@iftex
@finalout
@end iftex
-@comment $Id: imail.texinfo,v 1.12 2000/07/21 20:51:37 cph Exp $
+@comment $Id: imail.texinfo,v 1.13 2000/07/26 02:29:14 cph Exp $
@comment %**start of header (This is for running Texinfo on a region.)
@setfilename imail.info
@settitle IMAIL User's Manual
@titlepage
@title{IMAIL User's Manual}
-@subtitle Edition 0.5 for IMAIL Version 1.4
-@subtitle 21 July 2000
+@subtitle Edition 0.6 for IMAIL Version 1.4
+@subtitle 25 July 2000
@author by Chris Hanson
@page
(@acronym{MIME}, @uref{http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2045.txt, ,
@acronym{RFC} 2045}) provide a way to encode other kinds of text and
data so that they can be carried in an email message. Most modern email
-software supports the @acronym{MIME} standard, with some notable
-exceptions, including particularly Emacs Rmail.
+software supports the @acronym{MIME} standard; one notable exception is
+Emacs Rmail.
@node Folders, URLs, Messages, Concepts
@section Folders
@end table
@kindex n
-@kindex p
-@kindex M-n
-@kindex M-p
@findex imail-next-undeleted-message
+@kindex p
@findex imail-previous-undeleted-message
+@kindex M-n
@findex imail-next-message
+@kindex M-p
@findex imail-previous-message
@kbd{n} and @kbd{p} are the usual way of moving among messages in
@acronym{IMAIL}. They move through the messages sequentially, but skip
@xref{Flags}.
@kindex C-c C-n
-@kindex C-c C-p
@findex imail-next-same-subject
+@kindex C-c C-p
@findex imail-previous-same-subject
To find the next message with the same subject as the current message,
use @kbd{C-c C-n} (@code{imail-next-same-subject}). This is useful for
same subject.
@kindex j
-@kindex >
-@kindex <
@findex imail-show-message
+@kindex >
@findex imail-last-message
+@kindex <
@findex imail-first-message
To move to a message specified by absolute message number, use @kbd{j}
(@code{imail-show-message}) with the message number as argument. With
@end table
@kindex d
-@kindex C-d
@findex imail-delete-forward
+@kindex C-d
@findex imail-delete-backward
There are two @acronym{IMAIL} commands for deleting messages. Both
delete the current message and select another message. @kbd{d}
disabled by setting the variable @code{imail-global-mail-notification}
to @code{#f}.
+@kindex C-u g
@findex imail-input-from-folder
To copy messages from another folder into the current folder, give the
@kbd{g} key a numeric argument, as in @kbd{C-u g}. This runs the
@node MIME Support, Flags, Multiple Folders, Commands
@section MIME Support
+@cindex Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions
+@cindex MIME
+@cindex RFC 2045
+@cindex MIME entity
+@cindex entity, MIME
+@cindex in-line
+@cindex MIME attachment
+@cindex attachment, MIME
+The @dfn{Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions} (@acronym{MIME}) define
+a standard means for structuring mail messages. @acronym{MIME} permits
+a message to have multiple parts, each of which is called an
+@dfn{entity}. It also provides a way to associate type information with
+each entity. For example, an ordinary text message has type
+@samp{text/plain}, an @acronyn{HTML} has type @samp{text/html}, and a
+@acronyn{JPEG} image has type @samp{image/jpeg}. Additionally,
+@acronym{MIME} entities may be annotated to indicate whether they should
+be shown @dfn{in-line}, or whether they are @dfn{attachments} that
+should be shown only upon further user action.
+
@acronym{IMAIL} provides simple support for @acronym{MIME} messages.
@acronym{MIME} attachments are shown in the @acronym{IMAIL} buffer by
-special abbreviations, and may be written to a file. Complex
-@acronym{MIME} structures are recognized and displayed in a clean format
-that suppresses unnecessary clutter. And @acronym{MIME} encodings such
-as @dfn{quoted-printable} and @dfn{base64} are automatically decoded
-prior to displaying the message.
+special abbreviations. You can write an attachment to a file.
+Multipart @acronym{MIME} structures are recognized and displayed in a
+clean format that suppresses unnecessary clutter. And @acronym{MIME}
+encodings such as @dfn{quoted-printable} and @dfn{base64} are
+automatically decoded prior to displaying the message or saving the
+attachment.
End-user formatting of @acronym{MIME} messages is a complex process,
partly because these messages can be arbitrarily complex in their
give you some control over the formatting prcess.
@vindex imail-use-original-mime-boundaries
-Many @acronym{MIME} messages have multiple subparts; for example, a
-message with an attachment normally contains at least two subparts: the
-message text and the attachment. By default, @acronym{IMAIL} displays
-these parts separated by long lines of hyphen characters. However,
+Many @acronym{MIME} messages have multiple parts; for example, a message
+with an attachment normally contains at least two parts: the message
+text and the attachment. By default, @acronym{IMAIL} displays these
+parts separated by long lines of hyphen characters. However,
@acronym{MIME} specifies particular kinds of separators, called
@dfn{boundaries}, that have certain useful syntactic properties.
