A User's Guide to Evolution
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# Evolution Mail

> An Overview of the Evolution Mailer

> `Evolution` email is like other email programs in all the ways you would hope:

> - It can sort and organize your mail in a wide variety of ways with folders, searches, and filters.

> - It can send and receive mail in HTML or as plain text, and supports file attachments.

> - It supports multiple mail sources, including IMAP, POP3, local `mbox` and `mh` files, and even NNTP data (newsgroups), which isn't technically email.

> However, `Evolution` has some important differences. First, it's built to handle very large amounts of mail without slowing down or crashing. Both the filtering and searching functions were built for speed and efficiency on gargantuan mail volumes. There's also the `Evolution` vFolder, an advanced organizational feature not found in other mail clients. If you get a lot of mail, or if you keep every message you get in case you need to refer to it later, you'll find that feature especially useful.

# Reading, Getting and Sending Mail

## Reading Mail

You can start reading email by clicking Inbox in the shortcut bar. By default, the Inbox is open when you start `Evolution`, and the first time you see your Inbox, there's a message in it from Helix Code welcoming you to the application.

The `Evolution` `Inbox`, should look like the one in Figure 1, which has a message from Helix Code. The message summary appears at the top, in the message list. The message itself is displayed below that, in the view pane. If you find the view pane too small, you can double-click on the message in the message list to have it open in a new window. Just like with folders, you can right-click on messages in the message list and get a menu of possible actions.

Figure 1. Evolution Mail

Most of the mail-related actions you'll want to perform are listed in the Message menu in the menu bar. The most frequently used ones, like Reply and Forward, also appear as buttons in the toolbar.

While you're there, have a look at the items items the bottom of the list, which are shortcuts for simple filter and vFolder creation. You can learn more about filters and vFolders in the section called Organizing Your Mail; a comprehensive description of this menu (and all the others) is in the chapter called Menu Reference.

### Sorting the message list

You can also select the order in which messages appear in that list. To sort by sender, subject, or date, click on the bars with those labels at the top of the message list. If you click twice, you'll sort them in reverse order.

Aside from sorting the messages, you can opt to have the messages threaded. Select View->Threaded to turn the threaded view on or off. If the option selected, `Evolution` will attempt to associate related messages by using the References, In-Reply-To, and Subject message headers. Messages which are related are then placed next to each other, so that it's easier to follow the thread of a conversation from message to message.

### Deleting Mail

To delete a message, select it in the the message list by clicking on it once. Then click on the Delete button in the tool bar. The message now has a line through it, because you've marked it for deletion.

If you really want to get rid of it, choose Expunge from the Folder menu. That will delete it permanently. If you want to keep it, click Delete again, and it will no longer be marked as deleted. At some point in the future, this feature will change to something a little less counter-intuitive.

## Checking Mail

Now that you've had a look around the Inbox, it's time to check for new mail. Before you get it, though, you should decide where you want to keep it. Your options will vary a little depending on your network setup, but they come down to storing the mail on your hard disk (using POP), or storing it on the network (using IMAP). If you store your mail on your local hard disk, you can read it whether you're online or not, but you can only read it from one computer. If you store it on the network, you can only read it when you're online, but you can access it from almost any computer with a network connection, even if it doesn't have `Evolution`.

If you choose POP, you'll be putting mail in the `Inbox` in the `Local` folder. If you choose IMAP, it's the `Inbox` of a folder with the same name as your mail server. That's so you can maintain several distinct IMAP servers if you want. See the section called Mail Settings in the chapter called Advanced Configuration for more information about mail servers.

Regardless of where you keep your mail, you can click Get mail in the toolbar to check your mail. The first time you do that, the mail setup assistant will ask you for the information it needs to check your mail (see the chapter called Easy Setup with the Setup Assistant for more information). If you're checking mail over a network (instead of from local `mbox` files), you'll need to enter your email password. Type it in, click OK and `Evolution` will download your mail. New mail will appear in your Inbox.

