1 [LAST REVISION: 2006-07-31]
3 Sylpheed-Claws - a GTK+ based, lightweight, and fast e-mail client
5 ---------------------------------------------------------------------
7 Copyright(C) 1999-2006 Hiroyuki Yamamoto <hiro-y@kcn.ne.jp> and the
10 This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
11 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
12 the Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option)
15 This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
16 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
17 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
18 GNU General Public License for more details.
20 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
21 along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
22 Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.
24 For more details see the file COPYING.
26 ---------------------------------------------------------------------
30 1. What is Sylpheed-Claws?
37 8. Partial downloading of POP3 mails
41 12. How to request features
42 13. Installing Claws from CVS
47 1. What is Sylpheed-Claws?
48 --------------------------
50 Sylpheed-Claws is the extended version of Sylpheed, a lightweight and
51 highly configurable email client and news reader based on the GTK+ GUI
52 toolkit, it runs on the X Window System.
54 Sylpheed-Claws is free software distributed under the GNU GPL.
56 To run Sylpheed-Claws use 'sylpheed-claws' on the command line.
58 When sylpheed-claws is executed for the first time a configuration
59 'Wizard' will appear prompting you for the minimum information necesary
60 to create a new account.
66 Sylpheed-Claws' capabilities are extended by plugins. It comes with
67 the following plugins included, all of which, except SpamAssassin, are
68 built automatically if the required libraries are present.
70 Plugins are installed in $PREFIX/lib/sylpheed-claws/plugins/
71 and have a suffix of '.so'
72 To load a plugin go to '/Configuration/Plugins' and click
73 the 'Load Plugin' button.
74 Select the plugin that you want and click 'OK'
77 Enables the scanning of message attachments in mail
78 received from a POP, IMAP or LOCAL account using Clam
79 AntiVirus. It can optionally delete the mail or save it
80 to a designated folder. Preferences can be found in
81 '/Configuration/PreferencesPlugins/Clam AntiVirus'.
82 Clam AntiVirus is available from http://clamav.sourceforge.net/
85 Enables the viewing of html messages using the Dillo web
86 browser, version 0.7.0 or newer. It uses Dillo's --local
87 option by default for safe browsing. Preferences can be
88 found in '/Configuration/Preferences/Plugins/Dillo Browser'.
89 Dillo is available from http://www.dillo.org/
92 Handles core PGP functions and is required by the PGP/Inline
94 Uses GnuPG/GPGME, <ftp://ftp.gnupg.org/gcrypt/gpgme/>
97 Handles inline PGP signed and/or encrypted mails. You can
98 decrypt mails, verify signatures or sign and encrypt your
99 own mails. Uses GnuPG/GPGME, <ftp://ftp.gnupg.org/gcrypt/gpgme/>
102 Handles PGP/MIME signed and/or encrypted mails. You can
103 decrypt mails, verify signatures or sign and encrypt your
104 own mails. Uses GnuPG/GPGME, <ftp://ftp.gnupg.org/gcrypt/gpgme/>
107 Enables the scanning of incoming mail received from a POP,
108 IMAP or LOCAL account using SpamAssassin. It can optionally
109 delete mail identified as spam or save it to a designated
110 folder. Preferences can be found in '/Configuration/
111 Preferences/Plugins/SpamAssassin'.
112 SpamAssassin is available from http://spamassassin.apache.org/.
115 Places an icon in the system tray that indicates whether
116 you have any new mail. A tooltip also shows the current
117 new, unread and total number of messages
119 Additonal plugins can be found here:
120 http://www.sylpheed-claws.net/plugins.php
125 The "actions" feature is a convenient way for the user to launch external
126 commands to process a complete message file including headers and body or
127 just one of its parts. It allows also the use of an external command to
128 filter the whole text or just a selected part in the message window or in
129 the compose window. This is a generic tool that allows to do any uncommon
130 actions on the messages, and thus extends the possibilities of Sylpheed-Claws.
131 For example, Sylpheed-Claws does not include the rot13 cyphering algorithm
132 popular in some newsgroups. It does not support uuencoded messages. As
133 all these features can be handled by external programs, the actions
134 provide a convenient way to use them from the menu bar.
