“Keep AOL in the background until you need it!”

MailFetch
Version 2.0.1
By Karl Bunker
Iron Software
KarlBunker@aol.com
http://www.IronSoftware.com

Chapter 1; Introduction:

MailFetch is a utility for America Online™ users. It provides a variety of functions, and which functions are available and useful depends on which version of AOL you are using, so quickly summarizing its notable features takes a bit of doing.

Here are the “highlight” features, broken down by AOL version:
AOL 4.0 and later:
• MailFetch allows you to run an Auto AOL session, which sends your outgoing mail and collects your incoming mail, with a single mouse click, and without bringing AOL to the front. 
• If you have new mail after the Auto AOL session is done, MailFetch notifies you, and allows you to bring AOL to the front and open your “Offline Mail” window, again with a single mouse click. The “new mail” notification is particularly useful, since it means you don’t have to bring AOL to the front until and unless there is new mail for you to read.
• MailFetch also has a “Scheduling” function, with which you can schedule Auto AOL sessions. MailFetch’s scheduling allows much more flexible and precise timing of Auto AOL sessions than the AOL software itself does.
AOL 3.0:
• MailFetch has the same one-click Auto AOL feature described above, but this is even more useful with AOL 3, due to the fact that with AOL 3, you are “stuck” in AOL for as long as it takes to connect. Because MailFetch initiates an Auto AOL session without bringing AOL to the front, you don’t have to wait for AOL to connect before you can continue using your Mac. 
• The notification of new mail feature described above is available with AOL 3 as well.
• MailFetch’s precise scheduling of Auto AOL sessions is also available with AOL 3.
• In addition, with AOL 3 you can use MailFetch’s “Infinite Redialing” function, which forces AOL to keep dialing indefinitely (instead of being limited to 10 attempts) until it connects.
• And finally, MailFetch allows AOL 3 users to log on with AOL running in the background. This is useful, again because normally AOL cannot be switched to the background while it is connecting.
AOL 2.6 and 2.7:
For those still using these old versions of AOL, MailFetch has a few features. Running Auto AOL sessions (called FlashSessions in AOL 2) with AOL in the background is not possible with MailFetch, but logging on with AOL in the background is, as is the infinite redialing feature described for AOL 3.

MailFetch will be particularly useful to AOL users who handle a lot of e-mail correspondence. With MailFetch you can have your e-mail checked automatically at intervals through the day, or you can manually check it at any time with only a two-second interruption to your routine. With MailFetch’s new mail notification, you never have to bring AOL to the front except when there is new mail for you to deal with.

MailFetch is shareware and costs $15.00. You can pay for it with credit card on the Web or by e-mail, fax or postal mail, or with a check by postal mail. See the chapter of this manual entitled “Paying for MailFetch” for full information.

This manual is divided into a few chapters. You can go to the next chapter by clicking the right scroll-arrow below, or by selecting the next section from the “Contents” menu above.

Important:
Your AOL preferences must be configured correctly for MailFetch to work. Read the next chapter of this manual to see how to do this.