EMail Assist for WinCIM Help Contents

General:

EMail Assist Overview

Running EMail Assist

Removing EMail Assist

Configuration

Features:

Signatures

What are Signatures?

Inserting a Signature

Editing Signatures

Configuring Signatures

Spell Checking

How to Spell Check

Configuring the Spell Checker

Adding Words to the Spell Checker

Quotes

How to Quote

Quote Configuration

Shareware, Legal, & Support Information:

What Is Shareware?

How to Register

Copyright Notice and Trademarks

Technical Support

Acknowledgements


What Is Shareware?

Shareware is a software marketing system that allows users a free trial period.  If, at the end of the trial period, the user wishes to continue using the program, he or she must register the program by paying the author's stated price.  Shareware is distributed mostly by uploading it to electronic BBS's and online services such as CompuServe.  Because of this comparatively inexpensive alternative to print advertising and retail marketing, Shareware products provide high quality software at reasonable prices.


How to Register

EMail Assist for WinCIM is not  free software.  You may freely use it for a fifteen day trial period.  At the end of that time, you must either remove it from your hard drive or pay the registration fee.

There are two ways to register EMail Assist for WinCIM, online on CompuServe, and by mail.  Registering on CompuServe is faster and more convenient, but registration by mail costs a bit less.  Also, if you are a registered user of EMail Assist for CSNav, you are entitled to a $5 discount on EMail Assist for WinCIM, but you must register by mail to claim it.  (Please note:  if you register both programs at once you must pay full price for one of the programs, and the discounted price for the other.)

Either way, registration will allow you to legally and morally continue using EMail Assist beyond the trial period of fifteen days and will rid you of that annoying "nag" screen.

Your registration will cover all versions numbered 1.XX.  You can always find the latest version in the free WinCIM support forum.  Use the goword WCIMGENERAL to get there.

See also:

Registering On CompuServe

Registering by Mail


Registering On CompuServe

Online registration is available via CompuServe's SWREG service.  The cost of registering in this way is $18 USD.  To register this way, do the following:

1.  Run EMail Assist for WinCIM (or WinCIM).

2.  Hit the "Go" button, and type "SWREG".

3.  Follow the menus, using registration ID #3520

After you complete the SWREG online form, Rhino Bytes will receive a notice of your registration and will send you email with your registration code to disable the "nag" screen.  You will receive your code within 48 hours of registering.  (Usually, much faster.)


Registering by Mail

The cost of registering by mail is $15, or $10 if you are a registered user of EMail Assist for CSNav.  (Please note:  if you register both programs at once you must pay full price for one of the programs, and the discounted price for the other, for a total of $25.)  To register, select File|Print Topic from the help menu to print this form.  Send the completed form, along with a check or money order in the correct amount, to:

Rhino Bytes

P.O. Box 250389

Little Rock, AR  72225

EMail Assist for WinCIM Registration Form

Please send me (check desired items or enter number):

___ (enter #) licenses to use EMail Assist @ $15 each	$____

___ (enter #) discounted licenses to use EMail Assist for WinCim

       @ $10 each.  I hereby certify that I am a registered user of

       EMail Assist for CSNav.	$____

___ (enter #) licenses to use EMail Assist , w/disks @ $20 each	$ ____

        Format:   [_] 3.5"       [_] 5.25"

___ For orders outside North America, add $3 for each disk.	$____

Total 	$____

Name: ________________________________________________

CompuServe UID:_______________________________________

Address :

 ______________________________________________

 ______________________________________________

 ______________________________________________

 ______________________________________________

Phone: _____________________

Comments and/or suggestions:


Copyright Notice and Trademarks

EMail Assist for WinCIM

Copyright © 1995 by Rhino Bytes LLC.

All rights reserved.

"Compuserve", "CompuServe Information Manager", and "WinCIM" are registered trademarks of CompuServe Inc., an H&R Block company.  CompuServe does not endorse or support EMail Assist for WinCIM.


