Mail Explorer v.1.0

Installation:

	The Mail Explorer distribution (MAILX???.ZIP) includes the following:

Mail Explorer\Csmail.exe		the Mail Explorer executable file	
Mail Explorer\Readme.rtf		this file	
Mail Explorer\Get New Mail	a shortcut which executes Mail Explorer and gets and sends all new and waiting mail
Mail Explorer\Mail			a shortcut to the C:\MAIL directory (the default mail directory for Mail Explorer)	
Mail Explorer\Mail Explorer	a shortcut to C:\PROGRAM FILES\MAIL EXPLORER\CSMAIL.EXE (the suggested location for Mail Explorer)	
Mail Explorer\New Mail.fnd		a shortcut to the Windows 95 Find Files applet to list all new mail (assuming your mail directory is C:\MAIL)	

To install Mail Explorer:
	1. Copy or extract the "Mail Explorer" directory from the distribution to your Program Files directory (usually C:\Program Files).  
	2. If you'd like to use the shortcuts in your start menu, right click on your Start button, select Explore, create a "Mail Explorer" directory, and copy Mail Explorer\Get New Mail, Mail Explorer\Mail, Mail Explorer\Mail Explorer, Mail Explorer\New Mail.fnd into it.
	3. Run Mail Explorer by double clicking CSMAIL.EXE, or selecting the "Mail Explorer" shortcut.  Mail Explorer will prompt you to enter all information it needs to run, including your send (SMTP) and receive (POP) mail servers, username and password to retrieve your mail, your full name, and email address.

Note:
	The Send Mail Port number must be 25, and the receive Mail Server port must be 110, unless your service provider specifies otherwise.

NOTA BENE (for specifying a mail directory other than C:\Mail):
	It is recommended that you install Mail Explorer into C:\Program Files\Mail Explorer, and set your mail directory as C:\MAIL.  If you specify a different directory in either case, you will need to modify the included shortcuts to point to the proper locations.  This can be done in Windows Explorer by right-clicking on the shortcut file, and selecting Properties.
	The Windows 95 VFAT file system is still restricted to 66 characters for a directory path (this is counted using the short version of your long file names), and 255 characters overall for any long file name.  Please keep in mind that if you do specify a directory other than C:\Mail, and the path is longer than 7 characters, you are limiting the number and name length of folders that you can create under your mail directory.

How to Use Mail Explorer:

Retrieving your mail:

Once you have entered all of the information Mail Explorer needs to run, you are ready to begin using Mail Explorer.  
	1. Make sure that you are connected to the Internet, either through a network connection, or by SLIP/PPP via Windows 95's Dial-Up Networking.  If you are not connected to the Internet when you initiate a network transfer, Mail Explorer will suspend for about 60 seconds.
	2. From Mail Explorer's File menu, select "Get/Send All".  This will initiate a connection to your mail server, and begin to retrieve any waiting mail.
	3. Mail Explorer was designed to allow you to browse your mail using the Windows Explorer.  To view any downloaded mail, select View, Mail from the menu.  This will open a copy of Windows Explorer, rooted at your mail directory.
	4. To read a message, simply double-click on it in the Windows Explorer.

	When your mail is first downloaded, it is saved with the file extension '.newmail', to indicate that you have not yet read that mail message.  After you have read the message, it is renamed with the file extension '.mail'.  This allows you to tell which messages you have not yet seen, and allows the Windows 95 Find File program to locate all new messages under your mail directory.

Filtering your mail:

	Mail filters allow you to have your mail automatically organized into different folders based on who sent it, who it was sent to, what the message is about, text that the message contains, or any other criteria you wish.

	To view your mail filters, select View, Filters from the menu.  

	To add a new filter, press the New button in the Current Mail Filters field.  You may then set the filter conditions in the Edit Filters field below Current Mail Filters.  You can set multiple conditions within the same filter with the Next Condition button. You can also add multiple folders for each filter, so that multiple copies of matching mail messages will be saved in several different folders.

For example, you may want to filter mail from Joe that contains the text "stocks" to a specific folder, "Subjects\Joe's Stock Tips".
	1. Create the folder in Windows Explorer.
	2. Set the conditions.  In the filter editor, press the New button, then, enter the first condition, "From" in 'Filter on:', and "Joe" in 'Search text:'.  Select Next Condition, then enter the next condition, "*Message Text*" in 'Filter on:', and "stocks" in 'Search text:'.
	3. Select the folder to put the message into.  Press Select Folders, and highlight and Add the folder you just created, 'Joe's Stock Tips', under the 'Subjects' folder.  
	4. Save the new filter.  Press the Save Filter button.

Sending mail:

	Mail Explorer allows you to either create a new mail message to send, or to reply to existing mail.  

To create a new mail message, select File, New from the menu, or press the New speed button, below the menu.  

	To reply to a mail message that you are viewing, either select File, Reply from the menu, or press the Reply speed button.

