CHAPTER 4 SENDING AND RECEIVING MAIL This chapter describes how to use the BIX Mail area to receive and send private messages and binary files. 39 BIX User Manual Part 1: Introduction 41 Reviewing Incoming Mail 41 Entering the Mail Area 41 Exiting from the Mail Area 42 How to Display Your Mail Status 42 Part 2: Reading Your Mail 43 How to Read Incoming Mail 43 Reply 44 Delete 45 Leave 45 Again 45 Forward 45 Show Resume 46 Show Who 46 Part 3: How to Write a Mail Message 47 How to Address a Message 47 Subject 48 Entering Text 48 How to Mail Your Message 48 List 49 Edit 49 Quit 49 Clear 49 Part 4: Advanced Mail Options 50 Carbon Copies 50 Subject 50 Original 51 Deleting Mail from Your Inbasket 51 Deleting Mail from Your Outbasket 52 Withdraw 53 How to Redisplay Your Inbasket 53 How to Display Your Outbasket 53 How to Display All Your Mail 54 How to Read Messages Immediately 54 How to Reply to a Message Previously Read 54 How to Send Binary Files Through Mail 54 How to Retrieve Binary Files Mailed to You 56 40 BIX User Manual Part 1: Introduction Everyone on BIX can send and receive private electronic mail. Messages sent to you appear in your inbasket. Messages that you have sent are listed in your outbasket and arrive in the addressee's inbasket. Once a message has been read, it cannot be re-tracted. Before a message has been read, it can be retracted. BIX also lets you send and receive as private mail binary files, such as Lotus worksheets and digitized photos. Reviewing Incoming Mail BIX displays your incoming and outgoing mail messages each time you sign on. Your mail status display looks like this: From Memo * Date 1 fsmith 71425 Tue Mar 11 18:18 Hard disk 2 ttyrone 71478 Tue Mar 11 20:21 Expenses To Memo * Date 1 fsmith 71400 R Mon Mar 10 13:10 Hard disk 2 ttyrone 71399 R Mon Mar 10 12:01 Expenses Entering the Mail Area To enter the Mail area, type: mail BIX displays a list of unread mail messages. When done, it produces this prompt: Mail: 41 BIX User Manual Exiting from the Mail Area To exit from the Mail area, type quit from the Mail: prompt. This returns you to the main system prompt (:) of BIX. Alternately, you can type join followed by a conference name or you can join the main areas of CBix (see Chapter 9) and Listings (see Chapter 6). How to Display Your Mail Status To display the list of messages you have pending, type: unread at the Mail: prompt. NOTES: 42 BIX User Manual Part 2: Reading Your Mail How to Read Incoming Mail The mail status display lists two numbers for each mail message sent to you. The small number on the left is a relative number; that is, it changes as messages come and go. The larger number to the right of the BIXname is the absolute number BIX has assigned to the message. BIX displays your unread mail automatically when you press Return. Alternately, you can enter either the relative or absolute number to select a particular message. After you have read a mail message, BIX produces the prompt: read/action: at which point you have several options: reply Answer the message delete Discard the message leave No action again Redisplay the message forward Reroute the message to another Each of these commands are explained below. Also available are show resume and show who, which can be handy when you have forgotten someone's real name or home town. Once you have read a message, BIX inserts an R next to the message number in the sender's outbasket. If you delete the message, the message line - vanishes from the sender's outbasket. Retrieve and redisplay a message by typing its number at the Mail: prompt. You can use the relative number, the small number on the left, or the absolute number, the large number on the right. Deleted messages cannot be redisplayed. 43 BIX User Manual If a message you sent is still listed in your outbasket, you can display it by entering its number. Reply To respond to a mail message you've just read, type reply at the read/action: prompt and write your message. Alternately, you can use the command comment. When you write a message, insert a carriage return at the end of each line (about 65 characters). Place a period at the beginning of a new line to exit the text-input mode. (You are not prompted for To or Title; BIX as- sumes that the sender is the recipient and that the title remains the same.) After completing your reply and exiting the textinput mode, BIX responds with: Attach original message (y/n)? NOTE: It is recommended that you not attach the original since it is still available at the read/action: prompt through the command original. For more on the command original, see below. Press your Return key if you do not want to attach the original, since the default is N (no). Enter Y (yes) to attach the original. BIX then produces the send/action: prompt, where your options are: send Deliver the response clear Discard your response quit Leave your response; no action edit Edit your response to Address your message cc Send carbon copies subject Change the subject line 44 BIX User Manual After you pick the send or clear option, BIX displays the read/action: prompt. It is prompting you for action on the original message to which you were replying. At this point, you will probably want to delete, leave, reread, or forward the message. Delete To delete a mail message you've just read, type: delete at the read/action: prompt. Leave To keep a mail message in your mailbox for later action, type: leave at the read/action: prompt. Again If you want to see the message once more before deciding what to do with it, you can reread it by entering: again at the read/action: prompt. Forward You can reroute the message to another user by typing: forward at the read/action: prompt. BIX prompts you for the name of the BIXen that you want to direct the message to. Type in the name and press return. Sepa- rate multiple names with spaces. When done, BIX displays the prompt: fwd/action: 45 BIX User Manual Your options are the same as those at the send/action: prompt, except that you cannot edit the message. After you select an option, BIX