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OS/2 Help File | 1996-04-04 | 59KB | 1,853 lines

ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1. Introduction ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ The Post Road News Reader is a native OS2 full function online/offline news reader for the Internet. You can use it to retrieve and view news articles from various news groups, to post new articles and to reply to articles. Articles and replies may be posted to news groups and sent as email to individual email addresses. You can use the news reader, interactively, while connected to the Internet and write postings, send replies, save articles for a specified amount of time, or store them in folders. You can connect to the Internet long enough to download articles and then read them offline. You can also prepare articles and replies offline and place them in an outbound queue to send later, when you reconnect. A special feature of the Post Road News Reader, Metagroups, enables you to retrieve news headers and articles in a batch or background mode. You can be using the news reader for retrieving, reading, and posting while at the same time, retrieving headers and articles from multiple news groups with Metanews. Metanews retrieval runs independent of the news reader and can also be executed, unattended, as a scheduled process during off-hours. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2. Initial Setup ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ The Post Road News Reader installation setup will prepare the application so that you can begin to use it immediately. The following steps should help to get you started, if you are unfamiliar with news readers. Please start with Settings under the File menu selection. o Protocol Page - Select which type of mail your service provider supports. If you select POP3 for sending mail, complete the POP3 Page in the Settings notebook. (NOTE: As you become more familiar with the news reader, you should review all of the settings options and modify the defaults to better suit your use of the product.) o You can download the list of newsgroups, if you have not already done so. To download the list you must connect to (dial into) your news server, select Newsgroups from the menu bar and select Refresh list of all groups. o Once the list has been downloaded you can view the articles by double clicking on the newsgroup you want to view. o Once the article tree (list of articles) has been downloaded you can view an article by double clicking on it. NOTE: If you are having difficulty with this installation, please go to Support, through the Index or Contents. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3. Working with the Articles ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Once you have downloaded an article from the news server the download icon will change. You can then read the article by double clicking on it. To move to the next article you an hit the space bar, use the arrow buttons on the action pad, or select view article from the Headers menu selection. The color will change from black to red, to indicate which articles have been read. Retrieving Articles Locking the Articles Deleting (Pruning) Articles Posting an Article ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.1. Retrieving Articles ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Articles are stored on the news server and can be retrieved in two different ways. You can either download an article to read right away, or mark it for download at a later time. You can also view an article on-line with Peek-a-boo. Once downloaded the articles are placed on your hard drive. They will remain there until Pruned based on the "number of days" setting to keep an article has been satisfied, you delete it or file it to a folder. To Retrieve an article. 1. Establish a connection to your service provider. 2. The first time you use the Post Road News Reader you will have to download all of the news groups on the news server (unless you know exactly which news groups you want to view). You can do this through the Newsgroup menu selection and selecting Refresh the list of news groups. 3. After downloading the list of news groups you can select a news group by double clicking on entry in the subscribed news groups window. 4. An article tree will be built showing the articles on the news server for that particular news group. 5. Select (highlight) an article and either double click on the article to download it immediately, or right mouse (click to get a menu) and select mark for download. You can also mark the article for download though the Article menu selection. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.2. Locking the Articles ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ If you want to prevent some articles you have downloaded from being pruned (deleted), you can put a lock on that article as follows: 1. Select the article(s) you want to prevent from being pruned. 2. Select the lock icon from the headers window tool bar, from the headers menu, or right mouse click on the article tree window. 3. A lock icon will appear next to the article(s) you have selected. Note: To unlock an article, just select the article to unlock and select lock again, the locked icon will disappear. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.3. Deleting (Pruning) Articles ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ There are a number of options provided to delete articles. In the Articles page of the Settings notebook, you can indicate that articles are to be pruned during startup, during shutdown or manually. The articles will be pruned (deleted) based on the number of days specified in the settings notebook. Pruning will delete all of the articles, except for the ones you have locked (Locking the Articles), from the article tree and also from your hard drive. If you have selected automatic (at startup or shutdown) you can still prune the article manually. To prune articles manually: 1. Go to the previewed or subscribed news group window. 2. Select the news group you want to prune. 3. Go to the News group Menu and select "Prune articles in selected newsgroup.." or "Prune article in all news groups.." 4. Alternately, you can use the right mouse button popup window. You can also prune articles from the Headers Window. 1. Select the article you want to prune from 2. Open the Headers Menu 3. Select Prune 4. Select upward or downward from the article you currently have highlighted. Or if you just have a few articles to delete you can manually delete each article by selecting the article(s)in the Header window and selecting Delete article from the Headers Menu. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 4. Posting an Article ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ As with retrieving an article, posting an article is a two step process. 1. You can compose the article through the Post(new) or Post(reply) action pad buttons. 2. Send your posting through your service provider by clicking on the Send button on the Action Pad. The postings in the send queue can be sent, as a batch, at any time. The number at the left hand side of the action pad indicates how many postings are waiting to be sent. Through the send queue the articles are available to you for editing, printing and/or deleting. To send queued mail, you must establish a connection with your service provider. Then press the Send button on the action pad, or select send/post composed article from the File Menu. Composing an article ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 4.1. Composing an Article ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ You can compose an article at any time by clicking on the Post(new) or Post(reply) button. This will bring up the Compose window and allow you create your posting. The OK button will prepare the article for sending and add it to the send queue and the "to be sent" button count will be incremented. You can then send the posting(s) by selecting the Send button on the Action Pad, or by selecting Send/Post composed article from the File Menu. The Cancel button will discard the posting and close the window. To/category enter more than one "To", you can click on the address icon or on the news groups button in order to select names or news groups to send the posting to. From Name- enter your name here as you wish for it to appear in the posting. Address- enter your e-mail address as you wish for it to appear in the posting. Subject Enter the subject of the posting. Text enter the text of your note. You can resize the text portion of the compose window if you would like. Signature enter signature information or press the SIG icon to select one of your standard signatures blocks. If you wish, you may drag a signature icon to the signature block. Paperclip the "paper clip " icon allows you to attach a file(s) to your posting. Clicking on the icon brings up a file selection dialog from which you can select the file(s) to attach. This can be any type of file, such as text, binary, bitmap, etc. The path for the file you have selected will be displayed to the right of the icon and that file will be sent with your posting. Additional topics: Using the address box. Using signature blocks. Attaching files. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 4.2. Composing E-mail ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ You can compose e-mail at any time by going to the file menu and selecting compose e-mail. This will bring up the Compose window and allow you create your e-mail. See Composing an article for help on the content of the compose window. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 4.3. Address books ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ You can create one or more address books to store the following information for individuals: o The addressee's name (required) o Organization (optional) o E-mail addresses and associated nicknames (as many as five) o Telephone number (one or two) o Fax number (optional) o Notes or regular mail address (optional) To create an address book 1. Open a compose window and select the Address book icon. 2. To add an entry into the address book select book style from the view menu. 3. To add an entry select Add from the file menu bar. Note that when you include an organization name, the individual entry appears twice in the alphabetical list; once by last name and once by organization. 4. Select OK/copy. 5. Close the address book. If an individual has more than one Internet email address you can enter different addresses (up to five) each with different nicknames. Nicknames are useful in addressing mail because you can simply enter the nickname in the address field when composing a note. To update an individual entry in an address book: 1. open a compose window and select the address book icon. 2. Select book style from the view menu. 3. Select an addressee and select change from the files menu. (Note: To find an addressee open the appropriate alphabetic section for the individual's last name or the individual's organization.) 4. Update the entry. 5. Close the address book window which will close all of the subordinate windows. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 4.4. Replying to an article ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ You can reply to an article by clicking on the Post(reply) button on the Action Pad or by selecting post a reply in the File Menu. You can quote from the original article in one of two ways: o You can mark text in the original article before processing the reply key. If you do so, the marked text will be automatically copied into your reply. o You can press the Quote button on the reply screen to have the entire article copied into your reply. You can then edit the text. You can also press the Jump button at any time to return to the original article to mark additional text, or to simply reference the article. The OK button places the posting in the send queue and closes the window. The Cancel button will discard the posting and close the window. See Composing an article for help on the content of the compose window. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5. Getting around in The Post Road News Reader ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Moving between windows Retrieving and navigating between articles ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5.1. Moving between windows ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ In the Post Road News reader you can view any one of the three windows: the News groups window, the article tree window and the article text window individually, or all three at the same time. To view the news group window- o Select News groups window from the Windows Menu o You can click on the left diagonal arrow button next to the send button on the action pad. o or You an use Ctrl + Left arrow. To view the Header window- o You can select the right diagonal button next to the send button on the action pad o or You can use Ctrl+right arrow key. To view the article text window- o You can select the bottom arrow button next to the send button on the action pad o or You can use Ctrl + Down arrow. To view all three windows at the same time- o Select all three: News groups window, Article tree window, and the Article text window from the Windows menu o Select Tile windows from the window Menu o You can select the "views" button next to the "arrow" buttons described above. o or You can use Ctrl + Up arrow. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5.2. Retrieving and Navigating between Articles ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ You can move through the article tree with the either the mouse, keyboard, or the action pad the bottom of the Post Road Screen. Retrieving articles and navigating between articles: o You have to download an article in order to be able to view it. You can do so by: o Double clicking on the article you want to view o Using the action Pad, The up and down arrows are for previous and next articles o Ctrl+PageUp for previous and Ctrl+PageDown for the next article o You can press the space bar to move you through the article tree and wrap around again after the last article. o or by using Previous and next from the Headers Menu. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 6. Queues ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Three special queues are provided. These queues are: Articles Waiting to be Sent Articles Queued for Printing Download Queue The print queue is directly available from the Action Pad. You can delete, file or print the articles stored in these queues, but you cannot modify or delete the queues themselves. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 6.1. Articles waiting to be sent. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Outgoing articles will be placed in this send queue. These postings were prepared for sending when you clicked on the OK button in the Post(new), Post(reply), or the compose a note window. The number at the left-hand corner of the Action Pad indicates how many are waiting to be sent. While in this queue, the postings remain available to you for editing, printing, deleting and filing. To send this queued mail to your mail server, you must establish a connection with your service provider. Then press the Send button in the lower left-hand corner of the screen and all of the notes will be sent. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 6.2. Articles queued for printing ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ This queue allows you to store articles to be printed at a later time. This is important for those times when you don't have access to your printer, but want to complete all activity associated with the articles. Articles are queued for printing by selecting File/Queue for Printing from the in-basket menu bar. You can view the contents of the queue by clicking on the bar above the icon...clicking on the bar again closes the window. While in this queue, the articles remain available to you for printing, deleting and filing. You can also reply to or forward these notes. To print this queue: Double click on the print queue icon on the action pad to open the window and select File/Print. or, from the menu bar select Windows/Queues/to be printed/Print all folder articles. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 7. Settings Notebook ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ The settings notebook has been developed to allow both novice and sophisticated users ease of use and control over significant user functions. For many users, the defaults that have been set will serve them well, but the more demanding user will be able to easily control many aspects of the application. Default button - allows you to reset the current settings notebook page back to the initial program defaults. Undo button - allows you to undo any changes to the current settings notebook page. They will be restored to the settings that existed when the notebook was opened. The notebook is comprised of 7 pages, each accessible through tabs. The following is an overview of each page: ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 7.1. Server - Settings Notebook ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Please complete each entry (note that some are optional). News server- The name of your news server. News server (alt)- The name of alternate news server (optional) Port- This is the port number your news server uses, typically 119. Connect time- Wait time to recognize connection before an error message is issued. Idle Time- Idle time between server interaction before an error message is issued. Time Zone- Select the time zone you are presently in. Follow up to- Name of news group to provide follow up to (optional). Organization- Name to be used in header for your organization (optional). Userid- Leave this blank unless your news server requires a password and therefore a userid. Only a small number of news servers require a password to access the newsgroups. (optional) Password- If your news server requires a password type in your password here. (optional) Confirm- This is to confirm you have entered your password correctly. (optional) Use alternate method of header collection- Some news servers do not support the x-over command. Select this option to activate the alternate method. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 7.2. Protocol - Settings Notebook ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ On the protocol page you select the type of mail supported by your service provider. POP3- If you select POP3 for sending mail you must also complete the POP3 Page. SMTP- Type in the server name of your SMTP mail server. The post number is typically 25, but you can override it. SMTP Connection- This indicates the that you wish to recycle your SMTP connection each time the number of messages exceeds the interval. This helps to ensure you do not exceed the buffer size provided by your mail server. Recycle interval- This is the number of notes Post Road News Reader will send before it breaks to allow the SMTP servers to clear out its buffer. Personal Post Office Option- If you select this option, outgoing messages will be sent to the specified path. The messages can be sent out later by another software package that acts as a gateway to the internet. This may be useful in a LAN situation. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 7.3. POP3 - Settings Notebook ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ This page is required if you selected POP3 for sending mail on the Protocol page. Server- The name of your POP3 server. User ID- Your userid. Password- The password associated with your userid. If you leave this blank you will be prompted for the password each time you send mail. Port- The port is typically 110, but it can be overridden. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 7.4. Online - Settings Notebook ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ This page defines the defaults for online operation if you have made the Online Operation selection under the Mode menu item. Hold news server connection- This option will tell the newsreader to hold the connection to the new server between article retrievals. Retrieve first unread article after article tree update- This option will download the first unread article after the news reader has updated the article tree. Send postings when completed- This option will send the postings immediately, rather than place them in the send queue. Keep downloaded articles- This option will download the articles to your hard drive when you retrieve an article to view it. Automatically get new headers- This will go out to the news server and get the new article headers and append them to the end of the article tree, when you select that news group. Automatically synchronize headers with news server- This will go out to the news server and bring down the article tree as it is on the news server and replace your existing article list (unless you are using the reference view, in which case it will show them as 'not on server').It will, however, leave the articles that you have locked. View in Peek-a-boo mode- This option will let you view articles directly, without the use of the article tree. Perform as offline- This option will let you download headers to your hard drive and keep them there until you synchronize them with the server, or prune them. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 7.5. Articles - Settings Notebook ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Number of days to keep articles- This is the number of days Post Road News Reader will keep the articles on your hardrive and in the article tree. This is used along with the prune options below. Example: If you set the Prune option to prune the articles at the end of the application, it will delete articles and article trees, that have been on your hard drive more days than you have specified, when you close the application down. Pruning options- You must choose one of the three options. You can prune the article at start up of the application, at the end of the application or you can choose to prune them manually. Do not resolve attached files- This option controls whether attachments should be automatically decoded or left in the body of the article. If you select, do not resolve the attached files, you will have to use the UUencode options found in the Article Menu item. Do not split outgoing attached files- This prevents the news reader from splitting attachments when you send postings and email. Attachment split size- The only applies when you have NOT selected, do not split outgoing attached files. It defines the largest file size prior to splitting into multiple parts for sending. Maximum number of headers before download warning- .This is the maximum number of headers or articles that will download without a warning message. The warning message will give you a range of headers and allow you to select the range you want to download. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 7.6. Printouts - Settings Notebook ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ This page lets you set defaults for page numbering, page breaks, and allows you to specify your personal print banner. Send all print jobs to the default printer- Select this if you don't want Post Road News Reader to ask you which printer to use, particularly if you only have one attached printer. Reset page numbering after each article- This option controls page numbers for each page of an article and resets the page number to one after each article, when printing from the print queue. Page break after each article- allows you to to control page breaks when printing from the print queue. Print banner- This will print out a banner on the top right of the printed out page. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 7.7. Tools - Settings Notebook ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ This page defines the paths of the alternate editor and spellguard, if installed. Editor- You can select which editor you can choose as the alternate editor for the compose window or for editing an article. SpellGuard Directory- If you have purchased and installed SpellGuard you must specify its full path and filename. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 8. Post Road News Reader Menus ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ The following sections describe the Post Road News Reader's Menus. o File menu o Edit menu o Newsgroups menu o Headers menu o Article menu o Modes menu o Windows menu o Compose a note menu ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 8.1. File Menu ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ New Article- Enables you to create an article to send to the news server by brining up the compose window. Reply to article- Allows you to reply to the article you are currently viewing. You can either send it to the author or to the news group or both. Compose email- Allows you to compose an E-mail note by bringing up the compose windows. _____________________________________ Settings- This brings up the Settings Notebook, where you can select and change your settings for the Post Road News reader. _____________________________________ Send Articles and email- Allows you to send or post the notes or articles you have created, and that are waiting in the send queue. This function is the same as the send button on the action pad. Break connection- This will break the connection from the news server (it will not break the phone connection). This can help if you need to break because of an error condition. Download an internet file- This allows you to retrieve a file from the internet, via FTP or HTTP. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 8.2. Edit Menu ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Copy- Allows you to copy the selected (highlighted) text. _____________________________________ Mark all text- Allows you to select (highlight) all of the text in an article. Edit article- Allows you to edit the current article in the editor you have specified in the settings notebook on the Tools page. _____________________________________ Find- Allows you to search for a specific string. You can search the news group window, article tree window, or the article text window. Find next- This will find the next item, with the same search string, as the last one you have found with Find. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 8.3. Newsgroups menu ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Start Metagroups- This allows you to bring up Metagroups, so you can start a group and run it in the background. View- Allows you to view the Subscribed news groups, Previewed news groups, New news groups, or All of the news groups available on the news server. Jump to news style- Allows you to move forward or backward in the news group window, by selecting the news category (this can only be done in the All news group view). Catch up- This allows you to catch up if you have not used the news reader in a few days. It allows you to specify a limit to the number of new articles you want to download. Note: You can use the refresh count of new articles to find out how many new articles have been posted since the last refresh. Prune- You must be either in the previewed or subscribed view in order for this to work. You can manually prune any articles (for the selected news group) that exceed the specified setting. Subscribe- Allows you to subscribe to the news group which is currently selected (highlighted) or it allows you to type in the exact name of the news group you want. Unsubscribe selected groups- Allows you to remove a news group from the subscribe list. Delete groups- Allows you to remove a news group that has already been viewed, and is on the previewed window. Browse group (Peek-a-boo)- This allows you to view the selected newsgroup online. It does not save the articles to your hard drive. _____________________________________ New- Synchronize to server- This allows you to refresh the article tree. It will update the old article tree with new articles and it will remove articles that are not on the server anymore. It will not remove the articles if you have locked the article, or if you are in the reference view and the articles are referring to that article. _____________________________________ Refresh count of new articles- This will go out to the news server and count how many new articles are on the server and display it next to each news group. Refresh list of all groups- This will bring in all of the news groups available on the news server selected in the settings notebook. This has to be done the first time to get the complete list on news groups. Refresh list of new groups- This will bring in any new news groups that have been added to the news server since the last time you refreshed the list of news groups. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 8.4. Headers ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Update- This allows you to either get New articles, Synchronize to server, or Catch up for the news group you currently have loaded in the article tree window. Style- Allows you to select the view of the article tree from one of these views: Author, Date, Detail, Reference, or Subject view. Sort- This will sort the article tree by either: Author, Date, Downloaded, Message number (ascending or descending), Lines, or Subject. This applies to the Detail view only. Prune tree- This will prune articles, you can choose to prune articles above or below the selected article. Scan- This allows you to scan the article tree for a specific string(s) either by Using defined list, or By argument. Reset will bring the complete list of the articles back to the article tree. Mark as read- This will allow you to mark articles as read. You can choose from Current, Upward, Downward, or All. When this is used with Show Only Unread articles (Modes Menu) it will hide articles from the article tree, so you don't have to view old articles. Mark as Unread- This will allow you to mark articles as unread. You can choose from Current, Upward, Downward, or All. When this is used with Show Only Unread articles (Modes Menu) it will bring the article you hide back to the article tree, so you can view all of the articles. _____________________________________ Mark article for download- Allows you to mark the selected (highlighted) article(s) for download. Mark branch for download- This will mark all articles in the branch for downlaod. Mark all for download- This will mark all articles for download. Unmark articles marked for download- This unmarks the selected (highlighted) article(s) for downloading. Download marked articles- This will download the articles that are marked for download to your hard drive. _____________________________________ Kill article- This allows you to exclude articles that pertain to a certain Subject or Author from the article list. It only applies to downloads that occur after the "kill entry" is established. _____________________________________ Expand tree- This will expand (open the children) all of the articles in the article tree Collapse tree- This will collapse (close the children) all of the articles in the article tree _____________________________________ Delete article- This will delete the selected article(s) from the article tree. Delete entire group- This will delete the entire article tree from your hard drive. Lock/Unlock article- This will prevent an article from being pruned (deleted) from the article tree and your hard drive. Print article- This will send the selected (highlighted) article to the printer. Queue article for print- This will allow you to print the article at a later time, from the print queue. ___________________________________ View article- This will bring up the next article or the previous article. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 8.5. Article Menu ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Save as a file- This allows you to save the article to the hard drive, placing it in any directory you want and any name you want. Print article- This allows you to print the article you are currently viewing. Queue article for print- This will allow you to print the article at a later time. The article will be added to the print queue. _____________________________________ Transported file- This will bring up the transported file window, which shows the attachments that have been received with the articles. Download highlighted internet file- This allows you to specify an internet file to download via either FTP or HTTP. You must know the internet address for the file and the file name. You can also specify the target path and filename. Rotate 13 highlighted text- Some text may be encoded with Rotate 13. You can encode and decode these articles by selecting Rotate 13. _____________________________________ These features below (in blue) can only be used when an article with a UUEncoded attachment (that has not been automatically resolved) is being viewed. Extract UUEncoded file- This will allow you to decode the UUEncoded file to a directory. You can specify the target directory and filename. _____________________________________ Copy UUEncoded data to temp buffer- This will copy the UUEncoded data to a special temp buffer. If the UUEncoded data is split into multiple files, they must be copied into this temp buffer in sequence before the extract can be run. Extract UUEncoded file from temp buffer- This will allow you to decode the UUENcoded files that are in the temp buffer and specify the target path and filename. Examine temp buffer- This allows you view the file name(s) that are in the temp buffer. Clear temp buffer- This will clear all of the files in the temp buffer. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 8.6. Modes Menu ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Online operation- This turns the Online Page of the settings notebook on and off. _____________________________________ Support multiple server connections- Turning on this option will allow you to use multiple sockets when you are downloading multiple articles in the news reader. _____________________________________ Double click implies download- This changes the double click status, when you double click on an article it will mark it for download, when this option is selected. If the option is off it will imply mark/unmark. Double click implies mark/unmark for download- This changes the double click status, when you double click on an article it will mark it for download, when this option is selected. If the option is off it will imply Download. _____________________________________ Show only unread articles- This option works with all views except for reference view. When this option is selected it will not display the articles that have been read or marked as read. It will show the number of unread articles out of the total number of articles in the article tree title bar. Support fuzzy subject view- This option will turn on/off the fuzzy logic support for the subject view. For large news groups it is suggested you don't support fuzzy logic (unchecked), since supporting fuzzy logic with large newsgroups will incrementally expand the amount of time before the article tree is displayed. _____________________________________ Show article headers- Selecting this option will display the article headers in the article window. Show article spoiler text Selecting this option will show the text that is below the spoiler tag. _____________________________________ Allow window overlapping- This allows you to overlap any window over another, you can resize the article window, the article tree window or the news group window. Headers toolbar- This turns the toolbar on or off for the Header window. Article toolbar- This turns the toolbar on or off for the article window. Action pad- Selecting this will bring up the Post Road News Reader's action pad. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 8.7. Windows Menu ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Transported files- This brings up the transported files windows, where attachments are place if you haven't set 'Do not resolve attached files' in the settings notebook (Article Page). Queues- This will bring up a list of queues you can choose from: Send queue, Print queue, or the Download (Internet file) queue. These queues hold the articles/files that are waiting to be sent, printed or downloaded. Folders- This opens up the File cabinet which allows access to your folders. This is the same function as clicking the left mouse button once on the file cabinet icon on the action pad. Kill list- This will show the list of subject or authors you have selected to be exclude from your article list. _____________________________________ News group window- When this item is selected it will show the news group window. Header window- When this item is selected it will show the article tree window. Article text window- When this item is selected it will show the article text window. _____________________________________ Tile windows- This will retile the windows, bringing them to the default settings. Apply default colors- If you have changed the colors this will bring the default colors back to the Post Road News Reader. Adjust detail view style- In the detail view this will allow you to select what information you want to see. You can select/unselect Message number, Lines, Subject, Separator, Date, Author. _____________________________________ Window list- This brings up the OS/2's window list. This is the same function as clicking on the window list on the action pad. Launch pad- This brings the launch pad into focus. This is the same function as clicking on the launch pad button on the action pad. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 8.8. Compose a note Menu ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ OK to send- Selecting this will move the note or posting to the send queue. This is the same function as selecting OK in the compose window. Cancel compose- Selecting this will cancel the current note or posting. This is the same function as selecting cancel in the compose window. Open address book- This will bring up the address book and allow you to select an address(es) to send the note to. This is the same function as selecting the green address book in the compose window. Signature blocks- This brings up the signature window with the signatures you have created. This is the same function as selecting the SIG Icon at the bottom of the compose window. News groups- This brings up the news groups that a posting can be sent to. You can select a different view when the available news groups window is open. You can then choose: subscribed, previewed, or all news groups. This is the same function as selecting the news groups button just to the right of the green address book button. New- This will discard your old note or posting and give you a new one to work with. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 9. Downloading an Internet File ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Post Road News Reader allows you to download an internet file, via HTTP or FTP. You must know the internet address and file name and you can specify the target path and filename. To do so you would: File address- Type in the address where the file is located along with the full path and file name on the host. PC File name- Select the directory you want the file to go to on your hard drive along with the file name. Type- Select either FTP or HTTP. FTP Security- If you have selected FTP you have to fill in this information. If you are using Anonymous FTP, your password is usually your E-mail address. Add to Queue- This will add the download job to the Download Queue list. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 9.1. Download Queue ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ To download items in the Download Queue: 1. Goto the Windows menu and select Queues. 2. Go into the File Menu from the Internet files queue window 3. You can select Download all items or you can select Download selected items ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 10. Advanced Topics ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ The following topics describe significant functions that are available for the sophisticated user. Since they are easy to use, many other users can take advantage of them. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 10.1. Online ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ When you select Online the newsreader's default options are to hold server connection, retrieve the first article after article tree update, send postings when completed, and to Automatically get new headers. This will allow you to view the newest article everytime you slect a news group or change the view. This works well as you read articles or when you mark articles as read and you are only showing only unread articles. You an change the options to get the news reader to do different things. To select Online mode you would: o Open up the Modes menu, and select online operstion. o Go to the settings noteook and go to the online page. o Select the options you want. o Connect to the internet. o Select the newsgroups you want to view. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 10.1.1. Online scenerio 1 ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Let's assume that I want the newsreader to get only new headers, which is faster then synchronizing the headers, and I don't want to keep the articles I have downloaded, and I want my postings to be sent immediately. I would go with the default settings. This will allow me to download the newest headers every time I change the header window. The newer headers are appended to the old article tree. The only disadvantage with this set up is I will have old articles listed on the tree and I could get a bad article number message if I don't use Show only unread articles. I can solve this problem if I synchronize with the server every so often. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 10.1.2. Online scenerio 2 ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Let's assume that I am only interested in the newest articles on the server and I don't want to have the old articles on the article tree. I also want to keep the artilces I have downloaded, and wait to send my postings. I would select Show only unread articles and Online operation from the Modes menu. I would have Automatically synchronize headers with news server selected, select keep downloaded articles, and unselect send postings when completed. When I click on the news group the news reader will go out to the server and get a new article tree, since I have show only unread articles selected it will only show me the newest articles in the Headers window when it loads. I can then read through the articles by double clicking on the them and the next time the tree is loaded the articles I have read will not appear. I can them send all of my postings at one time by clicking on the send button on the action pad. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 10.1.3. Online scenerio 3 ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Let's assume that I want to see the most up-to-date articles, I don't care about an article tree, and I don't want to deal with read and unread articles. I also want my postings sent immediately. I would select Send postings when completed and view in Peek-a-boo mode. This will bring up another window and the first article in that newsgroup will be loaded. I can then choose the next article or previous article by clicking on the arrow buttons. When I create a posting and select OK the posting will be sent immediately. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 10.2. Offline ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ When you use the news reader in offline mode you will download an article tree to your hard drive and you will work with that until you refresh or synchronize it with the server. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 10.2.1. Offline scenerio 1 ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Lets say I don't have a connection to the news server all the time. I can choose Perform as offline and turn off the options for Send postings when completed (or I can just simply turn off the online mode under the Modes menu). I can then download the headers to my hard drive and work from there. I can scan the article tree and mark articles to be downloaded at a later time. If I have marked multiple articles in multiple news groups I may want to run Metagroups and set up a group that has all of those news groups in it. I would also set the option download marked article (a metagroup option), and when I run metagroups it will download a new article tree and download the articles I have marked. If I don't want to run Metagroups I can simply bring up the dialer at a later time and select Download marked articles (Ctrl+D) from the headers menu, or select download from the toolbar. The news reader will then go out and download the articles I have marked for that news group. After the news reader has finished I can then disconnect. To view the articles I would the double click on the article. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 10.3. Working with attached files ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ The Post Road News Reader uses MIME and UUEncode protocols to attach a file(s) to the posting. The recipient of your note must have a MIME or UUEncode compliant news reader in order to receive the file as an attachment. To attach a file, click on the attach file icon in the compose window and then select a file. Additional topics: Attaching a file. Using attached files with automatic decoding option. Manually decoding UUEncoded attachments. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 10.3.1. Attaching a file ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ You can attach a file when you compose a posting, note or when you reply to an article. To do so you click on the attach file icon and then select the file to attach from the file dialog. When you click on the OK button it the news reader will ask you how you want to send the attachment. To send multiple attachments you can simply select more than one file. Note that the Articles page of the Settings notebook provides for controlling the size and other aspects of your attachments. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 10.3.2. Working with UUEncode ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Many attachments are UUEncoded and you have two options with the news reader. You can set up the news reader to automatically resolve (decode) the UUencoded attachments or you can do it manually. The default is for the news reader to resolve the attachment automatically, you can change this option by going to the Settings notebook's Articles page. If the attachments are decoded automaticaly the will appear in the Transported file window. Manually decoding UUEncoded attachments ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 10.3.3. Manually decoding UUEncoded attachments ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ To manually decode a UUEncoded file you have to select "Do not resolve attached file" in the settings notebook. Then you can simply download the article with the UUEencoded attachment. o After you have selected that option you can downlaod the article(s) you want. o Once the article(s) have been downloaded you have to view the article. o After you have brought the article into the article window you can go into the Article menu. o You then have the choice of decoding the file now, or sending it to a temp buffer. - To decode the file now you can select Extract UUEncoded file. This will present you with a path and file name. If you would like to you can use this or change the information supplied. - If you want to decode the file at a later time, go to the article maenu and select Copy UUEncoded file to the temp buffer. o When you want to decode the file at a later time, and you have copied it to the temp buffer, you can select Extract UUEncoded file from temp buffer from the Article menu. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 10.4. Transported file ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ When Post Road News Reader receives an article with an attachment (and you do not have the option "Do not resolve attached files" selected) it will send the attachment to a separate directory. You can view the attachments received by selecting Transported Files from the Article Menu or the Windows Menu. Within the transported files window you have two different views. You can choose between a flowed view or a detailed view. The flowed view has the file name along with an icon representing what type of file it is. The detailed view shows the spool Id (which is the name Post Road News Reader assigns to the attachment), the original file name, and the style (type) of attachment it is. The detailed view also shows who the file is from and the subject of the attachment. To use the attachment you can either drag and drop the attachment, or set up an Association. If you set up an association you can use the attachment from the transported files window. To Drag and drop: 1. Open the program you want to drop the attachment into 2. Open the transported files window 3. Select (highlight) the file the attachment you want to drag 4. Hold down the right mouse button a minus sign will appear 5. Drag the attachment to the program you have running 6. The minus sign will disapear when you can drop the attachment You can save the attachment with the original file name into a directory that you specify. Or you can change the name of the file and save it into a directory. To save the attachment with the original name: 1. Open the Transported Files window 2. Select Save As under the FIle menu 3. The original file name should appear in the file filename area. You can change it if you want to, just keep the same file extension. -You can choose the drive and directory for the file to be saved in -Click on OK and a message will pop up saying it was saved See also Associations. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 10.4.1. Associations ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ In order to set up an association you should open up the transported file window. To set up an association: 1. Open the transported files window 2. Select Associations from the File menu 3. Choose Create new association 4. Fill in the required information for the association 5. File extension- Type in the file extension (ex. GIF) 6. Description- Type in a description of the association, so you will know what file is associated with what extension 7. Program- Select a program that is able to handle the file extension you are associating it with. You have to put the full path and file name of the program. 8. Arguments- You can put in different parameters in this area if the program you are going to run needs them. The default is *. 9. Style- Selecting presentation will run the program you have selected right away. Selecting OS/2 window will open an OS/2 window before it runs the program. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 10.5. Using the Personal Post Office Option ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ This option provides support for users who prefer to use alternate mail agent software for delivering articles and mail. The Protocol page in the Settings notebook allows you to select this option. For Outbound Mail you can name a file directory where mail is to be placed by the Post Road Mailer. Each note is a separate file with appropriate distribution tags included. When you use this option, you are responsible for establishing a distribution mechanism. For instance, you can create a REXX program that periodically collects directory information, invokes SENDMAIL, and removes the files from the directory. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 10.6. Metagroups ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Meta groups can be run in the background to update the article trees, download marked articles, download new articles ('as of'), or you can specify a search string for articles to download. You can run Metagroups from with in the news reader orcreate an icon on your desk top. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 10.6.1. Metagroup file menu ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ In this menu you can go to Metagroup options, Retrieve selected or all Metagoups. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 10.6.2. Metagroup options ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ You can choose the maximum size of an article (number of lines), maximum number of articles to download, and the type of headers (new or all) you want to download. Maximum lines per article- Articles that have more lines then the number you sepcify here will not be downloaded. Zero implies no limit. Maximum articles per group- This is the maximum number of articles you want to download. If there are more articles then listed Metagroups will download the Record update status info to a file- Selecting this option will send the status information to a file on your disk. Close status window on completion- Selecting this option will close the status window when Metagroups is done downloading. Update style- You can choose if you want all of the headers downloaded of just download the newer headers and add them to the exsisting article tree. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 10.6.3. Metagroup edit menu ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ This menu allows you to create, change, and delete a metagroup. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 10.6.4. Create/change a Metagroup ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Group name- The name you want for a meta group. News groups- Select which news groups you want to put into this metagroup. To select the news groups press the news group button on the left hand side of the news groups window. You can delete a news group(s) from the window by selecting that news group(s) and pressing the delete button. _____________________________________ Downlaod headers only- Selecting this option will download all of the headers for that above news groups. Download all headers and articles- Selecting this option will download all headers and articles for the above news groups. Download marked articles- Selecting this option will download any articles you had marked in the news reader for the above news groups. Download article as of 'mm/dd/yy'- This will download all articles fromthe server that have that date and newer. Search for articles after header retieve- This will download all headers first then search them for matching strings, if any articles match they will be downloaded. To save any changes you have made press OK. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 10.7. Peek-a-boo ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ With Peek-a-boo you can view articles while you are online. The articles will not be save to your hard drive unless you bring it into the editor and save to article. You can run Peek-a-boo through the news reader, or set up an icon on your desk top. When you post an article from Peek-a-boo it will be sent imediately after you press OK. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 10.7.1. file menu ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Ths menu allows you to change news groups, Change the options, Break the connection, and Post an article. o When you change news groups you will have to type in the name of the new news group. o The options allows you to set the maximum number of line per article. o Break will break the connection with the server not the phone connection. o Post will bring up the compose window and it will allow you to send the posting as soon as you press OK. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 10.7.2. edit menu ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ The edit menu allows you to Mark, Copy, Rotate 13 the text, and copy the article into the default editor. o Mark all will mark all of the text in the Peek-a-boo window. o Copy will allow you to copy the highlighted text. o Rotate 13 will allow you to Rotate the highlighted text. o Edit brings the article up in the default editor so you can change, copy, or save the article. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 10.7.3. article menu ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ This menu alows you to move from article to article within the news group. You can select previous, next article, first or last article. You can choose to seethe article headers in the article display window. you can save, print, or post a reply to the article. o Previous article will bring you to the article before the one you are currently viewing. o Next article will bring you to the next available article. o First article will bring you to the first article in the news group. o Last article will bring you to the last article in the news group. o Show article headers lets you choose to see the article headers or not. o Save as allows you to save the article, you can specify which directory and what file name you want for that article. o Print allows you to send the article to the printer. o Post reply will bring up the compose window and import the original article. It will allow you to send a reply to all newsgroups, to the author, to a followup (if found). o Select will bring up the list of articles in that newsgroup. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 11. How do I? ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ The following topics cover the specific details of many frequently used tasks. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 11.1. Action Pad ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ The Action Pad is composed of buttons, icons and an information cell. The information cell provides immediate feedback on the count of your notes or postings in the send queue (to be sent). The buttons Compose, Post(new) is active any time and Post(reply) is only active when an article is being viewed. They operate against the active article in the active window. The three icons provide easy access to the following functions (left to right): o Printer icon - This provides immediate print. You can drag and drop a note on the icon or click on it to print the current active note. o Print Queue icon - This allows you to store notes to be printed at a later time. This is important for those times when you don't have access to your printer, but want to complete all activity associated with your notes. These notes can be queued for printing by selecting File/Print/Queued for Printing from the in-basket menu bar. You can view the contents of the queue by clicking on the icon. To close the window use close in the window's file menu. window. o Folder icon - This opens the list of your folders. The buttons Send will send your queued articles The next three icons will give you a different view to look at. o The blue arrow icon will give you the news group view. o The Brown arrow will give you the article tree view. o The green arrow will give you the article view. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 11.2. Print a note ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ You can print an article from the article view or from a folder in any of the following ways: From the article view or folder. o Drag the article to an opened print queue window. o Click the right mouse button while viewing the article or when the article is highlighted in the folder window and select "Print." Also See: Queued Printing | Drag and Drop | ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 11.3. Use the Print Queue ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ If you are working with a laptop computer and do not have a printer connected, but plan to connect a printer later, you can queue printing of notes. Later you can print the queue by selecting Print from the main menu bar. From the article view or folder window. o Drag the note icon to an opened print queue window. o Highlight the note by clicking on the icon and then right mouse click and select "Queue to print" from the folder window. o Click the right mouse button while you are in the article view and select "Queue to Print." o From the note's menu bar, select File and Queue to Print. Also See: Drag and Drop ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 11.4. File an article ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Select the article you want to file, open the file cabinet drawer (on the Action Pad) by pushing the opener button above the cabinet, and drag it to the appropriate folder and release it. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 11.5. Use the address box ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ The address box allows you to specify your addressees by type, specify your name and userid, specify not to file or file to a specific folder, attach a file to your note and send or cancel the note. An addressee can be entered directly into the single line input area, by userid, by nickname, by group name or by selecting their entry from an address book. Each entry will be added to the list box beneath and tagged with their type (to, or cat). To modify or delete an addressee, double click on their entry in the scroll box. The entry will be moved into the input line for modification or deletion. Note: An entry that remains in the input area will be pushed out (deleted) by selecting an entry from the list box or an address book. Clicking on "ok" or hitting "enter" will place the entry into the list box. The Address Book icon provides you with access to your addresses so that you can select an addressee by name. Double clicking on an address or group entry will place that entry into the address input area. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 11.6. Save and retrieve drafts ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ During the process of composing a posting, you may save the entire contents of the posting to a file. This allows you to cancel the current posting and retrieve the contents later. o To save: 1. Select File from the menu bar. 2. Select Save As and a file dialog box will be displayed. 