Polarbar Settings
This dialog is accessed via the toolbar
button named "Settings..." or via the Settings menu item on Polarbar's
main window Tools
menu. This dialog accesses most of the program's settings, but some of the
settings are accessible from the location where you use them. For example,
the main window's Message
menu remembers things such as your Word wrap, Decode attachments,
Headers, and font settings; the compose window
remembers your word wrap and font settings; etc.
The Addressing Approach Page
When you send a message to multiple recipients, you could have either
of two different and incompatible objectives in mind. You may want the
recipients to be able to see the names of all the other people who received
the message or you may want them all to be hidden from each other. This
setting lets you decide which of these results should be your default and
the Edit menu of the
compose window
lets you change that default for any particular message you're sending.
- Send as a single message to all addressees with non-bcc addresses disclosed
-
A single message will be sent. All of the To and/or Cc addresses will be listed in
the message headers, but none of the Bcc addresses will be listed in the message
headers.
- Send as multiple messages, one per addressee, with single address disclosure
-
A separate message will be sent to each addressee with only one To, Cc, or Bcc address
listed in the message headers of each message.
Note: When sending a Bcc copy, an RFC-compliant outbound mail server will strip the
Bcc address from the message headers and because there is no To or Cc header, the
mail server will insert a blank Bcc header.
- Send as a single message for non-Bcc and as multiple messages for Bcc
-
A single message will be sent to all non-Bcc addressees. Multiple messages will be
sent to Bcc addresses, if any, one for each bcc addressee.
All copies of the message get the full set of To and/or Cc addresses in the
message headers, but the Bcc copies also include an individual Bcc address.
This addressing approach is the default for new accounts.
Note: When sending a Bcc copy, an RFC-compliant outbound mail server will strip the
Bcc address from the message headers. If there is at least one To or Cc address, no
other address header changes will be made. But if there are no To or Cc addresses,
then the mail server will insert a blank Bcc header.
- Send as a single message to all addressees, with no addresses disclosed
-
A separate message will be sent to each addressee. None of the To, Cc, or Bcc
addresses will be included in the message headers. Instead, a single To address,
set to "Undisclosed Recipients
", will be included in each copy
of the message.
Note: RFC-compliant outbound mail servers will change the localhost part of the
To address to refer to the mail server (i.e., <list@localhost> gets changed to
something like <list@mail.myisp.com>).
-
The Character Set Page
This page allows you to specify character sets for high ASCII character
for inbound and outbound messages. This is also where you will specify
how you want messages with high ASCII characters to be decoded after download.
-
Character Set for imported text files
-
This setting determines the character set that is used when importing the contents
of a file into a compose or reply when using the File / Import menu item in the
Compose Window.
-
Character Set for outbound High ASCII Characters
-
This setting determines the character set that is specified in the MIME headers
when a message that you create using the Compose Window
has characters that are outside the US-ASCII character set range.
-
Encoding Style for High ASCII Characters
-
This setting determines how messages that you create using the
Compose Window will be encoded.
The three available options are:
- Quoted-printable, only when high ASCII characters present
- Only those messages that have characters that are outside the US-ASCII
character set range, then the message will be encoded, using the MIME
content transfer encoding method "quoted-printable".
- Quoted-printable, always.
- All messages will be encoded, using the MIME content transfer encoding
method "quoted-printable".
- 8bit
- All messages will be sent without any MIME content transfer encoding,
but messages that have characters that are outside the US-ASCII character
set range will be marked as using 8bit characters.
-
Permit high ASCII characters when sending UUencoded options
-
This setting determines whether or not characters that are outside the
US-ASCII character set range are allowed in messages that have file
attachments when file attachments are configured to use UUencoding.
-
Convert US-ASCII to ISO-8859-1 when displaying messages
-
This setting exists because some email clients fail to specify a character
set or specify the US-ASCII character set when actually sending 8bit or
quoted-printable messages that contain characters that are outside of the
US-ASCII character set range. When enabled, this setting tells Polarbar to
pretend that messages that specify the US-ASCII character set or fail to
specify a character set will be treated as if they had specified the
ISO-8859-1 character set.
-
Convert ISO-8859-1 to CP1252 when displaying messages
-
This setting exists because some email clients specify the ISO-8859-1
character set when actually sending messages from the Windows character
set, which is a super-set of ISO-8859-1 and is commonly referred to as
CP1252. When enabled, this setting tells Polarbar to pretend that messages
that specify ISO-8859-1 character set will be treated as if they had
specified the CP1252 character set.
The Cleanup Pages
This page allows you to specify common log options for general mail use.
The Log Files tree branch lets you configure persistent logs, which may be
helpful when you run into problems and you'd like to report problems back to
the Polarbar Mailer Team. We often ask users to enable persistent logging
and send us the log entries to diagnose problems.
-
Maintain the Transaction Log
-
With this checkbox turned on, the program will monitor the size of the
message
transaction log file and remove the oldest entries in order to make
it adhere to the Maximum Number of Log Items setting. This action
is taken each time you close an account,
either by switching to another account or by closing the program.
-
Maximum Number of Log Items
-
If the Maintain the Transaction Log setting is turned on, the program
will remove the oldest entries from the message transaction log file in
order to keep only this number of entries in the file.
-
Maintain the Trash Folder
-
With this checkbox turned on, the program will monitor the size of the
TRASH
folder and delete the messages that have been in it the longest, in order
to make its size adhere to the
Maximum Number of Trash Messages
setting. This action is taken each time you close an
account,
either by switching to another account or by closing the program.
