AtlantisMail&News Help

AtlantisMail&News is a combined newsreader and email client. With  AtlantisMail&News it's possible to both send and retrieve email to and from anyone in the entire world and also post and read messages on Claranet's 28,000+ newsgroups. AtlantisMail&News makes all of this very easy via its simple and easy to use interface.

•	Introduction

•	Settings

•	How To?

•	Interface Guide


Introduction

What is Email?

Email, or Electronic mail is very much similiar to the postal mail you are undoubtebly use to. A piece of email has an address, a return address and of course the contents of the piece of mail to be sent. Like postal mail you are not limited to sending a written letter, you can send pictures, sounds, programs, or any other kind of file using  file attachments. Unlike traditional postal mail, a piece of email will take minutes (sometimes seconds) to reach it's destination, regardless of the geographical location of the recipient. Once you begin to use email, you may wonder how you ever managed to survive without it.

What is News?

News, or Usenet as it is also known, is like a huge international Bulletin Board. It consists of thousands of discussion groups, each on its own topic, to which people send messages (called news articles), which can be read by other people all over the world.  Almost everyone who has access to news will be able to read your message within a day or so.

These articles are sorted into groups - these are a collection of articles which have some connection to a particular topic.  These groups are collected together under subheadings know as a heirarchy.

Some groups have only two words in the their title (for example news.answers).  Other have many more, (for example comp.sys.ibmpc.games.flight-sim).

The following are some of the main divisions:

comp	Everything relating to computers

sci	Subjects relating to science

rec	Recreational - sports, hobbies, arts

soc	Social groups e.g. soc.singles, soc.couples.wedding

news	Relating to Usenet itself

misc	Miscellaneous - everything that doesn't belong anywhere else

talk	Discussion groups

uk	The uk specific groups

alt	'Alternative' groups

claranet	Groups relating to Claranet specifically

Most newsgroups available contain FAQ's  - this stands for Frequently Asked Questions. A FAQ is a list of the answers to the questions that appear on the group over and over again.

They can be a very good starting point for research into a topic as they will often have details of where to go for more information.

Binary groups are also useful.  They will have binaries in their name somewhere.With the AtlantisMail&News decoding is very simple and these files can be viewed or used almost instantly.

The word 'subscribe' when used by NewsClient software (such as AtlantisMail&News) refers only to the way the software seperates newsgroups that you are interested in from those that you are not. Access to all newsgroups is free once you have an Internet Account with an Internet Server Provider(ISP) that provides access to a news server.

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Settings

AtlantisMail&News needs a little information before you are able to use it.

•	General

•	Address book

•	Newsgroups

•	Folders

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General

General Settings window:

Before you can use AtlantisMail&News with your Claranet internet account, you will need to enter the following intormation into the relevant fields.

Identity:

Name:

You need to enter your full name here.

Email Address:

Enter your email address here. The format for your email address is [Login name]@clara.net. In the above example, John Smith has a Login name of smith so his email address is smith@clara.net. Your email address is case sensitive and must be entered in lower case.

Reply To Address:

For user's who do not wish to use multiple email addresses the Reply To Address will be the same as the email address. If however you wish to use Mutliple Email Addresses with your Claranet account you will need to setup your Reply To Address appropriately. Whether or not you use multiple email addresses your Reply To Address must be entered in lower case.

Organization:

Enter a name for your organization. It is an entirely optional field so if you do not wish to disclose your place of work, you may leave this field blank.

Account Information:

SMTP Server:

You'll need to enter the name of Claranet's mail server here: mail.clara.net. This must be entered in lower case.

POP3 Server:

Again, you'll need to enter the name of Claranet's mail server here: mail.clara.net. This must also be entered in lower case.

NNTP: Server

This is where you need to enter the name of Claranet's News Server: news.clara.net. Again, this must entered in lower case.

Username:

This is the username you selected when you setup your Internet account with Claranet. This is seperate from your email address so you must not append @clara.net, it must also be entered in lower case only.

Password:

You'll need to enter the password you chose when you setup your account with Claranet. For security reasons when you enter your password, only asterisks(*) will be displayed on the screen. Due to this you must take extra care when entering your password. It must  be entered in lower case only.

Timezone:

Select BST (British Summer Time) during March-October or GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) for the rest of the year.

Automatic Mail Retrieve:

Enabled:

Automatic Mail Retrieval should only be activated if you plan on spending a large amount of time connected to Claranet. When this option is enabled AtlantisMail&News will automatically check to see if you have any new mail waiting.

*Note* AtlantisMail&News needs to be running in order for this function to work.

Time Retrievel:

Time interval in minutes between mail checks when you have Automatic Mail retrieval enabled.

Signature:

Enabled:

Activates the use of a Signature File.

Edit:

Allows you to edit the Signature File you have entered in the File field below.

File:

Enter the name of the signature file you wish to use here.

*Note* The signature file entered here must be an ASCII text file.

