the ability to easily import and export mail and text files to
and from microcomputers.
Pine's On-Screen Displays
The top line of each screen display always shows where you are
(e.g. Main Menu or Mail Index) as well as which version of
Pine you're using. Most of the time it also shows which mail
folder is currently open and the number of messages in the folder.
In the Mail Index and View Mail screens, the top line also shows
the current message number, and in the View Mail screen it shows
the percentage of the message that has been displayed.
General Information About Pine Commands
- Lists of Commands: The bottom two lines of the screen are
always used to list the commands you can give. You press the keys
that are highlighted to give the command. The commands for
getting help (?) and returning to the Main Menu (M) are always
available except while viewing help.
- Control Key: For a few operations, such as composing messages,
you'll need to press the control key and the letter indicated for
the command simultaneously. The control key is usually indicated
with the character (^) in front of the letter.
- Space Bar: The space bar is used to scroll to the next page.
You may also use ^V to scroll down and ^Y to scroll up as you do
in the message composer.
- Return Key: The return key also scrolls down one line when
viewing a message, and will take you into viewing the message when
you are in the index.
- Repainting the Screen: Sometimes, due to noise on the phone
line or other reasons, the on-screen display may be inaccurate.
If this appears to be happening, you should repaint the screen
to correct it, using the ^L command. It never hurts to do it when
in doubt.
- If your keyboard or terminal has no arrow keys, use these
commands to move around the screen:
^F Forward ^B Backward ^N Next Line ^P Previous Line
- In order to be consistent with the message composer, the
following commands will always work:
^V Next Pg ^Y Prev Pg ^G Get Help
And where appropriate
^D Delete character ^K Kill line ^U Undelete line
Beginning Pine
Log in UBMAIL. To activate pine, simply type the command pine after the $
prompt and press RETURN.
Pine's Main Menu (below) will appear on screen, along with a note
indicating how many mail messages you have.
PINE 3.91 MAIN MENU Folder: inbox 2 Messages
? HELP - Get help using Pine
C COMPOSE - Compose and send a message
I MAIL INDEX - Read mail in current folder
F FOLDERS - Open a different mail folder
A ADDRESSES - Update your address book
O OTHER - Use other functions
Q QUIT - Exit the Pine mail program
Copyright 1989-1994. PINE is a trademark of the University of Washington.
? Help P PrevCmd R RelNotes
O OTHER CMDS L [ListFldrs] N NextCmd K KBLock
In most cases, the brief commands listed at the bottom of the
screen are fairly self-explanatory. For more information and
complete descriptions of all the commands and options available
through the Main Menu, press ? to enter the Help utility for the
Main Menu.
Viewing Your Mail List
To see a list of your mail messages, press I (for Mail Index) and
the Mail Index screen will display a one-line summary of each
message in your current folder. The top line indicates which
folder you are currently viewing (inbox folder in the example
below), and how many messages are in that folder. Each one-line
message summary includes the number of the message, the date it
was sent, the author, the size of the letter, and the subject, as
shown below:
PINE 3.91 MAIL INDEX Folder: inbox Message 2 of 2
1 Jun 16 Sigmund Freud (2,523) How About Unix envy?
2 Jun 17 Jerry Garcia (2,936) Recent research
? Help M Main Menu P PrevMsg - PrevPage D Delete R Reply
O OTHER CMDS V [ViewMsg] N NextMsg Spc NextPage U Undelete F orward
You can use the commands listed in the Mail Index menu to view a
specific message or return to the Main Menu, as well as to manage
your mail by saving, deleting, forwarding, and so on. For more
information and complete descriptions of all the options available
through the Mail Index menu, press ? to enter the Help utility
for the Mail Index screen.
Reading Your Mail
To read a specific message, move your cursor through the Mail
Index list to highlight that message and press V (View Mail).
The first page of the message you selected will appear on screen.
Use the space bar and - key to page forward and backward within
the letter. After reading your message you may reply, save,
forward, or delete the letter using the commands listed in the
menu at the bottom of the View Mail screen. You can then select
the next message, previous message, help, other commands, or
return to the Mail Index or Main Menu as indicated.
PINE 3.91 VIEW MAIL Folder: inbox Message 3 of 3 93%
Date: Wed, 17 Jun 93 12:28:17 -0500
From: Jerry Garcia
? Help M Main Menu P Prev Msg - Prev Page
F Forward D Delete O OTHER CMDS I Mail Index
N Next Msg SPACE Next Page R Reply S Save
For more information and complete descriptions of all the options
available through the View Mail menu, press ? to enter the Help
utility for the View Mail menu.
