path: root/help/C/usage-mainwindow.sgml

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<chapter id="usage-mainwindow">

  <title>The Evolution Workspace</title>
  <sect1 id="usage-mainwindow-starting">
    <title>The First Time you Start Evolution</title>
    <para>
      Start <application>Evolution</application> by selecting
      <guimenuitem>Evolution</guimenuitem> from your
      <guimenu>Programs</guimenu> menu, 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. Then, it will offer to help you set up mail accounts and
      import data from other applications.
    </para>
    <para>
      The first screen welcomes you to the assistant.  It is estimated that
      configuring your mail will take 2 to 5 minutes and importing mail will
      take 1 to 2 minutes.
    </para>

    <sect2 id="first-step">
      <title>Step 1 of 4</title>
      <para>
    The Identity window is the first of four steps in the
    assistant.  The identity step will ask you to enter your basic
    personal information.
    <itemizedlist>
      <listitem>
        <para>
          Full Name &mdash; Your full name (Example: John Doe).
        </para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>
          Email Address &mdash; Your email address (Example: john@doe.com)
        </para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>
          Organization &mdash; The company where you work (optional).
        </para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>
          Signature file &mdash; If you'd like to use an email
          <glossterm linkend="signature">signature</glossterm>,
          select your signature file here.  Normally, the
          signature will be the contents of the
          <filename>.signature</filename> file in your home
          directory.
        </para>
      </listitem>
    </itemizedlist>
      </para>
    </sect2>

    <sect2 id="second-step">
      <title>Step 2 of 4</title>
      <para>
    The <guilabel>Recieving Email</guilabel> step lets you configure
    receving email people have sent you.
    <itemizedlist>
      <listitem>
        <para>
          Server Type &mdash; There are numerous types of servers which
          <application>Evolution</application> can download your email from:
          <itemizedlist>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            POP &mdash; Downloads your email to your hard disk for
            permanent storage.
          </para>
        </listitem>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            IMAPv4 &mdash; Keeps the email on your server so you can
            access your email from any computer that supports IMAPv4 and
            have everything be the same.
          </para>
        </listitem>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            Unix mbox spool-format file &mdash; Bad description, we're
            getting a better definition shortly.
          </para>
        </listitem>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            Standard Unix mailbox file &mdash; Bad description, we're
            getting a better definition shortly.
          </para>
        </listitem>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            Qmail maildir format files &mdash; If you download your
            mail using qmail, you'll want to use this.
          </para>
        </listitem>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            None &mdash How do you  have None?  figure out!
          </para>
        </listitem>
          </itemizedlist>
        </para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>
          Email Server &mdash; This is the address of the server you're
          downloading from.
        </para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>
          Username &mdash; The username that you login to your email.  That
          is often the part before the @ in your email.
        </para>
        <para>
          Authentication Type &mdash; Chances are you are using
          <guilabel>Password</guilabel>.  Ask your administrator for more
          details.  You can have <application>Evolution</application> check
          by clicking <guibutton>Check for supported types</guibutton>.
        </para>
        <para>
          Remember Password &mdash; If you prefer to not enter your
          password everytime you check email, press this button.
        </para>
      </listitem>
    </itemizedlist>
      </para>
    </sect2>
    <sect2 id="third-step">
      <title>Step 3 or 4</title>
      <para>
    The <guilabel>Sending Email</guilabel> step lets you configure sending 
    email.
    <itemizedlist>
      <listitem>
        <para>
          Server Type &mdash; There are numerous server types that
          <application>Evolution</application> supports for sending your
          mail.
          <itemizedlist>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            SMTP &mdash; Downloads mail into your mailbox file.
          </para>
        </listitem>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            Sendmail &mdash; Uses another program to download your mail
            to your mailbox files.
          </para>
        </listitem>
          </itemizedlist>
        </para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>
          Host &mdash; If you chose SMTP, enter the server's name
          or IP address here.
        </para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>
          Server requires authentication &mdash; If your server
          requires you to enter a password to send mail, check
          this box.
        </para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>
          Authentication Type &mdash; Chances are you are using
          <guilabel>Password</guilabel>.  If you're not sure, ask
          your system administrator or ISP, or have
          <application>Evolution</application> check for you by
          clicking <guibutton>Check for supported
          types</guibutton>.
        </para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>
          Username &mdash; The account name you use when you login
          to check your email.  Normally, this is the part of your
          email address before the '@' character.
        </para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>
          Remember Password &mdash; If you prefer to not enter
          your password every time you check email, press this
          button.
        </para>
      </listitem>
    </itemizedlist>
      </para>
    </sect2>

