PowerMail 3 user's guide

last modified 11 june 2000 - latest version usually available here


Table of contents

  1. About PowerMail
  2. First steps with PowerMail
  3. Using the PowerMail browser
  4. Using PowerMail to send and receive messages
  5. Using the Address Book to manage recipients
  6. Indexing and searching
  7. Using PowerMail with other languages than English
  8. Importing messages and addresses from other e-mail clients
  9. Exporting messages and addresses out of PowerMail to other e-mail clients
  10. Preferences
  11. Multiple users on a single computer
  12. Storing off-line archives
  13. Periodic backups
  14. Troubleshooting
  15. Technical support and feedback
  16. Appendix: Keyboard shortcuts


About PowerMail

Welcome to PowerMail, an e-mail client for Mac OS that combines a clear, intuitive interface with a rich set of functions for creating, sending, receiving, and managing e-mail, has advanced indexing and searching capabilities and supports multiple languages and script systems. While novice users will be able to learn and start using PowerMail quickly, advanced users will find that PowerMail helps them organize and manage large amounts of e-mail with ease.

PowerMail is the work of a dedicated team of Macintosh software developers who appreciate the attention that you, as a user, are paying to our work. We hope to make your e-mail experience as easy and enjoyable as possible.

What are the long-term objectives of PowerMail ?

Getting Started with PowerMail

About this guide

This guide introduces the PowerMail interface and the e-mail functions and options that PowerMail provides. If you have used an e-mail program before, you should be able to get started using PowerMail in a matter of minutes using this information.

First steps with PowerMail

PowerMail relies on the system software available in Mac OS 8.5 or later; this benefits our users by removing the need for any installer or "first-run program" and minimizes the disk space requirements. To install PowerMail, simply drag the "PowerMail" folder to your hard disk and double-click on the application.

After launching for the first time, it creates a new folder called "PowerMail 3 Files", which contains all of your personal database files. You can move this folder to any convenient location on your hard disk or on a file server. (Storing the folder on a server makes PowerMail slower, but it may be useful for some situations, such as multi-user/kiosk usage). In the unlikely event that PowerMail loses track of its data files, it prompts you to locate the PowerMail Files folder again or to create a new folder.

Configuring PowerMail

To simplify configuration, PowerMail tries to use existing Internet preferences. If you have previously used Internet Config, PowerMail finds and uses your Internet Config setup. Internet Config is intended to simplify the lives of Internet users by allowing them to configure their Internet preferences in a single location and have all of their Internet-related programs use the same configuration. If you have previously used Internet Config, PowerMail opens its Account Setup dialog with the information from Internet Config already filled in. All you need to do is click OK. If you have not used Internet Config before, you may want to run it after installing PowerMail. Internet Config is installed in the PowerMail folder when you install PowerMail.

You will need the account information provided by your network administrator or Internet Service Provider. If you need help configuring Internet Config, refer to the "User Documentation.html" file that is included in the Internet Config folder that is installed inside the PowerMail folder. If you are running Mac OS 8 and Internet Config has not been setup, PowerMail tries to locate the Internet Setup assistant and starts it for you. Follow the instructions provided by the assistant. (Note that Internet Setup assistant is only installed if you explicitly choose to install it when installing the system software. It is not installed automatically.)

If you have not previously used Internet Config and do not have the Internet Setup assistant installed, you can create your account manually using the PowerMail Mail Accounts dialog, which is accessed through the Setup menu. See the section below on "Creating multiple accounts", which gives step-by-step instructions for setting up accounts.

Connecting to a POP server and downloading mail

Once you have configured at least one account, you can connect and read any pending incoming messages. This section takes you through the steps of connecting to a POP3 (Post Office Protocol) account and getting your messages. Once any pending messages have been transferred from the server to your computer, you can use the PowerMail browser to read and manage messages.

To connect to a POP account:

  1. Make sure that your TCP/IP and PPP settings are correct (if you are using a dial-up account) and connect to your service provider.
  2. Choose Connect from the Special menu. The PowerMail Connect dialog box appears.
  3. Check the account (or accounts) that you want to connect to.
  4. Click OK.

    PowerMail connects and retrieves any pending incoming messages. You can observe the progress in the Status Window. With a POP account, all pending messages are downloaded to your computer and appear in the In Tray in the PowerMail Browser window.

    To make subsequent connections using the same settings, and without going through the Connect Dialog, choose Connect Again from the Special menu (or click the Connect Again button in the Toolbar).

    PowerMail connects using the settings previously entered in the Connect Dialog.

Using the PowerMail browser

Most of your time spent using PowerMail will be spent in the Browser window. The Browser window is divided into three panes: the In and Out trays and any local or remote storage folders that you create in the upper left, the contents of the currently selected message tray or folder in the upper right, and the contents of the currently selected message underneath.

The In Tray, selected by default, lists all incoming messages. Unread messages are shown without a check mark. Once a message has been read, a check mark appears next to it. You can choose to view All messages, or only Read or Unread messages. Choose All, Read, or Unread from the View menu to display the messages you want to see.

To view a specific message, simply select it in the list. The message contents are displayed in the pane below the list.

The Out Tray is where all outgoing messages, both "Waiting to be sent" and Sent messages appear.

Creating folders to manage messages

All sent and received messages are stored in a database. To help you manage and organize messages within the database, you can create any number of folders which can be organized in a hierarchical fashion, that is, folders can be subfolders of other folders.

To create an archive folder:

  1. Choose New Folder from the Folders hierarchical menu in the File menu.
  2. Type a name for the folder.

    The folder appears in the upper left pane along with the In and Out Trays and any other folders that you have created. You can create as many archive folders as you want to manage your stored messages.

    You can move one or more messages from one folder simply by dragging them.

    To move one or more messages from one folder to another:

  3. Display the folder where the message is currently stored (by clicking it in the list of folders).
  4. Select the message you want to move. (Shift-click to select multiple messages. Command-shift-click to select a contiguous range of messages.)
  5. Drag the selected message or messages to the desired folder.

    To make a folder into a subfolder of another folder:

    Drag the folder you want to be a subfolder into the folder that you want to be its "parent" folder.

