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SKMail is a web-email gateway which allows you to read and process your new email from a web browser running on any machine with access to the internet. It is a full featured email client package which provides facilities to read new mail, send and forward messages, send and view attachments, use folders to organize your messages etc.

Manual Contents:

For quickly getting started...
  1. Instant Connection?!
  2. How do I login ?
  3. How do I check and send mail ?
For more details...
  1. SKMail Overview
  2. The Login Page

    3. 5.1 Frames Vs. Non-Frames Login
  1. Mail List Pages
  2. The New Mail List Page
  3. The Create a Message Page
  4. The Read a Message Page
  5. The Forward Messages Page
  6. Addresses - The Edit Pick List Page
  7. The Manage Folders Page
  8. The Configuration Options Page
  9. Handling Attachments
  10. Delete Mode & Remote Mode
  11. Synchronizing Your Email POP Account
  12. Technical Details
  13. Index of Buttons, Links and Fields
  14. Glossary

Notes on using these manual pages:

This User Manual guides you through the various pages of SKMail, noting the functions of all of the Buttons, Links*, Check Boxes and Text Fields that you will find on them. In addition to normal links to related information there are glossary definitions for many of the technical terms and acronyms. These links to glossary definitions are shown thus server*

New users in particular should find these links to the Glossary helpful.

For the experts who are just skimming, red text will generally contain interesting tips on getting the most out of SKMail. Also, see the Technical Details section.

If you are new to SKMail then still read the parts in red text but don't worry if you don't understand them immediately.

1: How can I get my MAIL ?!

Here is the instant three step guide...
 
1. Start your web browser  - e.g. Netscape, Internet Explorer etc.
2. Point it at the SKMail page -  http://www.scikids.com.
3. Type in your username and password 
(then click the 'Login' button)		 - The username and password you used 
   when creating a new account .
Bingo - you're at your new mail list!

For more detailed information please read through the next few sections.

2: How do I login ?

You must login to SKMail using your username and password  so that you can access your mail. There are a number of other options provided on the login page these are briefly described below:
Setting  Function
POP Host If you have more than one email account you can enter the POP Host here. For most users this field should be left blank.
New Window If this box is ticked a new browser window will be opened for your web email session. Leaving your original  browser free for other work.
Use Frames If this box is ticked then the frames version of web email will be used.  Some older browsers do not support frames. Using frames allows a menubar to be loaded which can stay there while various other things are displayed in the main window. This has two advantages, firstly the main controls are always accessible and secondly there is less data to transfer to the browser on each screen update.
Cookie auto logon If this box is ticked then a cookie will be passed to your browser to save you having to enter your username and password in the future. This should, of course, not be used on public machines. If you want to obtain the login screen again having saved a cookie , then go to options page once logged in and disable cookie based auto-logon.

3: How do I check and send mail ?

Once you have logged in to SKMail correctly, you will be presented with your Mail List or Mail Folder. This is a list of all the mail messages for you on the POP server. SKMail allows you to read these messages but does not delete them from the POP server unless you tell it to delete or move them.

This list of mail is updated when you first connect to SKMail. If you return to this page later and want to check if any new mail has arrived just click on the Check Mail icon to update the list.

To send a message click on the New OR Compose icon from this page.Then, fill in the various fields on the Create a Message page which appears and then click the Send Now button.

4: SKMail Overview

SKMail is organized as a collection of world wide web pages. Together they provide a web page for each task involved in the reading, writing and processing of your email.

SKMail is based around the Mail List page of the Inbox folder, referred to as the New Mail List page. From that page you can see the messages that you have received and the various buttons and links that provide you with ways of processing them.

You can store the messages that you send and receive in folders of your choice. Each folder has its own Mail List page, which lists all of the messages in that folder.

SKMail works by reading your mail from your POP server* and it can be set to access more than one POP host email account on one or many POP servers.

For each POP account, that you wish to check for mail, you can select one of two download modes. Delete mode, which removes the messages from the server after downloading, and remote mode, which leaves the messages on the server so that they can be downloaded with another email client.

This User Manual guides you through the various pages of SKMail, noting the functions of all of the Buttons, Links*, Check Boxes and Text Fields that you will find.

(To find out what the symbol '*' means click here.)

5: The Login Page

This is the page that you arrive at after entering the URL for SKMail into your browser. You will also reach this page if you request to login again after having logged out.

You must login to SKMail so that you can access your mail.

Enter your Username* and Password in the appropriate fields. Then click on the Login button to login to the frames version of SKMail, or the Non-Frames Login button if your browser does not support frames. See Frames Vs. Non-Frames login below for more information. You can use the tab key to move from one text field to the next while entering your login information.

5.1 Frames Vs. Non-Frames Login

If you login with frames then your browser screen will be divided into two browser windows or frames. One will contain a SKMail Menu bar. The menu bar will remain fixed in the the browser window as the other window or frame follows your movements through the email pages of SKMail. The menu bar is a useful feature of SKMail as it allows you to keep the same commonly used buttons, e.g the Send Mail and Logout buttons, in view at all times. The buttons on the menu bar are all repeated on the main SKMail pages.

The Menu bar is only available if your browser is capable of creating the separate frames required for it and the normal window, i.e. only if your browser supports frames. Frames support is offered by most current World Wide Web browsers, such as Netscape 3.x and above and Internet Explorer 3.x and above.