139 To create a new action, go to Configuration -> Actions.... The "Action
140 Creation" dialog offers to enter the Menu name that will trigger the
141 command. The created menu will be found in the Tools -> Actions submenu.
142 By inserting a slash / in the menu name, you create a submenu.
144 The command is entered in the Command line entry. Note that Sylpheed-Claws
145 stores every single email in a separate file. This allows to use the
146 following syntax for the command:
148 * %f denotes the file name of the selected message. If you selected more
149 than one, then the command will be launched for each message with
150 the appropriate file name
151 * %F denotes the list of the file names of the selected message. If only
152 one message is selected, this amounts to %f, but if more messages
153 are selected, then the command will be launched only once with the
154 list of the file names. (You can use both %f and %F in one command:
155 then the command will be launched for each selected message with
156 the name of this message and with the list of all selected
157 messages. I did not find a practical example for this.)
158 * %p denotes the current selected message part of a multipart message.
159 The part is decoded accordingly. If the message is not a multipart
160 message, it denotes the message body.
161 * Prepending >: this will allow you to send to the command's standard
162 input a text that you will enter in a dialog window.
163 * Prepending *: this will allow you to send to the command's standard
164 input a text that you will enter in a dialog window. But in
165 contrast to prepending >, the entered text is hidden (useful when
167 * Appending an ampersand &: this will run the command asynchronously.
168 That means "fire and forget". Sylpheed-Claws won't wait for the
169 command to finish, nor will it catch its output or its error
171 * Prepending the vertical bar | (pipe-in): this will send the current
172 displayed text or the current selected text from the message view
173 or the compose window to the command standard input. The command
174 will silently fail if more than one message is selected.
175 * Appending the vertical bar | (pipe-out): this will replace the current
176 displayed text or the current selected text from the message window
177 or the compose window by the command standard output. The command
178 will silently fail if more than one message is selected.
180 Note: It is not possible to use actions containing %f, %F or %p from the
183 When a command is run, and unless it is run asynchronously, Sylpheed will
184 be insensitive to any interaction and it will wait for the command to
185 finish. If the command takes too long (5 seconds), it will popup a dialog
186 window allowing to stop it. This dialog will also be displayed as soon as
187 the command has some output: error messages or even its standard output
188 when the command is not a "pipe-out" command. When multiple commands are
189 being run, they are run in parallel and each command output is separated
190 from the outputs of the others.
195 Here are some examples that are listed in the same syntax as used for
196 storing the actions list. You can copy and past the definition in your
197 ~/.sylpheed-claws/actionsrc file (exit Sylpheed-Claws before). The syntax
198 is very simple: one line per action, each action contains the menu name
199 and the command line separated by a colon and a space ": "
201 Purpose: rot13 cyphering
202 Definition: Rot13: |tr a-zA-Z n-za-mN-ZA-M|
203 Details: This will apply the rot13 cyphering algorithm to the
204 (selected) text in the message/compose view.
206 Purpose: Decoding uuencoded messages
207 Definition: UUdeview: xdeview %F&
208 Details: xdeview comes with uudeview. If an encoded file is split in
209 multiple messages, just select them all and run the command.
211 Purpose: Display uuencoded image
212 Definition: Display uuencoded: uudec %f&
213 Details: Displays uuencoded files. The uudec[1] script can be found in
214 the 'tools' directory of the distribution package.
216 Purpose: Alter messages
217 Definition: Edit message: gvim -f %F
218 Details: Allows editing of any received message. Can be used to remove
219 unneeded message parts, etc.
221 Purpose: Pretty format
222 Definition: Par: |par 72Tbgjqw74bEe B=._A_a 72bg|
223 Details: par is a utility that can pretty format any text. It does a
224 very good job in indenting quoted messages, and justifying
225 text. Used when composing a message
228 Definition: Part/Dillo: dillo %p&
229 Details: Browse the selected message part in Dillo.
232 Definition: GnuPG/Clear Sign: |gpg-sign-syl|
233 Details: Clear sign a message. The gpg-sign-syl[2] script is responsible
234 for asking the passphrase and for running gnupg.
