Mailbox list screen

The mailbox list screen displays a list of the messages in a particular mail folder. It will look something like the following:-


First Previous Next Last
"INBOX" with 4 messages
Refresh | Expunge | Search
# Status Date From Size Subject Thread Messages
1. Mar 26 2001 To: sp999@cam.ac.uk <1K small test Delete
2. Mar 26 2001 S. Page <1K Re: feeding the cat Delete
3. Mar 27 2001 A. Person <1K new mail Undelete
4. Apr 12 2001 Mail Delivery System 1K Mail delivery failed: returning message to sender Delete
First Previous Next Last
Page:/1
Refresh | Expunge | Search

Reading a message

To read a message simply select the name of the person in the From column or select the subject in the Subject column.

The bars above and below the message listing

These are largely identical. The exceptions are in the centre of each row:-

Top bar Informative message indicating the current mail folder and the number of messages, for example "INBOX" with 4 messages .
Bottom bar Shortcut for displaying other pages in a long mail folder listing. For example
Page: /3
indicates that the listing spans three pages. To move to a different page enter the required page number in the "Page:" box and then select "Go".

The identical elements in each bar are:-

First First displays the first page of messages in the mail folder.
Previous Previous displays the previous page of messages.
Next Next displays the next page of messages.
Last Last displays the last page of messages.
  You can configure how many messages count as one page by using a setting found in Manage -> Preferences -> Display. The relevant icon is greyed out if the choice is not applicable (i.e. you are on the first or last page).
Messages on a screen can be "marked" (selected) by checking the box by the message number. Marking is useful if you want to do the same thing with several messages on the page, for example deleting them or copying them to the same mail folder. Once messages have been marked various actions can be taken using this pull-down menu.
Delete marked, Undelete marked perform the obvious actions.
Flag as read and Flag as unread change the status of the marked messages.
Forward marked takes you to the compose screen with the messages inserted as the body of the new message.
Copy marked takes you to the folder display, where you can choose the folder to which you wish to copy the messages.
Select the action from the pull-down menu and then select Go.
Note: that after you have marked messages on a screen you must take action on those messages before you do something else, for example move to another page of messages or read a message. If you do something else before you have taken action on the marked messages, the marks are cancelled, unless you have set Manage -> Preferences -> General -> Use persistent marks. Using Persistent marks changes some options on the message list screen, see Using Persistent Marks below.
Refresh checks for new mail. Please be cautious in your use of this (i.e. use it every few minutes rather than every few seconds) as it can put unnecessary load on __SERVICE__.
Expunge deletes from your mail folder all messages that are marked as deleted. Expunged messages cannot be recovered. Selecting this deletes them immediately - there is no confirmation dialogue.
Search takes you to a screen where you can choose a subset of the messages in the current mail folder using different criteria including date and text search.

The message list

The message list is divided into columns.

Sorting

The default sort order is by arrival (Message). It is possible to temporarily change how you sort the current mail folder by selecting Date, From, Size or Subject in the column headings. This will sort in ascending order, for example if you sort by Size the smallest messages are listed first. It is possible to reverse the selected sort order by reselecting your chosen column, e.g. to sort by descending size select Size twice.

You can also Thread messages. Threading uses uses reference headers in the message to work out the order of messages on the same subject. Selecting this sorts the current mail folder by thread.

Using persistent marks

If you have Manage -> Preferences -> General -> Use persistent marks set then there are some differences in the appearance of the message list screen and some changes to the actions that can be taken.

One change is the appearance of extra choices in the bars above and below the message listing. The example below shows the changes to the top bar.

First Previous Next Last
"INBOX" with 4 messages
Refresh | Expunge | Mark All | Zoom | Search
Mark All marks all the messages.
Zoom requires that you have marked one or more messages. It displays a listing of just the marked messages. If you are already in a zoomed list (for example as the result of a Search) then this option changes to Unzoom and selecting it will return you to the complete mail folder listing.

You mark messages by selecting the Mark/Unmark icon by the message. Marking a message changes the icon. It also changes: