<chapter id="usage-mail-organize">
<title>Organizing and Managing your Email</title>
<para>
Even if you only get a few email messages a day, you probably
want to sort and organize them. When you get a hundred a day
and you want to refer to a message you received six weeks ago,
you <emphasis>need</emphasis> to sort and organize them.
Fortunately, <application>Evolution</application> has the tools
to help you do it.
</para>
<sect1 id="usage-mail-organize-columns">
<title>Sorting Mail with Column Headers</title>
<para>
By default, the message list has columns with the following
headings: an envelope icon indicating whether you have read
or replied to a message, an exclamation point indicating priority, and the
<guilabel>From</guilabel>, <guilabel>Subject</guilabel>, and
<guilabel>Date</guilabel> fields. You can change their order
and remove them by dragging and dropping them.
To add columns to sort by:
<orderedlist numeration="arabic">
<listitem>
<para>
Right click on the bar
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Click <guimenuitem>Add a Column</guimenuitem>
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Click and drag a column you want into the toolbar. A red arrow will
show you where the column will be placed.
</para>
</listitem>
</orderedlist>
</para>
<para>
Right-click on one of the column headers to get a list of
options:
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term><guimenuitem>Sort Ascending</guimenuitem></term>
<listitem><para>
Sorts the messages top to bottom.
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><guimenuitem>Sort Descending</guimenuitem></term>
<listitem><para>
Sorts the messages bottom to top.
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><guimenuitem>Group By this Field</guimenuitem></term>
<listitem><para>
Groups messages instead of sorting them. (FIXME: Explain further)
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><guimenuitem>Remove this
Column</guimenuitem></term> <listitem><para> Remove
this column from the display. You can also remove
columns by dragging the header off the list and
letting it drop. </para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><guimenuitem>Field
Chooser</guimenuitem></term> <listitem><para> A list
of column headers; just drag and drop them into
place between two existing headers. A red arrow will
appear to show you where you're about to put the
column. </para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</para>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="usage-mail-organize-folders">
<title>Getting Organized with Folders</title>
<para>
<application>Evolution</application> keeps mail, as well as
address cards and calendars, in folders. You start out with a
few, like <guilabel>Inbox</guilabel>,
<guilabel>Outbox</guilabel>, and <guilabel>Drafts</guilabel>,
but you can create as many as you like. Create new folders by
selecting <guisubmenu>New</guisubmenu> and then
<guimenuitem>Folder</guimenuitem> from the
<guimenu>File</guimenu> menu.
<application>Evolution</application> will as you for the name
and the type of the folder, and will provide you with a folder
tree so you can pick where it goes.
</para>
<para>
When you click <guibutton>OK</guibutton>, your new folder will
appear in the <interface>folder view</interface>. You can
then put messages in it by dragging and dropping them, or by
using the <guibutton>Move</guibutton> button in the
toolbar. If you want to move several messages at once, click
on the ones you want to move while holding down the
<keycap>CTRL</keycap> key, or use <keycap>Shift</keycap> to
select a range of messages. If you create a filter with the
<interface>filter assistant</interface>, you can have mail
moved to your folder automatically.
</para>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="usage-mail-organize-search">
<title>Searching for Messages</title>
<para>
Most mail clients can search through your messages for you,
but <application>Evolution</application> does it faster. You
can search through just the message subjects, just the message
body, or both body and subject.
</para>
<para>
To start searching, enter a word or phrase in the text area
right below the toolbar, and choose a search type:
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term><guilabel>Body or subject contains</guilabel></term>
<listitem>
<para>
This will search message subjects and the messages
themselves for the word or phrase you've entered in
the search field.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term> <guilabel>Body contains</guilabel> </term>
<listitem>
<para>
This will search only in message text, not the subject
lines.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><guilabel>Subject contains</guilabel></term>
<listitem>
<para>
This will show you messages where the search text is
in the subject line. It will not search in the
message body.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><guilabel>Body does not contain</guilabel></term>
<listitem>
<para>
This finds every email message that does not have the
search text in the message body. It will still show
messages that have the search text in the subject
line, if it is not also in the body.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><guilabel>Subject does not contain</guilabel></term>
<listitem>
<para>
This finds every mail whose subject does not contain
the search text.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
When you've entered your search phrase, press
<keycap>Enter</keycap>. <application>Evolution</application>
will show your search results in the message list.
