Copyright: Pegasus Mail (c) David Harris, 1992-96
Citation: Pegasus Mail (c) David Harris, 1992-96


Contents

Welcome to Pegasus Mail!

Pegasus Mail is an electronic mail client for use with an Internet provider, using a dial-up or permanent connection, or with the local area networks common in many offices. This tutorial is intended to cover basic operation - step-by-step instructions on how to send a mail message, use address books, and set up Pegasus Mail with an Internet provider. For more advanced instructions, or details on how to use more advanced features, refer to Pegasus Mail's online help.

A Quick Overview

How to:

Send an electronic mail message

Use Pegasus Mail's address books

Set up Pegasus Mail for use with an Internet Provider

 Begin with Quick Overview

Copyright  (c) 1996 David Harris, All Rights Reserved

Written by Richard Stevenson

Pegasus Mail System Copyright (c) 1990-96 David Harris, All Rights Reserved


A Quick Overview

Pegasus Mail has many features designed to make the program easier to use. In particular, the toolbar includes buttons for the functions that are used most often, such as sending a new mail message or checking your new mail folder for new messages. Features that are not used as often can be found in the program's menus. You can, for instance, change the way the program operates by changing the program options.

The Toolbar

Pegasus Mail's menu bar

 Next: The Toolbar


The Button Bar
The Toolbar

WinPMail's toolbar or button panel is a set of tools which provides access to the most commonly-used parts of the program at the click of a button. Depending on the setting you specify in your Button Panel Preferences (see under the Tools/Options menu), the button panel can appear either as a fixed toolbar beneath the menu bar, which is the default, or as a small floating window in either horizontal or vertical format. WinPMail remembers the location and state (open or closed) of the button panel between sessions. You can also choose between having the button panel as a toolbar, or as a floating window using the option in your Preferences. This copy of the toolbar is clickable - click on any button for help on what it does.

The floating button panel can be horizontal or vertical, though they both have the same buttons. We show the horizontal button panel here:

 Next: Pegasus Mail's Menu Bar


Pegasus Mails Menu Bar
The Menu Bar

Pegasus Mail's menu bar gives you access to all of the features of the program as well as a range of configuration options. The configuration screens can be reached from the Tools menu, as shown, and give you complete control over the way in which Pegasus Mail will operate. You can specify everything from your name, which is written into outgoing mail messages, to the details of your Internet provider's mail system for sending and receiving messages.

Also of note is Pegasus Mail's "floating" menu, which some prefer to call the "dynamic" menu. This menu changes, and offers a range of functions related to your current task within Pegasus Mail. As an example, the screen shot below was taken when I was working with my folders, and the menu allows access to parts of the program related to folder management.

If you use an Internet Service Provider with Pegasus Mail, then you will need to give some details to allow Pegasus Mail to communicate with your provider's mail system. The place to do this is the Network Configuration Dialog, which you can find in the File menu.

 Next: How to Send Mail


Sending Mail
How to Send a Mail Message

To send a message, one would click on one of these buttons, either on the toolbar [image] or button panel [image]. This will open a message editing window:

Most parts of this image are clickable, and will give you a description of the function of that particular part of the window.

At the simplest level, sending a message consists of four steps:

First, put the address of your recipient in the To: field of the message dialog.

Second, give your message a subject.

Third, type your message text in the box

Finally, click on the Send button (or press Ctrl+Enter) to send the message.

You can make the process as complicated as you like - you can attach files, import text files from disk, add Blind Carbon Copy recipients, an expiry date, and your own custom headers, for example.

 Next: How to use Address Books


Using Address Books
How to use Address Books

To open an address book, press the [image] or [image] button on the toolbar or the button panel, or press <F3>. This will open the Address Books Manager as shown below:

An open address book looks like this:

There are several ways to put a person's information into your address book:

You can drag a message from a mail folder to an open or minimized address book, and the name and electronic mail address of the sender of the message will be added automatically. An address editing window will open to let you fill in any other details that are relevant to that person's entry.

