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This manual documents MIT/GNU Scheme Pucked IMAIL 1.22.7.
Copyright © 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled “GNU Free Documentation License.”
| • Introduction: | ||
| • Getting Started: | ||
| • Concepts: | ||
| • Commands: | ||
| • GNU Free Documentation License: | ||
| • Key Index: | ||
| • Command Index: | ||
| • Variable Index: | ||
| • Concept Index: |
Next: Getting Started, Previous: Top, Up: Top [Contents][Index]
IMAIL is a program for reading electronic mail. It uses the Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP, RFC 2060) to access mail that is stored on a server, from which IMAIL fetches individual messages on demand. The server may have many different folders in which messages are stored, arranged in a hierarchical structure like that of a file system. Messages are easily moved or copied from one folder to another.
IMAP also supports the Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME, RFC 2045), which facilitate the sending and receiving of attachments. The IMAP protocol supports this by allowing you to fetch some parts of a mail message while leaving others on the server. So, for example, if you receive a message containing a large attachment, it is possible to view the text of the message without waiting for the attachment to be fetched from the server; the attachment is fetched only if you want to view or save it. If you aren’t interested in the attachment, you can delete the message without ever fetching it from the server.
In addition to these features, IMAIL provides a user interface very similar to that of the Emacs Rmail mail reader (see Rmail in the GNU Emacs Manual). IMAIL supports most of the same commands and has most of the same key bindings as Rmail. IMAIL is primarily intended to be an Rmail replacement for people who wish to read their mail using an IMAP server. IMAIL can also read and write Rmail files and unix mail (mbox) files, and provides the ability to copy messages from such a file to an IMAP folder, or vice versa; this greatly simplifies the transition from Rmail to IMAIL for those of us who have large amounts of mail stored in files.
Next: Concepts, Previous: Introduction, Up: Top [Contents][Index]
At present, IMAIL has only a very simple mechanism for connecting to an IMAP server: it makes an unencrypted connection to the server, and logs in with a user name and a password. In the near future, we will implement CRAM-MD5 authentication (defined in RFC 2095). However, we have no plans to implement data-stream encryption for the connection.1
To use IMAIL, you must create an Edwin init file, called ~/.edwin on unix machines or edwin.ini on Windows machines. This file contains arbitrary Scheme expressions that are evaluated in the Edwin environment when Edwin is started. In addition to any other customizations you put in this file, you must include the following expression:
(load-option 'imail)
Next, you must tell Edwin where to find your IMAP server, by
setting some variables; the expression to do this must follow the call
to load-option. Here is an example:
(load-option 'imail) (set-variable! imail-default-imap-server "imap.foo.org")
Note that this is syntactically similar to Scheme’s set! special
form, but that it modifies the value of an Edwin editor variable rather
than a Scheme variable. There are several other variables that control
how IMAIL connects to the server. See Multiple Folders,
for a complete list. By default, IMAIL tries to connect to
‘localhost’ using port 143, and to log in using the user
name that you are logged in as. This is the right default if you are
using stunnel on the client.
After you are finished creating the init file, you can either restart Edwin, or you can load the file using M-x load-file. At this point, you are ready to run IMAIL. To start IMAIL and read the mail in the ‘inbox’ folder on your IMAP server, type M-x imail.
Next: Commands, Previous: Getting Started, Up: Top [Contents][Index]
To use IMAIL effectively, it is helpful to know the terminology and understand the concepts underlying IMAIL’s design. Here we will introduce you to messages, folders, URLs, and server connections.
| • Messages: | ||
| • Folders: | ||
| • Containers: | ||
| • URLs: | ||
| • Server Connections: |
A message, or email message, is the basic unit of electronic mail. The format of a message is defined by RFC 822. Nearly all email messages are transmitted over the internet, which means that the contents of such messages are further constrained by the SMTP protocol that is used for internet message transmission, as defined in RFC 821.
In brief, the primary constraints on an email message is that it may contain only printable US-ASCII characters, and that lines of text in the message may not exceed 1000 characters, including the carriage-return/linefeed pair at the end of each line. These constraints are fairly strict, and do not permit messages to contain text in languages other than English, or to contain non-textual data such as images. The Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME, 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 MIME standard; one notable exception is Emacs Rmail.
Next: Containers, Previous: Messages, Up: Concepts [Contents][Index]
Another important concept is a means for grouping messages together. All email software provides some means for doing this, and IMAIL is no exception. IMAIL provides objects called folders. A folder is just an object that holds an arbitrary number of email messages. Messages can be added to a folder, deleted from a folder, and moved or copied from one folder to another.
In IMAIL, the concept of the folder is used to embrace different grouping mechanisms. This is because IMAIL provides a uniform means for accessing different kinds of email systems. In particular, IMAIL supports access to Emacs Rmail files (also known as BABYL files, for historical reasons), to unix mailbox files (sometimes called mbox files), and to IMAP mailboxes. Each of these grouping mechanisms, although implemented very differently, is viewed as a folder by IMAIL. With some exceptions, each of these different types of folder are treated exactly the same by IMAIL. Finally, because IMAIL is extensible, other types of folders may be supported in the future.
Folders can themselves be grouped together inside objects called containers. A container is an object that holds folders, much in the same way that a folder holds messages. As for folders, the concept of a container is a generalization of the different kinds of mechanisms used by the underlying mail technology. So, for example, the container of a file folder is the directory holding that file.
IMAP containers are a little different: each IMAP mailbox is capable of holding other mailboxes. What this means is that, from IMAIL’s point of view, an IMAP mailbox is both a folder object and a container object at the same time. However, when IMAIL views an IMAP mailbox as a container, it is treated differently than when it is viewed as a folder, and consequently different notation is used in each case.
Next: Server Connections, Previous: Containers, Up: Concepts [Contents][Index]
In email software like Rmail, where mail is stored in files, filenames are used to refer to groups of messages. Since IMAIL folders often aren’t files, it is necessary to use a more general kind of reference for folders. To this end, IMAIL uses Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) to refer to folders.2 IMAIL currently supports two kinds of URLs: IMAP URLs and file URLs.
| • IMAP URLs: | ||
| • File URLs: | ||
| • Container URLs: |
The first kind of URL is an IMAP URL,3 which looks like this:
imap://uname@hostname:port/mailbox
In this syntax, the parts ‘uname@’ and ‘:port’
are optional. Hostname is the internet host name or IP
address of the IMAP server. Uname is the user name that
identifies the account to be accessed on the server; this defaults to
your user name. Port is the server’s IP port; this
defaults to 143 and is normally not specified.