prompts you for action on the original message. Show Resume If you are responding to a message from someone with whom you are not too familiar, you can see that person's resume. To do this, enter: show resume followed by the BIXname at the send/action: or -read/action: prompts. Show Who From the send/action: and read/action: prompt, you can find a BIX user's name by entering: show who followed by as much information as you have available, such as her or his last name. NOTES: 46 BIX User Manual Part 3: How to Write a Mail Message How to Address a Message To begin writing a mail message, you must first tell BIX with whom you want to correspond. To do this, enter: to BIX prompts you for the BIXname of the person to whom you are writing. If you cannot remember the person's BIXname, see the discussion on show who "user name" (page 157). If you already know the BIXname of the recipient, you can enter to [BIXname]. For example, to fsmith If you enter an invalid BIXname, BIX responds: No user `name' on COSY - ignored: The Mail: prompt is then redisplayed, from where you can start again. You can address your message to as many as 10 BIXnames. Separate names with a character space. For example, to bwh janes tone This sets up their names to receive copies of the letter when you type the send command. You can send a copy to yourself if you wish. If you enter an invalid system name in a list of names, BIX displays this message: No user `name' on COSY - ignored Enter subject: 47 BIX User Manual Continue writing your message. At the send/action: prompt that appears after you exit the write mode, re-enter the to command and type only the missing name. All other names are still prepared to receive the message. Subject After you enter to, BIX prompts you for the subject of the message. The prompt looks like this: Enter subject: You have the option of entering a short subject or hitting your Return key to enter into the editor. Entering Text Writing a mail message and commenting on a conference message are func- tionally the same. Write your mail message by simply typing the text you wish to send. (Remember to enter a carriage return every 60 to 65 charac- ters.) For example, > Tammy, I think we should proceed on the > purchase of the hard disk as soon as > possible. > . Type a period at the start of a line and press Return to exit the text- input mode. How to Mail Your Message After writing your message and exiting the textinput mode, BIX presents this prompt: send/action: If you are done with your message and ready to mail it, type: send 48 BIX User Manual BIX assigns a number to your message and sends it to the mailbox of the person you specified earlier. Alternately, you can use the command add to deliver your mail. List To review your message, enter: list Edit To edit the text of the message you have prepared, type: edit at the send/action: prompt. This puts you into the editor where you can manipulate your text. (See Chapter 5, "Editing Messages," for more informa- tion on the editors.) Quit If you want to wait before sending your message, type: quit at the send/action: prompt. This leaves your message in the scratchpad and returns you to the Mail: prompt. Clear To wipe out the text without sending it, type: clear at the send/action: prompt. This flushes your scratchpad and returns you to the Mail: prompt. 49 BIX User Manual Part 4: Advanced Mail Options Carbon Copies If you wish to route "carbon copies" of your message to other recipients, enter the command: cc at the send/action: prompt. You will receive this prompt: name(s)? You can enter as many as 10 BIXnames. Separate names with spaces. For exam- ple, cc bwhite ajones kstone This sets up their names to receive copies of the letter when you type the send command. You can cc a message to yourself to keep a copy. It will ap- pear in your mail inbasket. If you make an error in one of the names you type in, BIX displays this message: No user `name' on COSY - ignored The send/action: prompt is redisplayed. Reenter the cc command and retype the name. Subject To change the subject line of a message, enter: subject at the send/action prompt. BIX responds with: Enter subject: to which you enter your new title. 50 BIX User Manual Original If the mail message you have just read is a reply to a message, you can see the original message by typing: original at the read/action: prompt. Deleting Mail from Your Inbasket You remove a message from your inbasket by entering delete followed by the message number. This number can be the relative or the absolute number. For example, delete 96021 delete 14 BIX asks you to confirm that you want to delete the message. The default is No. You must respond with Y (yes) to delete the message. You can use the relative numbers to delete a spread of messages. It is imperative that you obtain the status of your inbasket before you delete any messages or you may inadvertently delete a message you wished to keep. To produce a list of your inbasket messages, enter: inbasket from the Mail: prompt. Here are some examples of deleting ranges of messages using the relative numbering scheme: delete 1-5 Delete 1 through 5 delete 4,6 Delete number 4 and 6 delete 3,6,14 Delete 3, 6, and 14 only delete 2,11-17,19 Delete messages 2 and 19 and messages 11 through 17 Spaces are not permitted. Thus, del 5 - 10 51 BIX User Manual will fail, while del 5-10 will work properly. Note that the dash ( - ) can be intermingled with the comma to produce rapid deletions. NOTE: Relative numbers will change if you delete messages, leave mail, and then return. Relative numbers will also change if you issue a command that causes your inbasket or outbasket to be redisplayed. Deleting Mail from Your Outbasket You can remove messages from your outbasket. This does not remove the mes- sage from the recipient's inbasket. To delete messages from your outbasket, first enter: outbasket to produce a list of your outbasket. Then, from the Mail: prompt, enter: delete followed by the mail message number. BIX does not confirm this action. You can delete