Customizing Netscape Mail
CONTENTS
NETSCAPE E-MAIL
TOPICS
Using Helper Applications and Plug-Ins
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Using Netcape to Manage Your E-mail
There are a number of specialized configuration options related to using Netscape for e-mail, all located under the Mail and News Preferences in Netscape's Options menu (Version 3). You can investigate them all on your own, but here are a few of the more important ones.
Under the Composition tab you can choose to automatically send copies of outgoing mail messages to yourself or to a file, and to automatically include the text of a message in a reply. You should set When Composing Mail and News Messages: Send and Post to Allow 8-bit.
Under the Servers tab you should set the following:
Outgoing Mail (SMTP) Server: smtp.columbia.edu
Incoming Mail (POP) Server: pop.columbia.edu
POP User ID: [email protected], where abc123 is your CUNIX e-mail address
You can also configure how frequently Netscape checks for new mail. If you set this to Never, Netscape will only check for new mail when you tell it to by selecting Get New Mail from Netscape Mail's File menu.
It is very important to make sure Netscape is configured to leave copies of your mail messages on the server if you are trying Netscape Mail for the first time or if you wish to view your messages from a second location. If you decide you want to continue using Netscape Mail on a regular basis, you should change this setting so that your messages are removed from the server once they are downloaded.
Under the Organization tab you can configure the order that Netscape uses to sort your messages, and you can choose whether you want the messages threaded. (By default, mail messages are not threaded.) When messages are threaded, replies are stored or displayed adjacent to the original message and other replies to the original message. When messages are unthreaded (the box unchecked), replies are stored or displayed according to the sorting order without regard to the position of the original message or other replies.
We recommend that you configure Netscape to store your mail unthreaded and your news threaded, and have both sorted by date. (You can change the way you view your mail messages using the View menu when you have the Netscape mail window open. What you set under the Organization tab controls how messages are stored, but what you set under the View menu controls how you view them.)
Configuring Netscape to Send but not Receive Mail
It is useful to be able to send mail with Netscape even if you don't plan to use it to receive your mail. In order to do this, you should configure the Netscape Composition and Servers options as described above except leave the following Server settings blank:
Incoming Mail (POP) Server
POP User ID
You should also leave the Check for Mail setting set to Never.
You can also ignore the Organization settings.
Academic Information Systems
[email protected] - 14 April 1998 - 212.854.1919