Mailbox specifies the IMAP mailbox (or folder, in IMAIL’s terminology) that is being referred to. Since most IMAP servers support hierarchical mailboxes, mailbox is a structured component indicating the location of the folder in the hierarchy, much like filenames or HTTP URLs. Here are some examples of IMAP URLs showing different mailbox paths:
imap://localhost/inbox imap://localhost/inbox/sysadmin imap://localhost/inbox/sysadmin/equipment
Here you see several interesting properties of IMAP mailboxes. The first URL refers to the primary IMAP mailbox for this account, called the inbox. All IMAP servers must support this mailbox, which is always called ‘inbox’; the name is not case sensitive and may be typed in any combination of upper or lower case letters. However, case sensitivity for names other than ‘inbox’ is undefined by IMAP, so IMAIL treats all other names as if they were case sensitive.
The second and third URLs show how hierarchically-nested mailboxes are referred to: by writing the components of the path, separated by slashes. Note that IMAP does not require particular path-separator characters for hierarchical names, and in fact different IMAP servers use different separators. However, IMAIL always uses the forward-slash character as a separator, and translates to the server’s character as needed.4
Another thing to note about these examples is that IMAP, unlike most file systems, allows a folder to contain messages and to have subfolders. This includes the ‘inbox’ folder, as shown here. At least one server (Cyrus) puts all subfolders for a user account under ‘inbox’, but this is not required by IMAP and is not generally true.
Next: Container URLs, Previous: IMAP URLs, Up: URLs [Contents][Index]
There is one other URL type supported by IMAIL: file URLs. This uses the ‘file:’ URL syntax,5 as follows:
file://hostname/pathname
Here hostname refers to the host on which the file (folder) resides. Since IMAIL supports only files on the local file system, hostname must be ‘localhost’; it may also be omitted, as in
file:///pathname
IMAIL also supports a non-standard abbreviation:
file:/pathname
As specified by the URL standard, pathname is a slash-separated sequence of path components, where unusual characters appearing in the components, such as the space character, are specially encoded. However, IMAIL will accept nearly any character in a component, and encode it if required; with few exceptions you can type any pathname without encoding. IMAIL always displays URLs with proper encoding.
In practice, this means that most unix filenames are written verbatim, with exceptions for special characters, and with the leading slash omitted. However, DOS-style filenames, as used by Windows, must be specially rewritten to conform to this style.
The rewriting rules for DOS file URLs are not specified by the standard, so consequently IMAIL defines its own rules for this encoding, as follows. A DOS filename is encoded by replacing all of the backslash characters with forward-slash characters, and by encoding unusual characters in the path components. Finally, the drive letter is prefixed to the path with an additional forward-slash separator. So for, example, the filename
C:\My Documents\Mail\My Mail.rmail
becomes the URL
file://localhost/C:/My%20Documents/Mail/My%20Mail.rmail
IMAIL also uses URLs to refer to containers. The notation used for a container is what you would expect: take a folder URL and drop everything after the rightmost slash. For example, the folder URL
imap://localhost/inbox/sysadmin/equipment
has the corresponding container URL
imap://localhost/inbox/sysadmin/
Note that this is different from the URL for the
sysadmin folder:
imap://localhost/inbox/sysadmin
Unlike a file folder, in which the folder’s contents are always available, access to an IMAP folder requires an active network connection to the IMAP server. This adds an additional layer of complexity to the mail-reading process, which is reflected in the connection state of an IMAP folder.
An IMAP folder can be in one of two states: online, meaning that there is an established network connection between IMAIL and the IMAP server, and offline when there is not. IMAIL is, at present, a very simple IMAP mail reader: it must be online to read and manipulate mail messages. Mail readers that have this property are said to operate in online mode.6 Do not confuse the online state with online mode. When we refer to online or offline in this document, it always means the corresponding state.
When an IMAP folder is selected in an IMAIL buffer, the modeline for that buffer shows either ‘online’ or ‘offline’ to indicate the folder’s connection state. Normally, an IMAP folder goes online when it is first selected, and stays online indefinitely until it is explicitly disconnected.7 Commands that break the connection are explicitly pointed out in their descriptions below; most other commands will force an IMAP folder into the online state if it is offline.
Next: GNU Free Documentation License, Previous: Concepts, Up: Top [Contents][Index]
IMAIL provides a rich set of commands for manipulating messages. Like Rmail, most of these commands are bound to letter keys.
The most important command is M-x imail, which is used to start IMAIL. With no arguments, M-x imail reads the primary folder, selects the first unseen message in the folder, then selects the folder’s buffer. If the primary folder is an IMAP folder, M-x imail will connect to the server and check for new mail. If M-x imail is given a prefix argument, it will prompt for the URL of a folder rather than reading the primary folder.
The IMAIL message buffer is put in IMAIL mode, a
special mode in which most letter commands are defined to have special
meanings. Where possible, the letters chosen for these commands are the
same as those for the corresponding Rmail commands. The command keys
specified in this chapter are for IMAIL mode, unless otherwise
specified.
| • Navigation: | ||
| • Deleting Messages: | ||
| • Multiple Folders: | ||
| • MIME Support: | ||
| • Flags: | ||
| • Sending Replies: | ||
| • Message Display: | ||
| • Summaries: | ||
| • Sorting Messages: | ||
| • Other Commands: |
Next: Deleting Messages, Previous: Commands, Up: Commands [Contents][Index]
The most basic thing to do with a message is to read it. The way to do this in IMAIL is to select the message. The usual practice is to move sequentially through the folder, since this is the order of receipt of messages. When you enter IMAIL, you are positioned at the first message that you have not yet seen (that is, the first one that has the ‘unseen’ flag; see Flags). Move forward to see the other new messages; move backward to reexamine old messages.
Move to the next nondeleted message, skipping any intervening deleted
messages (imail-next-undeleted-message).
Move to the previous nondeleted message
(imail-previous-undeleted-message).
Move to the next message, including deleted messages
(imail-next-message).
Move to the previous message, including deleted messages
(imail-previous-message).
Move to the first message. With argument n, move to
message number n (imail-select-message).
Move to the last message (imail-last-message).
Move to the first message (imail-first-message).
Move to the first unseen message (imail-first-unseen-message).
Move to the next message containing a match for string
(imail-search).
Move to the previous message containing a match for string.
Move to the next message with the same subject
(imail-next-same-subject).
Move to the previous message with the same subject
(imail-previous-same-subject).
n and p are the usual way of moving among messages in
IMAIL. They move through the messages sequentially, but skip
over deleted messages, which is usually what you want to do. Their
command definitions are named imail-next-undeleted-message and
imail-previous-undeleted-message. If you do not want to skip
deleted messages—for example, if you want to move to a message to
undelete it—use the variants M-n and M-p
(imail-next-message and imail-previous-message). A
numeric argument to any of these commands serves as a repeat count.
In IMAIL, you can specify a numeric argument by typing just the digits. You don’t need to type C-u first.
