Note: this document was written for Pine 3.94. Currently, no updated
edition for later versions of Pine is planned, since the document
"Getting Started..." (also available from the URL
ftp://ftp.cac.washington.edu/pine/docs/) largely fulfills the same role:
Introducing new users to Pine.
===
Pine User's Guide
This User's Guide is designed to help you understand what Pine can do
for you.
Pine Screens/Modes
* Message Text (Viewing a Message)
* Compose Message
* Folder Index
* Folder List
* Address Book
* Setup and Configuration
_________________________________________________________________
Pine Commands
* Commands for Message Handling
+ Export and Save
+ Take Address
+ Reply and Forward
+ Bounce (Remail)
+ View/Save Attachment
+ Flag as Important
+ Select Message
+ Apply and Zoom
* Commands for Message Composition
+ Justify
+ Cut and Paste
+ Read-in File
+ Attach File
+ Postponing a Message
+ Spelling
+ Rich Headers
* Other Commands
+ Whereis
+ Full Headers
+ Sorting a Folder
+ Expunge/Exclude
+ Next Interesting Message
+ Jump to a Message
+ Goto Folder
_________________________________________________________________
Information Pages
* Pine and Alternate Character Sets
* Syntax for IMAP Folders and Collections
Message Text Screen
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
| PINE 3.94 MESSAGE TEXT Folder: INBOX Message 15 of 20 ALL |
| |
| Date: Tue, 19 Dec 1995 10:03:26 -0800 |
| From: Ross Armstrong <ross@elsewhere.edu> |
| To: Jasjit Singh <jsingh@edutech.nowhere.edu> |
| Cc: isabelle@elsewhere.edu |
| Subject: Scanning pencil drawings |
| |
| Hello, Jasjit, |
| Next quarter, I'm planning on having students in my drawing class |
| scan their work and email the graphics files as MIME-attachments to my |
| TA Isabelle, who will then make them available through our department's |
| WWW server. Do you have any tips for scanning pencil drawings? |
| Thanks in advance! |
| |
| |
| -Ross |
| |
|? Help M Main Menu P PrevMsg - PrevPage D Delete R Reply |
|O OTHER CMDS V ViewAttch N NextMsg Spc NextPage U Undelete F Forward |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The message text screen shows you the text of the message along with
its header. If a message has attachments, those will be listed (but
not displayed) also.
The top bar displays information about the currently open message,
folder and collection. You see the name of the collection (if there is
one) in angle brackets, then the name of the folder, then the message
number and finally the position within the current message (in
percent). If the message is marked for deletion "DEL" will appear in
the upper right as well.
As with every Pine screen, the bottom two lines show you the commands
available.
Message Text Commands
Navigating the List of Messages:
* Previous Message: P
* Next Message: N
* Jump to Specific Message: J
* Next New Message: TAB
Operations on the Current Message:
* Print: Y
* Reply: R
* Forward: F
* Bounce: B
* Mark for Deletion: D
* Undelete: U
* Take into Address Book: T
* Save into an Email Folder: S
* Export as a Plain Text File: E
* Flag: *
* Pipe to UNIX Command (not available in PC-Pine): | (vertical bar)
Navigating Within the Current Message:
* Previous screen: -
* Next Screen: SPACE
* Where Is (Search for Word in Message or go to first/last line): W
* View Attachment: V
Global Pine Commands: These commands are active in this and most other
Pine screens (except while composing a message); they are therefore
only listed here:
* Main Menu: M
* Show Other Commands: O
* Compose a New (or Continue a Postponed) Message: C
* Show Folder Index: I
* Show Folder List: L
* Goto Folder: G
* Help: ?
* Quit Pine: Q
Compose Message Screen
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| PINE 3.94 COMPOSE MESSAGE Folder: INBOX 20 Messages |
| |
| To : Ross Armstrong <ross@elsewhere.edu> |
| Cc : isabelle@elsewhere.edu |
| Attchmnt: 1. /usr/users/jsingh/article.ps (843 KB) "My article" |
| Subject : Re: Scanning pencil drawings |
| ----- Message Text ----- |
| Hi Ross, |
| I'm actually in the middle of writing an article on that very subject |
| for a magazine. I am sending you a PostScript file of a draft, |
| attached to this email message as an attachment. Let me know if you |
| have any questions about it! |
| |
| Jasjit Singh, Ph.D. - Dept. of Educational Technology |
| Nowhere College, Notown, USA Tel.: (123) 669-4373 |
| Internet Email: jsingh@edutech.nowhere.edu |
| WWW homepage: http://www.edutech.nowhere.edu/~jsingh/ |
| |
| |
|^G Get Help ^X Send ^R Read File ^Y Prev Pg ^K Cut Text ^O Postpone|
|^C Cancel ^J Justify ^_ Alt Edit ^V Next Pg ^U UnCut Text ^T To Spell|
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Compose Message Commands
Moving the Cursor: On most systems your arrows keys will move the
cursor around the screen as expected. In addition, these movement keys
are always available in the composer:
* Back Single Character: Ctrl-B
* Forward Single Character: Ctrl-F
* Up Single Line: Ctrl-P
* Down Single Line: Ctrl-N
* Beginning of Current Line: Ctrl-A
* End of Current Line: Ctrl-E
* Up One Screen: Ctrl-Y
* Down One Screen: Ctrl-V
* Next Word: Ctrl-SPACE
Editing the Text:
* Delete Current Character: Ctrl-D
* Delete Previous Character: Ctrl-H
* Set a Mark: Ctrl-^
* Cut Current Block or Line: Ctrl-K
* Justify Paragraph: Ctrl-J
* Paste Deleted Lines or Unjustify paragraph: Ctrl-U
+ The Ctrl-U key sequence is used for two different things in
the midst of composing a message. Its normal meaning is
"Paste". That is, it will paste in the line or lines that you
last cut with the Ctrl-K. However, immediately following a
paragraph justification (Ctrl-J), the Ctrl-U key temporarilly
changes into "Unjustify". If the paragraph justification went
bad (changed some tabs, justified many paragraphs into one,
etc.) you'll see it right away and be able to unjustify.
