TransSoft's Mail Control
version 3.25 faq

--  Auto-respond and filtering rules:
For special help pages on auto-respond and filtering rules, please refer to Virtual Servers Inc "Quick guide to TMC installations" here:
      http://www.vservers.com/support/vmc/quick.htm

--  Making TMC work in the background:
Some of you seem to have misunderstood the concept of the "Auto-Mailer" feature in TMC. The "Auto-mail" feature is merely a utility that is meant to work while you are away from the computer. It is NOT intended to work as a background application. It can work as such, but if you use it in such way, it will pop-up and take over your screen on the specified event-interval to fulfill it's task. This can be annoying when you are working in another application, s.a. a Word processor. 
The proper way to setup background checking while you are at the computer would be to set it up so it works background minimized.
Here is what you do:
     1. Get in to "File/Settings" and check the "Background mail check active" option.
     2. If you would like TMC to dial up every time to check for mail and then close the connection afterwards, click the "Communications" tab in the "File/Settings" and check the "Work Offline" option.
     3.  If you want TMC to automatically fetch the messages whenever it finds pending mail during background check, check the "Auto-Fetch" option in the "Email properties". This can be accomplished via double-clicking on the email node in the folder tree on the front pane in TMC. There you'll find the "Auto-Fetch" option.
 
While TMC is set up like this it will work seamlessly in the background. If you want TMC to let you know when mail has arrived, s.a. by displaying a dialog box, you can check the "Interaction" tab in the "File/Settings".

--  Sorting/Filtering incoming messages:
One of TMC's great features is it's capability to filter the incoming messages and store them in separate folders depending on various rules. 
But TMC's filtering abilities take you further than this: It allows you to perform various tasks on the incoming message. These tasks include:
     - Auto respond/reply, which sends the sender of the message a reply message, composed by you.
     - Send attached files to the sender of the incoming message.
     -  Add/remove the senders name and address to/from an Addressbook of your choice.
     -  Automatically forward the incoming message to another address.
     -  Automatically print the incoming message.
     -  And more, and more....
Before you make a rule, please add a folder for the incoming message to the folders-list via the menu topic: "Folders/Add new folder" if the folder does not already exist in your list.

TMC makes it VERY easy to add filtering rules. We made special effort for this to be as easy as it is, by creating a Rule-Wizard, which leads you all the way until you have finished building the rule.

--  PGP:  Using PGP with TransSoft's Mail Control is VERY easy when you have managed to install the PGP program properly.  
The fact, that PGP is an external, third party product - made for the MSDOS environment, makes it harder for us to help you install it than if it were our own or at least a Windows program. There are a few things to note before incorporating PGP into TMC:
1. Get a copy of the PGP program - preferably versions 2.6.3 or below - either international version or the USA/Canada version. You can retrieve these from here:
      The international version is valid only outside the USA. You can get version 2.6i or 2.6.3i from TransSoft's FTP site, here:
       ftp://ftp.centrum.is/pub/TransSoft/pgp26i.zip
or
       ftp://ftp.centrum.is/pub/TransSoft/pgp263i.zip

The USA/Canada legal versions can be obtained from this site:
       http://web.mit.edu/network/pgp.html
You must have a ZIP program to extract the contents of these files.
Extract the PGP program on to a new folder, f.ex. C:\PGP
You have to extract twice, because within the ZIP file there is another ZIP file to be extracted.

2.  Before installing for the first time, please make sure these below files DO NOT exist. If they do exist, please remove them:
     a.  PGPcntrl.INI in TMC's folder.
     b.  TMpgp*.SEC   &   TMpgp*.PGP

3.  You have to Edit your Autoexec.BAT files. You can do this by entering MS-DOS prompt and type in these below commands:
C:
CD \
EDIT AUTOEXEC.BAT
Add a line, f.ex. as the first line in the file:
SET PGPPATH=C:\PGP
Save the file and exit via the menu topic "File/Save" and "File/Exit".
Type:
        EXIT
to exit from the MS-DOS prompt and return to Windows.

4.  Reboot your computer.

5.  Execute TransSoft's Mail Control and enter PGP mode by clicking on the PGP button in the upper right corner of TMC's main view.

6.  If all has been correctly done, you should be able to follow TMC's instructions from there.

7.  Exit TMC and re-execute it. Now enter PGP mode again, and "voila"! you are in PGP mode. 

To encrypt or sign messages, you just have to check the "Encrypted" or "Signed" options in TMC's Message editor (lower left) while you are composing a message.
When you retrieve a PGP encrypted message it will have a special "lock-icon" and when you view the scrambled message you will be offered to decrypt it.

-- Voicemail: You can send voicemail to all recipients that do have soundcard installed. They do not need to have TMC whereas most email clients allow you to doubleclick on an attachment to execute it's content solver. TMC marks it's voicemail in a special way for it to recognize them, and handles those accordingly. Other mailers however, see the voicemail retrieved from TMC as normally attached files, so anyone, with the skills to work with attachments can listen to the recording.

-- Document Templates: TMC's templates feature can be used in a variety of ways. For example you can use the templates to have predefined Header & Footer sections in your messages with fancy fonts and setup. Or you can use templates to predefine forms or text you frequently use. The templates can be in RTF format, but the signatures do not!
You can even use the macros to address the receiver by name without having to write it each time, as with dates, email addresses and more.
To define a template, just write in the text and setup the form in TMC's message editor and, when finished, select the menu topic "File/Save as Template". TMC will ask you for a name for the template. This name is for you to remember it's content.  The next time you need this template you simply press the template button and select it from there!