Acknowledgements

Special thanks from Rhino Bytes to Michelle Hughes, our many beta testers, and our artist Kelly Dodson.


Technical Support

Please send all questions, complaints, bug reports, and general gripes about EMail Assist to one of the following addresses:

CIS:	73777,3273

Internet:	73777.3273@compuserve.com

Snail:	Rhino Bytes

P.O. Box 250389

Little Rock, AR  72225

You can also reach us during business hours at (501)663-5901.

If you do find a bug the best first step is to make sure you have the latest version of EAWC.  You can always find the latest version in the Member Uploads section of the free WinCIM Support Forum.  Use the goword WCIMGENERAL to get there.

When submitting a bug report or question, please be sure to include the following information:  What versions of EMail Assist, WinCIM, Windows, and DOS you are using, and the full name of the product you are referring to (i.e. EMail Assist for WinCIM).


 EMail Assist Overview

EMail Assist for WinCIM is an add in program for the Windows version of CompuServe Information Manager.  It is designed to enhance WinCIM's email and forum message features by adding three major features to WinCIM:  insertion of signatures, taglines, etc., spell checking, and easy quoting of other messages.

See also:

Running EMail Assist


Running EMail Assist

To run EMail Assist for WinCIM, you just double-click the EMail Assist icon created by the Install program, or, from File Manager, select File|Run and run the command-line "EAWC.EXE".

The important thing to remember is that you must not be running WinCIM when you start EMail Assist.  EMail Assist will try to start up WinCIM, and will not run correctly if WinCIM is already running.  If WinCIM doesn't start when you run EMail Assist, check the EAWC.INI file in your EMail Assist directory, and make sure the "WinCIMPath=" line points to your WinCIM directory.


Removing EMail Assist

If for any reason you wish to remove EMail Assist from your system, just delete all the files in the EAWC directory, and delete its icon from Program Manager.  The EAWC installation process does not modify any of your system files, or place files in any directory other than your EAWC directory.


Configuration

To configure EMail Assist, click the wrench button on the WinCIM icon bar,  (It looks like this:  , but if you're running Windows in 640x480 resolution, you probably won't be able to see it.) or select the menu item Special|Preferences|EMail Assist Options.  When you do you'll get a dialog box like this:

(Click a dialog control to find out what it does.)

See also:

Configuring Signatures

Configuring the Spell Checker

Quote Configuration


What are Signatures?

Signatures are user-defined macros to be used in email and forum messages.  Signatures can be miniature masterpieces of ascii art, or they can be as simple as your name.  A signature may also contain date and time codes which are translated when you insert the signatures into a message.

To learn how to insert a signature into a message click here.  To learn how to create a signature or modify an existing one click here.

See also:

Inserting a Signature

Editing Signatures

Configuring Signatures


Inserting a Signature

There are three ways to insert a signature into an email or forum message:

1.  Select the Edit|Insert Signature menu item.  This gets you a submenu listing the available signatures.

2.  Click the "Signature" button at the bottom of a Create Mail or Create Forum Message window.  This gets you a floating menu listing the available signatures.

3.  To insert one of your first ten signatures, you can use a hot key from within a Create Mail or Create Forum Message window.  The hots keys are Ctrl-0, Ctrl-1, ... Ctrl-9.

If you indent the beginning of the signature, and have selected Auto Indent Sigs in the Configuration dialog box, all remaining lines will be indented by the same amount as the first line.

See also:

What are Signatures?

Editing Signatures

Configuring Signatures


Editing Signatures

To create and modify signatures, select the menu item Edit|Edit Signatures, or the Edit Signatures item from the floating Signatures menu.  When you do, you'll get a dialog box like this:

(Click a dialog control to find out what it does.)

See also:

What are Signatures?

Inserting a Signature

Configuring Signatures


Configuring Signatures

There are just a few options in the Signatures section of the Configuration dialog box.  To get here, click the wrench button on the WinCIM icon bar,  (It looks like this:  , but if you're running Windows in 640x480 resolution, you probably won't be able to see it.) or select the menu item Special|Preferences|EMail Assist Options.

