IMAP and the New Eudora

	Academic Computing and Communications Center


Oct/Nov/Dec 1998 Contents	IMAP: What's New in Electronic Mail	IMAP and the New Eudora	Table 1: Guide to Eudora Options	Table 2: How to be happy using Eudora Tips
Bringing UIC Services Home	What's Up at the ACCC	UIC Year 2000 Web Pages, Site Index	About the A3C Connection

IMAP and the New Eudora (for Windows only)

The ACCC Post

Windows Everyone

Now that I've convinced you...

Now that I've convinced you that IMAP is a good thing, how about trying it out? The instructions and tips in this article should give you what you need to get started using Eudora (version 4.1 or higher for Windows only) with IMAP.

Never used Eudora before? Don't worry, it's easy. The Eudora Quick Start Guide will fill you in. (See How to use Eudora, in general and with IMAP.)

Not convinced yet? Let's see. Are you a mainframe person who's been sticking with Pine or a CMS mail system because you already know how to use it? Or perhaps you've looked at Eudora in the past and haven't switched because it was just too weird for you? Even for you, now's the time to check Eudora out (again?). With IMAP and Eudora v4.1 set up as I suggest in table 1, with the how-to-be-happy-using-Eudora tips in table 2, and with my advice for new Eudora users ((5) What to do the first time you use Eudora), I think you'll find that you will like Eudora a lot better now.

Note: If you're coming from CMS, you'll have to move your email to a UNIX server, preferably mailserv.uic.edu, before you can use IMAP. But you'll have to do that soon, anyway. (See A Time of Opportunity, a Time to Move On, The A3C Connection, July/August/September 1998.) The ACCC seminar Migrating Email from CMS to Eudora. Even if you can't attend the seminars, take a look at its online materials; they include step-by-step instuctions.

There are even tools to convert your NAMES and NOTEBOOK files into forms that Eudora can use.

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Getting Started

The first step is to get a copy of Eudora Pro v4.1. It's included in Version 4.3 of the ACCC Network Services Kit. You can purchase it on a CD for $15 at the UIC campus bookstores. Or, if the PC you're using is on campus and if it has a decent connection to the campus network, use your Web browser to download it: ftp://ftp.uic.edu/pub/nskit/
and run that exec to begin the install process.

Setting Eudora up to use IMAP

If you already have Eudora installed, don't install version 4.1 over your previous Eudora; it's best to chose a new directory for the new version. When you install v4.1, it will reuse your previous accounts and options. To convert to using IMAP, you only have to change the settings in the Incoming Mail options window. (See table 1.)

If you're using Eudora for the first time, install it, then run the program. Its setup wizard will help you "create a brand new account."

In either case, here's the information that you'll need to use Eudora with IMAP. These responses are based on our fictional faculty/staff member, Ada Byron Lovelace, whose netid is adabyron, who receives email at her account on tigger, and who has adabyron@uic.edu pointing to her tigger account. (Maybe she used the new phupdate Web page to do this; see "UIC ph Directory Updates," page 9.)

(1) Your name: Ada Byron Lovelace

(2) Your return email address: adabyron@uic.edu

(3) Your login name. Working from your email address, Eudora will correctly assume this is: adabyron

(4) Incoming E-Mail Server: tigger.cc.uic.edu
If Ada's account was on the ACCC's email-only machine, this would be: mailserv.uic.edu

(5) Where it asks you to choose the type of server you are using, click the radio button beside IMAP. (The default is POP, so make sure you change this if you want to use IMAP.)

(6) The IMAP location prefix for Ada's account on tigger is: ~adabyron/mail/
Don't enter this wrong; you'll suffer dire consequences if you do. Make sure you include the trailing slash.

(7) Outgoing email server. For machines on campus or if you use an ACCC dialup line, use:
smtpserv8.cc.uic.edu
If you're connecting from home using a commercial ISP (Internet service provider), use their SMTP server. Ask them what its name is. (If you're updating a previous Eudora "personality", this is a Sending Mail option, see table 1. Do check this out; the default SMTP server selected by Eudora is wrong for people at UIC and the account wizards in prior versions of Eudora didn't ask whether the default it selected for SMTP server was correct.) [For more information, see Changing to Your ISP's SMTP Server.)

