Here is a guide for a few of the features of pine.

If you would like to subscribe to my mailing list and receive new guides and
updates send mail to calfeld@east.east-slc.edu.

This guide teaches Folder Management and Attachments for pine.  Although the
version used here is 3.89 there should be few differences for version close to
3.89.

Contents:
	Section 1 - Folder Management
		What is a folder?
		The INBOX
		Creating a folder.
		Deleting a folder.
		Renaming a folder.
		Shell manipulation of folders.
		Saving to folders.
	Section 2 - Attachments
		What is an attachment?
		The Attchmnt: field.
		Control-J
		Viewing/Saving attachments.
		Compatibility with other mail readers.

Section 1

What is a folder?

A folder is a file stored in your mail directory (Typically ~/mail) in which 
you can store messages you wish to save.
You can have as many folders as you wish as long is they do not fill up your 
disk space.  Pine creates some folders by itself:

sent-mail : this is a folder where the mail you send is saved by default (see 
Fcc: in advanced pine).

saved-messages : this is the default folder for you to save messages to.

sent-mail-- : every month pine asks you if you wish to copy your 
sent-mail folder to a folder called sent-mail--.  This is to 
better organize the mail you send.


The INBOX

The INBOX is a special folder that is not in your ~/mail directory.  The 
INBOX is the file that the mail spooler appends incoming mail to.  It is
 normally /var/spool/mail/.


Creating a folder.

There are two major ways to create a folder.  
The first way is to go to the folder list (L) and type 'A'.  You are then
asked for a name of a folder and that folder is added.

The second way is to enter the name of a non-existing folder when it asks you 
where you wish to save the message when you do a save-message command.  It will
then ask you if you want to create the folder and merely by pressing 'y' you 
can cause the new folder to be created.


Deleting a folder.

To delete a folder go to the folder list (L), select the folder you wish to 
delete, and type 'D'.


Renaming a folder.

To rename a folder go to the folder list (L), select the folder you wish to rename and type 'R'.  It will then ask you for a new name for the folder.


Shell manipulation of folders.

Folders are only text files and as such can be manipulated by the shell.  
Here are some common operations and how to do them with the shell:

delete folder : rm -f ~/mail/
create folder : echo ""> ~/mail/
rename folder : mv ~/mail/ ~/mail/
merge folders : 
    cat ~/mail/ ~/mail/ (etc) > ~/mail/

These can be done from anywhere. By changing to the directory ~/mail you can 
skip the ~/mail/ section of the above commands.


Saving to folders.

While reading a message you can type 'S' to save the current message to a 
folder.  You can also do this at the folder index screen.

When you type 'S' it asks you what folder you wish to save the message to and 
provides a default (normally saved-messages).  Here you can either enter a 
name of a folder that exists and it will save the message to that folder and 
delete it from the current folder (remember the INBOX is a folder).  You can
also type in the name of a non-existent folder and it will offer to create 
that folder for you.  It is also posable to type Control-T and use the arrow 
keys to pick a folder to save it to.



Section 2

What is an attachment?

An attachment is a file or set of files that are added to the letter in such a
way that pine does not show there contents.  This is useful if you are sending
a file that makes no sense normally:

or a file that to use you would have to remove part of it if it were the 
message body (shar files for example).


The Attchmnt: field.

The attachment field contains a command separated list of files attached and a
comment string for each file, a number and a size for each file:

Ex:
1. /u/vi/calfeld/doc/guides/pine_intermediate (1 K) "Guide to pine"

However pine has a feature that makes this unnecessary.  It is the control-J 
command and is described next.


Control-J

By pressing Control-J while in the header have the option of adding an 
attachment.  When you type Control-J it will ask you for the path of the file
to attach. If you desire you can type Control-T and use a file interface to
choose a file.  After you have chosen a file to attach it will ask you for a 
comment.  You can just press return if here if you do not wish to include a 
comment.  After the comment is entered the line will appear in your Attchmnt:
field.


Viewing/Saving attachments.

When you receive a letter that contains attachments you will see at some point 
near the beginning of the letter something like this:

[Part 2, "Comment" Text 20 lines]
[Not Shown.  Use the "V" command to view or save this part]

and in the header:

Parts/attachments:
  1 Shown   3 lines  Text
  2   OK   20 lines  Text, "Comment"
--------------------------------------

To view an attachment use the 'v' command. This will ask you wish attachment
you wish to view or save.  #1 is the message itself.  Choose which one you 
wish to process and type its number.  It will now ask you if you wish
to view the attachment (v) or save it (s).  If you choose save it will
prompt you for a file to save the attachment as.  If you choose view it
will open the Viewer which allows you to view, save, search, and print the 
attachment.


--
-Chris 	(calfeld@math.utah.edu calfeld@east.east-slc.edu)