1 Claws Mail - a GTK+ based, lightweight, and fast e-mail client
3 ---------------------------------------------------------------------
5 Copyright(C) 1999-2008 Hiroyuki Yamamoto <hiro-y@kcn.ne.jp> and the
8 This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
9 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
10 the Free Software Foundation; either version 3, or (at your option)
13 This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
14 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
15 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
16 GNU General Public License for more details.
18 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
19 along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
20 Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.
22 For more details see the file COPYING.
24 ---------------------------------------------------------------------
28 1. What is Claws Mail?
35 8. Partial downloading of POP3 mails
39 12. How to request features
40 13. Installing Claws from CVS
45 1. What is Claws Mail?
46 --------------------------
48 Claws Mail (previously known as Sylpheed-Claws) is a lightweight and
49 highly configurable email client and news reader based on the GTK+
50 GUI toolkit, it runs on the X Window System.
52 Claws Mail is free software distributed under the GNU GPL.
54 To run Claws Mail use 'claws-mail' on the command line.
56 When claws-mail is executed for the first time a configuration
57 'Wizard' will appear prompting you for the minimum information
58 necessary to create a new account.
64 Claws Mail' capabilities are extended by plugins. It comes with
65 the following plugins included, all of which are built automatically
66 if the required libraries are present.
68 Plugins are installed in $PREFIX/lib/claws-mail/plugins/
69 and have a suffix of '.so'
70 To load a plugin go to '/Configuration/Plugins' and click
71 the 'Load Plugin' button.
72 Select the plugin that you want and click 'OK'
75 Enables the viewing of html messages using the Dillo web
76 browser, version 0.7.0 or newer. It uses Dillo's --local
77 option by default for safe browsing. Preferences can be
78 found in '/Configuration/Preferences/Plugins/Dillo Browser'.
79 Dillo is available from http://www.dillo.org/
82 Handles core PGP functions and is required by the PGP/Inline
84 Uses GnuPG/GPGME, <ftp://ftp.gnupg.org/gcrypt/gpgme/>
87 Handles inline PGP signed and/or encrypted mails. You can
88 decrypt mails, verify signatures or sign and encrypt your
89 own mails. Uses GnuPG/GPGME, <ftp://ftp.gnupg.org/gcrypt/gpgme/>
92 Handles PGP/MIME signed and/or encrypted mails. You can
93 decrypt mails, verify signatures or sign and encrypt your
94 own mails. Uses GnuPG/GPGME, <ftp://ftp.gnupg.org/gcrypt/gpgme/>
97 Enables the scanning of incoming mail received from a POP,
98 IMAP or LOCAL account using SpamAssassin. It can optionally
99 delete mail identified as spam or save it to a designated
100 folder. Preferences can be found in '/Configuration/
101 Preferences/Plugins/SpamAssassin'.
102 SpamAssassin is available from http://spamassassin.apache.org/.
105 Places an icon in the system tray that indicates whether
106 you have any new mail. A tooltip also shows the current
107 new, unread and total number of messages
109 Additonal plugins can be found here:
110 http://www.claws-mail.org/plugins.php
115 The "actions" feature is a convenient way for the user to launch external
116 commands to process a complete message file including headers and body or
117 just one of its parts. It allows also the use of an external command to
118 filter the whole text or just a selected part in the message window or in
119 the compose window. This is a generic tool that allows to do any uncommon
120 actions on the messages, and thus extends the possibilities of Claws Mail.
121 For example, Claws Mail does not include the rot13 cyphering algorithm
122 popular in some newsgroups. It does not support uuencoded messages. As
123 all these features can be handled by external programs, the actions
124 provide a convenient way to use them from the menu bar.
129 To create a new action, go to Configuration -> Actions.... The "Action
130 Creation" dialog offers to enter the Menu name that will trigger the
131 command. The created menu will be found in the Tools -> Actions submenu.