-- You can make TMC add automatically to the Addressbooks. This is done via the Incoming rules (Topic: Folders/Incoming Rules). When you add a rule and tell the system which messages to filter out you can also push the "Advanced" button and mark the "Add to 
Addressbook" option. If an addressbook is not declared the "Users default" addressbooks will be updated. There you also have the alternative to choose a "filter-Group" for the new addressbook entry, for you to be able to get a list of those that were filtered and added by this rule.
If/when you are using the new wizard it prompts you to do those things needed, making this feature more easy to implement.

-- You can make TMC retrieve messages automatically during background checks. This is done by checking the option "Auto-Fetch" in the email-properties. To change the email properties you can either double-click on it in the folders tree or click on it 
once and use "The other" mouse button selecting "Properties".

-- You can address the sender by name in auto-replies by putting the "Sender Macro" in the replying text. When TMC sends the message, it exchanges the macro with the recipients name.

-- The "RCI" or "Remote Command Interpreter":
First of all: Messages with RCI script commands MUST BE PlainText Messages!
A few users have been contacting us on the issue: "How do i use the RCI scripting feature?" 
RCI is a very simple command language. It is designed to allow the owner of TMC to access his/her computer's data from a remote location via email.  This feature allows you to command TMC, via email, to send you files (documents, folders or programs), to your remote location, as an attachment to an email message. You can send TMC such scripts with whatever email program - you are not forced to use TMC for the task. TMC however, is the service program on the other end.
Here below are three small RCI scripts to demonstrate how the script is used. Those scripts can get complex with advanced users but those examples may give you kick to get you going!
Before you leave TMC you will have to put it in Auto-Mail mode. 
In the Auto-Mail schedule you will need to tell TMC that it may service RCI script messages and you must also tell it the password for such messages. Then, before leaving TMC, you enter Auto-MAil mode by selecting the topic "Auto-Mail/Activate Auto-mail".
Before you test this be sure to have the "Send as Plain Text" option ON!

Example 1:
In the first example the message tells TMC to send us the ten last 
incoming messages it has retrieved. We will assume that the selected password given to TMC was "doit" and that we are at a location where we have access to the email address "xxx@ccc.net":

Begin Commands
   PassWord doit
   Send Last 10 to xxx@ccc.net 
End Commands

Example 2:
In the second example the message tells TMC to send us a document called "mydoc.doc" located in the folder "docs" on drive C. We will assume that the selected password given to TMC was "doit" and that we are at a location where we have access to the email address "xxx@ccc.net":

Begin Commands
   PassWord doit
   Send New message to xxx@ccc.net attach c:\docs\mydoc.doc
End Commands

Example 3:
In the third example we are sending the same file as in the previous example (2). But now we will let TMC ZIP it using the dos freeware program PKZIP. We will also command TMC to send a directory listing of drive C to our remote location. We will assume that the selected password given to TMC was "doit" and that we are at a location where we have access to the email address "xxx@ccc.net":

Begin Commands
  PassWord doit
  Begin Dos Commands
       pkzip -a sendf c:\docs\mydoc.doc
       dir c:\ /s > dirlist.dir
  End Dos Commands
  Send New message to xx@vv.net attach sendf.zip attach dirlist.dir
End Commands

-- The Voicemail:
  One of TMC's great features is the Voicemail. The voicemail feature allows you to send a recording of your own voice to the receiver on the other end. 
TMC does not use any external programs but does all internally. If the receiver also has TMC the voice communication is VERY simple. All is done with a click of a button and the receiver will be notified if the receiving message is a voice message. All you need to be able to send a voice message is, of cause, a soundcard and loudspeakers as well as a microphone - an in-expensive add on, plugable to the soundcard.
To send a voice message message do the following:
   1. Click new message to open the message editor.
   2. Type in the receivers address or choose it from an addressbook.
   3. Type in the subject and a message if you would like any written 
      message to accompany the voice recording.
   4. Click the "Voicemail" button if the top left. Up comes a dialog
      with a few buttons to record and/or playback the recorded message.
      The red, round one is the recording button and the green triangle
      is the playback button.
   5. When you have done recording and listening to you voice to verify
      if it's ok, click the OK button and the dialog closes.
   6. Send the message by clicking on the "Send" button, or save the 
      message in the "Outbox" folder by clicking on the "Done" button..

-- TMC's HTML abilities:
  TMC's ability to send and create so called HTML-messages was first made for the user to be able to send messages with pictures and/or images or various backgrounds. This was a revolutionary way to create and send messages via email. A few other clients will read HTML messages, but most of them (all but one that we know of...), lack the ability to view the HTML messages with the inline graphics and pictures. We went even a few step further and 
allowed the user to create such messages without writing even a single line of HTML code. Complete HTML-novices are able to create and send HTML messages with backgrounds, images and all.
  A recent add on to the HTML feature in TMC is the ability to resolve remote references to images in a HTML message using the standard HTTP protocol. TMC now can fetch those images from a remote location and display them in the HTML viewing pane. This new ability allows TMC users to be f.ex. subscribers of news from f.ex. PCWeek ( http://www.pcweek.com ) or CNet ( http://www.cnet.com ). Those send HTML messages with pictures and images inline for the subscriber to view. The more recent add on in TMC is the mini-web-browser which is designed to browse such messages, clicking hot links and browsing through the news message.
  You can check out the abilities of the HTML features by simply sending in a message to:
  transsoft@centrum.is  with the subject: Show-HTML
In the next issue we will be showing you how to create HTML messages easily!

-- As an alternative to multiple addressbooks, we choose to have so called "Filter-Groups" attached to each entry in the address book. This facility allows you to enter f.ex. "Friends,Family" to an entry, making this particular example have two groups attached.  Later, when you for example wish to send a message to all/some of your friends you can, in the AddressBook, alter this in the "Filter-Group" edit-field and press the corresponding button. This makes the mailer display only those address-entries in the list of addresses, for you to choose from, all or some of those.