Attachment Size:

When sending a file attachment each individual email message will be limited to the size (in kilobytes) you set here. If the file you are sending is larger than the attachment size you select here, it will be split across multiple messages and will become a multiple file attachment. For example if you wish to send file attachment that is 500K is size, and limit the attachment size to 100k, then the file will be shared across 5 email messages each with a size of 100K.

Header Limit:

When you wish to download a list of headers for a newsgroup you can choose to limit the number of headers that are downloaded each time. Enter the Maximum number of headers you wish to download here. The default is 50.

Font:

Change Font:

Click here to change the type, style and size of Font used throughout AtantisMail&News. The attributes of the currently selected Font are displayed along with a small example of what the Font looks like.

Change Color:

Click here to change the color scheme used throughout AtlantisMail&News.

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Address Book

Address book window:

The address book is used to store frequently used email addresses. When composing a peice of email the address book can be selected to insert one of your stored addresses into the To field of your message.

The main window lists previously entered addresses. In the above example email addresses are stored for 'Peter Jones', 'Robert Miles' and 'Roger Jacob'.

The two text fields at the buttom of the window, Real name and Email address are where you will insert both the name and email address you wish to store.

Text entry fields:

Real name:

Enter the name of the person who's email address you wish to store here.

Email Address:

Enter the email address you wish to store here.

Note email addresses are case sensitve.

Control Buttons:

Add:

Once you have entered both a Name and Email address in the relevant text fields click Add to add the new entry to the stored addresses list.

Remove:

To remove an unwanted entry from your address book first highlight the entry you wish to remove then click Remove.

Modify:

To change either the Name or Email Address of an address book entry, first select the entry you wish to modify, edit the information stored in the two text entry fields, then click Modify to store the changes.

Sort:

To list all your Address book entries in alphabetical order, click on the Sort button.

Clear:

If you wish to clear the text stored in both the text fields click on the Clear button..

Help:

Click on the Help button to view the help file you are currently reading.

Cancel:

Click on the Cancel button to abort any changes you have made to your address book.

OK:

Once you are happy with the ammendments you have made to your address book click on the OK button and the changes will then be made permanent.

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Newsgroups

Newsgroup setup window:

The Newsgroups window is split into 3 sub-windows: New newsgroups, Subscribed newsgroups and Active newsgroups.

The Active newsgroups window will list all newsgroups that are currently accessible to you. In order for you to read or post to any newsgroup you will first need to Subscribe to that group. Once you have subscribed to a newsgroup it will then also be listed in the Subscribed newsgroups window and also listed in the newsgroup list of the Main program window. From time to time, new newsgroups will become available on Claranet's news server. In order to access these news groups you will need to update your news group list, the New newsgroups window will list any new groups

New newsgroup window:

New newsgroups are listed in the main part of the window. To the right of the list of newsgroups are 2 control buttons update and subscribe:

Update:

Clicking this button will tell AtlantisMail&News to connect to Claranet's news server and check if there are any new newsgroups that aren't in your active newsgroup list. If there are any new groups they will be listed. *Note* downloading new newsgroups can take a long time.

Subscribe:

Click here to subscribe to the new news group you have selected in the new newsgroup list.  Once you have subscribed to a new newsgroup it will then also be listed in the Subscribed newsgroups window.

Subscribed newsgroups window:

Before you can post or read messages to or from a news group listed in the Active newsgroup list you must first Subscribe to that group. All currently subscribed to groups will be listed in this window. The two control buttons, Add and Unsubscribe allow you to control the newsgroups you have subscribed to.

Add:

Click here to Add an active newsgroup. You will then be requested to enter the newsgroup name. If you are unsure of the exact name of the active newsgroup you wish to add use the list and control buttons present in the active newsgroup window.

Unsubscribe:

If you wish to remove any newsgroup from your list of subscribed newsgroups first select the group you wish to unsubscribe to and then click here.

Active newsgroups:

The active group list is listed in this window. You have full access to any newsgroup that is listed in this window, but before you can post or receive any news messages to a particuliar group, you must first subscribe to the group.

Retrieve:

Clicking here will discard the active newsgroup list present on your computer and download a new grouplist from Claranet's news server. As Claranet have provided an active grouplist with AtlantisNews&Mail, then there is no need to download a new grouplist. If you wish to access any new newsgoups that become available on Claranet's news server, use the click Update from the New newsgroups window instead. *Warning* As there are 28,000+ newsgroups available on Claranet's news server downloading a new group list can take long period of time, in excess of half an hour in some cases.

Subscribe:

Click here to subscribe to the newsgroup(s) you have selected in the active newsgoup list. Once you have subscribed to a new newsgroup it will be then also be listed in the Subscribed newsgroups window.

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Folders

Folders are very useful for seperating email and news messages you have stored locally on your computer. Any new mail folder you create can be configured in a number of different ways.

If you are using mutliple email addresses, mail folders can be created so that incoming email for each address would be seperated into different mail boxes.