    A triangle appears to the left of the parent folder in the folder list, indicating that it contains a subfolder. Click the triangle to open the parent folder and display its subfolders. Click the triangle again to close the parent folder.

    If you have a POP account, all messages are stored and managed locally on the hard disk of your computer.

Using the toolbar for common functions

The PowerMail toolbar works in conjunction with the Browser window give you quick access to commonly used functions. As you place the cursor over any of the buttons in the toolbar, you see a verbal description of the button's function appear at the bottom of the toolbar (for example, New, Print, Save, Reply, Forward, etc.). You can also hide or show the Toolbar.

Reply creates a reply message to the current message. If you select part of the message before clicking Reply, the selection is quoted at the top of the reply, using the attribution line from the Replying preferences, if enabled. If no part of the current message is selected, the entire message is quoted at the top of the reply. (See the section on "Preferences" for more information on the attribution line and Replying preferences.

You can also reply to a message by choosing Reply or Reply To All from the Mail menu. Reply creates a reply message already addressed only to the sender of the original message. Reply To All creates a reply message already addressed to all recipients of the original message.

Forward lets you forward the currently selected message. Redirect forwards the currently selected message, but addresses it as if it had been sent by the original sender and not forwarded by you. For example, if you receive a message from Juanita and you Forward it to Istvan, when Istvan gets the message it appears to have been sent by you. If you Redirect the message to Istvan, the message appears to have been sent by Juanita. It is important to understand this distinction and to use Forward or Redirect as appropriate, according to your intentions.

Managing messages in the Browser

The previous section explained how to create archive folders and drag messages to folders to organize them however you wish. You can also delete messages, sort messages according to a criterion you choose, and control which messages are displayed in the list.

Selecting messages

Select messages by clicking on them one by one or clicking and dragging to create a multiple selection. To add messages to a selection, hold the shift key as you click on each message to add. To create a contiguous list of messages to be selected, click on one message, scroll to the last message you want selected and command-shift-click on it. To select all messages in one folder or tray, use "Select All" in the Edit menu.

Deleting messages

Delete messages by dragging them to the Mail Trash in the browser window or the Finder Trash,by selecting them and clicking the trash can icon in the Toolbar or by selecting them and typing cmd-Delete (the cmd or command key is the one with a clover and Apple logo on it). Messages remain in the Mail Trash until you explicitly empty the Mail Trash by choosing Empty Mail Trash from the Special menu. After that, they are gone, gone, gone.

Controlling message display

If you have a large volume of incoming and outgoing messages, you will probably to organize the messages into folders. Even with messages organized and divided into folders, you may want to view only some of the messages, for example the unread messages, at any given time. PowerMail displays the message list of the current folder in the upper right pane of the browser window. In order to make organizing messages and viewing message lists easier, you can choose which messages are displayed in the browser message list and sort the displayed messages according to different criteria.

To select the current folder, simply click the folder name in the scrolling list in the upper left pane of the Browser window. The contents of the folder are displayed in the upper right pane.

To select which messages are displayed in and incoming mail folder, choose All, Read, or Unread from the View menu. To select which messages are displayed in and outgoing mail folder, choose All, Draft, Waiting, or Sent from the View menu.

You can also choose which information is displayed in the message list using the View Options dialog in the View menu. Check each piece of information (Subject, From, To, Date, etc.) that you want displayed as a column in the message list.

E-mail messages contain protocol header information as defined by the RFC 822 protocol. You can choose to show or hide this header information when a message is displayed in the browser window. Most users probably have no need for this information and may wish to disable showing it in the browser window to gain screen space for the actual message content. You can enable or disable showing the RFC 822 header using Show Header in the View menu. When Show Header is checked, the header is shown. When Show Header is unchecked, the header information is not shown.

Sorting message lists

To sort displayed messages by a criterion, choose the desired sort criterion (Subject, Size, From, Date, etc.) click on the desired column heading in the browser window.

For example, to sort messages by date, with newest messages first, click the Date column header in the browser window. The messages are sorted by date.

Messages are normally displayed in descending order (for example newest messages first when sorted by date, or beginning of the alphabet first when sorted by subject). To sort in ascending order (oldest messages first, for example), click the downwards-pointing triangle at the top of the scroll bar in the upper right pane of the Browser window. Messages are sorted in ascending order and the triangle becomes upwards-pointing. Click it again to return to descending order.

The sort criteria are stored so that the next time you use PowerMail, sorting is the same.

Managing messages automatically using Mail Filters

PowerMail allows you to manage incoming and outgoing messages automatically according to specified criteria using Mail Filters. For example, you could have all messages from your boss automatically stored in a special folder. Or, you could have all messages from the local used car dealership moved immediately to the Mail Trash.

To set up a mail filter:

  1. Choose Mail Filters from the Setup menu. The Mail Filters dialog appears.
  2. Click Add to create a new mail filter.
  3. Type a name for the filter into the Description field.
  4. Set up the criteria parameters for the filter.

    You can combine up to two criteria for acting on the filter, such as subject field contains "special offer" and sender contains "sales" and up to two actions such as File Letter in Mail Trash and Auto-reply with text "Don't send me any more junk mail".

    The filtering criteria can be text in any field, or in From, Subject, To, CC, Reply-to. Actions that can be taken include filing the message in a particular mail folder or the Mail Trash, setting the label, forwarding, auto-replying using text you provide, or executing an AppleScript.

    Each mail filter can be individually enabled or disabled in the Mail Filters dialog.

    You can delete a mail filter by selecting it in the list and clicking Delete.

    Note: Once you set up mail filters to manage messages automatically, it is up to you to keep track of where things go. PowerMail acts on your mail filters and places messages in folders, for example, according to your filters, but it does not give visual indications of where messages have been placed or which folders have unread messages in them. So, if you set up mail filters to place incoming messages in folders automatically, don't forget to check those folders periodically for new messages.

Indexing messages for content search

A mail database must be indexed before Find-by-content can be used. Indexing prepares your mail database so content searches are fast. An index contains significant words found in the names and contents of your files.

