Introduction to the Elm and Mutt mailers The basic commands used in both Elm and Mutt are essentially the same, but because the screen layout is a bit different, only Elm is described in detail; a short summary of Mutt features and differences is presented as an appendix. It might be a good idea to start with Elm, until you are familiar with the basic functions described here. The basic functions you need to know for any e-mail program are: 1) Starting the program; 2) Addressing and composing a message; 3) Sending a message; 4) Reading an incoming message; 5) Replying to a message; 6) Saving messages; 7) Exiting the program. Appendix: A) Attachments B) Online help C) Mutt Features 1. Elm -- Elm is probably already in your path. You can find out if it is by typing "elm" at the command prompt and hitting enter. (lower case letters, and no quotes). If you are using the menus, you can find the program on the Mail Menu, by entering "top,c,m" at any menu. If you get an error message, such as "command not found", your PATH is probably not configured correctly. If you have a file called .login it should have a statement like this: set path=(/nyx/bin /usr/local/bin /usr/bin /usr/ucb) If you have a file called .profile it should have a statement like: export PATH=/nyx/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/ucb The very first time you start Elm, it will likely ask you if you would like it to create a directory to store your personal configuration. You are not required to have such a directory, but Elm will prompt you like this, at every startup, until you give in: | Notice: ELM requires an ".elm" subdirectory off your home directory | to hold information such as your configuration preferences (the | "elmrc" file) and aliases. | | May I create this directory for you (yes/no/quit) ? [y] : n | Very well, but you may run into difficulties later. This example is showing Elm's ominous response to being given "No" for an answer, but eventually, you will probably want to create the directory. If you have never tried any mail program before, you probably don't have a subdirectory called "Mail", in which case Elm will prompt you in a similar way, if you would like that directory created: | Notice: ELM requires a "/u/X/Y/XYZZZ/Mail" directory | in which to store your mail folders. | | May I create this directory for you (yes/no/quit) ? [y] : y | Great! I'll create "/u/X/Y/XYZZZ/Mail" for you now. This directory isn't strictly required either, but for the example the question was answered with "y". (XYZZZ will be replaced by your username) When Elm starts properly it will look like this: [screen capture] | | Mailbox is '/usr/spool/mail/XYZZZ' with 0 messages [ELM 2.5 PL2] | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | You can use any of the following commands by pressing the first character; | d)elete or u)ndelete mail, m)ail a message, r)eply or f)orward mail, q)uit | To read a message, press . j = move down, k = move up, ? = help | | Command: | | Elm uses single letter commands. You can see a few of the most useful ones at the bottom of the screen (see sample above). To see a longer list of commands, enter "?" at the command prompt. 2. To compose an e-mail message in Elm you enter "m". Elm asks for the e-mail address: [screen capture] | You can use any of the following commands by pressing the first character; | d)elete or u)ndelete mail, m)ail a message, r)eply or f)orward mail, q)uit | To read a message, press . j = move down, k = move up, ? = help | | Command: Mail | Send the message to: It is a really good idea, to enter your own address, as you will get immediate response from the experiment! If you don't know your email address, your user-name alone is enough. In the menus, the Notes on the Mail Menu at "top,c,m,n" can aid in composing email addresses for foreign systems. Then Elm will ask for the subject. After you enter the subject, Elm will prompt you for "Copies to:". Leave this blank, by hitting enter. Next, Elm will invoke your default text-editor. Elm can use several different editors. Pico is a very nice little editor, which was originally written for the Pine mailer. Once the mailer invokes the editor, you can proceed to enter the body of the message. The commands used are the commands of the editor. When you have completed the message, you exit the editor. (Control X to exit Pico.) Pico will ask you if you want to save the modified buffer, and if you hit y, it will prompt you for a file: | File Name to write : /usr/tmp/snd.6110 You must accept the suggested name, because it is what Elm is looking for. Just hit enter. The temporary file will be removed as soon as the mail has been sent. 3. Sending the message -- Elm will next ask: | Select letter of header to edit, 'e' to edit the message, | 'a' to make attachments, 'y' to send message, or 'n' to cancel. | | Send the message now? y Hit enter again to accept the "y" to send. Or hit "n" to cancel it, if you have second thoughts, - or "e" to go back to editing. Once you hit "send" Elm will respond with: | Mail sent! 4. Reading mail -- To read mail that you have received is even simpler. You enter Elm the same way as before. And Elm will list the messages in your mailbox: [screen capture] | | Mailbox is '/usr/spool/mail/XYZZZ' with 1 message [ELM 2.5 PL2] | | | N 1 Feb 19 Elm User (20) test | | | | | | | | | | | | You can use any of the following commands by pressing the first character; | d)elete or u)ndelete mail, m)ail a message, r)eply or f)orward mail, q)uit | To read a message, press . j = move down, k = move up, ? = help | | Command: | | The first message on the list will usually have a reverse video bar on it indicating that that is where the "cursor" is. You don't have to read the first message first though. Just enter the number of the message that you would like to read first and Elm will move the bar there for you. Once the bar is on the message you would like to read, just hit enter and Elm will open it for you to read. At the bottom of the screen will be this message: "Command ('i' to return to index): " which reminds you that you can enter "i" to return to the index. 