You are not limited to sorting incoming mail, you can also sort outgoing mail into seperate mail folders too. If for instance, you wanted to keep a record of all mail sent to particuliar address you could create a mail box that would store a copy of all outbound mail to that address.

The following lists how to create and configure new mail folders:

Create:

Selecting this option allows you to create a new mail folder. You will be prompted to enter a name for your folder. Folders must be named according to their proposed use. For instance, if you wish to use multiple email addresses, the name of the folder must match the first part of the email address before the '@' symbol. Example: If you are using an email address of john@smith.clara.net to have AtlantisMail&News store mail destined for that address into a seperate mail folder the folder would have to be named john.

If you wish to seperate outgoing mail, the mail folder must also be named apropriately, i.e. the folder must have the same name as the first part of the outgoing email address. Example: If you wish to save a copy of all mail destined for the email address sales@somebusiness.com then the mail folder would have to be named as sales.

Delete:

Clicking here will delete the mail folder you currently have selected in the mail folders list. *Warning* Deleting a mail folder, will also delete any messages you have stored in that folder.

Rename:

Click here to change the name of the folder you currently have selected in the mail folders list. *Note* As mail is sorted into mail folders based on the folder's name, renaming a folder will change what messages are sorted into the folder.

Folder Options:

Click here to change the settings for the currently selected folder in your mail folders list.

The settings window:

<INSERT PIC HERE> <THE TEXT IN THE FOLDER WINDOW IS CURRENTLY CORRUPT>

The folder options window is split into two sections, one that dictates how email messages are stored and sorted, and the other how news messages are sorted.

Email: (Message->folder)

Send:

When a peice of email is sent you can store a copy of the email message into a mail folder by enabling the following options:

Author:

Enable if you wish mail to be sent to this folder based upon the author (i.e. the return address the message is being sent from) of the message. Would be useful when mutliple email addresses are being used, and you'd like to store mail from a particuliar user. Disable otherwise.

To:

Enable if you wish mail to be sent to this folder based upon the recipient (i.e. the email address the message is being sent sent to) of the message. Would be useful for storing a copy of mail sent to a particuliar email address. Disable otherwise.

Retrieve:

When you retrieve your email you can set AtlantisMail&News to automatically sort your waiting messages into seperate mail folders.

Author:

Enable if you wish retrieved email to be sent to this folder based upon the author (i.e. the email address of the person who sent the original message). Would be useful if you receive a lot of email from a particuliar email address and would like to keep a record of it. Disable otherwise.

To:

Enable if you wish mail to be sent to this folder based upon the recipient (i.e. the email address the message is being sent to) of the message. Would be useful when mutliple email addresses are used and you'd like to seperate mail destined for that address from the rest of your email. Disable otherwise.

News Articles: (article->folder)

Post:

When you post a news article you can store a copy of the posted message into a mail folder by enabling the following options:

Author:

Enable to if you wish news articles to be sent to this folder based upon the author (i.e. the return address the message is being sent from) of the message. Would be useful when mutliple email addresses are being used, and you'd like to store mail from a particuliar user. Disable otherwise.

Newsgroup:

Enable if you wish any posts that are sent to a particuliar newsgroup to be sent to this folder. Would be useful for storing a copy of news sent to a particuliar newsgroup. Disable otherwise.

*Note* You can not change the settings for the default mail folders, in, out, sent and bin.

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How to?

Listed here are some brief instructions for performing commonly used tasks.

Email:

*Note* Before you can send or receive any email you must make sure your General Settings are correctly configured.

How do I:

•	Send email?

•	Reply to email?

•	Retrieve  new email?

News:

*Note* Before you can either post of retrive articles from any newsgroups you must first subscribe to a newsgroup(s). Click here for more information on the setting up of your accessible newsgroups.

How do I:

•	Post an item to a newsgroup?

•	Follow up a news post?

•	Download new news posts?

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Follow up a news post

When you first start AtlantisMail&News you will first be presented with the Main program window. From this window select the news article you wish to follow up, that is to reply to the article within the newsgroup, and then select Follow up article from the Compose menu. You will then be presented with the Compose window. Once you have composed your reply, select OK from the Compose menu. This won't immediately send your news post, instead it will be stored in the out folder. This allows you to compose all your news articles whilst offline, and then send them all together whilst your are Connected to Claranet. To post any news articles that are present in your out folder onto the relevant newsgroups, select Post news articles from the Compose menu whilst viewing the Main window of AtlantisMail&News.

If you attempt to Post news articles whilst you are connected to Claranet, you will immediately proceed to post your news articles onto Claranet's news server. If at this point you are not connected to Claranet then the Connect To Claranet window will appear where you will be prompted to Connect to Claranet after which you well then post your news articles onto Claranet's news server.