And that's it. Though you might want to change a few other options too; Eudora's got a mess of them! I've described some of the most important options in table 1.

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Figure 1: Eudora v4.1 with IMAP, Eudora setup as in table 1

Ada's mailboxes are listed in the Mailboxes tab on the left. The mailboxes named "family" and "funstuff" live on Ada's PC, while those named "Charles" and "program" are on the email server, under <Dominant>. ("Dominant" means "on the email server."). Only the Inbox, Charles, and program are IMAP mailboxes, and only they will be available when using pine or when using Eudora on different machines.

In, Out, and Trash (at the top) are Eudora POP mailboxes. You won't use In if you use IMAP. If you have you local mailboxes (such as family and funstuff), you will use Out and Trash.

As it says in the Eudora window title, the Inbox's message index is displayed in the right part of the Eudora window. The Inbox's button is also "depressed" (white) in the taskbar at the bottom of the screen.

The message from UICPRINT is marked for deletion; the messages from T.O.P Banana and Charles Babbage haven't been read yet. The Inbox (on the server), the message from L-Soft, and the Charles mailbox are open. Ada could click on the appropriate button on the taskbar to display any one of them. She has right-clicked on the L-Soft message's button; she could select Close from the menu to close the message window.

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Table 1: A Visual Guide to Eudora v4.1 Options

Table 1: A Visual Guide to Eudora v4.1 Options

Table 2: How-to-be-happy-using-Eudora (in general and with IMAP) Tips

Table 2: How-to-be-happy-using-Eudora (in general and with IMAP) Tips

How to use Eudora, in general and with IMAP

Eudora comes with a lot of documentation, but you can get started with just its Quick Start Guide, QuickSt.pdf in your Eudora directory. (If you used Qualcomm's Eudora 4.x to 4.1 updater, you can also get to the Guide with Start -> Programs -> Eudora Pro -> Quick Start Guide.) Use Adobe Acrobat to print a copy and you'll be set.

Well, you'll almost be set. The Guide doesn't quite cover everything you'll need when you're using Eudora with IMAP and it's missing a few items that people coming from CMS or UNIX will probably want to know. This section fills in those blanks.

For IMAP:

(1) How to delete messages from IMAP mailboxes.
(2) How to refresh IMAP mailboxes.

For people coming to Eudora from CMS or UNIX:

(3) How to save copies of outgoing messages.
(4) How to make a Eudora filter.

For Eudora beginners:

(5) What to do the first time you use Eudora.
(6) What to do with all those "panes".

I'm not sure that my experiences will apply to everyone, but my credentials as a former CMS mail and UNIX pine user are impeccable, so I've included suggestions for CMS mail and Pine users in both table 1 (Eudora options settings) and table 2 (how-to-be-happy-using-Eudora tips) on how to make Eudora look and act a bit more familiar.

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(1) How to delete messages from IMAP mailboxes.

This is different for IMAP mailboxes than as described in the Eudora Quick Start Guide, or as you're used to with local mailboxes managed by Eudora (which includes the In mailbox when using Eudora with a POP server).

An important quirk when using Eudora with IMAP is in deleting messages. Deleting messages is always a two-step process in Eudora, and the first step is always the same. But what the first step does and how you finally remove deleted messages are different for messages that are in mailboxes on your local machine and for messages in mailboxes that reside on the email service machine. (When you use IMAP, this includes your Eudora Inbox, which is also your email account's maildrop; see Tip #1.)

In either case, the first step to delete a message is: In the mailbox index, point to its message summary and either click once to highlight it or double-click to view the message. Then select Message -> Delete on the menu bar or click on the Trash can icon in the toolbar. And then: For messages in a local mailbox on your PC: The first step removes the deleted message from its mailbox and moves it into Eudora's Trash mailbox. To actually delete all the deleted messages, empty the Trash mailbox with Special -> Empty Trash.

For messages in a mailbox kept on the email service machine (under <Dominant> in the Mailboxes tab): The first step marks the message for deletion; its entry will stay in the mailbox index but it will be marked with a big red X in the server status column. (See figure 1 below.) To actually remove all the deleted messages in a particular mailbox, open the mailbox and use Message -> Remove Deleted Messages, as shown in figure 2. Repeat this step for each mailbox you deleted messages from. (For an IMAP shortcut for deleting and undeleting messages, see Tip #11.)