When indexing is enabled, PowerMail indexes sender name and address, subject, recipients, and message body of all locally stored messages automatically using the Apple Information Access Toolkit (AIAT). Indexing takes a little extra time after fetching messages from a server, but it allows you to find any message almost instantly, whether you have 50 messages or 5000 in your PowerMail database. Indexing is initially disabled until you do a Find operation, because this makes getting messages from the server as fast as possible. To find out more about indexing and searching, see the section below on "Using Apple Information Access Toolkit indexing and searching".

Creating multiple accounts

If you need to, you can add multiple accounts to be checked (Accounts dialog) as well as ask PowerMail to check your mail on a regular basis.

To create additional accounts:

  1. Choose Mail Accounts from the Setup menu. The PowerMail Accounts dialog appears.
  2. Click Add to create a new account.
  3. Fill in the fields for the account using the information provided by your network administrator or Internet Service Provider.
  4. After filling in the fields, click OK.

    Some of the fields, such as Description and Real Name are optional, but most must be filled in with correct information or you will not be able to connect successfully. If you want to use the account information stored using Internet Config, check "Use Internet Config", although if you are adding multiple accounts, you will probably want to enter the information directly for subsequent accounts after the first.

    The "Email address" field is used for replying to received messages and to identify you in the message header of messages you send.

    Beside the Account Type popup menu, fill in your server address as provided to you. For example, for a POP account, this might be YourName@popserver.ISP.com. This information must be correct in order to connect and receive mail.

    Fill in your password in the "Email password" field using the information provided by your administrator or ISP.

    Fill in the name of your SMTP host for outgoing mail using the information provided by your administrator or ISP. This should be something like smtpserver.ISP.com. This information must be correct in order to be able to send mail.

    Many e-mail programs, including PowerMail, support signatures. Signatures are text that is added to outgoing messages. The text for a signature can be anything you want. In PowerMail, you can have a signature for each account you create. To set the signature for an account, click Custom Signature in the Accounts dialog and enter the text you want to be used as a signature for the account. To change a signature once it is created, click Set and fill in the new text. Each message sent from the account will have the signature for that account appended at the end.

    You can create as many mail accounts as you need. To delete an account that is no longer needed, simply select it in the list, then click Delete.

    You can duplicate an account by selecting it and then typing Command-D. The account is duplicated and then you can rename it and modify the fields as needed.

Using PowerMail to send and receive messages

Once you have configured one or more e-mail accounts, you can send and receive messages easily. The basic steps to connect to a POP3 server and read pending incoming messages were covered in the previous section, "First Steps with PowerMail".. This section reviews the process of connecting and receiving messages and also explains how to create, address, and send outgoing messages.

Using PowerMail to receive mail

To receive incoming messages:
  1. Choose Connect from the Special menu.
  2. The Connection dialog appears.
  3. Check each account that you want to connect to.
  4. Click OK.

    If you want to connect using the same account or accounts you used previously, choose Connect Again from the Special menu, or click the Connect Again button in the Toolbar.

    PowerMail connects to each account you checked in the Connection dialog. For POP accounts, messages are downloaded to your local disk and decoded for reading. If indexing is enabled ("Receiving and Sending" Preferences in the Preferences dialog in the Setup menu), incoming messages are indexed for fast content searching. Indexing and searching is covered in the later section, "Using Apple Information Access Toolkit indexing and searching".

    Incoming messages appear in the In Tray, which is selected by default. To read a message, simply click on it in the list. The selected message appears in the display pane below the list. If you wish to open a message into a separate window, double-click it in the list of messages. After a message has been read, a check mark appears next to it in the list. To mark a message as unread, select it and then choose Mark Unread from the Mailbox menu.

    To archive a message in a storage folder, simply drag it from the list to the desired folder.

    To reply to a message, select it and then click Reply in the Toolbar. To forward a message to someone else, select it and then click Forward in the Toolbar. To redirect a message (so that it appears as if it were sent by the original sender, as opposed to being forwarded), select it and them click Redirect in the Toolbar.

Using PowerMail to send mail

Creating, addressing, and sending messages using PowerMail is easy. While there are a number of options for sending messages, you will find that sending is quite simple and straightforward. You can enclose files as attachments with your messages. Messages can be sent to any number of recipients.

To create a new message:

  1. Either choose New Message from the File menu or click the New Message button in the Toolbar. A new, blank message appears.
  2. Fill in the subject field.
  3. Add attachments (files), if desired, by dragging files into the Attachments field. Choose an appropriate encoding method from the Encoding popup. Check "Compress using Stuffit" if you want the attachments to be compressed for sending. If you are not sure what type of computer you recipient is using, leave this unchecked.
  4. Add recipients, either by dragging them from the Address Book or by typing in their addresses directly. PowerMail supports type-to-find, that is, as you type, PowerMail suggests entries that match what you have typed so far. If there are multiple matches, you can use the up and down arrow keys to cycle through them. (For recipients in the same domain as the account you are using to send the message, you can type only the user name and leave out the domain name. PowerMail assumes the user is in the same domain as you and fills in the domain name and completes the address. Note that this does not work for Internet Config accounts.)
  5. Choose the recipient type for each recipient. (See the following section on "Recipient types and what they mean", if you do not understand recipient types.)
  6. Choose the account to use for sending the message from the "Send via" popup menu. If you only have one account, it is already selected, so you don't have to do anything.
  7. Type the body of the message.
  8. To send the message , choose Send from the Mail menu. To save it as a draft and send it later, close the message and click Save when you are prompted to save the message. The saved message appears in the Out Tray and you can send it later by selecting it and choosing Send from the Mail menu.

    You can determine the scheduling that PowerMail uses to transfer outgoing messages to servers. PowerMail can send messages immediately or place them in a queue of messages waiting to be sent. This allows you to send messages in batches and minimize connect time if you wish.

    To schedule outgoing mail:

    Choose Schedule from the Setup menu. The Schedule dialog appears.

    Select one of the radio buttons in the list under "Send mail to SMTP servers". If you choose "As soon as message is sent", messages are actually sent over the network when you send them. This is the default. If you choose "When next connected to the network", messages remain waiting in the Out Tray until you connect to the network. Choose this setting if you use a dial-up connection and want to minimize connect time. Choose "Manually" if you want to send messages manually. To send a message manually, select it in the Out Tray, then choose Send from the Mail menu.