After a few keystrokes, Ctrl-U reverts back to "Paste". It
sounds confusing, but you probably won't have a problem with
it once you try it.
General Commands:
* Where Is (Search for Word in Message or go to first/last line):
Ctrl-W
* Help: Ctrl-G
* Use Alternate Editor (can be enabled/disabled in
Setup/Configuration; not available in PC-Pine): Ctrl-_
* Suspend (can be enabled/disabled in Setup/Configuration; not
available in PC-Pine): Ctrl-Z
* Redraw Screen: Ctrl-L
* Read File: Ctrl-R
* Spell Check (not available in PC-Pine): Ctrl-T
Message Action Commands:
* Send: Ctrl-X
* Postpone: Ctrl-O
* Cancel: Ctrl-C.
Note: even though Pine does not use Ctrl-S or Ctrl-Q (sometimes known
as XOFF and XON), the system you are using may intercept those
characters. If you accidentally hit a Ctrl-S and your keyboard
mysteriously freezes up, try typing a Ctrl-Q and see if that puts
things right.
Control Keys in the Header
When the cursor is in the header part of the message, some of the
control commands have special meaning. You will see this difference
reflected in the menu displayed at the bottom of your Pine compose
screen.
When in the header, the following keys have these meanings:
* Ctrl-J: Attach file
* Ctrl-R: Rich Header
* Ctrl-T: To Address Book or Files
The following commands are not active in the header: Whereis: Ctrl-W,
Alternate Editor: Ctrl-_, and Set Mark: Ctrl-^.
Folder Index Screen
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
| PINE 3.94 FOLDER INDEX Folder: RossAm Msg 2 of 2 NEW |
| |
|+ 1 Dec 19 Ross Armstrong (4,053) Scanning pencil drawings |
|+ N 2 Dec 20 To: Ross Armstrong (1.163K) Re: Scanning pencil drawings |
| |
| ? Help M Main Menu P PrevMsg - PrevPage D Delete R Reply |
| O OTHER CMDS V [ViewMsg] N NextMsg Spc NextPage U Undelete F Forward|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The folder index screen shows you an index of all the messages in the
folder. The very top bar shows information about the folder: what the
name of the folder is and how many messages it has. The example above
shows a folder set up for correspondence with one specific person, to
which received as well as sent messages are saved; you can set up your
folders however they make it easier for you to organize your messages.
By default, Pine puts messages you save from your INBOX into a folder
called saved-messages, and saves a copy of messages you send into a
folder called sent-mail.
Each message gets one line on the index screen. That line contains:
* Message Status: The following codes give you information about the
current status of the message.
+ - The message was sent directly to you (not a cc: or email list).
A - The message has been answered.
D - The message is marked for deletion.
N - The message is new and unread.
X - The message is selected (for aggregate operations).
* - The message has been flagged as important.
* Message Number.
* Date Received or Sent.
* Sender (for received messages) or Recipient (for sent messages).
* Message Size: The number in parentheses is the size of the
message, plus any attachments, in bytes (characters).
* Subject: As much of the subject as will fit on the screen.
As with every Pine screen, the bottom two lines show you the commands
available.