</para>
<para>
If you think you'll want to return to a search again, you can
save it as a virtual folder by selecting <guilabel>Store
Search as Virtual Folder</guilabel>.
</para>
<para>
When you're done with the search, go back to seeing all your
messages by choosing <guimenuitem>Show All</guimenuitem> from
the <guilabel>Search</guilabel> drop-down box. If you're
sneaky, just enter a blank search: since every message has at
least one space in it, you'll see every message in the
folder.
</para>
<para>
If you'd like to perform a more complex search, open the
advanced search dialog by selecting
<guilabel>Advanced...</guilabel> from the
<guilabel>Search</guilabel> drop-down menu. Then, create your
search criteria (each with the same options you saw in the
regular search bar), and decide whether you want to find
messages that match all of them, or messages that match even
one. Then, click <guibutton>Search</guibutton> to go and find
those messages.
</para>
<para>
You'll see a similar approach to sorting messages when you
create filters and virtual folders in the next few sections.
</para>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="usage-mail-organize-filters">
<title>Create Rules to Automatically Organize Mail</title>
<para>
Filters work very much like the mail room in a large company.
Their purpose is to bundle, sort, and distribute mail to the
various folders.
In addition, you can have multiple filters performing multiple
actions that may effect the same message in several ways. For
example, your filters could put copies of one message into
multiple folders, or keep a copy and send one to another
person as well, and it can do that in under a second. Which is
to say, it's faster and more flexible than an actual person
with a pile of envelopes.
</para>
<sect2 id="usage-mail-org-filters-new">
<title>Making New Filters</title>
<para>
To create a new filter:
<orderedlist numeration="arabic">
<listitem>
<para>
Click
<menuchoice>
<guimenu>Tools</guimenu>
<guimenuitem>Filters</guimenuitem>
</menuchoice>
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Press the <guibutton>Add</guibutton> button.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Name your filter in the <guilabel>Rule name</guilabel> field.
For each filter criterion, you must first select
which of the following parts of the message you want the filter to
examine:
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>
Sender - The sender's address.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
Recipients - The recipients of the message.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
Subject - The subject line of the message.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
Specific Header - The filter can look at any header you
want, even obscure or custom ones. Enter the header name
in the first text box, and put your search text in the
second one.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
Message Body - Search in the actual text of the message.
</para></listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Expression - For programmers only: match a message according to an
expression you write in the Scheme language, used to
define filters in Evolution.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para> Date sent - Filter messages according to the date on
which they were sent: First, choose the conditions you
want a message to meet — <guilabel>before</guilabel>
a given time, <guilabel>after</guilabel> it, and so forth.
Then, choose the time. The filter will compare the
message's time-stamp to the system clock when the filter
is run, or to a specific time and date you choose from a
calendar. You can even have it look for messages within a
range of time relative to the filter &mdash perhaps you're
looking for messages less than two days old.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
Date Recieved - This works the same way as the <guilabel>Date Sent</guilabel>
option, except that it compares the time you got the message
with the dates you specify.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
Score - Emails have a standard priority range from -3 (least
important) to 3 (most important). You can have filters set the
priority of messages you recieve, and then have other filters
applied only to those messages which have a certain priority.
</para></listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Size (kb) - Sorts based on the size of the message in kilobytes.
</para>
</listitem>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Status - Filters according to the status of a message, such as
'New'.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Attachments - Create a filter whether or not you have an
attachment in the email.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Mailing List - Filter based on the mailing list it came from.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Regex Match - If you know your way around a <glossterm
linkend="regular-expression">regex</glossterm>, or
regular expression, put your knowledge to use here.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Source Account - Filter messages according the server you got them from.
You can enter a URL or choose one from the drop-down
list. This ability is only relevant if you use more
than one mail source.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Select the criterion for the condition. If you want multiple
criterion for this filter, press <guibutton>Add
criterion</guibutton> and repeat the previous step.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Select the actions for the filter in the <guilabel>Then</guilabel>
section. You can select any of the following options.