132 By inserting a slash / in the menu name, you create a submenu.
134 The command is entered in the Command line entry. Note that Claws Mail
135 stores every single email in a separate file. This allows to use the
136 following syntax for the command:
138 * %f denotes the file name of the selected message. If you selected more
139 than one, then the command will be launched for each message with
140 the appropriate file name
141 * %F denotes the list of the file names of the selected message. If only
142 one message is selected, this amounts to %f, but if more messages
143 are selected, then the command will be launched only once with the
144 list of the file names. (You can use both %f and %F in one command:
145 then the command will be launched for each selected message with
146 the name of this message and with the list of all selected
147 messages. I did not find a practical example for this.)
148 * %p denotes the current selected message part of a multipart message.
149 The part is decoded accordingly. If the message is not a multipart
150 message, it denotes the message body.
151 * Prepending >: this will allow you to send to the command's standard
152 input a text that you will enter in a dialog window.
153 * Prepending *: this will allow you to send to the command's standard
154 input a text that you will enter in a dialog window. But in
155 contrast to prepending >, the entered text is hidden (useful when
157 * Appending an ampersand &: this will run the command asynchronously.
158 That means "fire and forget". Claws Mail won't wait for the
159 command to finish, nor will it catch its output or its error
161 * Prepending the vertical bar | (pipe-in): this will send the current
162 displayed text or the current selected text from the message view
163 or the compose window to the command standard input. The command
164 will silently fail if more than one message is selected.
165 * Appending the vertical bar | (pipe-out): this will replace the current
166 displayed text or the current selected text from the message window
167 or the compose window by the command standard output. The command
168 will silently fail if more than one message is selected.
170 Note: It is not possible to use actions containing %f, %F or %p from the
173 When a command is run, and unless it is run asynchronously, Claws Mail
174 will be insensitive to any interaction and it will wait for the command to
175 finish. If the command takes too long (5 seconds), it will popup a dialog
176 window allowing to stop it. This dialog will also be displayed as soon as
177 the command has some output: error messages or even its standard output
178 when the command is not a "pipe-out" command. When multiple commands are
179 being run, they are run in parallel and each command output is separated
180 from the outputs of the others.
185 Here are some examples that are listed in the same syntax as used for
186 storing the actions list. You can copy and past the definition in your
187 ~/.claws-mail/actionsrc file (exit Claws Mail before). The syntax
188 is very simple: one line per action, each action contains the menu name
189 and the command line separated by a colon and a space ": "
191 Purpose: rot13 cyphering
192 Definition: Rot13: |tr a-zA-Z n-za-mN-ZA-M|
193 Details: This will apply the rot13 cyphering algorithm to the
194 (selected) text in the message/compose view.
196 Purpose: Decoding uuencoded messages
197 Definition: UUdeview: xdeview %F&
198 Details: xdeview comes with uudeview. If an encoded file is split in
199 multiple messages, just select them all and run the command.
201 Purpose: Display uuencoded image
202 Definition: Display uuencoded: uudec %f&
203 Details: Displays uuencoded files. The uudec[1] script can be found in
204 the 'tools' directory of the distribution package.
206 Purpose: Alter messages
207 Definition: Edit message: gvim -f %F
208 Details: Allows editing of any received message. Can be used to remove
209 unneeded message parts, etc.
211 Purpose: Pretty format
212 Definition: Par: |par 72Tbgjqw74bEe B=._A_a 72bg|
213 Details: par is a utility that can pretty format any text. It does a
214 very good job in indenting quoted messages, and justifying
215 text. Used when composing a message
218 Definition: Part/Dillo: dillo %p&
219 Details: Browse the selected message part in Dillo.
222 [1] The uudec script can be found in the 'tools' directory of the
223 distribution package. It needs uudecode and ImageMagick's display. The
224 latter can be replaced by any image viewer that can get input from
225 standard input. The script could also be modified to use temporary files
226 instead of standard input.
231 Claws has support for different icon sets. Several icon sets can be
232 downloaded from http://www.claws-mail.org/themes.php
233 You will need to create a directory called 'themes' in your config
234 directory, unpack them into this directory, and then use the interface
235 to select them, /Configuration/Preferences/Display/Themes
237 This interface can also be used to install new themes.
244 b. Configuration and installation
251 The spell checker in Claws Mail requires the GNU/aspell library
252 (http://www.gnu.org/software/aspell), version 0.50 or newer.