You can drag from an address field (such as To:, From:, CC:, or Reply-to:) in an open mail message to an open or minimized address book. Again, an editing window will open to let you complete the entry.

You can open a message, then click on the address book's "Add" button without clicking on any other of Pegasus Mail's windows in the meantime, and an editing window will open, partially filled in with the details of the author of that message.

You can open an address book and press the "Add" button, which will open a blank editing window for you to fill in.

 Next: Using Pegasus Mail with an Internet Service Provider


Using Pegasus Mail with an Internet Service Provider

When you open the Network Configuration Dialog (which is done from Pegasus Mail's File menu - see the section on Pegasus Mail's menu bar), you will see a window much like the one below. This image is clickable, and you can get a description of the purpose of each part when you click on it.

If you are unsure about any of the information needed here, check with your Internet Service Provider - they will be able to give you the correct information for their system.

 Back to the Table of Contents


Gathering the necessary information

Getting the right information

Pegasus Mail needs to know how it should get your new mail, and how it should send your outgoing messages.  Your Internet Service Provider will be able to give you this information.

On a piece of paper, write down the four letters A, B, C, and D, as shown:

A.

B.

C.

D.

Telephone your Internet Service Provider's helpdesk, using the telephone number that they supplied when you signed up. Tell them that you are setting up Pegasus Mail, and ask these questions exactly as given below:

"What is the address of your POP3 server?"  Write the answer to this question beside the letter A.

"What username should I use to check my mail?"  Write the answer beside the letter B.

"What is my password for checking mail?"  Write this answer beside the letter C.

"What is the address of your SMTP server?"  Write this answer beside the letter D.

Once you have the correct information from your Internet Service Provider, you can use it to configure Pegasus Mail.

 Next: Giving the information to Pegasus Mail


What is an Internet Service Provider?

Let's imagine, for a moment, that you live in an isolated area, so that the Postal Service cannot deliver your mail to your door. Because of this, you have a PO Box in town, and you send your son (or daughter) into town once a week to collect your mail from the Post Office, and to post letters that you have written during the week. This is similar to the way in which Pegasus Mail interacts with your Internet Service Provider.

Some organisations are permanently connected to the Internet, and incoming mail is delivered to each person's desktop without any intervention from them. People who connect from home, on the other hand, tend to dial up to an Internet Service Provider for short periods. In this case, the Internet Service Provider has a mailbox for you, and your mail is held there until Pegasus Mail goes to collect it for you. Your Internet Service Provider is like the Postal Service, and Pegasus Mail goes to them, proves that it is authorised (by way of an identifying name and password) to collect your mail, and brings your mail back to you. While there, Pegasus Mail can also pass your outgoing messages to the Internet Service Provider, who will undertake to try to deliver them, as the Postal Service does.

Pegasus Mail needs four pieces of information to allow it to achieve all of this:

The address of the post office holding your mail for you

The PO Box number

The password for the box

The address of the post office it should use to send your letters.

The address of the post office corresponds to the names of your Internet Service Provider's mail servers. In some cases, these will be the same, but this is not necessarily the case. The PO Box number corresponds to the name you use to log in to the mail server, and the password is there to prove that you are who you say you are. On the next page, we will gather this information together so that you can then tell Pegasus Mail how to work with your Internet Service Provider.

Continue...


Clicking this button starts a new message, opening a message editor window. Equivalent functionality is provided by the Ctrl+N keyboard shortcut.


This button opens your new mail folder so that you can browse through your new messages. The keyboard shortcut for this action is Ctrl+W.


Clicking this button opens your Folder Manager so that you can work with your mail folders or open one to browse. Ctrl+L also opens the Folder Manager.


You can create, delete, or open your address books by clicking on this button or by pressing <F3>


Create, delete, or edit your distribution lists. <F6> is the keyboard shortcut for this button.


