Each entry on your QWK selection screen shows these fields:

 Name    Msgs  New  Dnl  Persnl    Descrip
*ALBBSE   450   45   45    Y       alt.bbs.searchlight newsgroup conference

The Name and Description fields show the short and long name for that
conference. An asterick next to the name field means that this conference is
"marked" and your QWK packet will contain messages from it.

The "Msgs", "New", "Dnl" and "Persnl" fields show you, respectively: the
total number of messages in the conference, the number that are new to you,
the number you have selected to download, and whether any of the messages
are addressed to you.

When you run the QWK program for the first time, those conferences you are
"Joined" to (or have read messages in before) will be marked, and the number
of messages to download will equal the number of new messages. If you want
to unselect a conference, place the cursor to the left of the conference and
press Spacebar, or click on the conference line with your mouse.

To reselect a conference, or to change the number of messages you wish to
download from a conference, press Enter or click on the conference. You
will now have the opportunity to type the number of messages you'd like to
download. To accept the default value, simply press Enter. (With the MAIL
conference, you select whether you want to download all your mail or new
mail only, instead of typing a number).

When you are ready to receive your QWK packet, press the OK button (or press
ESC) and select the "Build Packet" option.

The QWK system is designed to limit the number of messages per conference
and total size of your QWK packet. If you find that you want to download
more than this amount, enter the QWK system again, and download another
packet.