254 You also need the dictionaries. Check GNU/aspell home page for how
255 to download and install them.
257 NB: The old dictionaries used by the old aspell will not work.
262 Spell checking is enabled automatically if the aspell executable is
263 found. If it is in unusual places, use '--with-aspell-prefix' to state
264 the path to the aspell executable. E.g., if aspell's full path is
265 /foo/bar/bin/aspell, then use:
267 ./configure --with-aspell-prefix=/foo/bar
269 The '--with-aspell-prefix=PREFIX' option will let the configure
270 script search for includes and libraries in PREFIX/include and PREFIX/lib.
272 You can also manually specify the includes and libraries path by using
273 either following options:
275 --with-aspell-includes=/foo/bar/include
279 --with-aspell-libs=/rab/oof/lib
283 The configure script summarizes the options compiled in. Check that
284 it lists 'GNU/aspell = yes'.
286 Then proceed as usual, with 'make' and 'make install'.
291 After successful compiling, you need to tell Claws Mail where your
292 dictionaries reside. The configure script should have found it, but in
293 case it did not, run 'aspell config dict-dir' on the shell to get the
294 path to the dictionaries.
296 Then run claws-mail and go to /Configuration/Preferences/Compose/Spell Checking.
297 Check the box 'Enable spell checker' and use the directory selector to select
298 the path where the dictionaries reside. Within the file selector, go to that
299 directory and select *any* file in the file lists. Click OK. Then, you should
300 be able to select your default dictionary.
302 When composing, misspelled words are highlighted. Click on any
303 highlighted word with the right mouse button to get a list of
304 suggestions. The first entry of the menu just displays the unknown
305 word. Selecting 'Accept in this session' (or hitting MOD1-Space,
306 where MOD1 is usually the ALT key) will ignore this word and accept
307 it in this message. Selecting the next entry, "Add to dictionary", which
308 is bound to MOD1-Enter combination, will add the unknown word to your
309 personal dictionary to learn it. The next entries are the suggested words.
310 The first 15 suggestions can be accessed by typing one of the first letters
311 of Latin alphabet (if this does not suit your language, please send
312 a mail to melvin.hadasht@free.fr). Aspell has a 'learn from mistake'
313 function that can be used by pressing the MOD1 key and selecting the
314 suggestion (with the keyboard or with the mouse). See GNU/aspell manual
315 §6.3 for an explanation of this feature (also called 'replacement storing').
317 If you click with the right mouse button everywhere else, or if you
318 shift-right-click even on a misspelled word, you get the
319 configuration menu. 'Check all' highlights all misspelled words.
320 With this menu, you can also change the dictionary while editing.
321 Finally, you can change the suggestion mode, and the learn from
324 Spell checking can also be done using keyboard shortcuts. In the
325 'Edit' menu of the compose window, there are two menus 'Check backwards
326 misspelled word' and 'Forward to next misspelled word'. Add to them
327 appropriate keyboard shortcuts. 'Check backwards misspelled word'
328 checks backwards from cursor position for the first misspelled word.
329 If it finds one, it displays the suggestions lists which can be handled
330 with the keyboard as described before. When the suggestion menu is
331 closed, the cursor returns to its original position to be able to
332 continue editing. The 'Forward to next misspelled word' do the same
333 thing in the other direction but moves the cursor at the end of the
334 misspelled word. This way, you can spell check easily a whole message
335 starting from its beginning and using the 'Forward to next misspelled
336 word' keyboard short cut.
339 6. Quick Search with extended search
340 ------------------------------------
341 Quick Search, with its powerful Extended search function,
342 enables searching through folder's messages.
344 Extended Search allows one to define criteria that messages must
345 have in order to match and be displayed in the summary view pane.