(or <F2>) If you use Pegasus Mail with Novell's NetWare, this will produce a list of people local to your network. In multiuser standalone mode, this will give a list of the Pegasus Mail users on your machine.


Create or edit a set of rules for filtering your new mail. With filtering rules, you can direct messages into folders, reply to them automatically, or even delete them unread - this can be useful for junk mail.


Some systems have a set of "noticeboards", on which you can post messages for everyone else on your system to read. Clicking this button allows you to browse the noticeboards.


Cut the selected text and place it on Windows' clipboard. The standard Windows keyboard shortcut for this action is Ctrl+X.


(Ctrl+C) Copy the selected text and place it on Windows' clipboard.


(Ctrl+V) Paste text from the clipboard into the message at the current insertion point.


When you are reading a message, this button will save the message to a file on your hard disk. If you click on this button when you are creating a message, then the message will be saved as a draft.


Import text from a file on disk into the current message. This function is also accessed using the Ctrl+M keyboard shortcut.


Print the contents of the current window, also available via Ctrl+P. This option may not be available for all windows within Pegasus Mail.


Change the font of the current window. Not all windows allow you to change the font


Send queued Internet mail through your Internet Service Provider's mail system


Check for new mail on your Internet Service Provider's mail server


Check your provider's host for new mail, then send any mail you have queued


Send a telephone message. This is similar to the "While you were out" notepads used in many companies.


Order manuals for Pegasus Mail and the Mercury Mail Transport System.


This tab changes into Edit view, which is the way the editor opens, and which allows access to the most-often used functions associated with sending a message. Keyboard fetishists can emulate the function of this tab by pressing the <F8> key.


If you want to send attachments with your message, this tab sheet allows you to select files to attach, as well as an encoding method and file type, if you wish to specify these options. This has the same effect as pressing the <F7> key while in the message editor.


You can set message-specific settings, such as Blind carbon recipients, message width, and Reply-to: address from the Special tab. These are useful settings that are less commonly used. Pressing the <F9> key will also switch to this tab.


Pressing this button cancels the message. The message editor window is closed and the message discarded without being sent. You can also cancel the message by pressing <Ctrl-F4> (or <Esc> while in the To:, Subj:, or CC: fields).


Once you are satisfied with the message you've written, you can send it by pressing this button. Note that the message may be queued rather than sent, depending on the way you have Pegasus Mail set up. For those who prefer to use the keyboard, pressing Ctrl+Enter has the same effect.


Clicking this button gives a list of addresses you have sent messages to recently. You can use this to specify a recipient of the message if you send mail to that person frequently.


If you want to be informed when your message is read, click on this box to place a checkmark in it. Note: This feature is not supported by all mail systems, and we therefore cannot guarantee that confirmation will be given.


Some mail systems will respond to requests for confirmation of delivery - that is, confirmation that your message reached the intended recipient's mailbox successfully. Not all systems support this feature.


Enabling this option will place a copy of your message into your copies-to-self folder, and this option will stay as you last set it. Pegasus Mail does not have an "outbox", so if you wish to keep copies of outgoing messages, you must enable this option.


This allows you to mark your message as urgent. If your recipient is using Pegasus Mail, then the message will be highlighted red in the folder and is always at the top of the list. Some other mail clients may also recognise the urgent flag. You should use this feature sparingly; overuse of the urgent flag takes away from the impact of marking a message urgent.


You can encrypt your message, so that the only person able to read the message is the person who knows how to decode it. Pegasus Mail has an encryptor built-in; other encryption interfaces exist and may be publically available. Several interfaces to Phil Zimmerman's PGP system are either in development or widely available at the time of writing. Note: Only Pegasus Mail can decode messages that were encrypted using Pegasus Mail's built-in encryption system. Other mail packages are not able to decode these messages.


Pegasus Mail supports the use of up to nine (9) different sets of message signatures.  A signature is a small piece of text (usually kept to four lines or fewer) that appears at the end of your message. This checkbox allows you to specify whether or not a message is to have a signature, and you can specify which signature to use on a message-by-message basis.