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>
Move to Folder - If you select this item, <application>Evolution</application>
will put the messages into a folder you specify. Click the
<guibutton><click here to select a folder></guibutton> button
to select a folder.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
Copy to Folder - If you select this item, <application>Evolution</application>
will put the messages into a folder you specify. Click the
<guibutton><click here to select a folder></guibutton> button
to select a folder.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
Forward to Address - Select this, enter an address, and the addressee will
get a copy of the message.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
Delete - Marks the message for deletion. You can still get the message
back, at least until you <guimenuitem>Expunge</guimenuitem> your
mail yourself.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
Stop Processing - Select this if you want to tell all other filters to ignore
this message, because whatever you've done with it so far
is plenty.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
Assign Color - Select this item, and <application>Evolution</application>
will mark the message with whatever color you please.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
Assign Score - If you know that all mail with
"important" somewhere in the message body line is
important, you can give it a high priority score. In a subsequent filter you can
then arrange your messages by their priority score.
</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Set Status - If you want to add multiple actions for this filter, press
<guibutton>Add filter</guibutton> and repeat the previous step.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Press <guibutton>OK</guibutton>.
</para>
</listitem>
</orderedlist>
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="filters-edit">
<title>Editing Filters</title>
<para>
To edit a filter:
<orderedlist numeration="arabic">
<listitem>
<para>
Select
<menuchoice>
<guimenu>Tools</guimenu>
<guimenu>Filters</guimenu>
</menuchoice>
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Select the filter in the <guilabel>Filter Rules</guilabel> section
and press <guibutton>Edit</guibutton>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Change the desired settings.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Press <guibutton>OK</guibutton>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Press <guibutton>OK</guibutton>.
</para>
</listitem>
</orderedlist>
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="filters-deleting">
<title>Deleting Filters</title>
<para>
To delete a filter:
<orderedlist numeration="arabic">
<listitem>
<para>
Select
<menuchoice>
<guimenu>Tools</guimenu>
<guimenu>Filters</guimenu>
</menuchoice>
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Select the filter and press <guibutton>Delete</guibutton>.
</para>
</listitem>
</orderedlist>
</para>
<para>
<note>
<title>Notable Filter Features</title>
<para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>
Incoming email that your filters don't move goes into the Inbox;
outgoing mail that they don't move ends up in the Sent folder.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
</note>
</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="usage-mail-organize-vFolders">
<title>Getting Really Organized with Virtual Folders</title>
<para>
If filters aren't flexible enough for you, or you find
yourself performing the same search again and again, consider
a virtual folder. Virtual folders, or vFolders, are an
advanced way of viewing your email messages within
<application>Evolution</application>. If you get a lot of
mail or often forget where you put messages, virtual folders can help
you stay on top of things.
</para>
<para>
A virtual folder is really a hybrid of all the other organizational
tools: it looks like a folder, it acts like a search, and you
set it up like a filter. In other words, while a conventional
folder actually contains messages, a virtual folder is a view of
messages that may be in several different folders. The
messages it contains are determined on the fly using a set of
criteria you choose in advance.
</para>
<para>
As messages that meet the virtual folder criteria arrive or are
deleted, <application>Evolution</application> will
automatically place them in and remove them from the
virtual folder contents list. When you delete a message, it gets
erased from the folder in which it actually exists, as well as
any virtual folders which display it.
</para>
<para>
Imagine a business trying to keep track of mail from hundreds
of vendors and clients, or a university with overlapping and
changing groups of faculty, staff, administrators and
students. The more mail you need to organize, the less you
can afford the sort of confusion that stems from an
organizational system that's not flexible enough. Virtual folders
make for better organization because they can accept
overlapping groups in a way that regular folders and filing
systems can't.
</para>
<example id="usage-mail-organize-vFolders-ex">
<title>Using Folders, Searches, and Virtual Folders</title>
<para>
To organize their mailbox, Jim sets up a virtual volder for emails from
his friend and co-worker Anna. He has another one for messages that
have ximian.com in the address and Evolution in the subject line, so he
can keep a record of what people from work send him about
<application>evolution</application>. If Anna sends him a message about
anything other than Evolution, it only shows up in the "Anna" folder.
When Anna sends him mail about the user interface for
<application>evolution</application>, he can see that message both in
the "Anna" virtual folder and in the "Internal Evolution Discussion"
virtual folder.
