This document contains information about the SimpleMail internet e-mail transport.
Your Newton must be Internet Enabled before you can use SimpleMail; you need the Newton Internet Enabler:
Follow the directions in the NIE folder to set up a link to your Internet Service Provider (ISP) using Internet Setup.
Apple didn't support NIE on the MP120 because of the limited system memory on that platform. (Adding card memory doesn't help.) You can use NIE 1.1 with the MP120, but remember this limitation.
If you don't already have the latest MessagePad System Update, you should install that too. (Tap the Extras drawer's Information button, then tap Memory Info in the list that appears to open a slip which displays your ROM Version.) The latest versions are:
MP120 2.0 (516263)
MP130 2.0 (526205)
MP2000 2.1 (717145)
MP2100 2.1 (717260)
eMate 300 2.1 (737426)
Installing SimpleMail is easy. Just download the SimpleMail.pkg package to your MessagePad.
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.
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.
To ensure you have the latest version, delete "Text Stationery" from Extras/Extensions before installing SimpleMail. This will not affect any items already in your InBox.
SimpleMail will only work with its own version of the "Text Stationery" extension.
SimpleMail does not strip commands from HTML text, so that HTML messages can be viewed by Newt'sCape. The "HTML Stationery" package installs stationery that lets you view HTML messages in the InBox. You only need install this package if you want to view HTML as plain text in the InBox.
The Monaco.pkg contains a monospaced Monaco 9- and 12-point font good for viewing messages in the In/Out Box. Its use is optional - you don't need to download it if storage space is tight.
The Help.pkg contains a condensed version of this book. To access it, tap SimpleMail Prefs' Information button and in the list that appears tap Help. Its use is optional - you don't need to download it.
You should have already created an Internet Setup and added it to your worksite - see your NIE documentation. The Internet Setup holds the username and password used to log in to your ISP.
SimpleMail needs to know:
If you've already entered an E-Mail address, skip this section.
You can add several E-Mail addresses to your owner card. SimpleMail lets you choose which applies to your e-mail account. This allows you to use more than one e-mail transport, each with its own independent account details, in the one owner card.
However, if you want to do this be aware that most other e-mail transports don't let you choose the E-Mail address for an account - they just use the first one you entered. If you want to use EnRoute's inet, for example, you need to ensure the address for it occurs first. The easiest way to do this is delete all E-Mail entries from your owner card, and re-enter first the inet address and then the SimpleMail address.
Your POP host and SMTP host may be the same, but you must enter it in both places.
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.
You can add your SMTP host name to a worksite. This overrides the SMTP host in your owner card, and it means you can send to an ISP's own SMTP host just by switching worksites. Some ISPs will only accept mail from their own hosts as a security measure.
This is just for convenience - you aren't required to enter worksite server information.
You can add a signature to each message you send. (This is just some text appended to the message.)
When you mail something, check the "Sign letter" checkbox in the routing slip to add this signature to your message.
Refer to your MessagePad User's Manual for guidance with e-mail and the InOut Box.
SimpleMail extends the usual set of e-mail functions. Firstly, it lets you address a message to an individual without having to create an entry for them in the Names application.
SimpleMail stores all enclosures in received messages, even though you may not be able to view them. If a message has enclosures, a Part button is shown at the top of the message. To view an enclosure:
The enclosure is displayed.
If your MessagePad doesn't have the stationery to display the enclosure's MIME type (and this is true for most non-text items) you'll see the "missing stationery" message. The intention is to provide stationery for the more popular MIME types in the longer term.
SimpleMail adds a few items to the Tag button's popup list.
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 message text:
The text is unwrapped into paragraphs.
Tap Undo to restore the original 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:
(If you don't have a selection, Select All won't appear in the list.)
This item only appears when attempting to view HTML text and the "HTML Stationery" package is not installed. Tapping it displays the HTML text in full.
There is no Undo for this action.
When connecting to receive mail, SimpleMail lets you browse the mail on your server rather than fetching each message immediately. See Preferences.
When connecting : Browse mail
Just a summary of each message is fetched - you see the subject, sender, date, message size and Remote status in the In Box overview.
The progress slip disappears but SimpleMail remains connected. A blinking star appears at the top of the screen.
You view a message by tapping its entry in the overview as usual - SimpleMail fetches just that message.
To fetch multiple Remote items:
If your preferences are set to "Delete from In Box and server", Remote messages you delete from the In Box are also deleted immediately from the server.
To disconnect from the server when you've finished browsing:
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:
To help you out, SimpleMail will strip the first set of
parentheses in your owner name when addressing a message, so for
example:
To set SimpleMail's preferences:
Available only with Newton 2.1
Check "Put away items automatically" if you want received items to be put away to applications that can automatically receive them.
Check "Leave mail on server" if you want to leave messages on the server after fetching them.
Otherwise messages are deleted automatically after being fetched.
Check "Delete from In Box and server" if you want to delete a message from the server when you delete it from your In Box.
If you're connected for browsing mail, Remote messages are deleted immediately. If you're not connected, or the message belongs to another server, it will be deleted next time you log in to the server.
When "Delete from In Box and server" is not checked, the routing button's Delete action has no effect on messages on the server.
Check "Disconnect after sending" if you want to disconnect immediately after sending the contents of your Out Box.
Otherwise SimpleMail looks for mail for your In Box after sending.
Check "Strip Internet headers" if you want to remove internet addressing information from the start of received messages, and decode text and attachments.
Otherwise messages are left in their raw form.
Tap "Put Away text to" to specify where multiple selections should be put away to. In the list that appears, tap your choice.
Available only with SimpleMail-NTE
Tap "Text encoding" to choose a Newton Text Encoding (NTE) module. In the list that appears, tap your choice.
NTE modules are packages you download separately. They add language encodings to your MessagePad - they can also be used by Newt'sCape, for example.
Tap "When connecting" to choose how you want to receive messages.
Tap "Receive" to choose what kind of messages you want to receive.
NOTE Abbreviated messages will not be deleted from the server even if your preference is not to "Leave mail on server".
NOTE Message size in this context is the number of characters in the message, which occupy 2 bytes each in the Newton OS. A 5K text message will occupy 10K on your MessagePad store.
Tap "When Sending" to set when you want to send an item.
Tap "After sending" to select what to do with an item after it is sent. In the list that appears, tap your choice.
Tap "File read items in" to choose where to file received items that you have already read. In the list that appears, tap your choice.
NOTE Items aren't actually filed until you close then re-open the InOut Box.
Tap Mail Font to choose the font used for displaying your message text. In the slip that appears, select the appropriate information.
Tap Auto Delivery to set the schedule when you want your MessagePad to send and receive mail. In the slip that appears, select the appropriate information.
Tap Add to add the specified time and days to the schedule.
To remove a scheduled time, tap the time in the window then tap Remove.
Tap Enabled to turn on or off the automatic delivery of mail.
Remember to set your preferences not to "Disconnect after sending" if you want to receive messages automatically.
If your question isn't answered here, re-read the NIE Users Guide, particularly the Troubleshooting section.
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: 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 to ensure it doesnŐt contain spaces or other extraneous characters.
If you find some aspect of SimpleMail not up to snuff, or if you have helpful suggestions, please feel free to let me (Simon Bell) know.
Visit my website for the latest version, related packages, and links to other useful sites.
Thanks and kudos go to Jason Harper for ViewFrame. Debugging has never been so painless.
This document was inspired by one created by Peter Rand using Newt'sCape 2.0. Thanks Peter!
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 is copyright ©1997-99 by Simon Bell. All rights reserved.
Apple, MessagePad and Newton are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.