path: root/help/C/usage-mail-org.sgml

<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>Ximian Evolution</application> has the tools
      to help you do it.
    </para>

<!-- Kevin, i'd suggest putting an "IMporting old mail" section here." -->

    <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:
      <orderedlist numeration="arabic">
    <listitem>
      <para>
        Right click on the column header
      </para>
    </listitem>
    <listitem>
      <para>
        Click <guimenuitem>Add a Column</guimenuitem>
      </para>
    </listitem>
    <listitem>
      <para>
        Click and drag a column you want into a space between
        existing column headers.  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. This makes each contact
          with identical properties in the specified field to be placed in
          its own group and physically separated from others. 
        </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> 
          When you choose this item, a list
          of column headers will appear; 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>Ximian 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>Ximian 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
    filed 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>Ximian 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>Ximian 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 vFolder</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 vFolders 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 quickly. Of
    course, it's also 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 <application>Ximian Evolution</application>.
          </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 &mdash; <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 based on 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
          criteria 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>Ximian Evolution</application>
            will put the messages into a folder you specify.  Click the 
            <guibutton>&lt;click here to select a folder&gt;</guibutton> button
            to select a folder. 
          </para></listitem>

        <listitem><para>
            Copy to Folder - If you select this item, <application>Ximian Evolution</application>
            will put the messages into a folder you specify.  Click the 
            <guibutton>&lt;click here to select a folder&gt;</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>Ximian 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>
      <example id="filter-example">
         <title>Using a Filter to Avoid Spam</title>
         <para>
           A good deal of bulk mail is eventually tagged with the
           <computeroutput>Precedence: Bulk</computeroutput> header at
           one point or another.  Not all of it is, of course, and
           there are "good" messages (mailing lists you subscribe to,
           for example) that are also considered "Bulk" mail.
           However, if you filter out all the mail with that header,
           you'll catch a lot of the mail you don't want to get.
         </para>
         <para>
           To catch them and automatically mark them for deletion, do
           the following:
            <orderedlist>

             <listitem><para>
                 Select <menuchoice><guimenu>Tools</guimenu><guimenuitem>Filters</guimenuitem></menuchoice>.
             </para></listitem>

             <listitem><para>
                 Click <guibutton>New</guibutton>.
             </para></listitem>

             <listitem><para>
               Set the first part of your search critera to look in a <guilabel>Specific header</guilabel>.
             </para></listitem>

             <listitem><para>
               Enter <userinput>Precedence</userinput> as the name of the header.
             </para></listitem>

             <listitem><para>
               Choose <guilabel>contains</guilabel> at the second drop-down box.
             </para></listitem>

             <listitem><para>
               Enter <userinput>Bulk</userinput> as the content to search for. 
               You're now working with all email that has the word "Bulk" in the 
               "Precedence" header.
             </para></listitem>

             <listitem><para>
               For actions, select "Move to Folder" and choose the
               folder where you'd like to place bulk mail.
             </para></listitem>

             <listitem><para> If you like, add another action and
               choose <guilabel>Delete</guilabel>.
               </para></listitem>

             <listitem><para>
                Click OK. You're done.
             </para></listitem>
       </orderedlist>
         </para>
      </example>
    </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> in the filter editor window.
        </para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>
          Press <guibutton>OK</guibutton> in the filter manager window.
        </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>Changing Folder Names and Filters</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.  So be sure to change the filters that go with it.
        </para>
          </listitem>
        </itemizedlist>
      </para>
    </note>
      </para>
    </sect2>
  </sect1>
    
    <sect1 id="usage-mail-organize-vfolders">
      <title>Getting Really Organized with vFolders</title>
      <para>
    If filters aren't flexible enough for you, or you find
    yourself performing the same search again and again, consider
    a vFolder. vFolders, or virtual folders, are an advanced way
    of viewing your email messages within
    <application>Ximian 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 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 vFolder 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 vFolder criteria arrive or are
    deleted, <application>Ximian Evolution</application> will
    automatically place them in and remove them from the
    vFolder contents list.  When you delete a message, it gets
    erased from the folder in which it actually exists, as well as
    any vFolders 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.  vFolders
    make for better organization because they can accept
    overlapping groups in a way that regular folders and filing
    systems can't.
      </para>


    <note id="unmatched-vfolder">
      <title>The Unmatched vFolder</title>
      <para>
    Obviously, not all messages will fit into all your Virtual
    Folders.  That's why <application>Ximian Evolution</application>
    includes an UNMATCHED vFolder.  The UNMATCHED 
    vFolder displays messages that are not matched by other rules.
      </para>
    </note>


    <example id="usage-mail-organize-vFolders-ex">
      <title>Using Folders, Searches, and vFolders</title>
      <para>
    To organize his 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 <application>Ximian Evolution</application> 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 <application>Ximian Evolution</application>, 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" vFolder and in the "Internal Evolution Discussion"
    vFolder.
       </para>
      </example>

    <!--  (INSERT SCREENSHOT HERE: vFolders in action) -->

    <sect2 id="vfolder-create">
      <title>Creating vFolders</title>
      <para>
    To create a vFolder:
    <orderedlist numeration="arabic">
      <listitem>
        <para>
        <menuchoice>
          <guimenu>Tools</guimenu>
          <guimenuitem>vFolder Editor</guimenuitem>
        </menuchoice>
        </para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>
          Click <guibutton>Add</guibutton>
        </para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>
          Name your vFolder in the <guilabel>Rule name</guilabel> field.

        </para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>
          Select your search criteria. For each criterion, you
          must first select which of the following parts of the
          message you want the search 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 vFolder 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 vFolders in <application>Ximian Evolution</application>.
          </para>
        </listitem>
        
        <listitem><para> Date sent - Search messages according to the date on
            which they were sent: First, choose the conditions you
            want a message to meet &mdash; <guilabel>before</guilabel>
            a given time, <guilabel>after</guilabel> it, and so forth.
            Then, choose the time. The vFolder 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 vFolders set the
            priority of messages you recieve, and then have other
            vFolders 
            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 - Searches according to the status of a message, such as
            'New'.
          </para>
        </listitem>
        
        <listitem>
          <para>
            Attachments - Create a vFolder based on  whether or not you have an
            attachment in the email.
          </para>
        </listitem>
        
        <listitem>
          <para>
            Mailing List - Search based on the mailing list it came from.
          </para>
        </listitem>
        
        <listitem>
          <para>
            Source Account - Search 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 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>
   </orderedlist>
<para>
Remote folders are considered active if you are connected to the
server; you must be connected to your mail server for the vFolder to
include any messages from that source.
</para>

      <figure id="usage-mail-vfolder-fig-createrule">
    <title>Selecting a vFolder Rule</title>
    <screenshot>
      <screeninfo>Creating a vFolder Rule</screeninfo>
      <mediaobject><imageobject><imagedata
      fileref="figures/vfolder-createrule-fig" format="png"
      srccredit="Aaron Weber">
      </imageobject></mediaobject>
    </screenshot>
      </figure>
      </para>
    </sect2>
  </sect1>
  <!--
    <sect1 id="usage-mail-subscriptions">
      <title>Subscription Management</title>
      <para>
         <application>Ximian 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>