<chapter id="usage-mail">
<title>Evolution Mail</title>
<abstract>
<title> An Overview of the Evolution Mailer</title>
<para>
Email is an integral part of life these days, and
<application>Evolution</application> mail is here to help
you keep track of it. <application>Evolution</application>
email is like other email programs in all the ways you would
hope:
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Item: Description
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Item: Description
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Item: Description
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>.
</para>
<para>
However, <application>Evolution</application> has some
important differences. First, it's built to handle very
large amounts of mail without slowing down or crashing. We
had high mail volumes in mind when we designed our <link
linkend="usage-mail-organize-filters">filtering</link> and
<link linkend="usage-mail-organize-search">searching</link>
functions. There's also the
<application>Evolution</application> <link
linkend="usage-mail-organize-vFolders">vFolder</link>, an
advanced organizational feature not found in other mail
clients. If you get a lot of mail, or if you keep every
message you get in case you need to refer to it later,
you'll find that feature especially useful.
</para>
<para>
You can start reading email by clicking
<guibutton>Inbox</guibutton> in the shortcut bar. By
default, the <interface>Inbox</interface> is open when you
start <application>Evolution</application>, and the first
time you see your inbox, there's a message in it from Helix
Code welcoming you to the application.
</para>
</abstract>
<sect1 id="usage-mail-getnsend">
<title>Reading, Getting and Sending Mail</title>
<sect2 id="usage-mail-getnsend-read">
<title>Reading a Message</title>
<para>
The first time you open your
<application>Evolution</application>
<guilabel>Inbox</guilabel>, you will see a window like the
one in <xref linkend="usage-mail-intro-fig">, with a
message from Helix Code in the<interface> message
list</interface>. The message is displayed
below that, in the <interface>view pane</interface>. If
you find the<interface> view pane</interface> too small,
you can double-click on the message in the
<interface>message list</interface> to have it open in a
new window. As is the case with folders, you can
right-click on messages in the message list and get a
menu of possible actions.
</para>
<para>
Go ahead and right-click on the message, and select
<guimenuitem>Delete Message</guimenuitem> from the menu
that appears. The message will move into the
<guilabel>Trash</guilabel> folder. If you want to keep
it, you can open the <guilabel>Trash</guilabel> folder
and drag the message back to your
<guilabel>Inbox</guilabel>. The trash will be
automatically emptied the next time you quit
<application>Evolution</application>. (FEATURE
UNIMPLEMENTED! Text may change to fit featureset)
<!-- ==============Figure=================================== -->
<!-- MAKE SURE THIS SCREENSHOT HAS THE WELCOME MESSAGE! -->
<figure id="usage-mail-intro-fig">
<title>Evolution Mail</title>
<screenshot>
<screeninfo>Evolution Mail</screeninfo>
<graphic fileref="fig/mainwindow-pic" format="png" srccredit="Aaron Weber">
</graphic>
</screenshot>
</figure>
<!-- ==============End of Figure===================================
-->
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="usage-mail-getnsend-get">
<title>Getting Mail</title>
<para>
To check your email, just click <guibutton>Send and
Receive</guibutton> in the toolbar. If this is the first
time you've done so, the <interface>mail druid</interface>
will ask you for the information it needs to check your
mail (see <xref linkend="config-setupassist"> for more
information). Then, <application>Evolution</application>
will download your mail for you and send any mail you've
marked ready to send. New mail will appear in your
<interface>Inbox</interface> and also in the
<interface>Today View</interface>.
</para>
<para>
If you get an error message instead of mail, you probably
need to change your network preferences. To learn how to
do that, have a look at <xref
linkend="config-prefs-network">, or ask your system
administrator.
</para>
<sect3 id="usage-mail-getnsend-get-attach">
<title>Attachments, HTML Mail, and Live Documents</title>
<para>
If you receive a file attached to an email,
<application>Evolution</application> will ask where you
want to put it. Once you've downloaded a file, you can
open, move, copy, or execute it just like any other,
using <application>Nautilus</application> or your
favorite shell or file manager. (This text will change
to fit app behavior, once features are implemented.)
</para>
<para>
<application>Evolution</application> can also display
HTML-formatted mail, complete with graphics. HTML
formatting will display automatically, although you can
turn it off if you prefer.
</para>
<para>
It can also display <glossterm>live
documents</glossterm>, which have scripted or
executable contents— for example, a working
spreadsheet page or a chess game.