    Depending on your scheduling choice and whether or not you are currently connected to the network, PowerMail handles sending mail differently and the status of messages in the Out Tray may be different.

    Messages that have been saved, but not explicitly sent, appear in the out tray with the status Draft. Draft messages are never sent until you explicitly send them by opening them and choosing Send from the Mail menu, or by selecting them in the Out Tray and choosing send from the Mail menu.

    Messages that you have sent, but are waiting for you to be connected to the network (if you chose "When next connected to the network") appear in the Out Tray with the status of Waiting.

    If you chose Manually, when you send a message that is open, it is transferred to the Out Tray with the status of Waiting. The message is not actually sent across the network until you select it in the Out Tray and choose Send from the Mail menu.

Recipient types

For each recipient of an outgoing message, you can choose from among the following recipient types:

 

To

Primary recipients of your message.

CC

Carbon Copy, for secondary recipients.

BCC

Blind Carbon Copy, for secondary recipients not identified to the other recipients, including those in the CC list.

Scheduling mail

PowerMail offers a rich set of options for scheduling sending outgoing mail and checking for incoming mail. Using the options in the Mail Scheduling dialog, you can configure PowerMail to check for mail and send mail in the exact conditions that you specify.

To set the scheduling options:

Choose Mail Scheduling from the Special menu. The Mail Schedule dialog appears. The following sections explain the options in the Mail Schedule dialog.

Checking for incoming mail from POP servers

There are three options for checking for incoming mail automatically. They can be used together or separately. Check "When sending mail" if you want PowerMail to check for incoming messages each time you send outgoing mail. check "On startup" if you want PowerMail to check for incoming messages each time you start the program.

You can also configure PowerMail to check for mail at regular intervals measured in seconds, minutes, or hours. Since PowerMail is multithreaded, it can check for mail in the background without interrupting what you are doing, such as creating an outgoing message or reading received messages. PowerMail keeps track of when you are connected to the network, so you can ask it to check for mail at the interval you specify only when connected (by checking "only if connected to network" in the Mail Schedule dialog).

Sending outgoing mail to SMTP servers

You can configure PowerMail to send mail at specified times. If you check "When getting mail" in the Mail Schedule dialog, PowerMail sends any pending messages each time you connect to check for incoming mail. If you check "Before quitting", PowerMail sends pending messages when you quit the program.

PowerMail normally sends mail according to the setting of the group of radio buttons in the list under "Send mail to SMTP servers" in the Mail Schedule dialog. If you choose "As soon as message is sent", messages are actually sent over the network when you click Send (without placing them in the Out tray. This is the default. If you choose "When next connected to the network", messages remain waiting in the Out Tray until you connect to the network. Choose this setting if you use a dial-up connection and want to minimize connect time. Choose "Manually" if you want to send messages manually. To send a message manually, select it in the Out Tray, then choose Send from the Mail menu.

You can tell when there are messages waiting to be sent in the Out tray. When there are messages waiting, the text "Out Tray" is displayed in bold type to remind you.

Minimizing connect time

Users who connect to a network or Internet Service Provider through a dial-up connection using the PPP (Point-to-Point) protocol typically want to minimize their connect time and only connect when there is actually mail to send or to check for incoming messages. PowerMail can, in some configurations, help to minimize connect time automatically by keeping track of the PPP connection and disconnecting when there is nothing to do. PowerMail tries, as far as is possible, to keep track of your PPP connection and you can configure PowerMail to force a PPP disconnect when it has finished sending mail or checking for mail. That is, PowerMail knows when it initiates a PPP connection and may be able to disconnect automatically after performing mail tasks. However, this is only possible in certain configurations. At the time of this writing, PowerMail can only manage PPP connections automatically if you are using either Open Transport PPP or Apple Remote Access 3.0 or later. Future versions of PowerMail may be able to mange connections automatically with other PPP software.

To configure PowerMail to manage PPP disconnects automatically:

  1. Choose Mail Scheduling from the Special menu. The Mail Schedule dialog appears.
  2. Check "Force PPP to disconnect when done".

    If you are using one of the PPP version mentioned above, PowerMail disconnects automatically after sending mail or checking for incoming mail. If you are using different PPP software, you need to manage the PPP connection manually.

Using the Address Book to manage recipients

PowerMail includes an Address Book so that you can create recipients and groups, filter the list of recipients for searching, and manage recipients. Using the Address Book to create, edit, and delete recipients and groups is extremely simple.

To access the Address Book:

Choose Address Book from the Windows menu. The Address Book window appears.

The Address Book window shows all entries, or only those entries that start with text you type in the View Only filter field, in a scrolling list in descending alphabetical order. Along the bottom left of the Address Book window is a row of buttons. Each button lets you perform a common address book function, such as creating or editing entries. Some buttons are disabled (grayed out) unless an entry is selected. When you place the cursor over one of the buttons, a brief description of it appears below the row of buttons.

Use the buttons to create a new recipient, create a new group, edit the selected recipient or group, duplicate the selected recipient or group, or delete the selected recipient or group (left to right in the row of icons).

Type into the View Only text field to filter the display to include only those entries that begin with the text you type. For example, to display only those entries that begin with "vin", type "vin". This would display "Vinnie" and "Vinelands", but not "Vito" or "Au Bon Vin".

To create a new message that is already addressed to a recipient or group:

  1. Select one or more recipients or groups (shift-click to select multiple entries, command-shift-click to select a range of contiguous entries).
  2. Click To, CC, or BCC depending on the recipient type you want.
  3. A new, untitled message already addressed to the selected recipients appears.
  4. Complete the message and send it or save it for deferred sending.

    You can also drag address book entries to the recipients field of an open message to add them to the recipients list.

    You can add address book entries from another e-mail program by dragging and dropping them from the other programs address book window to the PowerMail Address Book window. You can export addresses to another program in the same way if the other supports drag-and-drop importing of addresses.

    Address Book entries are sorted by name in descending alphabetical order by default. To sort entries according to another criteria (address or comment):

    Click on the column heading of the desired sort criterion.

    The list of entries is sorted in descending alphabetical order according to the criterion you chose.

Indexing and searching

One of PowerMail's most powerful features is the ability to index and rapidly search local message content for user-defined search terms. PowerMail is able to do this through support for the Apple Information Access Toolkit, specially-developed technology for efficient indexing and extremely rapid searching.

