing Alt followed by the letter indicated.

 In MailRoom's main window, the following keys are supported:

 Left 	moves up one folder

 Right 	moves down one folder

 Home 	moves to the top of the folder list

 End 	moves to the end of the folder list

 PgUp 	moves up one page through messages in folder

 PgDn 	moves down one page through messages in folder

 arrow keys 	navigate between messages in a selected folder

 In addition to these special keys, typing a letter key takes you to the first folder beginning with that letter.

 In MailRoom's Compose window, the Tab key moves between sections of the Window.  (Shift-Tab moves in reverse order and Tab moves in forward order.)  If you hit Tab when in the body or text composition area of the Compose window, the Tab key will move you to the next Tab stop.  Tabs are every five columns. (Or, you can ask MailRoom to tab to the next occurrence of a specific string by setting tabToString in MAILROOM.INI.  See Additional User Preferences (MAILROOM.INI) for more details.)  In addition, the following keys are supported:

 Ins 	toggles between overtype and insert mode

 PgUp 	moves up one page

 PgDn 	moves down one page

 Home 	moves to beginning of current line

 End 	moves to end of current line

 Ctrl-Home 	moves to beginning of text

 Ctrl-End 	moves to end of text

 Ctrl-Shift-Home 	moves to beginning of text with selection

 Ctrl-Shift-End 	moves to end of text with selection

 arrow keys 	move up/down one line or left/right one space

 Shift-arrow keys 	as above with selection

 Ctrl-arrow keys 	move forward/backwards one word

 Ctrl-Shift-arrow keys 	move forward/backwards one word with selection

 Ctrl-L 	page break


Additional User Preferences (MAILROOM.INI)

 MailRoom keeps the parameters entered in the Setup window as well as others in a file called MAILROOM.INI.  This file is treated like other Windows .INI files and can usually be found in your Windows software directory, usually C:\WINDOWS.

 One important use of this file is to allow multiple MailRoom icons on your desktop with different Setup parameters.  See topic How to configure MailRoom for multiple users for more information.

 There are also parameter settings available in the MAILROOM.INI file which can not be set from inside MailRoom. These are infrequently used settings. To change them, first shut down MailRoom. Then use an editor (like Notepad) To add or change lines in your .INI file. Be careful not to change any other lines in this file. When you have completed the changes, save the file and then restart MailRoom.

 The following parameters may be used in the [MailRoom] section:

 initPassword - enables MailRoom password facility.  See topic MailRoom Password Facility for more information.

 dirUnread - name for folder where MailRoom places messages downloaded from Internet, defaults to Inbox

 dirRead - name for folder where MailRoom files Inbox messages that have viewed, defaults to Desk

 dirUnsent - name for folder where MailRoom looks for messages to send, defaults to Outbox

 dirSent - name for folder where MailRoom files messages after sending them, defaults to Sent

 dirWork - name for folder to place work in progress, defaults to Draft

 dirDeleted - name for folder where MailRoom files messages that you have asked to delete, defaults to Deleted


MailRoom Password Facility

 You can set up a password which will be a required entry when you start MailRoom.  Be aware that this facility will not protect your messages from unauthorized viewing.  It will only act as a deterrent. This is because MailRoom messages are simple ASCII text files and can be viewed with an editor or word processor.

 To enable this facility, you need to add a line to your MAILROOM.INI file as follows:

 initPassword=???? where ???? is the initial value the password will have to start MailRoom

 (To learn more about the MAILROOM.INI file and how to add lines to it, see topic Additional User Preferences (MAILROOM.INI) for more information.)

 Once you set an initPassword value and start MailRoom, a window will be presented for you to enter the password.  You will also be offered an option to change this initial password.  The new password will be written to MAILROOM.INI in encrypted form.

 Should you later decide to eliminate the password entry facility at MailRoom startup, you can remove the initPassword line from the MAILROOM.INI file.