</para>
<tip id="badidea-attachment">
<title>Bad Idea</title>
<para>
When someone you don't know sends you an attached
program, go ahead and run it. Set your preferences to
always run live documents when you recieve them, too.
Everybody knows all that virus stuff is just a Windows
problem.
</para>
</tip>
</sect3>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="usage-mail-getnsend-send">
<title>Writing and Sending Mail</title>
<para>
You can start writing a new
email message by selecting <guimenuitem>New
Mail</guimenuitem> from the <guimenu>File Menu</guimenu>,
or by pressing <keysym>Ctrl-N</keysym>. When you do so,
the <interface>New Message</interface> window will open,
as shown in <xref linkend="usage-mail-newmsg-fig">.
</para>
<!-- ==============Figure=================================== -->
<figure id="usage-mail-newmsg-fig">
<title>New Message Window</title>
<screenshot>
<screeninfo>Evolution Main Window</screeninfo>
<graphic fileref="newmsg-pic" format="png" srccredit="Aaron Weber">
</graphic>
</screenshot>
</figure>
<!-- ==============End of Figure=================================== -->
<para>
Enter an address in the <guilabel>To:</guilabel> field, a
message in the <guilabel>Message:</guilabel> field, and
press <guibutton>Send and Receive</guibutton>. That's
easy. It may even be too easy, which is why I like to
queue my messages up to be sent a few minutes later.
<tip id="usage-mail-getnsend-send-attach-tip">
<title>Send Now, Send Later</title>
<para>
Evolution will send mail immediately unless you tell
it to do otherwise by selecting <guimenuitem>Send
Later</guimenuitem> from the <guimenu>MENU</guimenu>.
Then, when you press <guibutton>Send &
Receive</guibutton>, all your unsent messages will go
out at once. I like to use "Send Later" because it
gives me a chance to change my mind about a message
before it goes out. That way, I don't send anything I'll
regret the next day.
</para>
<para>
To learn more about how you can specify message queue
and filter behavior, see <xref linkend="config-prefs-mail">.
</para>
</tip>
</para>
<para>
There is quite a bit more to sending mail, though. In the
next few sections, you'll see how
<application>Evolution</application> handles additional features,
including mailing lists, attachments, and forwarding.
</para>
<sect3 id="usage-mail-getnsend-send-to">
<title>Choosing Recipients</title>
<para>
If you have created address cards in the contact
manager, you can also enter nicknames or other portions
of address data, and
<application>Evolution</application> will complete the
address for you. (INSERT description of UI for this
feature, once it is decided upon). If you enter a name
or nickname that can go with more than one card,
Evolution will open a dialog box to ask you which person
you meant. (QUESTION: will users be able to drag & drop
address cards to send email?). For more information
about using email together with the contact manager and
the calendar, see <xref
linkend="usage-contact-automate"> and <xref
linkend="usage-calendar-apts-group">.
</para>
<para>
In addition, you can mark recipients in three different
ways. The <guilabel>To:</guilabel> field is for the
primary recipients of the message you are going to send.
However, it is considered bad form to have more than a
few email addresses in this section.
</para>
<para>
If you're writing to one person, but want to keep a
third party up to date, you can use
<guilabel>Cc:</guilabel>. Hearkening back to the dark
ages when people used typewriters and there were no copy
machines, "Cc" stands for "Carbon Copy." Use it
whenever you want to share a message you've written to
someone else.
<example>
<title>Using the Cc: field</title>
<para>
Say, for example, Susan sends an email to a client.
She puts her co-worker, Tim, in the in the
<guilabel>Cc:</guilabel> field, so that he know
what's going on. The client can see that Tim also
recieved the message, and know that they can talk
to Tim about the message as well.
</para>
</example>
</para>
<para>
If you have a large number of recipients, or if you want
to send mail to several people without sharing the
recipient list, you should use
<guilabel>BCc:</guilabel>. "BCc" stands for "Blind
Carbon Copy", and means that people listed in the
<guilabel>BCc:</guilabel> are excluded from the
recipient list, although they will receive the message
and the list of addresses from the
<guilabel>To:</guilabel> and <guilabel>Cc:</guilabel>
fields.
<example id="ex-mail-bcc">
<title>Using the BCc: field</title>
<para>
Let's say Tim sends an email to a client, and wants
his supervisor to know what he wrote. He doesn't,
however, want the client to start writing his
supervisor about the project— it's Tim's job
to deal with the client. So Tim puts his
supervisor's email address in the
<guilabel>BCc:</guilabel> field. That way, the
client has one contact, and the boss stays in the
loop.