</example>
<!-- (INSERT SCREENSHOT HERE: virtual folders in action) -->
<sect2 id="vfolder-create">
<title>Creating Virtual Folders</title>
<para>
To create a virtual folder:
<orderedlist numeration="arabic">
<listitem>
<para>
<menuchoice>
<guimenu>Tools</guimenu>
<guimenuitem>Virtual Folder Editor</guimenuitem>
</menuchoice>
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Click <guibutton>Add</guibutton>
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Name your filter in the <guilabel>Rule name</guilabel> field.
For each filter criterion, you must first select
which of the following parts of the message you want the filter to
examine:
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>
Sender - The sender's address.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
Recipients - The recipients of the message.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
Subject - The subject line of the message.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
Specific Header - The filter can look at any header you
want, even obscure or custom ones. Enter the header name
in the first text box, and put your search text in the
second one.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
Message Body - Search in the actual text of the message.
</para></listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Expression - For programmers only: match a message according to an
expression you write in the Scheme language, used to
define filters in Evolution.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para> Date sent - Filter messages according to the date on
which they were sent: First, choose the conditions you
want a message to meet — <guilabel>before</guilabel>
a given time, <guilabel>after</guilabel> it, and so forth.
Then, choose the time. The filter will compare the
message's time-stamp to the system clock when the filter
is run, or to a specific time and date you choose from a
calendar. You can even have it look for messages within a
range of time relative to the filter &mdash perhaps you're
looking for messages less than two days old.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
Date Recieved - This works the same way as the <guilabel>Date Sent</guilabel>
option, except that it compares the time you got the message
with the dates you specify.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
Score - Emails have a standard priority range from -3 (least
important) to 3 (most important). You can have filters set the
priority of messages you recieve, and then have other filters
applied only to those messages which have a certain priority.
</para></listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Size (kb) - Sorts based on the size of the message in kilobytes.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Status - Filters according to the status of a message, such as
'New'.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Attachments - Create a filter whether or not you have an
attachment in the email.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Mailing List - Filter based on the mailing list it came from.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Regex Match - If you know your way around a <glossterm
linkend="regular-expression">regex</glossterm>, or
regular expression, put your knowledge to use here.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Source Account - Filter messages according the server you got them from.
You can enter a URL or choose one from the drop-down
list. This ability is only relevant if you use more
than one mail source.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Select the criterion for the condition.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Select the folder sources. You can select:
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
specific folders only
<note>
<para>
If you select specific folders only, you need to specify the
source folders in the box below.
</para>
</note>
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
all local folders
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
with all active remote folders
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
with all local and active folders
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
If you want multiple criterion for this filter, press <guibutton>Add
criterion</guibutton> and repeat the previous step.
</para>
</listitem>
</orderedlist>
<figure id="usage-mail-vfolder-fig-createrule">
<title>Selecting a vFolder Rule</title>
<screenshot>
<screeninfo>Creating a vFolder Rule</screeninfo>
<graphic fileref="fig/vfolder-createrule-fig" format="png" srccredit="Aaron Weber">
</graphic>
</screenshot>
</figure>
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="usage-mail-vfolder-unmatched">
<title>The Unmatched vFolder</title>
<para>
Obveously, not all messages will fit into all your vFolders. That is
what the UNMATCHED vFolder is for. The UNMATCHED vFolder is a vFolder
for any mail that doesn't get matched by other rules.
</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<!--
<sect1 id="usage-mail-subscriptions">
<title>Subscription Management</title>
<para>
<application>Evolution</application> lets you handle your
IMAP and newsgroup subscriptions with the same tool: the
subscriptions manager. To start using it, choose
<menuchoice> <guimenu>Settings</guimenu> <guimenuitem>Manage
Subscriptions</guimenuitem> </menuchoice>.
</para>
<para>
If you have configured any IMAP (mail) or NNTP (news)
servers, you will see them listed in the left half of the
subscription management window. Click on a server to select
it, and you will see the folders or newsgroups available to
you. You can then select individual folders and subscribe to
them, or remove yourself from the subscription list.
</para>
<para>
Once you have subscribed to a folder or newsgroup, your system
will check for new messages whenever you press the
<guibutton>Get Mail</guibutton> button.
</para>
</sect1>
-->
</chapter>