Indexing messages

In general, indexing is done automatically when messages are fetched from the server. Aside from enabling indexing, which defaults to off, there is nothing that the user needs to do regarding indexing. You can also build or rebuild the index manually at any time.

To enable automatic indexing:

  1. Choose Preferences from the Edit menu. The Preferences dialog appears.
  2. Select Indexing from the list of preference categories on the left side of the Preferences dialog. The Indexing preferences pane is displayed.
  3. Check "Enable indexing of messages".

    To build or rebuild the index manually (whether or not indexing is enabled):

    Choose Rebuild Index from the Folders hierarchical menu in the File menu.

    If the messages were not previously indexed, PowerMail builds the index for the first time. If the messages had already been indexed, PowerMail rebuilds the index. Ordinarily, you only need to build or rebuild the index the first time you enable indexing, or when you re-enable indexing after it has been disabled. When indexing is enabled, PowerMail automatically indexes incoming messages as they are received and outgoing messages as you create them.

    Searching message content

    Finding search terms in message content is extremely simple. Searching applies to the sender name and address, subject, recipients, and body of the searched messages.

    To search for text in one or more messages (assuming the messages have already been indexed automatically or manually):

    Choose Find from the Edit menu. The Find dialog appears.

    Choose the search domain by selecting one of the options in the location popup menu. The default choice is to search all local mail databases, but you may wish to restrict the search to a particular folder or a single message.

    Type in the search string you want to match in the message body.

    Click Find.

    If no match for your search criteria is found, then "No match found" appears in the Find dialog. Otherwise a window appears with the results ranked according to relevance (relevance ranking is explained below).

    If you want to search for additional occurrences of a string that occurs in a message, select the text you want to search for, then choose Find. The Find dialog appears with the selected text in the search string field.

    To find other messages similar to the ones in the search results list, select one or more messages in the list, then click Find Similar. You can choose up to ten messages as criteria for a subsequent search using Find Similar.

    While the technology behind message indexing and searching is complex, using it is extremely simple. In order to make the best use of PowerMail's searching capabilities, keep the following in mind:

    • Searching only applies to local items stored on your hard disk
    • Indexing defaults to off: You can turn indexing on in the Receiving and Sending panel of the Preferences dialog (found in the Setup menu). The first time you do a Find, PowerMail asks you if you want to build an index. Click OK. PowerMail builds an index for existing messages and turns on indexing so that subsequent messages are indexed automatically.
    • To turn indexing off, check Disable Indexing of Messages in the Receiving and Sending preferences. You can always build or rebuild the index manually by choosing Rebuild Index from the Archive Folders hierarchical menu in the Mailbox menu.
    • Search results are relevance-ranked determined based on frequency of words.
    • The results are shown in a window with a "Score" shown as a percentage bar and ranked according to this score. The relevance, or score, is ranked according to the frequency that the search terms are found within the message. Ordinarily this results in the closest match at the top of the list.
    • PowerMail can index and search complex or double-byte language systems such Japanese or Chinese. You should, however, be aware that there are limitations in the way that words from different languages can be mixed in the search string. For example, if you mix a French word that uses accented characters and a Russian or Japanese phrase, no match will be found. You can however, mix English words that use only ASCII characters in with Russian or Japanese or Chinese.
    • Increasing PowerMail's memory partition speeds up indexing. To increase PowerMail's memory partition, select PowerMail in the Finder, then choose Get Info from the File menu and add approximately 1024K to the number in the Preferred Size field.

Using PowerMail with other languages than English

PowerMail has been specifically designed to be world-ready. Great care and emphasis has been placed on using all enabling technology from Apple and making sure that PowerMail is particularly well-adapted for non-English users, including users of non-Roman script systems such as Cyrillic, Arabic, Japanese, Chinese, or Korean. PowerMail can send, receive, index, search, and decode mail messages in any of these languages or script systems, including multiple languages and scripts within the same message.

Note: While PowerMail correctly handles message content containing non-Roman characters, if you are using a non-roman language (i.e. Japanese, Korean, Cyrillic, Arabic, etc...) that requires a Language Kit or a localized system, you need to use the "Language Register" application on PowerMail first.

Language Register is found in the Apple Extras folder after you install a language kit or international system) in order to properly display non-Roman characters in Preferences, attribution lines, Mail Filters, and folder names.

Text encodings

In general, dealing with non-Roman script systems and encoding and decoding of messages is transparent and does not require any intervention by the user, with the exception of setting a couple of preferences. See the section below on Encoding preferences for more information on these settings. These preferences affect only the way that messages are sent. PowerMail tries to encode messages for maximum compatibility regardless of the encoding method specified in the preferences. (For example, if you specify ISO-Latin 1 for encoding, but your message does not contain any characters outside the US ASCII range, PowerMail sends the message using US ASCII encoding for maximum compatibility. This is automatic and requires no intervention from the user.)

Messages are always decoded using whatever encoding they had when they were sent. (Some messages, particularly in Japanese, are sent with no indication of their encoding, although this is in violation of the MIME specification that governs encodings. In such cases, PowerMail uses its default settings to decode the message.)

Importing messages and addresses from other e-mail clients


The following is a description of proven methods for moving Emailer address book and message database data into PowerMail and back. As Emailer stores its other settings (account setup, filters etc...) in proprietary formats, there is unfortunately no way to move these over.

Claris Emailer 2.0v3

Before attempting an import form Claris Emailer, it is important to remember that Emailer is indeed a discontinued, albeit wonderful, product. There are known bugs in Emailer's Apple Event implementation which PowerMail and Outlook Express both use to extract Emailer data, and as such it is important that you upgrade Emailer to version 2.0v3 before attempting to import your data into PowerMail. As of this writing, the 2.0v3 updater could be found at www.macemail.com/emailer

Importing your address book

Moving address book data from Claris Emailer version 2.0 into PowerMail is simple: PowerMail can import address book files exported in LDIF format (recipients and groups) created by Emailer 2.0v3, or alternatively as a tabulated text file. You can even drag a selection of Emailer address entries and drop them inside the PowerMail address book window directly !