If your browser does not support frames then you can still login and use SKMail and all its email functions, by simply clicking on the Non-Frames Login button on the Login page. Once logged in you will not see a menu frame at the top of your browser window but you will find all the same buttons and links* on the normal SKMail web pages.

6: Mail List Pages

Mail list pages are the center of the SKMail system. Each folder has a mail list page which provides a list of the mail messages stored in that folder. The same buttons and links found on all mail list pages let you access the other facilities provided by SKMail.
 
Click on one of these to get directly to information on the function :
Help Send Message Check New Mail Move Selection to Folder
Addresses Empty Trash Fwd Sel Items Copy Selection to Folder
Folders Open Folder Del Sel Items Select All Displayed Messages
Logout Options Parts of the Mail List Select Destination Folder

Messages on a mail list can be read individually and then processed by using buttons on the Read a Message page.

or

They can be marked for selection on the list and then processed by clicking the button for the action required. This is particularly useful for processing multiple messages simultaneously, e.g. deleting three messages at once.

All SKMail pages have a title as their first line. For mail list pages it consists of the 'Mail List:' title followed by the username of the account logged in (or personal name if you have provided one in Configuration Options) and then the folder for which the mail list is listing messages, together with the number of messages appearing in the list. 

Example of the Mail List title line for user Arti looking at a folder called Inbox which 

contains nine messages:
        Arti - Inbox: 9 message(s)
A description of the parts of a mail list page follows.
 
 
 

6.1 The Check Mail button and From Host drop down menu.


Clicking the Check New Mail button forces your browser to check the account with the address shown in the From Host drop down menu for new mail messages. The mail list then displays all of the messages found at that account.

See the Synchronizing Your Email POP Account section for information on the subtleties of using SKMail in conjunction with a normal email client package.

If you are moving around a lot in the various pages of SKMail then it is a good idea to periodically click this button to make sure that you are looking at an up to date list of new messages.
 
 
 

6.2 The New or Compose  button
Equivalent button found on the frames version menu bar:

Takes you to the Create a Message page, where you can compose a new message and then send it.
 
 
 

6.3 The Help button
Equivalent button found on the frames version menu bar:

Brings you to these user manual pages.
 
 

6.4 The Parts of the Mail List

Each message read from the email server has one full line on the Mail List containing entries for:
Subject From Select Date Size PopHost

Remote messages are displayed with an  symbol at the start of their line on the mail list.

( NB remote messages will only be seen on the New Mail List because remote messages become non-remote as they are copied from the New Mail folder to another folder and hence another mail list)

Subject:

This section of the list shows an abbreviated form of the Subject: line of the email message, so that you can hopefully get an idea of what the message is about. It is a hyper link* to the Read a Message page, that when clicked will show you the contents of that particular message. The link for each message should change color if you read that particular message ( if it doesn't then your browser settings are telling it not too) indicating when a message has been read.

It may also display some small icons, like these (left arrow)(tick)(attachment), at the start of each line which indicate that the message has been replied to, read or has an attachment in that order.

Remote messages are displayed with an  symbol at the start of their line on the mail list.

From:

Shows the From: line for the particular email. The From: line is a standard part of any email message which usually indicates who sent the message.

Select:

This column allows you to select one or more messages so that a group operation can be carried out on them. An example is selecting three messages for deleting, while leaving the rest alone. Once selected the operation you perform on the selected messages is started by clicking on one of the buttons at the bottom of the list. Note their is a Select all displayed messages check box at the bottom of the page.

Date:

This column show the date  that was stamped onto the email by the sender's machine when it was sent.

Time:

This column available in some templates , shows the time that was stamped onto the email by the sender's machine when it was sent. This is usually the real time that the message was sent.

PopHost:

This column displays the pop account from which the message was downloaded.
 
 
 

6.5 The Select Destination Folder drop down menu

  
This drop down menu enables you to select the destination folder for the processes activated by clicking on the various buttons surrounding it. For example, setting the Select Destination Folder menu to trash can and then clicking on the Move Selection to Folder button would move any selected items to the folder indicated, in this case the trash can folder.

6.6 The Move Selection to Folder button

This button moves any selected messages on the mail list to the folder indicated by the Select Destination Folder drop down menu. Remember that moving a file implies a copy to the new folder followed by a delete of the original message, for remote messages this removes the original message from the POP server.

6.7 The Copy Selection to Folder button

This button copies any selected messages on the mail list to the folder indicated by the Select Destination Folder drop down menu.
 

6.8 The Open Folder button

 Equivalent button and drop down menu found on the frames version menu bar:

Fld 

Clicking this button opens the folder indicated by the Select Destination Folder drop down menu. Note that on the frames version this button is the 'Get Folder' icon and it retrieves the folder indicated by the 'Fld' drop down menu.

6.9 The Select all messages check box

This check box toggles the selection and de-selection of all of the messages in the Mail List. It indicates this by placing or removing check marks in all of the individual messages' select boxes. You can use this to delete or forward all the new mail messages in one step.

6.10 The Del Sel Items button - Delete Selected Items

This button will try to delete all of the messages that you have selected with a check mark. Note that for remote messages both the cached SKMail copy AND the copy on the POP* server are deleted. SKMail will notify you if it fails with either part of the delete operation. It will display an error message that gives a probable reason for the error. For example if someone else has deleted the copy on the POP server it will tell you.

SKMail automatically makes a copy of deleted messages in the Trash Can folder, which is stored until the Trash Can is emptied. This is a 'safety net' feature of SKMail that gives you access to the deleted messages after deleting them in case you deleted them by accident.