236 Purpose: Verify Clear Signed
237 Definition: GnuPG/Verify: |gpg --no-tty --verify
238 Details: Verify clear signed messages. The result is displayed in the
239 actions output dialog.
241 Purpose: Decrypt ASCII Armored
242 Definition: GnuPG/Decrypt: *gpg --no-tty --command-fd 0 --passphrase-fd 0 --decrypt %f|
243 Details: Decrypt ASCII armored messages. The passphrase is entered
244 into the opened action's input dialog.
246 [1] The uudec script can be found in the 'tools' directory of the
247 distribution package. It needs uudecode and ImageMagick's display. The
248 latter can be replaced by any image viewer that can get input from
249 standard input. The script could also be modified to use temporary files
250 instead of standard input.
252 [2] The gpg-sign-syl script can be found in the 'tools' directory of the
253 distribution package.
259 Claws has support for different icon sets. Several icon sets can be
260 downloaded from http://www.sylpheed-claws.net/themes.php
261 You will need to create a directory called 'themes' in your config
262 directory, unpack them into this directory, and then use the interface
263 to select them, /Configuration/Preferences/Display/Themes
265 This interface can also be used to install new themes.
272 b. Configuration and installation
279 The spell checker in Sylpheed-Claws requires the GNU/aspell library
280 (http://www.gnu.org/software/aspell), version 0.50 or newer.
282 You also need the dictionaries. Check GNU/aspell home page for how
283 to download and install them.
285 NB: The old dictionaries used by the old aspell will not work.
290 Spell checking is enabled automatically if the aspell executable is
291 found. If it is in unusual places, use '--with-aspell-prefix' to state
292 the path to the aspell executable. E.g., if aspell's full path is
293 /foo/bar/bin/aspell, then use:
295 ./configure --with-aspell-prefix=/foo/bar
297 The '--with-aspell-prefix=PREFIX' option will let the configure
298 script search for includes and libraries in PREFIX/include and PREFIX/lib.
300 You can also manually specify the includes and libraries path by using
301 either following options:
303 --with-aspell-includes=/foo/bar/include
307 --with-aspell-libs=/rab/oof/lib
311 The configure script summarizes the options compiled in. Check that
312 it lists 'GNU/aspell = yes'.
314 Then proceed as usual, with 'make' and 'make install'.
319 After successful compiling, you need to tell Sylpheed-Claws where your
320 dictionaries reside. The configure script should have found it, but in
321 case it did not, run 'aspell config dict-dir' on the shell to get the
322 path to the dictionaries.
324 Then run Sylpheed and go to /Configuration/Preferences/Compose/Spell Checking.
325 Check the box 'Enable spell checker' and use the directory selector to select
326 the path where the dictionaries reside. Within the file selector, go to that
327 directory and select *any* file in the file lists. Click OK. Then, you should
328 be able to select your default dictionary.
330 When composing, misspelled words are highlighted. Click on any
331 highlighted word with the right mouse button to get a list of
332 suggestions. The first entry of the menu just displays the unknown
333 word. Selecting 'Accept in this session' (or hitting MOD1-Space,
334 where MOD1 is usually the ALT key) will ignore this word and accept
335 it in this message. Selecting the next entry, "Add to dictionary", which
336 is bound to MOD1-Enter combination, will add the unknown word to your
337 personal dictionary to learn it. The next entries are the suggested words.
338 The first 15 suggestions can be accessed by typing one of the first letters
339 of Latin alphabet (if this does not suit your language, please send
340 a mail to melvin.hadasht@free.fr). Aspell has a 'learn from mistake'
341 function that can be used by pressing the MOD1 key and selecting the
342 suggestion (with the keyboard or with the mouse). See GNU/aspell manual
343 §6.3 for an explanation of this feature (also called 'replacement storing').
345 If you click with the right mouse button everywhere else, or if you
346 shift-right-click even on a misspelled word, you get the
347 configuration menu. 'Check all' highlights all misspelled words.
348 With this menu, you can also change the dictionary while editing.
349 Finally, you can change the suggestion mode, and the learn from
352 Spell checking can also be done using keyboard shortcuts. In the
353 'Edit' menu of the compose window, there are two menus 'Check backwards
354 misspelled word' and 'Forward to next misspelled word'. Add to them
355 appropriate keyboard shortcuts. 'Check backwards misspelled word'
356 checks backwards from cursor position for the first misspelled word.