Here you can enter the address of the person or people you wish to send the message to. There are four easy ways of specifying an address:

Specifying the address manually

If you know the address you wish to send to, you can type it in here.

Dragging from a message

Dragging a message from a folder to an addressing field in your message will place the address of the sender of the original message into the addressing field you dragged the message to. You can also drag from the header fields of an open message into an addressing field of a new message to paste an address.

Using an Address Book

You can select the name of the recipient in an open address book, and then either drag it to the message's To: address field, or press the Paste button in the address book window. This will paste the persons name (or, optionally, their address) into the To: field. If their name is pasted, Pegasus Mail will attempt to substitute the correct address when you send the message.

Using the Frequently-Used Addresses list

This button [image] at the end of each addressing field in the editor gives access to a list of addresses you have sent messages to in the recent past. You can drag an address from the list to the address field, or highlight an address in the list and press the Paste button in the list window. In the latter case, the address will be pasted into the message at the current insertion point.


You should give your message a subject here. Your subject should be short and descriptive of the message to allow the recipient to tell at a glance what you are writing to them about. A good subject can also make it much easier to find past correspondence on a particular subject in a full mail folder, and some people consider the omission of the subject from a message to be bad manners.


The addresses of people to whom you wish to send a message, but who are not the ones the message is primarily directed to, can be placed here. The Cc: is historical, coming from the carbon copies sent in the days before the advent of photocopiers and word processors with multiple-copy printing capability. You can specify addresses here in the same fashion as you would for the To: field above.


This is where you type the text (or body) of your message.


This is the list of address books available to you. In this example, you can see that there is an address book whose name is in blue, and one whose name is in black, as well as the one that is highlighted. The one that is blue is a systemwide address book - that is, an address book that everyone on your computer or Local Area Network can see and use, but one that nobody can delete entries from or add entries to.


Once you've selected the address book you want to use, pressing this button opens the address book on your desktop, ready to use.


You can create address books by using this button. You will be asked to specify a long (descriptive) name for the address book, and a filename, which you do not have to specify - Pegasus Mail will generate one if you don't. It's probably a good idea to specify a filename, so that you can find the address book files easily if you ever need to.


You can rename your address books, changing the selected address book's long name, the filename, or both.


If you wish to delete an address book, select it, then press the Delete button. Don't do this lightly - the only way to retrieve a deleted address book is with the MS-DOS UNDELETE command, or a similar system utility, and even that cannot be guaranteed to be successful.


The Cancel button closes the dialog without opening an address book, and allows you to return to your previous task.


This button allows you to add an entry to the address book.


Pressing this button will delete the selected address book entry.


You can edit existing entries in your address book by selecting them and pressing this button.


Pressing this key will paste the selected entry into a new mail message at the current insertion point.


Close the address book


Here you can see a small amount of information about your address book entries, allowing you to see who you have entries for. The right-hand column shows the person's telephone number.


This section shows the details of the selected address book entry. If the information is in the address book, this area will show the person's street address, postal address, telephone and fax numbers, and any comments you've entered into the address book entry.


The information in this box tells Pegasus Mail where to check for new mail for you.


To check for mail, Pegasus Mail needs to identify itself to your provider's mail system.  This username allows it to do so.


Pegasus Mail needs to use your password with your username to prove that it is authorized to collect your mail for you.


Messages you send need to be passed on to a machine directly connected to the Internet so that they can be processed.  Here you can tell Pegasus Mail which machine should process your outgoing mail.


Clicking this button gives you access to options that are more technical and less frequently used. You should not need to change anything here, except on the advice of your Internet Service Provider, or of Pegasus Mail Technical Support.


Clicking on the OK button will close this window, saving any changes you have made.


Clicking on the Cancel button will close this window without saving any changes you have made. Use this button if you change your mind about the information you have entered.


Here you can choose to configure different areas of Pegasus Mail's operation.