Folder Index Commands
Navigating the List of Messages:
* Previous Message: P
* Next Message: N
* Previous Screen: -
* Next Screen: SPACE
* Jump directly to Message Number: J
* Where Is [Search for Word in Index or go to first/last message]: W
* Next Message: N
* Next New Message: TAB
Operations on the Current Message:
* View message: V
* Print: Y
* Reply: R
* Forward: F
* Bounce [can be enabled/disabled in Setup/Configuration]: B
* Mark for Deletion: D
* Undelete: U
* Take into Address Book: T
* Save into an Email Folder: S
* Export as a Plain Text File: E
* Flag [can be enabled/disabled in Setup/Configuration]: *
* Pipe to UNIX Command [can be enabled/disabled in
Setup/Configuration; not available in PC-Pine]: | (vertical bar)
Other Folder Index Commands:
* Sort the Index [by Subject, Date, Sender/Recipient, etc. ]: $
* Expunge the Folder [Remove Messages Marked for Deletion]: X
* Toggle Headers Mode [can be enabled/disabled in
Setup/Configuration]: H
* Working with subset of messages in current folder [these commands
can be enabled/disabled in Setup/Configuration]:
+ Select [Current Message, All Messages, or by criteria: Text,
Date, Status, Message number(s)]: ;
+ Apply [Command to Selected Messages]: A
+ Zoom [View only Selected Messages]: Z
Folder List Screen
Pine's Folder List screen is designed to give you easy access to all
your email folders. When you first start Pine, you will only have a
few folders, all on the same host. In that case, your folder list
screen looks something like this:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
| PINE 3.94 FOLDER LIST Folder: INBOX 0 Messages |
| |
| INBOX sent-mail saved-messages |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| ? Help M Main Menu P PrevFldr - PrevPage D Delete R Rename |
| O OTHER CMDS V [ViewFldr] N NextFldr Spc NextPage A Add |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eventually, that folder list may grow to the point where is makes
sense to arrange folders into collections. For people who use multiple
folders on multiple hosts for multiple purposes, the folder list might
look a lot more complicated. For example, this is the folder list
screen for a user who has multiple inboxes (through filtering by an
external system; Pine itself does not perform any mail filtering), a
local collection of folders to save messages from those inboxes into
after reading, another local collection for mail to/from specific
correspondents, and also a news collection on another host than the
one Pine is running on.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
| PINE 3.94 FOLDER LIST Folder: IN.RossA 2 Messages |
| |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Incoming Message Folders |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| |
| INBOX IN.RossA BATECH-L FWD-from-old-acct |
| |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|Folder-collection <Saved-Email> ** Default for Saves ** (Local)|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| |
| [ Select Here to See Expanded List ] |
| |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|Folder-collection <Correspondents> (Local)|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| |
| [ Select Here to See Expanded List ] |
| |
| |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|News-collection <Subscribed-Groups on monet.art.nowhere.edu> (Remote)|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| |
| [ Select Here to See Expanded List ] |
| |
| ? Help M Main Menu P PrevFldr - PrevPage D Delete R Rename |
| O OTHER CMDS V [ViewFldr] N NextFldr Spc NextPage A Add |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The top line offers information about the currently selected
collection and folder. The bottom lines display commands available.
Folder List Commands
Navigating the Folder List Screen:
* Previous Folder: P
* Next Folder: N
* Previous Screen: -
* Next Screen: SPACE
* Where Is [Search for folder name or go to first/last folder across
all collections]: W
Operations on the Newly Selected Folder:
* View: V
* Delete: D
* Rename: R
Folder List Commands:
* Show Index of the Currently Active Folder: I
* Print Folder Listing: Y
* Add New Folder: A
Newsgroup-collection Specific Commands:
* Subscribe: A
* Unsubscribe: D
Search for a Word in a Folder Name
The WhereIs command searches through the folder names in the currently
active collection and all other collections which are expanded.
View Folder and Folder Index
If you got to the Folder List screen by using the "L" command, then
you have a few different options for manipulating your folders and
selecting a folder. The two options "View Folder" and "Folder Index"
are similar in function (they both get you to a FOLDER INDEX screen)
but operate on different folders.
"Folder Index" is something of an escape option -- Pine keeps the same
current folder as it had before you saw this folder list and simply
displays that current folder. "View Folder" is more of an "open and
view" function -- it makes the currently highlighted folder to the
current folder, closes the previous folder and then displays the index
of the new current folder.
Folder List: Three Modes
There are three different ways in which you can get to the folder
list. The standard method is to just press L -- the Folder List
command. You can also arrive at your folder listing when going to a
folder: G, Ctrl-T, or when saving a message to a folder: S, Ctrl-T.
When you get to folder list in one of these alternate ways, all the
folder manipulation commands are inoperative -- all you can do is
navigate to a folder and select it for the task at hand. The "Save"
and "Goto" functions both provide a means to exit this screen: press
E.
Address Book Screen
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
| PINE 3.94 ADDRESS BOOK Folder: INBOX Message 5 of 20 NEW |
| |
| Ross Armstrong, Ross ross@elsewhere.edu |
| help-desk Nowhere U. Help Desk help@nowhere.edu |
| |
| Panel 1996 Conference Panel DISTRIBUTION LIST: |
| abc@somewhere.edu |
| Ross |
| niako@xyz.co.jp |
| heinz@math.uni-irgendwo.de |
| |
| |
| ? Help E Exit P PrevEntry - PrevPage D Delete C ComposeTo|
| O OTHER CMDS V [View/Edit] N NextEntry Spc NextPage A AddNew W WhereIst |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The addressbook screen shows you all the currently existing
addressbook entries -- both simple entries and list entries. If your
system has a global address book, then you will be able to see it, but
you won't be able to change its entries.
The address book screen columns reflect the three parts of an address
book entry -- a short nickname (the part you type in), a real name
(the part Pine shows on the message), and address. A simple entry has
only one address. A distribution list has two or more entries and is
always marked "DISTRIBUTION LIST" on the screen.