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Figure 2: Removing deleted messages from an IMAP mailbox

Ada's Inbox is open. She has selected Message on the menu bar and is about to select Remove Deleted Messages to finish the process of deleting the messages in the Inbox that she has marked for deletion, those with a red X in the server status column. In this case, there is just one, the message with the Subject: "Letter from the President."

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(2) How to refresh IMAP mailboxes.

IMAP's biggest advantage is its allowing you to store your mailboxes and folders "remotely", which means that you can keep them on a secure, shared machine -- tigger or mailserv.uic.edu, the ACCC's new email-only service machine -- and you and only you will have access to all your mail, at anytime, from anywhere. Thus, in the course of a day, you could use pine on tigger to delete some stored messages (even if your email account is on the email-only service machine!), use Eudora on your PC at work to create a new IMAP mailbox, and use Eudora on your PC at home to empty and delete an old IMAP mailbox.

While this is great for you, it creates a minor problem for Eudora. For efficiency, Eudora keeps a snapshot on your personal computer of the current status of the mailboxes and folders that you keep on the email service machine. When Eudora checks your mail, it only checks for changes in the Inbox. (That makes sense, because when you use IMAP, your email account's maildrop is your Inbox.) To make Eudora aware of any other changes to mailboxes and folders that live on the email service machine, you "resynchronize" mailboxes and "refresh" folder lists.

The good news is that it's easy. Just opening a mailbox resynchronizes it, or, in the Mailboxes tab, right-click the folder or mailbox name, then select Refresh Mailbox List for folders or Resynchronize Mailbox for mailboxes. (See figure 3.) The bad news is that Eudora can't tell you when you need to do it; so, when in doubt, refresh! (Particularly if you use procmail on the server to prefilter your email.)

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Figure 3: Resynchronizing an IMAP mailbox

Point to the mailbox name in the Mailboxes tab, right-click, then select Resynchronize Mailbox from the menu.

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(3) How to save copies of outgoing messages.

Unlike Pine and the CMS mail facilities, Eudora doesn't keep copies of outgoing messages unless you tell it to, but that's easy to fix. You have two automatic choices:

To put a copy of every outgoing message in the Out mailbox, turn Keep copies on in the Sending Mail options window (table 1).
To put a copy of every reply you send to messages that you've moved to one of your mailboxes (as opposed to the mailboxes that Eudora supplies for you), turn Automatically Fcc to original mailbox on in the Replying options window.

You can also tell Eudora where to put copies of an outgoing message while you're composing it:

To put a copy of the current outgoing message in the Out mailbox, click the Keep Copy icon on the toolbar. It looks like two sheets of paper; it's between ->| and RR (Tabs in Body and Return Receipt). It's selected if it looks like it's pushed in.
To put a copy of the current outgoing message in a particular mailbox, right-click anywhere in the body or header of the message, select Fcc from the menu, then select the mailbox you want. (For more on right-clicking in Eudora, see Tip #7.)

If you don't choose one of these four options, Eudora will put outgoing messages into the Trash mailbox when it sends them.

Note: You can also set up a filter to save individual outgoing messages into particular mailboxes based on information contained in the message. See below.

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(4) How to make a Eudora filter.

Eudora is a first-rate email program and has lots of neat features, but for me, its biggest advantage is how easy it is to create and use email filters in it. That's a good thing, too, because I had Pine (and the CMS mail utilities before it) set up to know which mailbox to put each message that I sent or received into, based on who I sent it to or got it from. Eudora doesn't even keep copies of the messages you send unless you tell it to. ((3) How to save copies of outgoing messages explains how.) Filters are the only way to get Eudora to put copies of outgoing messages into specific mailboxes automatically. (Except for replies; see (3) How to save copies of outgoing messages.)

For example, Ada Byron has a note from Charles Babbage in her Inbox. (See figure 1.) She can use this to make a filter to move the messages she receives from him at his cb@first.computer.com email address into her Charles mailbox (which happens to be on the server).

First, open the message from Charles. Then select Special -> Make Filter to open the Make Filter dialog box, shown in figure 4. Eudora prefills the dialog box using information from the open message.

We want this filter to be applied to all Incoming mail, and Manual would be nice too. (Manual filters are applied when you select Special -> Filter Messages.) No changes here; both are selected by default.