After deleting the messages SKMail returns you to the new mail list page.

6.11 The Fwd Sel Items button - Forward Selected Items

This button initiates the forwarding of all the messages that you have selected with a check mark. It takes you to the Forward Messages page where you can enter the forward address and then send them. If you have selected multiple items they will all be forwarded to this address.
 

6.12 The Options button - User Configuration

 Equivalent icon found on the frames version menu bar:

This button simply takes you to the Configuration Options page where you can edit your own user settings for SKMail. Make sure you press the Save Config button to save the changes you have made.
 

6.13 The Folders button

 Equivalent icon found on the frames version menu bar:

This button takes you to the Manage Folders page where you can add to or delete from your list of storage folders.
 
 

6.14 The Addresses button (Pick list)

 Equivalent icon and drop down menu found on the frames version menu bar:

This button when clicked takes you to the Edit Pick List page where you can manage your list of recently used addresses. You can add, delete and modify addresses on the pick list just by editing text box. Note if you enter a invalid email address it will not appear on the pick list.
 

6.15 The Logout button

 Equivalent button found on the frames version menu bar:

The logout button takes you to the SKMail - Logged Out page which presents you with a link which you can click if you want to login again.

If it doesn't take you to this page then you probably haven't been logged out properly. You will also not be logged out properly if you exit your mail lists by closing your browser or by pointing it at a different URL*. This normally does not matter as SKMail will tidy up next time you connect. However, if you are using someone else's machine and browser to check your email you should make sure you logout properly before leaving.
 

7: The New Mail List Page

This is the center of the SKMail system. It provides a list of all mail messages in your Inbox folder. The buttons and links on this page let you access all the other facilities provided by SKMail.

The New Mail List page displays all mail messages read by SKMail, i.e whether they are remote or non-remote and from whichever POP server.

When you check any host for new mail the messages found are added to the messages already in the New Mail List.

Remote messages are displayed with an  symbol beside their entry on the list. Remember that they are only cached, i.e. stored temporarily, and not saved on SKMail's web server. When you logout of SKMail all remote messages are removed from the cache and hence from the New Mail List, leaving only the non-remote messages. The next time that you login SKMail will start with a list of your non-remote messages and then check all POP hosts for mail adding any messages that it finds which are not already on the list. You can think of this as SKMail checking that your remote messages on the New Mail List still exist on their servers as well as looking for any new non-remote messages.

Every time the Check Mail button is pressed, all remote messages from the POP account being checked are removed from the new mail list and replaced with a fresh list created by the check.
 

8: The Create a Message Page
Click on one of these to get directly to information on the function :
To: Attach: Browse... Save a Copy in Sent items Folder
CC: Reply To: Add Signature Send CC to Self for Confirmation 
BCC: Subject: Pick List Message Body Field

To send a message...

Click on the Send Message button from your New Mail List page to bring you to the Create a Message page.

Then, fill in the various fields and then click the Send Now button.

8.1 To: Field

This field is for entering the address of the recipient of the piece of email you are about to send. Mostly this will be a full email address, such as ashish.keshan@akshat.com. However if you are sending an email to another scikids user, then you may just be able to use the recipient's first or unique name e.g. Bob or Akshat..

Remember to make use of your Pick List.

8.2 The Pick List - how to use it.

The Pick List is there to allow quick access to addresses that you have used recently. It stores each address that you use automatically if it doesn't already have it on its list, a maximum of 30 addresses are stored at any one time. The Edit Pick List page contains a check box to enable/disable the automatic adding of addresses to the Pick List.

Simply select the field that you wish to paste the address into, by clicking onto either the text space itself or the selected mark beside it, and then click on the address or addresses that you wish to paste. Each new address you add is placed at the beginning of the line with a coma separator so you can see the most recently added address.

Clicking the Clear button removes everything from the selected field. You can also select the (none) option if you whish the selected field to be cleared.

Note that if you click the same address more than once in a row it will only be pasted once. However if you click the same address again after another address then it will appear twice in the field's entry, in the case of the To: field that recipient will then receive the email twice.

You can edit your Pick List manually by entering the Edit Pick List page, to get there click on the Pick List button from the Mail List page.

Helpful Hint: If you jumped here from some other section you may wish to click on your browser's buttonto go back to where you came from!

8.3 CC: Field - Carbon Copy List

This text box is provided for you to enter the addresses of other people who are to receive a copy of the email message that you are writing. The Carbon Copy list can be thought of as a list of other addresses to circulate the email to. People who receive a message, because they were on the carbon copy list, should infer that they have been sent a copy of a message originally sent to someone else. This is a useful feature for keeping third parties up to date and in touch with the messages that you send.

Often such a message will appear on the recipient's email package with a note to indicate that they were on the Carbon Copy list. This is because the To: field will show the address of the person you sent the message to and not the recipient's address.

Here is an example email header and message from a carbon copy mail message received by sk which was sent originally to Arti by Ashish:
Received: from akshat.com  by scikids.com ; Mon, 12 Jul 1999 15:28:18 -0800
From: ashish.keshan@akshat.com                                    - Message sent by Ashish
Reply-to: ashish.keshan@akshat.com
To: arti@scikids.com                                   - Message originally sent to Arti.
Cc: sk@scikids.com                                    - sk to receive a copy
Date: Mon, 12 Jul 1999 15:28:18 -800
Subject: I'm coming

I;m coming home for holidays

Bye.
Ashish

8.4 BCC: Field -

This allows you to enter an address or list of addresses for blind carbon copies. Blind means that the main recipient of the message will not know that you have sent carbon copies. So if sk wants to send a message to pooja with a copy to Arti but doesn't want pooja to be informed that a copy was sent to Arti he would put Arti in the BCC field rather than the CC field.