(Click a dialog control to find out what it does.)

See Also:

What are Signatures?

Inserting a Signature

Editing Signatures


How to Spell Check

To run EMail Assist's spell checker, hit the "SpellChk" button at the bottom of a Create Mail or Create Forum Message window.  If the spell checker finds any words it doesn't recognize, you'll get a pretty standard looking dialog box to ask you what to do about it.

(Click a dialog control to find out what it does.)

The spell checker will always check the entire message, unless you have the Skip Quotes option checked in the Configuration dialog box.

See Also:

Configuring the Spell Checker


Configuring the Spell Checker

There is only one option in the Spell Checker section of the Configuration dialog box.  To get here, click the wrench button on the WinCIM icon bar,  (It looks like this:  , but if you're running Windows in 640x480 resolution, you probably won't be able to see it.) or select the menu item Special|Preferences|EMail Assist Options.

(Click a dialog control to find out what it does.)

See Also:

How to Spell Check


Adding Words to the Spell Checker

You can add words to the spell checker in two ways.  Of course one way is to use the "Add" button when spell checking.  Another way is to edit the private dictionary using a text editor.  The name of the private dictionary file is PRIVATE.DCT, and you can find it in your EAWC directory.  To add words, first make sure that EMail Assist is not running; then load PRIVATE.DCT into an editor such as NOTEPAD.  Type (or paste) in the words you wish to add, making sure you have only one word per line.  Although the words in the file are alphabetized, you don't need to worry about the order of the words you add, because EMail Assist will re-sort the words the next time you run it.


How to Quote

Quoting is the insertion into your email or forum message of text which someone else has written.  It has become traditional in the online community to quote generously from previous messages in a thread in order to give readers who may have missed earlier messages the context of your message.  The quote is usually framed in special strings to clearly mark it as a quote from another writer.  For example, quoted text might look like this:

>> It has become traditional in the online

>> community to quote generously from

>> previous messages in a thread in order

>> to give readers who may have missed

>> earlier messages the context of your...

(I call this the "each line" style) or like this:

>>  It has become traditional in the online community to quote generously from previous messages in a thread in order to give readers who may have missed earlier messages the context of your... <<

(The open/close style.)  You can choose your "quote strings" and which style to use in the Configuration dialog box.

EMail Assist automates the insertion of quotes through two methods:  Reply Quoting, and Paste Quoting.

Reply Quoting

This is a very easy way to quote from messages to which you wish to reply.  To use this method, use your mouse to select the part of message you wish to quote in your reply.  If you wish to quote the entire message, select no text.  Then hit the "ReplyQ" button at the bottom of the email or forum message window instead  of the "Reply" button.  You'll get the same Create Mail or Create Forum Message window you're used to, but it will have the selected text quoted at the beginning of the reply.

Paste Quoting

This method allows you to quote from messages you're not replying to directly, or even from applications other than WinCIM.  Simply copy or cut text to the clipboard in the usual way and activate the Create Mail or Create Forum Message window in which you wish to quote the text.  Then, select the menu item Edit|Paste Quote, or hit the hot key, Ctrl-Q.

See Also:

Quote Configuration


Quote Configuration

There are several options in the Quotes section of the Configuration dialog box.  To get here, click the wrench button on the WinCIM icon bar,  (It looks like this:  , but if you're running Windows in 640x480 resolution, you probably won't be able to see it.) or select the menu item Special|Preferences|EMail Assist Options.

(Click a dialog control to find out what it does.)

See Also:

How to Quote


Delete Signature Button

Hit this button to remove a signature from the signature list.


Insert Signature Button

Hit this button to create a new signature at the current location in the Signature List.


Cancel Button

Hit this button to make no change to the current word and discontinue spell checking.


Insert Date Button

Hitting this button inserts this string into the Edit Sig box:  %$%date%$%.  When you use the signature in a message, this string will be changed to the current date, according to the short date format used by Windows.  (You can change this format in the International section of Control Panel.)  Note that if you delete or change any part of this string, it will not be translated correctly.