3. Enter the filename you wish for the note to be saved under and click on OK. o To retrieve a saved draft: 1. Select File from the menu bar. 2. Select Open draft and a file dialog box will be displayed. 3. Enter the filename you wish to be retrieved and click on OK. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 11.7. Save as ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Post Road News Reader enables you to save an article as a file. You can select which directory you want it to go to, and you can also select the filename. To save as: 1. Type in the file name you want the article to have 2. Select the drive you want the file to be saved to 3. Select the directory you want the file to be saved to 4. Select OK and the file will be saved. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 11.8. Quote text ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ The Quote and Jump feature has been provided, in the Post(reply) window, to allow you to easily mark and copy selected text from the source note into your reply. The Quote button will copy all of the text of the source note into the text box and mark each line of this text with a "quoted text character". The > character is the default, but it can be modified in the Settings notebook under the Outgoing tab. There may be occasions where you wish to copy into your reply only a portion of the source article. The Jump button allows you to switch to the opened window of the source article. You can select (or mark) the text to be copied into your reply and return by clicking on the Post(reply) window. Clicking on the Quote button will place the marked text into the reply text with the "quoted text character" inserted as the first character of each line. Note: The entire source artilce can be marked by selecting Edit/Mark All from the menu bar of the source article. This includes the article header information. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 11.9. Import Text Files ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ You can a import text file when you compose a posting or when you reply to an article. To do so, position the cursor in the editor window and select File and Import text from the window menu bar. You can also use the paste facility from the Edit menu to paste text that is in the clipboard. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 11.10. Use signature blocks ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ The Post Road News Reader allows you to establish multiple signature blocks and then select a signature block when you compose a posting, or post(reply). Each signature block may contain several lines of text or characters of your choosing. Signature blocks are created by clicking on the signature icon. You can create a new signature block or edit an existing one by double clicking on the appropriate icon from the signature block window. One of these signature blocks can be selected as the default, either by selecting default in the creation window or by selecting the File/Default menu options. The contents will default to either the signature block that has been selected as the default or the signature used in the prior note, if there is no signature block established as the default. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 11.11. Use a different editor ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ You can use an alternate editor for editing the text portion of a posting by selecting Edit and Alternate editor from the active window menu bar. The alternate editor must be specified in the Settings notebook on the Outgoing page. The E editor is set as the default. If you choose to use your own editor you must close the editor and save the file when you have finished editing. The text will then be automatically imported into the text window. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 11.12. Use the clipboard ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ The clipboard is used to copy text from on place to another, such as from one file to another, or even, from one place in a file to another place in the same file. The following steps allow you to do this: 1. Highlight the text to be copied. 2. Select EDIT. 3. Select COPY. This places a copy of the highlighted text on the Clipboard. 4. Move the cursor to where you want the text to appear, in the target window. 5. Select EDIT from the menu bar of the target window. 6. Select PASTE from the menu bar of the target window. The selected text has now been copied. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 11.13. Use drag and drop ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ One of the powerful facilities provided is the ability to perform an action simply by moving one icon to another. For example, an article can be filed by dragging the article onto the opened folder and dropping it there. The following steps allow you to do this. 1. Move the mouse pointer to the object you want to drag. 2. Press and hold mouse button 2 (the right mouse button). 3. Move (drag) the object by sliding the mouse. 4. Position the object where you want to drop it. 5. Release mouse button 2. The action, such as filing, printing will be performed. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 12. Appendix ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1. Acknowledgements 2. Addressing Mail 3. Common email abbreviations 4. Emoticons ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 12.1. Acknowledgements ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ We would like to thank the many people and organizations who have contributed support and technical information in the development of the Post Road News Reader, particularly our customers. IBM and OS/2 are registered trademarks of the IBM Corporation. Post Road Mailer is a trademark of InnoVal Systems Solutions, Inc. All other brands both cited and not cited are trademarks, registered trademarks, or service marks of their respective companies. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 12.2. Addressing Mail ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Internet addresses have two parts: Mailbox Usually a code assigned to a person by an Internet service provider. It must be unique to the domain. This is commonly referred to as the user id. Domain Identifier or host name for the computer or network that receives mail and stores it in the mailbox. These identifiers almost always consist of two or more codes joined with periods. A complete address consists of both the mailbox identifier and the domain joined by an @ sign. For example: innoval@ibm.net Certain rules apply for mail being sent to users on certain commercial systems. America Online, for instance, allows spaces in user names which are not compatible with the Internet and must therefore be removed. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 12.3. Common email abbreviations ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ AOL America Online BTDT Been there, done that BTW By the way CIS CompuServe FWIW For what it is worth FYI For your information <g> Grin <G> Big grin HSIK How should I know IMHO In my humble opinion IMO In my opinion IOW In other words LOL Laughing out loud NBD No big deal NOYB None of your business OTOH On the other hand ROTFL Rolling on the floor laughing SNAFU Situation normal, all fouled up SYSOP Systems Operator TKS and TX Thanks RTM Read the manual ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 12.4. Emoticons ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ :-) Happy :-( Sad :-| Indifferent ;-) Winking ;-( Crying :-D Laughing :-\ Undecided :-o Surprised :-@ Screaming :-x Kissing :-X Big kiss ::-) Wearing glasses 8-) Wearing sun glasses {:-) Wearing a toupee :-? Smoking a pipe :-C Really sad :-# Wearing braces :-)8 Wearing a bow tie ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 13. Support ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ We have put together support procedures that we expect are both effective and efficient. We have created some alternatives, and with your help, we will do our best to provide you with prompt and helpful service. Send us an email. Address your email to to postsvc@ibm.net. Please include the product serial number, your phone number, your time zone and the best time to call you, and a detailed description of the problem. Optionally, provide the name of your service provider and information about your system's configuration. Send us a fax at (914) 835-3857. You can eliminate the cover sheet. Please write Post Road Service (in large letters across the top) and provide the information requested in the prior section. If you have a business emergency, or if in your opinion you think it would be best to talk to us directly, then please call us at (914) 835-3838. If you have any suggestions for improving the product, please let us know your ideas. The best way to do that is to send us an email at innoval@ibm.net.