8.5 Reply-To: Field

This field is provided for you to specify a special return address. Normally when the recipient sends a reply it will come to you (i.e. the person the message was from) However sometimes you might want a reply to go to someone else or another email address you use more often - in this case you must fill in the reply to field.

The address that you provide here will be used by the recipient's email program for sending an email back to you. Example, if your friend Bob receives an email from you on his email program and then wants to reply to it he clicks on the reply button of his program. His program then pastes the address you have given here into the To: field of a new email message that he must write. In this way whatever he writes in his email message will be sent to this address. Note, if you haven't put the correct address in this field then the message Bob writes in reply to your message might not get back to you. You only need to fill in a reply to field

You'll notice that when you come to the Create a Message page your default reply address will already be filled in. If it's not what you want it to be then change it in the same way as any of the other address fields, i.e. by typing a new one in, or by selecting the check mark for this field and choosing an address from the Pick List.

What if I have nothing in here? It wont really matter as return email will probably be sent to the From: address on your email and in most cases this is probably the one that you want.

8.6 The Attach: Field - Attachments

This field is for you to type in the full path to any files that you would like to send as an attachment. Attachment is the term for a file that is sent to the receiver of your message along with your email. The receiver can save the file when it arrives and then use it as if they had created it themselves.

When you send the message a copy of any files listed in the Attachment field will be transmitted with your email to the receiver of your message. Remember that big files ( bigger than a Mbyte as a rough guide) might take a long time to be sent or might not be sent at all. They might even clog up someone else's email system!

To help you find the file that you want to send quickly you can click on the Browse... button. This will open a Find File or Upload File window in your web browser from which you can look around your machine or network to find the file you are after. If the Browse button does not appear next to the Attach field it is probably because the browser you are using does not support this feature - you might need to upgrade your browser if this is the case. Once you have selected the file, its full path ( where to find it on your machine) will be pasted into the Attach: field, so that it can be sent when you click send.

8.7 The Subject: Field

This field is provided for you to enter the subject of your message. This entry is normally what is displayed by most email programs on their New Mail Lists so that the user can see what the message is about.

A good tip . . .

Make your subject messages short and concise. Often there isn't much room for it to be displayed in a mail list and so your subject message will be cropped to fit the space.

8.8 The Message Body Field - "Please enter your message text here: "

This big field is where you finally get to type your important message. You can press the enter or return key at the end of each line or just let the browser wrap the lines as you type them. Note that this wrapping is only a soft wrap i.e. the lines will be sent as one long line. However, unless your system administrator has changed the default behavior SKMail will wrap all lines at 75 characters before sending your message.

Once again remember the recipient may read the message in a small window. Long lines may not fit without scrolling sideways, which they may not notice or bother to do unless your message is really interesting.

8.9 The Add Signature Check Box

This check box enables and disables the automatic signature feature. This feature if enabled will add your personalized signature, e.g. full name and contact details, to the message before it is sent.

You can edit the content of your personalized signature on the Configuration Options page.

8.10 The Send CC to Self for Confirmation Check Box

Checking this check box will make SKMail send a carbon copy of the message you have written to your own email address. It sends the copy of the message to the address that you have in the Reply-to: field. The copy of the message is sent to the email* server for processing, so that if you receive it then you know that SKMail sent the message. You also can see the message as the recipient sees it, including your signature field etc.

8.11 The Save a Copy in Sent items Folder Check Box

Checking this check box will make SKMail save a carbon copy of the message you have written to your copies to self folder. This is a useful feature which allows you to keep a record of messages you have sent. It also enables you to re-send the message if it does not reach it's destination.

If you do not yet have a copies to self folder then SKMail will create one for you.

8.12 The Spell Check button

Clicking on this button once you have entered your message, will initiate a spelling check of the message body by SKMail. The spell check will return a page indicating any words which it does not know or thinks are spelt incorrectly. From there you can make corrections, add the words to the dictionary, etc.

9: The Read a Message Page
Click on one of these to get directly to information on the function :
buttons: View Style Delete Save Address Move to Folder
check boxes: View headers Variable width font Inline Images View as HTML
links: Next Message Prev Message List New Mail Reply
Forward Reply-All Move to Folder

To get to this page, i.e. to read a message, simply click on the subject of the message that you want to read in any mail list. Each subject line has been made into a clickable link, which takes you to the Read a Message page for that particular message.

At the top of the page (and also at the bottom) are Helpful Links to other pages, e.g. the New Mail List page, their functions are detailed below.

The main portion of this page simply contains the message. The first few lines, known as the 'Header Lines', give information on the message, such as who it was addressed to, who it was from, time sent, etc. The Header Lines are then followed by the body of the message, usually the part that you're actually interested in.

At the bottom of the page are a number of View Style options which you can set to get the look or information that you require.

Clicking the Set View Style button reloads the current message according to the style options set by the check boxes.

Clicking the Delete button makes SKMail delete the message you are viewing. If the message is a remote message then both SKMail's cached copy and the original copy on your POP* server are deleted.