Insert Long Date Buttom
Insert Long Date Button

Hitting this button inserts this string into the Edit Sig box:  %$%ldate%$%.  When you use the signature in a message, this string will be changed to the current date, according to the long date format used by Windows.  (You can change this format in the International section of Control Panel.)  Note that if you delete or change any part of this string, it will not be translated correctly.


Insert Time Button

Hitting this button inserts this string into the Edit Sig box:  %$%time%$%.  When you use the signature in a message, this string will be changed to the current time, according to the time format used by Windows.  (You can change this format in the International section of Control Panel.)  Note that if you delete or change any part of this string, it will not be translated correctly.


Dupe Sig Button

Creates a new signature with the same contents as the currently selected signature.


Edit Sig Box

This is where you change the contents of the selected signature.


Sig List Box

This box lists the signature names.  Clicking on a signature name will select that signature for editing.


Use Fixed Font Check Box

When this box is checked, signatures in the Edit Sigs dialog are shown in a fixed width font, rather than a variable width font.


Use Fixed Font Check Box

When this box is checked, the signature in the Edit Sig Box is shown in a fixed width font, rather than a variable width font.


Add To Dictionary Button

Hitting this button will add the current "misspelled" word to your private dictionary,  so that the spell checker will never stop on it again.


Auto-Indent Signatures Check Box
Auto Indent Signatures Check Box

When this button is checked, the second and all subsequent lines in a signature will be indented to the same level as the first line.  See also Inserting_a_Signature.


Replace All Button

When you hit this button, the spell checker will replace all occurrences of the misspelled word with the corrected spelling in the Edit Box.


Skip All Button

When this button is hit, the spell checker will ignore all further occurrences of the "misspelled" word.


Warn Before Changing Sig Check Box

When this box is checked, you will be warned when selecting a different signature in the Edit Sigs dialog that doing so will permanently change the current signature.


Revert Button

This button will abandon all changes to the selected signature.  To abandon changes to all signatures, you must use the Cancel button.


Preview Button

Hitting this button will create a window showing you how the signature will look when inserted into a message, with date and time strings translated.


Signature Name Edit Box

Use this edit box to rename the selected signature.


Skip Capitalized Words Checkbox

When this box is selected, the spell checker will ignore capitalized words.  A word is considered capitalized if its first letter is a capital letter, and it's second letter is not.


Help Button

This button gets you here!


Okay Button

This button closes the dialog box and commits all changes you've made to permanent storage.


Categories List

Changing the selected item in this list redraws the dialog box to edit options related to the chosen category.  The available categories are General, Quoting, Signatures, and Spell Checking.


Begin Quote String Edit Box

Enter the string you wish to use to begin a quote in this box.


End Quote String Edit Box

Enter the string you wish to use to end a quote in this box.  This string is only used when you select the open/close quote style.


Reformat Check Box

When this box is checked, returns are stripped from quoted text to make it fit more nicely.  This option works well when quoting normal text, not so well when quoting tabular text.


Use WinCIM Icon Check Box

When this box is checked, WinCIM will display its own icon when minimized instead of the EMail Assist icon.  Takes affect the next time you run Email Assist.


Path to WINCIM.EXE Edit Box

This edit box tells EMail Assist where to find WinCIM executable file to run.  If this path is incorrect, EMail Assist will not run.  You can either set this to the full pathname of the executable (drive, directory, and filename), or just the path.  If you wish to run EAWC and another WinCIM add-in which starts WinCIM, you can set this to the other utilitys executable.  This may or may not work, depending on the other utility.  This setting takes effect the next time you run Email Assist.


Symmetrize Button

Clicking this button will change your End Quote String to mirror your Begin Quote String.  This button is disabled when the Each Line style is in effect.


Cancel Button

This button closes the dialog box, abandoning all changes.


