SimpleMail 3.0.1 Installation ============ Your Newton must be Internet Enabled before you can use SimpleMail; you need the Newton Internet Enabler (NIE 1.1 or NIE 2.0). Follow the directions given to download it to your MessagePad. If you don't already have the latest MessagePad System Update, you should install that too. Follow the directions in the NIE folder to set up a link to your Internet Service Provider (ISP) using Internet Setup. Installing SimpleMail is easy. Just download the SimpleMail.pkg package to your MessagePad. SimpleMail requires a "Text Stationery" extension to view text messages in the In/Out Box and will install one automatically if it isn't already in the Extras drawer's Extensions folder. Whilst SimpleMail will work with other versions of the "Text Stationery" extension, for best results you should delete any existing "Text Stationery" item from your Extensions folder before downloading SimpleMail. The Monaco.pkg contains a monospaced Monaco 9-point font good for viewing messages in the In/Out Box - its use is optional. If you install SimpleMail on a PC card, the SimpleMail transport will go away when the card is removed and return when it is replaced. However, owing to a "feature" of the approved installation process, SimpleMail will put the dreaded "Grip of Death" on the card. For this reason it's recommended you install SimpleMail on the Internal store. Once you have transferred the package to the Newton, you will need to set up your mail addresses in your Owner card. SimpleMail needs to know: o your e-mail address (for people to reply to) o your POP username & password for receiving mail o the addresses of your ISP's POP and SMTP hosts Adding E-Mail information to your Owner card -------------------------------------------- o Tap the Owner Info application icon o Go to your owner card and tap Add. o In the list that appears, tap E-Mail o Enter the address people should reply to, for example simple@dial.pipex.com and set the type of address to E-Mail or Internet. Alternatively, if your ISP appears in the address picker, choose that and just enter your username in the address field. Ignore the "Set E-Mail Password" button. You can add several E-Mail addresses to your owner card, but SimpleMail will use only the first. Adding SimpleMail information to your Owner card ------------------------------------------------ o Tap the Owner Info application icon o Go to your owner card and tap Add. o In the list that appears, tap SimpleMail o In the slip that appears, enter the appropriate information: o In POP User enter your e-mail user name, for example bell99. o Tap the Set POP Password button and enter your POP e-mail password. o In POP Host enter the POP host's name, for example pop.isp.com. o In SMTP Host enter the SMTP host's name, for example smtp.isp.com. If you have more than one mail account, for example at work or university and home, you can add them all as SimpleMail items to your Owner card. SimpleMail will check them all in turn when receiving mail, so you don't have to manually connect to each one. To summarise ------------ Your NIE Internet Setup holds the username and password used to log in to your ISP. Your Owner card holds your e-mail address and ISP e-mail account information. Use === Refer to the MessagePad Handbook, "using electronic mail". If you have more than one e-mail address, remember to choose the appropriate owner in the routing slip when you mail something. That way the recipient will reply to the right address. When you reply to or forward a message, your e-mail address in the new message will be the one which received the original message unless you change it in the routing slip. There are a couple of problems you may experience if you have more than one owner card: 1. Some shareware registration schemes nađvely assume you will have only one owner card, and when you switch to another unregister your shareware. Unfortunately there's nothing to be done about this except to encourage shareware vendors to use schemes like Foundation Systems' NewtonID which registers shareware against a global (virtual) owner. 2. You need to be able to distinguish your names in the sender picker, for example: Walter Smith (Home) Walter Smith (Work) but recipients of your messages may be confused by these extraneous characters or words when they read your name in the message's addressing information - for example: Date: Mon, 22 Jun 1998 12:32 +0100 Subject: NS Objects From: Walter Smith (Work) To help you out, SimpleMail will strip the first set of parentheses in your owner name when addressing a message, so for example: "Walter Smith (Home)" -> "Walter Smith" "Walter Smith (Work) (x2117)" -> "Walter Smith (x2117)" Deleting messages from the server ================================= You can delete individual received messages which you've left on the server. o Go to the e-mail message you received in the In Box, or check it in the overview. o Tap the Tag button <*] and in the list that appears tap Delete Remote. o The item is tagged "Delete Remote". o Tapping the transport button's Delete Remote item again will revert the message's status. You must leave items tagged "Delete Remote" in your In Box. Next time you receive SimpleMail, these items will be deleted from the server. Deleted remote messages remain in your MessagePad's In Box with the status "Deleted". Unwrapping message text ======================= Many e-mail applications hard-wrap text when sending it. (They insert newline characters at the end of each line on the sender's screen.) This can make paragraphs appear broken or badly formatted to the recipient if displayed on a smaller screen such as the MessagePad's. To unwrap (remove newlines from) message text: o Go to the e-mail message (in either the In or Out Box), or check it in the overview. o Tap the Tag button <*] and in the list that appears tap Unwrap. The text is unwrapped into paragraphs. Selecting all message text ========================== When replying to a message you can quote text from the original by selecting it before tapping Reply. However, selecting more than a screenful isn't easy, so SimpleMail lets you select the entire text of a message. (You can delete unwanted text more easily in your reply.) To select all message text: o Select some of the e-mail message text. o Tap the Tag button <*] and in the list that appears tap Select All. (If you don't have a selection, Select All won't appear in the list.) Preferences =========== SimpleMail has a preferences slip, accessible by tapping the info button in the in/out box. This will present