346 Search types titled From, Subject and To are self explanatory.
347 Search type extended allows one to use Claws Mail's powerful
348 filtering engine to select messages. Examples:
349 from regexpcase "foo"
350 subject regexp "Bug" & to regexp "claws-mail"
352 Additionally, it is possible to use simpler yet equally
353 powerfull patterns for message selections. Mutt users will
354 immediately recognise most of the available patterns:
356 Pattern Parameter Selects
357 ----------------------------------------------------
359 ag # messages whose age is greater than #
360 al # messages whose age is lower than #
361 b S messages which contain S in the message body
362 B S messages which contain S in the whole message
363 c S messages carbon-copied to S
364 C S message is either to: or cc: to S
366 e S messages which contain S in the Sender field
367 E S true if execute "S" succeeds
368 f S messages originating from user S
370 h S messages which contain header S
371 i S messages which contain S in Message-Id header
372 I S messages which contain S in inreplyto header
374 n S messages which are in newsgroup S
377 r messages which have been replied to
379 s S messages which contain S in subject
380 se # messages whose score is equal to #
381 sg # messages whose score is greater than #
382 sl # messages whose score is lower than #
383 Se # messages whose size is equal to #
384 Sg # messages whose size is greater than #
385 Ss # messages whose size is smaller than #
386 t S messages which have been sent to S
389 x S messages which contain S in References header
390 y S messages which contain S in X-Label header
393 S means regexp string
395 It is possible to use logical operators AND (&), OR (|) and
396 NOT (! or ~). Case sensitive search is achieved with %.
400 f "john beavis" messages from john beavis
401 %f "John Beavis" messages from John Beavis (case sensitive)
402 ~s foo messages which do not have foo in the subject
403 f foo & ~s bar messages from foo that do not have bar in thesubject
409 /Configuration/Preferences/Customize Toolbars lets you define the
410 toolbar you want. The configuration dialog enables you to set an icon,
411 an appropriate text, and map an action to it. Actions to choose
412 from are predefined. You can also have your "Claws Mail Actions"
413 (refer to "Actions" above) on your toolbar.
416 * Configuration->Actions
417 - add an entry "Dillo: dillo %p&"
418 * Configuration->Custom toolbar
419 - select Claws Mail Actions Feature
420 - select "Dillo: dillo %p&" from drop down list
421 - choose an icon and click ok
425 8. Partial downloading of POP3 mails
426 ------------------------------------
427 Messages over the configured size limit, (/[Account preferences]/
428 Receive/Message size limit), will be partially retrieved. These
429 messages will have a Notice View displayed (above the Message View),
430 informing of the partially retrieved state and the total size of the
431 message. The Notice View will also contain two buttons, 'Mark for
432 download' and 'Mark for deletion'. If the user clicks 'Mark for
433 download', the message will be downloaded in full at the next message
434 retrieval, (and the partial one deleted); if the user checks 'Mark for
435 deletion' it will be removed from the server after the normal delay
436 as specified in the POP3 account's 'Receive' preferences.
437 If a user moves a partially retrieved message to the Trash folder
438 it will be deleted on the server at the next retrieval after the
439 Trash folder has been emptied.
447 bold_unread (default: 1)
448 show unread messages using bold font in summary view
451 cache_max_mem_usage (default: 4096)
452 the maximum kB of memory Claws Mail should use.
453 It will try to keep the memory usage below this
454 value, but it will always use the assigned
455 amount of memory for speed gain.
457 cache_min_keep_time (default: 15)
458 the minimum time in minutes Claws Mail will keep
459 the folder cache in memory. If a cache is more
460 recent than this time it will not be freed even
461 if the memory usage is above the maximum. You
462 should probably set this value higher than your
463 mail check interval. Otherwise the cache will
464 always be freed between checks even if the folder
465 is accessed on every check, which will cause much
468 compose_no_markup (default: 0)
469 prevent italic and bold text in the Compose dialog
471 0: normal (markup) 1: no markup
473 enable_dotted_lines (default: 0)
474 Use the old dotted line look in the main window
475 GtkTreeView components, (Folder List and Message List),
476 instead of the modern lineless look.
478 enable_hscrollbar (default: 1)
479 enable horizontal scroll bar in summary view
482 enable_swap_from (default: 0)
483 display sender's email address in To column in Sent
484 folder instead of recipient's
487 folderview_vscrollbar_policy (default: 0)
488 specify the policy of vertical scroll bar of folder view
489 0: always 1: automatic 2: never
491 hover_timeout (default: 500)
492 time in milliseconds that will cause a folder tree to
493 expand during drag n drop when the mouse cover is held
496 live_dangerously (default: 0)
497 Don't ask for confirmation before definitive deletion of
500 log_error_color, log_in_color, log_msg_color, log_out_color,
502 The colours used in the log window.
504 mark_as_read_delay (default: 0)
505 Number of seconds to wait before marking an opened mail
508 respect_flowed_format (default: 0)
509 Respect format=flowed on text/plain message parts. This will
510 cause some mails to have long lines, but will fix some URLs
511 that would otherwise be wrapped.