  <sect2 id="fourth-step">
      <title>Step 4 of 4</title>
      <para>
    Chances are, <application>Evolution</application> isn't your first email
    program.  You're probably switching from another program and will want
    access to your email from your old program.  It's for exactly these 
    situations that <application>Evolution</application> includes an import 
    feature.
      </para>
      <para>
    <application>Evolution</application> can import the following types of
    files:
          <variablelist>
           <varlistentry>
        <term>VCard (.vcf, gcrd)</term>
        <listitem>
          <para>
             The most common addressbook format.
          </para>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term>Outlook Express 4 (.mbx)</term>
        <listitem>
          <para>
                 Email file format used by Outlook Express 4.
          </para>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term>MBox (mbox)</term>
        <listitem>
          <para>
           The email box format used by Netscape, Evolution,
           Eudora, and many other email clients.
         </para>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>
       </variablelist>
</para>
<para>
    <note>
      <title>Outlook 2000</title>
      <para>
    Outlook 2000 uses a proprietary format that
    <application>Evolution</application> cannot import directly.
    To import files from Outlook 2000, you will need to boot to
    Windows, import the files into Mozilla mail, then reboot and
    import from Mozilla.  Please see the <xref linkend="evolution-faq">FAQ for more
    information.
      </para>
    </note>     


      Ask your system administrator if you aren't sure which you use.
    </para>

      <tip>
    <title>Exporting Files From Evolution</title>
    <para>
          Evolution uses standard file types for all its information,
          so you should have no trouble taking your information
          elsewhere if you want.
        </para>
    <para>
          For mail, that's <filename>mbox</filename>, for calendar,
          <filename>iCal</filename>, and for the address book, vCards
          in a <filename>.db3</filename> database.
        </para>
      </tip>
    </sect2>
  </sect1>

  <sect1 id="ui-intro">
    <title>What's What in Evolution</title>
    <para>
        Now that you've gotten the first-run configuration out of the
        way, you're ready to get down to work.  Here's a quick
        explanation of what's going on in your main
        <application>Evolution</application> window.
    </para>

    <figure id="preface-basic-interface">
      <title>The Evolution Main Window</title>
      <screenshot>
    <screeninfo>Inbox</screeninfo>
    <graphic fileref="fig/mainwindow-pic.png" format="png" srccredit="Kevin Breit">
    </graphic>
      </screenshot>
    </figure>
    
    <para>
      <inlinegraphic fileref="fig/full-1.png" format="png"></inlinegraphic>
      <guilabel>Menubar</guilabel>
    </para>
    
    <para>
      The <guilabel>Menubar</guilabel> gives you access to nearly all the
      features that can be found in <application>Evolution</application>.
    </para>

    <para>
      <inlinegraphic fileref="fig/full-2.png" format="png"></inlinegraphic>
      <guilabel>Toolbar</guilabel>
    </para>

    <para>
      The <guilabel>Toolbar</guilabel> gives you fast and easy access to the
      most used features in each component.
    </para>
    
    <para>
      <inlinegraphic fileref="fig/full-3.png" format="png"></inlinegraphic>
      <guilabel>Shortcut Bar</guilabel>
    </para>
    
    <para>
      The <guilabel>Shortcut Bar</guilabel> lets you go to your favorite
      components with the click of a click of a button.  
    </para>
    
