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Navigator 3.2 Tips, Tricks, & Secrets ===================================== by Joseph O. Holmes This article is based on one which will appear in the Summer 1993 BMUG Newsletter, a 400-page compendium of articles, reviews, opinion, and news on things Mac and things merely technological. A six-month membership in BMUG includes one biannual newsletter, a member account on BMUG's First Class bulletin boards (one on each coast), access to BMUG's technical Helpline, and other benefits. Call, write, or e-mail for details: BMUG 1442A Walnut Street #62 Berkeley CA 94709-1496 510-549-BMUG (2684) fax: 849-9026 Internet -- BMUG@aol.com About This Document ------------------- Joseph Holmes is Assistant Sysop of the MacUser Forum in ZiffNet Mac. In his spare time, he's a lawyer with the Criminal Appeals Bureau of New York City's Legal Aid Society. Copyright 1993 Joseph O. Holmes. All rights reserved. This article may not be reprinted without permission from the author. Permission is hereby granted to post this file on on-line services for reading or download, provided that all the text remains intact and unchanged. Setext: This document is in setext (structure-enhanced text) format. It can be opened by any text editor or word processor. But to index, browse, and copy easily from collected setext documents, use Easy View, written by M. Akif Eyler, Bilkent University, 06533 Ankara, Turkey <eyler@trbilun.bitnet>. Easy View is in the "Applications" library under filename EASYVW.SEA at location ZMC:DOWNTECH. Introduction ------------ Mike O'Connor's CompuServe Navigator is a surprisingly complex piece of software. It's much more than a simple off-line mail reader, and as a result, it's a rich enough environment to reward the resourceful tip meister. The tips, secrets, and tricks for Navigator 3.2 revealed here will appeal mainly to the experienced Navigator user. Keep in mind that this isn't a tutorial or an introduction. For real Navigator proficiency, reread the manual, or read the Help file, located in the About Navigator box. Some of these tips were contributed by CompuServe members. If you have tips, please pass them on. See "End Notes" for how you can contact me. Navigating Navigator -------------------- You should be familiar with the following common shortcuts and command keys. Though most of them are documented, many are forgotten or remain undiscovered: - In the Session View window type command-[ to go to the session start. - Type command-] to go to the last session frame that you've already seen ("Find Highest Seen"). - Type command-T to jump to the on line session View. If Navigator is running a session, you'll watch text stream into the window; if Navigator has reached a manual tile, you'll be put right at the prompt for your next command. If you're off-line, you'll pop into terminal mode where you can type commands to the modem live. Command-T works from the Session Preview window as well. The command is especially useful in combination with the hang up command in the On Line popup menu. To get off line fast, create a QuicKey or Tempo II macro that performs a command-T and then selects hang up from the On Line menu. QuicKeys While I'm on the subject of QuicKeys, here are a couple more that I use. When I want to quote a part of a message in my reply, I highlight the part of the original message and hit option-R, which performs a copy, hits the reply button, types ">>," pastes, and hits two returns. Command-L hits the Lookup button. Option-J adds my signature: two returns plus "-=-Joe." Craig O'Donnell, 72511,240, contributes these QuicKeys ideas: - Assign a macro to the keypad "=" to click the Lookup button. Type in any portion of someone's name when composing an Email message and hit "=". Navigator looks up the match or gets you as close as it can, displaying the Address Book window. - Assign a macro to the keypad "+" to the popup menu item "Go Next Thread" to bypass tedious discussions of things like science fiction TV shows and compression utilities. - Assign a macro to the keypad [-] a macro that deletes individual messages within the Mail tile (that way you can leave the auto-delete off). You could go on step further and make one that sets "Delete" from the popup menu, then moves to the next Email message or forum. Hit this key when you've read a message, or read and typed a response. - Assign a recorded QuicKey sequence to the keypad "home" for the ZMac DOWNTECH forum. Highlight a filename in one of the forum "now available" messages from Gregory Wasson and then hit "home" (as in 'bring it on home to me'). The macro copies the filename, selects the New Uploads library and pastes download information into the appropriate windows, then closes everything up. - Assign a macro to the keypad [*] which adds the sender to the Navigator address book. - PowerBook owners can use Control-L, Control-N, Control-D and Control-G for Lookup, Next, Delete and Get (File). Command-M brings up a list of all messages waiting to be sent; double click on any of them to read or edit. This is especially handy as a reminder to visit