-
Maximum Number of Trash Messages
-
If the Maintain the Trash Folder setting is turned on, the program
will delete from the TRASH folder the messages which have been in it the
longest in order to keep only this number of messages in the folder.
-
Copy Discarded Messages to the Trash Folder
-
With this setting turned on, the program will copy deleted messages to the
TRASH folder. If this setting is not
turned on, messages will be permanently removed from the drive with no backup.
Note also that with this setting enabled, sent messages will be saved to trash
if no sent folder is selected.
-
Persist Java console output to debug file
-
Used for diagnostic purposes, this setting sends various messages about internal
operations and error messages to a file named DEBUG.OUT in the Polarbar main
directory. Normally this setting is off.
-
Max log size in kilobytes before archiving
-
Enabled only when Persist Java console is checked, this setting determines how
large the diagnostic file can grow to. Once this size is reached, it is either
truncated if the next setting (number of archives) is 0 or it is archived and
then truncated.
-
Number of log archives to keep
-
Enabled only when Persist Java console is checked, this setting determines how
many diagnostic files are kept. An archive file is created only when the diagnostic
file reaches the pre-defined max log size setting above. Any number of archived
files can be maintained, limited only by disk space.
-
Number of status message lines to keep for viewing
-
This setting determines how far back you can view status line messages that are
overwritten over time. Status line messages are the ones that show the number of
messages downloaded and how many notes were filtered, etc. The default is 100
lines. Entering a larger number for this value may result in increased memory
usage and should be adjusted with care.
-
Number of Java console lines to keep for viewing
-
This setting determines how far back you can view standard Java console messages
that are redirected by Polarbar when it starts. Java console messages usually
only occur when errors or diagnostic messages are produced by Polarbar error
handling routines. The default is 1000 lines. Entering a larger number for this
value may result in increased memory usage and should be adjusted with care.
Use queued (background threaded) logging
This setting determines whether the logging actions run on a background thread
or if they happen in the foreground thread. The difference is that Polarbar may
appear to operate more smoothly and faster when this option is enabled. Changing
the value either way will not take effect until you restart Polarbar.
Queued logging interval (in seconds)
This setting specifies how often the background logging will check to see if
anything needs to be written to the log file or not. The default is three (3)
seconds and should only be changed if you feel like you need to change it. A
larger value could increase the time it takes to exit Polarbar. Changing this
value will not take effect until you restart Polarbar.
The Compose Page
-
Include message headers when forwarding
-
If you turn this setting on, then when you forward
a message, its header lines will be included instead of only its message
body text.
-
Default word wrapping ON for all composed messages
-
This setting lets you specify whether you want the Word wrap setting
on the Edit menu of the compose window
to be on or off by default.
-
Auto-complete email addresses
-
If you enable this setting, then when you start typing an email address in the
Compose Window, Polarbar will search for a matching address in the list of last
15 addresses used and in your current address book. You can use the up and down
arrow keys to browse through matching items. For example, if you typed the letter
u, you might be prompted for user@example.com. But if you're looking for
usher@nightclub.com you can hit the down key and that address will show up. Last15
is searched on e-mail address, name and nickname. The address book is searched based
on your selected sort order.
-
Show attachment mode dialog
-
This setting lets you choose whether or not the attachment file mode
dialog, which lets you choose between binary and text mode, appears
when you attach a file to a message.
-
Default MIME/UUENCODE as the method of encoding attached files
-
This setting lets you specify whether you want the compose
window's Attachments menu setting to default to Mime or UUencode.
-
Font/color to use in compose window
-
This text area shows the name and size of the currently configured font,
followed by the characters from A to Z, a to z, and 0 to 9, using the
configured colors. The Select button displays the Select a Font
dialog that lets you configure the font, size, and colors.
The Custom Programs Page
These settings let you specify a program that you want the Polarbar
Mailer to execute for you at the beginning of a mail retrieval or send,
at the end of either of those, or after composing a message. You might
want to have the program start your internet dialer program and wait 90
seconds at the beginning of each send. If you press the Send button and
the Retrieve button at the same time, then you need the retrieve to also
wait for 90 seconds before it tries to connect, so that your dialer can
get connected first. Then after the send, you might want to make your dialer
hang up. And after the retrieve, you might want to do something that you
want to have done when no mail is retrieved (since the Filter
feature can't help you with that because it can only act when a message
is received). The first four Custom Program settings can fulfill all of
these functions.
The program that you can execute upon leaving the compose window (the
fifth Custom Program setting) can be used as an alternate editor,
or can be used to "scrub" your messages in any way you like before sending
them. Just remember not to ever make the Polarbar Mailer send your mail
while this Custom Program is still running! The program will send the messages
in the OUTBOX folder when you tell it
to, without regard to the fact that one of them might still be "in use"
by this Custom Program or alternate editor at the time. Also, make sure
your "scrubber" or "alternate editor" doesn't do something that ruins your
messages, because the program is just going to send them without examining
them first. For example, if you remove the blank line between a message's
header lines and its body text, and the first line of your body text happens
to begin with a space or tab character or with a word that ends with a
colon, then the SMTP or POP3 server to which you send the message will
think that line of body text is still part of the message's header lines
and will act accordingly. The only way the server will realize that the
client has stopped sending header lines and started sending body text without
the blank line which is supposed to signal that transition, is if it receives
a line of text that doesn't start with a space or tab or a word that ends
with a colon. So you'll have message body text that will be treated as
headers, the results of which can be distressing and especially confusing
to the recipient.
In these settings, you can use the Find buttons to select your
executable file or type its name yourself. Add whatever parameters
you want to pass to that program. The Polarbar Mailer will ask Java to
execute the exact string you've typed, whatever it may be.