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Retrieve an email message

To retrieve any awaiting email you have on Claranet's mail server select Email messages from the Retrieve menu. If you attempt to retrieve your awaiting email whilst you are connected to Claranet, you will immediately proceed to download the awaiting mail from Claranet's mail server. If at this point you are not connected to Claranet the Connect To Claranet window will appear where you will be prompted to Connect to Claranet and retrieve any awaiting email.

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Send an email message

When you first start AtlantisMail&News you will first see the Main program window. From this window select Email message under the Compose menu. You will then be presented with the Compose window. Once you have composed your new peice of email, select OK from the Compose menu. This won't immediately send your email message, instead it will be stored in the out folder. This allows you to compose all your mail messages whilst offline, and then send them all in one go whilst your are dialed in to Claranet. To send mail in your out folder onto the Internet, select Send email messages from the Compose menu whilst viewing the Main window of AtlantisMail&News.

If you attempt to Send email messages whilst you are connected to Claranet, you will immediately proceed to send your email messages onto Claranet's mail server, from where they will be sent to their final destination. If at this point you are not connected to Claranet then the Connect To Claranet window will appear where you will be prompted to Connect to Claranet after which you will then send your email messages onto Claranet's mail server, from where the messages will be sent to their final destination.

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Post an item to a newsgroup

Select a newsgroup you wish to post a message to from the list of subscribed groups listed in the Main window of AtlantisMail&News. If you have don't have any newsgroups listed, you have yet to subscribe to a newsgroup. Click here for more information on setting up which newsgroups you wish to have access to. Once you have selected the newsgroup you wish to post a message to select News article from the Compose menu. This won't immediately post your news article onto the selected newsgroup, instead it will be stored in the out folder. This allows you to compose all your news articles whilst offline, and then send them all together whilst your are Connected to Claranet. To post any news articles that are present in your out folder onto the relevant newsgroups, select Post news articles from the Compose menu whilst viewing the Main window of AtlantisMail&News.

If you attempt to Post news articles whilst you are connected to Claranet, you will immediately proceed to post your news articles onto Claranet's news server. If at this point you are not connected to Claranet then the Connect To Claranet window will appear where you will be prompted to Connect to Claranet after which you well then post your news articles onto Claranet's news server.

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Read an email message

To read a mail message you have stored in any of your mail folders first select the message you wish to read then select View from the File menu. You will then be presented with the View window.

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Reply to email message

When you start AtlantisMail&News you will first see the Main program window. From here select the message you wish to reply to and then select Reply message from the Compose menu. You will then be presented with the Compose window. Once you have composed your reply, select OK from the Compose menu. This won't immediately send your email message, instead it will be stored in the out folder. This allows you to compose all your mail messages whilst offline, and then send them all in one go whilst your are connected to Claranet. To send mail present in your out folder onto the Internet, select Send email messages from the Compose menu whilst viewing the Main window of AtlantisMail&News.

If you attempt to Send email messages whilst you are connected to Claranet, you will immediately proceed to send your email messages onto Claranet's mail server, from where they will be sent to their destination. If at this point you are not connected to Claranet the Connect To Claranet window will appear where you will be prompted to Connect to Claranet after which you will then send your email messages onto Claranet's mail server, from where the messages will be sent to their final destination.

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Read newsgroup messages

To read articles posted in any newsgroup you must first make sure that you have subscribed to that newsgroup. Click here for more information on setting up newsgroups.

Once you have subscribed to any newsgroups they will then be listed in the Newsgroup list under the Main window. To download the messages stored in any of your subscribed newsgroups first select the newsgroup you wish to download messages from, then select News article->Headers from the Retrieve menu. You will then proceed to download a list of new message headers present in the selected newsgroup. To download the message body (i.e. the content of the message itself) first highlight the message headers whose content you would like to view, then select download News article->Bodies from the Retrieve menu. You will then be able to read any message whose Body you have downloaded by first select the message you wish to read, and then by selecting View from the File menu. The ability to download only the contents of messages whose subjects are likely to interest you can save greatly on telephone costs.

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Guide to the interface

There are 3 main elements to the AtlantisMail&News interface.

•	Main Application window:

•	View message window:

•	Compose message window:

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The Main Window

This is the window you see when you first load AtlantisMail&News. From this window you will gain full control of both Internet email and Internet news. The following details each individual function accessible from this window.

The Menubar:

The menubar consists of the following menus:

File

Compose

Retrieve

Settings

Help

Toolbar:

The toolbar consists of a row of buttons which activate commonly used functions.

Listed from left to right the buttons:

Compose, Deliver, Print, Save As, Settings, Folders, Help, Exit.

Windows:

Mail Folders window

The mail folder window contains a list of all the mail folders

you have. There are four standard mail folders listed in this window, In, Out, Sent and Bin. If you have set up your own mail folders they will also be listed here. The messages present in the currently selected mail folder will be listed in the Message folder window.

In:

The In folder is where any email you retrieve will initally be stored.

Out:

When you compose or reply to an email message or post to a newsgroup the message won't immediately be sent to it's destination address. Instead it will first be stored in this folder until you select Send email messages from either the menu or the toolbar.