forums to send composed but forgotten messages. Many users forget that this window exists. Hold down option while selecting the Settings menu. The "Font and Size" choice becomes "Printing Font and Size." Your choice will remain until you change it, even after you quit and restart Navigator - 10-point Courier is a good monospaced substitute for the default Navigator bitmap screen font. To print the entire session file, close all the windows and choose Print from the file menu. Copy Table, found in the Edit menu, acts like a normal clipboard copy except that every series of spaces is converted into a tab. This is very useful when copying text that has been formatted with spaces substituted for tabs and indents. Holding down option while copying a selection from the ID book will copy the name, ID, and comments separated by tabs. Without the option key, name-space-ID is copied. Unfortunately, I know of no way to highlight more than one name at a time in the ID book. You can change the name of the current subject and begin a new thread. When composing a reply, just type over the current subject, which appears between your reply and the original message. Your reply remains addressed to the poster of the original message. I like this one a lot: Holding down the option key while selecting a task from the Tasks menu will choose that task and turn off all the others. And of course, command-E will turn all tasks back on again. Sysops, did you miss this one? If you have message maintenance duties, the Delete this Message selection on the Message popup menu is active for all messages in your forum or section. (You other users can only use it for messages to or from yourself.) You normally can select just one choice for retrieving messages under the Summary popup menu in the Session View window. Hold down the option key to select more than one. My question: Why would you want to? Novice tip: Highlight the thread subject in the Session View window and -- avoiding the Summary menu -- type E to retrieve the entire thread so far, O for this one message, B for this Branch, and T for all new thread messages next session only. F, meaning "follow this thread in all future sessions", can combine with any of the previous four keyboard shortcuts, and it adds a Message Command to the Message Commands window of that tile. Double-click on the thread subject to set "T" by itself. The Enter key does an amazing amount of Navigator navigation. It closes windows, saves messages, and moves to the next session review "frame" or screen of text in a long frame (command-right-arrow does the same). Shift-Enter moves backward through the review (shift-command-right-arrow does the same). Use it often and try it everywhere except to close the Session Parameters window. There, instead of closing the window, hitting Enter will insert the Enter character in place of text in any highlighted text entry box, deleting your name, modem initialization settings, or phone number. Oops. Command-up-arrow moves to the previous message thread subject, command-down-arrow to the next subject. Here's quick way to search backward or forward through a long session file for a particular forum. In the Session View window, select Go Prior Session or Go Next Session, then watch the Forum Titles box in the upper left corner of the window. There you'll see all the various forum names flash by as the search looks for the session start. When you see the forum you want to review, click the mouse button (or type Command-period) to stop the search. You can search across many sessions this way too. Just drag the horizontal scrolling button to the left or right (but not all the way to the end) and keep your eye on the Forum Titles box. When you use the Find command to search a session file for messages to or from someone, use the CIS ID number rather than the name. Messages can be sent and received with all sorts of names or nicknames, but in order to be guaranteed to get right to the person, the ID number has to be there. Managing Sessions ----------------- The typical way to tell Navigator which forums to visit in the next run is to double-click on a forum tile's on/off buttons in the Session Preview window. Few users know this little secret: if you hold down the command key while double-clicking any of those buttons, you'll toggle all of the forums in the entire Preview window -- turning on the tiles that were off and turning off the tiles that were on. So, if you like to visit some of the forums in your Session Preview window at some times and the rest of the forums at other times, use this trick to toggle the entire set of forums back and forth. Some people, for instance, keep two different session files; one set might comprise the forums visited daily while the other comprises the forums visited, say, twice a week. Instead of maintaining two different session files, keep all the forums in a single file. Then just command-double-click on any tile to switch to your alternate set. Joe Sewell, 74136,360, suggests using the Tasks options to make one session file serve several purposes. For example, he has created a "Get Lists" task