Merge "Do not add ampersands on address completion"
[trojita.git] / docs / index.docbook
blobcf6e7e7caa00ff2999f7dda7225ea439626b2728
1 <?xml version="1.0" ?>
2 <!DOCTYPE book PUBLIC "-//KDE//DTD DocBook XML V4.5-Based Variant V1.1//EN"
3 "dtd/kdedbx45.dtd" [
4 <!ENTITY trojita "<application>Trojitá</application>">
5 <!ENTITY % addindex "IGNORE">
6 <!ENTITY % English "INCLUDE">
7 ]>
8 <book id="trojita" lang="&language;">
10 <bookinfo>
11 <title>The &trojita; Handbook</title>
13 <authorgroup>
14 <author>
15 <personname>
16 <firstname>Randall</firstname>
17 <surname>Wood</surname>
18 </personname>
19 <email>randall+kde@woodbriceno.net</email>
20 </author>
21 <!-- TRANS:ROLES_OF_TRANSLATORS -->
22 </authorgroup>
24 <copyright>
25 <year>2013</year>
26 <holder>Randall Wood</holder>
27 </copyright>
28 <legalnotice>&FDLNotice;</legalnotice>
30 <date>2013-01-31</date>
32 <releaseinfo>0.3.92 (&kde; 4.9)</releaseinfo>
34 <abstract>
35 <para>
36 &trojita; is an email program ("client") for IMAP accounts. It is a
37 stand-alone program not associated with any Information Suites or equivalent.
38 It prioritizes efficient and fast data transfer, taking care not to re-download
39 any information that has already been downloaded, and being conservative about
40 network usage when you are paying by the minute. Currently
41 under intensive development, it is lacking some features but is evolving fast.
42 </para>
43 </abstract>
45 <keywordset>
46 <keyword>KDE</keyword>
47 <keyword>extragear</keyword>
48 <keyword>email</keyword>
49 <keyword>IMAP</keyword>
50 </keywordset>
52 </bookinfo>
54 <chapter id="introduction">
55 <title>Introduction</title>
57 <para>
58 &trojita; is an email program ("client") focused on IMAP email accounts,
59 where the mail remains on the server but is manipulated by the software you run
60 on the computer under your fingertips. It is designed to be simple (it can be
61 built using only one single dependent library), and fast and efficient over the
62 network, economizing resources and limiting data transfer. Its GUI is intended
63 to be uncluttered and efficient, and it provides "expensive mode" data transfer,
64 that reduces the length of its
65 conversation with the server to a minimum. It is a stand-alone program, not
66 part of a bigger or more complex suite. As it is under development, some
67 features are still missing.
68 </para>
69 </chapter>
71 <chapter id="using-kapp">
72 <title>Using &trojita;</title>
74 <para>
75 &trojita; allows you to read, write, organize, search for, and send
76 email. If you've got an IMAP email account, &trojita; will allow you to
77 access and use it. IMAP is a protocol that allows
78 your mail to stay on the server, rather than downloading it to your local
79 machine. However, &trojita; does in fact download parts of your
80 messages &ndash; even all of your messages &ndash; for convenience. In the
81 1990s, most people used POP3 mailboxes, and their email software downloaded
82 all their messages, removing them from the server. The disadvantage was that
83 if you used any other computer, your messages were not available. IMAP solves
84 that problem by keeping the mail on the server. The software you use on your
85 local computer/cellphone simply issues instructions ("reply to this email,"
86 "display this email," &etc;) for the server to execute.</para>
88 <para>First you need an IMAP account. There are many providers;
89 <ulink url="http://fastmail.fm">FastMail</ulink> is one;
90 <ulink url="http://tuffmail.com">Tuffmail</ulink> and
91 <ulink url="http://pobox.com">Pobox</ulink> are others.
