To access your email messages, follow these steps:
Choosing and Using an IMAP or POP3 Server
Using the Mail & Newsgroups Wizard
Changing Mail & Newsgroups Preferences
Setting Preferences for Encrypted Messages
User name and password
To access your mail server, you may need to enter your user name and password. Review your account information provided by your site or Internet service provider. Account information customarily contains user name and password information, as well as host names and port numbers.
Mail & Newsgroups Wizard
If the Mail & Newsgroups Wizard (Windows and Mac OS only) comes up when you open your Inbox or click the Get Msg button on the toolbar, you must set required Mail & Newsgroups preferences before you can retrieve or send mail.
Dialup
If you are using an Internet service provider (ISP) account to provide a network connection over a phone line: when you click the Get Msg button, Netscape Messenger tells your modem software to dial up a connection to your ISP account, if a connection isn't currently established. To update your message list, you must be able to establish a connection.
If you cannot establish a connection: ensure your PPP and TCP/IP software is configured correctly, and that your ISP account is configured for PPP access. Your ISP representative should be able to assist you with configuring your network software.
Note: placeholder topic, more information to come
(ed note:discuss showing/hiding the various toolbars, panes, etc)
Netscape Messenger can work with two different types of servers: IMAP and POP3. If your server supports both types of message storing, these descriptions may help you choose which one you want to use:
Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP)
Advantages: Your messages stay on your server. When you open your inbox, you download message headers only. When you open a message, it's then downloaded to your local computer, so startup time is faster. Also, because messages are stored on the server, and changes are copied back from your local computer, you always have access to an updated mailbox, as well as the ability to access your mail from multiple locations. Performance on a modem is faster, and you have the ability to synchronize specific mail folders for offline use, thereby saving disk space.
Disadvantages: Losing the server connection causes problems. Unless you copy your messages to your local computer, you can see only the message headers, not the messages themselves. If your connection goes down while you're working, you won't have access to your messages. In order to read your messages when you're working offline, you must first select them for downloading before you go offline. Note: Not all ISPs support IMAP yet.
Post Office Protocol (POP3)
Advantages: Downloads messages to your local computer all at once after you connect to your server, thereby making offline reading easier. You can also specify whether to keep copies of the messages on the server. If your connection goes down while you're working, you have your messages, and most ISPs currently support POP access.
Disadvantages: You must synchronize your local inbox with your server's mailbox. This can result in downloading new messages over and over (if you save your messages on your server) each time you connect. If you use more than one computer, messages might reside in one or the other, but not both. The end result is you are sometimes unable to access all your messages when you need to. POP doesn't work as well as IMAP over a slow link connection. Also, you can't access all mail folders from multiple locations.
Note: You can have only multiple IMAP servers or one POP3 server. You can not have both IMAP and POP3 servers. Once you configure a server as IMAP, you can not then add a POP3 server. Once you configure a server as POP3, you can not then add any other server.
See Also
Changing Mail Server Preferences
If you have just installed Messenger or have yet to set your preferences for sending and receiving mail, you will be prompted to use the Mail & Newsgroups Wizard when you first open your Inbox. You can always change these settings later by choosing Preferences from the Edit menu and selecting the Mail & Newsgroup category.
If at any point you do not know what the correct settings are, review the account information provided by your Internet service provider (ISP) or by your system administrator.
To use the Mail & Newsgroups Wizard:
Test your settings by clicking the Get Msg button on the toolbar of a Message List window, such as your Inbox. If your settings are all correct, your inbox either receives new messages or reports that there are no new messages.
The Mail & Newsgroups Wizard (Windows and Mac OS only) asks you to provide settings for preferences that have not been preset. If a setting has not been provided, or you do not know it, you must exit the Mail & Newsgroups Wizard and consult your ISP or site help desk.
The Mail & Newsgroups Wizard needs to know these preference settings:
The Mailbox button on the component bar can alert you that new messages have arrived on your server. Netscape Messenger checks your server periodically using the settings in the Mail Servers Preferences panel. After finding new messages, the Mailbox button displays a green arrow. You can also set Messenger to alert you to new messages with a sound (Windows and Mac OS only).