Under the operating systems on which we've tried this feature, Java
cannot execute anything other than *.EXE files and, in the case of Windows
95, the START command. If you need to execute a non-*.EXE file under Windows
95, insert the word START at the beginning of the command. Under OS/2 or
NT, insert CMD.EXE /C START instead. Using these methods to start the program
in a separate session is also necessary for many character mode (that is,
non-GUI or non-graphical) programs which need a "console" for input and
output, particularly batch files and REXX programs.
Under OS/2 and Windows 95, even when you do use START or CMD.EXE /C
START to run the program in a separate character mode window, in order
to run a batch file or REXX program, the session's STDIN and STDOUT (standard
input and standard output) has been redirected to some unknown location.
In order to get a batch file to take input from the keyboard, you have
to redirect STDIN back to the keyboard and the same goes for STDOUT and
the monitor. For example, instead of having the batch file execute PAUSE,
it has to execute PAUSE < CON, and instead of ECHO HELLO, it must be
ECHO HELLO > CON. In REXX, you can't use SAY and PULL; you might use LINEIN("CON")
and LINEOUT("HELLO","CON") instead.
If you want the program to wait, between starting a Custom Program and
doing whatever it would do next (like if your Custom Program is an internet
dialer and you need to give it time to connect before the Polarbar Mailer
should try to connect to the server), then insert the string "delay=60;"
(that is, the word "delay", an equals sign, the number of seconds, and
a semicolon) at the beginning of your command line. In this case, the program
will tell Java to execute whatever comes after the semicolon, instead of
telling Java to execute the whole command line. If you want a delay but
no Custom Program (as in the example above, where you initiate a send and
a retrieve at the same time and you have configured the send to start your
dialer, so you need for the retrieve to just wait until the connection
has been made), you can say "delay=60;" without any program name after
it.
For the fifth Custom Program, the one that you can run when leaving
the compose window, there is a special parameter:
The name of the file that has just been created by the compose window will
be passed at the end of the command line, unless you specify that you need
that filename to be passed at some other location within the command line.
To do so, just place the string "{file}" at that location. That is, the
word "file" in French curly brackets.
Once you have filled in the fifth Custom Program setting here, your
compose window will stop using its original toolbar
and start using an alternate one. This one has an additional button, which
is the way in which this Custom Program is activated. When you want to
send a message just as it is in the compose window, press the normal Send
Later button or the Send Now button. When you're done with the
functions of the compose window but you want your Custom Program to be
executed against the new message before it is sent (whether the Custom
Program functions as an alternate editor or any other kind of scrubber),
press the Send Later/Execute Custom Program button instead. (The
same function is also available on the File menu of the compose
window, in case you have the toolbar turned off.) The message will be placed
into the OUTBOX folder just as if you'd
pressed the
Send Later button, but then the fifth Custom Program
will be executed.
Separate Custom Program settings are maintained for each operating
system that you use with a single Polarbar installation.
The Fonts and Colors
Page
This page allows you to change the Compose window font, the
Folder tree font, the Main font, the Message font, the Message list font,
the Menu font, the Title font and the Headings font. In addition to
changing the font settings, the text and panel colors can also be changed
for all fonts other than the Menu font. You can even consolidate all of
the fonts and colors to match the current Main font and color settings.
The Title font is used on panels that display the gradient title bar, usually
at the top of the dialog. For example, all the settings panels make use of this
gradient title bar. Since the gradient transitions from the foreground color to
the background color, you should make your foreground color setting for this
very dark and the background very light for the best effect. For Java 1.1.x
users, the color value is ignored and the gradient.jpg graphic image is used
to determine the color.
The Headings font is another dialog font used to highlight section headings
in dialogs. Many of the settings panels (custom programs, fonts and colors, etc.)
use this font/color combination.
Note: If the stand-alone fonts and colors dialog was activated via
Tools / Fonts and colors... prior to the settings dialog being activated,
then this page will not be present in the settings dialog. Conversely, if
the settings dialog is active when Tools / Fonts and colors... is
activated, then the settings dialog is given focus and switches to this
page.
The Incoming Servers Page
-
Server List
-
Mail for this account is retrieved
from one or more incoming mail servers that are configured on this page.
The order in which the server connections are attempted is from top to
bottom. Polarbar always attempts to retrieve from each server in the
listed order, with the exception of servers that are disabled.
- Create Button
- Use the Create button to add a new incoming mail server entry. Polarbar
pops up a "New Server" dialog that lets you choose which type of server
to configure:
- POP3
A standard Post Office Protocol 3 server that
requires you to log in with your user ID and password.
- IMAP4
A standard Internet Mail ail Access Protocol 4 server
that requires you to log in with your user ID and password.
- PPO
A type of server that deposits your mail into a specific
directory when new mail is available.
- news:
A public Usenet news server or a private news server.
The new server entry is added to the bottom of the list and is listed as
"undefined".
- Changing Entries
- You can change entries in the list by expanding the settings tree and
select the individual entry to edit. Changes are saved when you press the OK
button.
- Remove Button
- Use the Remove button to delete the highlighted entry.
- Up Button
- Use the Up button to move the highlighted entry up one slot in the
list.
- Down Button
- Use the Down button to move the highlighted entry down one slot in
the list.
For all server types other than PPO, each edit panel displayed when you
expand the tree uses the same basic panel with minor differences between
the types, as described below:
- The Incoming Servers panel (all servers other than PPO):
-
Mail Server
-
The address for the mail server (e.g., mail@myisp.com).
-
Userid
-
For POP3 and IMAP4 servers only. Your user ID for this mail server.