Once you've entered your password, `Evolution` will hold it in memory so that you don't have to retype it every time you want to check mail. It will only remember the password until you quit the application; each time you run `Evolution`, you need to re-enter your password. If you'd like `Evolution` to forget your password sooner, select Settings->Forget Passwords, and it will do so immediately.

If you get an error message instead of mail, you probably need to change your network settings. To learn how to do that, have a look at the section called Network Settings in the chapter called Advanced Configuration, or ask your system administrator.

### Using Evolution for News

Newsgroups are so similar to email there's no reason not to read them side by side. If you want to do that, add a news source to your configuration (see the section called News Servers in the chapter called Advanced Configuration). The news server will appear as a remote server, and will look exactly like an IMAP folder, except that you can't delete messages from it. When you click Get Mail, `Evolution` will also check for news messages. If you prefer to use a different program, there's always `Pan`.

### Attachments, HTML Mail, and Live Documents

If someone sends you a file attached to an email (an "attachment"), `Evolution` will display the file at the bottom of the message to which it's attached. Text, HTML, and most images will be displayed in the message itself. For other files, `Evolution` will provide a link and icon at the end of the message. Click on that, and `Evolution` will ask you where you want to put the file. Once you've chosen a location and saved the file, you can open, move, copy, or execute it just like any other, using `Nautilus` or your favorite shell or file manager.

`Evolution` can also display HTML-formatted mail, complete with graphics. HTML formatting will display automatically, although you can turn it off if you prefer.

## Writing and Sending Mail

You can start writing a new email message by selecting File->New-> Mail, or by pressing the Compose button in the Inbox toolbar. When you do so, the New Message window will open, as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2. New Message Window

Enter an address in the `To:` field, a subject in the `Subject:` and a message in the big empty box at the bottom of the window, and press Send. That's easy. It may even be too easy, which is why I like to queue my messages up to be sent a few minutes later.

### Saving Messages for Later

Evolution will send mail immediately unless you tell it to do otherwise by selecting File->Send Later. That will add messages to the `Outbox` queue. Then, when you press Send in another message, or Get Mail in the main mail window, all your unsent messages will go out at once. I like to use "Send Later" because it gives me a chance to change my mind about a message before it goes out. That way, I don't send anything I'll regret the next day.

You can also choose to save messages as drafts or as text files. Choose File->Save or Save As to save your message as a text file. If you prefer to keep your message in a folder (the `Drafts` folder would be the obvious place), you can select File->Save In Folder.

To learn more about how you can specify message queue and filter behavior, see the section called Mail Settings in the chapter called Advanced Configuration.

You can probably guess the purpose of the buttons labelled Cut, Copy, Paste, Undo and Redo , but there's a bit more to sending mail that's less obvious. In the next few sections, you'll see how `Evolution` handles additional features, including large recipient lists, attachments, and forwarding.

### Attachments

If you want to attach a file to your email message, you can drag it from your desktop into the message window, or click the button in the toolbar with a paper clip on it, labelled Attach. If you click the Attach button, `Evolution` will open a file selection dialog box, to ask you which file you want to send. Select the file and click `OK`.

To see what files you've attached to the message you're composing, select View->Show Attachments.

When you send the message, a copy of the attached file will go with it. Be aware that big attachments can take a long time to download.

### Choosing Recipients

If you have created address cards in the contact manager, you can also enter nicknames or other portions of address data, and `Evolution` will complete the address for you. If you enter a name or nickname that can go with more than one card, Evolution will open a dialog box to ask you which person you meant.

Alternately, you can click on the To:, Cc:, or Bcc: buttons to get a list of email addresses. Click the check-boxes next to the addresses, then click OK, and the address will be added to the appropriate form field.

For more information about using email together with the contact manager and the calendar, see the section called Contact Manager Tools in the chapter called The Evolution Contact Manager and the section called Scheduling With the Evolution Calendar in the chapter called The Evolution Calendar.