92 Google's Gmail service provides IMAP access to your Gmail account (Outlook and
93 others do not). And if the manager of your &Microsoft; <application>Exchange</application> server has
94 configured it, you can access <application>Exchange</application> through IMAP as well. If you have
95 got an IMAP account, a user name and password, that is all you should
96 need to use &trojita; to access it.</para>
98 <para>Note that not all IMAP providers are equal and some offer service
99 that is frustratingly slow. &Microsoft;'s <application>Exchange</application> server too is
100 reported to be somewhat slow. If you choose a good provider and use fast
101 software, you'll be surprised how pleasant an experience it can be.</para>
103 <sect1 id="configure-account">
104 <title>Configuring your IMAP Account</title>
105 <para>First, click on the <guilabel>General</guilabel> tab of the Settings box. Add your IMAP
106 account as a new account, using these parameters:
108 <itemizedlist>
109 <listitem><para>Real Name: the name you want to show on your
110 emails (your own first and last name)</para></listitem>
111 <listitem><para>Email: your email address</para></listitem>
112 <listitem><para>Organisation: your company name (optional)</para></listitem>
113 <listitem><para>Signature: any text you want to appear at the
114 bottom of your emails, like your website name or a slogan</para></listitem>
115 </itemizedlist>
116 </para>
118 <para>These settings become an identity, and you can have several, if you
119 want, if for example, some of your mail is part of a mailing list where
120 your messages should look different (a different signature line, for
121 example). Note however that at present, &trojita; does not yet permit
122 multiple IMAP accounts (that is, use with multiple servers).</para>
124 <para>Next, add the connection parameters necessary to access your
125 account.
126 <itemizedlist>
127 <listitem><para>Method: choose SSL, if your provider requires
128 it. Otherwise, choose "TCP" for a connection that starts
129 unencrypted and may be upgraded to encryption while connecting. And if your
130 provider requires you to perform that upgrade to encryption, check the "perform
131 STARTTLS command" to ensure it does. "Local process" is for advanced users who,
132 for example, are connecting to their provider over another SSH agent (in this
133 case you'd put something like <userinput>ssh imap.provider.org dovecot --exec-mail imap</userinput>).
134 Generally, TCP or SSL are your two most likely choices.</para></listitem>
135 <listitem><para>IMAP Server: is your provider's server (&eg;
136 mail.host.com)</para></listitem>
137 <listitem><para>Port: this parameter should change
138 automatically depending on what you enter for "IMAP Server."
139 Typically it is 143 for unencrypted connections and 993 for
140 SSL connections.</para></listitem>
141 <listitem><para>Username: your username</para></listitem>
142 <listitem><para>Password: your password. At present, &trojita;
143 stores your user name
144 and password in a plain text file on your computer. This
145 is not secure! If that worries you, leave the password
146 field blank, and &trojita; will ask you once for your
147 password, and keep it in memory until the application exits.</para></listitem>
148 <listitem><para>Start in Offline Mode:</para></listitem>
149 <listitem><para>Blacklisted Capabilities: &trojita;
150 strives to be standards compliant. But some servers that
151 advertise standards compliance are not actually so. If
152 you're aware of some features that your provider advertises
153 but does not actually provide, listing them here allows
154 &trojita; to politely ignore them.</para></listitem>
155 </itemizedlist>
156 </para>
158 <para>The <guilabel>Offline</guilabel> mode tab is where you configure &trojita;'s
159 ability to store local copies of messages on your server. The advantage
160 of saving a copy locally is obvious: you can access it later without
161 reconnecting. The disadvantages include filling up your local hard disk,
162 and of course the security risk if anyone ever goes exploring on your
163 computer. &trojita;'s default is to store local copies
164 indefinitely, but here you may choose if you prefer to store up to a
165 certain number of days, or to not store at all. Note that the code to
166 clean the message cache has not yet been implemented, so at present you
167 should assume the message cache will not be pruned.</para>
169 <para>The <guilabel>SMTP</guilabel> tab is where you configure sending email.