Sent:

Once you have sent any email messages or newsgroup posts onto the internet, the messages in the Out Folder will then be moved from the Out folder to the Sent folder.

Bin:

If you delete any mail messages or news articles from any of your folders or subscribed newsgroups, they won't immediately be removed from your computer. Instead the message will be moved to your Bin folder. Deleting any messages in your Bin folder will completely remove the messages from your computer.

Newsgroups window

Any newsgroups that you have subscribed to will be listed in this window. Once you click on any newsgroup listed in this window the messages headers that you have retrieved from Claranet's news server will be listed in the Message window.

Message window:

Listed in this window are any messages you have in the currently selected folder from the Mail folders window, or if you have highlighted a newsgroup from the Newsgroup window, the headers you have retrieved from that newsgroup will be listed instead.

When you have a folder selected from the Folder window, the messages listed will be split into the following fields:

Author:

The name and email address of the person who wrote the email message.

Recipient/Newsgroup:

If you have a mail folder selected from the mail folders window, the name and email address of the person who received the email. This will be your name and email address.

Subject:

Short description of what the contents of the message are about. If 'Re:' (regarding) is present at the beginning of the Subject field, then the email message is a reply to another message.

Date:

The date the message was retrieved from Claranet's mail server.

Size:

The size in Kilobytes of the message.

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File Menu

The file menu consists of the following selections:

View:

Once you have highlighted a message in any of your mail boxes clicking on view will allow you to view the message.

Move:

Allows you to copy the selected or highlighted message(s) to any other mail folder you may have set up.

Highlight:

Highlighting messages in any of your mail folders will allow you to perform a single task on all your highlighted messages.

For example if you wanted to delete a number of messages at once, instead of deleting each message individually you could highlight a group of messages and then by selecting delete from the file menu you would be able to delete all those messages in one go.

Unhighlight:

If you have any highlighted messages, select this option to unhighlight them.

Delete:

If you select this option whilst you have selected/highlighted some mail in any mail folder excluding the bin mail folder, the messages will then be moved to the bin folder. If however, you delete any mail from your bin mail folder, the messages will be deleted off of your computer and therefore lost for ever.

Only delete mail from the bin folder once you are sure you no longer need those messages.

Delete all:

Selecting this option whilst you have any mail folder other than the bin mail folder selected, will move all mail in the currently selected folder to the bin folder. If however, you select this option whilst you have the bin folder highlighted every message present in the bin folder will be deleted off of your computer and therefore lost for ever.

Only delete mail from the bin folder once you are sure you no longer need those messages.

Print:

Select this to print any selected/highlighted messages.

You must make sure that you have a Windows3.1 printer driver correctly installed and that your printer is connected and switched on before you use this option.

Save As:

Click here to save any selected/highlighted messages as a text file.

Close:

Click here to exit AtlantisMail&News.

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Compose Menu

The Compose menu consists of the following selections:

Email message:

Click to compose a new email message. You will then be presented with the Compose message window.

Reply mesage:

Click here to reply to the currently selected message.You will then be presented with the Compose message window.

Send email messages:

Once you have composed some messages they will be stored in the out folder waiting to be sent. Click here to send all messages in the out folder.

News article:

Click here to compose a news article to be posted in the currently selected newsgroup. You will then be presented with the Compose message window.

Follow up article:

Click here to reply to any news article you currently have selected. You will then be presented with the Compose message window.

Post news articles:

Once you have composed a news article, it will be stored in the out folder waiting to be sent. To send any news articles stored in your out folder, click here.

Recompose:

If you wish to edit any email you have written before it's sent, select the message from within your out folder and click here. You will then be presented with the Compose message window.

Forward:

If you wish to pass on a message you have recieved click here. You will then be presented with the Compose message window.

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Retrieve Menu

The Retrieve Menu consists of the following selections:

Email messages:

Click here to Retrieve any new email messages you have on Claranet's mail server.

News Article->

Headers:

Click here to retrieve any new headers present in the newsgroup you have currently selected in the newsgroup window. When you download any new message headers, you will then be able to read the subject line of the new messages and choose, by highlighting, which messages you want to download. *Tip* To save on the telephone costs of being online it's a good idea to download all the message headers in your subscribed groups, disconnect from Claranet, highlight the messages that interest you and then reconnect to download the message bodies.

Bodies:

Click here to retrieve the bodies(i.e. the actual message itself) of any news article headers you have highlighted. *Note* Depending on how many message headers you have highlighted, retrieving news bodies may take some time.

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Toolbar

The toolbar consists of a row of buttons which activate commonly used functions.

Listed from left to right the buttons are:

Compose, Deliver, Print, Save As, Settings, Folders, Help, Exit.

The Compose button:

Clicking on the Compose button produces a drop down menu consisting of the following selections:

Email message:

Click to compose a new email message. You will then be presented with the  Compose message window.