The M-s (imail-search) command is IMAIL’s version
of search. The usual incremental search command C-s works in
IMAIL, but it searches only within the current message. The
purpose of M-s is to search for another message. It reads a
string nonincrementally, then searches starting at the beginning of the
following message for a match. It then selects that message. If
string is empty, M-s reuses the string used the previous
time.
To search backward in the folder for another message, give M-s a negative argument. In IMAIL you can do this with - M-s.
It is also possible to search for a message based on flags. See Flags.
To find the next message with the same subject as the current message,
use C-c C-n (imail-next-same-subject). This is useful for
following the thread of an email conversation. C-c C-p
(imail-previous-same-subject) finds the previous message with the
same subject.
To move to a message specified by absolute message number, use j
(imail-select-message) with the message number as argument. With
no argument, j selects the first message. <
(imail-first-message) also selects the first message. >
(imail-last-message) selects the last message. M-u selects
the first unseen message (imail-first-unseen-message).
Next: Multiple Folders, Previous: Navigation, Up: Commands [Contents][Index]
When you no longer need to keep a message, you can delete it. This flags it as ignorable, and some IMAIL commands pretend it is no longer present; but it still has its place in the IMAIL folder, and still has its message number.
Expunging the IMAIL folder actually removes the deleted messages. The remaining messages are renumbered consecutively. Expunging is the only action that changes the message number of any message.
Delete the current message, and move to the next nondeleted message
(imail-delete-forward).
Delete the current message, and move to the previous nondeleted
message (imail-delete-backward).
Undelete the current message, or move back to a deleted message and
undelete it (imail-undelete-previous-message).
Expunge the IMAIL folder (imail-expunge).
There are two IMAIL commands for deleting messages. Both
delete the current message and select another message. d
(imail-delete-forward) moves to the following message, skipping
messages already deleted, while C-d (imail-delete-backward)
moves to the previous nondeleted message. If there is no nondeleted
message to move to in the specified direction, the message that was just
deleted remains current. A numeric argument to either command reverses
the direction of motion after deletion.
To make all the deleted messages finally vanish from the IMAIL
folder, type x (imail-expunge). Until you do this, you can
still undelete the deleted messages. The undeletion command,
u (imail-undelete-previous-message), is designed to cancel
the effect of a d command in most cases. It undeletes the current
message if the current message is deleted. Otherwise it moves backward
to previous messages until a deleted message is found, and undeletes
that message.
Because imail-expunge irreversibly deletes mail, IMAIL
normally requires confirmation before it performs the expunge. This
confirmation is controlled by the value of the variable
imail-expunge-confirmation, which is a list of symbols. There
are two independent behaviors controlled by this: whether to prompt, and
whether to show the messages being expunged. If the list contains the
symbol verbose (the default), the user is prompted for a
yes-or-no style confirmation; if the list contains the symbol
brief, the user is prompted for a y-or-n style confirmation; if
neither of these symbols is present, no confirmation is done. If the
list contains the symbol show-messages, a window is popped up
showing the messages to be expunged; otherwise the list is not shown.
You can usually undo a d with a u because the u moves back to and undeletes the message that the d deleted. But this does not work when the d skips a few already-deleted messages that follow the message being deleted; then the u command undeletes the last of the messages that were skipped. There is no clean way to avoid this problem. However, by repeating the u command, you can eventually get back to the message that you intend to undelete. You can also select a particular deleted message with the M-p command, then type u to undelete it.
A deleted message has the ‘deleted’ flag, and as a result ‘deleted’ appears in the mode line when the current message is deleted. In fact, deleting or undeleting a message is nothing more than adding or removing this flag. See Flags.
Next: MIME Support, Previous: Deleting Messages, Up: Commands [Contents][Index]
IMAIL operates by default on your primary folder, which is the folder named ‘inbox’ on your IMAP server. Your incoming mail is placed in that folder by your system’s mail-delivery software. Whenever it has an open connection to the server, IMAIL notices new mail and brings it to your attention by modifying the Edwin mode line.
You can specify a different folder to be your primary folder by
modifying one or more of IMAIL’s variables. The simplest way
to do this is to change the variable imail-primary-folder to
contain the URL of the folder that you wish to be your primary
folder. Normally imail-primary-folder is #f, in which
case the primary folder has the form
imap://user-id@server/mailbox
where user-id is the value of the variable
imail-default-user-id, server is the value of
imail-default-imap-server, and mailbox is the value of
imail-default-imap-mailbox. imail-default-user-id may be
#f meaning to use the value of ‘(current-user-name)’.
In addition to the primary folder, you can also have other folders and edit them with IMAIL. You can move messages into them with explicit IMAIL commands.8
One major difference between a file-based mail reader like Rmail and an IMAP mail reader like IMAIL is that file-based mail readers do not need to provide commands to manipulate mail files (as opposed to mail messages). This is because ordinary file-system commands already provide the ability to copy, delete, and rename such files. This isn’t the case for IMAP mail readers. Consequently IMAIL provides a basic set of commands for manipulating folders, as well as a Dired-like folder browser.
| • Simple Folder Commands: | ||
| • Folder Browser: |
Next: Folder Browser, Previous: Multiple Folders, Up: Multiple Folders [Contents][Index]
Within a folder’s buffer, IMAIL provides a number of simple commands that can be used to interact with other folders.
Read the folder named URL and run IMAIL on it
(imail-input).
Get new mail for the current folder (imail-get-new-mail).
Read the folder named URL and append all of its messages to the
current folder (imail-input-from-folder).
Copy the current message into the folder named URL
(imail-output).
Append the current message, in human-readable form, to the file named
filename (imail-file-message).
Copy the folder named URL1 to URL2
(imail-copy-folder).
Delete the folder named URL (imail-delete-folder).
Rename the folder named URL1 to be URL2
(imail-rename-folder).
Create a folder named URL (imail-create-folder).
To run IMAIL on a folder other than your primary folder, you
may use the i (imail-input) command in IMAIL.
This visits the folder in IMAIL mode. You can use M-x
imail-input even when not in IMAIL.
The g (imail-get-new-mail) command gets new mail for the
current IMAIL folder, and if there is new mail, moves to the
first unseen message. This command works only on IMAP
folders; it does nothing on file-based folders. Normally this command
isn’t needed since IMAIL periodically checks for new mail in
all IMAP folders, but it is occasionally useful to force
IMAIL to get new mail immediately rather than waiting for the
next periodic mail check. The command M-x imail has the same
effect as imail-get-new-mail if the primary folder is already
open in a buffer.
IMAIL normally checks for new mail in IMAP folders
according to the value of the variable imail-update-interval.
This variable specifies the time between checks in seconds. It may also
be set to #f, which disables automatic mail checking. When
IMAIL detects new mail in the primary folder, it normally
modifies the mode line of all buffers to contain the string ‘[New
Mail]’. This can be disabled by setting the variable
imail-global-mail-notification to #f.