170 <itemizedlist>
171 <listitem><para>Method: choose SMTP for unencrypted
172 connections, or "secure SMTP" if you prefer (and your
173 provider accepts) mail sent over SSL. If you choose
174 "local sendmail-compatible" &trojita; will simply
175 pass your mail to the sendmail app running on your local
176 computer (and if you haven't got one, it will fail).
177 Choosing this option requires you specify the sendmail
178 parameters for using your local sendmail.</para></listitem>
179 <listitem><para>SMTP server: the name of the server to
180 which your mail should be sent.</para></listitem>
181 <listitem><para>Port: This parameter should change
182 automatically depending on what you choose for "Method."
183 Typically, it's 587 for unencrypted mail, and 465 for mail
184 sent over SSL.</para></listitem>
185 <listitem><para>Sendmail Executable: is only required if
186 you've chosen "local sendmail-compatible" as your method. If
187 so, here you should put whatever command is required for your
188 message to be sent to your local sendmail app. The default is
189 "sendmail -bm -oi" but if your local configuration is
190 non-standard, you'll have to adjust this parameter
191 appropriately.</para></listitem>
192 <listitem><para>StartTLS: check this box if your provider
193 requires a TLS connection to send encrypted mail (this is not
194 the same as using SSL by choosing "Secure SMTP" as your method
195 above).</para></listitem>
196 <listitem><para>SMTP Auth: if you must input a user name and
197 password in order to send mail, check this box. In the modern
198 age, you almost always have to do so, as otherwise spammers
199 send unwanted messages through the server.</para></listitem>
200 <listitem><para>Username: your user name.</para></listitem>
201 <listitem><para>Your password.</para></listitem>
202 <listitem><para>Save outgoing mail: if you check this box,
203 &trojita; will save a copy of every mail you send.
204 This has been the default setting for all email programs for
205 so long now that few people even know it's possible to not do
206 so!</para></listitem>
207 <listitem><para>Sent folder name: If you do decide to keep a
208 local copy of your sent mail, choose in which folder you'd
209 like to keep it.</para></listitem>
210 <listitem><para>Send with BURL: The BURL extension is an extension to the IMAP
211 standard, implemented in 2006, so not all servers
212 make the service available. Imagine you have a huge email in
213 your inbox with an attachment, and you'd like to forward that
214 message. The normal way requires your IMAP client to download
215 that huge message, and then resend it (causing two large
216 network transfers). The BURL extension allows you to send
217 that message without having to download it first. If your
218 provider permits BURL, it's worth selecting this option.</para></listitem>
219 </itemizedlist>
221 </para>
222 </sect1>
225 <sect1 id="reading-mail">
226 <title>Reading Mail with &trojita;</title>
228 <para>&trojita; presents a three paned interface that should be
229 anyone who has ever used email before. On the left side is a list of all
230 your email folders, probably INBOX and some others. On the right side
231 are two panes: the top pane shows the list of all messages in the current
232 folder, and the bottom pane shows the message selected in the top pane.