Importing your message database

In a perfect world, the Emailer developers would have made it possible to quickly export their database in an industry standard format (just as PowerMail does) or at least offer third-parties such as ourselves a programmatic access to the contents of their database. Apple has repeatedly refused to license us the necessary code to do this, and as such we have been forced to consider all possible workarounds.

The good news is that the whole process, if a bit tedious, is well worth it: you will not only be able to carry along your email archives but they will also be searchable using our high-speed VTwin search engine. In all cases, whenever you are importing from a folder with the name "foo" in the original database to a PowerMail folder called "foo", messages get added to the existing folder in PowerMail; otherwise, PowerMail will create a folder based on the original folder's name.

1. Using PowerMail's Apple Event based direct import facility: This the most obvious method to import messages: the PowerMail team spent over five weeks writing and tuning this code; select "Claris Emailer" from the "Import Messages… "menu item and select your Emailer application. Unlike other import methods, you will not be prompted to select a file to import but a Claris Emailer application instead that will be used to extract the data. PowerMail attempts to locate this application automatically, but you may have to select it yourself if you have more than one copy installed. Be sure to select a copy of Emailer version 2.0v3 and not version 1.1, since the latter is unable to export.

After a few seconds, PowerMail will have launched Emailer, counted the number of items about to be imported and attempts to estimate how long the import process will take. While after a few updates this estimate can be within minutes of reality, we are aware of some cases where it is completely wrong: it may say "More than two days" or "Less than one minute, yet take a half-hour to complete. Generally speaking, you should not assume that this task is fast, and should plan to let it run on a fast machine for as long as it may take, i.e. overnight or longer if you have thousands of messages. As Emailer will be the application doing the most processing, the secret here is to switch Emailer to the foreground instead of PowerMail while the transfer is occurring. Granted, you won't have PowerMail's duration estimate updated as often, but the whole process will be MUCH faster.

Fortunately, you only have to go through the migration process once. If this doesn't work for you, we recommend that you try two other alternatives:

2. Using Outlook Express 4.5 as a conversion utility: Microsoft Outlook Express was written by the same lead engineer as Claris Emailer. As a result, Outlook Express has an insider's view on how to get Emailer to hand the contents of its database over Apple Events; this may yield better results than when the same data is requested by PowerMail. Fortunately, PowerMail is able to import from Outlook Express' 4.5 mailbox format as well, so the first thing you need to do here is to run Outlook Express version 4.5 and ask it to import from Emailer (which has to be launched on the same machine and currently have access to your Emailer files and mail database. Once Outlook Express 4.5 is done, then quit it and ask PowerMail to import its database directly.

3. Using AppleScript: If Outlook fails (which may happen if it stumbles on a strange or difficult message), you are left with the possibility of using AppleScript; this method requires a little patience but works well. You need to install Richard Shapiro's Import/Export scripts found here. Once installed, you can apply either one of these scripts to each of your Emailer or Outlook folder; choose the Eudora format for exporting these messages; place all of these files in a single Finder folder and import all of them in one go using PowerMail. Hint: in order to reduce the number of times you need to run this script, try to move messages around in Emailer to a smaller number of folders before exporting.

The most likely problem you might run into for folders that do not convert right is that the AppleScript that creates Eudora-format mailboxes "stumbles" on a given message. The trick is to open the partially-created Eudora mailbox (after a failure) with a text editor supporting large files (Word, BBEdit, etc...) and identify the last two or three messages before the failure. Move these out of your Emailer folder and try running the script again.

If you experience date or accent problems with your old messages, we recommend that you try Brice Dardel's Eudora mailbox converter for PowerMail 3 .

What if I have mail in Claris Emailer 1.1 format and wish to migrate to PowerMail without going through Emailer version 2 ?

MailConverter 2.2.4, which can be found here, can convert Emailer 1.1 filed mail into Eudora format mailbox files suitable for import by PowerMail. Since neither the Emailer 1.1 In Box or Out Box get converted, you need to copy their contents into filed mail folders before conversion.

With MailConverter you can either create one Eudora mailbox file for each of your Emailer 1.1 folders (recommended), or create a single Eudora mailbox file for all of your Emailer 1.1 folders.


Outlook Express version 5

The import from Outlook Express 5 is similar to Emailer import possibility #3 described above.

As with Emailer, there is a deliberate decision made by the Outlook Express 5 team to store their data in proprietary, undocumented, locked file format without providing any built-in facility to export one's mail databases.

As a result, AppleScript is the only mechanism that offers any hope to patiently export :

Moving addresses from OE5 to PowerMail:

Launch both applications and drag addresses across from the OE5 address book window to the PowerMail address book window

Moving messages out of OE5 to PowerMail:

1. Get the AppleScript named "R Shapiro's OE 4.5 Scripts" from ftp.macemail.com/oe/R_Shapiro's_OE_4.5_Scripts.hqx

2. Use either one of the following scripts to create Eudora files:

>Import/Export
>
>Eudora Export - Exports any selected messages into a Eudora-formatted
>file. Outgoing messages will be recognized as such by Eudora. This is
>slower than the next two but can be used on a combination of incoming and
>outgoing messages
>
>Eudora Export Source - Simple, fast script for exporting incoming
>messages into a Eudora-formatted file (much faster than Eudora Export).
>This exports the full source, including MIME information, attachments,
>rich text, etc.

3. Import the resulting Eudora mailbox files into PowerMail 2 or 3 using the "Import..." feature in the file menu.

Eudora, Netscape Communicator, AppleShare IP and Unix mailbox

Each of these message formats are essentially similar, with a few minor variations. Each offers a pretty good interchange format across platforms and clients, and can be used as a lingua franca for moving messages to and from PowerMail. In each case, you have the possibility to import one or several files at any given time, and the only information that you will have lost is the "read" status from your previous mail client (we assume that all messages have been read).

If you experience date or accent problems with your old messages, we recommend that you try Brice Dardel's Eudora mailbox converter for PowerMail 3 .

Exporting messages and addresses out of PowerMail to other e-mail clients

This is the section that we hope you won't ever have to read, since there really should be no reason to return to Emailer or another client; however, in designing PowerMail, we figured it would be pompous to assume that PowerMail is the end-all, be-all email client and that we our users would be married to us forever. The reality is that loyalty on the net is counted in nanoseconds, and that if we were to lag feature-wise or support-wise, our users are entitled to choose another program and actually keep their own data. No e-mail jail here !