Line Length Edit Box

Type the line length here for EMail Assist to use when formatting quotes.  This value is only used when the Each Line style is in effect.


Skip Quotes Check Box

When this box is checked, the spell checker will skip over any quotes in a message.  In deciding whether an area is a quote, the spell checker uses the currently selected quote strings and quote style.  See also:  Quote Configuration.


Move Up Button

This button moves the selected signature up one spot in the order of signatures.


Move Down Buttom
Move Down Button

This button moves the selected signature down one spot in the order of signatures.


Quote Type Selection

Click the radio button for the type of quoting you wish to use.  For examples of the two types of quoting, see How to Quote.


Alternates List Box

This box contains the list of alternative spellings for the misspelled word.  Clicking a word in this list will make it appear in the Edit Box.  Double-clicking a word is the same as clicking it, then hitting the Replace button.


Edit Box

The word appearing here is used when you hit the Replace or Replace All button.  You change this word either by clicking a word in the alternates list or by typing in your own replacement.


Original Word

This shows the word the spell checker could not find in it's dictionary.


Skip Button

When you hit this button, the spell checker goes on to the next word, making no change in the current word.


Append Signature Button

Hitting this button creates a new signature at the end of the signatures list.


Replace Button

Click this button to replace the misspelled word with the contents of the edit box.


Skip Words in All Caps Checkbox

When this box is checked, the speller will skip over word with no lower case letters, such as "USA".


Skip Words with Numbers Checkbox

When this box is checked, the speller will ignore all words containing numbers, such as "800x600" and "Jim1".


Private Dictionary Edit Box

This edit box specifies the pathname of the private dictionary file used by the spell checker.  Unless the file is in your EAWC directory, you must specify the full pathname, including the drive and directory.  Warning:  EAWC may not be compatible with the private dictionary used by your word processor.  If you want to try using your word processors private dictionary file with EAWC please make a backup copy of the word processors private dictionary file first.  This setting will not take effect until the next time you run EAWC, unless you have not yet run the spell checker in the current session.


Copy Original Word Button

Hitting this button will copy the original (misspelled) word into the replacement edit box, where it can be edited.  (Use this button and the Check and Replace button when the spell checker fails to suggest an adequate replacement  for the  misspelled word.)


Use Main Dictionary Checkbox

When this box is checked, the speller will search for words in both the main dictionary and the private dictionary.  Unchecking the box will cause the speller to use only the private dictionary.  Leave this box checked unless you want to replace the entire main dictionary with one of your own (such as a non-English dictionary).  This setting will not take effect until the next time you run EAWC, unless  you have not yet run the spell checker in the current session.


Check and Replace Button

Hitting this button will replace the misspelled word with the contents of the replacement edit box, and resume checking the messages spelling starting with this word.  (Use this button when the speller has failed to find a good alternative to the misspelled word and you want to try a different spelling yourself.)


Modify Mail and Message Toolbars Checkbox

When this box is checked, EMail Assist will add buttons for the various EMail Assist functions to the toolbars of individual message windows.  (Spellcheck button, ReplyQ button, etc.)  Please note that if you turn off this option and the Use Hotkeys and Modify Menus options, you will have no way to use the EMail Assist features!


Modify Mail and Message Toolbars Checkbox
Modify Main Toolbar Checkbox

When this box is checked, EMail Assist will add the EMail Assist help and EMail Assist configuration buttons to WinCIMs main toolbar.  Please note that if you turn off this option and the Modify Menus option, you will have to manually edit the file EAWC.INI in order to change any EMail Assist options in the future (not recommended!).  This setting will not take effect until the next time you run EAWC.


Modify Menus Checkbox

When this box is checked, EMail Assist will add menu items for the various EMail Assist functions to WinCIMs menus.  Please note that if you turn off this option and the Use Hotkeys and Modify Menus options, you will have no way to use the EMail Assist features!


Use Hotkeys Checkbox

When this box is checked, EMail Assist will respond to the various hotkeys used for EMail Assist functions.