<ed note: add more information on IMAP vs POP retrieval and other biff states when available>
Note: placeholder topic, more information to come
Note: placeholder topic, more information to come
You can send a message using any of the following methods:
Use the Message Composition window to address, compose, and send email and newsgroup messages. The Message Composition window contains the following:
To the left of the address name fields you see the following tabs:
To address an email message using the addresses contained in all your address books and/or a directory service:
If you have Pinpoint Addressing turned on, you need only type the first few letters of the recipient's name and then wait for Messenger to complete the address. Or, you can type the name and immediately press Return to have Messenger search the Address Books or directory service you specified in the Mail & Newsgroups Addressing Preferences panel. Note: Multiple addresses will be converted to individual lines. Use a comma to separate multiple addresses. Do not use a comma to separate first or last names.
Tip: You can quickly address a message by dragging and dropping (or copying and pasting) an email address into the address field.
Using Pinpoint Addressing, you can easily address mail from the message composition window without having to search for names. Messenger automatically checks the address book/directory you've specified and completes the name when a unique match is found. Messenger also prevents mistakes by showing all possible choices with additional information if multiple matches are encountered.
To enable Pinpoint Addressing:
You can always turn Pinpoint Addressing off and on when you compose individual messages by choosing Do Not Autocomplete Address from the Edit menu.
Setting Up Addressing Options
An address in an address list can have one of the following recipient types:
| To | Primary recipients of your message. |
| CC | Carbon Copy, for secondary recipients. |
| BCC | Blind Carbon Copy, for secondary recipients not identified to the other recipients, including those in the CC list. |
| Group | Posting to a newsgroup. |
| Followup To | Redirecting a newsgroup posting, so that subsequent threads go directly to the redirected newsgroup instead of the original newsgroup. |
To edit addresses in the address list of your current composition:
To change an address's recipient type, click the Recipient button and from the menu choose a different recipient type.
To delete addresses from the address list of your current composition:
While you are composing a reply in a message composition window, you can include text from the original message.
You can set your preferences so that the original message is quoted automatically in your reply, as well as where the quoted text is placed in relation to your text. Choose Preferences from the Edit menu, and then select Messages from the Mail & Newsgroups category.
Several sending options are available for each message you create. To select any of these options for the current message, click the Message Sending Options tab at the left of the addressing area in the Message Composition window, or click the Options button on the toolbar.
You should set security preferences that govern all messages you send. However, if you want to override these preferences for a particular message, you can turn message encryption on or off:
Note: You must have a security certificate as well as the recipient's security certificate in order to send encrypted messages to each other. There are many reasons why you may not be able to send encrypted mail. If you cannot send encrypted mail, contact your system administrator.
You can set Security preferences in the Messenger panel of the Security Info window (click the Security button on the toolbar).
You can request notifications (message receipts) when messages you send are opened by a recipient. Messenger supports two types of receipts: Delivery Receipts (DSN) and Read Receipts (MDN).
To request return receipts for messages, you must first set preferences indicating the type of receipt you want. Then when you're composing the message, you must indicate that you want receipt notification turned on for that message.
To set preferences for receipts:
To activate the receipt notification for a message:
Note: placeholder topic
Replying to a Folder
Replying to a Newsgroup
Note: placeholder topic
Add information on inline/as attachment/quoted. The default is set in Preferences.
You can save the text of an incomplete email message as a draft. Later, you can open the draft, finish composing the message, and send it.
To save a message draft:
Note for IMAP server users: A draft can be written to the server or to your local disk. Therefore, if the message is large or your connection is slow, the saving and retrieving process from the server may take slightly longer than expected.
To retrieve, finish, and send an email message draft:
If you use HTML formatting to compose messages, you can create a message template which can reused at any time. Templates are useful for messages that you send in the same form on a regular basis, such as weekly status reports.
To save a message as a template:
The message template is stored in the Templates folder.
