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|
<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>
<sect1 id="importing-mail-and-settings">
<title>Importing Your Old Email and Settings</title>
<para>
<application>Evolution</application> allows you to import old
email and data so that you don't need to worry about losing your
old information.
</para>
<sect2 id="importing-mail">
<title>Importing Email</title>
<para>
<application>Ximian Evolution</application> can import the
following types of files:
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>VCard (.vcf, gcrd):</term>
<listitem>
<para>
The addressbook format used by the GNOME, KDE, and
many other contact management applications. You
should be able to export to VCard format from any
address book application.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>iCalendar (.ics):</term>
<listitem>
<para>
A format for storing calendar files. iCalendar is used by
PalmOS based handhelds, Ximian
<application>Evolution</application>, and Microsoft
<application>Outlook</application>.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>Microsoft Outlook Express 4 (.mbx):</term>
<listitem>
<para>
Email file format used by Microsoft Outlook Express
4. For other versions of Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express, see
the workaround described in the note below.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>MBox (mbox):</term>
<listitem>
<para>
The email box format used by Mozilla, Netscape,
Ximian Evolution, Eudora, and many other email clients.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</para>
<para>
To import your old email:
<orderedlist numeration="arabic">
<listitem>
<para>
Click <menuchoice><guimenu>File</guimenu><guimenuitem>Import</guimenuitem></menuchoice>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Click <guibutton>Next</guibutton> after reading the Welcome screen.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Select <guibutton>Import a single file</guibutton>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Find the file that you wish to import into <application>Evolution</application>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Click <guibutton>Import</guibutton>
</para>
</listitem>
</orderedlist>
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="importing-preferences">
<title>Importing Preferences</title>
<para>
<application>Evolution</application> can import all your old
mail, contacts, and other information from other applications,
making your transition to <application>Evolution</application>
easy.
</para>
<para>
To import your old information:
<orderedlist numeration="arabic">
<listitem>
<para>
Click <menuchoice><guimenu>File</guimenu><guimenuitem>Import</guimenuitem></menuchoice>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Click <guibutton>Next</guibutton> after reading the Welcome screen.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Select <guibutton>Import data and settings from older programs</guibutton>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
The left-most column shows the application which your
information will be imported from. You then select
checkboxes on each component to import different
properties of each application.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Click <guibutton>Next</guibutton>
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Click <guibutton>Import</guibutton>
</para>
</listitem>
</orderedlist>
</para>
<para>
<note>
<title>Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express Users</title>
<para>
Microsoft Outlook, and versions of Outlook Express after
version 4, use proprietary formats that <application>Ximian
Evolution</application> cannot read or import. For contacts,
you may have to email them to yourself and import them that
way. For email, there is a simpler workaround:
<orderedlist numeration="arabic">
<listitem>
<para>
While using Windows, import the files into Mozilla Mail (or
another mailer, such as Netscape or Eudora, that uses the
standard mbox format).
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Copy the files to the system or partition you use for
<application>Ximian Evolution</application>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Use the <application>Ximian Evolution</application> import
tool to import the files. There's more information about
why this works, and how, at the Ximian support website.
</para>
</listitem>
</orderedlist>
</para>
</note>
<note>
<title>Netscape Users</title>
<para>
Before importing mail from Netscape, make sure you select
<menuchoice><guimenu>File</guimenu><guimenuitem>Compact All
Folders</guimenuitem></menuchoice>. If you don't,
<application>Ximian Evolution</application> will import and undelete
the messages in your Trash folders.
</para>
</note>
</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<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 mail folders, such as <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>
<warning id="imap-subfolders">
<title>Subfolders in IMAP</title>
<para>
The INBOX folder on most IMAP servers cannot contain both
subfolders and messages. When you create additional folders
on your IMAP mail server, branch them from the root of the
IMAP account's folder, tree, not from INBOX. If you create
subfolders in your INBOX folder, you will lose the ability
to read messages that exist in your INBOX until you move the
folders out of the way.
</para>
</warning>
</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>
<tip id="easy-filter">
<title>Quick Filter Creation</title>
<para>
There is an easy shortcut for fast filter or vFolder
creation. Right-click on the message in the message
list, and select one of the items under the
<guimenuitem>Create Rule from Message</guimenuitem>
submenu.
</para>
</tip>
<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.
<note id="multiple-repeated-headers">
<title>Repeated Headers</title>
<para>
If a message uses a header more than once, Evolution will
pay attention only to the first instance, even if the
message defines the header differently the second
time. For example, if a message declares the Resent-From:
header as "engineering@rupertcorp.com" and then restates
it as "marketing@rupertcorp.com," Evolution will filter as
though the second declaration had not occurred. To filter
on messages that use headers multiple times, use a regular
expression.
</para>
</note>
</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>
<para>
<note id="lots-of-filters">
<title>What if Multiple Filters Match One Message?</title>
<para>
If you have several filters that match a single message,
they will all be applied to the message, in order, unless
one of the filters has the action <guibutton>Stop
Processing</guibutton>. If you use that action in a
filter, the messages that it affects will not be touched
by other filters.
</para>
</note>
</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 -- perhaps you're
looking for messages less than two days old.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
Date Received - 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 receive, 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>
<note>
<title>How Does Filtering on Mailing Lists Work?</title>
<para>
Filtering on mailing list actually looks for a
specific mailing-list header called the
<computeroutput>X-BeenThere</computeroutput>
header, used to identify mailing lists or other
redistributors of mail.