233 &Microsoft; Outlook, &kmail; and many other email clients all use this
234 same layout. </para>
236 <para>Other layouts are available, however. Under the <guimenu>View</guimenu> menu, simply
237 select <menuchoice><guimenu>Layout</guimenu> <guimenuitem>Wide</guimenuitem></menuchoice>
238 to choose instead a three pane layout suitable for
239 larger, wider screens, where your folders are shown in the left column,
240 the messages of the selected folder in the center column, and the
241 contents of the selected message in the right column.</para>
243 <para>When you select a message, it will be displayed below. Right click
244 on the selected message in the top pane if you'd like to delete the
245 message, save it to disk as a text file, or view all the headers.</para>
247 <para>To respond to, or forward a message, use the buttons on the
248 toolbar, as no keystroke shortcuts are currently defined. Choose
249 <guibutton>Private Reply</guibutton> to respond only to the sender. Choose <guibutton>Reply to All</guibutton> if
250 you'd like to reply to the sender and everyone else on the To: or CC:
251 lines. If the message arrived through a properly-configured mailing
252 list, the <guibutton>Reply to Mailing List</guibutton> option will also be made available.</para>
254 <note><para>At present, the "Forward message" function has not yet been
255 included.</para></note>
257 </sect1>
259 <sect1 id="composing-mail">
260 <title>Writing/Composing Mail</title>
262 <para>To compose a new message, click the icon at the far left of the
263 toolbar. A new message window will appear, where you can choose your
264 recipients, compose your text, and send. If you get interrupted and need
265 to save a draft, you can do so by clicking on the little expander menu
266 next to the send button. A draft will then be saved in your drafts
267 folder.</para>
268 </sect1>
270 <sect1 id="address-book">
271 <title>Address Book</title>
273 <para>At present, &trojita; does not have a graphical addressbook,
274 though one is actively being developed. However, in the
275 meantime, there's a very effective work-around. Upon start up,
276 &trojita; reads the address book located in <filename role="directory">~/.abook/</filename>,
277 which you can create using the console-only program called <application>abook</application>.
278 Running <application>abook</application> in a terminal window like &konsole;, you can add,
279 delete, and edit address book entries. &trojita; doesn't
280 manipulate that address book in any way, so for example, it won't
281 add new entries as you write messages. But if you've got an
282 <filename role="extension">.abook</filename> address book, &trojita;
283 will auto-complete entries using it.</para></sect1>
285 </chapter>
287 <chapter id="commands">
288 <title>Command Reference</title>
291 <sect1 id="kapp-mainwindow">
292 <title>The main &trojita; window</title>
294 <sect2>
295 <title>The IMAP Menu</title>
296 <para>
297 <variablelist>
299 <varlistentry id="compose-new">
300 <term>
301 <menuchoice>
302 <guimenu>IMAP</guimenu>
303 <guimenuitem>Compose Mail...</guimenuitem>
304 </menuchoice>
305 </term>
306 <listitem><para><action>Opens a new message for
307 editing</action></para></listitem>
308 </varlistentry>
311 <varlistentry id="expunge">
312 <term>
313 <menuchoice>
314 <shortcut>
315 <keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;<keycap>E</keycap></keycombo>
316 </shortcut>
317 <guimenu>IMAP</guimenu>
318 <guimenuitem>Expunge Mailbox</guimenuitem>
319 </menuchoice>
320 </term>
321 <listitem><para><action>Removes from the server any message already
322 marked for deletion in the currently selected
323 mailbox (folder).</action></para></listitem>
324 </varlistentry>
326 <varlistentry id="network-offline">
327 <term>
328 <menuchoice>
329 <guimenu>Network Access</guimenu>
330 <guimenuitem>Offline</guimenuitem>
331 </menuchoice>
332 </term>
333 <listitem><para><action>If selected, &trojita;
334 will not fetch any new data (messages) from your
335 server and will rather limit itself to the messages
336 you have previously downloaded. (It will still let
337 you compose new messages, however, even though you
338 won't be able to send them).</action></para></listitem>
339 </varlistentry>
341 <varlistentry id="network-expensive">
342 <term>
343 <menuchoice>
344 <guimenu>Network Access</guimenu>
345 <guimenuitem>Expensive Connection</guimenuitem>
346 </menuchoice>
347 </term>
348 <listitem><para><action>Use this if you're using
349 &trojita; on a cell-phone or other device
350 where it's important to reduce network traffic and be
351 efficient.</action></para></listitem>
352 </varlistentry>
355 <varlistentry id="network-free">
356 <term>
357 <menuchoice>
358 <guimenu>Network Access</guimenu>
359 <guimenuitem>Free Access</guimenuitem>
360 </menuchoice>
361 </term>
362 <listitem><para><action>Use this if you are on a
363 desktop computer with unlimited broadband internet
364 access. This permits &trojita; to more
365 aggressively preload data. That is, instead of just
366 downloading headers, for example, it will go right
367 ahead and download a local copy of the messages, too.