#### Multiple Recipients

`Evolution`, like all email programs (at least, all the ones in current use) recognizes three types of addressee: primary recipients, secondary recipients, and hidden ("blind") recipients. The `To:` field is for the primary recipients of the message you are going to send.

The simplest way to direct a message is to put the email address or addresses in the `To:` field, to denote primary recipients. However, it is considered bad form to have more than a few email addresses in this section. If you are sending mail to more than one or two people, consider the `Cc:` field.

Hearkening back to the dark ages when people used typewriters and there were no copy machines, "Cc" stands for "Carbon Copy." Use it whenever you want to share a message you've written to someone else.

Example 1. Using the Cc: field

When Susan sends an email to a client, she puts her co-worker, Tim, in the in the `Cc:` field, so that he know what's going on. The client can see that Tim also received the message, and knows that he can talk to Tim about the message as well.

If you have a large number of recipients, or if you want to send mail to several people without sharing the recipient list, you should use `Bcc:`. "Bcc" stands for "Blind Carbon Copy", and means that people you put in the `Bcc:` field get the message, but nobody else sees their email address. They will still see the list of addresses from the `To:` and `Cc:` fields, though.

Example 2. Using the Bcc: field

Tim is sending an email announcement to all of his company's clients, some of whom are in competition with each other, and all of whom value their privacy. He needs to use the `Bcc:` field here. If he puts every address from his address book's "Clients" category into the `To:` or `Cc:` fields, he'll make the company's entire client list public. Don't assume it won't happen to you!

### Replying to Messages

In order to reply to a message, click on it once in the message list to select it. Then press the Reply button. A window like the New Message window will appear, but the subject will already be present— the same subject as the message to which you are replying, but with Re: before it, to mark it as a reply. In addition, the full text of the previous message is inserted into the new message, either in italics (for HTML display) or with the > character (in plain text mode) before each line. This indicates quoting. You can intersperse your message with the quoted material as shown in Figure 3

Figure 3. Reply Message Window

If a message has several recipients, as in the case of mailing lists or messages that have been carbon copied, you may wish to click Reply to All instead of Reply. If there are large numbers of people in the `Cc:` or `To:` fields, this can save substantial amounts of time. But be careful, and always make sure you know who is getting a message: it could be a mailing list with thousands of subscribers.

Example 3. Using the Reply to All feature

Susan sends an email to a client, and sends copies to Tim and to an internal company mailing list of co-workers. If Tim wants to make a comment to all of them, he uses Reply to All, but if he just wants to tell Susan that he agrees with her, he uses Reply.

### Searching and Replacing with the Composer

You're probably familiar with search and replace features, and if you come from a Linux or Unix background, you probably know what Find Regex does. If you aren't among the lucky who already know, here's a quick rundown of an important section of the Edit menu.

Find

  Enter a word or phrase, and `Evolution` will find it in your message.

Find Regex

  Perform a search for a regular expression, or "regex."

Find Again

  Select this item to repeat the last search you performed.

Replace

  Find a word or phrase, replace it with something else.

For all of these items, you have two additional choices. First, you can choose whether to `Search Backwards`, which will perform the search starting wherever your cursor is, and moving back towards the beginning of the document (normally, it goes the other way). Then, you can decide whether to have your search be `Case Sensitive`, meaning should it pay attention to the case of letters when locating a match.

### Embellish your email with HTML

You can't normally use text treatments or pictures in emails, which is why you've probably seen people use far too many exclamation points for emphasis or use emoticons to convey their feelings. However, most of the newer email programs can include and display images and text treatments as well as basic alignment and paragraph formatting.

| HTML Mail is not a Default Setting

Some people do not have HTML-capable mail clients, or prefer not to receive HTML-enhanced mail because it is slower to download and display. Some people refer to HTML mail as "the root of all evil" and get very angry if you send them HTML mail, which is why `Evolution` sends plain text unless you explicitly ask for HTML. To send HTML mail, you will need to select Format-> HTML. Alternately, you can set your default mail format preferences in the mail configuration dialog. See the section called Other Mail Preferences in the chapter called Advanced Configuration for more information.

