<b><a name="reading">Efficient mail reading</a></b><p>
If there is one thing Poco excels at, it is streamlining what you do most often in a mail program - reading mail. You have several shortcuts available when reading mail. Firstly, you can resize the message index and message preview pane to maximize the reading area. Turning on <b>Fast Reading</b> (under <b>View</b> menu) will automatically zoom the message window once you click on a message; when you want to proceed to the next message, either use the key shortcut (ALT+RIGHT), or simply move the mouse over the index title bar (above the message preview pane) and the the index will automatically pop into place, until you click on the next message.<p>
When reading a message, it is often necessary to scroll through it quickly. You can always scroll the message preview pane without leaving the message index input focus by using the ALT key in combination with Page Up, Page Down, cursor Up and Down keys and Home and End. For longer messages it is even more convenient to Zoom the message preview pane - either press F11 or click on the message or index purple title bar. This will maximize the preview pane and at the same time switch input focus to it. The same action will restore the panes, and return input focus to the message index if necessary. These actions work when windows are docked vertically to the main application window (default setup). It doesn't matter if you docked the preview pane below or above the message index.<p>
When dealing with HTML mail, often you will find that the sender used either too large or too small font for comfortable reading on your system. When reading messages, you can quickly enlarge or shrink the viewing font with the buttons just above the message preview pane. Also, to toggle full headers on and off, use the button in the same location.<p>
Double-clicking on a message in the message index pane, or pressing Enter will open the message in its own floating window. This has advantages if used in combination with Zoom feature (F11), as the message will maximize its vertical size to simplify reading even more. You can switch between currently open Poco windows by using CTRL+F6 or CTRL+ALT+TAB to switch to the next open window and CTRL+SHIFT+F6 or CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+TAB to switch to the previous open window.<p>
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An effective tool for viewing and sorting messages is the <b>Show Only</b> bar, located along the top edge of the messages index. By using it, you can quickly isolate messages you are interested in, and perform operations on them. The first drop-down box chooses what header information you want to isolate (i.e. From), while you enter the text you are looking for in the black box next to it. Pressing Enter or <b>Go</b> button will gray-out all other messages, while highlighting the ones you are looking for. To get even a better view of the messages you are looking for, just click on the <b>Hide Rest</b> checkbox - this will instantly hide all the other messages, leaving only the needed messages in the index (status bar will automatically show you how many messages are currently displayed). This feature can be used in a variety of ways: you can isolate a message sent to you FROM someone, by entering their e-mail address in the field; or enter a portion of the SUBJECT line for the messages you are looking for on a specific topic; enter the DATE for the messages sent on that day; to find all messages sent TO a contact, fill out their address; to isolate all mail that came FROM one domain, enter the domain (part of e-mail address after @ sign).<p>
This feature works on all mailboxes, and can keep your work flow smooth even if you have thousands of messages in a single mailbox. An added benefit is that successive uses of Show-Only bar have an additive effect - two searches will isolate the messages that meet either of the two criteria. To clear the previous query, simply clear the <b>Containing</b> text field and press Enter. Once you have tagged the messages you are interested in (marked messages are considered <i>"tagged"</i> by Poco), simply press CTRL-T (or <b>Edit</b>, <b>Select Tagged Messages</b> menu). Once these messages are selected, you can move or copy them to a new mailbox, or run a script on them. <p>
Poco can make managing e-mail a lot faster through support for message tagging. Show-Only bar makes a great use of tagging support, but you can also use tagging manually. Tagging a message will make it appear different colour in the message index, and will also enable you to use Show Only checkbox above the mailbox index to show only the messages that have been tagged. Tagged messages can be quickly selected with CTRL-T key combination, and then moved or run through a script. The tagged messages will remain tagged between Poco restarts. There are several ways to tag a message, besides the Show-Only bar - choosing the best one depends on the the type of messages you are trying to isolate.<p>