To copy messages from another folder into the current folder, give the
g key a numeric argument, as in C-u g. This runs the
command imail-input-from-folder, which reads a URL and
copies all the messages from the specified folder into the current one.
The messages are appended to the current folder, in the same order that
they appear in the specified folder.
The o (imail-output) command copies the current message
into a folder that you specify as a URL. The folder initially
defaults to the current folder, unless you have set the variable
imail-output-default to a different default; after the first
message is output, the default folder becomes the one to which you last
output a message. If the target folder doesn’t exist, it is created
first; in any case, the copied message is appended to the end of the
folder. The current message is flagged as ‘filed’. If the
variable imail-delete-after-output is true, the message is also
marked as deleted.
The M-o (imail-file-message) command appends the current
message to a file that you specify. The message is written to the
file in the same format in which it appears in the IMAIL
buffer, preceded by a separator line if there is other text in the
file. This simplifies the task of collecting messages into a plain
text file for future reference. Note that attachments appear in the
output only as markers; their contents are not included in the file.
The C (imail-copy-folder) command copies an entire folder
from one place to another. You specify two URLs, the source
and the target, and all of the messages from the source folder are
copied verbatim to the target folder. The source folder is not changed.
The target folder is created if it doesn’t exist. If the target folder
does exist, the source folder’s messages are appended to it.
Note that all of the commands that copy messages between folders will work whether the folders are the same type or not. In particular, messages in IMAP folders can be copied to file folders, and vice versa. You can copy messages between two file folders in different formats, or between two different IMAP servers. IMAIL doesn’t care; it translates as needed.
The D (imail-delete-folder) command deletes a specified
folder. All of the messages in the folder, and the folder itself, are
deleted. You will be prompted to confirm before any deletion is done.
The R (imail-rename-folder) command renames a specified
folder. You are prompted for two URLs, the old name and the
new one. At present, this command only works in limited circumstances,
specifically, when moving a folder from one place to another on a single
IMAP server, or when moving a file folder from one place to
another within the same file system. The rename operation fails if the
new name is already in use.
The + (imail-create-folder) command creates a new, empty
folder. It prompts for a URL, and signals an error if the
name is already in use. This command is rarely used since the
message-copying commands automatically create folders as needed.
Previous: Simple Folder Commands, Up: Multiple Folders [Contents][Index]
In addition to the simple commands just described, IMAIL also provides a Dired-like browser for viewing and manipulating folders. The browser is generic, meaning that it will view collections of both IMAP folders and file folders, although it works better and is more useful in conjunction with IMAP folders.
The imail-browser-view-container command is used to enter the
folder browser. In an IMAIL folder buffer, this command is
bound to the ^ key, and will bring up a folder browser that is
viewing the container of the current folder. With a prefix argument,
you will be asked for the URL of a container to browse.
An IMAIL browser buffer is arranged so that each line in the browser represents a folder or a container (or both, in the case of IMAP containers). Here is an example:
imap://localhost/inbox/ ----------------------- + debian/ + family + gnu/ + ham/ + hp-laptops/ + linux/ + misc/ + mit/ + music/ + purchases + scheme/ + software/ + sysadmin + vendors/ + vlsi
There are several interesting features of this buffer. The first two lines of the buffer are a title, telling you the URL of the container that this buffer is browsing. Each of the remaining lines shows the name of a folder (or container) that is inside the container. You can perform various operations on one of these folders by moving point to the folder’s line and invoking commands.
Each line uses special characters to give you cues about the object being described. If the object is a container, there is a ‘+’ character at the beginning of the line. Because our example is showing an IMAP container, and virtually all IMAP folders are also containers, every line in the example starts with ‘+’. Additionally, if the object is only a container, then the object’s name ends in the character ‘/’; if the object is only a folder, or if it is both a folder and a container, then there is no trailing ‘/’.
The following commands are available in an IMAIL browser buffer.
View the folder on the current line in an IMAIL buffer
(imail-browser-view-selected-folder).
If the object on the current line is a container, toggle whether its
contents are shown (imail-browser-toggle-container).
Browse the container on the current line
(imail-browser-view-selected-container).
Browse the container of the this buffer’s container
(imail-browser-view-container).
Mark the object on the current line for subsequent deletion
(imail-browser-flag-folder-deletion).
Mark the object on the current line for subsequent operations
(imail-browser-mark).
Remove any mark from the current line and move to the next line
(imail-browser-unmark).
Move to the previous line and remove any mark there
(imail-browser-unmark-backward).
Remove marks from all folders (imail-browser-unmark-all-folders).
Copy the folder on the current line to the folder named URL,
creating it if needed (imail-browser-do-copy).
Rename the object on the current line to be URL
(imail-browser-do-rename).
Delete the object on the current line (imail-browser-do-delete).
Prompts for confirmation before performing the deletion.
Delete all objects that have been marked for deletion
(imail-browser-do-flagged-delete). Prompts for confirmation
before any deletion is performed.
Create a folder named URL (imail-create-folder).
Recompute the buffer’s contents by querying the server or file system
(imail-browser-revert).
Kill the current buffer (imail-browser-quit).
If point is on a line describing a folder, use the f
(imail-browser-view-selected-folder) command to view the contents
of that folder. This selects an IMAIL folder buffer for that
folder.
If point is on a line describing a container, use the t
(imail-browser-toggle-container) command to show the contents of
the container in the current buffer. This causes the ‘+’ on this
line to change to a ‘-’, and new lines describing the contents are
inserted into the buffer following the current line. The new lines are
slightly indented to indicate the container relationship. For example:
imap://localhost/inbox/
-----------------------
- debian/
+ bugs
+ maintainer
+ misc
+ family
+ gnu/
+ ham/
+ hp-laptops/
+ linux/
+ misc/
+ mit/
+ music/
+ purchases
+ scheme/
+ software/
+ sysadmin
+ vendors/
+ vlsi
To hide the container’s content lines, use the t command again.
Another way to open and close containers is to click the left mouse
button on the ‘+’ or ‘-’ character for the container
(imail-browser-mouse-toggle-container).
If you would rather browse a container in a separate buffer, use the
c (imail-browser-view-selected-container) command. To
browse the container of this buffer’s container, use the ^
(imail-browser-view-container) command.
Besides simple browsing capabilities, the IMAIL folder browser also provides the ability to modify folders and containers, by copying, renaming, and deleting them. The commands to do this normally operate on the object on the current line. However, you can mark one or more lines, and subsequently perform an operation on all of them at once.
There are several marking and unmarking commands. The m
(imail-browser-mark) command marks the current line and moves
down to the next line. The mark is visible as an asterisk at the
beginning of the line. A numeric argument serves as a repeat count.
