========================= MISCELLANEOUS EMAIL NOTES ========================= NOTE: Be sure to see also the DNS notes that are relevant to setting up email hosting (MX, SPF, etc.). ALPINE ====== Search all messages in a folder: ; t a [search string] ; = select t = text a = all fields Command line options: alpine -p [/path/to/alternate-pinerc] -passfile [/path/to/password-file] When creating a password file, Alpine no longer behaves the way it did in the free and easy old days when you could create a passfile with simply touch password-file Now, after creating a new empty file (with "touch" as above), you need to open the file with an editor and insert a line return. After saving the passfile with the line return in it, Alpine should then prompt you to create a master password to encrypt the passfile the next time Alpine needs to access the passfile. Common server strings: {smtp.fastmail.com:465/ssl/user=user@fastmail.com/novalidate-cert} {imap.fastmail.com:993/ssl/user=user@fastmail.com/novalidate-cert} {imap.gmail.com:993/ssl/user=user@gmail.com/novalidate-cert}[Gmail]/All Mail If you wish to start Alpine with a remote pinerc, add the following argument at the command line: alpine -p {imap.gmail.com:993/ssl/user=user@gmail.com/novalidate-cert}pinerc-sdf-pine Some settings you might want to tweak: deadletter enable alternate editor command [allows you to use ^_ to invoke an editor other than alpine's default] sigdashes header in reply text in reply disable-sender / do not generate sender header mark fcc seen blank fcc blank subject dot-folders / hidden folders convert dates to localtime x-x-sender index-format STATUS MSGNO DATE FROMORTO KSIZE SUBJECT [The default when this field is undefined is same as above except that the default uses SIZE instead of KSIZE.] enable aggregate enable flag enable full header command expose hidden config sort-key = Date or Reverse Date Default Composer Headers From: To: Cc: Fcc: Subject: Attchmnt: customized-hdrs / Customized Headers = From: Full Name editor = emacs [or vim] [The editor invoked by the ^_ (alternate editor command)] DELETE FILTER When a message is expunged, this filter moves it to a designated folder (i.e. Trash). The message is only fully removed when it is expunged from the designated folder. You probably do not want to use this filter with Gmail. If you use Gmail, then moving a message to the [Gmail]/Trash folder will remove it from all other locations, and when expunged from [Gmail]/Trash the message is gone forever. S(etup) --> R(ules) --> F(ilters) Nickname: Move Deleted to Trash Current Folder Type = Email Message is Deleted? = Yes Filter Action = Move (then select folder) For IMAP Collections: separate-folder-and-directory-entries quell-empty-directories You might also need: enable-lame-list-mode / deficient imap servers Odd characters show up in the body of messages: This can be caused by a character-encoding mismatch between your terminal and alpine. Make sure both are set to utf-8. THUNDERBIRD =========== Calendars in Lightning Add-On (Now part of Thunderbird proper) Using a synchronized local file as a pseudo-network calendar: On the network icalendar file:///home/user/Documents/sync-calendar.ics (Linux) file:///C:/Users/username/Documents/sync-calendar.ics (Windows) MESSAGE SIZE TEST ================= My three contenders for adding the fewest headers are MXroute, Runbox, and Yandex. So, I am sending a message from my work account to each of them as a test. Below is the size of the message when it arrives in my inbox. MXroute: 4.0K Runbox: 3.9K Yandex: 4.4K And, for comparison... Fastmail: 10.1K Gandi: 4.0K Own Server: 3.7K PHANTOM IMAP FOLDERS IN MY MXROUTE ACCOUNT At some point, I noticed phantom folders showing up in IMAP clients in my MXroute email account, including a mysterious "V 2" folder. So far, I have not discovered the source of the issue, but I have found work-arounds for the two IMAP clients in which I have seen the phantom folders: Claws- Mail and Thunderbird. It is important to note that both of these work-arounds require that all of the folders to which you need access be under INBOX in the directory tree. In Roundcube, you can do this under folder settings by selecting INBOX or one of its subfolders as the Parent folder for whatever folders you are planning to use. Claws Mail: ========== Configuration -> Edit accounts -> Edit -> Receive -> IMAP directory: ./ You may need to delete the local version of the phantom folders that were created under: ~/.claws-mail/imapcache/server.mxrouting.net/user@domain.tld/ You may also need to right click on the top-most MXroute account folder and select "Rebuild folder tree". Thunderbird: =========== Account settings -> Server Settings -> Advanced -> IMAP server directory: INBOX.