</para>
</note>
</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><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>Ximian 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>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 action</guibutton> and repeat the previous step.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Press <guibutton>OK</guibutton>.
</para>
</listitem>
</orderedlist>
</para>
<note id="when-filters-go-wrong">
<title>When Are Filters Applied?</title>
<para>
If you use Ximian Connector to store your mail on an
Exchange server, filters are not applied until you open
your INBOX folder and select
<menuchoice><guimenu>Actions</guimenu><guimenuitem>Apply
Filters</guimenuitem></menuchoice> or press
<keycombo><keycap>Ctrl</keycap><keycap>Y</keycap></keycombo>
</para>
</note>
<example id="filter-example">
<title>Using a Filter to Avoid Spam</title>
<para>
Spam, also known as unsolicited commercial email (UCE), is
the bane of many email boxes, but it doesn't have to
be. Using Ximian Evolution filters and an external Spam
detection tool like SpamAssassin (<ulink
url="http://spamassassin.org/">http://spamassassin.org/</ulink>),
you can catch the vast majority of junk mail and drop it
directly into the trash.
</para>
<para>
The easiest way to do this is to get your system
administrator to install SpamAssassin (or its equivalent)
on your mail server. There, it will flag messages it
suspects of being Spam with the "X-Spam-Status" header to
your mail, which you can then search for in a
filter. Because SpamAssassin scores mails based on the
likelihood that messages are junk, you can even choose how
strict you want it to be. If you don't have a friendly
network administrator, never fear: you can install
SpamAssassin on your own system, then pipe messages through
it before reading them.
</para>
<para>
If your system administrator or ISP has SpamAssassin, here's how to siphon off the junk mail:
<orderedlist>
<listitem><para>
Select <menuchoice><guimenu>Tools</guimenu><guimenuitem>Filters</guimenuitem></menuchoice>.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
Click <guibutton>Add</guibutton>.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
Set the first part of your search criterion to look in a <guilabel>Specific header</guilabel>.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
Enter <userinput>X-Spam-Flag</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>YES</userinput> as the content to search for.
You're now working with all email that has the word "YES" in the
"X-Spam-Status" header.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
For actions, choose what you'd like to do with the
messages. You can delete the messages automatically, but
it's more prudent to place them in a "Possible Junk Mail"
folder, and check them over just to make sure a genuine
message didn't get flagged by accident.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
Click OK. You're done.
</para></listitem>
</orderedlist>
</para>
<para>
If you don't have SpamAssassin or other junk mail filtering
on your mail server, there's still hope, although it's not
quite as simple. First, download
and install SpamAssassin from <ulink
url="http://spamassassin.org">http://spamassassin.org</ulink>. Instructions
for installation are on the site; you'll need to download the "spamassassin"
and "perl-Mail-SpamAssassin"
packages. You can install them with Red Carpet by selecting
<guimenuitem>Install Local Packages</guimenuitem> from the
<guimenu>File</guimenu> menu.) Once you have the software
installed, do the following:
<orderedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Open a new create a text file with any text editor (
<menuchoice>
<guimenu>
Programs
</guimenu>
<guisubmenu>
Accessories
</guisubmenu>
<guimenuitem>
Text Editor
</guimenuitem>
</menuchoice> is the most convenient) and paste in the following:
<screen>
spamassassin -e <
</screen>
This will run the SpamAssassin command and report back 0
if the message is not junk.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Save file as "spam-filter.sh"
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Mark the file as an executable program:
Open your home directory in Nautilus, right-click on
spam-filter.sh there, and select
<guimenuitem>Properties</guimenuitem>. Then, click the
"Permissions" tab and check the box in the
<guilabel>Execute</guilabel> column and the
<guilabel>Owner</guilabel> row. Alternately, open a terminal
(<menuchoice>
<guimenu>
Programs
</guimenu>
<guisubmenu>
Accessories
</guisubmenu>
<guimenuitem>
Terminal
</guimenuitem>
</menuchoice>) and enter the command: chmod +x spam-filter.sh.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Back in Evolution, create a new filter: Select
<menuchoice><guimenu>Tools</guimenu><guimenuitem>Filters</guimenuitem></menuchoice>,
then click <guibutton>Add</guibutton>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>
Select "Pipe Message to Shell Command" as the first portion of the criterion.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
Enter "/home/username/spam-filter.sh" as the shell command, then select
"Does Not Return" and "0" as the remaining two
items. Substitute your username for "username" so that
Evolution can find the script.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
For actions, choose what you'd like to do with the
messages. You can delete the messages automatically, but
it's more prudent to place them in a "Possible Junk Mail"
folder, and check them over just to make sure a genuine
message didn't get flagged by accident.
</para></listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
You're done. Click "OK" to close the filter and "OK" to
close the filter editor.
</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>
<guimenuitem>Filters</guimenuitem>
</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>
The Unmatched vFolder is the mirror of all your other
vFolders: it displays whatever messages are not matched by
other vFolders.
</para>
<para>
If you use remote email storage like IMAP or Microsoft
Exchange, and have created vFolders to search through them,
the Unmatched vFolder will follow your lead, and search the
remote folders as well. If you do not create any vFolders that
search in remote mail stores, the Unmatched vFolder will not
search in them either.
</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 -- <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 -- perhaps you're
looking for messages less than two days old.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
Date Received - 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 receive, 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>
<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>
<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>
</chapter>
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