This field is optional. If it is blank, then Polarbar will prompt you
for your user ID the first time it attempts to retrieve mail using
this server (after you start Polarbar or switch to this account).
-
Password
-
For POP3 and IMAP4 servers only. Your password for this mail server.
This field is optional. If it is blank, then Polarbar will prompt you
for your password the first time it attempts to retrieve mail using
this server (after you start Polarbar or switch to this account).
-
Prompt before preview
-
For POP3 and IMAP4 servers only. If this checkbox is enabled, then
Polarbar will prompt you for your user ID and password when you choose
this server for use with Preview Mail
feature, even if neither the user ID nor the password is missing.
-
Disable
-
For all servers other than PPO. If this checkbox is enabled, then Polarbar
will not attempt to retrieve mail from this incoming mail server.
-
Maximum message size
-
For POP3 and IMAP4 servers only. The maximum message size to download.
If set to any value other than zero (0), then any messages larger than
this number of bytes will not be downloaded. Instead, only their headers
will be retrieved. In place of the actual message, Polarbar will insert
an explanation of why the message was not downloaded. You can then use
the Preview Mail feature to look at the
first 50 lines of the message and decide if you want to retrieve the
entire message (from the Mail Preview window) or just delete it.
-
Connection Timeout
-
How many seconds the program should wait for a connection. It will stop
waiting sooner than this if TCP/IP returns an error or if the connection
is made.
-
Attempts
-
How many attempts Polarbar should make to connect to this server before
moving on to the next server in the list.
-
Port
- Usually 110 for a POP3 server, 143 for an IMAP4 server, and
119 for a news server.
-
Test Connection Button
-
When you activate this button, Polarbar tests the connection to this
server and reports the results by changing the button text. If the
connection attempt fails, you can adjust the server settings and test
the connection again.
- The Options panel (POP3 servers only):
-
Retrieve new mail only
-
If this checkbox is enabled, then Polarbar will only retrieve new mail
(i.e., mail that Polarbar has not previously retrieved). This option
is most commonly enabled if you intend to leave you mail on the server.
-
Download POP3 mail in reverse order
-
If this checkbox is enabled, then Polarbar will retrieve mail from this
server in reverse order (i.e., from highest to lowest, instead of from
lowest to highest).
-
Delete retrieved messages from server
-
If this checkbox is enabled, then after Polarbar has successfully downloaded
a mail message, it tells the server to mark the message for deletion. The
server won't actually delete the marked messages until after Polarbar logs
off from the server. This means that if the server connection drops, none
of the messages that were marked for deletion will be deleted.
-
Mail server supports the APOP command
-
If this checkbox is enabled, then Polarbar will log on using the APOP command,
using an MD5 hash encoding of a time stamp provided by the POP3 server and your
password, instead of using the clear text PASSWORD command. If this checkbox is
enabled, but the POP3 server does not support the APOP command, then Polarbar
will indicate a failure and you will have to disable this checkbox in order to
allow Polarbar to log on to the POP3 server.
-
Server message list is unordered
-
If the server doesn't sort its list of messages by number, then you can enable
this option to have Polarbar sort the list of messages by number. If you also
have the reverse download option enabled, then Polarbar will sort the list of
messages in reverse order by number.
-
Mail server supports the UIDL command
-
If this checkbox is enabled, then Polarbar retrieves
the UIDL codes for all messages that are on this mail server and compares
them with its saved list of UIDLs of previously retrieved mail in order to
determine which mail messages are new. If this checkbox is disabled,
then Polarbar uses a "high water mark" to indicate how many of the mail
messages that are on the server have already been retrieved. The "high
water mark" method is prone to failure and the use of UIDL is strongly
encouraged.
-
Last message number (non-UIDL mode only)
-
When the UIDL option is unchecked, this entry field allows you to enter the
"high water mark" Polarbar uses to indicate how many of the mail messages that
are on the server have already been retrieved. The "high water mark" method
is prone to failure and the use of UIDL is strongly encouraged.
The Options panel (IMAP4 servers only):
-
Send a NOOP before each server command
-
If this checkbox is enabled, then Polarbar sends a NOOP command to the IMAP
server before each command. This is not part of the IMAP specification and
even though it's compatible with the specification, this option only exists
for some non-standard situations. It should normally be unchecked.
-
Retrieve new mail only
-
If this checkbox is enabled, then Polarbar will only retrieve new mail
(i.e., mail that Polarbar has not previously retrieved). This option
is most commonly enabled if you intend to leave you mail on the server.
-
Delete retrieved messages from server
-
If this checkbox is enabled, then after Polarbar has successfully downloaded
a mail message, it tells the server to mark the message for deletion. The
server won't actually delete the marked messages until after Polarbar logs
off from the server. This means that if the server connection drops, none
of the messages that were marked for deletion will be deleted.
The Mailbox Mapping panel (POP3 and IMAP4 servers only):
-
Addresses
-
A comma-separated list of email address to use with the mailbox mapping
feature, as controlled by the radio buttons. If this field is blank,
then the mailbox mapping feature is disabled.
-
Retrieve mail for only these addresses
-
If this radio button is enabled, then Polarbar will only retrieve mail
messages that have one or more of the indicated email addresses in their
"To:", "Cc:", or "Bcc:" headers or are in one or more of their "Received:"
headers, if prefixed by "for" and surrounded by angle brackets (e.g.,
"Received: ... for <mailbox@domain> ...").
-
Retrieve mail excluding these addresses
-
If this radio button is enabled, then Polarbar will only retrieve mail
messages that don't have any of the indicated email addresses in their
"To:", "Cc:", or "Bcc:" headers.