Address Book Commands
Navigating the Address Book:
* Previous Entry: P
* Next Entry: N
* Previous Screen: -
* Next Page: SPACE
* Where Is [Search for word in address book, or go to first/last
address]: W
Address Book Operations:
* View/Edit Entry: V
+ Shows two additional fields not visible when all addresses in
address book are displayed: Fcc, for designating a folder to
which messages sent to that entry will be saved; and Comment,
for annotating the entry.
* Delete Entry: D
* Add new Entry: A
Compose From Address Book
When you are looking at the address book and press C to compose a
message, Pine not only brings up the composer, but also inserts the
current address book entry as the recipient of the message.
Address Book from Compose
The normal way to get to the address book is to press A for address
book from Pine's main menu. You may, however, browse the address book
by pressing the to-addressbook (Ctrl-T) combination with the cursor in
the To:, Cc: or Bcc: fields of a message you are composing. In this
situation, the only commands available are those which help you select
an entry for the particular message. You cannot add to or modify the
address book in this mode.
Deleting and distribution lists
When the cursor is positioned on the name of a distribution list,
pressing D tells Pine to remove the entire list. If the cursor is
positioned ona single address within the list, then D only removes
that address from the list.
Lists in the Address Book
Pine allows you to create distribution list entries in the address
book. These list entries usually contain two or more addresses, which
can be either complete email addresses, or nicknames defined elsewhere
in the Address Book. In the example at the top of this page, the
distribution list named 1996 Conference Panel contains - in addition
to three "fully qualified" email addresses -- the nickname Ross, which
is defined in the first entry of that Address Book. You can use an
address book list entry to manage a small distribution list. When
sending out a message, you just enter the nickname of the list in the
To:, Cc: or Bcc: fields, and Pine fills in all the addresses on the
list.
Setup and Configuration Screens
Pine's Setup and Configuration Screens, accessed via SETUP from the
main menu, allow you to customize the behavior of Pine.
Setup Tasks
* Newpassword: N
lets Unix Pine users change their password on the system. You will
have to type in the old password and confirm the new one. Note
that this is actually a Unix-account management (rather than a
Pine-specific) function, which means you are changing the password
you will have to use from now on to log into your Unix account
here.
* Signature: S
calls up Pine's built-in Signature Editor, which allows you to
create or change the text that will appear as your "signature" at
the end of each message you compose. Typical email "signatures"
are no more than three to five lines long and contain contact
information for the message's writer - such as full name, email
address, telephone, fax, URL of personal or organization's World
Wide Web page, mailing address, and so on.
* Update: U
is a feature designed for PC-Pine users; however, it is also
functional in the Unix version of Pine. It connects you to the
PC-Pine update server which holds a copy of the current version of
PC-Pine. With the update feature, you can check to make sure your
version of PC-Pine is the most current and (if it is not) download
the new version.
* Printer: P
Here, Unix Pine users can select how Pine will try to print any
screens you select for printing, such as an email message, a
folder index, or your address book. Note that "successful"
printing from Pine may depend not only on Pine itself, but also on
whatever network or communications software you use to access the
account on which you are running Pine, and of course the printer
and its physical connection.
* Config: C
The SETUP CONFIGURATION menu allows you to set a wide range of
options of how you want Pine to "behave"; it also lets you set up
folder collections, and identify the host computers from which
Pine should retrieve email messages and news articles. Change the
options that require a value after the = sign only if you are sure
that you understand what they do (check the context-sensitive
help). Wrong specification of smtp-server (needed only for
PC-Pine) and nntp-server may render Pine unable to access your
messages/newsgroup articles, and a misconfigured user-domain value
may result in your messages being sent out with an invalid return
address, so that your correspondents will not be able to reply to
your messages and get their response sent back to you. If you have
any doubts about what specifications should be entered here,
contact your local computing support group; on Unix accounts, the
crucial configuration options have almost certainly already been
set up for you the way they need to be.
The top of the menu, which is several screens long, looks
something like this:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
| PINE 3.94 SETUP CONFIGURATION Folder: INBOX 20 Messages |
| |
| personal-name = Jasjit Singh |
| user-domain = edutech.nowhere.edu |
| smtp-server = <No Value Set> |
| nntp-server = news.nowhere.edu |
| inbox-path = <No Value Set: using "{mailman}inbox"> |
| folder-collections = Saved-Email mail/[] |
| Correspondents corresp/[] |
| news-collections = <No Value Set> |
| incoming-archive-folders = <No Value Set> |
| pruned-folders = <No Value Set> |
| default-fcc = <No Value Set: using "sent-mail"> |
| default-saved-msg-folder = <No Value Set: using "saved-messages"> |
| postponed-folder = <No Value Set: using "postponed-msgs"> |
| read-message-folder = <No Value Set> |
| signature-file = <No Value Set: using ".signature"> |
| global-address-book = <No Value Set> |
| address-book = <No Value Set: using .addressbook> |
| feature-list = |
| Set Feature Name |
| --- ---------------------- |
| [ ] allow-talk |
| [X] assume-slow-link |
| [ ] auto-move-read-msgs |
| |
| ? Help E Exit Config P Prev - PrevPage A Add Value Y prYnt |
| C [Change Val] N Next Spc NextPage D Delete Val W WhereIs |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Some changes made in the SETUP CONFIGURATION menu will only take
effect after closing and then restarting Pine. For the options
that are followed by an = sign, you use the functions Change Val,
Add Value and Delete Value to enter a specification; for the
options preceded by angular brackets, you use the X key to toggle
them on or off [Set/Unset]; and for the options that let you
choose one out of two or more settings, you use the * key to
select a setting.