set which fetches message subject lists and library lists, and a "Get Stuff" task set which fetches the full message text and downloads files. Both sets have "Send Responses" and "All Other Tasks" turned on. - He uses the "Get Lists" set for his first run. Then he marks the threads and files he wants to fetch, turns on the "Get Stuff" task set, and makes a second run. For a final run, he turns off everything but "Send Responses" and "All Other Tasks." Joe also notes that it's a good idea to always leave "All Other Tasks" turned on. There are several functions tied to this which you really want to have done all the time. David Siegler, 74016,1014, wrote to say that he keeps a CompuServe Mail tile at the start of a long session and another one as the last tile. That way he can respond to e-mail while Navigator is working through the other tiles, and his responses are sent when Navigator reaches the second tile at the end. You'll have to watch out, though. If you're in the middle of composing your reply, and you've hit Save or closed the window and returned to it, Navigator will send however much you had composed when it hits the second mail tile. Editing Session Files You can open a Navigator Session file with any word processor -- it has the file Type TEXT. But watch out. Before you can open it again in Navigator, pay attention to these two wrinkles: - First, saving a session file in most word processors, such as Microsoft Word, or Claris MacWrite Pro, will alter it so that Navigator cannot recognize it. You can use such word processors to read and copy text, but not to make changes or save. - Nisus, on the other hand, and some small text editors like McSink, will leave the session file readable. (They leave the type and creator unchanged, and they don't alter the resource fork.) If you use Nisus, for instance, you can delete a lot of text to shorten the file, save the changes, and still open it and use it with Navigator. The second wrinkle: Even if you haven't made any changes to the session file in your word processor, and even after you've closed the session file's window, Navigator will not open it until you've actually quit the word processor application. Don't be alarmed when Navigator reports that the session file may be corrupted -- it's actually responding to the fact that the file is "busy," even though the word processor has closed the window. Just quit the word processor. Preparing for a Second Run Until recently, I had been using Navigator in a needlessly awkward way. After reviewing an entire session and composing replies, marking threads to be followed or read for the first time, marking downloads, etc., in the Session View window, I used to return to the Session Preview window to turn off forums in which there was nothing to do. Then I'd send Navigator on its next run. (Question: Why don't I simply set tasks to Responses Only? Because in some forums I've marked threads to read that I've just discovered, and in others, like the forum in which I'm a sysop, I stop in to check for messages addressed to me, even when it's only been an hour or so since I last checked in.) The trouble is, once I was in the Preview window, I couldn't remember in which of two dozen or so forums I had marked threads to retrieve and read now, and which can wait until tomorrow. It turns, of course, out to be much simpler to do the whole process while I'm reviewing the session. As I finish reviewing a forum I don't need to revisit, I simply double-click the lefthand part of the forum tile (the tile in the upper left of the Session View window is "hot". I no longer have to return to the Preview window before making a second run. (I've been told by many Navigator users that I'm a latecomer to this technique.) You can get Navigator to shift gears during a session too. If you want Library Lists from only one forum, run the session with that activity off, but monitor progress. Turn the Library Lists command on by selecting it from the popup menu as you enter the target forum. If you run a "Just Send Replies" session right after reviewing a session, do this: Save the session review and then change the activity to "Just Send Replies". Run the session and Quit. When Navigator asks if you want to save the changes, say "No". Your previous settings are preserved (yet the sending of the messages does go into the session file). Archiving Tricks ---------------- David Siegler, 74016,1014, pointed out that holding down the option key when you select the Archive menu in the Session View window appends the displayed frame to the last archive that you selected. In fact, he has automated that with a QuicKey. There's no way to rearrange the order of the Archives in the Archive menu, but you can move one to the bottom of the list. In the Set Archives dialog box, create a new archive with an identical name in the same location. Navigator will ask if you want to append to the existing archive. Answer yes. Now delete the old archive from the list. New archives are always added to the bottom of the menu. If you find that Navigator is asking you to replace an archive rather than append to it, you should