The PPO panel (PPO servers only):
-
Directory
-
The absolute path for the directory that the PPO server places new
mail messages into.
-
Supported PPO Message Extensions
-
A comma-separated list of case-sensitive file name extensions that
Polarbar will look for in the PPO server's directory.
-
Activate PPO Inbox
-
If this checkbox is enabled, then Polarbar will to retrieve mail from this
PPO mail server. This checkbox is disabled and cleared if the Directory
field does not hold the absolute path for an existing and accessible
directory.
The Newsgroup Tab (news servers only):
-
Newsgroup
-
The name of the newsgroup to read for this server entry.
-
Last article read
-
The highest article number that has been retrieved from the server.
When Polarbar retrieves articles from the newsgroup, it will only
download those articles that have an article number that is larger
than this value.
-
Catchup
-
If you activate this button, then the Last article read field
gets set to the highest article number that the server reports for
this newsgroup.
The Messages Page
-
Prompt before deleting messages
-
With this checkbox turned on, the program will ask you for confirmation
each time you delete a message from a folder. Caution:
If turn off this setting, it is suggested that you enable the cleanup
setting: Copy Discarded Messages to Trash to avoid accidental loss
of messages.
-
Prompt if no default persona when composing
-
With this checkbox turned on, the program will ask you to select a
Persona when the
compose window opens if you haven't
previously selected a default persona.
-
Prompt before permitting addresses without domains
-
With this checkbox turned on, the program will ask you whether you're sure
you haven't made a mistake each time you try to leave the compose
window with an addressee which is not formatted like a legal internet
address and is also not found as a nickname in one of your address
books. Turn this setting off if you need to be able to address messages
to other users on your own network without having to specify the domain
name as part of the address.
-
Prompt before permitting messages without user text
-
With this checkbox turned on, the program will ask you whether you're sure
you haven't made a mistake each time you try to leave the compose
window without having added any text to the initial preface and/or quoted text.
-
Prompt before permitting messages with no subject
-
With this checkbox turned on, the program will ask you whether you're sure
you haven't made a mistake each time you try to leave the compose
window wit a blank subject.
-
Scan unread messages across folders
-
If you turn this setting on, then when you select
Next Unread Message
and there are no more unread messages in the current
folder, the program will advance to the next folder with
unread messages in it, if any, not counting the draft,
outbox, and trash folders.
-
Remember folder message list sort order
-
If you turn this setting on, then when you sort the
Message List, the
sort order will be retained between visits to
folder and between invocations of the program.
-
Switch focus on message selection
-
If you turn this setting on, then after a message is selected,
the window focus is switched back to the message browser.
-
Start in drafts folder when it has new auto saved messages
-
If you turn this setting on, then if Polarbar was closed, crashed, or
killed with open compose windows, then
when you restart Polarbar, Polarbar will start up with the drafts
folder selected instead of the inbox.
-
Use separate message window (requires restarting Polarbar)
-
If you turn this setting on and restart Polarbar, all messages are displayed
in a window that is detached from the main Polarbar frame. This feature does
not work well unless you also enable "Switch focus on message selection".
-
Move unread message count to start of title bar
-
Polarbar displays the current unread message count in the title bar. By
default, it is displayed following the "Polarbar Mailer - " part of the
title bar text as a convenience for those users that want to have their
window manager lock Polarbar in all virtual screens, which typically
requires that the title bar text be constant up to the first occurrence
of a dash. If you enable this setting, Polarbar will instead display the
current unread message count as the first text in the title bar, which
will usually allow you to see the current unread message count simply by
looking at the window manager's task list.
-
Fix double-click in text browser, even when Java is less than 1.4
-
Java 1.4 made significant changes to the rules regard what text gets
highlighted when double-clicking in a text area component. Polarbar
automatically compensates for this when it detects that you are using
Java 1.4 or higher. This setting allows you to enjoy the benefits of
the Polarbar Java 1.4 double-click fixes if you are using a pre-1.4
version of Java that has been updated with the Java 1.4 rules.
The News Page
If your only use of internet newsgroups is by web sites such as
http://www.dejanews.com or
http://www.hotbot.com, you don't
need a news reader application. Those web sites let you read all the newsgroup
postings you want and they even let you write a reply, but not easily.
The Polarbar Mailer provides an easy way to write newsgroup postings and
replies so you can interact with such web sites in both directions without
using a full-fledged news reader. To write an original posting, just type
NEWS: and the newsgroup name as the addressee, in the Compose
Window. To reply to a posting on a newsgroup web site, see
Paste quoted.
-
News Server
-
This setting is partially obsolete as of Polarbar 1.24, which added support
for outbound news servers.
- Note: If you don't want to use the Polarbar news posting feature,
you should leave the News Server field blank in order to avoid
occasional Paste Quoted oddities where Polarbar thinks that you
are trying to reply to a news message.
-
Port Number
-
This setting is obsolete as of Polarbar 1.24, which added support for
outbound news servers.
-
Interpret addresses containing a period (.) but no (@) as newsgroups
-
If you leave this setting on, then you don't have to type NEWS: before
a newsgroup name in the Addresses: field of the compose
window. The program will assume that any address that has a period
without an @ sign is a newsgroup and will send the message using your news
server. (If the message also has other addressees that don't look like
newsgroup names, the program will send the message to those addressees
using the SMTP or POP3 server; it will only send the message to the news
server for those addressees that look like newsgroup names.)