To edit or use a message template:
<note: are these message saved on the server if it's IMAP?>
The HTML Mail Question dialog box comes up when you try to send a message to someone who does not want to receive HTML messages or when Messenger cannot determine whether your recipient can display HTML messages. If you are in doubt as to what to do, sending plain text only is the most efficient type of message to send.
Click the Recipients button to set the HTML preference for each recipient in your message.
Use the Recipients panel to set whether your current recipients prefer HTML messages. Click the Add and Remove buttons to switch recipients from one column to another.
Once you set a recipient's HTML preference, you won't see the HTML Mail Question dialog again unless Messenger is uncertain about any of your recipients' HTML preferences.
Placeholder topic
You can attach a file to an outgoing email message while in the message composition window. To attach a file to a message:
The file's icon and name appear in the attachments list.
You can also drag and drop files into and out of the attachments list:
The file's icon and name appear in the attachments list.
You can attach a web page to an outgoing email message while in the message composition window. To attach a web page to a message, follow these steps:
The icon and title of the web page you have attached appears in the attachments list.
While in a message composition window, you can also drag and drop web pages into and out of the attachments list:
The page's icon and title appear in the attachments list.
In messages you receive, you can view image and web page attachments either inline (displayed in the body of the message) or as links.
ed note: add info re: IMAP behavior: non inline attachments are left on the server and only downloaded when launched or saved. When command "View Attachments As Links" is on, all attachments are left on the server until requested
How you save a received email attachment depends on its type.
To save an attached web page, follow these steps:
How you open a received email attachment depends on the attachment's type. To open an attachment, follow these steps:
or
Note: Placeholder topic.
ed note: add info re: IMAP behavior: non-inline attachments are left on the server and only downloaded when launched or saved. When command "View Attachments As Links" is on, all attachments are left on the server until requested
You can choose to have deleted messages stored in a Trash folder (from which they can be retrieved) or to mark them for deletion under the traditional IMAP delete model. Also, you can choose to have messages deleted automatically when exiting Messenger.
If you don't know whether you use IMAP or POP3, check your settings in the Mail Servers panel of the Mail & Newsgroup preferences.
If you use IMAP to access your messages, Messenger offers you two ways to delete them:
If you use an IMAP server for your mail, you can choose how to delete messages.
Here is Messenger's default behavior:
However, you can set a mail server preference so that Messenger handles deletions in the following way:
To use the trash folder to delete messages, you must set the mail server preference Move deleted messages into Trash.
Setting Mail Server Preferences
If you use POP3 to deliver your mail, or if you use IMAP and have set up Messenger to use the trash folder when handling deleted messages, follow these steps to delete messages from your inbox or other folders:
To permanently delete messages in your trash folder, you must empty the trash.
To recover messages from the trash:
If you use a trash folder to handle deleted email messages, to delete messages permanently, you must empty the trash.
Warning: Before you empty the trash, be sure to recover messages you may not want to delete.
To empty the trash, open the File menu and choose Empty Trash Folder.
Use an address book to store and maintain information about individuals and to create mailing lists. Messenger provides a default personal address book, but you can create additional ones.
An address book entry, or card, stores names, postal addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, and other information, such as whether the recipient prefers plain text or HTML-formatted messages.
To create a new address book:
To create an address book entry for an individual:
Tip: You can quickly add entries to your address book from messages you receive by clicking any email address (of the sender or any recipients) contained in the message. The New Card dialog box appears and you can then enter any additional information.
Use the items on the New Card dialog box to add the contact information for an individual to your address book.
Enter or edit the individual's first and last name.
This is the name that appears in the address line of the message window. Messenger automatically fills this in to match the names entered in First Name and Last Name, but you can change it.
Enter or edit the individual's complete email address (for example, janedoe@company.com)
Enter a nickname for the individual's email address. A nickname is a shortcut or alias for the real name and can be any name you choose. When you type the nickname in the address line, Messenger automatically fills in the address.
Enter additional information for this addressee (optional)
Check this if you know that the addressee can receive HTML-formatted email and you intend to compose your messages in HTML.
Click the Contact tab of this dialog box to enter additional information such as street address, phone number, etc. Click the Notes tab of this dialog box to enter any comments.