HTML formatting tools are located just above the composition frame, and in the Insert and Format menus. Your message text will appear formatted in the composer window, and the message will be sent as HTML.

The icons in the toolbar are explained in tool-tips, which appear when you hold your mouse over the buttons. The buttons fall into four categories:

Headers and lists

  Choose `Normal` for a default text style, or `Header 1` through `Header 6` for varying sizes of header from large (1) to tiny (6). You can also select `pre` for preformatted text blocks, and three types of `List Item`.

Text style

  Use these buttons to determine the way your letters look. If you have text selected, the style will apply to the selected text. If you do not have text selected, the style will apply to whatever you type next. The buttons are:

  - Push B for bold text

  - Push I for italics

  - Push U to underline

  - Push S for a strikethrough.

Alignment

  Located next to the text style buttons, these three paragraph icons should be familiar to users of most word processing software. The leftmost button will make your text left-justified, the center button, centered, and the right hand button, right-justified.

Indentation rules

  The button with the arrow pointing left will reduce a paragraph's indentation, and the right arrow will increase its indentation.

Color Selection

  At the far right is the color section tool. You can choose from several colors by clicking on the arrow, or create your own custom color by clicking on the color box itself. If you have text selected, the color will apply to the selected text. If you do not have text selected, the color will apply to whatever you type next.

There are three tools that you can find only in the Insert menu.

Insert Link:

  Use this tool to put hyperlinks in your HTML messages. When you select it, `Evolution` will prompt you for the `Text` that will appear, and the `Link`, where you should enter the actual web address (URL).

Insert Image:

  Insert Image: Select this item to embed an image into your email, as was done in the welcome message. Images will appear at the location of the cursor.

Insert Rule:

  This will insert a horizontal line, or rule, into your document. You'll be presented with a dialog box which gives you the choice of size, percentage of screen, shading, and alignment; if you leave everything at the default values you'll get a thin black rule all the way across the screen.

| A Technical note on HTML Tags
| The composer is a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor for HTML. That means that if you enter HTML directly into the composer— say, <B>Bold Text</B>, the the composer will assume you meant exactly that string of characters, and not "make this text bold," as an HTML composition tool or text editor would.

### Forwarding Mail

The post office forwards your mail for you when you change addresses, and you can forward mail when you get a letter by mistake. The email `Forward` button works in much the same way. It's particularly useful if you have received a message and you think someone else would like to see it. You can forward a message as an attachment to a new message (this is the default) or you can send it inline as a quoted portion of the message you are sending. Attachment forwarding is best if you want to send the full, unaltered message on to someone else. Inline forwarding is best if you want to send portions of a message, or if you have a large number of comments on different sections of the message you are forwarding. Remember to note from whom the message came, and where, if at all, you have removed or altered content.

To forward a message you are reading, press Forward on the toolbar, or select Message->Forward. If you prefer to forward the message inline instead of attached, select Message->Forward Inline from the menu. Choose an addressee as you would when sending a new message; the subject will already be entered, but you can alter it. Enter your comments on the message in the composition frame, and press Send.

### Seven Tips for Email Usage

I started with ten, but four were "Don't send spam."

- Don't send spam or forward chain mail. If you must, watch out for hoaxes and urban legends, and make sure the message doesn't have multiple layers of greater-than signs, (>) indicating multiple layers of careless inline forwarding.

- Always begin and close with a salutation. Say "please" and "thank you", just like you do in real life. You can keep your pleasantries short, but be pleasant!

- ALL CAPS MEANS YOU'RE SHOUTING! Don't write a whole message in capital letters. It hurts people's ears.

- Never write anything in email you wouldn't say in public. Old messages have a nasty habit of resurfacing when you least expect.

- Check your spelling and use complete sentences.

- Don't send nasty emails (flames). If you get one, don't write back.

- When you reply or forward, include just enough of the previous message to provide context: not too much, not too little.

Happy mailing!

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