The d (imail-browser-flag-folder-deletion) is just like
m, except that it marks lines with ‘D’. ‘D’ marks are
used to flag objects for deletion, while ‘*’ marks are used for
everything else.
To unmark a line, use the u (imail-browser-unmark) command.
This removes any mark from the current line and moves to the next line.
Like m, a numeric argument serves as a repeat count. The
DEL (imail-browser-unmark-backward) command moves upward,
removing flags; it is like u with argument -1. Finally,
the M-DEL (imail-browser-unmark-all-folders) prompts
for a character and unmarks all lines marked with that character;
specifying RET as the character removes all marks.
The next three commands perform the copy, rename, and delete operations. These commands all operate on one or more folders, which you specify either by marking them, or by moving point to the corresponding lines. The folders to be operated on are specified as follows. If the command is given a numeric argument N, then the next N folders are specified. Otherwise, any folders marked with an asterisk are specified. If there is no argument and no marked folders, then the folder on the current line is specified.
The C (imail-browser-do-copy) command copies one or more
folders. If one folder is specified, the command prompts for the
URL of another folder, and appends the messages of the first
folder to the end of the second folder. The second folder is created if
necessary. If more than one folder is specified, the command prompts
for the URL of an existing container, and copies the source
folders into the target container with the same names.
The R (imail-browser-do-rename) command renames one or more
folders. If one folder is specified, the command prompts for a
URL, and changes the name of the folder to the URL.
If more than one folder is specified, the command prompts for the
URL of an existing container, and moves the folders into the
container. Note that in both cases, it is an error if there is already
a folder with the new name. Furthermore, this command only works in
limited circumstances, specifically, when moving a folder from one place
to another on a single IMAP server, or when moving a file
folder from one place to another within the same file system.
The D (imail-browser-do-delete) command deletes one or more
folders. The command prompts for confirmation before any folders are
deleted. The x (imail-browser-do-flagged-delete) command
is similar, except that the folders it deletes are those that have been
marked with ‘D’. (The x command is mostly provided for
compatibility with Dired.)
The + (imail-create-folder) command creates a new, empty
folder. It prompts for a URL, and signals an error if the
name is already in use. This command is rarely used since the
message-copying commands automatically create folders as needed.
The g (imail-browser-revert) command re-reads the contents
of the browser buffer’s container and uses that information to
regenerate the buffer’s contents. Any marks that you have placed in the
buffer are preserved.
The q (imail-browser-quit) command kills the current
buffer. If you have marked some folders for later operation, the marks
are discarded and the operations are not performed.
Next: Flags, Previous: Multiple Folders, Up: Commands [Contents][Index]
The Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) define a standard means for structuring mail messages. MIME permits a message to have multiple parts, each of which is called an entity. It also provides a way to associate type information with each entity. For example, an ordinary text message has type ‘text/plain’, HTML has type ‘text/html’, and a JPEG image has type ‘image/jpeg’. Additionally, MIME entities may be annotated to indicate whether they should be shown in-line, or whether they are attachments that should be shown only upon further user action.
IMAIL provides simple support for MIME messages. MIME attachments are shown in the IMAIL buffer by special abbreviations. You can write an attachment to a file. Multipart MIME structures are recognized and displayed in a clean format that suppresses unnecessary clutter. And MIME encodings such as quoted-printable and base64 are automatically decoded prior to displaying the message or saving the attachment.
End-user formatting of MIME messages is a complex process, partly because these messages can be arbitrarily complex in their internal structure. IMAIL provides several variables that give you some control over the formatting prcess.
Many MIME messages have multiple parts; for example, a message
with an attachment normally contains at least two parts: the message
text and the attachment. IMAIL separates the different parts
of a MIME message with specially-formatted lines. There are
several styles of separator lines available, selected by changing the
value of the variable imail-mime-boundary-style. The default
value of simple means to use long lines of hyphen characters as
the separator lines. A value of sgml means use long lines of
hyphens that are wrapped with ‘<!--’ and ‘-->’, which makes
them valid SGML comments. A value of original means to
use the original MIME boundaries, which have certain
useful syntactic properties but are not as visually distinctive.
MIME also specifies a particular kind of multipart message, of
type ‘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 HTML versions of the
message text. Normally IMAIL shows only the simplest of these
parts (which is almost always plain text) and suppresses the
alternatives. However, if you set the variable
imail-mime-show-alternatives to #t, IMAIL will
show these alternative forms as attachments.
Another kind of multipart MIME message is the digest message,
which has type ‘multipart/digest’. Digest messages are normally
used by high-volume mailing lists to reduce the number of messages sent
to the end user; instead the user receives one message containing all of
the messages from that list in a particular time period, usually a day.
IMAIL can present MIME digest messages in one of two
formats. The default format is to show all of the component messages of
the digest as attachments. This is particularly useful for large
digests that you will only read a few messages from, since you can scan
the digest contents for interesting messages without downloading all of
the messages in the digest. In the alternative format, selected by
setting imail-mime-collapse-digest to #f, the component
messages of a digest are all shown inline.
As a general rule, any MIME entity that contains non-textual information is displayed as an attachment. Attachments are normally shown as specially-formatted abbreviations. Here is an example:
<imail-part
name="foo.doc"
type="application/msword"
length="55499"
/>
This shows various things about the attachment, including its (optional) name, its MIME type, and the length of the attachment in bytes. (The length is computed on the encoded form of the attachment, and is generally slightly larger than the decoded length.)
IMAIL uses somewhat more complicated rules for deciding when a 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 MIME disposition of ‘attachment’, if the character set of the entity is unknown, if the encoding type is unknown, or if the subtype is unknown, it is abbreviated.
Two variables control the abbreviation of text entities.
imail-known-mime-charsets is a list of regular expressions that
specify the known character sets; by default it specifies
US-ASCII, the ISO 8859 character sets, and some
random but commonly-seen Microsoft Windows character sets. The variable
imail-inline-mime-text-subtypes contains a list of symbols, each
of which is the name of a text subtype that should be shown in line.
For example, if the symbol html is in this list, then
MIME parts of type text/html are shown in-line. Text
subtypes not appearing in this list are abbreviated as attachments.
Here are IMAIL’s MIME-specific commands:
Save a MIME attachment to a file
(imail-save-attachment).
Save an arbitrary MIME entity (message part) to a file
(imail-save-mime-entity).
Toggle a MIME entity between its formatted and raw forms
(imail-toggle-mime-entity).
The primary MIME command is C-o
(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 IMAIL prompts for an attachment by name. If a
prefix argument is specified, prompting is performed even if point is on
an attachment. Once the attachment is determined, IMAIL
prompts for the name of a file to save the attachment to. The filename
is initialized from the name specified by the attachment, if any. The
directory of the filename is initialized to the directory in which the
last attachment was saved, or the user’s home directory if no
attachments have previously been saved.