Reply message:

Click here to reply to the currently selected message.You will then be presented with the Compose message window.

News article:

Click here to compose a news article to be posted in the currently selected newsgroup. You will then be presented with the Compose message window.

Follow up article:

Click here to reply to any news article you currently have selected. You will then be presented with the Compose message window.

Recompose:

If you wish to edit any email you have written before it's sent select the message from within your out folder and click here. You will then be presented with the Compose message window.

Forward:

If you wish to pass on a message you have recieved click here. You will then be presented with the Compose message window.

The Deliver button:

Clicking on the Deliver button will produce a drop down menu consisting of the following:

Send email messages:

Once you have composed some messages they will be stored in the out folder waiting to be sent. Click here to send all messages in the out folder.

Post news articles:

Once you have composed a news article, it will be stored in the out folder waiting to be sent. To send any news articles stored in your out folder, click here.

Cancel:

<WHAT EXACTLY DOES THIS CANCEL DARRON?>

Retrieve email messages:

Click here to retrieve any new email messages you have on Claranet's mail server.

Retrieve news article->

Headers:

Click here to retrieve any new headers present in the newsgroup you have currently selected in the newsgroup window. When you download any new message headers, you will then be able to read the subject line of the new messages and choose, by highlighting, which messages you want to download. *Tip* To save on the telephone costs of being online it's a good idea to download all the message headers in your subscribed groups, disconnect from Claranet, highlight the messages that interest you and then reconnect to download the message bodies.

Bodies:

Click here to retrieve the bodies (i.e. the actual message itself) of any news article headers you have highlighted. *Note* Depending on how many message headers you have highlighted, retrieving news bodies may take some time.

The Print button:

Select this to print any selected/highlighted messages.

You must make sure that you have a Windows3.1 printer driver correctly installed and that your printer is connected and switched on before you use this option.

The Save As button:

Click here to save any selected/highlighted messages as a text file.

The Settings button:

Clicking upon the settings button will produce a drop down list with the following selections:

General

Address book

Newsgroups

The Folders button:

Click on the Folders button produces a drop down list containing the following entries:

Create

Rename

Delete

Options

The folder setup guide contains full information on these options.

The Help button:

Click here to view this helpfile.

The Exit button:

Click here to exit AtlantisMail&News.

Click here to return to previous page.


View Window

This window is displayed whenever you wish to read the contents of a news article or email message. Using the following controls you will be able to reply to the message/article, decode any file attachments in the message/article and perform other useful functions with the message/article.

The Menubar:

The menubar consists of the following menus:

File

Edit

Compose

Settings

Help

Toolbar:

The toolbar consists of a row of buttons which activate commonly used functions.

Listed from left to right the buttons:

Decode, Compose, Print, Save As, Help, Exit.

Windows:

<PIC TO SHOW WHICH IS WHICH>

There are two sub-windows displayed when viewing a message, the Message header window, and the Message contents window.

Message header window:

The Header window displays the header fields of the message you are currently viewing. Header fields within a mail message or news article contain various pieces of information about that news article or email message. The header fields displayed by default are, From, To, Subject and Reply. To view any other header fields present in the news article or mail header, clicking and holding down the left mouse button upon the seperator between the Header and Message windows will allow you to increase/decrease the number of header fields shown.

Message contents window:

Displayed in this window are the contents of the message itself.

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File Menu

The file menu consists of the following items:

Decode singlepart:

If the message/article you are viewing contains a file attachment, click here to decode the file. If the file is spread across several messages/articles use Decode multipart instead.

Decode multipart:

If the message/article you are viewing contains a file attachment that is split across several messages or articles click here to decode the file.

Decode log:

When files are decoded a log file records the event. Click here to view the Decode log. If any files have successfully been decoded they will be listed in the Decode log window.

Print:

Select here to print the message or article you are currently viewing.

You must make sure that you have a Windows3.1 printer driver correctly installed and that your printer is connected and switched on before you use this option.

Save As:

Click here to save the message/article you are currently viewing as a text file.

Click here to return to previous page.


Edit Menu

The Edit menu consists of only one item, Copy.

Copy:

Any text that is selected in the message window will be copied to the clipboard. The clipboard is a Windows feature that allows temporary storage of computer data. It can be very useful for passing information between two different computer applications. The help file that acompanies Windows 3.1 contains more information on the use of the Clipboard.

Click here to return to previous page.


Compose Menu

The compose menu consists of the following selections:

Reply message:

Click here to reply to the message or article you are currently viewing. You will then be presented with the Compose message window.

Follow up article:

Click here to reply to any news article or mail message you are currently viewing. You will then be presented with the Compose message window.

Recompose:

Click here to edit the message you are currently viewing. You will then be presented with the Compose message window.

Forward:

If you wish to pass on the message or article you are currently viewing to another email address click here. You will then be presented with the Compose message window.

Click here to return to previous page.