For any of the configuration options, context-sensitive help is
always accessible through the ? key. Please note: Some of the
setup/configuration functions may be disabled on your system by
its administrator(s).
Commands for Message Handling
Most message handling (as opposed to composing) is performed in the
MESSAGE TEXT and FOLDER INDEX screens, so that is where most of the
following commands are active.
Export and Save Commands
Export: E and Save: S are the two alternatives Pine gives you to keep
a copy of the message you are reading. If you want to keep the message
within Pine's folder collection(s), use "save"; if you want to use the
message in another program, use "export". Pine uses a special format
for its mail folders -- never edit a Pine folder by hand or with any
program other than Pine, unless you know exactly what you are doing;
it is also advisable to make a "backup copy" of any Pine folder you
manipulate outside of Pine first.
When you save a message, it is put into an existing folder or into a
new folder in one of your existing folder collections. The message
stays in email format and can be read by Pine again. The exact
behavior of the save command can be configured with the
save-will-quote-leading-froms, save-will-not-delete, and
save-will-advance feature settings.
When you use export, the file is placed in your home directory or
current working directory (see the use-current-dir configuration
setting).
The Export command reacts to the full header mode toggle. If the full
header mode is on, then all the header and delivery lines are included
with the text of the message in your exported copy of the message.
Take Address Command
With the Take Address: T command, you can extract email addresses from
an incoming message and save them in your address book. This is an
easy wayto keep up an address book and avoid having to remember the
email addresses of the people who write to you.
If the message is just to you individually, then you will only need to
provide a nickname. If the message is more complicated (with more than
one recipient or an email list involved), then you will see an address
selection screen which lets you choose the address you want to save
into your address book, or add several of them to a personal address
list.
Reply and Forward Commands
Replying: R and Forwarding: F are your two options for following up on
the message you are reading. You would use reply if you want to get
email back to the author of the message and/or the other people who
have already seen it. You use forward if you want somebody new to see
the message.
In the normal case, the only thing that you must supply when
forwarding a message is the name/email address of the new recipient.
Pine will include the text of the forwarded message. Pine will also
include any attachments to the message if you have requested them.
There is space above the forwarded text for you to include any
comments.
When replying, you usually have to answer some questions. If the
message is to multiple people and/or specified with a Reply-to:
header, then you will have to decide who should get the reply. You
also need to decide whether or not to include the previous message in
your reply. Some of this is configurable. Specifically, see the
include-header-in-reply and include-text-in-reply configuration
features.
Both the Reply and Forward commands react to the full header mode
toggle. If the full header mode is on, then all the header and
delivery lines are included with the text of the message in your
reply/forward.
Bounce Command
The bounce: B command allows you to re-send a message, as if you were
never in the loop. It is analogous to crossing out your address on a
postal letter, writing a different address on the envelope, and
putting it into the mailbox. Bounce is used primarily to redirect
email which was sent to you in error. Also, some owners of email lists
use the bounce command to handle list traffic.
The presence or absence of the Bounce command is determined by the
"enable-bounce-cmd" feature-list option in your Pine configuration.
Note that Bounce may be administratively disabled by your system
manager; if it doesn't work, please check with your local help desk
before reporting a bug.
View/Save Attachment Command
The View/Save Attachment: V command allows you to handle MIME
attachments on a message you have received. Pine shows you a list of
the message attachments--you just choose the attachment you want. You
may either view or save the selected attachment.
Because many attachments require external programs for display, there
is some system configuration that has to happen before you can
actually display attachments from "within" Pine, meaning without
saving the attachment to a file and loading that file into the
appropriate software. Hopefully much of that will have been done
already by your system administrator. MIME configuration is handled
with the "mailcap" configuration file. (See the section MIME: Reading
a Message in the Technical Notes for more information.)
Flag Command
Flag: * is the command which allows users to manipulate the status
flags which appear on the left side of the FOLDER INDEX screen. The
most common use of this is to mark a message as important. This is
something of a note to yourself to get back to that message--it has no
effect on the way in which Pine will treat the message.
You can also use the flag command to set (or unset) the flags which
indicate that a message is new, deleted, or answered.
Selecting Messages for Aggregate Operations
Aggregate operations give you the ability to process a group of
messages at once. Acting on multiple messages requires two steps:
1. selecting a set of messages and then
2. applying a command to that set.