check to see if you're running any extension that modifies the operation of the standard open and save dialog boxes. Norton's Directory Assistance, a Boomerang clone, does. Use the setting that allows you to turn it off for Navigator. You're safe in any case; Navigator 3.x will always append to an archive. No matter what the dialog asks, Navigator never erases the contents of an existing archive file. One thing I find especially awkward about Navigator is keeping track of messages and information for quick access. I can archive a message, but it's not very handy to search archives to find, for instance, a phone number I just need one time. Here's how to use a Navigator archive to temporarily store a message -- as a reminder to call someone, to send for something, or to look something up. Create a new archive called Navigator To Do, save it onto the desktop, and set the Creator Code to ttxt for TeachText (or the Creator Code of your favorite text editor like miniWriter or BBEdit). Now every day, just double click on the Navigator To Do archive file that waits on your desktop to launch TeachText and check for reminders archived from the previous Navigator sessions. For even more automation, create it instead into your Startup Items folder in the system folder. Every time you restart, TeachText automatically launches your To Do Archive. As a bonus, you can delete old messages and information while in TeachText and save the file. Navigator will still recognize it as an archive and append new information. Downloading ----------- I've heard occasional complaints that Navigator is responsible for slow downloads. It's simply not true. I routinely use Navigator to download files at about 950 cps (the maximum for a 9600 bps CompuServe connection is 960 cps). Two other factors are usually at fault. First, downloading is often slow at CompuServe's peak hours, usually the afternoon through mid-evening. And second, the PowerBook 100 (and possibly other PowerBooks) has a bottleneck at the serial port, probably caused by power saving features, which limits transfers to somewhere in the mid-600 cps range. You should also try turning virtual memory off. Depending on your Macintosh setup, virtual memory can slow Navigator way down (but on some Macs it has no negative effect). On the other hand, no matter what the circumstances, it is impossible to transfer to or from CompuServe at better than 960 cps. There's no point in setting transfer speeds to 14,400 or turning on V.42bis or MNP5 compression; they're not supported by the CompuServe modems. If you've seen Navigator report speeds higher than 960 cps, it's probably the result of the inaccuracy of Navigator's speed calculation with very small files. Top Five Hints for Saving Money ------------------------------- Here are my top five time-is-money hints, plus a Bonus Hint. 1. Don't watch the live on line session. Filling the Session View window with text is a serious drag on session speed because your Mac's display is much slower than its serial port. Instead, either leave the window at the session start (check the preferences box for "Stay at session start"), or work with the portions already read into Navigator. Reviewing the session while Navigator is on line won't slow it down. But opening a modal dialog box inside Navigator while a session is running (the Page Setup box for example) will suspend the session until you dismiss it. 2. Send and read messages at 2400 bps; download files at 9600. The time spent collecting and sending messages is a mix of downloading and uploading text and waiting for the mainframes in Ohio to change forums, etc. 9600 bps is much less effective during text tasks because of that additional overhead which is independent of connect speed. Downloading files, however, is usually dominated by an uninterrupted flow of data, so 9600 bps can really make a difference. In this same vein, JB Whitwell, 70730,2514, pointed out that it takes some time to pass through the gateway between the CompuServe areas and the ZiffNet and ZMac areas. For that reason, you should group all the ZiffNet/ZMac tiles together and place them at the beginning or end of your session. 3. Don't use CPU-hogging applications while Navigator is downloading files in the background. Navigator usually does fine running in the background -- even a modal dialog box won't slow it down. But an application that uses the CPU heavily will cut into your download speed. Try setting Navigator to log on and download files in the middle of the night, or just take a break if Navigator has a lot of downloading to do. Check out the Run at Time selection under the Session menu for automated Navigation. 4. Schedule your session for off-peak hours. CompuServe is usually more responsive in the middle of the night or early in the morning than in the afternoon and evening. 