    <para>
      <inlinegraphic fileref="fig/full-4.png" format="png"></inlinegraphic>
      <guilabel>Status Bar</guilabel>
    </para>
    
    <para>
      Periodically, <application>Evolution</application> will need to quietly
      display a message, or tell you the progress of a task.  This most
      often happens when you're checking or sending email.  These progress
      queues are shown here, in the <guilabel>Status Bar</guilabel>.  
    </para>
    
    <para>
      <inlinegraphic fileref="fig/full-5.png" format="png"></inlinegraphic>
      <guilabel>Search Bar</guilabel>
    </para>
    
    <para>
      The <guilabel>Search Bar</guilabel> lets you search through your email
      with precision so you can easily find what you're looking for.
    </para>


  <sect2 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 group buttons.
    </para>
    <para>
       Take a look at the <guilabel>Shortcut Bar</guilabel>
       The shortcut buttons in that category are:

        <variablelist>
          <varlistentry>
        <term> <guibutton>My Evolution</guibutton></term>
        <listitem>
        <para>
            Start your day here.  <guilabel>My Evolution</guilabel>
            gives you a quick summary of new or important messages,
            daily appointments and urgent tasks.  You can customize
            its appearance and content, and use it to access
            Evolution services.
          </para>
        </listitem>
          </varlistentry>

    <varlistentry>
      <term> <guibutton>Inbox</guibutton></term>
      <listitem>
        <para>
          Click the <guibutton>Inbox</guibutton> button to start
          reading your mail.  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>Tasks</guibutton></term>
    <listitem>
      <para>
         A full-size view of your calendar's task pad.
      </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>
      <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>
    </sect2>
    <sect2 id="usage-mainwindow-folderbar">
    <title>Folders and 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>&mdash; it starts small at the top, and branches
      downwards. On most computers, there will be three or four
      folders at the base.  First is the <guilabel>Local</guilabel>
      folder, which holds all the <application>Evolution</application>
      data that's stored on your computer.  After that are
      <guilabel>Other Contacts</guilabel>, <glossterm
      linkend="ldap">LDAP</glossterm> contact directories stored on a
      network, followed by any <glossterm
      linkend="imap">IMAP</glossterm> mail folders you may have
      available to you over your network.  Lastly, there are
      <guilabel>Virtual Folders</guilabel>, discussed in <xref
      linkend="usage-mail-organize-vfolders">,
    </para>
    <para>
       
      A typical <guilabel>Local</guilabel> folder contains the following folders:
      <itemizedlist>
     <listitem>
        <para>
         <guilabel>My Evolution</guilabel>, a quick summary to help you do
         your tasks.
           </para>
     </listitem>
     <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>Drafts</guilabel>, for messages you started and didn't finish.
       </para>
     </listitem>
     <listitem>
        <para>
         <guilabel>Inbox</guilabel>, for incoming mail. 
       </para>
     </listitem>

    <listitem>
       <para>
        <guilabel>Outbox</guilabel>, for messages you have written
        but not yet sent.  This will be empty unless you use
        <application>Evolution</application> while offline.
       </para>
     </listitem>

    <listitem>
       <para>
        <guilabel>Sent</guilabel>, for sent mail.
       </para>
     </listitem>

    <listitem>
        <para>
        <guilabel>Trash</guilabel>, a virtual folder view of all
        the messages you have marked for deletion but not yet
        <glossterm linkend="expunge">expunged</glossterm>. Note that 
        once you have expunged a message, it
        is permanently deleted.
       </para>
     </listitem>
      </itemizedlist>

    </para>
    <tip id="foldertips">
    <title>Navigating without the Folder Bar</title>
       <para>
         You don't need the folder bar or the shortcut bar to move
         around the main window. You can use <keycap>Tab</keycap> to
         switch from one part of the window to another. When you hide the folder
         bar, 
         there is a menu on the left side of the window just below the toolbar
         to move about the folder tree, even with the folder and
         shortcut bars hidden.
       </para>
     </tip>