If you want to save attachments to a specific directory, change the
variable imail-mime-attachment-directory to contain the name of
that directory.
The command w (imail-save-mime-entity) is similar to
imail-save-attachment except that it will save any 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. If the entity is
encoded, e.g. with quoted-printable or base64 encoding, it is decoded
before it is saved. If the entity is text, it is written to the file in
text mode (relevant only under Windows); otherwise it is
written in binary mode.
A simpler way to save a MIME entity is to point at the entity
with the mouse and click the right button
(imail-mouse-save-mime-entity). This works the same way as
imail-save-mime-entity except that the entity is selected by the
mouse instead of point.
The command C-c C-t C-e (imail-toggle-mime-entity) is
similar to 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 in which this is useful is when
the text of a message is in an unknown character set. In this case,
IMAIL by default shows the text in abbreviated form; use
C-t to expand it in place.
Next: Sending Replies, Previous: MIME Support, Up: Commands [Contents][Index]
Each message can have various flags assigned to it as a means of classification. Each flag has a name; different names are different flags. Any given flag is either present or absent on a particular message. A few flag names have standard meanings and are given to messages automatically by IMAIL when appropriate. All other flags are assigned only by users.
Assign the flag flag to the current message (imail-add-flag).
Remove the flag flag from the current message (imail-kill-flag).
Move to the next message that has one of the flags flags
(imail-next-flagged-message).
Move to the previous message that has one of the flags flags
(imail-previous-flagged-message).
Make a summary of all messages containing any of the flags flags
(imail-summary-by-flags).
The a (imail-add-flag) and k (imail-kill-flag)
commands allow you to assign or remove any flag on the current message.
Once you have given messages flags to classify them as you wish, there are two ways to use the flags: in moving and in summaries.
The command C-M-n flags RET
(imail-next-flagged-message) moves to the next message that has
one of the flags flags. The argument flags specifies one or
more flag names, separated by commas. C-M-p
(imail-previous-flagged-message) is similar, but moves backwards
to previous messages. A numeric argument to either command serves as a
repeat count.
The command C-M-l flags RET
(imail-summary-by-flags) displays a summary containing only the
messages that have at least one of a specified set of flags. The
argument flags is one or more flag names, separated by commas.
See Summaries, for information on summaries.
If the flags argument to C-M-n, C-M-p or C-M-l is empty, it means to use the last set of flags specified for any of these commands.
Some flags such as ‘deleted’ and ‘filed’ have built-in meanings and are assigned to or removed from messages automatically at appropriate times. Here is a list of built-in flags:
Means the message has been selected, implying that the user has seen it. Assigned to a message when it is selected by the user. When you start IMAIL, it initially shows the first message that lacks this flag.
Means the message is deleted. Assigned by deletion commands and removed by undeletion commands (see Deleting Messages).
Means the message has been copied to another folder. Assigned by the message-copying commands (see Multiple Folders).
Means you have mailed an answer to the message. Assigned by the r
command (imail-reply). See Sending Replies.
Means you have forwarded the message. Assigned by the f command
(imail-forward). See Sending Replies.
Means you have resent the message. Assigned by the command C-u f
(imail-resend). See Sending Replies.
All other flags are assigned or removed only by the user, and have no standard meaning.
Next: Message Display, Previous: Flags, Up: Commands [Contents][Index]
IMAIL has several commands that use Mail mode to send outgoing mail. What this section documents are the special commands of IMAIL for entering Mail mode. Note that the usual keys for sending mail—C-x m, C-x 4 m, and C-x 5 m—are available in IMAIL mode and work just as they usually do.
Send a message (imail-mail).
Continue editing the already started outgoing message (imail-continue).
Send a reply to the current IMAIL message (imail-reply).
Forward the current message to other users (imail-forward).
Resend the current message to other users (imail-resend).
The most common reason to send a message while in IMAIL is to
reply to the message you are reading. To do this, type r
(imail-reply). This displays the ‘*mail*’ buffer in another
window, much like C-x 4 m, but preinitializes the ‘Subject’,
‘To’, ‘CC’ and ‘In-reply-to’ header fields based on the
message you are replying to. The ‘To’ field starts out as the
address of the person who sent the message you received, and the
‘CC’ field starts out with all the other recipients of that
message.
You can exclude certain recipients from being placed automatically in
the ‘CC’, using the variable imail-dont-reply-to-names. Its
value should be a regular expression (as a string); any recipient that
the regular expression matches is excluded from the ‘CC’ field.
The default value matches your own name, and any name starting with
‘info-’ (the value of the variable
imail-default-dont-reply-to-names). (Those names are excluded
because there is a convention of using them for large mailing lists to
broadcast announcements.)
To omit the ‘CC’ field completely for a particular reply, enter the reply command with a numeric argument: C-u r or 1 r.
By default, the ‘Subject’ field of a reply is initialized to the
contents of the ‘Subject’ field of the message being replied to.
However, if the variable imail-reply-with-re is set to #t,
then the reply subject will be prefixed with ‘Re:’.
Once the ‘*mail*’ buffer has been initialized, editing and sending the mail goes as usual. You can edit the presupplied header fields if they are not right for you. You can also use the commands of Mail mode, including C-c C-y which yanks in the message that you are replying to. You can switch to the IMAIL buffer, select a different message there, switch back, and yank the new current message.
Another frequent reason to send mail in IMAIL is to
forward the current message to other users. f
(imail-forward) makes this easy by preinitializing the
‘*mail*’ buffer with the current message as a MIME
attachment, and a subject designating a forwarded message. All you have
to do is fill in the recipients and send. When you forward a message,
recipients get a message which is “from” you, and which has the
original message in its contents.
By default, forwarded messages are sent as MIME attachments,
which allows MIME-aware mail readers to recognize that the
attachment is a mail message and to specially present it. However, this
means that such forwarded messages appear more complex when viewed in
mail readers that do not understand MIME. IMAIL
deliberately minimizes the amount of encoding overhead used for
MIME-forwarded messages, but some people prefer not to use
MIME at all. For that reason, IMAIL allows you to
turn off this feature, so that forwarded messages are included in the
main body of the message (as Rmail does). To do this, set the variable
imail-forward-using-mime to #f.
Normally, when IMAIL forwards a message, it sends only a few
of the message’s header fields. In particular, it sends only those
header fields that you see when viewing the message in IMAIL.
Sometimes it is desirable to send all of the message’s header
fields; IMAIL provides two ways to do this. First, if you
want to send all of the header fields for a particular message, use
imail-forward with a negative argument, like this: - f.
Alternatively, you can set the variable imail-forward-all-headers
to #t, which will cause all forwarded messages to retain
all of their header fields.
