.lm 10 .rm 70 .ps 60 .p 0,1,2 .layout 1,2 .flags bold .dhl .sthl 4,1,5,7,7,2,1,9,3 .nmr 1 .no autoparagraph .autosubtitle .fig 15 .c;#A#N# .s .c;#I#N#T#R#O#D#U#C#T#I#O#N###T#O# .fig 5 .c;#T#H#E# .s .c;#M#A#I#L###S#Y#S#T#E#M# .page .title The Mail System .subtitle Overview .hl 1 Overview .p The Mail System provides a simple and effective method of sending messages between people who are on the computer system. .p Provided you are the only person who logs into your account (ie. the only person who knows your password is you), Mail messages are completely private. .hl 2 Where do I start? .p Once you are logged onto the computer system, your "Main Menu" will have an option on it for the Mail System. All you have to do is take that option, and you are in. You will now see a 'prompt' on the screen which looks like: .s .lm +10 MAIL> .lm -10 .p If you see that, you are in the Mail System. .hl 2 Fine. What now? .p Once you are into the Mail System, the most common things to do with are: .s .lm +5 .list 0,"-" .le; Read a message .le; Send a message .le; Reply to a message .le; Tidy up, and get out. .end list .lm -5 .p I am going explain how to do each of these functions later on in this document. It's actually a lot easier than it might sound. .hl 2 What does it look like? .p If you are currently logged onto the system, and you receive a message, you will (most likely) receive notification that you have a new mail message. The notification will look like: .s .lm +10 New mail on node VAX85 from JTIGGELMAN .lm -10 .p The only thing about receiving this kind of notification is that it will show up in the middle of what ever you were doing at the time. Usually, this causes the screen to get rather messed up. Don't worry, the data you were entering at the time is still there, it just might be in the wrong place on the screen. .p If you are not logged onto the system, and you receive a message, you will see a line on the screen the next time you log on, saying: .s .lm +10 You have 1 new message(s). .lm -10 .p and then your usual menu will be displayed. .hl 2 Of New Mail and Old Mail .p I have to get technical here for a few seconds. The computer makes a difference between messages you have already read, and the ones you have not gotten around to yet. If you have any unread messages, the computer will automatically assume you want to see them. If you are looking at your 'new mail', you do not have access to your 'old mail' messages. .p The easiest way change a message from 'new mail' to 'old mail' just read it. After that, exit back out of the Mail System. When you come back in, and the messages are now 'old mail', along with all the others you had there before. .page .subtitle Commands .hl 1 The Commands .p Of all the commands in the Mail System, the ones which follow are the most common, and probably the most common ways of using them. The commands I am going to describe are: .s .lm +10 .list 0,"-" .le; Compress .le; Delete .le; Directory .le; Exit .le; Help .le; Read .le; Reply .le; Send .end list .lm -10 .p If you want more help on the commands, or you have misplaced this document, just type "HELP" from the MAIL> prompt, and you will see the list of topics you can get help on. Just follow the prompts from there on down. .p I am about to describe eight commands to you. There are more than twenty Mail commands you can issue. Unless you are really going to try getting fancy with the system, these should be quite enough for your regular work. And as I said before, if you want to learn more, use the HELP command. .hl 2 Compress .p Clear the dead weight out of the system. This is a generallized house cleaning tool, which should be done on a regular basis. You use this command after deleting a number of un-necessary mail messages. .p Format: MAIL> COMPRESS .p You will see a few messages from the computer telling you what it is doing, and then you will be returned to the MAIL> prompt. .hl 2 Delete .p Remove (erase) messages from your mail file. After you're finished with a message, and have no further use for it, you Delete it from the system. After you've Deleted a message, there is no way of retrieving it again. .p Format: MAIL> DEL .p The delete command, like a number of others, will only work on the message you are currently reading. Be careful. If you have just finished reading a number of messages, and you type DEL, only the last message will be deleted. .hl 2 Directory .p Get a list of all the messages you have in your mail file. You will see the name of the person who sent you the message, when they sent it, and the subject of the message. .p Format: MAIL> DIR .p Once you have the list in front of you, you'll be able to pick out the messages you want to take a closer look at, reply to, or delete. To examine a specific message, just type the number of the message, and the computer will display it on the screen. .p This command will work differently in different situations. If you have three new messages, and type DIR, you will only see those three, even though your 'old mail' file has fifteen messages in it. If you have no 'new mail', you will see a full list of messages when you type DIR. .hl 2 Exit .p This gets you out of the Mail System. This ends anything you were doing, and returns you to your Menu, so that you can continue with your other work. .nofill .p Format: MAIL> EXIT #############or #########MAIL> Control-Z .fill .hl 2 Help .p An invaluable command. Help will tell you more about the Mail System than I have covered in this overview. It is always there, and Help will usually give you some examples of the commands you are having trouble with. .p Format: MAIL> HELP .p A few points to be careful of here. Help will not stop after filling the screen, and will continue typing. Be ready with the "Hold-Screen" button. .p Once you are using Help, watch the prompts. Generally, hitting from the prompt will back you out level by level, till you are back at the MAIL> prompt. .hl 2 Read .p Read a message that someone has sent to you. .nofill .p Format: MAIL> #############or #########MAIL> READ #############or #########MAIL> .fill .p Once you do this, the message is diaplayed on the screen for you. If the message continues onto the next page, you will see a message saying: .s .lm +10 .nofill Press RETURN for more. .fill .lm -10 .p and the message will continue. .p The common things to do after reading a message are to: Delete it; Reply to it; or Exit. .p If you happen to know the number of Mail message you want to read, you can specify it, and read it directly. .hl 2 Reply .p Reply to the current mail message. This is a way of starting an on-going conversation. One person sends you a message, you reply, then the other person replies, and so on. If you are replying to a Mail message, the Subject heading will remain the same. .p Format: MAIL> R .p Reply will fill in the name of the person you are sending to, and the Subject field. Now begin typing your message, and when you're done, type a Control-Z and the message is sent. .p Please note that you must be reading a message in order to reply to it, and that the computer will only ever reply to one message at a time. .hl 2 Send .p Send a message to someone. Probably the single most common thing to do with the Mail System. .nofill .p Format: MAIL> S #############or #########MAIL> SEND .fill .p This function will ask you several question each time you want to send a message. .hl 3 To: .p Who do you want to send this message to? You have to specify the name the person uses when he or she logs into the system. If you type the name incorrectly, the system will tell you that the person you just specified is not on the system. If you want the same message to go to several people, type in each person's name followed by a comma, and no spaces. .hl 3 Subject: .p Generally, what is the message about? This becomes quite useful when you're trying to sift through some fifty or more messages. .p You don't have to enter anything here, but it is a good idea to, especially if you are going to be using the Mail System a fair bit. Trust me on this one. .hl 3 Message: .p What are you really saying here? Here is where you type your message as a whole. You can type as wide as your screen will go, then hit and continue on the next line. .p Once you're finished with the message and you want it sent, hold down the Control Key (down on the left hand side), and hit the "Z" key. If you started typing, and then decided not to send the message at all, hold down the Control Key, and hit the "C" key to cancel the message. You'll see a reminder of these keys every time you start entering a mail message. .page .subtitle Examples .hl 1 Common Things To Do .p Alright. You've seen the dry commands, maybe you've tried a few of them out already. This section gives you a quick guide of what is commonly happens, and can be done with the Mail System. .hl 2 You Have 3 New Messages. .p You've just logged on, and there is a line on the screen saying that there are three messages waiting out there to be read. How do you read them, and what to do with them? .p Well, first off, to read a message, you go into the Mail System, and you will see a line reminding you that you have three 'new mail' messages there. Hit return and you will be able to read the first message. Hit return again, and you will see the second message, and so on. .p If you wanted to know who was sending the messages, without reading them, you could have just typed DIR, and seen a list of messages, including who sent them. Typing the message number would bring up the specific message you wanted to see. Note that a DIRectory command at this time will only show you a list of 'new mail' messages. .hl 2 What Did He Say? .p Somebody sent you a message a few days (or longer) ago, and you want to look up what the message was. How do you do that? .p Note: This is all assuming that you didn't DELete the message after reading it. You have to keep a message in order to read it again later. (Sort of obvious, but worth mentioning.) .p From inside the Mail System, you will want to take a look at a list of all your 'old mail' messages, and find the one that has the information you wanted. .p You do that by typing DIR, and picking out the one(s) you wanted. Once you have the number(s), just type the numbers at the MAIL> prompt, and the requested message will be displayed. .p The down side to this is that you have to have read any 'new mail' messages before you can go into looking up something in your 'old mail' file. .hl 2 Tidying Up. .p Let's get rid of some of the old messages you're keeping around for no particular reason. .p Get into the Mail System, and delete all the messages which are no longer relevant to what you're doing. This is done by reading the specific message you no longer want, and then entering the DELete command. Every once in a while, after you have deleted a number of messages, please enter the COMPRESS command. This will make your using the Mail System faster, and a bit easier on the computer.