-
Note: This setting applies to you even if you never want to use the Polarbar
Mailer for newsgroup postings or replies. If you need to be able to send
an email message to an address which does not contain an @ sign but does
contain a period (for example, another user at your own domain so that
you want to leave off the @ sign and the domain name, but his username
has a period in it), then you have to turn this setting off or else the
program will always try to send that message to your news server (and if
you don't have your news server setting filled in, the program is going
to prompt you for it at send time). With this setting turned off, the
program will never try to send anything to the news server unless you type
NEWS: in front of the address in the compose window.
The Outgoing Servers Page
-
Server List
-
Mail sent using this account is sent
via one or more outgoing mail servers that are configured on this page.
The order in which the server connections are attempted is from top to
bottom. Polarbar does not memorize which server it used previously and
always starts with the first listed server. You can configure each
server to only be used if your computer's IP address is in one (or more)
specific IP address range(s) and you can disable a server from being
used without having to delete it from the list.
- Create Button
- Use the Create button to add a new outgoing mail server entry. Polarbar
pops up a "New Server" dialog that lets you choose which type of server
to configure:
- SMTP
A standard Simple Mail Transfer Protocol server.
- Auth SMTP
An SMTP server that supports the AUTH LOGIN
authentication protocol that requires you to log in with your
user ID and password. If you are not sure if your ISP uses
a plain SMTP server or supports AUTH LOGIN, choosing this server
type is a safe option, because if it turns out that the server
doesn't support AUTH LOGIN, Polarbar will fall back to the simple
SMTP usage.
- POP3 (out)
A standard Post Office Protocol 3 server that
requires you to log in with your user ID and password.
- PPO
A type of server that requires you to deposit your mail
into a specific directory that it scans periodically for new outgoing
mail.
- News
A type of server that allows you to post messages to a news
group server.
The new server entry is added to the bottom of the list and is listed as
"undefined".
- Changing Entries
- You can change entries in the list by expanding the settings tree and
select the individual entry to edit. Changes are saved when you press the OK
button.
- Remove Button
- Use the Remove button to delete the highlighted entry.
- Up Button
- Use the Up button to move the highlighted entry up one slot in the
list.
- Down Button
- Use the Down button to move the highlighted entry down one slot in
the list.
For all server types other than PPO, each edit panel displayed when you
expand the tree uses the same basic panel with minor differences between
the types, as described below:
- The Outgoing Servers panel (all servers other than PPO):
-
Mail Server
-
The address for the mail server (e.g., mail@myisp.com).
-
Userid
-
For Auth SMTP, POP Before SMTP, and POP3 (out) servers only. Your user ID
for this mail server. This field is optional. If it is blank, then Polarbar
will prompt you for your user ID the first time it attempts to retrieve mail
using this server (after you start Polarbar or switch to this account).
-
Password
-
For Auth SMTP, POP Before SMTP, and POP3 (out) servers only. Your password
for this mail server. This field is optional. If it is blank, then Polarbar
will prompt you for your password the first time it attempts to retrieve mail
using this server (after you start Polarbar or switch to this account).
Disable
If this checkbox is enabled, then Polarbar will not attempt to send mail
using this outgoing mail server.
Connection Timeout
How many seconds the program should wait for a connection. It will stop
waiting sooner than this if TCP/IP returns an error or if the connection
is made.
Attempts
How many attempts Polarbar should make to connect to this server before
moving on to the next server in the list.
Port
Usually 25 for an SMTP or Auth SMTP server or 110 for a POP3
(out) server.
Test Connection Button
When you activate this button, Polarbar tests the connection to this
server and reports the results by changing the button text. If the
connection attempt fails, you can adjust the server settings and test
the connection again.
The IP Ranges panel (all servers other than PPO):
IP Ranges
A optional list of IP address ranges, separated by semicolon, that
your computer's IP address must be within in order for Polarbar to
use this server. For example, if the ISP that owns this server always
gives your computer an IP address that starts with 39.12 or 39.13
when you are connected to the ISP's network, then you could enter
39.12;39.13 into this field. Then if you were dialed into some
other network, this server would not be used to send your mail.
The PPO Server panel (PPO servers only):
Directory
The absolute path for the directory that the PPO server scans for new
messages to send. Polarbar saves all messages using the POP file name
extension (all uppercase).
Activate PPO Outbox
If this checkbox is disabled, then Polarbar will not attempt to send
mail using this PPO server. This checkbox is disabled and cleared if
the Directory field does not hold the absolute path for an existing
and accessible directory.
The Persona Page
This page allows you to create a new persona, using the Create
button. To see the settings for your existing personas, expand the Persona
tree by clicking on the + icon next to the Personas title in the
Polarbar Settings tree. Click on a persona name to see the first page of
that persona's settings. Click on the + icon next to the persona name to
see the other persona settings pages for the same persona.
Note: If the stand-alone persona dialog was activated via Tools / Personas...
prior to the settings dialog being activated, then this page will not be
present in the settings dialog. Conversely, if the settings dialog is active
when Tools / Personas... is activated, then the settings dialog is given
focus and switches to this page.
The PGP Page
This page lets you configure Polarbar for use with PGP for signing,
encrypting, decrypting and verification of mail messages.
- PGP Public Keyring
- Enter the path to your PGP public Keyring or use the Find button
to locate it.
- PGP Secret Keyring
- Enter the path to your PGP secret Keyring or use the Find button
to locate it.
- PGP ID
- Enter your PGP ID here or locate it using the find button.
