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Unix E-Mail Software: Sun MailTool

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MailTool is a GUI program for e-mail on the public SUNs, within the OpenWindows environment.

Set-up

To set up your desktop with the Mail Tool letterbox:

Reading Mail

The letterbox icon will be there each time you log on. When you see a letter with a stamp showing, you have new mail. Double-click the mouse on the "box of letters" icon to open the mail service and display the contents of the mailbox on an index screen. New mail will be marked with an "N"; the first new entry will be highlighted with a box around the index line. You may choose View to display the contents of incoming mail, or double-click on the individual mail item you wish to read. Next steps you through the list of mail in sequential order. To return to the menu of incoming mail, click on the window header of the mail item and choose Dismiss.

Print a mail item by clicking on the description with the left mouse button, to select it, then hold down the right mouse button and release on the Print button. The single message will be printed. You may also print from the File button at the top of the MailTool window.

Exit from Mail Tool by selecting Done from the menu options.

Sending Mail

To open a window to send a new e-mail message, click on Compose at the Mail Tool menu bar. Type in a network address, a subject and the text of your message, being sure to at the end of each line of the message text. Send the mail message by clicking on Deliver.

You can include existing files in your e-mail by cut-and-pasting the text into the mail window, or by sending the files as an attachment. Click on the File button at the bottom of the mail text frame to "attach" a file, then type in the pathname of the file. You will see a little page icon in the frame when the file is successfully attached.

WordPerfect files may be sent as attachments to mail from Sun to Sun, but must be saved as an ASCII text file before being attached to mail for a non-Sun host. The mail facility within WordPerfect does not work well. WordPerfect files sent as attachments between Suns can be opened directly: wp ~gentry/sw_support.wpd

Dead Letter

Every time you send e-mail, a file called dead.letter appears in your file directory. It can be useful. In your .mailrc file, put the command set save and the automatically created dead.letter file will contain the file you were working on if you cancel out of Unix mail or if Mail Tool aborts.

Logging Outgoing Mail

To save copies of all outgoing mail, you can edit .mailrc as described under Unix Mail. Using MailTool, you can also establish the log file by selecting the following buttons from the menu bar, in order: Edit --> Properties --> Category --> Compose Window --> Log all messages/Logged messages file . Be sure to click on the Apply button to make the change effective.

Signature Files

Signature files are essential elements of wide-area network e-mail. They include your name, postal address, network address, phone and FAX numbers, and often a motto or logo, to personalize the information. Signature files, or sig files, are appended to all outgoing mail, as part of the message text.

To create a signature file, use the vi or Sun editor. Type in the information in the format you wish it to have, and doublecheck spelling and accuracy. Then exit, remembering the path and filename. sig or signature is a likely name for the file.

To append the ~/sig file to outgoing mail using the Unix mail command, include it as you would any other file:
~r filename

To add the signature file to the Mail Tool program,

When you create outgoing mail, after typing the text of the message, click on the Include menu button (triangle), drag down the Templates menu, and release on sig. Your signature file will be copied into the e-mail after the last cursor position. (It helps if you <.enter>. to a new line before dragging in the sig.)

Mail Aliases

There are two kinds of mail aliases, system-wide aliases used for incoming mail and for forwarding, and individual aliases used for outgoing mail to people or groups of people. You can set up individual aliases on your own account. System-wide aliases must be set up by a system administrator; send mail to request@nps.navy.mil.

To make your own alias list in Sun's Mail Tool, you must

  1. Open the Mail Tool
    • If the icon is showing, double-click on it to open; otherwise
    • With the arrow on the background screen (not in a window), press the right-hand button on the mouse, then
    • Click on the Programs menu-triangle, dragging the cursor down to Mail Tool, then releasing.
  2. Click on the Compose button and open a new e-mail window.
  3. Click on the Header button and select Aliases... This will pop open yet another window where you can fill in your aliases. Addresses can be cut and pasted into the MailTool alias screen, or typed in.
  4. After you have filled in an entry, click on the Add button.
  5. When you are completely done entering aliases, click on the Apply button to exit.

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