Here's a concise tutorial on some of the basic features of Eudora Light.
kelly
Managing Your Email with Eudora Light
With ever increasing use of email as an efficient and effective
communication tool, activists must watch out for the problem of
"information overload." One of the best methods we've found for
managing this influx is by customizing your email programs by using
"mailboxes" and "filtering." This document shows how to optimize and
customize the most current version of Eudora Lite for the Macintosh,
available as a free download from http://www.eudora.com. The commands
and features in this release area also available in the Windows
version. See our Online College for a detailed tutorial..
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Managing Mailboxes
By default, Eudora is configured with three mailboxes: In, Out and
Trash. The In mailbox is where Eudora stores your incoming mail. The
Trash mailbox is where Eudora puts messages that you have deleted.
If you choose to save copies of your outgoing mail they will be saved
in the Out mailbox. You can also create other mailboxes to organize
your saved messages by selecting Mailboxes from the Special menu. Mail
can then be transferred at any time between mailboxes by highlighting
the message and choosing another mailbox from the Transfer menu.
Creating a New Mailbox
Creating mailboxes for your messages allows you to organize your email
into an electronic equivalent of file folders in your filing cabinet.
Your many email messages are easier to retrieve, less confusing, and
much more manageable when placed in their own subject area (mailbox)
than having them all unsorted in your "in" box. You can even create
"nested" mailboxes to more fully organize your electronic email
library.
When deciding how to organize your mailboxes, think first in broad
terms: are there certain people that send you only "personal" email?
Are you subscribed to different email lists? Does your organization's
staff and board send you email? These are all excellent subjects to
establish mailboxes for. For example, if you receive email from
members of your family, you can create a mailbox called "personal," to
which you can transfer all emails from your brother. As you determine
your mailbox needs over time, you can create more specific mailboxes,
rename them as topics change, and delete those that are no longer of
use to you.
Once you've established mailboxes, you can apply "filters" to incoming
and outgoing messages, causing Eudora to automatically transfer
messages containing certain keywords directly into the appropriate
mailbox. (Filters are discussed later in this document.)
Do this:
1.
1. Go to the Mailboxes menu
2. Select New... A window titled "New Mailbox" will pop up.
3. Name your new mailbox. If you want to make the mailbox a
folder in which you can nest other mailboxes, click the box
next to "Make it a folder."
4. Click OK. Close the New Mailbox window.
5. Now go back to the Mailboxes pull-down menu, and see your new
mailbox!
Removing and Renaming Mailboxes
You can use the Mailboxes window to remove or rename your mailboxes,
and to move them from one folder to another.
Do this:
Select Mailboxes from the Special menu. The mailbox window is
displayed. The mailbox window shows two identical list boxes
with scroll bars. These boxes list the names of mailboxes and
folders you have created. Above each box is the name of the
folder that is being displayed. You can double-click on a
folder to display its contents.
1.
1. Click on New to create a new mailbox. A dialog box is
displayed asking you to provide a name, and whether you want
it to be a folder.
2. Select a folder or mailbox you want to change.
3. If you click on Rename, a dialog is displayed asking you to
confirm the request. Click on Remove It if you are deleting
one mailbox, or Remove All if you are removing several
mailboxes.
4. If you click on one of the Move buttons, you can move a
mailbox from one folder to another.
If you chose to make your new mailbox a "folder", you can place
new mailboxes in that folder by using the following steps:
1.
1. Go to the Special menu
2. Select Mailboxes. A window titled "Mailboxes" will pop up.
3. Double-click on the desired folder from the list of mailboxes
4. Select New. A window titled "New Mailbox" will pop up.
5. Name your new mailbox.
6. Click OK. Close the New Mailbox window.
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Managing Messages
Deleting Messages
Unless you think that an email message contains information you may
need to access sometime in the future, don't hesitate to delete
messages. It is one of the best ways to keep a handle on information
overload. If you decide you don't want to keep a message, you can
highlight it in the In (or any other) mailbox window and select Delete
from the Message menu. Eudora will put it into the Trash mailbox; it
will not actually be deleted until the Trash is emptied.
You can also press "Apple - D" to delete a highlighted or open
message, or drag the highlighted message summary to the trash can.
Unless you change the setting, Eudora will empty the Trash when you
quit the program.
Transferring Messages
You can transfer a message or messages to another mailbox using the
"Transfer" menu. This is a helpful way to keep your email organized
and easily found.
1. Do this:
1. With a message you wish to transfer either open or
highlighted, go to the Transfer menu.
2. Select the mailbox you want the message to be transferred to.
3. The message will be moved from its current mailbox to the
newly selected one.
You can also move several messages at once. Hold down the shift key
and select the multiple messages you want to transfer to the same
mailbox. Then follow steps 1-3 above.
Dragging Messages
You can drag messages from one mailbox to another using the message
summaries in an open mailbox window.
To drag a message summary to another mailbox, select the message
summary (or summaries), place the cursor over the summary, and hold
down the mouse button. The cross pointer will change to an arrow. Drag
the summary into any open mailbox window. When you release the mouse
button, the message is transferred.
To put a copy of a message in another mailbox (instead of transferring
the message), hold down the option key and use one of the transfer
options above. This is useful if you want to file a message in more
than one mailbox.
If you transfer a message by mistake and want to move it back to its
original location, go to the edit menu and select Undo transfer to ...
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Using Filters
Filters are probably the most effective tools you have to manage your
electronic information. They allow you to automatically transfer email
messages to specified mailboxes as they are downloaded from the
Internet. You can also have Eudora perform other actions on incoming
and outgoing mail by using Filters. For example, if you subscribe to a
mailing list like "WALL-list," you can have Eudora automatically
transfer incoming mail from the WALL-list to a "WALL-list" mailbox and
change the priority level to "High."
When deciding how to filter your messages, think about the mailboxes
you created, the types of emails you receive, and what keywords and/or
parameters the filters should look for when transferring your messages
to mailboxes. This may take some tweaking, after seeing how Eudora
interprets your filters and in what order your messages are filtered.
It's easy to fine-tune your filters by following the instructions that
follow.
Setting up your filters
Select Filters from the Special menu to bring up the Filters dialog
box. You can filter Incoming and Outgoing mail by clicking on the
appropriate check box. You can also select the Manual option; you can
then highlight messages in your In or Out mailboxes and then select
the Filter Messages command from the Special menu.
You can base your filters on text from any header, such as To or From
or the body of the message. Select the appropriate item from the popup
menu next to the Header: field and type in the text. There are several
options for text; contains, does not contain, starts with, etc.
The actions that you can perform on your messages are:
* Make Subject
* Change the label
* Raise or lower the priority
* Transfer to a mailbox of your choice
* Skip Rest
Do this (quick start - detailed instructions follow:)
1. Select Filters from the Special menu. A window called "Filters"
will pop up.
2. Select New in the lower left-hand corner
3. Choose whether you want to filter "Incoming" and/or "Outgoing"
messages
4. Choose which header you want messages filtered by
5. Type in the keyword you want your messages filtered by in the
space below Header
6. Choose which action you want to be taken when filtering messages
7. Close the "Filters" window
N.B. This is the simplest form of filtering. Below, filtering is
discussed in more detail.
When the filters are invoked (automatically or manually), each message
is matched against each filter, and messages that meet a filter's
criteria are acted on as specified until a Transfer To or Skip Rest
action is done, At that point, the next message is filtered.
Note: Filters are automatically named based on the criteria for the
filter. They are invoked in order from top to bottom, and you can
reorder them by dragging a filter up or down in the list.
Filter Criteria (the Match Area)
Each filter can use one or two terms as its criteria, connecting them
as appropriate with the conjunction popup (see below).
Use the Header field to specify which message header items you want
the filter to search. You can select an option from the popup menu or
enter one yourself. The selections are as follows:
* To
* From
* Subject
* Reply-To
* <<Any Recipient>>
* <<Any Header>>
* <<Body>>
The <<Any Reciptient>> option searches all possible recipient items
(To, CC, BCC), the <<Any Header>> option searches all message headers
(including hidden headers that are shown with the Blah Blah Blah
option), and the <<Body>> option searches the message body.