The first part is handled by the select: ; command. Select allows you
to select messages based on their status (read, answered, etc.),
contents (including fielded selections on header lines) or date. You
also get certain quick options to select a specific message or range
of messages, to select the current message or to select all messages.
After you have an initial selection, the select command changes. It
gives you selection "alteration" options: unselect all, unselect
current, broaden (implements a logical OR), and narrow (implements a
logical AND). You are allowed to use select as many times as you need
to get the selected set right.
Also, the WhereIs: W command has a feature (Ctrl-X) to select all the
messages which match the WhereIs search. WhereIs searches through just
the text which appears on the FOLDER INDEX.
The availability of the aggregate operations commands is determined by
the "enable-aggregate-command-set" feature-list option in your Pine
configuration. Note that aggregate commands may be administratively
disabled by your system manager; if they don't work, please check with
your local help desk before reporting a bug.
Apply and Zoom Commands
Apply: A is the second step of most aggregate operations. Apply
becomes active any time there is a defined set of selected messages.
When you select the Apply command, Pine displays the set of commands,
such as Print, Forward, Save, and others.
Pine never conducts an implicit apply operation. The only way to have
a command operate on the selected set is to use the apply command
first. Otherwise, commands operate on the current message even if you
have just selected a message set.
Another action you might want to take on a set of selected messages is
to zoom in on them. Like Apply, Zoom only becomes active when messages
have been selected. Zoom: Z is a toggle command which allows you to
zoom-in (and only to see the selected messages) and zoom-out (to see
all messages in the folder. The setting for auto-zoom-after-select and
auto-unzoom-after-apply in the Pine configuration allow you to modify
Pine's behavior when messages are selected.
Neither apply nor zoom modify the definition of the selected set; in
other words, after you Apply a command to or Zoom your selected
messages, the selection still remains in effect .
Message Composition Commands
These commands are active in and/or releated to Pine's COMPOSE MESSAGE
screen.
Justify Command
Pressing Ctrl-J forces Pine to reformat the text in the paragraph the
cursor is on. A paragraph is separated by one blank line. This is
useful when you have been editing a paragraph and the lines become
greatly uneven in length. Justifying when your cursor is on a
formatted table or listing can have unwanted results -- if that
happens, just press Ctrl-U immediately to unjustify the text you just
justified.
Mark, Cut and Paste Commands
The mark feature (Ctrl-^) allows you to mark any segment of text, cut
it out (Ctrl-K), move the cursor, and paste it (Ctrl-U) in the new
location. You can paste the previously cut text more than once,
allowing you to use this feature to copy a block of text into several
locations of your message; however, you cannot cut text out of one
message your are composing and then paste it into the next one with
these commands.
If you press Ctrl-K without having marked anything, Pine will delete a
single line. If you delete a group of lines together, Pine keeps them
in the same buffer, so Ctrl-U will restore them as a block.
In Pine's internal help, the "set mark" key is shown as ^^ (two
carets). The first "^" means you should hold down the "Control" key on
your keyboard. The second "^" means "type the character ^".
Read File Command
With Read File: ^R, Pine allows you to insert text files prepared
previously outside of Pine into a message you are composing. This
allows you, for example, to create a long message you are planning to
send with Pine in your favorite word processor, save/export it as a
"plain text" or "ASCII text " file and then retrieve that file into
Pine's message composer. Note: the file you retrieve into Pine must be
in plain text format, not in the native format of your word processor.
If you want to send someone else a file that is not plain text, attach
it to your message rather than reading it into the message text area.
You will be prompted for the name of a file to be inserted into the
message. The file name is relative to your home directory or must be a
full path name on your system. The file will be inserted where the
cursor is located.
The file to be read must be on the same system as Pine. If you use
Pine on a Unix machine but have files on a PC or Macintosh, the files
must be transferred to the Unix system running Pine before they can be
read. Please ask your local consultants about the correct way to
transfer a file to your Pine system as the method will vary from site
to site.
You cannot use any wildcards in specifying the file to be included. At
the File to insert from home directory: prompt, you can type in the
filename directly or use Pine's file browser: ^T to select one from
the listing of files in your directory.
Attach File Command
The attach file command: Ctrl-J (with the cursor located in the header
area of the message composition screen) is the primary means of
attaching an external file as a MIME attachment. The attachment will
be encoded to ensure safe delivery at the receiving end, which means
that you can attach any type of file: spreadsheet, CAD drawing,
desktop-published document, clipart graphic, and so on. However, the
recipient of your message needs to have email software capable (more
and more are) of handling MIME attachments.
The file to be attached must be on the same system as Pine. If you use
Pine on a Unix machine but have files on a PC or Macintosh, the files
must be transferred to the Unix system running Pine before they can be
attached to the message being composed. Please ask your local
consultants about the correct way to transfer a file to your Pine
system as the method will vary from site to site.
You cannot use any wildcards in specifying the file to be included.
You can type in the filename directly or use Pine's file browser to
select one from the listing of files in your directory.
Postpone Message Command
Pine's postpone feature allows you to postpone your composition of a
message, so that you can resume working on it at a later time. Pine
confirms the postponement with:
[Composition postponed. Select Compose to resume.]