We're looking for messages from Charles, so we use the From condition. Case doesn't matter in Eudora filters, so cb@first.computer.com will match CB@First.Computer.com or any mixture. It is a good idea to remove the name from the condition, just in case he ever sends anything with a different name.

The only thing left is to tell Eudora which mailbox to move Charles' messages into; it's an existing mailbox, so click Transfer to Existing Mailbox.

Eudora will display the mailbox tree in menu form. Select <Dominant> -> Charles (as shown in figure 4), and click Make Filter. That's all there is to it. There is, of course, lots more you can do with Eudora filters. See "Managing Your Messages" in the Eudora User Manual.

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Figure 4: Make Filter dialog

Ada is making a Eudora filter for incoming messages she receives from Charles Babbage, cb@first.computer.com. She's gotten to the point of selecting a mailbox to move the messages into.

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(5) What to do the first time you use Eudora.

Eudora is somewhat intimidating the first time you use it to read your mail -- all you'll see is a more or less blank window. But it's easy to make it look a bit more familiar and to be more immediately useful.

First, in the Mailboxes tab on the left side of the Eudora window, double-click on <Dominant> to expand the list of mailboxes you already have on the email server machine. (If necessary. If you used pine in the past, you're likely to have some mailboxes on your "email service machine." Eudora with IMAP has no problem whatsoever using Pine mailboxes.)

Then open your Inbox: in the Mailboxes tab, double-click on the icon to the left of the mailbox's name. (Don't click on the name itself; you might end up renaming the mailbox. If that happens, to get out of edit mode, press Enter or click somewhere else in the Mailboxes tab window, in an open area.)

After you open the Inbox, click on the maximize button of the Inbox index window. The object here is to make the Inbox index window fill the entire right hand side of the Eudora window, not to make the Eudora window itself fill your whole screen. (Yes, it's quite all right to have a window within Eudora maximized without having the entire Eudora window maximized, see figure 1.)

You might see "preview pane" on the bottom right, displaying the highlighted message. I suggest you turn this off; see Viewing Mail in table 1.

Now your Eudora should look similar to Ada's (figure 1). Eudora re-opens just as it's closed, so just be sure you leave the Inbox window open and maximized whenever you close Eudora, and you'll never have to face that intimidating blank window again.

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(6) What to do with all those "panes".

One final tip. Unlike CMS's and UNIX's text-based screens, which can only display one window at a time, Eudora is a Windows program; you can have lots of windows open in the Eudora window at the same time. Eudora calls these subwindows "panes".

This can be an advantage. You can, for example, have a message open in one pane while you're working on a reply in another. It can also be a problem. If you have too many panes open at once, you'll never be able to find anything.

So my advice is: When you're done with a message or mailbox, close it by clicking on its close button, X in the pane's upper right corner. Don't click on the Eudora window's close button, though. (It's easy to get them confused when a Eudora pane is maximized. Then the pane's close button is right below the one belonging to the whole Eudora window. See figure 1 and figure 5.)

You can also close any open mailbox index or message pane by right-clicking on its button in Eudora's taskbar and selecting Close. (See figure 1.) The taskbar is toward the bottom, on the right-hand side; beside the Qualcomm. You will have a button on the taskbar for mailbox or message window that's open. If the buttons are too small for you to read their labels, pause with your mouse pointer over a button and Eudora will tell you what it is. This works in general; leave the mouse pointer over any button and Eudora will tell you what it is or does.

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Figure 5: Windows dialog boxes and control buttons

If you've done any work in Windows, you already know this, but just in case...

Dialog Boxes: Any Windows program will, from time to time, open a "dialog box". This is a small window that might tell you the results of a command, ask you to enter something (your password perhaps), and so on. Before you can go on, you have to respond to the question and close the dialog box: click OK or Cancel or the close button.

Control Buttons: As in any Windows window, the Eudora mailbox index, message viewing, and message composing windows all have the standard three window control buttons in their upper right-hand corner:

For maximized windows:

Otherwise:

From left to right, these are minimize, maximize/restore, and close.

Comments are welcome; please send them to
Judith Grobe Sachs, judygs@uic.edu

The A3C Connection, Oct/Nov/Dec 1998

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2002-6-14 connect@uic.edu