5. Replying -- You can also enter "r" to reply immediately or come back and reply to messages after you have read all your mail. When you enter "r", either from the index or from the message, Elm will respond with: | "Command: Reply to message Copy message? (y/n) n ". If you respond "n", then you will be given a blank screen space to write your message on. If you respond "y", Elm will copy the words of the message to you into the editor with a marker such as ">" to the left of the copied lines to designate the copied text. It is a good idea to trim any irrelevant parts of the quoted material, though. Elm will also ask you if you want to keep the original subject. You can either hit enter to accept it or modify it. Then you use the editor's commands to add text, delete text, insert your text between the lines of the original message or whatever else you want. After you are done, exit and send the message as before. [screen capture] 6. Saving and deleting -- After you are done reading and replying to mail, you normally would clean out your mailbox. Go back to the index. To save a message to a file, make sure the reverse video bar is on the message you want to save and enter "s". | Command: Save current message (Use "?" for help) | Select Folder for Save: =XYZZZ | Elm will offer to save the message to a folder based on the userid of the e-mail address that the letter came from. You can accept that by hitting enter or change the name. The "=" sign means that it will go to your "Mail" subdirectory. If you change the name to something without an "=" at the beginning it will go to your default directory. It is called a "folder" because the same file may contain any number of messages. If you hit backspace or delete, to erase the suggested default, and then enter a ?, elm will present a menu that you can select any existing files from. Now Elm has saved the message and marked it to be deleted from the mailbox. If you want to delete a message without saving it, just move the bar to that message and enter "d". You can leave messages in your mailbox to respond to later, but I would not recommend doing so, because Nyx has pretty tight restrictions on unread mail, and you run the risk losing your mail, if you ignore the rules. 7. Exiting -- Now to leave Elm, enter "q". Elm will ask if you want to delete messages that you have marked for deletion. Hit enter. If you have left any mail behind which is not marked for deletion, Elm will ask if you want to move the rest to the "received" folder. Answer yes or no. If you answer no it will leave the mail in your mailbox. Then Elm will return you to the command line or the menu that you came from. A. Attachments If you receive attachments in your mail, Elm will let you know, by suggesting to use "v" to view. In the attachment menu, you can save the attachment to a separate file, even if the content is "unknown", by hitting "s". If you ever want to re-send an attachment, you need to re-attach the separately saved attachment. If you receive image or sound files, they have to be transferred to your own computer before you can view or hear them. See the section xx on FTP or Kermit to learn how. If you want to send an attachment, you have to enter "a" to get to the attachment menu, after you finished composing the text message. In the attachment menu the "a" key adds an attachment. Use "q" to return to the sending menu. B. Online help At most prompts, it is possible to get a summary of possible commands, by entering "?" instead of a command. Both Elm and Mutt have extensive online manuals available at Nyx, that can be viewed with the commands "man elm" and "man mutt", respectively. As you learn to use a newsreader, [See section xx], you can get further help in the newsgroups comp.mail.elm or comp.mail.mutt as well as in nyx.help C. Mutt Features Mutt offers a few features, not found in Elm, such as provisions for postponing a message, and recall at a later time to complete and send. The basic commands are identical, and the meaning of the various prompts are the same, although phrased slightly different. Mutt is started by typing "mutt" at the command prompt instead of "elm" (only lower case letters in both cases, and no quotes). A big difference in Mutt is, that when you have composed a message and are ready to send, Mutt will not send until you enter "y", where Elm accepts the enter key. In Mutt, the enter key only reviews the message. If you regret at this point, Mutt needs a "q" instead of Elm's "n", to cancel the message, and Mutt asks if you want to postpone the message, where Elm simply discards it.