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<chapter id="usage-mainwindow">
<title>The Main Window: Evolution Basics</title>
<para>
Start <application>Evolution</application> by selecting
<menuchoice><guimenu>Main Panel Menu</guimenu>
<guisubmenu>Applications</guisubmenu>
<guimenuitem>Evolution</guimenuitem></menuchoice> or by typing
<command>evolution</command> at the command line. The first time
you run the program, it will create a directory called
<filename>evolution</filename> in your home directory, where it
will keep all your <application>Evolution</application>-related
files.
</para>
<para>
After <application>Evolution</application> starts
up, you will see the <interface>main window</interface>, with the
<interface>Inbox</interface> open. It should look a lot like the
picture in <xref linkend="usage-mainwindow-fig">. On the left of
the <interface>main window</interface> is the <interface>shortcut
bar</interface>, with several buttons in it. Just underneath the
title bar is a series of menus in the <interface>menu
bar</interface>, and below that, the <interface>tool
bar</interface> with buttons for different functions. The largest
part of the <interface>main window</interface> is taken up by the
actual <interface>Inbox</interface>, where messages are listed
and displayed. If you're running the program for the first time,
you'll have just one message: a welcome from Helix Code.
<!-- ==============Figure=================================== -->
<figure id="usage-mainwindow-fig">
<title>Evolution Main Window and Inbox</title>
<screenshot>
<screeninfo>Evolution Main Window</screeninfo>
<graphic fileref="fig/mainwindow-pic" format="png" srccredit="Kevin Breit">
</graphic>
</screenshot>
</figure>
<!-- ==============End of Figure=================================== -->
</para>
<para>
<note>
<title>The Way Evolution Looks</title>
<para>
The appearance of both <application>Evolution</application>
and <application>GNOME</application> is very easy to
customize, so your screen might not look like this picture.
You might configure <application>Evolution</application> to
start with a different view, without the <interface>shortcut
bar</interface>, or with the <link
linkend="usage-mainwindow-folderbar">folder bar</link>
instead.
</para>
</note>
</para>
<sect1 id="usage-mainwindow-shortcutbar">
<title>The Shortcut Bar</title>
<para>
<application>Evolution</application>'s most important job is
to give you access to your information and help you use it
quickly. One way it does that is through the
<interface>shortcut bar</interface>, the column on the left
hand side of the main window. The large buttons with names
like <guilabel>Inbox</guilabel> and
<guilabel>Contacts</guilabel> are the shortcuts, and you can
select different groups of shortcuts by clicking the
rectangular category buttons.
</para>
<para>
The category buttons are <guibutton>Evolution
Shortcuts</guibutton> and <guibutton>Internet
Directories</guibutton>. When you click on them, they'll slide
up and down to give you access to different sorts of shortcuts.
When you first start <application>Evolution</application>, you
are looking at the <guilabel>Evolution Shortcuts</guilabel>
category. If you click <guilabel>Internet
Directories</guilabel>, it will slide up and you'll see buttons
for the <guilabel>Bigfoot</guilabel> and
<guilabel>Netcenter</guilabel> directories, as well as any
others you or your system administrator might have added.
Internet directories behave a lot like the local contact
manager, which is covered in <xref linkend="usage-contact">.
</para>
<para>
Take a look at the <guilabel>Evolution Shortcuts</guilabel>
again. The shortcut buttons in that category are:
<variablelist>
<!-- NOT IMPLEMENTED!