Moving back to Claris Emailer...

Exporting the address book: The simplest method of all is really to drag recipients out of the PowerMail address book window and drop them in the Emailer address book window.

If you wish to export your data as a file instead, select the "Export" item from the File menu. Under "LDIF" format we planned a provision for the particular variant of LDIF that Emailer uses.

You can also export tabulated text file with all of the entries in your address book will be created, including the contents of your groups but without the groups themselves.

Exporting the mail database: We recommend exporting your mail as set of Eudora mailbox files since a good interchange format to move messages into Emailer. Select the "Export all mailboxes" check box in order to create one Eudora mailbox file for each one of your PowerMail folders in one go. Then use Rich Shapiro's Emailer Import script found here to import each mailbox back into an Emailer folder.

Moving to other mail clients...

Exporting the address book: Select the "Export" item from the File menu. Select LDIF format if you wish to preserve your groups (unfortunately, this format does not offer the possibility to store folders (i.e. containers of items) which means that the contents of your folders will be flattened - however, the hierarchies defined in Groups (references to items) are maintained.

You can also export tabulated text file with all of the entries in your address book will be created, including the contents of your groups but without the groups themselves.

Exporting the mail database: We recommend exporting your mail as set of Eudora, Netscape or Unix mailbox files since these are the most commonly used formats for interchange.

Select the "Export all mailboxes" option box in order to create one Eudora mailbox file for each one of your PowerMail folders in one go.

Preferences

You can set your preferences for many settings in PowerMail using the Preferences dialog.

To set your preferences:

  1. Choose Preferences from the Setup menu. The Preferences dialog appears. The Preferences dialog is divided into a list of preference categories along the left side of the dialog, and a panel of preferences for the selected category on the right.
  2. Select the category of preference that you want to set from the list on the left. The preference options for that category appear on the right.
  3. When you have finished setting Preferences, click OK to confirm your settings and close the Preferences dialog or Cancel to dismiss the dialog without changing the settings.

    There are preference categories for:

    General

    The General preferences let you set the default account for new messages and for replying.

    Replying

    The Replying preferences let you set the behavior for replying to messages you receive. You can set the default to reply to either the Sender only, or to the Sender and all other recipients.

    You can choose to have replies use the standard "Re:" subject, or to use numbered subjects "Re(2)", "Re(3)", and so on.

    You can choose to use an "attribution line" that appears above quoted text when replying to a message. (To quote text from a received message in the reply, select the message to quote, then click the Reply button in the Toolbar.) If you check "Use attribution line when quoting" checkbox, the attribution line you create appears above the quoted text. You can create an attribution line from a combination of text you type and placeholder fields such as date and time, that are filled in automatically when the reply is sent. A default attribution line is provided, but you can change it to anything you want.

    To create an attribution line:

  4. Click on the Replying icon to display the Replying preferences.
  5. Type text and select placeholder fields from the popup menu to the right of the attribute line text box.

    You will end up with something like the following:

    Well, <sender name>, I was shocked when on <short date> at <time>, you sent me:

    Place holder fields enclosed in brackets, are filled in accordingly when you send the reply.

    Receiving and Sending

    The Receiving and Sending preferences let you set the default behavior for how messages are decoded and indexed. Check Disable indexing of messages if you do not want messages to be indexed automatically. Retrieving messages from a POP server is somewhat faster if indexing is disabled.

    Encoding

    The Encoding preferences let you set the behavior for encoding messages you send. (Received messages are always decoded using whatever encoding they were sent with.) Whatever script systems you have installed appear in the Script popup menu. Many users will only have Roman installed, but if you have others, choose whichever one you want.

    Based on the script you choose, relevant options appear in the Encoding popup menu. Only choices that are relevant to the chosen script appear. Choose the encoding method you want to use.

    You can also choose the encoding method used for enclosures. The choice will depend to some extent on the type of computer your recipients are using. You can also choose whether or not to compress enclosures using Stuffit. If your recipients are not using MacOS computers, or you are not sure what type of computers they are using, leave this option unchecked.

    Display

    The Display preferences let you set the display font according to the script system and to select how to display mail headers.

    Folders

    The Folders preferences let you set the location of the PowerMail Files folder and the folder where incoming enclosure files are stored after downloading.

    Notifications

    The Notifications preferences let you set the notification sound used for sent messages, errors, and the arrival of new mail. You can also choose to display an alert when new mail arrives.

    Labels

    The Labels preferences let you assign names and colors to the priority labels of messages displayed in message lists.

    To customize a label:

  6. Type the name of the label into the text field.
  7. Click on the color swatch for the label. The Color picker appears.
  8. Choose a color and click OK.

    Indexing

    The Indexing preferences let you enable or disable automatic indexing of messages and choose a method for processing Roman text.

    See the section above on indexing for an explanation of indexing options.

Multiple users on one computer

PowerMail provides mechanisms for multiple users to use the program on a single computer, each with his or her own set of message folders, preferences, address book, etc.

To create a new environment for a different user:

  1. Choose Preferences from the Edit menu. The Preferences dialog appears.
  2. Click Folders in the list of preference categories. The Folders preferences are displayed.
  3. Click New in the section "Folders containing PowerMail files" section. The new file dialog appears.
  4. Choose a location and name for the new file.
  5. Click Save.

    PowerMail creates a new folder containing an entirely new user environment with the name and location you chose. This includes a mail database, preferences, and address book, and everything else you need to use PowerMail.

    You can create an environment for each user. Once these have been created, you can access the environment for a given user by double-clicking that user's Message Database file. You may wish to create an alias for the Message Database file and give it the name of the user. Then, to activate that user's environment, simply double-click the appropriately named alias. For example, if you have created user environments for Martina and Kim and created aliases for their Message Database files using their names, Martina can activate her PowerMail environment by double-clicking the alias named Martina, and Kim can activate hers by double-clicking the alias named Kim. This makes it possible for several users in a home or small office context to user PowerMail on a single computer while maintaining separate e-mail environments including messages, addresses, and preferences.

