Chapter 2 - Overview of VINES Mail

Chapter 2 - Overview of VINES Mail

About VINES Mail

VINES Mail for Macintosh is an electronic mail application designed for your VINES network. You can send mail messages to and receive mail messages from every user on the network, whether they use Macintosh, DOS, Windows, or OS/2 workstations.

VINES Mail lets you read, send, print, and manage your mail messages. More specifically, with VINES Mail you can:

Compose and send mail messages

Receive, reply to, and forward mail messages

Use StreetTalk Directory Assistance to address mail messages

Create a private address book

Certify messages to confirm receipt

Print, file, and delete mail messages

Attach files to mail messages

View and print files attached to mail messages you receive

This chapter shows you how to log in to VINES network and start the VINES Mail application. It also describes the Mail List window and the VINES Mail menu bar. Specific tasks, such as composing and reading mail messages, are described in later chapters.

Logging In to VINES

Before you start VINES Mail, you must first log in to your VINES network. If you are already logged in, skip to the next section.

To log in to the network, follow these steps:

1. Choose the Chooser command from the Apple menu. The Chooser window appears:

Figure 2-1. Chooser Window

2. Click the VINES icon.

3. Click Login.

The VINES Login window appears:

Figure 2-2. VINES Login Window

4. Enter your StreetTalk user name in the Name text box.

5. Enter your password in the Password text box. Press tab to toggle between the two text boxes.

6. Click OK. The system displays a brief message when you have successfully logged in to the network. The Chooser window reappears.

7. Close the Chooser window.

Once you have logged in to the network, you can start the VINES Mail application.

Note: If you have problems logging in to the network, refer to the VINES User' s Guide for Macintosh, or ask your system administrator for assistance.

Starting VINES Mail for Macintosh

To start VINES Mail, follow these steps:

1. Double-click the VINES Mail for Macintosh Application icon. An introductory window appears:

Figure 2-3. VINES Mail Application Icon

Figure 2-4. VINES Mail Introductory Window

2. Click anywhere in this window or press return.

Mail List Window

The Mail List window lets you perform most of the tasks related to sending and receiving mail messages:

Figure 2-5. Mail List Window

Adjacent to the icon panel is today's date and a running total of your unread messages. This number is updated every time you receive new mail messages.

Using Icons or the Menu Bar

A VINES Mail menu bar appears at the top of the screen. Take a moment to browse through it. Note that all the icons in the Mail List window also appear in the menu bar, along with their associated commands. A complete list of command-key equivalents appears in Appendix A.

You can perform tasks by either:

Choosing commands from the menu bar

Clicking icons in the Mail List window

Most of the windows in the VINES Mail application have icons that you can click as an alternative to choosing commands in the menu bar.

Example

Using Icons or the Menu Bar

To read a mail message from the Mail List window, either:

Select the messages and click the Read icon

Select the message and choose Open Mail from the File menu

Table 2-1 summarizes the Mail List window icons:

Table 2-1. Mail List Window Icons

Click	To
	Compose a new message
	Open and read a selected message or group of messages
	Reply to a selected message
	Forward a selected message or group of messages to another user or group of users
	Send a selected message to one or more StreetTalk addresses
	File a selected message or group of messages to a mail folder
	Print a selected message or group of messages
	Delete a selected message or group of messages

Many of these icons appear in other windows, such as the Read or Compose windows.

Mail Folders and Messages List Area

Your mail folders and message summaries appear below the icon panel. Each message summary tells you the following information about the message:

Status

Priority

Date

Sender or addressee

Subject

A folder icon appears to the left of the folder name and the number of messages in each folder appears to the right.

Figure 2-6. Folder Icon

Opening and Closing Mail Folders

Double-click a closed mail folder to open it. You see the folder and a list of its messages simultaneously.

Double-click an open mail folder to close it. The list of messages disappears from view.

General and Wastebasket Mail Folders

Two mail folders appear when you first run VINES Mail:

General

Wastebasket

When you receive a message, it is placed in the General mail folder. The General mail folder automatically opens when you first open the Mail List window.

The Wastebasket folder contains deleted messages. For more information about this folder, see Chapter 5. You cannot delete the General or the Wastebasket mail folder. Any folders that you create also appear in the Mail List window. You create new mail folders and rename them using menu bar commands.

Messages sent to you are marked by unread (closed envelope) or read (message in open envelope) icons, and are sorted by the date and time they were sent. When you open an unread message, the unread message icon changes to a read message icon. Use the scroll bar to the right of the message list area to scroll through your list of messages.

Figure 2-7. Read and Unread Message Icons

Summary Information

Folders and a summary of information about the messages in them appear in the Mail List window. There are five elements comprising the summary information, as shown in a sample Mail List window:

Figure 2-8. Mail List Window

Table 2-2 describes the elements in a message summary:

Table 2-2. Elements of a Message Summary

Message Element	Icon	Description
Status Icons		A message you sent
		A message you did not yet send
		A message you received but did not yet read.
		A message you received and read.
Priority	! !! Blank	Message priority selected by the sender in the Priority dialog box. Setting message priority is explained in Chapter 3.
Date		The date the message was sent or composed.
Name		The name of the recipient or the message sender, depending on whether this is an incoming or outgoing message.
Subject		The subject entered in the subject field in the Compose window. If "Re:" precedes the subject, then this is a reply to another message. Replying to messages is discussed in Chapter 4.