Pine will postpone a message for the duration of the current session
and even throughout subsequent Pine sessions. You may postpone as many
messages as you like. (Pine stores all the messages you postpone in a
folder called "postponed-msgs.")
Spell Check Command
(Note: there is no spell checker for the 32-bit version of PC-Pine as
of 27 Sep. 1996. For the 16-bit version, see the section on
spell-checking in Customization and Configuration in the Pine
Questions and Answers.)
Pressing Ctrl-T calls up the standard spell checker, or an alternate
program you specified in the speller variable in your configuration.
The standard Unix spell checker reads in all the new lines of text
(those which do not begin with the ">") and passes them through the
spell checker. The spell checker does not provide alternative
spellings nor does it remember correct words from session to session.
When you first use the standard Unix spell checker, it may appear that
it is randomly jumping all around your message - actually, the spell
checker processes your message one word at a time, in alphabetical
order. Other spell checkers such as ispell for Unix operate
differently and offer more features, such as creating a personal
"dictionary" of words.
Rich Headers Command
Normally, Pine just shows you four header fields to fill out -- To:,
Cc:, Attchmnt:, and Subject:. There are others -- Bcc:, Fcc:, Lcc:,
Newsgroups: and possibly custom headers you have defined in your
personal configuration -- which are also available but not usually
shown. When you press Ctrl-R in the message header, you can see and
edit these hidden fields.
Bcc stands for blind carbon copy. Addresses listed in this field
receive a copy of the message, but are not visible to any of its
recipients, including even those who received the blind carbon copy.
(If you enter addresses both in the To: and the Bcc: fields, this can
cause confusion among the Bcc recipients, who may think they
accidentally received a message intended for someone else -- the
addresses they see in the To: field -- and then forward it to them, so
use this feature with discretion.)
New in Pine version 3.92 is the Lcc (List Carbon Copy) field, which
combines the functions of the To: and Bcc: fields. It allows you to
select a list of addresses from your addressbook and shows the name of
the list -- but not the individual addresses in the list -- in the
message's To: field, while delivering a copy of the message to each
address on the list.
Fcc stands for folder carbon copy. This is the field to specify the
name of the folder which should hold a copy of the outgoing message.
The default-fcc field in Pine's configuration specifies the default
folder to save outgoing messages into, but you can override that
default on for any message you compose by changing the Fcc field in
its header. In addition, Pine gives you the ability to specify an Fcc:
appropriate for each entry in your addressbook -- a very useful
feature if you organize your folder by correspondents.
The Newsgrps field allows you to select one or more Usenet newsgroups
to which you want to post your message. For this to work, you have to
have access to a news server, which can be specified in the
nntp-server field of Pine's configuration screen; most institutions or
Internet Service Providers operate their own news server and will have
preconfigured Pine to access it, so you usually won't have to change
this entry -- ask your local systems support staff if in doubt.
Other Commands
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Whereis Command
The WhereIs command: W is available in many of Pine's screens. It
searches through the contents of whatever is on (but not "behind") the
screen you are looking at -- the current message, the current folder
index, the address book, etc.
WhereIs also lets you quickly jump to the first (Ctrl-Y) or last
(Ctrl-V) of the items on the screen you are searching -- the
first/last message in the FOLDER INDEX, the first/last address in your
ADDRESS BOOK, the first/last line in your COMPOSE MESSAGE screen, and
so on.
Full Headers Toggle Command
Every email message comes with some header lines that you normally
don't see. These include lines added by the Internet mail transport
system to record the route your message took, for diagnostic purposes.
These are normally of no import and simply add clutter, so Pine
suppresses them from MESSAGE TEXT display.
There is, however, a way to reveal them. The Header Mode: H command is
a toggle which controls Pine's handling of these header lines.
Normally, full headers is "off" and you only see a few lines about
recipient(s) and sender(s) of a message. When you press H to turn full
headers on, Pine will show you the normal header lines as well as
delivery headers, comment headers and MIME headers.
Several different Pine commands honor the header mode -- it affects
how messages are displayed, how they appear in forward and reply
email, how they are saved and how they are exported.
The presence or absence of the Header Mode command is determined by
the "enable-full-header-cmd" option in your Pine configuration. Also,
it may be administratively disabled by your system manager; if it
doesn't work, please check with your local help desk before reporting
a bug.
Sort Command
In Pine's generic configuration, messages are presented in the order
in which they arrive. This default can be changed your Pine
configuration in the sort-key section. You can also re-sort the folder
on demand with the sort: $ command. Sorting a folder does not actually
rearrange the sequence of message in the folder they are saved in --
it just re-arranges how the messages are presented to you. This means
that Pine has to do the work of sorting every time you change sort
order. Sometimes, especially with PC-Pine or with large folders, this
could take a while.
Expunge/Exclude Command
Expunge/Exclude: X is the command Pine uses to actually remove all
messages marked for deletion (marked with a "D" in the left margin of
the folder index. With your email messages, expunge literally deletes
the messages. With newsgroups or shared mailboxes, where you don't
have permission to actually remove the messages, Pine only removes the
messages from your view of the folder, but they are not erased.