SKMail automatically makes a copy of deleted messages in the Trash Can folder, which is stored until the Trash Can is emptied.

Clicking the Save Address button takes you to the Edit Pick List page where the from address of the message will be pasted into the pick list. Remember to click on the Save Changes button before leaving that page.

Clicking the Move to Folder button will move the message currently being read to the folder indicated in the drop down menu next to the button.

9.1 The Set View Style Check Boxes

The View Headers Check Box:

Select this box if you wish the full header information that came with the message to be displayed.

The Variable Width Font Check Box:

 Toggles whether the message will be displayed in a proportional or non proportional font. This is usually only relevant if the message contains tab delimited lists or tables, in which case the columns may not line up if displayed in the wrong sort of font.

The Inline Images Check Box:

 Toggles whether images contained in the message should be displayed or just shown as links

The View as HTML Check Box:

 Toggles whether to display html as source text or normal graphical mode.

9.2 The Helpful Links on the Read a Message Page

The Next Message Link (not displayed if not available)

Clicking on this link reloads the Read a Message page with the next message on the New Message List.

The Prev Message Link (not displayed if not available)

Clicking on this link reloads the Read a Message page with the previous message on the New Message List.

The List New Mail Link

Clicking on this link returns you to the New Mail List page. Remember to click on Check New Mail if you need to update the list.

The Reply Link

This link takes you to the Create a Message page while automatically inserting the sender's address into the To: field. The body of the message being read will also be pasted into the new message's body in a commented out form, i.e. with '>' marks at the start of each line.

The Reply-All Link

This link is as per the simple Reply link, but the reply that you write is sent to all of the addresses on the original message's To: and CC: fields. See the Create a Message page for more detail on these pages.

The Forward Link

Clicking on this link loads the Forward Messages page so that you can type in the address of the person to be sent the message, before it is forwarded to them.

 
 
 

10:The Forward Messages Page

 Click on one of these to get directly to information on the function :
The Forward fields: To:, CC:, BCC:, Reply-To:, Subject: 
Send And Delete Send  The Pick List

The Forward Messages page allows you to forward or send on a message that you have received to someone else.

You arrive at the page by clicking on a forward message link on one of SKMail's pages or by clicking on the Fwd Sel Items button from the Mail List page.

The top line of the page displays the number of messages that will be forwarded.

10.1 The Forward Fields

The various fields are provided for you to type in the addresses of recipients for the message or messages being forwarded.

For example:

Entering 'bobs@scikids.com' in the To: field to give

To: bob@scikids.com

will mean that the message will be forwarded to Bob at Scikids once you click on the send button.

You can also add in a short forwarding message in the Subject: field, e.g. "Hey Bob, have a look at what this guy wrote!". Remember to make use of the Pick List. See the Create a Message page above for more detailed information on the address fields and Pick List.

10.2 The Send Buttons

Once you have entered where the message is going to, you can send the message by clicking on one of the Send or Send And Delete buttons.

The Send button, will simply send the message or messages to the address given leaving the original of the message on your POP* server.

The Send And Delete button sends the message also but it then deletes the message from your POP* server. It will only delete the message if it is sent successfully. Note that deleting a message from the POP* server means that you that you can't get it again.

11: Configuration Options Page

 Click on one of these to get  information on the function :
 Filtering Rules Show Child Your Name
Rebuild Message Indexes Default Reply Address Auto refresh newmail screen
Save Config Cookie based logon Sort Mail list on
POP Host List Delete after download Signature File

Clicking on User Config in the Mail List page brings you to this page.

The Configuration Options page allows you to set various options for SKMail and the way it handles your mail. The changes are then saved by clicking on the Save Config button.
 

11.1 New Mail Filtering Rules

The rules which you enter here are used to filter any messages that you receive. Each rule has the form,

if the selected header line of any message contains the string given, take the action indicated. Each of the components of a rule are detailed below:
 
If Header: specifies the header line to search for the given text.
Contains: type in the text you that you want to be searched for.
Action:  select the action required to be taken if the search text is found.
Dest Folder: select the destination folder for the action if it is appropriate, otherwise leave this entry set to '(none)'.
Destination Address: if the action involves mailing the message somewhere then enter the address that you want to send the message to here.
Case: if checked this check box indicates that you want the search for the search text to be case sensitive, e.g. a search text of 'Dog' would find the word 'Dog' but not the word 'dog'.
In addition each user has a reject-from list which contains email addresses from which email messages should be rejected.

Reject Lists:

This list can be edited from the user config page. NOTE that messages with a sender, from or reply-to header matching an entry in this list are immediately and irrevocably deleted when the POP server is checked for new messages. The only record of these messages is a count of rejected messages.

When a message is being displayed on the item.tpl page, in addition to the normal buttons for Reply, Forward, Delete etc. there is a Reject button. The reject button does the following:

11.2  Show Child

Parent-Child Accounts:

Parent-Child accounts provide a simple way for parents to control who a child will receive email from.

When a child receives email from a person the following steps occur:

The parent may also edit the child's accept and reject lists directly. Parent and child accounts are just normal SKMail email accounts. To register another account as a child account you must know the email address and password for that account. Once an account has a registered parent it becomes a child account and the user of it loses the ability to control their own accept and reject lists - this control passes to the parent. A parent may control multiple child accounts.