MailRoom Logs

 MailRoom keeps logs of all its interactions with your Internet host.  The logs are kept in the Deleted folder in MailRoom and one log is written for each send and receive session.  You can go into the Deleted folder and select the log you wish to view.

 Normally, MailRoom keeps seven days of logs and then deletes them.  The time of retention for logs matches the time of retention for messages in the Deleted folder.  So, if you have modified the time for message retention (by changing the Auto Delete value in your Preferences window - see topic MailRoom Preferences to change this value), the retention time for logs will also be changed.

 MailRoom's session logs can be used to diagnose problems. If you experience difficulties with your sessions, the Sierra Solutions technical support staff might request these logs to help diagnose the problem.

 MailRoom supports various level's of logging.  The default is NORMAL which logs all higher level commands for message transmission. You can also turn off logging or set MailRoom to do more extensive logging needed to help diagnosis more complex communications problems.  See Help topic MailRoom Preferences to change the logging level of MailRoom.


Message Conversion Utility
Converting your Lotus or MCI Mail Express messages

 MailRoom provides a utility to convert your existing Eudora, Lotus Express  or MCI Mail Express messages to MailRoom's format. To run this utility click on Folder followed by Convert and select which package you are converting from.

 MailRoom will prompt you for the path name of your old message directory.

 MailRoom will then search for all your old folders, making a new MailRoom folder if one doesn't already exist. If you're converting from Eudora or Lotus Express, MailRoom uses the same folder name as was used in Lotus Express. In the case of MCI Mail Express, the actual DOS directory name will be used and not the longer folder name.

 Next, MailRoom will copy each old message in each folder to the corresponding MailRoom folder.  The messages will each be given a unique name.  You can run the Convert utility as many times as you wish and MailRoom will always overwrite the old copy of the message.  The original message in your old database will not be altered by running this Convert utility.

 Some special notes:  Because MailRoom copies not moves the message from your old message database into MailRoom, you will need as much disk space as exists in your original Express database available for MailRoom.

 This conversion utility has some limitations.  It will not move attachments to your Express messages over into MailRoom.  (They will, however, remain in your Express message database where you can access them.)  Also, Express mailing lists will move into MailRoom but will be placed in a folder, not in MailRoom's Address Book.


Customization of MailRoom for your Compamay
Customization of MailRoom for your Company

 MailRoom provides a feature for you to customize it for your company.  If you are distributing MailRoom to other end users, you can also provide a special configuration file with the end user's setup information already entered.

 MailRoom normally puts up the Sierra Solutions logo on the About window or splash screen.  You can substitute your company's logo and slogan instead.  Just add a bitmap with this information to MailRoom's distribution diskette.  The bitmap should be called LOGO.BMP.  For best results, use a 16-color bitmap and size it approximately 600 by 400 pixels.  MailRoom will resize your LOGO.BMP file to fit the available space when the About window is displayed.

 You can also include a MRWINET.CFG file on your distribution diskette. MRWINET.CFG is a a simple text file that can have three sections.  The first section is called ISP and allows you to change the default address for Customer Service under the MailRoom Compose menu to your company's address.  You can set three parameters here:  the name to appear in the menu, the email address for the customer service message and the subject for the customer service message.  Here is an example of the ISP section in MRWINET.CFG:

 [ISP]

 csName=YourCompany

 csAddr=YourCompany Customer Service@yourcompany.com

 csSubj=Customer Service Request

 Next, there can be an Init-MailRoom section.  This will allow you to state some default values for the various parameters in MailRoom's Setup or Preferences windows.  Lastly, there can be an Init-INet section to initialize Internet-specific settings.  For example, if your end users will all be on the same POP3 server and SMTP server, you can initialize MailRoom for these settings.   Here's an example of this:

 [Init-INet]

 pop3Host=yourcompany.com

 smtpHost=yourcompany.com

 Please note that the Init-MailRoom and Init-INet section of MRWINET.CFG will only take affect for new installations of MailRoom.  If you are sending a new MailRoom distribution diskette to existing customers, only the LOGO.BMP and ISP sections of MRWINET.CFG will be used.