Settings Menu

The settings menu consists of two toggleable options, selecting each option will either disable the option if it's currently enabled (indicated by a tick) or enable the option if it's disabled.

Toolbar:

Choose whether or not to have the toolbar displayed when viewing messages or articles.

Header:

Choose whether or not to have the header fields displayed when viewing messages or articles.

Click here to return to previous page.


Toolbar

The toolbar consists of a row of buttons which activate commonly used functions.

Listed from left to right the buttons

Decode, Compose, Print, Save As, Help, Exit

The Decode button:

Click upon the decode button to be presented with a drop downlist with the following selections:

Decode singlepart:

If the message/article you are viewing contains a file attachment, click here to decode the file. If the file is spread across several messages/articles use Decode multipart instead.

Decode multipart:

If the message/article you are viewing contains a file attachment that is split across several messages or articles click here to decode the file.

Decode log:

When files are decoded a log file records the event. Click here to view the Decode log. If any files have successfully been decoded they will be listed in the Decode log window.

The Compose Button:

Click upon the compose button to be presented with a drop down list with the following selections:

Reply message:

Click here to reply to the message or article you are currently viewing. You will then be presented with the Compose message window.

Follow up article:

Click here to reply to any news article or mail message you are currently viewing. You will then be presented with the Compose message window.

Recompose:

Click here to edit the message you are currently viewing. You will then be presented with the Compose message window.

Forward:

If you wish to pass on the message or article you are currently viewing to another email address click here. You will then be presented with the Compose message window.

The Print Button:

Click here to print the message or article you are currently viewing.

You must make sure that you have a Windows 3.1 printer driver correctly installed and that your printer is connected and switched on before you use this option.

The 'Save As' Button:

Click here to save the message/article you are currently viewing as a text file.

The Help Button:

Click here to view this helpfile.

The Exit Button:

Click here to close the View Window and return to the Main Application window.

Click here to return to previous page.


Compose window

Whenever you wish to Send or Reply To an email message or a news article it is this window that you will use to do so.

Menubar:

The menubar consists of the following menus:

File

Edit

Compose

Template

Settings

Help

Toolbar:

The toolbar consists of a row of buttons which activate commonly used functions.

Listed from left to right the buttons:

Insert text, Clear all, Merge Template, Save as Template, Cancel, OK, Help.

Windows:

The main display is split into two parts, the top half of the window which displays the Message header fields and the bottom half of the window which displays the message Body(i.e. the message itself).

Message Header Fields:

Here you'll enter some important information about the message you are sending, the email address or newsgroup you wish to send the message to and the subject the message itself is about. You can also choose to add a file attachment, send a copy of the message to another email address and change the Reply To address(the return address of the message) by entering information into the following fields: To, Subject, CC, BCC, Attachment and Reply To. Only the To and Subject fields require information to be entered, the other fields are optional.

To:

Here you'll enter the email address of the person your sending the message to or if you are sending a news article, the name of the newsgroup instead. In the above example the email of the recipient is blair@clara.net. To is also a button, pressing the To button will bring up the address book allowing you to insert commonly used email addresses into the To header field automatically. *Note* That you must enter an email address into this field.

Subject:

Here you'll give a brief description of the contents of the message. In the above example the subject is Good Luck!. The recipient of the message will have a vague idea of the message contents just by reading this subject line alone. *Note* You must enter a subject for your message.

CC:

If you wish to send a carbon copy (CC) of your email message onto a thrid part you can do so by entering the thrid party's email address here. CC is also a button, pressing the CC button will bring up the address book allowing you to insert commonly used email addresses into the CC header field automatically.

BCC:

Blind Carbon Copy. Same as the above except that the recipient will be unaware that he is receiving a copy of the message instead of the original. Note BCC is also a button, and pressing the BCC button will bring up the address book allowing you to insert commonly used email addresses into the BCC header field automatically.

Attachment:

To send a file attachment you can either directly enter the path and name of the file directly into the text field or press on the Attachment button to bring up a dialogue box allow you to select the file you wish to send as an attachment via a point and click interface.

Reply To:

To overide the default Reply To address set in you General Settings enter an email address in this field. Make sure that if it's an email address of your own, otherwise you may never see the reply! Clicking on the Reply To button will bring up the address book. So if you store a list of your own email address in your Address book you will be able to automatically insert any of your address directly into the Reply To field.

Body Content:

Here you'll enter the message itself.

Click here to return to previous page.


File Menu

The file menu consists of the following items:

Insert file:

Select to insert a text file into the message or news article you are currently composing.

Clear All:

Select here if you wish to clear all text currently entered in the Compose message window.

Cancel:

Select to cancel all changes you may have made to the message/article and exit the Compose message window.

Click here to return to previous page.


Edit Menu

The edit menu contains three commands that are used with the Windows 3.1 Clipboard, Cut, Copy and Paste. The Clipboard is a Windows 3.1 feature that allows temporary storage of computer data. It can be very useful for passing information between two different computer applications, or even for passing information to and from an application itself. Read the documentation that acompanies Windows 3.1 for more information on the use of the Clipboard.