513 skip_ssl_cert_check (default: 0)
514 Disables the verification of SSL certificates.
516 statusbar_update_step (default: 10)
517 update stepping in progress bars
519 stripes_color_offset (default: 4000)
520 Specify the value to use when creating alternately coloured
521 lines in GtkTreeView components. The smaller the value, the
522 less visible the difference in the alternating colours of the
525 textview_cursor_visible (default: 0)
526 display the cursor in the message view
529 thread_by_subject_max_age (default: 10)
530 number of days to include a message in a thread when using
531 'Thread using subject in addition to standard headers'
533 toolbar_detachable (default: 0)
534 hide handles in the toolbar
537 use_stripes_everywhere (default: 1)
538 Enable alternately coloured lines in GtkTreeView components.
540 use_stripes_in_summaries (default: 1)
541 Enable alternately coloured lines in the main window
542 GtkTreeView components, (Folder List and Message List). The
543 only useful way to use this option is to set it to 0 when
544 use_stripes_everywhere is set to 1.
546 utf8_instead_of_locale_for_broken_mail (default: 0)
547 use UTF-8 encoding for broken mails instead of current
551 warn_dnd (default: 1)
552 display a confirmation dialog on drag n drop of folders
557 You will find all of these tools in the 'tools' directory:
559 acroread2claws-mail.pl
560 send PDFs from Adobe Reader 7
562 import mbox files exported by calypso
564 convert mbox format to MH format
566 convert a Eudora (v.3?) addressbook to vCard
569 convert sylpheed main's filter rules, (< 0.9.99),
570 into Claws' filtering format
572 convert sylpheed main's filter rules, (>= 0.9.99),
573 into Claws' filtering format
575 Replace/Add a message's Date field
577 Actions script to lookup the selected text on
578 Freshmeat www.freshmeat.net using the configured
581 convert a gif file to an xface
583 Actions script to lookup selected message-id on
584 google using mozilla.
586 Actions script to lookup up the selected text on
587 google using the configured browser
589 Service Menus for Konqueror to allow sending
592 convert a Kmail addressbook to a Claws Mail
594 kmail2claws-mail_v2.pl
595 new version of the address book conversion script
596 for newer versions of Kmail/Kaddressbook
597 kmail-mailbox2claws-mail.pl
598 convert a Kmail mailbox into a Claws mail mailbox
600 search any searchable website for the selected text
601 nautilus2claws-mail.sh
602 enables sending files from the Nautilus file manager
605 enable OpenOffice to send documents through
607 outlook2claws-mail.pl
608 convert an Outlook contacts list to a Claws Mail
611 process a Claws Mail message and print it using enscript
612 if available or lpr if not
614 convert an addressbook exported from The Bat! into
615 a Claws Mail addressbook
617 integrate a Thunderbird folder tree into Claws Mail
619 Display various attachments as text
621 attempt to view an attachment as plain text
622 thunderbird-filters-convertor.pl
623 convert Thunderbird filtering rules
625 translators' tool that eases the creation of
628 decode UUencoded mails, for use with Actions
630 Decode uuencoded attachments and open them with OpenOffice
632 import an Evolution vCard
635 11. How to contribute
636 ---------------------
638 You are encourged to send patches via the Claws Mail sourceforge
639 project's Patch Tracker.
