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MISCELLANEOUS EMAIL NOTES
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NOTE: Be sure to see also the DNS notes that are relevant
to setting up email hosting (MX, SPF, etc.).
ALPINE
======
Search all messages in a folder:
; t a [search string]
; = select
t = text
a = all fields
Command line options:
alpine -p [/path/to/alternate-pinerc] -passfile [/path/to/password-file]
When creating a password file, Alpine no longer behaves the way it did
in the free and easy old days when you could create a passfile with
simply
touch password-file
Now, after creating a new empty file (with "touch" as above), you need
to open the file with an editor and insert a line return. After saving
the passfile with the line return in it, Alpine should then prompt you
to create a master password to encrypt the passfile the next time
Alpine needs to access the passfile.
Common server strings:
{smtp.fastmail.com:465/ssl/
[email protected]/novalidate-cert}
{imap.fastmail.com:993/ssl/
[email protected]/novalidate-cert}
{imap.gmail.com:993/ssl/
[email protected]/novalidate-cert}[Gmail]/All Mail
If you wish to start Alpine with a remote pinerc, add the following
argument at the command line:
alpine -p {imap.gmail.com:993/ssl/
[email protected]/novalidate-cert}pinerc-sdf-pine
Some settings you might want to tweak:
deadletter
enable alternate editor command
[allows you to use ^_ to invoke an editor other than alpine's default]
sigdashes
header in reply
text in reply
disable-sender / do not generate sender header
mark fcc seen
blank fcc
blank subject
dot-folders / hidden folders
convert dates to localtime
x-x-sender
index-format STATUS MSGNO DATE FROMORTO KSIZE SUBJECT
[The default when this field is undefined is same as above
except that the default uses SIZE instead of KSIZE.]
enable aggregate
enable flag
enable full header command
expose hidden config
sort-key = Date or Reverse Date
Default Composer Headers
From:
To:
Cc:
Fcc:
Subject:
Attchmnt:
customized-hdrs / Customized Headers = From: Full Name <
[email protected]>
editor = emacs [or vim]
[The editor invoked by the ^_ (alternate editor command)]
DELETE FILTER
When a message is expunged, this filter moves it to a designated
folder (i.e. Trash). The message is only fully removed when it is
expunged from the designated folder. You probably do not want to
use this filter with Gmail. If you use Gmail, then moving a message
to the [Gmail]/Trash folder will remove it from all other locations,
and when expunged from [Gmail]/Trash the message is gone forever.
S(etup) --> R(ules) --> F(ilters)
Nickname: Move Deleted to Trash
Current Folder Type = Email
Message is Deleted? = Yes
Filter Action = Move (then select folder)
For IMAP Collections:
separate-folder-and-directory-entries
quell-empty-directories
You might also need: enable-lame-list-mode / deficient imap servers
Odd characters show up in the body of messages:
This can be caused by a character-encoding mismatch between your terminal
and alpine. Make sure both are set to utf-8.
THUNDERBIRD
===========
Calendars in Lightning Add-On (Now part of Thunderbird proper)
Using a synchronized local file as a pseudo-network calendar:
On the network
icalendar
file:///home/user/Documents/sync-calendar.ics (Linux)
file:///C:/Users/username/Documents/sync-calendar.ics (Windows)
MESSAGE SIZE TEST
=================
My three contenders for adding the fewest headers
are MXroute, Runbox, and Yandex. So, I am sending
a message from my work account to each of them as
a test. Below is the size of the message when it
arrives in my inbox.
MXroute: 4.0K
Runbox: 3.9K
Yandex: 4.4K
And, for comparison...
Fastmail: 10.1K
Gandi: 4.0K
Own Server: 3.7K
PHANTOM IMAP FOLDERS IN MY MXROUTE ACCOUNT
At some point, I noticed phantom folders showing up in IMAP
clients in my MXroute email account, including a mysterious
"V 2"
folder. So far, I have not discovered the source of the
issue, but I have found work-arounds for the two IMAP
clients in which I have seen the phantom folders: Claws-
Mail and Thunderbird. It is important to note that both of
these work-arounds require that all of the folders to
which you need access be under INBOX in the directory tree.
In Roundcube, you can do this under folder settings by
selecting INBOX or one of its subfolders as the Parent
folder for whatever folders you are planning to use.
Claws Mail:
==========
Configuration ->
Edit accounts ->
Edit ->
Receive ->
IMAP directory: ./
You may need to delete the local version of the phantom
folders that were created under:
~/.claws-mail/imapcache/server.mxrouting.net/
[email protected]/
You may also need to right click on the top-most MXroute
account folder and select "Rebuild folder tree".
Thunderbird:
===========
Account settings ->
Server Settings ->
Advanced ->
IMAP server directory: INBOX.