- PGP Passphrase
- Only type your PGP pass phrase here if you want it to be stored in
Polarbar's account settings file, using weak encryption. If you don't
type your pass phrase here, then each time you start Polarbar, you will
be prompted for your pass phrase the first time that Polarbar might need
it since the time you started Polarbar. If you do enter your pass phrase
here, you can test it using the Test button. If you are worried about
leaving your pass phrase in memory, you can clear it by selecting
Tools->PGP->Clear PGP Passphrase
The Platform Page
These settings are used by Polarbar to determine how to deal with the
following items that have significant operational differences between
various platform types. Unless you are running Polarbar on a platform
that has not previously been tested, you should never need to change any
of these settings. If you do change any of these settings and you need
to restore the Polarbar default values, exit Polarbar and delete the
PLATFORM.INI file from the Mailer directory, then restart Polarbar.
-
Add overwrite test to save file dialog
-
Unless the OS name starts with "Windows", because Windows provides it
natively, Polarbar prompts the user to avoid overwriting files.
-
Native choice control supports searching.
-
If the OS name contains "OS/2", Polarbar does not provide first-letter
searching for choice controls, because OS/2 provides that natively.
-
Large choice controls use scrollable lists.
-
If the OS is Un*x-derived (the OS name contains "BSD", "Linux", "Solaris",
or "Unix"), because X-windows choice controls have display problems if they
have a large number of long choices.
-
Enable Un*x print options.
-
If the OS is Un*x-derived (the OS name contains "BSD", "Linux", "Solaris",
or "Unix"), due to the lack of a native print dialog.
The Printing Page
These settings only have an effect when printing messages, not anywhere
else in the program such as the online help.
-
Font
-
This option lets you select the font that will be used for printing messages.
-
Top Margin
-
This option lets you select the size of the top margin for printing messages.
-
Bottom Margin
-
See Top Margin, above.
-
Left Margin
-
See Top Margin, above.
-
Right Margin
-
See Top Margin, above.
-
Page eject after each message
-
The program will always send a page eject after a print job, so this setting
applies only when there are multiple messages in a single print job. With
this setting turned on, each message will have at least one page to itself.
With this setting off, if one message ends before the bottom of its page,
the next message will begin in the remaining space rather than not starting
until the next page.
-
Print footer on each page
-
With this setting turned on, the bottom of each page will have a horizontal
line, the date and time of printing on the left, and the page number on
the right.
-
Use the following value for dots per inch
-
On some systems, when the program asks Java for the printer's page size,
the response that Java returns is incorrect. This setting lets you tell
the program to ignore Java's answer and use the information you provide
instead. If your printout is missing its end, and the top and left margins
are bigger than they should be, that means the program is being told that
an inch is bigger than it really is, so you need to tell the program to
use a smaller number when calculating how much space equals an inch. If
your printout's bottom and right margins are too big, that means the program
is being told that an inch is smaller than it really is, so you need to
tell the program to use a bigger number instead, in this setting. The window
in which your Java virtual machine is running will contain a notice after
each print job, which will tell you what the program used for the dots
per inch setting for that print job, so you can tell what number to start
with when increasing or decreasing the value in this setting. Just look
where it says "1 inch=".
-
Wrap lines which exceed the right margin
-
You can turn this checkbox off if you want the program to not bother checking
the width of each line in the message file before printing it. If your
messages don't have any long lines, then your printouts would not be losing
text off the right edge of the page even with this setting turned off,
so this check is a waste of your time and CPU power if you're using that
particular printer driver. Therefore, you would want to turn this setting
off.
-
Assign printer settings (Un*x-derivatives only)
-
When running Polarbar on a Un*x-derived platform (see the Platform Printing settings), Polarbar provides
additional printer options that are geared towards Un*x-like systems.
Unfortunately, some Java vendors don't include support for these print
options in the print dialog.
The Program Launchers Page
This page allows you to configure programs that run automatically when
you open an attachment, based on the file extension of the attachment file.
If a launcher is not configured for a particular file extension, then the
Attachment Processor dialog appears
when you open an attachment.
-
Launchers
-
This is the list of existing application launchers defined. If none are shown,
use the Update button to add new entries after defining the extension and program.
-
Extensions
-
Enter one or more file extensions that are associated with the program path.
Separate multiple extensions with a space.
-
Program path
-
Enter the name of the program that will be run when opening attachments
that have the file extension(s) defined.
-
Find button
-
Use the find button to open the standard file open dialog to locate a program
and have its name filled into the entry field when you select it.
-
Update button
-
Use the update button to add a new entry, if no launcher is highlighted in the
list of existing launchers, or update an existing entry if an existing launcher
is highlighted.
-
Delete button
-
Use the delete button to remove the highlighted entry in the launchers list.
The Retrieving Page
-
Retrieve mail automatically every [ ] minutes
-
With this checkbox turned on and a number of minutes specified, the program
will automatically retrieve new mail whenever the account
is open after each time the specified number of minutes elapses. To temporarily
turn it off, or to make automatic mail retrieval occur on all accounts,
see Popper.
-
Retrieve mail at startup
-
With this checkbox turned on, Polarbar will attempt the first mail retrieval
as soon as it is safe to do so (after starting Polarbar or switching to this
account) instead of waiting until after the automatic mail retrieval interval
expires.
-
Send mail in outbox when performing receive
-
With this checkbox turned on Polarbar will try to send any messages in your
outbox as soon as a mail retrieval process has been started.
-
Popper retrieves to another account
-
With this checkbox turned on, any messages that are retrieved for this
account when the Popper is running are
instead redirected to the account that is specified in the drop-down
list to the right, even if this account is the active account when the
Popper is retrieving messages.
-
Play system sound when new mail is received
-
With this radio button turned on, the program will play your system's
default sound (typically a beep), when a mail retrieval action results
in new mail being received.