Resending is an alternative similar to forwarding; the difference
is that resending sends a message that is “from” the original sender,
just as it reached you—with a few added header fields
‘Resent-from’ and ‘Resent-to’ to indicate that it came via
you. To resend a message in IMAIL, use C-u f. (f
runs imail-forward, which is programmed to invoke
imail-resend if you provide a numeric argument.)
The m (imail-mail) command is used to start editing an
outgoing message that is not a reply. It leaves the header fields
empty. Its only difference from C-x 4 m is that it makes the
IMAIL buffer accessible for C-c C-y, just as r
does. Thus, m can be used to reply to or forward a message.
The c (imail-continue) command resumes editing the
‘*mail*’ buffer, to finish editing an outgoing message you were
already composing, or to alter a message you have sent.
Next: Summaries, Previous: Sending Replies, Up: Commands [Contents][Index]
IMAIL provides several variables and commands to give you control over how messages are formatted in the message buffer.
By default, IMAIL automatically wraps long lines at the right
margin. It uses adaptive fill9 to do the wrapping, which means that common prefixes
such as ‘>’ and ‘Chris>’ will be automatically copied down
with the wrapped line. Generally, this wrapping makes messages easier
to read. Specifically, it is important for messages sent by clients
that use “soft” line breaks, because such clients expect the mail
reader to wrap lines. However, if you’d rather not have IMAIL
do this for you, you can disable wrapping by setting the variable
imail-auto-wrap to #f.
Another feature of IMAIL is that it filters message headers,
showing you only the most relevant ones. There are two variables that
control how this is done, and a command that can override the filtering.
The variable imail-kept-headers contains a list of regular
expressions that are matched against message-header names (the name is
everything to the left of the colon, e.g. ‘From’ in ‘From:
cph’). If imail-kept-headers is a non-empty list, then only the
headers matching those regular expressions are shown. Furthermore, the
shown headers will be in the same order as the regular expressions.
If imail-kept-headers is an empty list, then all of the message
headers are shown, except those matching the regular expression that is
the value of the variable imail-ignored-headers. By default, the
value of imail-ignored-headers contains some common uninteresting
header names; this expression is identical to the default used by Rmail.
Note that imail-ignored-headers is a single regular expression,
while imail-kept-headers is a list of regular expressions. This
is because imail-ignored-headers is meant to be an exact analog
of the Rmail variable rmail-ignored-headers.
Regardless of how the message-header filtering is done, you can toggle
between viewing the filtered headers and the unfiltered headers using
the t command (imail-toggle-header). If filtered headers
are shown, this command replaces them with unfiltered headers, and vice
versa.
As you can see, IMAIL performs extensive transformation of a mail message before presenting it to you: MIME formatting, line wrapping, and header filtering. Sometimes, it’s desirable to see the original message, exactly as it was received, without any formatting at all. The command C-c C-t C-m toggles the entire message between a formatted view and a raw view. This should be used with care, as a message with a large attachment might not fit in memory in its raw form.
Next: Sorting Messages, Previous: Message Display, Up: Commands [Contents][Index]
A summary is a buffer containing one line per message to give you an overview of the mail in an IMAIL folder. Each line shows the message number, the sender, the flags, and the subject. Almost all IMAIL commands are valid in the summary buffer also; these apply to the message described by the current line of the summary. Moving point in the summary buffer selects messages as you move to their summary lines.
A summary buffer applies to a single IMAIL folder only; if you are editing multiple IMAIL folders, each one can have its own summary buffer. The summary buffer name is made by appending ‘-summary’ to the IMAIL buffer’s name. Normally only one summary buffer is displayed at a time.
| • Making Summaries: | ||
| • Editing in Summaries: |
Next: Editing in Summaries, Previous: Summaries, Up: Summaries [Contents][Index]
Here are the commands to create a summary for the current IMAIL folder. Once the IMAIL folder has a summary buffer, changes in the IMAIL folder (such as deleting or expunging messages, and getting new mail) automatically update the summary.
Summarize all messages (imail-summary).
Summarize messages that have one or more of the specified flags
(imail-summary-by-flags).
Summarize messages that have one or more of the specified recipients
(imail-summary-by-recipients).
Summarize messages that have a match for the specified regexp
topic in their subjects (imail-summary-by-topic).
Summarize messages that have a match for the specified regexp
anywhere in their header (imail-summary-by-regexp).
The h or C-M-h (imail-summary) command fills the
summary buffer for the current IMAIL folder with a summary of
all the messages in the folder. It then displays and selects the
summary buffer in another window.
C-M-l flags RET (imail-summary-by-flags) makes
a partial summary mentioning only the messages that have one or more of
the flags flags. flags should contain flag names separated
by commas.
C-M-r rcpts RET (imail-summary-by-recipients)
makes a partial summary mentioning only the messages that have one or
more of the recipients rcpts. rcpts should contain mailing
addresses separated by commas.
C-M-t topic RET (imail-summary-by-topic) makes
a partial summary mentioning only the messages whose subjects have a
match for the regular expression topic.
C-M-s regexp RET (imail-summary-by-regexp)
makes a partial summary mentioning only the messages whose headers
contain a match for the regular expression regexp. This match
includes all lines in the header, including for example the date and
from lines.
Note that there is only one summary buffer for any IMAIL folder; making one kind of summary discards any previously made summary.
There are several variables that affect how summaries are displayed.
imail-summary-height controls the height of the summary window.
If it is an exact positive integer, the summary window is that many
lines high. Alternatively, if it is a real number between 0 and 1
exclusive, the height of the summary window is computed by multiplying
the number of lines in the message window by imail-summary-height
and rounding to the nearest integer.
If the variable imail-summary-fixed-layout is set to #t,
then an IMAIL message buffer and its associated summary buffer
are always shown in a fixed window layout (provided the summary buffer
exists). Selecting either buffer causes all other windows in the
current editor frame to be deleted, then splits the frame into two
windows showing the summary buffer and message buffer. Selecting any
other buffer when this layout is displayed causes both windows to be
deleted, and the other buffer displayed in a single window filling the
editor frame. Basically, this causes the message and summary buffers to
be treated as a unit most of the time. Currently, the default for
imail-summary-fixed-layout is #f, but the feature has been
very popular and the default may be changed to #t in a future
release.
When fixed layout is not used, the variable
imail-summary-pop-up-message provides a different kind of window
splitting for message and summary buffers. If this is set to #t
(the default), then selecting a new message in the summary buffer causes
the message buffer to be popped up in a new window if it isn’t already
visible.
If the variable imail-summary-highlight-message is #t, the
message currently selected in the message buffer is highlighted in the
summary buffer. This aids navigation in the summary buffer and is thus
the default. Set it to #f if you don’t like the highlighting.