a dialog that lets you: X Put away items automatically (Available only with Newton 2.1) When checked, puts away items to applications that can automatically receive them instead of adding them to the InBox. Otherwise leaves items in the InBox. X Leave mail on server When unchecked, deletes messages on the server after fetching them. Otherwise leaves them so they can be retrieved again. X Disconnect after sending When unchecked, automatically looks for new mail for your In Box after sending the contents of your OutBox. Otherwise just disconnects immediately after sending. X Strip Internet headers When unchecked, leaves messages intact. Otherwise removes internet addressing information from the start of received messages. <> When connecting This picker lets you choose how you want to receive messages: o Browse mail Only a summary of each message is retrieved from the server and shown in the In Box overview - you see the subject, sender, date, message size and Remote status. The progress slip disappears but SimpleMail remains connected. You view a message by tapping its entry in the overview as usual - SimpleMail fetches just that message. Alternatively, check Remote message(s) in the overview then tap the Receive button and tap SimpleMail in the list that appears. To disconnect from the server when you've finished browsing: o tap the star at the top of the screen o tap SimpleMail in the list that appears. SimpleMail's progress slip is re-opened. o tap the Stop button in the progress slip. Any messages which are still Remote will be deleted from the In Box (but not from the server). o Download mail All messages are downloaded immediately. <> Receive This picker lets you choose: o what kind of messages you want to receive o new (unread) items only o read items only o all items (whether you've already read them or not) SimpleMail uses three independent methods to see whether you've read a message, but it's possible some servers won't support any of them. In this case you'll always get all messages on the server whether you want them or not. o the maximum size of messages you want to receive in full. Messages over this size will be abbreviated to the first twenty lines. Choose "any size" to disable abbreviation. NOTE - If you haven't chosen to "Leave mail on server", messages are deleted from the server even if you've only got an abbreviated copy. The About item in the preferences slip info button picker shows SimpleMail's version. The Mail Font button lets you choose the font for displaying your message text. The enclosed Monaco.pkg contains a monospaced Monaco 9-point font well-suited to this purpose. A fuller Minico font is also available. After downloading it to your MessagePad you will be able to pick it from the Mail Font button picker (and from the Styles palette). The Auto Delivery button lets you set up your MessagePad to send anything in your outbox and (so long as you haven't chosen to "Disconnect after sending") receive messages automatically and unattended at times you specify. Limitations & Known Problems ============================ If you've chosen When connecting - Browse mail in SimpleMail Prefs: o Only the first account will be checked if you've entered multiple SimpleMail items in your owner card. o The Tag button <*] doesn't do anything with Remote messages. For example, you can't interactively Delete Remote messages. Text attachments will replace the original body of a message. SimpleMail will not forward attachments. Whilst there's nothing to stop you mailing a package from your MessagePad, that package will not install successfully on another MessagePad. You can, however, receive and install packages mailed from your Mac or PC. On the MP2000 you can mail recorded notes, but you can't view them in the in/out box. You have to Put Away a received recording to Notes to be able to play it back. If SimpleMail can't get unique ids for messages from the server, it will always re-fetch messages left on the server and you won't be able to "Delete Remote" items from the server. Frequently Asked Questions ========================== Q: SimpleMail sends an attachment with every message, which recipients can't read. How can I disable this "feature"? -- A: The attachment is Newton data, readable by other SimpleMail users. For example, you can mail a note including ink and sketches. If you want to send text only, check the "Text Only" box in the routing slip when you mail a message. Q: SimpleMail always fetches messages that aren't on my MessagePad. How can I stop it re-fetching messages I've already read? -- A: See "Preferences - Leave mail on server" above. However, some servers don't provide the ids SimpleMail needs to identify messages on the server, so they'll always be re-fetched. Q: When I try to connect I get a message saying "You need to set your owner SimpleMail information before you can connect to the mail server." but I'm sure it's all filled in correctly. What's missing? -- A: You're probably not connecting as the right owner. The owner name shown in the routing slip (top left corner) must be the one you've set up for SimpleMail. You can run the Diagnostic package to check whether you really have set everything correctly. Q: When I'm trying to receive SimpleMail, everything seems okay until the status slip says "Checking for mail" and then I'm alerted to a "POP -ERR". Why? -- A: The POP host rejected your login information. Re-check your POP username and password in the Owner card's SimpleMail setup slip. Q: When I'm trying to receive SimpleMail, my modem just hangs up when the status slip says "Looking up host...", but there's no error message. What's going on? -- A: Your POP host couldn't be found on the net. Check the POP Host info in your owner card. Feedback ======== If you find some aspect of SimpleMail not up to snuff, or if you have helpful suggestions, please feel free to let me know: Simon Bell http://ds.dial.pipex.com/simple SimpleMail is FreeWare! I want to make the Newton an even better place to live. Pass it around, but please keep this ReadMe with the package. Acknowledgements ================ Thanks and kudos go to Jason Harper for ViewFrame. Debugging has never been so painless. Legal ===== While I have done extensive testing to make sure SimpleMail is well-behaved, I cannot take responsibility for its use or misuse. If you don't like being responsible for trying SimpleMail, don't! SimpleMail was created and is owned by Simon Bell. Apple, Newton and MessagePad are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. Š1997-98 by Simon Bell. All rights reserved.