Storing off-line archives


The technique described above (under "Multiple users on one computer") can also be used to archive messages off-line.

The idea is to have a current user environment to which messages are being added on a daily basis (its folder could for instance be named "Current PowerMail 3 files" and one or several user environments containing mail archives.

For these, just make sure that fetching and sending are disabled under "Mail Scheduling"; after opening such folders, you can simply manage your old mail and perform high-speed indexed searches.

Periodic backups

Although the low-level database used in PowerMail has proven very reliable over time (in fact, almost as reliable as a personal computer database can be) a low-level disk error caused by a damaged disk block is a risk that can never be neglected. As such, we recommend making periodic backups of your PowerMail 3 files folder.

If you are short of disk space for your backup, you can omit the enclosed folder named "Indexes" since this is only used to find by content and can be reconstructed at any time.

In addition, consider making periodic backups using the Export function using the LDIF format for the address book and either the PowerMail Exchange or Netscape/Eudora/Unix mailbox file formats: as these formats are all text-based, this guarantees your ability to access your backups at any time without relying on a proprietary format.


Troubleshooting

Once you have your account or accounts set up correctly, you should find that connecting to accounts, sending and receiving mail, and managing messages is incredibly easy and trouble-free. If you have trouble setting up your account or accounts, the information below may help you resolve problems. Most problems involve incorrect information entered into the Accounts dialog when setting up accounts. In all cases, you will need to know the account information from your network administrator or Internet Service Provider and to enter the pertinent information EXACTLY correctly into the appropriate field of the Accounts dialog. In particular the address, password, and SMTP host information must be correct.

Odd behavior (messages not sending, database errors...)

Before trying anything else, launch PowerMail with the option- and command-keys down. This will invoke PowerMail's built-in recovery facility known as PowerMail First Aid. While i is best to click on all checkboxes in this dialog, you may want to omit one or another depending on your specific need.

Dialup

If you are using an Internet Service Provider (ISP) account to provide a network connection over a phone line, when you choose Connect from the Special menu, PowerMail tells your modem software to dial up a connection to your ISP account, if a connection isn't currently established. To send and receive messages, you must be able to establish a connection.

If you cannot establish a connection, ensure your PPP and TCP/IP software is configured correctly, and that your ISP account is configured for PPP access. Your ISP representative should be able to assist you with configuring your network software.

POP accounts

For POP servers that do not support "UIDL" command, make sure that "Systematically retrieve all messages" is checked in the POP Account Options dialog.

To set this option:

  1. Mail Accounts from the Setup menu. The Accounts dialog box appears.
  2. Select the appropriate account in the list (it must be a POP account).
  3. Click Options. The POP Account options dialog box appears.
  4. Check "Systematically retrieve all messages".
  5. Close the Pop Account Options dialog and the Accounts dialog.

    Text encoding problems

    The most important thing to know about text encodings is that PowerMail requires Text Encoding Converter 1.5 or greater. This is installed with PowerMail. In the event that you experience problems (such as error -8749) when trying to send messages with accented characters in the subject line, try removing the Text Encoding Converter extension from the Extensions folder in the System folder and then reinstalling PowerMail and restarting your computer.

Technical support and feedback

CTM is serious about providing our customers with the finest quality software possible. We want your experience using PowerMail to be enjoyable. If you have trouble using PowerMail, first be absolutely certain that your account is set up correctly. Contact your network administrator or Internet Service Provider if you need help setting up your account. Also, please make sure that your TCP/IP and/or PPP settings are correct for the type of connection you are using.

If you are unable to resolve the problem, you may be able to get additional help from the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) document on the CTM web site (http://www.ctmdev.com/faq.shtml) or by subscribing to the PowerMail user discussion list, a community service for our registered users which is closely followed by the developers. As a last resort, if you need to send a direct comment or feedback to the PowerMail development team, please use this form.

PowerMail is developed by a dedicated team of Macintosh software professionals who take pride in their work and care about your opinion. We have made every effort to create a program that is at once powerful, rich in features, and easy to use -- and to offer it to our customers at the lowest possible cost. While we are proud of what we have achieved, we are also committed to continuing to enhance and develop our mail technology with the objective of offering our customers the best in ongoing service and support. We hope that you enjoy using PowerMail !

Appendix: Keyboard shortcuts

There are a number of key equivalents in the application which were designed to ease repetitive tasks or provide additional functionality unobtrusively. The following is a partial attempt at documenting these. (Reminder: the "Command" key has the small clover and Apple icon on it; the Option key is also known as the Alt key):

 

In this context...

do this...

in order to...

Message or address list

shift-down arrow or shift-up arrow

Extend a selection by one item

type any key (A-Z)

Select an item whose name starts by...

Shift-command-click

Select a range of items

Command-click outside of a selected item

Move around the lists in "hand" mode

Narrow the list header for dates

See relative dates

Use up-down arrows when in mail body or msg list

View previous/next message

Space bar

View next unread message

Click on the "Eye" icon

Show the "View only" toolbar (narrows down a list)

Option-click on a message

See a message's full headers

Drag column headers

Move column positions around

Option-drag column headers

Discover what is really hiding BEHIND columns and windows. After many years of mystery, there lies the grim truth that Apple wanted us to forget.

Message window displaying a received message

control <- or ->

go to previous / next message

control shift <- or ->

go to previous / next unread message

control option <- or ->

delete current message and go to previous / next message

control shift option <- or ->

delete current message and go to previous / next unread message

Note: You may use command [ or ] instead control <- or ->, but variants with shift and option keys might not work with non US keyboards

Text body

Option-tab

Move cursor out up to the subject field

Command up- or down- arrow

Move cursor to top or bottom of text

Command left- or right- arrow

Move cursor to left or right end of line

Command-shift-arrow

Select paragraph

Address book

Enter

Edit the selected recipients

Command-Enter

add the selected items as "To:" recipients of the current message (or of a new message if none is open)

Option-Enter

add the selected items as "CC:" recipients of the current message (or of a new message if none is open)

Control-Enter

add the selected items as "BCC:" recipients of the current message (or of a new message if none is open)

Other notes

Command-S

Saves the current message as draft; in Setup windows, saves the current settings