-
Play audio file when new mail is received
-
With this radio button turned on and a valid audio (.AU) file selected via
the Find button to the right, the program will play that audio file,
when a mail retrieval action results in new mail being received.
-
Do not play a file when new mail is received
-
With this radio button turned on, the program will not play any sound
when a mail retrieval action results in new mail being received.
The Spell Checker Page
This page allows you to choose the Polarbar Spell Checker. The options on
this page support the two Spell Checkers currently supplied with Polarbar,
JSpell and Wintertree Sentry. This page also displays an option to
support additional Spell Checkers that might be made available in the
future. When you enable JSpell, there are only two further options. When
you enable Sentry, the rest of the options on this page become available.
Also, the Spell Checker branch of the Polarbar Settings tree grows,
adding a continuation page of options and a Spelling Files page. The
options on the first two Spell Checker pages are generally
self-evident. The Spelling Files page needs some further
clarification.
Any Spell Checker compares your typed text against a stored data base
containing correct spellings of the words of your language. In the case
of Sentry, this data base consists of the files listed on the Spelling
Files page. To validate your text, Sentry looks up your words in each
file listed on this page, starting with the Main lexicon (.tlx)
file and continuing with the other files whose names are filled in
here, in order from the top to the bottom of this page. When Sentry
validates a word in a particular file, the lookup stops. If Sentry
doesn't validate your word in a file, it continues the lookup in the next
file on the Settings page. If it reaches the last file and still can't
validate your word, it offers you a list of suggested possible other ways
of spelling the word. Clearly, the fewer files on this page, the faster a
Spell Check might run, at the expense of not doing as thorough a job of
catching misspellings.
Each file on this page has a specific purpose, as follows:
The Main lexicon (.tlx) file contains all the words in the
language that aren't in the main compressed (.clx) file.
The Main lexicon (.clx) file is the primary language lexicon file in
a compressed format. The compression allows faster lookups of words contained
inside it as well as a smaller distribution size.
The Common accent lexicon file contains words that may be commonly
used in the language but may be borrowed from other languages. English
uses no accents or other decorations on letters, unlike for example,
French. But if, for example, you happen to refer to a person or place
whose name is French, you might use the proper French spelling.
The Auto-correct lexicon file contains common misspellings of
words. If you happen to misspell a word in one of these common ways,
Sentry simply corrects the word without prompting you in the Spell Checker
dialog.
The Additional dictionary file is intended to contain the words you
add to Sentry's vocabulary with the Add button in the Spell Checker
dialog. This is the default purpose of this file, but the Spell Checker
dialog offers you a way to add words to other lexicon files. There are
three entries for an Additional dictionary file for flexibility.
You may want to separate legal words from medical terms or have other
uses for these additional entries.
Separate Lexicon file locations are maintained for each operating
system that you use with a single Polarbar installation.
In order for Sentry to function properly, the minimal requirement is a
Main lexicon (.tlx) file. You may omit some or all of the other
files, but we recommend you supply at least one Additional dictionary
file to hold the words you want Sentry to learn. For this reason, we
will always supply at least a small "starter" file for this entry.
When we supply a new Sentry dictionary, it consists of at least two files.
One is a file with extension .tlx, whose name you enter as the Main
lexicon (.tlx) file. The other is a file with extension .clx, whose
name you enter as the Main lexicon (.clx) file. The Canadian
lexicon files included today are ssceca.tlx and ssceca2.clx. The British
lexicon files are sscebr.tlx and sscebr2.clx. You can use the same
auto-correct and accent lexicons with all three English "dialects." All
these files are located within the Polarbar distribution jar file, which
is an ordinary zip archive. Unzip them from the root directory of the
archive and adjust your Spelling Files Settings accordingly. Each file on
this page has an extension of either .clx or .tlx. The .clx extension
indicates a compressed file format and those files cannot be changed. The
.tlx file extensions are text files, which allows Polarbar to add words
that may not appear in any of the other lexicon files.
This page of Settings offers Edit buttons for some of these files. Not
all the Edit buttons are active because you cannot edit the compressed
files (those having the .clx extension) and for technical reasons the
accent.tlx file cannot be edited either. Clicking one of the active
Edit buttons launches a dialog that allows you to modify the associated
file, thereby adjusting Sentry's behavior when it encounters certain
words. You can create alternate spellings, perhaps to add special-purpose
jargon words to the dictionary. You can also correct or remove incorrect
spellings you may have accidentally entered into the dictionary by
clicking the wrong button while checking the spelling of an E-mail
message.
The Time Zone Page
This page allows you to set up an alternate Time Zone if the default
Time Zone that Java picks for Polarbar is not correct for your location.
The Web Browser Page
This setting lets you determine what type of browser window will be
opened when you double-click on a URL in the program's main browser
panel. These programs are executed in the same way as the
Custom
Programs; the Polarbar Mailer will pass the command exactly as you've
typed it here to the operating system, with the selected URL either at the
end (with a single space separating the command from the URL) or where the
last percent sign (%), if any, is located, using Java's method of
starting native programs. If you need to use a CMD.EXE /C command or a START
command or something to get your specified program to run as a Custom Program
as described above, then you need to do the same thing here as well.
As an example of using the positional URL syntax, if you type
C:\BAT\BROWSER "%" here and you later double click on
http://WWW/ in the text browser, then Polarbar
will execute the command C:\BAT\BROWSER "http://WWW/".
Separate Web Browser settings are maintained for each operating system that
you use with a single Polarbar installation.
The Windows Registry Page
This page allows you to add Polarbar to the Windows Registry and also allows
you to make Polarbar the default Windows email client (for example, for handling
mail to links on web pages).