5. Avoid retrieving messages more than once. If you've set Navigator to retrieve all messages about "PowerBook," and you've also told Navigator to follow a thread titled "PowerBook Prices," you're going to be seeing every message in that thread twice. Let the keyword "PowerBook" find the messages. The same thing will happen when you've set Navigator to Follow a thread, and one or more of the messages are addressed to you, though that's an inconvenience I put up with. Kathryn Willig, 71540,2055, prefers to set each forum to "Summarize My New Messages" rather than "Read My New Messages." Then, after she's read all the threads that she's marked, she picks out the remaining messages addressed to her and sets Navigator to pick them up on the next run. Me, I can't stand to wait that long. Bonus Hint Visit the Navigator forum on CompuServe (GO NAVIGATOR). It's not only the best place to go for expert opinion and advice, but it's free of connect charges. Navigator Synchronization: a Primer ----------------------------------- PowerBook users are familiar with file "synchronization," the process of maintaining files on more than one Mac while avoiding replacing a newer file with an older copy or creating two copies with different changes. Commercial utilities which automatically handle this task include Inline Sync, Leader Technologies' PowerMerge, No Hands Software's Magnet, and CPU's EasySync. (A slew of competitors will have appeared by the time you read this.) Some freeware utilities, like Zync, also exist. Here are things you ought to know about synching Navigator. Don't sync the Navigator Database file. That's where the locations of the download folder, accounting file, and ID Book are stored. If you sync that file, you have to change each of those settings for the current drive each time you sync; you'll have to reset the download folder every time, for instance, and the location of your ID book. Maintain a separate database file for each computer or drive. You will of course want to synchronize the session file -- it holds the session log, your composed messages waiting to be sent, and all the information in the Session Preview window, i.e., what forums to visit and what to do in each. The Navigator application and the help file don't change, so there's no reason to sync them, but you will want to sync the ID book so that you never find yourself with two ID books with different entries. Merging ID Books If you find yourself with two ID books with independent changes, here's an abbreviated tip from the last BMUG Newsletter: You'll need a copy of DocuComp II by Advanced Software, which has the undocumented ability to create a new composite text document that contains all the information appearing in two or more documents. First, change the address books' Type to TEXT with a utility like DiskTop, Norton Utilities' Get Info, Central Point's MacTools Deluxe DiskEdit, the shareware FileTyper, DropGetInfo, BunchTyper, or anything similar. Then, open DocuComp and select Composite Styles... under the Customize menu, uncheck all of the available styles for Insertions, Deletions, and Moves, and click Okay. In DocuComp's main window, choose either of the two Navigator Address Book files for the older document and the other for the newer. It doesn't matter which is which. Now click Compare and, when DocuComp finishes, save the document as a composite. Finally change the composite back to Navigator's original Type and Creator. The Type is Nav3 and the Creator is NavA. My article in the Spring 1993 BMUG Newsletter, "These Are a Few of My Favorite Tips," described how to do this with other kinds of files. Traveling with Navigator ------------------------ Using a Calling Card with Navigator Stranded once in Toronto (not a bad place to be stranded -- in the summer) with the local CIS connection temporarily down, I tried to make a calling-card call to my usual local number in New York. The trouble is, Navigator's text field for phone numbers isn't long enough to include all the dialing that goes into such a call. A typical calling card call requires dialing the special 800 number, waiting for a computer tone or a "bong," dialing a zero then the phone number you're trying to reach, waiting for the computer tone again, then dialing your 14 digit account number. That's 38 numbers right there. Navigator will accept only 31. Here's how to fake it: Most modems have a way to store a string of numbers in what's called nonvolatile memory -- the numbers remain stored even after the modem is turned off or unplugged. Different modems use different commands, but Hayes and Hayes-compatibles use "Z-registers". My Practical Peripherals PM14400FX PKT as well as Global Village and Supra modems use &Zi=n, where i is a number between 0 and 3 for each of the four memory registers and n is the number to be stored. So, for example, in terminal mode type "AT&Z0=241-123- 1324-1234" to store calling card account number 241-123-1324-1234 in Z-register zero. For other modem brands, check your manual. (If you have a modem that has only a single register, read on so you understand the process, and then check the Note below.) Use the AT&Zn=i command to store your calling card number in register zero and its 800 access number in register one (e.g., type AT&Z1=18007760606). The modem will respond OK when the number is successfully recorded. The command that looks into a register and dials the number