Internet Mail and News Help

Read Messages

Downloading your messages
Automatically downloading messages at timed intervals
Reading your messages
Searching for a message
Sorting your messages
Showing unread messages only
Viewing message header information
Printing a message
Viewing the list of enclosed files
Saving file enclosures
Viewing file enclosures by using helpers
Editing a received message
Deleting a message
Marking a message as read or unread

To download your messages

From the Mail menu, choose Send And Receive.
Any messages you have in your Outbox that are ready to be sent will be sent first. Then, you will see a status window showing how many messages are on the server, how many have been downloaded, and the size of each message.

Tip

When you download messages, Internet Mail and News copies the messages that are on your mail server to your hard disk. You can delete the messages from the server by choosing Preferences from the Edit menu, clicking Mail Server, and making sure Delete Received Mail From Server is checked.
You can set Internet Mail and News to check for mail at timed intervals.
Once you've downloaded your mail, you can close your connection to your Internet service provider (ISP) and re-open it when you are ready to send mail or you want to check for new mail.
You can also download messages by clicking the Send/Receive button on the toolbar.

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To automatically download messages at timed intervals

From the edit menu, choose Preferences.
Click the Mail Server tab.
Select Check For Mail Every 9 Minutes.
Click OK.

Tip

Many people choose to check their mail server every 9 minutes because their Internet service provider (ISP) automatically disconnects them after 10 minutes of no activity. If you pay a flat fee for your ISP, doing this will save the time it takes to re-connect to your ISP by keeping the connection live.

Related Topics
Downloading your messages
Reading your messages

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To read your messages

If the Mail window is not open, choose Mail from the Window menu.
Click the Inbox to see newly downloaded messages.
To view the message in a separate window, double-click the message in the message list.
To view the message in the preview pane, single-click the message in the message list. The text of the message appears in the preview pane below the message list.

Tips

Click the Previous Message and Next Message buttons in the message window to move to the previous or next message.
To view or save an enclosure from the preview pane, click the Get Enclosures button on the toolbar, and then choose the file name.
To display the message header information, first make sure that Show Message Headers In Message Window check box (on the Display tab in the Preferences dialog box) is selected, and then open the message in a separate window.
If you receive a message that is addressed to someone else, this could mean that the sender put your e-mail address in the BCC (blind carbon copy) field.

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To search for a message

If the Mail window is not open, choose Mail from the Windows menu.
In the Display Subjects Containing box above the message list, type the word(s) that are contained in the subject of the message you are looking for. As you type, only the subjects that match what you type will be visible.
To show the entire list of messages again, delete the text in the Display Subjects Containing box.

Tip

You can also use the method above to search for a news message in the News window and a user in the Address Book window.

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To sort messages

If the Mail window is not open, choose Mail window from the Windows menu.
Click the column heading you want to sort by.

Tips

To change the sort order, click the column heading you want to sort by. A triangle appears, representing the current sort order. To switch between ascending and descending sort order, click the column heading again.
You can change which columns are displayed by pointing to Columns on the Edit menu and then checking and clearing columns as needed.

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To show unread messages only

From the Message menu, choose Show Unread Only.
Now you will see only your unread messages, and the menu item on the Message menu will change to Show All Messages.
To show all your messages again, choose Show All Messages from the Message menu.

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To view message header information

From the Edit menu, choose Preferences
Click the Display tab.
In the Mail And News Messages area, make sure that Show Message Headers in Message Window is selected.
Click OK.
In the Mail window, double-click the message you want to read. The header information is at the top of the message body.

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To print a message

In the Mail window, double-click the message you want to print.
From the File menu, choose Print.
Change settings as needed.
Click Print.

Tip

To change the font used for printing, choose Preferences on the Edit menu, click the Fonts tab, and then choose a new font.

Related Topics
Changing the fonts
Reading your messages

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To view the list of enclosed files

To view file enclosures while in the Mail window, click the message, and then click and hold on the Get Enclosures button on the toolbar.
To view file enclosures while in the message window, click and hold on the Get Enclosures button on the toolbar.

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To save file enclosures

In the Mail window, click the message title that contains the enclosures you want to save. Messages with enclosures have a paper-clip icon next to them.
Click and hold on the Get Enclosures button on the toolbar.
In the list of enclosures, choose the one you want to save.
In the Save dialog box, choose a location for the file, and then click Save.

Tip

If you have View Enclosures Using Helper Applications selected in Preferences, hold down the Option key while you do this.

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To view file enclosures by using helpers

From the Edit menu, choose Preferences.
Click the Messages tab.
Make sure that Use Helper Application To View Received Enclosures is selected.
Click OK.
In the mail window, click the message title that contains the enclosures you want to see. Messages with enclosures have a paper-clip icon next to them.
Click and hold on the Get Enclosures button on the toolbar.
In the list of enclosures, choose the one you want to see.

Tip

If you do not have Use Helper Applications To View Received Enclosures selected in Preferences, hold down the Option key while you do this.

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To edit a received message

In the Mail window, double-click the message you want to edit.
Click the pencil icon in the lower-left corner of the message window so that it does not have a slash through it.
Edit the message.
When you are finished editing, choose Save from the File menu.

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To delete a message

In the Mail window, click the message title you want to delete.
From the Edit menu, choose Delete, or drag the message to the Deleted Mail folder.

Tips

To undo deleting a message, open the Deleted Mail folder, and drag the message to the Inbox or another folder.
If you do not want messages saved in the Deleted Items folder when you quit Internet Mail and News, choose Preferences from the Edit menu, click the Messages tab, and in the Sending And Receiving area, make sure Empty Messages From The "Deleted Items" Folder On Quit is selected.
Deleting a message that is in the Deleted Mail folder will permanently remove it.

Related Topic
Moving messages between folders

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To mark a message as read or unread

In the Mail window, click the message you want to change.
To mark the message as read, choose Mark As Read from the Message menu.
If you want to mark the message as unread, choose Mark As Unread from the Message menu.

Tip

To set what colors and symbol to use to mark read and unread messages, choose Preferences from the Edit menu, click the Display tab, and in the Mail And News Message area, change settings as needed.

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