<varlistentry>
<term> <guibutton>Today:</guibutton></term>
<listitem>
<para>
This will bring up a summary of any new messages you've
received, along with the tasks and appointments you have
lined up for today.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-->
<varlistentry>
<term> <guibutton>Inbox:</guibutton></term>
<listitem>
<para>
The Inbox will show you all of your email. Your Inbox
is also where you can access Evolution's tools to
filter, sort, organize, and search your mail.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><guibutton>Calendar:</guibutton></term>
<listitem>
<para>
The Calendar can store your appointments and To do lists
for you. Connected to a network, you can use it to keep
a group of people on schedule and up to date.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><guibutton>Contacts:</guibutton></term>
<listitem>
<para>
The Contact Manager holds your addresses, phone numbers,
and contact information. Like calendar information,
contact data can be synchronized with hand-held devices
and shared over a network.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<!-- NOT IMPLEMENTED YET
<varlistentry>
<listitem>
<para>
The <guibutton>Tasks:</guibutton> tool combines a "to
do" list with reminders to help you keep track of
daily events.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term> <guibutton>Notes:</guibutton></term>
<listitem>
<para> The note pad is your catch-all tool: use it to take
messages from phone conversations, keep small things
organized, write <glossterm linkend="haiku">haiku</glossterm>, or whatever
you like. This feature is not yet implemented, but will be
soon. See <xref linkend="usage-notes"> for more
information.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-->
</variablelist>
</para>
<para>
If you don't like the shortcut bar, you can use the menu bar, or
keyboard shortcuts, also called <glossterm linkend="hot-key">hot keys</glossterm>.
They're shown next to their equivalent menu items in the menu
bar. You can also set your own hot keys for functions that don't
have any; this is covered in <xref linkend="config">. If you're
using the keyboard shortcuts you may also want to hide the
<interface>shortcut bar</interface> by selecting <menuchoice>
<guimenu>View</guimenu> <guimenuitem>Show Shortcut
Bar</guimenuitem> </menuchoice>.
</para>
<tip>
<title>Shortcut Bar Tricks</title>
<para>
To remove a shortcut from the shortcut bar, right-click on it
and select <guimenuitem>Remove</guimenuitem>. To add one,
select <menuchoice> <guimenu>File</guimenu>
<guisubmenu>New</guisubmenu> <guimenuitem>Evolution Bar
Shortcut</guimenuitem> </menuchoice>. </para>
<para>
To change the way the shortcut bar looks, right-click in an
empty space on the shortcut bar. From the menu that appears,
you can select icon sizes.
</para>
<para>
You don't need the folder bar to move between folders. You
can use <menuchoice> <guimenu>File</guimenu> <guimenuitem>Go
to Folder...</guimenuitem> </menuchoice> to move to a
particular folder. It's faster, however, to click on the
<guilabel>Inbox</guilabel> label just below the toolbar, to
the right of the shortcut bar, and select a folder from
there. The <guilabel>Inbox</guilabel> label will change to
reflect your location in the folder tree.
</para>
</tip>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="usage-mainwindow-folderbar">
<title>The Folder Bar</title>
<para>
The <interface>folder bar</interface> is a more comprehensive
way to view the information you've stored with
<application>Evolution</application>. It displays all your
appointments, address cards, and email in a tree that's a lot
like a <glossterm linkend="filetree">file
tree</glossterm>— it starts small at the top, and branches
downwards. On most computers, there will be three folders at the
base. At the top are your <guilabel>vFolders</guilabel>, or
virtual folders, discussed in <xref
linkend="usage-mail-organize-vfolders">. After that come any
<glossterm linkend="imap">IMAP</glossterm> mail folders you
might have available to you over your network. The next folder
is called <guilabel>External Directories</guilabel>, and holds
<glossterm linkend="ldap">LDAP</glossterm> contact directories
stored on a network. The most important one is probably
<guilabel>Local</guilabel>, which you can use to access all the
data that's stored on your computer. If you click on the plus
sign plus sign next to the <guilabel>Local</guilabel> folder,
you'll see the contents:
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
<guilabel>Calendar</guilabel>, for appointments and
event listings.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<guilabel>Contacts</guilabel>, for address cards.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<guilabel>Directories</guilabel>, for Internet contact directories.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<guilabel>Inbox</guilabel>, for incoming mail.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<guilabel>Outbox</guilabel>, which is for drafts of
messages and mail that's already been sent.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
<para>
To create a new folder, select <menuchoice>
<guimenu>File</guimenu> <guisubmenu>New</guisubmenu>
<guimenuitem>Folder</guimenuitem></menuchoice>. You'll be asked where you want to
put it, and what kind of folder it should be. You can choose
from three types: <guilabel>Mail</guilabel>, for storing mail,
<guilabel>Calendar</guilabel> for storing calendars, and
<guilabel>Contacts</guilabel> for storing contacts.