Cut:

Select to remove any selected text and place it on the Clipboard.

Copy:

Select to Copy any selected text to the Clipboard.

Paste:

Paste any text that is stored in the Clipboard into AtlantisMail&News. The inserted text will be be placed wherever your cursor is.

Click here to return to previous page.


Compose Menu

The Compose menu list's one item:

OK:

Once you are happy with the message/article you have written Click here to send the message to the Out folder.

Click here to return to previous page.


Template Menu

The Template menu consists of two items:

Merge:

Click here to Insert a Template at the beginning of the message/article that is currently being composed.

Save As:

Save the message/article that is currently being composed as a Template.

Click here to return to previous page.


Settings Menu

The settings menu consists of two toggleable options, selecting each option will either disable the option if it's currently enabled (indicated by a tick) or enable the option if it's disabled.

Toolbar:

Choose whether or not to have the toolbar displayed whilst composing a message or articles.

All fields:

Choose whether or not to have the message fields displayed when composing a message or article.

Click here to return to previous page.


Toolbar

The toolbar consists of a row of buttons which activate commonly used functions.

Listed from left to right the buttons

Insert text, Clear all, Merge Template, Save as Template, Cancel, OK, Help.

Insert Text Button:

Click to insert a text file into the message or news article you are currently composing.

Clear All Button:

Select here if you wish to clear all text currently entered in the Compose message window.

Merge Template Button:

Click here to Insert a Template at the beginning of the message/article that is currently being composed.

Save As Template Button:

Save the message/article that is currently being composed as a Template.

Cancel Button:

Select to cancel all changes you may have made to the message/article and exit the Compose message window.

OK Button:

Once you are happy with the message/article you have written Click here to send the message to the Out folder.

Help Button:

Click here to view this helpfile.

Click here to return to previous page.


Troubleshooting


File


Misc


Using multiple email address

The standard email address format looks like [login]@clara.net, where login is the users login name. At ClaraNET you can choose to have as many email addresses as you wish using a single dial up account. There are no extra costs, this service is free to any of our customers.

The format for using multiple email addreses is slightly different to that of a single address. Instead of [login]@clara.net, the addresses will look like:

[name1]@[login].clara.net

[name2]@[login].clara.net

[name3]@[login].clara.net

......

[namex]@[login].clara.net

There is absolutely no limit to the number of email addresses you can use. There is also no need to contact ClaraNET to setup each individual email address, simply choose the names you wish to use and change the Reply to: field in the General settings as appropriate.

There are many instances where you would wish to have more than one email address. Individual members of a family may wish to have their own address, perhaps using the family surname as the login name (if available). An example of this would be:

john@smith.clara.net

mary@smith.clara.net

anthony@smith.clara.net

pauline@smith.clara.net

When the Smith family come to access their mail, each member's email can be seperated into seperate mail folders. Click here for more information on the setting up of mail folders.

If you do not wish to use multiple email addresses simply use the standard format of [login]@clara.net.

The applications for using mutliple email address are endless.

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Signature files
A signature is a small piece of text that can be added to the end of all the mail you send. It can contain your name, an address, phone numbers, job title, or other information you think might be useful. You save this information in a plain text file, without formatting, and as long as you have the signature file enabled and listed under AtlantisNews&Mail's General Settings it will be appended to the end of every messge or article you write.

Click here to return to previous page.


file attachments
A file attachment can be any kind of computer file, a picture file, a spreadsheet file, a database, a binary executable, etc. It doesn't matter what kind of file you wish to attach, it can be sent as an attachment.

You cannot send a file directly using email. Before a file can be sent as an Email message (or *with* an email message) it must first be encoded. AtlantisMail&News handles the encoding for you as soon as you select the file to be attached. Once the file has been encoded, the message body will appear as random characters, this is quite normal. When you receive an attachment it must be decoded, again AtlantisMail&News will handle this for you.

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Decode log window

The decode log lists any recently decoded file attachments.

You can view certain file types immediately from the decode log window without having to load the files into seperate applications. The file types currently supported by AtlantisMail&News are:

Jpeg images:

A picture file. All Jpeg image files will end with the file extenstion JPG. The dmb.jpg file listed in the above window is a Jpeg file.

Gif images:

A picture file. All GIF image files will end in the file extension GIF.

Text files:

ASCII text file. Text files ending with the file extension TXT will automatically be loaded into Windows 3.1 Notepad.

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What is a Template?

A template is a peice of text that will be inserted at the top of an email message. There are many uses for templates. For instance, if you wish to include your postal address at the top of an email message in much the same way you would with a standard letter, you'd create a bare message with just your postal address entered at the top of the body content and then save this message as a template. The next time you write a message instead of having to type out your postal address you could instead just merge the previously saved template with the message you are currently writing.

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Help

Click here to view this helpfile.

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