<b>Show Only menu</b>: when you need to quickly isolate messages similar to the one you are currently looking at, use the <b>Show Only</b> popup menu. Call it up by right-clicking on the message in the mailbox index pane. Then simply select what type of information you would like to match to the current message. For instance, if you select that you want to see other messages from the same sender, then only the messages that came from the same e-mail address will be displayed. Keep in mind that Show Only menu actions are not additive - it will untag any tagged messages before tagging the messages you are interested in.<p>
<b>Individual tagging</b>: you can also tag and untag individual messages, based on no specific criteria. Simply right-click on a message, and choose Tag Message or Untag Message.<p>
To untag all the messages, you can either use Untag All Messages pop-up menu, or pick any header in the Show Only bar, clear the box next to it and press enter. Compressing a mailbox will also untag all tagged messages within that mailbox.<p>
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If you need to print a mail message, Poco allows you to customize the printout to a great degree. For a simple message print, simply go to E-<b>mail</b>, <b>Print</b> menu, or press CTRL+P. This will instantly start the print job. To preview your printout, or to change the look of it, use the <b>E-mail</b>, <b>Print with Preview...</b> menu. Here you will be able to see the printout before it is printed, but moreover you will be able to format and annotate the message before printing it. You can apply standard formatting to the message, as well as add or remove text. Poco uses the standard default print template to initially format your printout.<p>
If you want to permanently alter the way Poco formats print jobs, go to <b>E-mail</b>, <b>Print Template...</b> menu. Format the printing template in any way you choose and when done press <b>Save as Default</b>. If you want to revert to the original template that came with Poco, click on <b>Use Original Template</b> button. You will notice the use of tags to denote the placement of the message text. These are the standard Poco <a href="sending.html#tags">Common Variable Tags</a>.<p>
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<b><a name="addressbook">Adding contacts to the address book</a></b><p>
The address book is an important aspect of Poco's functionality. Adding just a few mostly used addresses will help you streamline your work in many ways. The easiest way to populate your address book is to simply click on the To button just above the message pane while reading a message sent to you by one of your correspondents. This will automatically add his/her address to the current address book, as well as parse out their name so you can quickly find them later. You can also open the address book for editing by clicking on its toolbar button, or by going to <b>Tools</b>, <b>Address Book</b> menu (F5). Once there, you can add addresses of your most frequent contacts. Each address entry can contain up to four fields, nickname, full name, e-mail address and notes. The first two are optional. It is important to realize that this address book is not meant to replace your personal information manager or your contact manager - it does not store all the particulars for your correspondents. It is there solely to help you handle your e-mail.<p>
Poco has built-in support for e-mail lists. It is implemented through a simple rule that any address book entry containing more than one address is treated as a list. So to create a list, there is no dialog boxes to configure, simply enter at least two addresses in the address book for that entry. Once you have created your first list, Poco will help you manage it: simply right-click on the address of the sender in the message preview pane (next to the <b>To</b> button), and a pop-up menu will allow you to either <b>Add Address to List</b> or <b>Remove Address from List</b>. All of your current lists will be listed in these menus. This menu can also be accessed from the New Message window, when you use a right-click on the <b>To</b>, <b>CC</b> or <b>BCC</b> text field. Poco will show a small confirmation tool-tip if the address was successfully added or removed. Poco will not add an address if it is already present in the list, in which case you will hear an alert sound.<p>
Poco also supports <i>multiple address books</i>. Use the buttons just below the mini address list to scroll through your installed address books. To organize your address books, click on the middle button - this will bring up the Address Books settings window.<p>
When creating new address books, you will be prompted for name and directory of the new address book. If you place it in the default Address Books folder, the location will be stored relative to your application setup. You can also save the address book outside the default folder - this location will be stored as an absolute path. This means that even if you change your address books directory, you will not affect the location of the newly created address book. This is useful if you want to keep one address book on a shared network directory, or on removable storage.<p>
To find out more about using address book when sending mail, go to <a href="sending.html#addressbook">Sending Mail section</a>.<p>
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