357 If it finds one, it displays the suggestions lists which can be handled
358 with the keyboard as described before. When the suggestion menu is
359 closed, the cursor returns to its original position to be able to
360 continue editing. The 'Forward to next misspelled word' do the same
361 thing in the other direction but moves the cursor at the end of the
362 misspelled word. This way, you can spell check easily a whole message
363 starting from its beginning and using the 'Forward to next misspelled
364 word' keyboard short cut.
367 6. Quick Search with extended search
368 ------------------------------------
369 Quick Search, with its powerful Extended search function,
370 enables searching through folder's messages.
372 Extended Search allows one to define criteria that messages must
373 have in order to match and be displayed in the summary view pane.
374 Search types titled From, Subject and To are self explanatory.
375 Search type extended allows one to use Sylpheed's powerful
376 filtering engine to select messages. Examples:
377 from regexpcase "foo"
378 subject regexp "Bug" & to regexp "sylpheed-claws"
380 Additionally, it is possible to use simpler yet equally
381 powerfull patterns for message selections. Mutt users will
382 immediately recognise most of the available patterns:
384 Pattern Parameter Selects
385 ----------------------------------------------------
387 ag # messages whose age is greater than #
388 al # messages whose age is lower than #
389 b S messages which contain S in the message body
390 B S messages which contain S in the whole message
391 c S messages carbon-copied to S
392 C S message is either to: or cc: to S
394 e S messages which contain S in the Sender field
395 E S true if execute "S" succeeds
396 f S messages originating from user S
398 h S messages which contain header S
399 i S messages which contain S in Message-Id header
400 I S messages which contain S in inreplyto header
402 n S messages which are in newsgroup S
405 r messages which have been replied to
407 s S messages which contain S in subject
408 se # messages whose score is equal to #
409 sg # messages whose score is greater than #
410 sl # messages whose score is lower than #
411 Se # messages whose size is equal to #
412 Sg # messages whose size is greater than #
413 Ss # messages whose size is smaller than #
414 t S messages which have been sent to S
417 x S messages which contain S in References header
418 y S messages which contain S in X-Label header
421 S means regexp string
423 It is possible to use logical operators AND (&), OR (|) and
424 NOT (! or ~). Case sensitive search is achieved with %.
428 f "john beavis" messages from john beavis
429 %f "John Beavis" messages from John Beavis (case sensitive)
430 ~s foo messages which do not have foo in the subject
431 f foo & ~s bar messages from foo that do not have bar in thesubject
437 /Configuration/Preferences/Customize Toolbars lets you define the
438 toolbar you want. The configuration dialog enables you to set an icon,
439 an appropriate text, and map an action to it. Actions to choose
440 from are predefined. You can also have your "Sylpheed-Claws Actions"
441 (refer to "Actions" above) on your toolbar.
444 * Configuration->Actions
445 - add an entry "Dillo: dillo %p&"
446 * Configuration->Custom toolbar
447 - select Sylpheed Actions Feature
448 - select "Dillo: dillo %p&" from drop down list
449 - choose an icon and click ok
453 8. Partial downloading of POP3 mails
454 ------------------------------------
455 Messages over the configured size limit, (/[Account preferences]/
456 Receive/Message size limit), will be partially retrieved. These
457 messages will have a Notice View displayed (above the Message View),
458 informing of the partially retrieved state and the total size of the
459 message. The Notice View will also contain two buttons, 'Mark for
460 download' and 'Mark for deletion'. If the user clicks 'Mark for
461 download', the message will be downloaded in full at the next message
462 retrieval, (and the partial one deleted); if the user checks 'Mark for
463 deletion' it will be removed from the server after the normal delay
464 as specified in the POP3 account's 'Receive' preferences.
465 If a user moves a partially retrieved message to the Trash folder
466 it will be deleted on the server at the next retrieval after the
467 Trash folder has been emptied.
475 allow_jisx0201_kana (default: 0)
476 allow JIS X 0201 Kana (half-width kana) on sending.