Use the Contact panel of the New Card dialog box to enter or edit the company name, professional title, postal address, and phone and fax numbers in an address book entry.
Use the Conference panel of the New Card dialog box to enter or edit the Netscape Conference address and server information for an addressee.
If you regularly send messages to a collection or group of recipients, you can quickly address the message by creating a mailing list that contains all the addresses.
To create a mailing list and add it to your address book:
To use the Mailing List dialog box to create or edit a mailing list:
Tip: You can also drag and drop names into the mailing list window.
To look up the email address of an intended recipient not contained in your personal address books, you can search any of the directory services available through Messenger (also called LDAP servers or address lookup services). You can also customize the search with additional criteria such as phone number or organization.
To search a directory service:
<note: add info on replicating servers for offline use, and maximum number of searches>
Adding a Directory Service
To search for names and address contained in a personal address book:
If there's a match, the person's name is selected in the in the right-hand column.
Use the items in the Search dialog box to customize the criteria for an address search:
Details:
When deciding on a keyword to enter for a search, try to be as precise as possible. General keywords are real names, but they can also be professional titles, corporate names, phone numbers, or other contact information. After deciding on a keyword, be sure to choose the type of information your keyword needs to match. For example, when searching for a keyword "Pat," be sure to choose "Name" from the search selection list.
The address book search engine displays a list of entries that match your search criteria. This list is called the address book summaries list. The search results area displays a list of address entry summaries that match your search.
To use the Address Book summaries list to select entries you want to open or use, follow these steps:
If you previously used another version of Messenger, you may have an older address book that you wish to import into Messenger and merge with your personal address book. When you import another address book and add it to your own, Messenger does not overwrite entries in your address book, it simply adds entries. You can also import address books created in Eudora and Outlook Express.
To import an address book file:
Messenger merges the entries from the imported address book into your currently selected address book.
Note: Available on Windows and Mac OS only.) Messenger includes an integrated wizard that allows you to import mail folders, address books, and preferences from Eudora and Microsoft Outlook Express.
To import mail folders and address files from other programs:
Follow the instructions in the wizard to import mail folders and address book files into Communicator.
You can save your address book to use it offline or transfer to another computer.
To export an address book:
Use the items on the General panel of the Directory Server dialog box to add a new directory service or modify the information for a selected server. You can then choose the directory service available from this server when you perform searches for addresses.
Enter the name of the directory service, such as Bigfoot Directory.
Enter the Internet address of the server, such as ldap.netscape.com (which is not a real server, by the way).
Enter a code (?) that enables you to restrict searching to a specific area. For example, c=JP restricts the search to Japan only. Search root also specifies the organization to search on within the directory (e.g. o=Netscape Communications Corp.,c=US)
The Port Number is the port number that the LDAP server allows connections on. The default is 389.
Enter the maximum number of search results to return at a time.
Check this to have Messenger remember the password for this directory.
Check this if the server uses a secure connection
Note: If you want to be able to access this directory while working offline, you will need to replicate the directory on your local hard drive. Choose the Offline Settings tab in this dialog box to set the options for downloading this directory.
Placeholder topic.
Placeholder topic.
To file messages from your Inbox to another folder, or from one folder to another:
To create a message folder:
To open a message folder and display its message list:
When you open a message folder, the folder's message list is displayed in a Message List window.
You can move messages from one folder to another by using either of these methods:
To drag and drop messages from one folder to another:
Note: placeholder topic
Note: placeholder topic
Use the General panel of the Folder Properties dialog box (Get Info on Mac OS) to change the name of a folder and to view information about the folder's contents.
To change the name of the folder, select the current folder name and type a new name.
Note: Placeholder topic.
Note: Placeholder topic.
To rename an existing folder:
To automatically handle messages that match criteria you set, create and maintain a mail filters list by using the Mail Filters dialog box.
To bring up the Mail Filters dialog box, from the Edit menu, choose Mail Filters.
Note: Placeholder topic. Elegant text to follow in subsequent builds.
Use the Mail Filters dialog box to manage your list of filters.