Use the Match Type popup to control how the header item is matched
with the text string in the text field. The match options are:
contains or does not contain
If the specified header item contains or does not contain the
text string, filter the message.
is or is not
If the specified header item is or is not a complete match of
the text string, filter the message.
starts with or ends with
If the specified header item starts with or ends with the
text string, filter the message.
Appears or does not appear
If the header item appears or does not appear in the message,
filter the message (the text field is ignored). This is
useful for filtering messages based only on the type of
fields they contain.
Note: It is recommended that the contents of this filed be
kept as specific and brief as possible. The greater the
complexity, the less the likelihood of a match.
Use the Conjunction popup to link the two terms. The conjunction
options are:
ignore
Ignore the second term; if the message matches the first
term, filter the message.
and
If the message matches both the first and second terms,
filter it.
or
If the message matches either term, filter it.
unless
If the message matches both the first and second terms, do
not filter it. (This lets you exclude certain variations of
the first term.)
Filter Actions
All messages that match the filter criteria are acted on as specified
with the Actions popup. Each filter can do up to five things to a
message that matches the criteria. You can use the same action twice
if it does not directly affect the original message (for example, Copy
to can be used twice, but not Transfer to).
The Action options are as follows:
None
No action
Make Priority
Assigns the selected priority level to messages. If you
select a set level, messages are set to that priority. If you
select Raise or Lower, messages are raised or lowered one
priority level based on their pre-filter level.
Make Subject
Assigns the new subject to messages. If you choose this
option, the entire subject of the message is replaced with
the new subject. Use the "&" symbol if you want to add the
new subject to the old subject. For example, entering New
Subject:& results in New Subject:Old Subject.
Copy to
Copies messages to the selected mailbox.
Transfer to
Transfers messages to the selected mailbox. This is the most
useful of the filtering options.
Skip Rest
Stops filtering for the message (the message is not matched
to the rest of the filters in the list).
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Using the Address Book
The Address Book keeps information about individuals or groups that
you correspond with. Each entry in the Address Book includes a
nickname for a person or group, their full e-mail addresses, a real
name, any contact information, and any notes. You can also use the
Address Book to put nicknames on the Recipient List, to address a new
message, and to create your own personal "email list." This last
function is valuable if you send emails to the same group of people
often. For example, if you have 4 people that you communicate
regularly with about forest issues, you can create a nickname called
"forests." After defining what email addresses Eudora should assign to
this nickname, all you have to do is type "forests" in the To: section
of your message, and Eudora will send the email to everyone assisgned
to that nickname. Note that, unlike email discussion lists typically
called "listservs," those receiving your message need to have their
email program set up in a similar fashion in order to make this a true
"discussion list." ONE/Northwest establishes these discussion lists
for the conservation community in the Northwest at no cost to you. See
our website at http://www.onenw.org, or contact us for more
information.
1. Do this:
2. Select Address Book from the Special menu.
3. Click on the New button. A dialog box is displayed prompting you
for the nickname.
1. Type the new nickname in the text field (e.g. Jdoe), or if you
want to set up your own personal email list, type in an alias for
that group of email addresses.
2. Check the Put it on the Recipient List option, if you want it on
your list of easily accessed email addresses.
3. Click OK.
4. Type the full e-mail address of the person or group (e.g.
[log in to unmask]). If you are establishing a list, type in each
person's email address, which each address seperated by a comma.
5. In the Name field, type the real name of the person or group.
6. In the other fields, enter any additional information you like.
7. Select Save from the File menu to save your new Address Book
entry.
You can also use the Make Address Book Entry command to create new
Address Book entries from selections in the Address Book or selected
messages.
Using the Quick Recipient List
The Quick Recipient List is a list of selected nicknames that you
often use.
To add a nickname to the Quick Recipient List, go to the Address book
entry for the nickname and check the Recipient List option.
To open a new message for someone on your list, select their nickname
from the New Message To or Forward To submenus of the Message menu.
The message is opened and addressed to the nickname you selected.
To add someone from your list to a message that is already open, put
the cursor in the appropriate field and choose their nickname from the
Insert Recipient submenu of the Edit menu.
11/09/98
ONE/Northwest: Online Networking for the Environment
1601 2nd Avenue Suite 605
Seattle, WA 98101
206.448.1008 fax 206.448.7222
[log in to unmask] http://www.onenw.org/
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