</para>
</example>
</para>
</sect3>
<sect3 id="usage-mail-getnsend-send-reply">
<title>Replying to Messages</title>
<para>
In order to reply to a message, click on it once in the
message list to select it. Then press the
<guibutton>Reply</guibutton> button, or use the
<keysym>REPLY COMBO</keysym> hot key. A window like
the <interface>New Message</interface> window will
appear, but the subject will already be present—
typically, your new message will have the same subject
as the message to which you are replying, but with Re:
before it, to mark it as a reply. In addition, the
full text of the previous message may be inserted into
the new message, with the > character before each
line. This indicates quoting. You can intersperse
your message with the quoted material as shown in <xref
linkend="usage-mail-getnsend-reply-fig">
<!-- note that this figure should have a reply mail ready to send, with quoted materials and the relevant replies interspersed-->
<!-- ==============Figure=================================== -->
<figure id="usage-mail-getnsend-reply-fig">
<title>Reply Message Window</title>
<screenshot>
<screeninfo>Evolution Main Window</screeninfo>
<graphic fileref="replymsg-pic" format="png" srccredit="Aaron Weber">
</graphic>
</screenshot>
</figure>
<!-- ==============End of Figure=================================== -->
</para>
<para>
If a message has several recipients, as in the case of
mailing lists or messages that have been carbon copied,
you may wish to select one of the items under the
<guimenuitem>Reply-To</guimenuitem> submenu on the
<guimenu>MENU</guimenu> menu. This will allow you to
choose one or several of the other message recipients in
addition to the person who originally sent you the
message. If there are large numbers of people in the
<guilabel>Cc:</guilabel> or <guilabel>To:</guilabel>
fields, this can save substantial amounts of time. In
addition, Reply-To makes it very easy to keep off-topic
conversation away from mailing lists and newsgroups.
<example>
<title>Using the Reply-To feature</title>
<para>
Returning again to the email Susan sent to Tim and
their client, you'll note that the Reply-To feature
allows the client to decide whether to reply just to
Susan, or to both Tim and Susan by selecting
a menu item, rather than by cutting and pasting the
email addresses.
</para>
</example>
</para>
</sect3>
<sect3 id="usage-mail-getnsend-send-fancy">
<title>Embellishing that email</title>
<para>
<application>Evolution</application> allows you to
make your email more attractive in a number of ways. You
can send messages formatted with HTML, attach any sort
of file to them, and even include live documents, like
spreadhseets or chess games. This section will tell
you how.
</para>
<sect4 id="usage-mail-getnsend-send-html">
<title>Colors, pictures, and fonts with HTML Mail</title>
<para>
Most email messages are sent as plain text, but they
can also be sent as HTML, which means they can include
color, text style, and other formatting information.
Evolution will read and display HTML properly without
trouble, and also allows you to send outgoing
email messages as HTML. To send an HTML message, just
use the composition toolbar to add formatting;
your message text will appear formatted in the composer
window, and the message will be sent as HTML.
</para>
<note>
<title>A Technical note on HTML Tags</title>
<para>
Any text, including HTML tags, entered into the
message composition window is assumed to be plain
text. If you enter HTML directly into the
composer— say, <markup
role="html"><BR>Bold Text</BR></markup>,
the the composer will assume you meant exactly that,
and not "make this text bold," as a HTML composition
tool would. For the very technically inclined, that
means that when the text <markup
role="html"><BR></markup> is sent as HTML, it
will be converted to the string
<literal>&lt;BR&gt;</literal>.
</para>
</note>
<para>
Some people do not have HTML-capable mail clients, or
prefer not to receive HTML-enhanced mail because it is
slower to download and display.
<emphasis>Some</emphasis> people refer to HTML mail as
"the root of all evil" and get very angry if you send
them HTML mail, which is why the default in
<application>Evolution</application> is plain text.
If you choose to send HTML mail, but have an address
book entry for someone who does not wish to receive
HTML-enhanced mail, you can note that preference in
their address card. The mailer will automatically
strip the HTML tags from any messages you send to that
address.
