If you are already familiar with Unix-based Pine, PC-Pine will be very
familiar. Even if you are not familiar with Unix-based Pine, it shouldn't
be hard to learn how to use PC-Pine. Available commands are listed at the
bottom of the screen, just like they are in Unix-based Pine. Navigating
and issuing commands, however, are easier because you can use your
keyboard or your mouse. If you are used to using keyboard commands, feel
free to continue using them. For those of you who prefer to
point-and-click with your mouse, you can do that in PC-Pine!
COMPOSING A MESSAGE
To write an email message, type C (Compose) or
double-click on the "Compose Message" line in the Main
Menu. You will see the Compose Message screen.
In the command menu above, the ^ character is used to indicate the
Control key. This character means you must hold down the Control key
(written in this document as <Control>)
while you press the letter for each command. You can also
single-click with your mouse on any command in the
command menu.
As you move the cursor to different fields, the available commands
change at the bottom of the screen. To see additional commands available
when your cursor is in the Message Text field, type
<Control> G (Get Help) or
single-click on the command in the command menu.
You might start experimenting in PC-Pine by sending yourself a message.
The following section shows you how.
COMPOSING AND SENDING A TEST MESSAGE TO YOURSELF
Your email address is
your_UW_NetID@u.washington.edu (where
your_UW_NetID is the name you use when you log in).
To write and send a test message to yourself:
- Press or double-click with your mouse on C (Compose) at the
Main Menu. You see the Compose Message screen.
- In the To: field, type your email address and press
<Return>. Press <Return> again in the
Cc: field and Attachment field, or use your mouse to click on the Subject
field.
- In the Subject field, type Test and press
<Return> or use your mouse to click in
the Message Text area.
- Below the Message Text line, type This is a test.
If a user whose UW NetID is ras4 were to compose such a test
message to herself, the completed screen would look like the following
example:
- To send your message, type <Control>
X (Send) or single-click on the command in
the command menu.
- Press Y (yes) or
<Return>, or single-click on
Y (Yes) to send the message. The message is sent and a
copy is saved to your sent-mail folder. (If you press N
(no) the message is not sent, and you can continue to work on it.)
You have just sent a basic message. There are, of course, other
options you can use as you compose a message. A few are summarized in the
next section, and complete information about options for the Compose
Message screen is available in PC-Pine's online help. As you compose a
message, you can type <Control> G (Get
Help) at any time to see details about your current task.
HINTS FOR COMPOSING A MESSAGE
To: In this field, type the email address(es) of your
recipient(s). If you are sending the message to more than one address,
separate the addresses with commas . When you are finished, press
<Return> or
single-click on the next field you w ould like to fill
in. Always check the addresses in both the To and the Cc fields for
accuracy and completeness before you send a message.
Finding and Formatting Addresses. The best way to get
a person's email address is to ask him or her for it.
If your correspondent is a UW student, faculty, or staff member, you
can type in their name in the To field, then press
<Return>. If the person is in the
student or staff/faculty directory, a screen will appear with the person's
major or title and email address. If that is the person you want to
contact, just press S (Select). Your original message
screen reappears with the email address inserted in the correct field.
NOTE: If you choose not to have PC-Pine configured to search
the online directories from within the Compose Message screen, you can
search the online directories by following these instructions:
- At PC-Pine's Main Menu, press A (Address Book).
- Use your arrow keys or mouse to select the Directory
Server and then press <Return> (Search).
- Type in the person's name for whom you want to search and then press
<Return>.
- PC-Pine will display all of the entries that match the search
criteria. Use your arrow keys or mouse to select an entry.
If you wish to compose a message to that person, press C
(ComposeTo).
If you cannot find someone, the following information may
help:
- You may be searching for someone who is not listed in the directories
PC-Pine is searching (online student and faculty/staff directories). If
someone is not listed, PC-Pine will not be able to find them.