479 bold_unread (default: 1)
480 show unread messages using bold font in summary view
483 cache_max_mem_usage (default: 4096)
484 the maximum kB of memory sylpheed should use.
485 It will try to keep the memory usage below this
486 value, but it will always use the assigned
487 amount of memory for speed gain.
489 cache_min_keep_time (default: 15)
490 the minimum time in minutes sylpheed will keep
491 the folder cache in memory. If a cache is more
492 recent than this time it will not be freed even
493 if the memory usage is above the maximum. You
494 should probably set this value higher than your
495 mail check interval. Otherwise the cache will
496 always be freed between checks even if the folder
497 is accessed on every check, which will cause much
500 compose_no_markup (default: 0)
501 prevent italic and bold text in the Compose dialog
503 0: normal (markup) 1: no markup
505 enable_hscrollbar (default: 1)
506 enable horizontal scroll bar in summary view
509 enable_rules_hint (default: 1)
510 enable alternate coloring of items in GtkTreeView
513 enable_swap_from (default: 0)
514 display sender's email address in To column in Sent
515 folder instead of recipient's
518 folderview_vscrollbar_policy (default: 0)
519 specify the policy of vertical scroll bar of folder view
520 0: always 1: automatic 2: never
522 hover_timeout (default: 500)
523 time in milliseconds that will cause a folder tree to
524 expand during drag n drop when the mouse cover is held
527 statusbar_update_step (default: 10)
528 update stepping in progress bars
530 textview_cursor_visible (default: 0)
531 display the cursor in the message view
534 thread_by_subject_max_age (default: 10)
535 number of days to include a message in a thread when using
536 'Thread using subject in addition to standard headers'
538 toolbar_detachable (default: 0)
539 hide handles in the toolbar
542 utf8_instead_of_locale_for_broken_mail (default: 0)
543 use UTF-8 encoding for broken mails instead of current
547 warn_dnd (default: 1)
548 display a confirmation dialog on drag n drop of folders
553 You will find all of these tools in the 'tools' directory:
556 send PDFs from Adobe Reader 7
558 import mbox files exported by calypso
560 convert mbox format to MH format
562 convert a Eudora (v.3?) addressbook to vCard
565 convert sylpheed main's filter rules, (< 0.9.99),
566 into Claws' filtering format
568 convert sylpheed main's filter rules, (>= 0.9.99),
569 into Claws' filtering format
571 Actions script to lookup the selected text on
572 Freshmeat www.freshmeat.net using the configured
575 convert a gif file to an xface
577 Actions script to lookup selected message-id on
578 google using mozilla.
580 Actions script to lookup up the selected text on
581 google using the configured browser
583 GnuPG cleartext-signing script for use with
586 Service Menus for Konqueror to allow attaching files and
587 compressing/attaching files/directories to a new Compose
590 convert a Kmail addressbook to a Sylpheed
593 new version of the address book conversion script
594 for newer versions of Kmail/Kaddressbook
596 convert a maildir format mailbox into MH format
598 search any searchable website for the selected text
600 enables sending files from the Nautilus file manager
603 enable OpenOffice to send documents through
606 convert an Outlook contacts list to a Sylpheed
609 process a Sylpheed mail and print it using enscript
610 if available or lpr if not
612 convert an addressbook exported from The Bat! into
613 a Sylpheed addressbook
615 integrate a Thunderbird folder tree into Claws
617 attempt to view an attachment as plain text
619 translators' tool that eases the creation of
622 decode UUencoded mails, for use with Actions
624 import an Evolution vCard
627 11. How to contribute
628 ---------------------
630 You are encourged to send patches via the Sylpheed-Claws sourceforge
631 project's Patch Tracker.