</para>
</sect4>
<sect4 id="usage-mail-getnsend-send-attach">
<title>Attachments</title>
<para>
If you want to attach a file to your email message,
you can do so by <!--describe process here-->. If
your recipients can read HTML mail, you can put an
image inside the mail by dragging the file into the
composer window, or by selecting <guimenuitem>Menu
Item</guimenuitem> from the <guimenu>Menu</guimenu>
menu. Still, unless you know what email client the
recipient is using, it's best to send a message or
attachment in the simplest manner possible.
</para>
</sect4>
<sect4 id="usage-mail-getnsend-send-live">
<title>Live Documents</title>
<para>
Later versions of <application>Evolution</application>
will allow you to enliven your email with almost any
sort of document, and even with entire
applications. At this point, however, I don't know how
that will work.
</para>
</sect4>
</sect3>
<sect3 id="usage-getnsend-fwd">
<title>Forwarding Mail</title>
<para>
<guilabel>Forward</guilabel> is useful if you have
received a message and you think someone else would like
to see it, or if you get a message intended for someone
else. You can forward a message as an attachment to a
new message (the default way of forwarding) or you can send it
<glossterm>inline</glossterm> as a quoted portion of the
message you are sending. Attachment forwarding is best
if you want to send the entire message you received,
unaltered. Inline forwarding is best if you want to
send portions of a message, or if you have a large
number of comments on different sections of the message
you are forwarding. Remember to note from whom the
message came, and where, if at all, you have removed or
altered content.
</para>
<para>
To forward a message, first make sure it is selected by
clicking it once in the message list. Then, press
<guibutton>Forward</guibutton> on the toolbar, or select
SOMETHING. To forward a message inline instead of as an
attachment, DO SOMETHING ELSE. Choose an addressee as
you would when sending a new message; the subject will
already be entered, but you can alter it. Enter your
comments on the message in the <interface>composition
frame</interface>, and press <guibutton>Send and
Receive</guibutton>. To forward it
<glossterm>inline</glossterm> instead of attached,
select <guimenuitem>Forward Inline</guimenuitem> from
the <guimenu>Message</guimenu> menu.
</para>
</sect3>
<sect3 id="usage-mail-getnsend-ettiquette">
<title>Seven Tips for Email Usage</title>
<para>
I started with ten, but four were "Don't send
<glossterm>spam</glossterm>."
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Always begin and close with a salutation. Say
"please" and "thank you", just like you do in real
life. You can keep your pleasantries short, but be pleasant!
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
ALL CAPS MEANS YOU'RE SHOUTING!
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Never write anything in email you wouldn't say in
public. Old messages have a nasty habit of
resurfacing when you least expect them to.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Check your spelling and use complete sentences.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Don't send nasty emails (flames). If you get one,
don't write back.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Don't send spam or forward chain mail. If you
must, verify any rumors, and make sure the
message doesn't have multiple layers of email
quotation symbols (>) indicating multiple
layers of careless inline forwarding.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
When you reply or forward, include just enough of
the previous message to provide context. Not too
much, not too little.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
<para> Happy mailing! </para>
</sect3>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="usage-mail-organize">
<title>Organizing Your Mail</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 need to sort and organize them,
and <application>Evolution</application> has the tools to
help you do it.
</para>
<sect2 id="usage-mail-organize-folders">
<title>Getting Organized with Folders</title>
<para>
Mail, as well as address cards and calendars, is kept in
folders. If you like, you can create new folders by
selecting <guisubmenu>New</guisubmenu> and then
<guimenuitem>Folder</guimenuitem> from the
<guimenu>File</guimenu> menu, or by pressing
<keysym>COMBO</keysym>. (Will there be a dialog box to
determine name and location? Must wait for feature to
describe.) The new folders will appear in the
<interface>tree view</interface>, and you can drag them
wherever you want to relocate them. You can move messages
into the folders by dragging and dropping, or by selecting
them and choosing <guimenuitem>ITEM</guimenuitem> from the
<guimenu>MENU</guimenu>. If you create filters with the
<interface>filter druid</interface>, you can have mail
moved to a folder automatically. An email message can be in
only one folder at a time, just like real mail in real
folders. This is also the case for folders of address
cards and calendar information.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="usage-mail-organize-search">
<title>Searching for Messages</title>
<para>
Because <application>Evolution</application> automatically
creates an index of every email you send or receive, it
can search through your old messages and present you with
results very quickly. You can search for messages by
author, subject, keyword, or headers. (INSERT descriptons
of what those terms mean)
</para>
<para>
To create a search, enter the word or phrase you're
looking for in the form field below the toolbar, and
choose a search type:
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
<guilabel>Body or subject contains:</guilabel> This
will search message subjects and the messages
themselves for the word or phrase you've entered in
the search field.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<guilabel>Body contains:</guilabel> This will search
only in message text, not the subject lines.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<guilabel>Subject contains:</guilabel> This will
show you messages where the search text is in the
subject line. It will not search in the message body.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<guilabel>Body does not contain:</guilabel> 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>
<listitem>
<para>
<guilabel>Subject does not contain:</guilabel>This
finds every mail whose subject does not
contain the search text.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="usage-mail-organize-vFolders">
<title>Getting Really Organized with Virtual Folders</title>
<para>
If you find yourself performing a search frequently, you
can save it as 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, vFolders can help you stay on top of things.