Pine asks you whether you want to expunge messages marked deleted when
you leave a folder or exit Pine. The expunge-without-confirm option in
your Pine configuration allows you to choose whether or not this takes
place with prompting you for confirmation.
Next Interesting Message Command
When you press the TAB key, Pine advances to the next "interesting"
message. When you are using Pine to read email, that message is the
next new or important message in the folder (a new message is one you
have not read before; an important message is one you have flagged as
important).
When reading news folders, Pine cannot tell which messages you have
read and which you have not, so the next "interesting" message is the
next one which you have not yet deleted.
Jump to Message Command
This is Pine's way of allowing you to go straight to a specific
message. Just press J and then enter the message number. Pine can also
be configured such that typing in any number automatically jumps you
to that message (see enable-jump-shortcut in your Pine configuration).
Goto Folder Command
Goto: G lets you bypass Pine's folder selection screens and go
directly to another folder. You can select any folder: one in your
current collection, one in a different collection or one in a
collection you've never even used before.
Pine will help you as much as it can to narrow in on the folder you
want. However, if the folder is outside of your defined collections,
you are going to have to key in the exact folder location with the
right syntax. See the later section on IMAP folder syntax for more
details on this.
Pine and Alternate Character Sets
Pine attempts to stay out of the way so that it won't prevent you from
viewing mail in any character set. It will simply send the message to
your display device. If the device is capable of displaying the
message as it was written it will do so. If not, the display may be
partially or totally incorrect. If the message is marked as being in a
character set other than "US-ASCII" and it is a character set that is
different from the set you have indicated with the "character-set"
variable in your Pine configuration, a warning message will be printed
to your screen at the beginning of the message display.
In all cases Pine requires that the display device can handle the
character set. For example, most X-terminals will display the
ISO-8859-1 character set if the right font is selected. VT220's and
higher also display ISO-8859-1. Displays for other characters sets are
less common.
Syntax for IMAP Folders and Collections
Pine users have the option of using folders which are stored on a
computer other than the one on which Pine is running. Pine accesses
remote folders via IMAP (the Internet Message Access Protocol), or in
the case of news, via NNTP (the Network News Transport Protocol).
Syntax for Folders
To be able to access remote folders in Pine, the remote host must be
running the appropriate server software (imapd or nntpd) and you must
correctly specify the name of the folder to Pine, including the domain
name of the remote machine. For example,
"{monet.art.nowhere.edu}INBOX" is a remote folder specification, as is
"{monet.art}~/mail/september-1994". As you can tell, the name of the
computer is in {} brackets followed immediately by the name of the
folder. If, as in these examples, there is no remote access protocol
specified, then IMAP is assumed.
There are certain symbols which have special meanings in folder names:
* A "*" in front of the folder specification means that the folder
is a bulletin board -- shared access and no write privileges.
Examples:
*comp.mail.pine, *{wharhol.art.nowhere.edu}job-board
* A folder name beginning with "#mh/" is an mh format folder.
Examples:
#mh/mail/sep-1994, {wharhol.art.nowhere.edu}#mh/mail/sep-1994
There are certain flags within remote folder names:
* An "/anonymous" flag means anonymous IMAP access. Example:
{wharhol.art.nowhere.edu/anonymous}job-board
* A "/user=" flag permits you to specify the username for the
desired account on the mail server. Example:
{mailhost.myISP.com/user=jsingh}INBOX
will cause Pine to attempt a login as user "jsingh" on server
"mailhost.myISP.com" when this entry is used. The user will be
prompted for a password.
* A "/nntp" flag means NNTP protocol access. It cannot be used with
the /anonymous flag. Example:
*{news.nowhere.edu/nntp}comp.mail.pine
Note that "INBOX" has special meaning in both local and remote folder
specifications. The name INBOX refers to your "principal incoming
message folder" and will be mapped to the actual file name used for
your INBOX on any given host. Therefore, a name like
"{xxx.art.nowhere.edu}INBOX" refers to whatever file is used to store
incoming mail for you on that particular host.
Syntax for Collections
Folder collections are "places" to store folders. They roughly
correspond to a filesystem "directory". Collections may be local or
remote, but they must correspond to a pre-existing filesystem
directory, i.e. Pine will not create any directory other than the
original default.
A valid local collection is just the specification of a directory on
the local system followed by square brackets. For example,
"ART-101\[]" may be valid on a PC and "exhibit/[]" may be valid on
Unix.
Pine also allows you to access a collection on a remote computer
(provided it supports IMAP and you have the right to store folders on
it.) To specify a remote folder collection, you need to give the name
of the IMAP mail server, the name of the collection on that server,
and the square brackets. For instance,
"{wharhol.art.nowhere.edu}art-101/[]" is a remote collection. As you
can tell, the name of the computer is in {} brackets followed
immediately by the name of the collection.
Collection syntax:
{optional-imap-hostname}optional-directory-path[]
For more information (not Pine-specific) on IMAP, visit The IMAP
Connection at the URL:
http://www.imap.org/
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End of Pine User's Guide
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