- If you have the name wrong (or the person has a more formal first
name, e.g., "Virginia" instead of "Ginny"), a message will appear towards
the bottom of your screen:
[To field: Address for "Ginny Brownley" not in directory]
If that happens, erase the first name (using your arrow and
backspace keys) and press
<Return>. A list of people with that
last name will appear. With your up and down arrow keys
(or P for Previous, N for Next) or mouse, scroll
through the list to find the right person.
- You may not have the right spelling for the last name. To expand your
search, go back to your message by pressing E (Exit); then try a
few letters of the last name, e.g., Brow. This time, you may have to
press the space bar a number of times, scrolling through a much longer
list to find your recipient. If the person has an unusual first name, try
just typing that. The directory will check for the first name alone. On
the other hand, if it's someone with a common first name you seek, you
will have many names to look through. There is a limit
- For more information on finding and formatting email addresses on
local and remote computers, type <Control>
G (Get Help) in the To field, or look on the Web
(http://www.washington.edu/) under Computing and Networking > Doing Work >
Locating People.
Using the PC-Pine Address Book. In both the To: and
Cc: fields, you can enter a person's email address as shown above, or you
cna use an entry from your PC-Pine address book. See the address book section for more details.
Cc: In this field, type the email address(es) of the
person(s) to whom you want to send copies. Separate multiple addresses
with commas. When you are finished, or if you do not want to send any
copies, press <Return>.
Attchmnt: This is an advanced feature that allows you
to attach files, including word processing documents, spreadsheets, or
images that exist on the same computer where you are running PC-Pine. If
you do not want to attach a file to your message, press
<Return> or
single-click in another field. For more information, see
page 28.
Subject: In this field, enter a one-line description
of your message. Recipients appreciate a short, pertinent description,
since this is what they see when they scan their index of messages. When
finished, press <Return> or single-click
in the Message Text area.
Message Text: Type your message. To move around, use
the arrow keys or point-and-click with your mouse. To delete a character,
press <Backspace> or
<Delete>. To delete a line, type
<Control> K. To justify text, type
<Control> J. (To immediately undelete a
line or to unjustify text, type <Control>
U). To check the spelling, type
<Control> T. To see other editing
commands, type <Control> G (Get Help).
You can also single-click on these commands in the command menu.
SPELL CHECKING YOUR MESSAGES
After you have composed a message, you can check your spelling.
- To run PC-Pine's spell checker, type <Control>
T.
PC-Pine will check the spelling of each word, starting from the first
word and working its way through your message to the last word. When
PC-Pine finds a word that is misspelled, a window similar to the following
will appear:
The misspelled word is listed along the top of the window (in this case
"brwn") and suggested replacements are listed below. Click on the word
you would like to use, and then click on "Change All" (if you would like
all occurrences of the misspelled word to be corrected) or "Change" (to
only correct that one instance of the misspelled word). If the word that
you are trying to spell does not appear in the list, you can type it in
yourself. If you are not sure about the spelling of the word, run the
spell checker again to have it check the new word you have typed in. If
PC-Pine thinks it has found a spelling error but the word is actually
spelled correctly, you can add it to your personal dictionary by clicking
on the "Add to User Dict" button.
HINTS FOR SENDING A MESSAGE
Sending a Message. After your message is composed,
type <Control> X, and then press
Y or <Return> (or
single-click on these commands). Your message is sent and a copy
is saved to the sent-mail folder. If a message cannot be delivered, it
eventually is returned to you. If you want to re-send a message, you can
use the F (Forward) command. For example, if a message that you
sent bounces due to an incorrect address, you can go to your sent-mail
folder and forward the original message to the correct address.
Changing Your Mind. If you change your mind after
typing <Control> X to send a message,
press N instead of Y to continue working on your message.
While you are writing your message, you can type
<Control> O (Postpone) to hold your
message so you can work on it later, or you can type
<Control> C (Cancel) to delete your
message. You are asked to confirm whether or not you want to cancel a
message. A copy of the last message you cancelled is stored in a file
called "deadletr". If you accidentally cancel a message, compose a new
one and in the Message Text area, use <Control>
R (Read File) to insert "deadletr".