To activate or deactivate a filter, use the check column of the filters list:
To change the order in which filters are applied, which is called filter precedence:
To log filter activity, which can help to debug filtering:
Use the Filter Rules Dialog to edit or define an action you want a filter to perform and the type of messages to which you want to apply the action.
To use the Filter Rules dialog:
Placeholder topic
Use the Customize Headers dialog box to add, remove, or edit headers in addition to the ones Messenger provides for filtering messages.
To search a folder for specific messages, follow these steps:
To use the Search dialog to search mail folders or discussions for specific messages, follow these steps:
Use the main pane of the Mail & Newsgroups Preferences dialog box to:
To specify how quoted text appears in messages you receive:
Choose how you want messages with non-HTML formatting to display: either fixed width font or variable width font. Tip: When choosing between fixed-width or variable-width fonts, you may find a fixed-width font is more suitable if you routinely receive messages with complex, plain text formatting. Variable-width fonts conserve space and are easier to read.
Check this if you want Messenger to always show the message that was selected when you were last in a message window. If you leave it unchecked, the first message at the top of your message window is always displayed.
Check this if you want to be notified by sound each time you receive new mail. On Mac OS: choose None or a named sound effect at Mail Notification.
Check this if you want each message displayed in its own separate window.
Check this if you want Messenger to prompt you to confirm when deleting a folder.
Check this if you want to use Netscape Messenger services from MAPI programs (MAPI enables an application to send and receive mail over the Microsoft Mail messaging system).
To set preferences that identify you by your user name, real name, and whether you prefer to receive HTML messages, use the Identity panel of the Mail & Newsgroups Preferences dialog box.
To display the Mail & Newsgroup Identity Preferences panel:
Enter the name you want to have included in message headers along with your user name.
Specify or change your email address, which is included in your outgoing messages' headers.
Specify or change your return address, which is included in your outgoing messages' headers. This is the address that will be used by recipients when replying. If your Reply-to address is identical to your email address, you do not need to enter it again.
Enter the name of your company if you want to include it in message headers.
To automatically append a plain text signature file to all outgoing messages, enter the absolute path to your signature file. Click the Browse button to use a file browser to locate your signature file and automatically provide its path. <not on Mac OS?>
Check this to automatically attach your address card to all outgoing messages. To create or edit a signature card for yourself, click the Edit Card button to display the Edit Card dialog box (Windows and Mac OS only).
On Mac OS: check this to automatically establish the connection between Communicator and a remote server.
You can create your own address book card that you can attach to your outgoing messages.
To create a personal card:
Use the Edit Card dialog box to create your own personal address book card. Your personal card contains information about yourself. You can attach your personal card to your outgoing messages.
Use the Name panel on the Edit Card dialog box to:
Use the Contact tab on the Edit Card dialog to enter or update personal contact information that you want to appear on your personal card. All fields are optional, so you can provide as much or as little information as you like. Contact information contained in address book cards is searchable by those using directory services.
Use the Conference panel on the Edit Card dialog to enter or update the information on your signature card that specifies your Conference address and whether you use a 411 Server or a Conference host.
Enter your Conference Address by choosing one of the following selections from the pick list:
Note: Placeholder topic. Elegant text to follow in subsequent builds. Add information on multiple IMAP/single POP3 servers.
To specify the servers you use for mail, follow these steps:
Type the name of the mail server you use.
Select whether the server is IMAP or POP3. Note: You can have only multiple IMAP servers or one POP3 server. You can not have both IMAP and POP3 servers.
Enter the user name that identifies you to this server (usually one word).
Check this if you want the system to remember your password so that you do not have to re-enter it each time you start Messenger.
Check this if you want Messenger to automatically check for new mail and then enter the the number of minutes between mail checks. If you do not check this box, new mail will not appear until you explicitly ask to get new messages (usually by clicking the Get Msg button or clicking the Mailbox icon on the component bar).
Check this if you want to save your mail messages on the mail server as well as on your local computer. Otherwise, clear this checkbox if you want to store your messages only on your local computer. (When you leave this checkbox unchecked, messages are deleted from your server after they are downloaded to your local computer.)