</para>
<note>
<title>Folders Have Limits</title>
<para>
You can always place a folder inside other folders,
regardless of folder type. However, calendars,
contacts, and mail can't go into the same
folder. Calendars have to go in calendar folders, mail
in mail folders, and contacts in contact folders.
</para>
</note>
<para>
Right-clicking will bring up a menu for just about anything
in GNOME, and <application>Evolution</application> is no
exception. If you right-click on a folder, you'll have a
menu with the following options:
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para><guimenuitem>View</guimenuitem>, to view a message.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para><guimenuitem>Something else</guimenuitem>, for another purpose. </para></listitem>
<listitem><para><guimenuitem>Something else</guimenuitem>, for another purpose. </para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>.
</para>
<tip>
<title>Context-Sensitive Help</title>
<para>
GNOME 2.0 supports context-sensitive help, which means you can
almost always get help on an item by right-clicking it. If
you're not sure what something is, or don't know what you can
do with it, choosing <guimenuitem>Help</guimenuitem> from the
right-click menu is a good way to find out.
</para>
</tip>
<para>
Any time new information arrives in a folder, that folder label
is displayed in bold text.
</para>
<para>
To delete a folder, right-click it and select
<guimenuitem>Delete</guimenuitem> from the menu that pops up.
To change the order of folders, or put one inside another, use
drag-and-drop. To move individual
messages, appointments, and address cards between folders, you
can do the same thing: drag them where you want them, and
they'll go.
</para>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="usage-mainwindow-menubar">
<title>The Menu Bar</title>
<para>
The <interface>menu bar</interface>'s contents will always
provide all the possible actions for any given view of your
data. That means that, depending on the context, menu bar items
will change. If you're looking at your Inbox, most of the menu
items will relate to mail; some will relate to other components
of <application>Evolution</application> and some, especially
those in the <guimenu>File Menu</guimenu> will relate to the
application as a whole. The contents of the menu bar are
described in <xref linkend="menuref">.
</para>
<para>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term> <guimenu>File</guimenu> Menu</term>
<listitem><para>
Anything even related to a file or to the operations
of the application generally falls under this
menu: creating things, saving them to disk,
printing them, and quitting the program itself.
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term> <guimenu>Edit</guimenu> Menu </term>
<listitem><para>
Although it doesn't contain anything at first,
the <guimenu>Edit</guimenu> menu fills up with
useful tools that help you edit text and move it around.
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term> <guimenu>View</guimenu> Menu </term>
<listitem><para>
This menu lets you decide how <application>Evolution</application>
should look. Some of the features control the appearance of
<application>Evolution</application> as a whole, and others
the way a particular kind of information appears.
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term> <guimenu>Settings</guimenu> Menu </term>
<listitem><para> Tools for configuring, changing, and
setting up go here. For mail, that means things like
<guimenuitem>Mail Configuration</guimenuitem> and the
<guimenuitem>vFolder Editor</guimenuitem>. For the
<interface>Calendar</interface> and the <interface>Contact
Manager</interface>, it's color, network, and layout
configuration. </para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term> <guimenu>Help</guimenu> Menu</term>
<listitem><para>
Select among these items to open the
<application>Help Browser</application>
and read the <application>Evolution</application> manual.
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</para>
<para>
Other menus, like <guilabel>Folder</guilabel>,
<guilabel>Message</guilabel>, and <guilabel>Actions</guilabel>,
appear only occasionally. <guilabel>Message</guilabel> and
<guilabel>Folder</guilabel>, for example, have commands that only
relate to email, so they're only available when you're looking at
email.
</para>
<para>
Once you've familiarized yourself with the <interface>main
window</interface> you can start doing things with it. We'll
start with your email inbox, since you've got a letter waiting
for you already.
</para>
</sect1>
</chapter>