Setting up a Child Account

For a user to setup a child account they must firstly just create (or have created for them) a normal email account for the child. The child must log in so that his/her user.dat is created. The parent then logs in and goes to the options page of their own account and then to child setup. There they must enter the child's email address for example: ashish@scikids.com and the password for that account and then press save.

This records in the child's user.dat that they are the parent. An account can have only one parent but multiple children. Also You need to know your childs' password only at the time of establishing the relationship. Once done, the child can change their passwords from the login screen.
 

11.3 Your Name:

This field allows you to enter a personal name or your full name. The name that you enter here will be added to your email address before any messages are sent. Adding your name in this way makes it clear to the receivers of your messages exactly who has sent them.

Example:

If your email address was sk@scikids.com you might add a real name of Surendra Keshan in SKMail's Your Name user setting. Anyone who then received an email from you would see this in there From: field.

From: <Surendra Keshan> sk@scikids.com

Adding a real name does not affect where a message is sent to, as email packages ignore that part of the address for delivery purposes.

11.4 Rebuild Message Indexes

Clicking this button rebuilds the indexes of messages in each folder from the message files.

Note: Some information about messages is only stored in the index and this will be lost, e.g. the POP host that the message came from, whether or not you have read the message, message size details and whether the message was remote or non-remote.

This should normally only be necessary after an un-trapped system error and you would normally only do it if you were quite sure that you had lost some of your messages.

11.5 Default Reply Address:

The address entered in this field will appear on any messages that you send out as the reply address that email programs should use by default. SKMail automatically inserts your email address for the account that you are using here. You can change it to any valid address that you would like your return mail sent to.

11.6 Auto Refresh Newmail Screen:

This field takes a time in seconds. The number entered determines how often SKMail, should automatically click the Check New Mail button for you. Clicking the Check New Mail button forces SKMail to check your POP* server for any mail and display what it finds there on your Mail List.

11.7 Cookie based logon:

By default this is disabled. If you enable it then it allows you to login next time without giving username and password. Use this option with care . We recommend using it only if you're the sole user with access to the machine.

11.8 Sort Mail list on:

The default Sort value is 'on arrival'. You can however change this to 'Subject', 'Date & Time', 'Size','Pop Host', 'To' in ascending or descending order.

11.9 POP Host List:

This list contains all of the email accounts that you wish to be able to administer. For each account you provide,

POP Host: the IP name or number of the POP server that your account is on,

username: the account name

password: the password for that account.

You also select with the check box if you wish the "delete after download" option to be enabled. This sets whether or not the account is run in the delete mode (checked) or the remote mode (blank box). See the Delete and Remote Modes section for information on these two options.

11.10 Signature File:

This field is provided for you to type in one or more lines of a email closing signature.

Example Signature File: 

----------------------------------------------------------------

Surendra Keshan

Scikids inc.

Ph: 123 456-7890

email: skeshan@scikids.com

----------------------------------------------------------------
This Signature File will be added to the end of every message that you send out, provided that you have the Add Signature check box checked on the mail writing page that you are on, for example, Check the Add Signature check box on the Create a Message page if you wish the Signature File to be added to the email that you are writing from that page.
 
 
 

Remember to click on the Save Config button to save your user settings before leaving the Configuration Options page.

12: The Manage Folders Page

 Click on one of these to get straight to the point:
Create Folder
Open Folder
Delete Folder
Rename Folder

The Manage Folders page displays a list of your folders including the default inbox, Trash Can and Sent items folders. The page is provided to allow you to create and delete folders, as well as move between them.

12.1 Create Folder

This button and associated text field will create a new folder when clicked with the name typed into the text field. So to create a new folder,

type the name of the folder in the text field, and

click the Create Folder button.

The new folder should appear in the folder list.

12.2 Open Folder

First select a folder on the folders list by highlighting it, then when you click on the Open folder button your browser will take you to the Mail List  page for the folder that you selected.

12.3 Delete Folder

Click on the delete button next to the folder that you want to delete and SKMail will delete that folder. A folder can only be deleted if it does not contain any messages, so you may have to go to the folder first and delete the messages before using this option.

12.4 Rename Folder


You can also rename a folder by typing a new name against that folder and clicking on the rename button. You cannot rename the default folders.

13: The Edit Pick List Page

 Click on one of these to get directly to information on the function :
The Pick List Addresses Field, 
The Save Changes button,
The Add Addresses Automatically Check Box
Address books public and private

 

See The Pick List - how to use it for notes on how to make use of your Pick List when sending messages etc.

The Pick List stores the last 30 addresses used or saved to it so that you can conveniently paste email addresses from it into the address fields of messages that you want to send.

You get to the Edit Pick List page by clicking on the Pick List button on the Mail List page or by clicking on the Save Address button on the Read a Message page.

Once there, enter in any new addresses in to the Pick List Addresses field then click on the Save Changes button. Note that if you reached the page by clicking on the Save Address button, then the From: address of the message will have been automatically pasted in.

You should throw out unwanted Pick List entries from time to time to save your favorites from getting displaced by recently used not so favorite ones. Remember that the Pick List stores a maximum of 30 addresses.

13.1 The Pick List Addresses Field

The Pick List Address field shows all of the current addresses in the Pick List. You can type or paste new ones into it and SKMail can automatically add to it as well. See the Add Addresses Automatically section below.

13.2 The Save Changes button

This button saves the Pick List as it appears in the the Pick List Addresses field. By doing so it saves any changes that you or SKMail have made.