</para>
<para>
A vFolder looks and acts a lot like a folder, but it's
actually a saved search that you can access in most of the
same ways you would a regular folder. The one important
differences between them is that a conventional folder
actually contains messages, but a vFolder is a view of
messages that may be in several different folders. This
means that while a message may fall into several vFolders,
it can be in only one conventional folder. Also, it means
that you cannot remove a message from a vFolder unless you
delete it, and you cannot add a message to a vFolder
unless you change the vFolder's search criteria.
</para>
<para>
As messages that meet the vFolder criteria arrive or are
deleted, <application>Evolution</application> will
automatically place them in and and remove them from the
vFolder contents list. When you delete a message, it gets
erased from the folder it actually exists in as well as
any vFolders which include it.
</para>
<para>
That's pretty complicated. But it can be useful. For
example, if I have a folder for all the email from one
person, and another folder for all the email on a given
topic, I feel organized. But when the person sends me
mail about the topic, my whole email filing universe
becomes chaotic. I need vFolders to save the day for me.
</para>
<para>
That sounds silly, but 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 larger
the system, the less you can afford that sort of
confusion. vFolders 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 vFolders</title>
<para>
To organize my mail box, I can set up a vFolder
for emails from my friend Vince, by doing (INSERT
PROCESS HERE). Then, whenever I want to see the
messages Vince has sent me, I open the vFolder, and
every message he's sent me shows up, no matter where
I've actually filed it. If I want, I can also create a
vFolder containing any message from my list of
co-workers which also has the name of the project in
it. That way, when Vince sends me mail about the
project, I can see that message both in the "Vince"
vFolder and in the "Project" vFolder. That's because
when I open up the "Vince" folder, I'm really
performing a search for all the mail from Vince, and
when I open the "Project" folder I'm really performing
a search for all the mail about the project.
(INSERT SCREENSHOT HERE)
</para>
</example>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="usage-mail-organize-filters">
<title>Staying organized: Mail Filters in Evolution</title>
<para>
Filters sort your email for you. People who subscribe to
multiple mailing lists, or who often need to refer to
messages they have sent, find filters especially helpful
to seperate personal from list-related mail, but they're
good for anybody who gets more than a few messages a day.
To create a filter, go to your
<interface>Inbox</interface>. Then select
<guimenuitem>Filter Druid</guimenuitem> from the
<guimenu>Tools</guimenu> menu. This will start the a
<glossterm> druid</glossterm>, which will allow you to
create filters.
</para>
<para> The <interface>filter druid</interface> window
contains a window listing rules, and an option to create a
new rule. To start filtering your mail, click
<guibutton>Add</guibutton> to add a filtering rule.
You'll decide when it should take place:
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
<guilabel>When mail arrives:</guilabel> Select
this option to have messages filtered as they
arrive.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<guilabel>When mail is sent:</guilabel> Select
this option to filter your outgoing mail. You
can use this feature to keep your
<interface>Outbox</interface> as organized as
your <interface>Inbox</interface>.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
<para>
Then, the filter druid will ask you which emails it should
act upon. You can set criteria to include words or phrases
in the subject, To:, Cc: or body of the message. Once
you've decided which messages to filter, the druid will ask
you the sort of action you wish to take. More details and
screenshots should follow here.
</para>
<note>
<title>Two Notable Filter Features</title>
<para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Any incoming email that does not meet
filter action criteria remains in the Inbox. </para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>If you move a folder, your filters
will follow it. </para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
</note>
</sect2>
</sect1>
</chapter>
<!-- ================ END OF MAILER CHAPTER ============= -->