640 http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?atid=384600&group_id=25528&func=browse
642 If that's too troublesome, either contact Paul Mangan
643 <paul@claws-mail.org> or consider posting to the
644 Claws Mail-users mailing list.
645 http://www.claws-mail.org/MLs.php
647 Bugs can be reported with Claws' bugzilla at:
648 http://www.thewildbeast.co.uk/claws-mail/bugzilla/index.cgi
650 Of course, you can also post to the Claws Mail-users mailing list.
652 Also, we really try to incorporate good contributions, but sometimes we
653 don't have enough time. If the contribution is really big, or requires
654 a long time to stabilise, send a mail to Paul Mangan
655 <paul@claws-mail.org>. We can probably arrange access to the
660 12. How to request features
661 ---------------------------
663 Ask around in Claws Mail-users ML. Note that some developers may
664 have already thought about your feature, may,perhaps, be implementing it,
665 or the feature was already discussed and rejected for whatever reason.
666 You might want to go ahead and hack a patch for it. (That would be very
667 cool!) Another possibility is to use the Feature Request Tracker at the
669 http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=25528&atid=384601
673 13. Installing Claws Mail from CVS
674 --------------------------------------
679 To download the latest cvs cd to the directory where you wish to download
680 to and type the following information:
682 cvs -z3 -d:pserver:cvs@sunsite.dk:/pack/anoncvs login
688 cvs -z3 -d:pserver:cvs@sunsite.dk:/pack/anoncvs co -r gtk2 sylpheedclaws/sylpheed-claws
694 To compile and install use the following commands:
696 ./autogen.sh [add configure options as required]
698 make install [as root]
700 You will need a full set of development tools installed to be able to run
701 autogen.sh. See also ac/README.
728 2006-12-04 2.6.1 [first release as Claws Mail]
769 2004-05-31 0.9.11claws
770 2004-03-08 0.9.10claws
771 2004-02-06 0.9.9claws
772 2003-12-19 0.9.8claws
773 2003-11-26 0.9.7claws
774 2003-10-02 0.9.6claws
775 2003-09-10 0.9.5claws
776 2003-08-04 0.9.4claws
777 2003-07-12 0.9.3claws
778 2003-05-24 0.9.0claws
779 2003-03-12 0.8.11claws
780 2003-02-12 0.8.10claws
781 2003-01-24 0.8.9claws
782 2002-12-26 0.8.8claws
783 2002-12-23 0.8.7claws
784 2002-11-25 0.8.6claws
785 2002-10-07 0.8.5claws
786 2002-09-22 0.8.3claws
787 2002-08-28 0.8.2claws
788 2002-07-30 0.8.1claws
789 2002-07-23 0.8.0claws
790 2002-06-15 0.7.8claws
791 2002-05-18 0.7.6claws
792 2002-04-28 0.7.5claws
793 2002-03-11 0.7.4claws
794 2002-02-19 0.7.2claws
795 2002-02-14 0.7.1claws
796 2002-01-14 0.7.0claws
797 2001-12-16 0.6.6claws
798 2001-10-16 0.6.5claws8
799 2001-09-30 0.6.2claws
800 2001-08-14 0.6.1claws
801 2001-07-13 0.5.1claws
802 2001-07-01 0.5.0claws3
803 2001-06-16 0.4.99claws
804 2001-05-29 0.4.99claws3
805 2001-05-11 0.4.67claws1
812 http://www.claws-mail.org/
814 http://www.claws-mail.org/faq/
816 http://sourceforge.net/projects/sylpheed-claws/
818 http://www.claws-mail.org/downloads.php
820 http://www.claws-mail.org/plugins.php
822 http://www.claws-mail.org/themes.php
824 http://cvs.sunsite.dk/viewcvs.cgi/sylpheedclaws/sylpheed-claws/?only_with_tag=gtk2
826 http://www.claws-mail.org/MLs.php
827 Users Mailing List archive
828 http://lists.sunsite.dk/cgi-bin/ezmlm-cgi/28
829 Commits Announcement List archive
830 http://lists.sunsite.dk/cgi-bin/ezmlm-cgi/27
832 http://www.thewildbeast.co.uk/claws-mail/bugzilla/index.cgi
833 Feature Request Tracker
834 http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=25528&atid=384601
836 http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=25528&atid=384600
837 Internationalisation Status
838 http://www.claws-mail.org/i18n.php
840 http://www.claws-mail.org/sponsors.php
842 http://planet.claws-mail.org/
843 Claws Mail for Windows homepage
844 http://www.claws-mail.org/win32/