13.3 The Add Addresses Automatically Check Box

The Add Addresses Automatically check box enables/disables the automatic adding of addresses to the Pick List whenever you send mail to an address not already on the Pick List.

Address Books:

SKMail supports both private and shared address books and a pick list of recently used email addresses. The pick list also now shows the first part of the users first address book. The address books themselves are simple text files with one substituion per line. This allows you to store in an address book a friends name and email address to save having to remember  that sk gets his email at skeshan@scikids.com  The following are example address book entries:
bob=bob@brette.com

arti=arti@suren.com

friends=mary@scikids.com,paul@scikids.com

When processing to, cc and bcc lines the translations are made. For each entry in a to line which does not contain and @ symbol the following sequence of searches are preformed.
  1. Search each of the users private address books for a match (ie those in addr_books)
  2. Search each of the public address books this user has entered in gadd_books
  3. Just add the local domain on
The search stop on the first match. So if mary is found in my own address book it takes prefernce. If no entry is found in any address book then the name is assumed to be for a local user and @scikids.com  is added to the entry.

Public address books are just normal user address books but with the prefix public_

So if user arti@scikids.com want to share her home address book with pooja she just stores it with the name public_home and then pooja can make an entry in her pick list page: pooja@scikids.com/public_home

14: Handling Attachments

SKMail will happily handle sending and receiving attachments to your messages. This section highlights some of the different ways that SKMail can handle attachments.

To send an attachment you simply select the file you wish to attach using the Browse... button on the Create a Message page. If your browser does not support the browse feature then you will have to type in the location of the file to send.

When you receive an attachment with a mail message there are a number of ways that SKMail will notify you of the attachment being available.

Firstly on mail list pages the message will be marked with the attachment mark, thus (attachment).

Once you go to the Read a Message page, the place in the message where the attachments appear is dependent on the inline images setting, found at the bottom of the page.

If it is off then a list of attachment links appears at the top of the message following the headers. For text, html and GIF attachments clicking on the link should allow you to view it, for others types of attachments clicking on the link should allow you to save it to a file. In all cases right clicking should offer the option "save link" which will save it to a file.

If inline images is on then the links to attachments and any attached images should appear throughout the body of the message. Again right clicking on an image or a link should allow you to save it to a file and left clicking on it should display the attachment if your browser is able to.

15: Delete Mode & Remote Mode

(note: it is best to read this section in the order that it is displayed)		 Click on one of these to get directly to the specific information:
delete mode
remote mode
remote messages

15.1 Introduction to the Two Modes

SKMail works by reading your mail from your POP server*.

It can be set to access more than one POP host email account.

For each POP account, that you wish to check for mail, you can select one of two download modes. Delete mode, which removes the messages from the server after downloading, and remote mode, which leaves the messages on the server so that they can be downloaded with another email client.

Note that the different accounts can be on the same POP server or on multiple POP servers. This means that if, for example, you have two pop accounts held by different servers then you can get your mail from both of them.
 
 

15.2 The Two Modes and the New Mail List

The new mail list displays all of the messages that have been downloaded from the various POP servers listed in the Configuration Options page.

Some of the messages will be remote messages, in that they will have been downloaded in remote mode.

The remote messages can be thought of as a place holder on the list. They hold a place for messages that may not have been downloaded in entirety or may have been only temporarily cached on the web server. These 'place holders' mirror the messages on their respective POP servers.

The important point is that, whatever action you do to the place holder, will happen to the message on the POP server.

For example, if you delete the place holder then the message it is representing on the mail list will be deleted from the POP server, or, if you move the place holder to a folder called 'dogs' then the message will come off the POP server and move to the dogs folder.

In contrast the non-remote messages, only exist on SKMail's new mail list (initially), there is no copy of them left on the POP server. So moving a non-remote message moves the message from SKMail's storage place for the new mail list to SKMail's storage place for that folder.
 
 

15.3 Details on the Two Modes

Delete from POP server mode:

In delete mode all messages are downloaded from the POP server and stored on your own storage area on SKMail's web server. After downloading the messages are removed from the POP server.

Any action which you take on a message downloaded in delete mode is being done directly to the actual message, e.g moving the message to another folder takes the message out of the new mail folder and puts it into the other folder.

You would normally set an account to Delete mode when the account will only be accessed with SKMail.

The default mode is set by the system administrator, but it is usually set to delete mode.
 
 

Remote access mode and remote messages:

In remote mode the messages are only partially downloaded from the POP server. A place holder for each of the messages is then added to the new mail list. After the partial download, the actual messages are still on the POP server.

Leaving the messages on the POP server enables them to be accessed later from another email client, e.g. Pegasus mail, Microsoft mail, ... etc.

By processing the place holders or remote messages you can sort your new messages from a particular POP account, throwing out messages you don't want or separating business mail from personal mail, etc, and all the messages that you don't delete or move will still be on the POP server after you logout, still available for another email package to read.

All remote messages are marked with an symbol to identify them on the New Mail List, as being a place holder for the real message on the server.

Note that remote messages can only appear in the New Mail List. Messages in other folders have to be non-remote, i.e. SKMail will have saved or moved the message from the server onto its web server, as they are the only ways that the messages could get into other folders.

When you process a remote message from the New Mail List, the delete and move functions imply slightly different things because they are only place holders for messages on their respective servers and the actual message is not owned by SKMail. Deleting a remote message from the New Mail List will delete it from the POP server. Moving a message will also delete it from the POP server as 'moving' a message implies first copying it to a destination and then deleting the original.