    <para>
       If you get any serious amount of mail, you'll want more folders
       than just your Inbox.  
    To create a new folder:
    <orderedlist numeration="arabic">
      <listitem>
        <para>
          Select
          <menuchoice> <guimenu>File</guimenu>
        <guisubmenu>New</guisubmenu>
        <guimenuitem>Folder</guimenuitem></menuchoice>
          <keycombo action="simul">
        <keycap>Shift</keycap>
        <keycap>Ctrl</keycap>
        <keycap>E</keycap>
          </keycombo>.
        </para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>
          Select the name of the folder in the <guilabel>Folder
        Name</guilabel> field.
        </para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>
          Select the folder type.  The available options are.

          <itemizedlist>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            Calendar
          </para>
        </listitem>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            Contacts
          </para>
        </listitem>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            Mail
          </para>
        </listitem>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            Mail Storage
          </para>
        </listitem>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            My Evolution
          </para>
        </listitem>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            Tasks
          </para>
        </listitem>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            vTrash
          </para>
        </listitem>
          </itemizedlist>

        </para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>
          Select the folder for the new folder to go in.
        </para>
      </listitem>
    </orderedlist>
      </para>
    
    <sect3 id="subfolders">
    <title>Subfolders</title>
      <para>
        <application>Evolution</application> can also manage subfolders,
    subfolders are folders inside of folders.  This works well if
    you want to try to separate your home folders from your work
    folders, or if you like to keep very organized.
      </para>

    

       <note>
      <title>Folders Have Limits</title>
      <para>
              Calendars must 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 the folder. </para></listitem>
    <listitem><para><guimenuitem>Open in New Window</guimenuitem>, to see it in a new Evolution window. </para></listitem>
    <listitem><para><guimenuitem>Move</guimenuitem>, to move the folder to another location. </para></listitem>
    <listitem><para><guimenuitem>Copy</guimenuitem>, to duplicate the folder. </para></listitem>
    <listitem><para><guimenuitem>Delete</guimenuitem>, to delete the folder and all its contents. </para></listitem>
    <listitem><para><guimenuitem>Rename</guimenuitem>, to change its name. </para></listitem>
    <listitem><para><guimenuitem>Create New Folder</guimenuitem>, to create another folder in the same location. </para></listitem>
    <listitem><para><guimenuitem>Add to Shortcut Bar</guimenuitem>, to add the folder to your shortcut bar. </para></listitem>
    <listitem><para><guimenuitem>Properties</guimenuitem>, to view or change the folder properties. </para></listitem>

      </itemizedlist>
    </para>

    <para>
      You can also rearrange folders and messages by dragging and
      dropping them.
    </para>

    

<!--
    <tip>
     <title>Context-Sensitive Help</title>
      <para>
    GNOME 2.0 offers 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 mail folder, that folder label
      is displayed in bold text, along with the number of new messages in
      that folder inside of paranthesis.
    </para>
      </sect3>
    </sect2>
    
    <sect2 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></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></term>
          <listitem><para>
              The <guimenu>Edit</guimenu> menu holds
              useful tools that help you edit text and move it around.
          </para></listitem>
        </varlistentry>

       <varlistentry>
          <term> <guimenu>View</guimenu></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>Actions</guimenu></term>
          <listitem><para>
        Holds actions which maybe applied to a message.  Normally,
        if there is only one target for the action &mdash; for
        example, replying to a message &mdash; you can find it in
        the <guimenu>Actions</guimenu> menu.
          </para></listitem>
        </varlistentry>


       <varlistentry>
          <term> <guimenu>Tools</guimenu></term>
          <listitem><para>
             Tools for configuring, changing, and
          setting up preferences go here.  For mail, that means things like
          <guimenuitem>Mail Configuration</guimenuitem> and the
          <guimenuitem>Virtual Folder 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></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>
      Once you've familiarized yourself with the <interface>main
      window</interface> you can start doing things with it.  We'll
      start with <guilabel>My Evolution</guilabel>, the summary of
      everything that's going on.
    </para>
    </sect2>
  </sect1>
 
</chapter>