multiple messages by using the same format as described above. It is imperative that you first get the status of your outbasket or you may inadvertently delete messages from your inbasket. To delete from your outbasket, use either the relative or absolute mes- sage number. Here are some examples: delete 56123; delete 56456; delete 56789 delete 4-10 delete 3,9,12-21,30 delete 7 52 BIX User Manual Remember spaces between entries are not allowed when you are using the rel- ative numbering scheme. Withdraw If you've sent a mail message and the recipient hasn't read it, you can retract the message with the command withdraw followed by the message num- ber. You can use either the relative or absolute outbasket number. For example, to withdraw message 12345 from the recipient's mail box, from the Mail: prompt: enter: withdraw 12345 When a message is successfully withdrawn, BIX displays a confirmation message to you and strikes the message line from your outbasket and the recipient's inbasket. If the message has already been read, you will see a message saying that it cannot be withdrawn. The message line will remain in your outbasket. Messages sent to multiple recipients are handled separately for each recipient. Thus, if one person has read the message and two have not, the message line will be removed from the inbaskets of the two who have not read it, but not from the one who has read it. The message line will remain in your outbasket. How to Redisplay Your Inbasket To view a list of all mail addressed to you, both read and unread, at the Mail: prompt enter: inbasket How to Display Your Outbasket To see a list of all the mail that you have sent, enter: outbasket NOTE: If a message has been read and deleted, it will not appear in your 53 BIX User Manual outbasket. If a message has been sent to multiple addressees, those who have not deleted the message will still be listed. How to Display All Your Mail To receive a full report on both your inbasket and your outbasket, enter: status How to Read Messages Immediately You can jump directly from a conference into Mail and start reading without seeing your inbasket display. To do this, enter: mail read from a Read: prompt or from the colon ( : ) prompt. Alternately, you can enter: mail 53089 mail 15 to read specific messages, such as message 53089. How to Reply to a Message Previously Read You can reply to a message that you have already read without rereading the message. To do this, enter: reply xxx xxx can be the absolute or the relative message number. How to Send Binary Files Through Mail BIX lets you append a binary file to a mail message. To do so, write your message and exit the writing mode. At the send/action: prompt, enter: attach 54 BIX User Manual followed by the name of the file that you want to send. For example: attach filename.com When you enter attach followed by a filename, BIX prompts you to upload the file using the upload protocol specified in your profile (see Chapter 8). The default protocol setting is XMODEM. Here's an example of sending a message with a binary attachment: Mail:to manual.reader Enter subject: font change program Enter text. End with `.' > The following attachment is a font change > program for the EGA board. It allows you to > change from the default text font to a font > similar to that used by the IBM 3270. > > . send/action: attach filename.com xmodem: Ready to receive Instruct your software to upload the file. When the upload is done, the send/action: prompt will appear again. Enter send to transmit the file to your correspondent. If you enter attach without specifying a filename, BIX produces this er- ror message: Expected attachment filename. The send/action: prompt returns, enabling you to try again. NOTE: You can not attach more than one file to a message. If you intend to send more than one binary file to the same recipient, upload and mail each 55 BIX User Manual file separately. Every time you issue the attach command from the send/action: prompt, any previously uploaded binary attachments are over- written. If you list your message before sending the file, you will not see your binary attachment. Be careful to send files that are of the proper size for your recipient's computer. The maximum file size that BIX will send is 2 megabytes. How to Retrieve Binary Files Mailed to You A mail message with a binary attachment appears like a normal BIXmail mes- sage until you ask to read it. Then, you will see "Attachment:" immediately after the "Subject:" line. BIX displays any text in the message until it reaches the binary attach- ment, at which point it prompts you to download the file with the message: Message has a binary attachment. Do you want to download it? (y/n)? Enter y (yes) to download the file. The default setting is XMODEM. You can specify the download protocol in your profile (see Chapter 8 for details). Enter n (no) to delay downloading the file. BIX will then produce the read/action: at which point your options are the same as described earlier in this chapter. Here's an example of what would occur if you received the example binary mail message sent above: Memo #1 From: manual.writer Date: Thu, 7 Jul 88 14:37:50 EDT To: manual.reader Message-Id: Subject: font change program Attachment: filename.com 56 BIX User Manual The following attachment is a font change program for the EGA board. It allows you to change from the default text font to a font sim- ilar to that used by the IBM 3270. Message has a binary attachment. Do you want to download it? (y/n)? If you enter y (yes) to download the file, BIX produces this prompt: [Prepare to receive file filename.com] [ bytes: 1408, blocks: 2, block size: 1024 ] Download the file using the communications protocol specified in your pro- file. The default is -XMODEM. When done, the read/action: prompt returns. Your options at this point are the same as with non-binary mail. If you enter n (no) BIX displays the read/action: prompt, where your op- tions are the same as discussed earlier. NOTES: 57 BIX User Manual NOTES: 58 BIX User Manual