you've stored there is ATDS=i, where i is the Z-register number. Thus to ask your modem to dial the 800 number stored in register 1, the modem command will be "ATDTS=1". The modem responds by dialing "18007760606". (With most terminal emulators, the command must be preceded by the special prefix ATDT, but since Navigator automatically adds ATDT, all you need to remember is S=1.) So, the string "S=1 0-212-766-2080 S=0" will dial the calling card's 800 number (Z-register 1), then a New York City CompuServe access number (0-212-766-2080), and then the calling card account number (S=0, stored in Z-register 0). (Spaces and hyphens are ignored by the modem, so you can insert them for clarity or skip them to save space.) But don't use that string. It will fail to wait for the calling card company's computer tones. There are several ways to deal with that. Try adding a few commas where the modem should wait, each of which will insert a 2-second pause (S=1,,,,02127662080,,S=0). It will take some experimentation to find the time it takes your phone to connect and the tone to sound. If your calling card company uses a "bong" instead of a tone, check your modem manual for a special command that listens for the bong. My Practical Peripherals modem uses the dollar sign (S=1 $ 02127662080 $ S=0). You should also try substituting a W. The W is usually used to listen for a dial tone, but it may also work with a computer tone. Once you have a string worked out, open Navigator's Session Parameters tile from the database or the Session Preview window. Under the Phones popup menu, select Create and type in a memorable name. "Credit Card Call" should be clear. Then in the first Phone text box, enter your newly created string. Note: Some modems have only one Z-register and will store only a single 14-digit number; if you have one of these, store only your calling card account number. The command for storing a number is typically &Z=n, and the command for dialing the stored number is typically S. The Navigator string might look like: 18007760606W02127662080,,S. That's 26 characters. If the W doesn't work and you have to add more commas, you can save space by entering ATS8=4 (setting S register number 8 to 4 seconds). Each comma now stands for four seconds instead of two. Here's the string that works for me: S=1W02127662080,,S=0. Notice that I've eliminated all spaces and hyphens, and it's just 18 characters long. Thirteen characters to spare. To break it down: S=1......... dials Working Assets Long Distance 800 number, which is stored in my modem's Z-register number one. W........... waits for the computer tone. A sixteen second pause, 8 commas, also works. 02127662080 dials CompuServe's New York City node. ,, ......... waits 4 seconds for another computer tone. (The W will not work for me. The long distance computer tone at this point is too short.) S=0......... dials my calling card account number, which I stored in Z-register zero. By the way, when you use this trick, set Navigator to turn the speaker on so that you can hear if it's working -- the pause before a connection may be longer from different distances and connections, or you may reach an operator for some reason. Once you've stored the numbers in your modem's S-registers and entered the string as a phone set in Navigator, you won't have to think about any of this any more. And once you've got a string that works, write it down somewhere. You wanna go through all this again?!? In fact, this is a good spot to remind you to write down or store, somehow, a backup of all the settings that you haven't memorized. This is especially important for PowerBook users -- imagine being on the road and deleting that phone number or password that you long ago forgot... The Secret Phone Number This number isn't really a secret, but it's hardly ever been publicized. I found it in Rich Wolfson's excellent book, "The PowerBook Companion" (Addison Wesley). If you need a local access number when you're traveling, use Navigator in terminal mode (or any telecommunications application) and dial 1-800-346-3247. At the Host Name prompt, type PHONES and then follow the prompts. And if you type that number, right now, into a Phone set in Navigator's session parameters window, it will always be with you when you need it. CIS as On-the-Road File Backup I've often heard the suggestion that a simple method of backing up an important file while traveling is to send a copy to yourself via your on line service. This is especially useful for the Duo and PB100 owners, who may decide to leave the floppy drive home. Here's how to do it with Navigator. In the CompuServe Mail tile, select Send a File... from the Commands menu. Address the file to yourself and mail it. Now select Summarize the Mail from the same menu rather than Read the Mail so you don't download your file every time you log on. As a safety precaution, you might also want to deselect Delete After Reading, though if Navigator ever does download the file and delete it, you can always upload it all over again. I'm sure that's just how you want to spend your evening in the motel... Random Tips ----------- Windows Realignment If your Navigator windows appear somewhere off screen and you can't reach the grow box in the upper right corner to resize the window, close the windows with command-W and select Preview and Review from the Session menu while holding down the option key. That resets each window to its default location for the current monitor. Speedy Navigator Reviewing If you have the RAM to spare, try running Navigator from a RAM disk. You'll be amazed at how much faster some operations run (primarily, of course, operations that involve reading from the drive). You an really zip through a Find, and frames will flash by as you review by holding down the enter key or the shift-enter. Of course, this also means it's best to run Navigator from the fastest hard drive you have. Use Meaningful Sounds Craig O'Donnell says: Find some good sounds on-line and install them in your System or open them with Suitcase. They will appear in the "Set Sounds..." scrolling list found under the Settings menu. You can set individual sounds to certain events. Session End, File Transfer End, and Enter Manual Mode are the ones I find most useful. Star Trek and Monty Python sounds are good here. I use musical chords, but you could also do the America Online trick: Use the Apple Mic and record yourself or a significant whomever saying "Session's Done" ... "File's Done" ... "Manual Mode". Gather Both Summaries & Text Here's a hidden feature which sysops might find handy. Normally, you can set Navigator to collect either a summary of a section's message thread subjects or the contents of all of the messages in a section. A command-click on the buttons will allow you to select both. Command-click will also let you select "n/a" sections, which a sysop might have a reason to see. (It won't help non-sysops. Nothing will be found there even if you force a check mark.) Sharing an Address Book with CompuServe Information Manager If you use both Navigator and CompuServe Information Manager, you can designate a single address book for both. Add an address while in one of them and it'll be available in the other. In Navigator's Set ID Book dialog box, just select the CIM address book, which is called "CompuServe Addresses." It's probably located in System Folder:Preferences:CompuServe on your disk. But watch out. If you have saved any mailing lists or group lists in CIM, the address book may not be compatible with Navigator. Compatibility apparently depends on how many members are in your mail group, so you might find that a CIM address book is readable by Navigator. But it is not guaranteed to remain compatible, so I don't recommend sharing the book if you use CIM's group feature. ID Lookup Tip You may not realize that the Lookup button also works whenever you highlight a name or part of a name in the message text. Thus you can convert "Drop a message to Joe Holmes about this" to the more useful "Drop a message to Joe Holmes 72241,731 about this" with a click of a button. Unfortunately, you can't use this tip in the text of a Reply, since there's no Lookup button in the Reply window. Craig O'Donnell adds: To insert a name and ID into any message (Email or Reply), here's another way: Type Command-B, type the person's name to get your hit, then hit Return. Navigator sticks this into your message and puts the Address Book away. Annotating/pruning before printing or archiving You may have noticed that you can delete text or type into the text in the Session View window. That allows you to edit or annotate the text in a review frame before you print or archive it. Delete text you don't need, or add annotations or notes, then print it or archive it. What makes this especially useful is that you can simply move to the next frame and the changes are eliminated and the original text is restored. Pseudo-Undo Ed Reppert, 72307,1026, noticed this neat trick (related to the tip above): Every now and then I select some text from a message so that I can paste it into my reply, but then I accidentally hit the wrong key and delete the selection. Frustratingly, Navigator doesn't have an "Undo," but remember the above tip for a workaround: if you accidentally make an unwanted change in the Session View text, just move to the next frame (Enter) and then back to the one you altered (Shift-Enter), and the text will be restored. End Notes and Contacting Joe ---------------------------- I collected these tips in various forums throughout CompuServe, but chiefly in the Navigator Support Forum. You can address more tips or corrections to me there or in the MacUser Editorial Forum in ZMac (GO ZMC:MACUSER). Address them to me at 72241,731. No private e-mail please. If I collect a significant number, I'll post them -- keep your eyes on the Navigator or MacUser forums around the end of October for news. Finally, my thanks to Mike O'Connor and my ZMac colleagues Craig O'Donnell, Kevin Norris and Ric Ford. -- June 4, 1993 History ------- 6/04/93 -- Authored by Joe Holmes 6/07/93 -- Edited & setext formatted by Craig O'Donnell 6/21/93 -- Edited to remove gremlins & include EasyView index .. This text is wrapped as a setext.