Using the VINES Mail Menu Bar

The VINES Mail menu bar is always visible at the top of the screen when you run the application. It has five pull-down menus that contain all the commands available for VINES Mail, as well as certain standard Apple commands.

The menus are:

Apple

File

Edit

Mail

Windows

Sometimes certain menu commands are dimmed, which means they are not available for you to choose.

Example Dimmed Menu Commands

If you are not composing a message, the Certify command in the Mail menu is dimmed. When you compose a message, the command is available.

The following sections describe the menus in more detail.

Apple Menu

You view information about VINES Mail as well as access on-line help from this menu:

Figure 2-9. Apple Menu

File Menu

The File menu lets you choose commands that operate on all mail messages:

Figure 2-10. File Menu

You manage your "mail environment" through the Preferences command, save messages with the Save command, and print messages with the Print command.

Table 2-3 summarizes the File menu commands:

Table 2-3. File Menu Commands

Select	To
New Mail	Compose a new mail message.
Open Mail	Open a selected message to read. You can open multiple messages.
Close	Close any active window without quitting the application.
New Folder	Create new mail folders.
Rename Folder	Rename existing mail folders.
Import File	Import any text file into your mail message. If a file is too large to import entirely, an alert dialog box appears.
Export Mail	Save mail messages as a text file.
Page Setup	Define a number of printing features, such as the size of paper and the orientation of the message on the printed page.
Print	Print the current message or attachment.
Preferences	Set the Mail software "environment." You set preferences for: ·____The Subject dialog box ·____A warning dialog box when deleting unread Mail ·____Closing the current message window
Quit	Exit the Mail application at any time. Open messages are automatically saved.

Edit Menu

The Edit menu is used primarily to compose messages, or for any other task that involves text editing:

Figure 2-11. Edit Menu

It lets you cut, copy, and paste text from one message to another part of the same message, or to another message.

Example

Using the Edit Menu

You can copy text from a message that you are reading and paste that text into a message that you are composing.

Commands listed in the Edit menu are described briefly in Table 2-4:

Table 2-4. Edit Menu Commands

Select	To
Undo	Undo the last text edit when composing, replying, or forwarding a mail message.
Cut	Remove the selected text and place it in the Clipboard.
Copy	Place a copy of the selected text in the Clipboard. The original text stays where it was when selected.
Paste	Place a copy of the contents of the Clipboard at the insertion point.
Clear	Remove the selected material without placing it on the Clipboard. It serves the same function as the delete key.
Select All	Select the entire message. You can then cut or copy the message to the Clipboard to use in another message, or delete the message.
Set Text Format	Set the text format of your message so that it can neatly display on a DOS, Windows, or OS/2 workstation.

Mail Menu

The Mail menu contains basic commands such as Send Mail, Reply, Forward, and File. It also contains the commands for managing attachments and accessing STDA for addressing messages:

Figure 2-12. Mail Menu

Commands listed in the Mail menu are briefly described in Table 2-5:

Table 2-5. Mail Menu Commands

Use

Send Mail

Send your current message. Select any number of unsent messages from the Mail List window and send them using this command.

Forward

Forward the current or already-read message to other users. An address window similar to a Compose window lets you add comments.

Reply to the sender. Select any current or already-read message to reply to.

Certify

Receive notification that your message was read.

Address

Access STDA to help address a mail message.

File

File mail messages in folders. Select a message (or multiple messages), then choose the File command. The File Mail window displays a list of folders. Double-click the folder, or select the folder and click OK.

Attachments

Initiate a sequence of windows that allow you to view, print, file, and delete attachments.

Priority

Set and display how important of your message is. The priorities are:

!!! (high)

! (medium)

a blank space (low)

The message priority setting appears as part of the message summary line.

Delete

Delete a selected message or empty mail folder from the Mail List window. Multiple messages can be selected for deletion.

Windows Menu

The Windows menu lists all the windows in the VINES Mail application that are open on the desktop:

Figure 2-13. Windows Menu

Make other windows active by clicking in that window or use the Windows menu to choose the window you want to make active. The Windows menu is updated as you open and close windows.

Ending a Network Mail Session

To end a VINES Mail session, select the Quit command from the File Menu.

If you want to restart VINES Mail, you do not need to log in again unless you log out of VINES. Restart VINES Mail at any time by double-clicking on the VINES Mail Application icon.

Logging Out of VINES

To log out of the network, follow these steps:

1. Choose the Chooser command from the Apple menu. The Chooser window appears.

2. Click the VINES icon.

3. Click Logout. The Logout button changes to Login.

4. Close the Chooser window.

	Compose and send mail messages
	Receive, reply to, and forward mail messages
	Use StreetTalk Directory Assistance to address mail messages
	Create a private address book
	Certify messages to confirm receipt
	Print, file, and delete mail messages
	Attach files to mail messages
	View and print files attached to mail messages you receive

	Choosing commands from the menu bar
	Clicking icons in the Mail List window

	Select the messages and click the Read icon
	Select the message and choose Open Mail from the File menu