When you login to SKMail you will see the same list of new mail messages that were there when your last session finished, except for any remote messages that are not still on their respective POP servers. Remote messages not still on their POP servers will not be displayed because they are obviously no longer available for processing by SKMail. They are either deleted or another email client has them.

You would normally set an account to Remote mode when the account will sometimes be accessed with your SKMail account and at other times with another email client or another SKMail account.
 

16: Synchronizing Your Email POP Account

SKMail can download your messages from the POP server in two different ways, delete mode and remote mode. This provides you with many different ways of using SKMail.

16.1 Notes on: Checking the one address with more than one email client.

If you want another email client, perhaps Pegasus mail back at the office, to see all mail that comes in to an address that you check with SKMail then you must set the download mode to remote, as delete mode will remove every message that it finds when doing a check mail routine from the POP server. You should also make sure that you don't delete or move any remote messages from the new mail list. Instead of moving the messages you should copy them to another folder.

You may also have to set your other email client to download messages that have been read before. This is because POP servers normally mark a message as read, once any email client has looked at them. So if your other email client doesn't download any messages that have been read previously then it might not show messages that actually do exist.

17: Technical Details

  1. The Pick List stores a maximum of 30 addresses. So you should throw out unwanted ones from time to time to save your favorite addresses from getting displaced by recently used not so favorite ones. The Edit Pick List page contains a check box to enable/disable the automatic adding of addresses to the Pick List.
  2. The first few lines of any email, known as the 'Header Lines', give information on the message, such as who it was addressed to, who it was from, time sent, etc. The Header Lines are then followed by the 'body' of the message, usually the part that you're actually interested in.
  3. You usually cannot access your email account with both SKMail and your normal Email Client at the same instant. ( so if you share an email account with someone else then you'll have to play like nice kids and take it in turns to connect)
  4. 'Moving' a message implies first copying it to a destination and then deleting the original from where ever it was stored, e.g. the POP server.
  5. SKMail automatically makes a copy of deleted messages in the Trash Can folder, which is stored until the Trash Can is emptied.


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18 Index of Buttons, Links and Fields

A B C DEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

A

Action: - New Mail Filtering Rules - Configuration Options Page

Add Addresses Automatically Check Box - Edit Pick List Page

Addresses Field - Edit Pick List Page

Add Signature - Create a Message Page

Auto refresh newmail screen - Configuration Options Page

Attach: - Create a Message Page

B
BCC: - Create a Message Page

BCC:- The Forward fields - Forward Messages Page

Browse... - Create a Message Page

C
Case: - New Mail Filtering Rules - Configuration Options Page

CC: - Create a Message Page

CC:- The Forward fields - Forward Messages Page

Check New Mail -  - From Host drop down Menu - Mail List Pages

Contains: - New Mail Filtering Rules - Configuration Options Page

Copy Selection to Folder - Mail List Pages

Create Folder - Manage Folders Page

D
Default Reply Address - Configuration Options Page

Delete - Read a Message Page

Delete after download - Configuration Options Page

Delete Folder - Manage Folders Page

delete mode

Del Sel Items - Mail List Pages

Destination Address: - New Mail Filtering Rules - Configuration Options Page

Dest Folder: - New Mail Filtering Rules - Configuration Options Page

E
Empty Trash - - Mail List Pages
F
Folders -  - Mail List Pages

Forward - Read a Message Page

From Host drop down Menu - - Check New Mail - Mail List Pages

Fwd Sel Items - Mail List Pages

G

H

Help - - Mail List Pages
I
If Header: - New Mail Filtering Rules - Configuration Options Page

Inline Images - Read a Message Page

J

K

L

List New Mail - Read a Message Page

Logout - - Mail List Pages

M
Message Body Field - Create a Message Page

Move Selection to Folder - Mail List Pages

Move to Folder - Read a Message Page

N
Next Message - Read a Message Page
O
Open Folder -  - Fld - Mail List Pages

Open Folder - Manage Folders Page

P
Parts of the Mail List - Mail List Pages

Pick List -  - Mail List Pages

Pick List - Create a Message Page

Pick List - Forward Messages Page

POP Host List - Configuration Options Page

Prev Message - Read a Message Page

Q

R

Rebuild Message Indexes - Configuration Options Page

remote mode

remote messages

Reply - Read a Message Page

Reply-All - Read a Message Page

Reply To: - Create a Message Page

Reply-To:- The Forward fields - Forward Messages Page

symbol

S
Save a Copy in Copies to Self Folder - Create a Message Page

Save Address - Read a Message Page

Save Changes button- Edit Pick List Page

Save Config - Configuration Options Page

Signature File - Configuration Options Page

Select All Displayed Messages - Mail List Pages

Select Destination Folder - Mail List Pages

Send - Forward Messages Page

Send And Delete - Forward Messages Page

Send CC to Self for Confirmation - Create a Message Page

Send Message -  - Mail List Pages

Subject: - Create a Message Page

Subject:- The Forward fields - Forward Messages Page

T
To: - Create a Message Page

To: - The Forward fields - Forward Messages Page

U
User Config -  - Mail List Pages

- User Config - Mail List Pages

V
Variable width font - Read a Message Page

View as HTML - Read a Message Page

View headers - Read a Message Page

View Style - Read a Message Page

W

X

Y

Your Name - Configuration Options Page
Z
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