Check this if you want each new folder you create to be automatically selected when you download messages.
Check this if your IMAP server is configured to send and receive encrypted mail. If you are unsure if your server supports encryption, contact the mail server administrator at your site.
Choose the method you want for deleting your messages:
Check this to remove deleted messages from the Inbox when you exit Communicator.
Check this to empty the Trash folder whenever you exit from Navigator.
If you are using an IMAP mail server, you can set additional properties for the server:
Enter the path of your personal directory on this particular server.
Enter the name of the shared folder on this particular server.
Need info here
Need info here
Note: Placeholder topic.
Use the items on the Newsgroups Server Preferences panel to identify the servers you use for subscribing to newsgroups:
PC Example: C:\Program Files\Netscape\Communicator\News
Unix Example: /usr/people/mozilla/.news
Note: If you are using Netscape Communicator on MacOS, you do not need to provide the name of a news directory.
Note: Placeholder topic.
Use the items on the Mail & Newsgroup Addressing Preferences panel to specify options for addressing messages and sorting address lists.
Whenever you address a message, Messenger will automatically fill in the name field based on entries from your address books or a selected LDAP directory. You can choose to use one or both methods by checking the appropriate boxes and then choosing the directory.
If Messenger detects two or more matches for an address entry, you can have it display a list of choices, or simply accept what you have typed.
If Messenger detects only one match in an address book, you can tell it to use that entry and not search any other directory (even if you specified a directory for autocompletion).
Choose whether you want to sort names in a list by first or last name.
Note: Placeholder topic. Elegant text to follow in subsequent builds.
Use the items on the Mail & Newsgroup Messages Preferences panel to set properties associated with your outgoing messages:
Choose how you want to display messages you forward to another:
Choose whether you want to place quoted text above or below your message, or as selected text.
Check this if you want to check the spelling before each message is sent.
Check this to ensure incoming messages are wrapped to fit the width of your mail window.
When sending messages that use 8-bit characters, choose either:
Note: Placeholder topic. Elegant text to follow in subsequent builds.
Use the items in the Mail & Newsgroups Copies and Folders Preferences panel to determine how to save copies of mail and newsgroup messages, drafts, and templates.
Choose how you want to automatically copy mail messages.
Choose how you want to automatically copy news messages:
Click the Choose Folder button to select the folder you use to store copies of message drafts and templates.
Note: Placeholder topic. Elegant text to follow in subsequent builds.
Use the items in the Mail & Newsgroups Formatting Preferences panel to set whether you use plain text or HTML formatting for all message composition.
Choose whether you want to use HTML editor or the plain text editor to compose your messages.
When you add a person or address card to your address book, you can specify whether they should always receive messages in HTML formatting. For those recipients where this information is unknown, choose one of these options to specify how messages should be delivered. You can always override these settings through the Options panel of the message composition window.
<ed note: distinction should be made between MDN and DSN to include that only MDN receipts can be redirected to your Sent folder via preference setting.
You can request notifications (message receipts) when messages you send are opened by a recipient. Messenger supports two types of receipts: Delivery Receipts (DSN) and Read Receipts (MDN).
Delivery receipts send you a notification when your message has been received by the recipient's mail server. Delivery receipts are based on the Delivery Service Notification (DSN) standard.
Read receipts send you a notification when the recipient opens your message. Read receipts use the Message Disposition Notification (MDN) standard.
You can choose to ignore requests for message receipts or tell Messenger to only send message receipts in certain cases.
Use the items in the Mail & Newsgroups Return Receipts Preferences panel to specify settings for requesting or returning receipts for your incoming and outgoing messages. (Note: To request a receipt for a message, click the Options button in the Mail Compose window (where you create the message) and click Request Receipt.
Select the type you want:
Select whether you want to store all return receipts in your Inbox or Sent mail folder.
Specify how you want Messenger to handle return MDN receipts that are sent to you by others. You can:
Note: Placeholder topic.
Downloading email can consume disk space. You can limit the disk space taken up by email:
To specify how long discussion messages are kept available:
You can also save disk space by setting a smaller disk cache.
Note: Placeholder topic.