632 http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?atid=384600&group_id=25528&func=browse
634 If that's too troublesome, either contact Paul Mangan
635 <claws@thewildbeast.co.uk> or consider posting to the
636 Sylpheed-Claws-users mailing list.
637 http://www.sylpheed-claws.net/MLs.php
639 Bugs can be reported with Claws' bugzilla at:
640 http://www.thewildbeast.co.uk/sylpheed-claws/bugzilla/index.cgi
642 Of course, you can also post to the Sylpheed-Claws-users mailing list.
644 Also, we really try to incorporate good contributions, but sometimes we
645 don't have enough time. If the contribution is really big, or requires
646 a long time to stabilise, send a mail to Paul Mangan
647 <claws@thewildbeast.co.uk>. We can probably arrange access to the
648 Sylpheed-Claws CVS tree.
652 12. How to request features
653 ---------------------------
655 Ask around in Sylpheed-Claws-users ML. Note that some developers may
656 have already thought about your feature, may,perhaps, be implementing it,
657 or the feature was already discussed and rejected for whatever reason.
658 You might want to go ahead and hack a patch for it. (That would be very
659 cool!) Another possibility is to use the Feature Request Tracker at the
661 http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=25528&atid=384601
665 13. Installing Sylpheed-Claws from CVS
666 --------------------------------------
671 To download the latest cvs cd to the directory where you wish to download
672 to and type the following information:
674 cvs -z3 -d:pserver:cvs@sunsite.dk:/pack/anoncvs login
680 cvs -z3 -d:pserver:cvs@sunsite.dk:/pack/anoncvs co -r gtk2 sylpheedclaws/sylpheed-claws
686 To compile and install use the following commands:
688 ./autogen.sh [add configure options as required]
690 make install [as root]
692 You will need a full set of development tools installed to be able to run
693 autogen.sh. See also ac/README.
734 2004-05-31 0.9.11claws
735 2004-03-08 0.9.10claws
736 2004-02-06 0.9.9claws
737 2003-12-19 0.9.8claws
738 2003-11-26 0.9.7claws
739 2003-10-02 0.9.6claws
740 2003-09-10 0.9.5claws
741 2003-08-04 0.9.4claws
742 2003-07-12 0.9.3claws
743 2003-05-24 0.9.0claws
744 2003-03-12 0.8.11claws
745 2003-02-12 0.8.10claws
746 2003-01-24 0.8.9claws
747 2002-12-26 0.8.8claws
748 2002-12-23 0.8.7claws
749 2002-11-25 0.8.6claws
750 2002-10-07 0.8.5claws
751 2002-09-22 0.8.3claws
752 2002-08-28 0.8.2claws
753 2002-07-30 0.8.1claws
754 2002-07-23 0.8.0claws
755 2002-06-15 0.7.8claws
756 2002-05-18 0.7.6claws
757 2002-04-28 0.7.5claws
758 2002-03-11 0.7.4claws
759 2002-02-19 0.7.2claws
760 2002-02-14 0.7.1claws
761 2002-01-14 0.7.0claws
762 2001-12-16 0.6.6claws
763 2001-10-16 0.6.5claws8
764 2001-09-30 0.6.2claws
765 2001-08-14 0.6.1claws
766 2001-07-13 0.5.1claws
767 2001-07-01 0.5.0claws3
768 2001-06-16 0.4.99claws
769 2001-05-29 0.4.99claws3
770 2001-05-11 0.4.67claws1
777 http://www.sylpheed-claws.net/
779 http://www.sylpheed-claws.net/faq/
781 http://sourceforge.net/projects/sylpheed-claws/
783 http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=25528&package_id=147457
785 http://www.sylpheed-claws.net/plugins.php
787 http://www.sylpheed-claws.net/themes.php
789 http://cvs.sunsite.dk/viewcvs.cgi/sylpheedclaws/sylpheed-claws/?only_with_tag=gtk2
791 http://www.sylpheed-claws.net/MLs.php
792 Users Mailing List archive
793 http://lists.sunsite.dk/cgi-bin/ezmlm-cgi/28
794 Commits Announcement List archive
795 http://lists.sunsite.dk/cgi-bin/ezmlm-cgi/27
797 http://www.thewildbeast.co.uk/sylpheed-claws/bugzilla/index.cgi
798 Feature Request Tracker
799 http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=25528&atid=384601
801 http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=25528&atid=384600
802 Internationalisation Status
803 http://www.sylpheed-claws.net/i18n.php
805 http://www.sylpheed-claws.net/sponsors.php
807 http://planet.sylpheed-claws.net/
808 Sylpheed-Claws for Windows homepage
809 http://www.sylpheed-claws.net/win32/