# Mailbox list screen

The mailbox list screen displays a list of the messages in a particular mail folder. It will look something like the following:-

| "INBOX" with 4 messages |
Refresh | | | Expunge | | | Search

# |  |  | Date | From | Size | Subject | Thread Messages | 1. |  |  | Mar 26 2001 | To: sp999@cam.ac.uk | <1K | small test | Delete | 2. |  |  | Mar 26 2001 | S. Page | <1K | Re: feeding the cat | Delete | 3. |  |  | Mar 27 2001 | A. Person | <1K | new mail | Undelete | 4. |  |  | Apr 12 2001 | Mail Delivery System | 1K | Mail delivery failed: returning message to sender | Delete

Page: |  | /1 |
Refresh | | | Expunge | | | Search

## Reading a message

To read a message simply select the name of the person in the From column or select the subject in the Subject column.

## The bars above and below the message listing

These are largely identical. The exceptions are in the centre of each row:-

Top bar | Informative message indicating the current mail folder and the number of messages, for example "INBOX" with 4 messages .
Bottom bar | Shortcut for displaying other pages in a long mail folder listing. For example
Page: |  | /3 |
indicates that the listing spans three pages. To move to a different page enter the required page number in the "Page:" box and then select "Go".

The identical elements in each bar are:-

| First displays the first page of messages in the mail folder.
| Previous displays the previous page of messages.
| Next displays the next page of messages.
| Last displays the last page of messages.
| You can configure how many messages count as one page by using a setting found in Manage -> Preferences -> Display. The relevant icon is greyed out if the choice is not applicable (i.e. you are on the first or last page).

| Messages on a screen can be "marked" (selected) by checking the box by the message number. Marking is useful if you want to do the same thing with several messages on the page, for example deleting them or copying them to the same mail folder. Once messages have been marked various actions can be taken using this pull-down menu. Delete marked, Undelete marked perform the obvious actions. Flag as read and Flag as unread change the status of the marked messages. Forward marked takes you to the compose screen with the messages inserted as the body of the new message. Copy marked takes you to the folder display, where you can choose the folder to which you wish to copy the messages. Select the action from the pull-down menu and then select Go. Note: that after you have marked messages on a screen you must take action on those messages before you do something else, for example move to another page of messages or read a message. If you do something else before you have taken action on the marked messages, the marks are cancelled, unless you have set Manage -> Preferences -> General -> Use persistent marks. Using Persistent marks changes some options on the message list screen, see Using Persistent Marks below.

Refresh | checks for new mail. Please be cautious in your use of this (i.e. use it every few minutes rather than every few seconds) as it can put unnecessary load on __SERVICE__.
Expunge | deletes from your mail folder all messages that are marked as deleted. Expunged messages cannot be recovered. Selecting this deletes them immediately - there is no confirmation dialogue.
Search | takes you to a screen where you can choose a subset of the messages in the current mail folder using different criteria including date and text search.

## The message list

The message list is divided into columns.

- # - Message. The message number.

- Mark/Unmark. This allows the selection of one or more messages. Initially all messages are unmarked. Marking a message changes the icon in this column.
- (Message status)

  | Unread messages.
  | Read messages.
  | Message that have been replied to.
  | Deleted messages. These are not actually removed from __SERVICE__ until Expunge is selected. Until then they can be undeleted either by selecting the Undelete option for that message or by displaying the message and choosing Undelete on that screen.

- Date. The date on which the message was sent.
- From. The name of the person who sent the message or, if the message is from the current user, the name of the person to whom the message is addressed.
- Size. An indication of the size of the message.
- Subject. The subject of the message.
- Delete. Delete the message. The option then changes to Undelete.

## Sorting

The default sort order is by arrival (Message). It is possible to temporarily change how you sort the current mail folder by selecting Date, From, Size or Subject in the column headings. This will sort in ascending order, for example if you sort by Size the smallest messages are listed first. It is possible to reverse the selected sort order by reselecting your chosen column, e.g. to sort by descending size select Size twice.

You can also Thread messages. Threading uses uses reference headers in the message to work out the order of messages on the same subject. Selecting this sorts the current mail folder by thread.

## Using persistent marks

If you have Manage -> Preferences -> General -> Use persistent marks set then there are some differences in the appearance of the message list screen and some changes to the actions that can be taken.

One change is the appearance of extra choices in the bars above and below the message listing. The example below shows the changes to the top bar.

| "INBOX" with 4 messages |
Refresh | | | Expunge | | | Mark All | | | Zoom | | | Search

Mark All | marks all the messages.
Zoom | requires that you have marked one or more messages. It displays a listing of just the marked messages. If you are already in a zoomed list (for example as the result of a Search) then this option changes to Unzoom and selecting it will return you to the complete mail folder listing.

You mark messages by selecting the Mark/Unmark icon by the message. Marking a message changes the icon. It also changes:

- the Change To: in the common toolbar to include the option Copy marked to: to allow straightforward copying to the mail folders listed in the adjacent pull-down list;
- the Mark All option in the action bar above and below the message list to UnMark All