Using Eudora IMAP Personalities

Defining and using an IMAP personality in Eudora works almost as you'd expect it to. In particular,

• The incoming email for each personality appears in that personality's Inbox, in the bottom half of the Mailboxes window, below <Dominant>.
  
  
• Eudora doesn't check email for any personality unless you tell it to:
  • To check mail just once:
    1. Go to the Personalities window (click the Personality tab, below (Windows)/above (Macs) the Mailboxes window, or select Tools (Windows) or Windows (Macs) -> Personalities from the Eudora menu),
       • Windows: Right click on the personality's name, and select Check Mail from the right-click menu.
       • Macs: Click on the personality's name, and click the Resynchronize Inbox button at the bottom of the window (a blue inbox with a blue arrow pointing down into it).
  • Or you can set the personality to automatically check mail, as described in Problem #1. Incoming Email below.
    
    
• When you reply to email in a IMAP personality's mailbox, either the Inbox or in any of its other mailboxes, that personality's options -- in particular, its SMTP server, default signature, and default stationary -- are used for the reply.
  
  
• Personalities' mailboxes, even IMAP personalities' Inboxes, are just like any other Eudora mailbox. In particular, you can transfer individual email messages from any mailbox, belonging to any personality (even a POP one), to any other mailbox (including the Eudora In mailbox and any IMAP personality's Inbox).

But there are two complications and one minor annoyance.

If you have two personalities that use the same login name and server -- you will want to set the dominant personality to not check mail while you're using the alternate personality or you'll have your Inbox open twice. (Which is not bad, necessarily, but it might be confusing for you.) This used to be common for laptops that people carried from UIC to home, where they used a commercial ISP with a different ISP and therefore a different SMTP server. But that's not a problem anymore, because you can use the ACCC's authenticated SMTP server mail.uic.edu from anywhere, so you don't have to change SMTP servers regardless of where and how you are connecting.

To switch from downloading email from Personality #1 to Personality #2:

1. Set Personality #1 not to check email:
   1. Click the Personality tab: Select Tools->Personalities (Windows) or Windows->Personalities (Macs)
   2. Open Properties:
      • Macs: Click on Personality #1 to highlight it, then click the Properties Icon at the bottom (the last button, two heads over a piece of paper with a pencil writing on it)
      • Right-click on Personality #1, then select Properties from the righ-click menu.
   3. Click the Generic Properties tab,
   4. Uncheck Check mail (on Generic Properties tab on Windows)
   5. Click OK.
      
      
2. Set Personality #2 to check mail. (As above).
   
   
3. Return to the mailboxes window: click the blue mail inbox, the first button at the bottom of the window (Window) or at the top of the window (Macs).
   
   
4. If the <Personality #1> mailbox list is expanded, double-click on its name in the Mailboxes window to contract it (Windows) or click on the blue arrow by its name (Macs) ; likewise, if the <Personality #2> mailbox list is not expanded, double-click on its name to expand it (Windows) or click on the blue arrow by its name (Macs).
   

The new message icon (or Message->New) will use continue to use the Dominant personality's options (including its SMTP server).

There are several ways to create a new message from an alternate personality:

1. Use the new message icon (or Message->New) to open the new message, then click on the grey down arrow beside the From: field and select the personality you want from the list. That's not hard, but you do have to remember to do it.
   
   
2. Open the message in the Personalities tab:
   1. Click the Personalities tab, and
   2. Double click the name of the personality you want the message to be from.
   
   
3. Windows only: Use the new message icon (or Message->New) to open the new message, and then change the personality while you're composing the message:
   1. Right click in the message's window,
   2. Select Change Personality from the right-click menu, then
   3. Double click the name of the personality you want to use.

Note that replies shouldn't be a problem. Just make sure you open the message you're replying to using the mailbox tree (Inbox and mailboxes) for the personality you want used for your replies. Eudora will automatically use that personality in the reply. (And if you get it wrong, you can always change it as described in 1. above.)

Eudora always displays the expanded mailbox folder tree for every one of your IMAP personalities in its Mailbox window, regardless of whether you're checking its email. Thus, if you have alternate IMAP personalities that point to a single IMAP account (same login id and incoming mail server), Eudora will display your entire IMAP mail folder tree multiple times, once for each personality that uses that login id and mail server.

This can get confusing. (For you, mostly. Eudora won't know what you did to any mailbox or folder though the other personality, but right-clicking on the mailbox or mail folder name in the Mailboxes window under the other personality and selecting Resynchronize Mailbox or Refresh Mailbox List will fix that.)

My advice is to close the mailbox tree of all the IMAP personalities you're not currently using; you're much less likely to open the wrong mailbox by accident that way. Double-clicking on the personality's name in the Mailbox window will close its mailbox tree (or open it, if it's currently closed).

It can matter which mailbox tree you use; when you reply to messages, Eudora will use the personality that the mailbox the message you're replying to is in as the default personality for the reply. (See Problem #2: New Messages for more information.)