@acronym{IMAIL} allows you to use the original @acronym{MIME} boundaries
@code{imail-use-original-mime-boundaries} to @code{#t}.
@vindex imail-mime-show-alternatives
-@acronym{MIME} also specifies a particular kind of multipart message,
-called multipart/alternative, in which the parts are different
+@acronym{MIME} also specifies a particular kind of multipart message, of
+type @samp{multipart/alternative}, in which the parts are different
representations of the same message. A typical example of this is a
mailer that sends both plain text and @acronym{HTML} versions of the
message text. Normally @acronym{IMAIL} shows only the simplest of these
@code{imail-mime-show-alternatives} to @code{#t}, @acronym{IMAIL} will
show these alternative forms as attachments.
-As a general rule, any @acronym{MIME} subpart that contains non-textual
+As a general rule, any @acronym{MIME} entity that contains non-textual
information is displayed as an attachment. Attachments are normally
shown as specially-formatted abbreviations; here is an example:
and is generally slightly larger than the decoded length.)
@acronym{IMAIL} uses somewhat more complicated rules for deciding when a
-@acronym{MIME} subpart is displayed in this abbreviated format, and when
-it is expanded in line. In general, all non-text subparts are
-abbreviated. Additionally, if a text subpart is given a
+@acronym{MIME} entity is displayed in this abbreviated format, and when
+it is expanded in line. In general, all non-text entities are
+abbreviated. Additionally, if a text entity is given a
@dfn{disposition} of @code{attachment}, it is abbreviated. Finally, if
-the character set of the subpart is unknown, if the encoding type is
+the character set of the entity is unknown, if the encoding type is
unknown, or if the subtype is unknown, it is abbreviated.
@vindex imail-known-mime-charsets
-Two variables control the abbreviation of text subparts.
+Two variables control the abbreviation of text entities.
@code{imail-known-mime-charsets} is a list of regular expressions that
specify the known character sets; by default it specifies
@acronym{US-ASCII}, the @acronym{ISO} 8859 character sets, and some
(@code{imail-toggle-mime-entity}).
@end table
+@kindex C-o
@findex imail-save-attachment
The primary @acronym{MIME} command is @kbd{C-o}
(@code{imail-save-attachment}), which saves a single attachment to a
file. If point is on an attachment, that is the attachment to be saved,
-otherwise @acronym{IMAIL} prompts for the attachment to be saved. If a
+otherwise @acronym{IMAIL} prompts for the attachment by name. If a
prefix argument is specified, prompting is performed even if point is on
an attachment. Once the attachment is determined, @acronym{IMAIL}
prompts for the name of a file to save the attachment to. The filename
variable @code{imail-mime-attachment-directory} to contain the name of
that directory.
+@kindex w
+@findex imail-save-mime-entity
+The command @kbd{w} (@code{imail-save-mime-entity}) is similar to
+@code{imail-save-attachment} except that it will save any @acronym{MIME}
+entity, not just an attachment. For example, this allows you to save
+the message text. This command saves the entity that point is on; if
+point is not on any entity, an error is signalled.
+
+@kindex C-t
+@findex imail-toggle-mime-entity
+The command @kbd{C-t} (@code{imail-toggle-mime-entity}) is similar to
+@code{imail-save-mime-entity}, except that instead of saving the entity
+to a file, it toggles whether the entity is shown in-line or in
+abbreviated form. A common situation when this is useful is when the
+text of a message is in some unknown character set. In this case,
+@acronym{IMAIL} shows the text in abbreviated form; use @kbd{C-t} to
+expand it in place.
+
@node Flags, Sending Replies, MIME Support, Commands
@section Flags
@end table
@kindex a
-@kindex k
@findex imail-add-flag
+@kindex k
@findex imail-kill-flag
The @kbd{a} (@code{imail-add-flag}) and @kbd{k} (@code{imail-kill-flag})
commands allow you to assign or remove any flag on the current message.
are two ways to use the flags: in moving and in summaries.
@kindex C-M-n
-@kindex C-M-p
@findex imail-next-flagged-message
+@kindex C-M-p
@findex imail-previous-flagged-message
The command @kbd{C-M-n @var{flags} @key{RET}}
(@code{imail-next-flagged-message}) moves to the next message that has
to @code{#t}, which will cause @emph{all} forwarded messages to retain
all of their header fields.
+@kindex C-u f
@findex imail-resend
@dfn{Resending} is an alternative similar to forwarding; the difference
is that resending sends a message that is ``from'' the original sender,
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