368 </action></para></listitem>
369 </varlistentry>
374 </variablelist>
375 </para>
376 </sect2>
378 <sect2>
379 <title>The View Menu</title>
380 <para>
381 <variablelist>
383 <varlistentry id="layout">
384 <term>
385 <menuchoice>
386 <guimenu>View</guimenu>
387 <guimenuitem>Layout</guimenuitem>
388 </menuchoice>
389 </term>
390 <listitem><para><action>Choose <guimenuitem>Wide</guimenuitem> for a modern,
391 three-panel view with the message list in the center
392 and the message itself on the right. Choose
393 <guimenuitem>Compact</guimenuitem> for the traditional three panel view with
394 the message list on top and the message itself on the
395 bottom.</action></para></listitem>
396 </varlistentry>
398 <varlistentry id="threads">
399 <term>
400 <menuchoice>
401 <guimenu>View</guimenu>
402 <guimenuitem>Show Messages in Threads</guimenuitem>
403 </menuchoice>
404 </term>
405 <listitem><para><action>Select this option to show
406 messages grouped into threads (conversations). This
407 is useful for mailing lists, for example. This
408 depends on your IMAP server supporting one or more
409 voluntary extensions, as &trojita; would
410 otherwise have to do more work to properly thread
411 messages.</action></para></listitem>
412 </varlistentry>
414 <varlistentry id="hide">
415 <term>
416 <menuchoice>
417 <guimenu>View</guimenu>
418 <guimenuitem>Hide Read Messages</guimenuitem>
419 </menuchoice>
420 </term>
421 <listitem><para><action>Choose this option if you
422 like only new messages to appear in the message list.</action></para></listitem>
423 </varlistentry>
425 <varlistentry id="subscribed">
426 <term>
427 <menuchoice>
428 <guimenu>View</guimenu>
429 <guimenuitem>Show Only Subscribed Folders</guimenuitem>
430 </menuchoice>
431 </term>
432 <listitem><para><action>Your mailbox may have more
433 folders than you actually need to monitor. Select
434 this option to limit the folders shown to only those
435 you've subscribed to. (This doesn't delete the other
436 folders, it just prevents them from being shown in
437 the list of folders).</action></para></listitem>
438 </varlistentry>
444 </variablelist>
445 </para>
446 </sect2>
448 </sect1>
449 </chapter>
451 <chapter id="credits">
453 <title>Credits and License</title>
455 <para>
456 &trojita;
457 </para>
458 <para>
459 Program copyright 2006-2013 Jan Kundrát <email>jkt@flaska.net</email>
460 </para>
461 <para>
462 Contributors:
463 <itemizedlist>
464 <listitem><para>Thomas Lübking <email>thomas.luebking@gmail.com</email></para>
465 </listitem>
466 </itemizedlist>
467 </para>
469 <para>
470 Documentation Copyright &copy; 2013 Randall Wood
471 <email>randall+kde@woodbriceno.net</email>
472 </para>
474 <!-- TRANS:CREDIT_FOR_TRANSLATORS -->
476 &underFDL;
477 &underGPL;
478 <para>Under the GPLv2/GPLv3 license and CC-BY-SA</para>
480 </chapter>
482 &documentation.index;
483 </book>
485 <!--
486 Local Variables:
487 mode: xml
488 sgml-minimize-attributes:nil
489 sgml-general-insert-case:lower
490 sgml-indent-step:0
491 sgml-indent-data:nil
492 End:
494 vim:tabstop=2:shiftwidth=2:expandtab
495 kate: space-indent on; indent-width 2; tab-width 2; indent-mode none;