Problem: Someone sends me mail, but I am not notified.
Solution:
a) On some UNIX machines, you have to give read and execute privileges to all users in order to access the .forward file. Contact your system administrator for help with this.
b) Make sure that you spelled finger and nm_notifyuser correctly. Also make sure that you have a , after the username (for UNIX installations).
c) You could be running a strange mail system on your UNIX box. Users have reported to me that the following works for a .forward file (we have not verified this):
d) MacTCP was not properly initialized at startup. This may be due to an extension conflict or network problems. We would suggest restarting and that shoul d correct the problem. Make sure that you can use Eudora to manually check mail. If you can, restart your machine and see what happens. NotifyMail will inform you if MacTCP is not properly initialized.
Problem: I am notified of new mail, but when Eudora or any other mailer checks for mail, nothing is there. If I check again a little later, my mail is there.
Soltuion: Your UNIX machine may be a little slow in filing your mail. You can add a “sleep” command in your .forward file as follows:
\username,
"| sleep 10",
"| finger nm_notifyuser@machinename"
The sleep command tells your UNIX machine not to execute the following command for 10 seconds.
Problem: I’m using check for mail on startup and my mail is disappearing. Help!
Solution: There is a bug in the POP server (popper 1.7) that could cause your email to be lost. There have also been reports that this bug is still around in popper 1.8. we'd recommend getting the latest version from: ftp://ftp.qualcomm.com/quest/unix/servers/popper/
Problem: My site prohibits the use of finger servers on Macs or I want to use a different finger server.
Solution: You can specify which port you want NotifyMail to listen to by using ResEdit and modifying STR# resource 129, String 1. Simply put in the port number you would like to use. The finger port is 79 and we recommend port 1035 if you don’t use the finger port. Some other ports are reserved for POP servers, SMTP servers, etc. Be careful when modifying this. If you choose this option, your .forward file should be as follows:
\username,
"| echo quit | ftp machinename 1035"
Problem: I'm using Open Transport and NotifyMail crashes at startup when the network is not active.
Solution:
1. Open up NotifyMail with ResEdit
2. Open the STR# resrouces and find number 129...open it.
3. Search for string 5.
4. Change string 5 from 1 to 0.
Problem: It just doesn’t seem to work.
Solution:
1. Verify that you followed these instructions completely.
2. Contact NotifyMail Software (support@notifymail.com), and we will try to verify your setup. You must include with your request for help, your .forward file, if your POP server is a UNIX/VMS/MailShare machine, your NotifyMail version, what your NotifyMail settings are, and what you have done to try to resolve the problem.
Note: We will help anyone with setting this up whether they have purchased the non-expiring version or not.
Please don’t send in your payment until this is functional.
3. Contact your system administrator for assistance because your mail server may be set up differently.
Customization
NotifyMail is technically an extension, but it is simply a background only application. If you don't want NotifyMail to startup all the time, or you want to start NotifyMail after your machine is started, you can use ResEdit to change the type of NotifyMail from 'appe' to 'APPL'. You can also drop NotifyMail onto the appe<->APPL AppleScript included with this package to make the change. The program works in exactly the same way.
Run Configure NotifyMail and this will allow you to change several options about how NotifyMail works. Simply select Preferences from the file menu. These changes will take effect immediately after you choose Save. You can have NotifyMail send an AppleEvent to Eudora or another email package, display a dialog, play a sound, launch a program, run an AppleScript, or a combination of these. You can also have a mailbox on your DragStrip™ strip. Just drag the DragStrip™ Addition onto a strip and you'll see the mailbox. You must still install the NotifyMail extension in order for this to work.
If you use the check mail at startup option and your server requires APOP authentication, click the Use APOP checkbox to turn it on.
If you use the Internet Configuration System, NotifyMail can use those settings. This option will only be available if you choose Check Mail at Startup or Dynamic IP addressing. In the Startup Options, choose Use Internet Configuration System and all the information will automatically be filled in. If you change any options in the Internet Configuration System, NotifyMail will automatically use them.
Special note for StarNine's PT/Internet Gateway Users: If you are using StarNine's PT/Internet Gateway, you should install the PMSAM AppleScript extension and write an AppleScript that has the following command in it: PMSAM Connect Now "PT/Internet" You should then set NotifyMail to launch this script when new mail arrives. This will cause the PT/Internet gateway to initiate a connection and get your new mail.
Balloon help is available for Configure NotifyMail. If you have questions about any of the options, use the Balloon Help.
Bonus Features
You can have people “finger” your Mac and receive information. In order to set this up, create a folder called Plans and place it in your Preferences Folder (in the System Folder). Then simply use SimpleText or another text editor and place “plans” in that folder. Feel free to name them whatever you would like provided that there are no spaces or other illegal characters. Then someone can “finger plan_name@machinename”. You are not limited to the number of different plans you can have, but each plan must be less than 6K in size (only the first 6K of any plan will be displayed). You can also use aliases here to alias files that are in other locations on your hard drive. You can also create a user, for example sgruby, and then create an alias to that file and rename the alias as Scott. Someone could finger sgruby or finger Scott and receive the same response. You will also want to create a file called plan which will be displayed if someone fingers your machine without a username or if the specified username doesn’t exist.
You can use variables in your plan and NotifyMail will fill in the appropriate values. The following variables are available:
%timesecs% current time with seconds
%time% current time w/o seconds
%date-short% short form of date
%date -long% long form of date
%date-abbrev% abbreviated form of date
%startup-time% time computer was last restarted
%startup-timesecs% time computer was last restarted w/ secs
%startup-short% date computer was last restarted
%startup-long% date computer was last restarted
%startup-a bbrev% date computer was last restarted
%idle-timesecs% time computer has been idle w/ secs
%idle-time% time computer has been idle
%time-frmstartup% how long computer has been on
%timesecs-frmstartup% how long computer has been on w/ secs
%directory% lists all files in your plans directory
Make sure you use the % on both sides of the variable. If you want to actually display a %, simply put %%. The variables can be inserted anywhere in any one of your plan files.
Note: NotifyMail is incompatible with Fingerd by Peter N. Lewis. Sorry about this, but using both would probably confuse both programs since they serve similar functions. If for some reason you don't want to use this finger method, see the beginning of this document for instructions on modifying NotifyMail.