By default, the summary buffer has five columns: flags, message number,
message length, subject, and author. If imail-summary-show-date
is set to #t, a sixth column containing an abbreviated date
appears between the message number and the subject.
The width of the subject column is specified by the value of
imail-summary-subject-width; subject fields longer than this
number of characters are truncated.
Previous: Making Summaries, Up: Summaries [Contents][Index]
You can use the IMAIL summary buffer to do almost anything you can do in the IMAIL buffer itself. In fact, once you have a summary buffer, there’s no need to switch back to the IMAIL buffer.
You can select and display various messages in the IMAIL buffer, from the summary buffer, just by moving point in the summary buffer to different lines. It doesn’t matter what Emacs command you use to move point; whichever line point is on at the end of the command, that message is selected in the IMAIL buffer.
Almost all IMAIL commands work in the summary buffer as well as in the IMAIL buffer. Thus, d in the summary buffer deletes the current message, u undeletes, and x expunges. o outputs the current message to a folder; C-o saves an attachment from the current message; r starts a reply to it. You can scroll the current message while remaining in the summary buffer using SPC and DEL.
The IMAIL commands to move between messages also work in the
summary buffer, but with a twist: they move through the set of messages
included in the summary. They also ensure the IMAIL buffer
appears on the screen (unlike cursor motion commands, which update the
contents of the IMAIL buffer but don’t display it in a window
unless it already appears). You can always display the message indicated
by point using the e command (imail-summary-select-message).
When you are finished using the summary, type C-x k RET to delete the summary buffer’s window.
Next: Other Commands, Previous: Summaries, Up: Commands [Contents][Index]
IMAIL provides several commands that change the order of messages within a folder. These commands are closely modelled on those of Rmail. Note that these commands don’t modify the folder itself; they only modify the way that the folder behaves. This means that if a folder buffer is deleted, the sort order associated with that buffer is deleted too.
Sort messages of current IMAIL folder by arrival time
(imail-sort-by-arrival). This is the default; this sort undoes
any other sorting on the folder.
Sort messages of current IMAIL folder by date
(imail-sort-by-date).
Sort messages of current IMAIL folder by subject
(imail-sort-by-subject).
Sort messages of current IMAIL folder by author’s name
(imail-sort-by-author).
Sort messages of current IMAIL folder by recipient’s names
(imail-sort-by-recipient).
Sort messages of current IMAIL folder by the name of the
other correspondent (imail-sort-by-correspondent).
The IMAIL sort commands perform a stable sort: if
there is no reason to prefer either one of two messages, their order
remains unchanged. You can use this to sort by more than one
criterion. For example, if you use imail-sort-by-date and then
imail-sort-by-author, messages from the same author appear in
order by date.
With a numeric argument, all these commands reverse the order of comparison. This means they sort messages from newest to oldest, from biggest to smallest, or in reverse alphabetical order.
Previous: Sorting Messages, Up: Commands [Contents][Index]
This section documents a handful of commands and variables that don’t fit into any of the other documentation categories.
Quit out of IMAIL (imail-quit). This closes all open
IMAP connections and buries all IMAIL buffers. With
prefix argument, only affects the current IMAIL buffer,
leaving any other IMAIL buffers alone.
Disconnect from the IMAP server (imail-disconnect).
Bury the IMAIL buffer (imail-bury).
Save changes in the current folder to disk (imail-save-folder).
When you are finished reading mail in a folder, use the q command
(imail-quit). This command closes the folder, then buries
the buffer. Closing a folder has different effects, depending on the
type of folder. Closing an IMAP folder causes IMAIL
to disconnect from the IMAP server (go offline). Closing a
file folder saves any changes out to the corresponding file. In both
cases, internal data structures may be dropped, requiring them to be
rebuilt, should the folder later be re-opened. In no case are any
changes made to the folder’s contents; in particular, deleted messages
are not expunged.
On IMAP folders, the q command is equivalent to M-d b. On file folders, the q command is equivalent to s b.
The M-d command (imail-disconnect) disconnects
IMAIL from the IMAP server (goes offline). This has
no effect on file folders.
The b command (imail-bury) buries the selected
IMAIL buffer. Burying a buffer means moving it to the
bottom of the buffer list and selecting another buffer from the top of
the list. This is similar to the command bury-buffer, except
that any summary buffer associated with this buffer is also buried, and
if a window was created to hold the summary buffer, it is deleted.
The s command (imail-save-folder) saves out any changes to
the selected IMAIL folder. For file folders, this means
writing the folder back out to its file. For IMAP folders,
this no effect. In no case are any changes made to the folder’s
contents; in particular, deleted messages are not expunged.
IMAIL normally caches IMAP message bodies in memory
in order to increase performance. The variable
imail-body-cache-limit gives you some control over how this
caching is done. imail-body-cache-limit is normally set to a
positive integer, meaning that any message body or in-line
MIME entity whose size in bytes is less than this number is
cached. However, caching can be entirely disabled by setting
imail-body-cache-limit to #f, or made unconditional by
setting it to #t.
Another thing that IMAIL caches is IMAP passwords.
This is done so that you don’t have to keep typing your password
whenever you connect to a new IMAP folder. However, this is
also a security risk, because the password is kept in Scheme’s memory.
The variable imail-pass-phrase-retention-time says how long
passwords are cached, in minutes. Normally this is set to 30 minutes,
but if you are paranoid you can set it to zero to disable password
caching altogether. Scheme keeps track of the use of each password,
and deletes its copy of the password when it has expired. Additionally,
Scheme stores passwords in an obscured form, to prevent them being seen
during casual browsing through memory structures, but this does
not provide any protection against a deliberate attempt to find
the password.
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Here at MIT, we connect to our server using
stunnel to provide end-to-end
encryption. This provides connection security without the need to
integrate the encryption into the client or the server.
URLs are defined in RFC 1738 and RFC 2396.
The syntax for IMAP URLs is defined by RFC 2192, except that IMAIL uses only a subset of the defined syntax.
This is in opposition to RFC 2192, which specifies use of the server-specific separator. RFC 2396 and RFC 2718 provide compelling arguments against this design.
File URLs are defined in RFC 1738.
IMAP also supports two other modes of operation, called offline mode and disconnected mode; at present IMAIL can not operate in these alternate modes.
Although IMAP servers are allowed to disconnect mail readers that are inactive for long periods of time, IMAIL silently keeps the connection open by periodically transmitting commands to the server.
While Emacs Rmail additionally supports the ability to retrieve mail from “system inboxes” on your local computer (usually /var/spool/mail/USER on unix systems), IMAIL does not. IMAIL only supports incoming mail when it is delivered to an IMAP server. This Rmail feature can easily be implemented if desired, but there has been no call for it.
See the online help for
the variable adaptive-fill-regexp for more information about
adaptive fill.