	To send the message, select File, Send Current, or press the Send speed button.  If you don't have an active connection to the Internet, or if your mail server is not functioning, the message will be 'spooled', or saved in the Spool folder, to be sent later.

	If you don't have an active connection to the Internet, but are finished creating a message, select File, Spool Current, or press the Spool speed button.  This will save the message to the Spool folder for sending later, and the message may be sent by selecting File, Get/Send All when you are once again connected to the Internet.

	If you want to postpone sending a message that you are working on, select File, Postpone Current, or press the Postpone speed button.  The message will be saved in the Postponed folder in your mail directory, and you can edit it later by double-clicking on it in Windows Explorer.

	After a message is sent, a copy of that message is saved in the Sent Mail directory.

Using and Sending attachments:

	An attachment is simply an encoded piece of text that stores a binary file for transmission over the Internet.  At this time, Mail Explorer does not support automatic encoding and decoding of attachments.

	To use attachments with Mail Explorer, you can use an encoding utility uch as ESS-Code, available at ftp://www.process.com/ftp/pub/win95/ecd75w95.zip.  Simply encode the file you want to send, then use the File, Send File command to send the encoded file.

Feature descriptions:

Mail Explorer creates the following directories under your mail directory:

Folders for mail organization:
Inbox		This is the default folder for new mail files
Mailing Lists	This is a folder for organizing mail from different mailing lists you may subscribe to
Organizations	This is a folder for organizing mail from different organizations you may belong to (work, clubs, etc.)
People		This is a folder for organizing mail from different people you get mail from
Subjects	This is a folder for organizing mail concerning different subjects you may discuss

System folders used by Mail Explorer:
Postponed	This folder holds mail files you choose to postpone
Sent Mail	This folder holds a copy of all mail you send using Mail Explorer
Spool		This hidden folder holds all mail before transmitting and during receives before filtering
System		This hidden folder holds Mail Explorer-specific system files

File menu selections:

New 			start composing a new mail message
Open	 		open an existing mail message
Close 			close the currently viewed mail message
Save as 		save the text of the mail message to a file
Import			import a folder from another mail reader to Mail Explorer format
	Pine		import for the Unix Pine mail reader
Export			export a Mail Explorer folder to another mail reader format 
	Pine		export for the Unix Pine mail reader
Move			move the current mail message to another folder
Delete			delete the current mail message
Print			print the current mail message
Postpone Current	save the current composed message to the Postponed folder
Spool Current		spool the current composed message to send later
Send Current		send the current composed message now
Reply			reply to the current mail message
Send File		send a text file in a mail message
Get/Send All		send and receive all spooled or waiting mail
Run Filter		runs the mail filters on all mail messages in the Spool folder
Refresh Names		refreshes the filenames of all mail messages in a folder (useful if for some reason your long filenames are lost)

Edit menu selections:

Undo			undo the last operation in the active control
Cut			copy the selected text to the clipboard and remove the selection
Copy			copy the selected text to the clipboard
Paste			paste the clipboard contents to the current message

Search menu selections:

Find			find text in the current message
Find Next		repeat a find attempt
Replace		replace text in the current message

View menu selections:

Mail			open Windows Explorer on your mail directory
Common Text		view Common Text entries which are loaded into the Text menu
Filters			open the setup dialog Filters page
Directories		open the setup dialog Directories page
User Settings		open the setup dialog User Settings page

Text menu selections:

Add common text	add a commonly-entered text entry to the Text menu
Reload menu		reload the Text menu (useful if you made changes in View, Common Text)

Window menu selections:

Cascade		organize all open message windows with one behind the other
Tile			organize all open message windows so that part of each is visible
Minimize all		reduce all open messages to iconic size

Help menu selections:

Send a comment	compose a message with a comment to the author
Report a problem	send a bug report to the author
About			open the setup dialog Filters page

Command-line arguments

/n <email address to send to>			new mail
/g						get/send all
/r <mail message file to reply to>		reply
/o < mail message file to open >		open
/e <folder>					export to pine
/i <pine folder file> <new mail folder>		import from pine
/s <file to send> < email address to send to >	send file
/j <subject>					set outgoing subject (for other new messages or replies on current command line)

License/Copyright:
	Mail Explorer is copyrighted, and all rights are reserved by Michael Tierney (mbtst3+mx@pitt.edu).  
Mail Explorer version 1 may be used by any individual, free of charge.  Government institutions, corporations, etc., must contact Michael Tierney at mbtst3+mx@pitt.edu for specific approval before using Mail Explorer within their organization.
Use Mail Explorer at your own risk.  The author assumes no responsibility for any problems, mishaps, damages, etc. caused by any use of Mail Explorer.  In no circumstance will the author be held liable for any monetary amount beyond what the user paid for the software.
The Mail Explorer distribution file, MAILX???.ZIP (where ??? represents the current version number), may be distributed in any fashion, so long as it is free of charge, and is distributed intact and unchanged.  The files inside may not be distributed individually.