Composing and Sending Mail
To send mail to another someone, you must know that person's
E-mail User ID and Internet address.
From the Main Menu, press C. The Compose Message screen and menu
(below) will appear.
PINE 3.91 COMPOSE MESSAGE Folder: inbox 3 Messages
To: JRDoe@epx.cis.umn.edu
Cc:
Attachmnt:
Subject:
--------- Message Text ----------------
^G Get Help ^C Cancel ^R Rich Hdr ^K Del Line
^O Postpone ^X Send ^D Del Char ^A Attach
^U UnDel Lin ^T To AddrBk
In the TO: field, type the electronic address you're writing to.
You may type a full name and address, as shown in the example on
the previous page, just the local address (JRDoe), or the nickname
of someone in your address book (John). When you move the cursor
out of this field, the nicknames will be expanded to the addresses
in your address book, and the local names will be expanded to
include the addressee's full name. The TO: field may be several
lines long, and have many addresses in it separated by commas.
Use the arrow keys to move around the fields in the header.
In the CC: field, type the address of anyone who is to receive
carbon copies of the letter.
The Attachment field can be used to specify the name of a file you
wish to attach to your letter (the file will be sent as a separate
file).
In the Subject field, type the subject of the letter.
To enter the text of the letter, move your cursor below the
----- Message Text ----- indicator and begin typing. As you
move your cursor from the address section at the top of the screen
to the message text section below, the menu at the bottom of the
screen will change to reflect the options available in pico,
pine's message editor.
PINE 3.91 COMPOSE MESSAGE Folder: inbox 2 Messages
To : garc0014@epx.cis.umn.edu
Cc :
Subject : thanks
------- Message Text ------
Thanks for .....
^G Get Help ^C Cancel ^R Read File ^Y Prev Pg
^K Del Line ^O Postpone ^X Send ^J Justify
^W Where is ^V Next Pg ^U UnDel Lin ^T To Spell
In most cases, you'll probably simply type a brief note and send
the message (^X). If you are interrupted while composing a note
and want to save what youÕve written and return to it later, use
the ^O command to postpone your message. To insert an EPX text
file into your message, use the Read File (^R) command. For more
information and complete descriptions on these and other options
available through the Compose Message screen, press ? to enter the
Help utility for the Compose Message screen.
Creating and Using Mail Folders
Pine's folders are useful for sorting and saving messages. By
default the following folders are created for each account:
- the newmail folder, which holds all your new messages, and
- the mail folder, which is the default folder for
saving mail when no other folder is specified.
You can create other folders with short, one-word names that
indicate the folder's contents, and move messages from one folder
to another by using the save command and specifying a particular
folder. You can also open, rename, and delete folders, as well as
search for and print the contents of specific folders.
To create additional folders:
Press F to select the Folders option from the Main Menu. The
Folder Maintenance screen will appear, with a list of your current
default folders. Press A for Add Folders. Enter a name for each
new folder when prompted, and press RETURN. Your new folder will
be displayed onscreen with the other folders, and the system will
respond with the message
Folder XXXX created.
You can also create a new folder while viewing a letter, by
pressing S for Save. A prompt will appear. Type in the name you want for your new folder, and a confirming prompt will appear saying
Folder 'XXXX' doesn't exist. Create it? (y/n) [y]:
Since yes (y) is the default, just press RETURN. A message will
then inform you
message X saved to folder XXXX and marked for deletion.
The message will then be deleted from the default inbox folder after
it has been saved in the new folder.
For more information and complete descriptions on these and other
options available through the Folder Maintenance screen, press ?
to enter the Help utility for the Folder Maintenance screen.
Address Book & Distribution Lists
Pine's address book and distribution lists help you save time in
addressing your mail. By creating an address book with brief
nicknames, you can use those nicknames in place of long, complex
addresses. Each address book entry has three parts: a short, easy
to remember nickname, a full name (usually entered last name first
for alphabetical sorting), and the full address. You can also
create distribution lists which have nicknames, full names, and
lists of addresses.
Creating an Address Book
To create your address book, select A for Addresses from the Main
Menu. The Address Book menu will appear on screen; from this
menu, select A for Add to begin. The following prompt will appear
near the bottom of the screen:
New full name (last, first):
Enter the last and first name of someone you wish to include in
your address book, and press RETURN. You will then be prompted
for the new nickname for this entry. Enter it and press RETURN.
You will then be prompted to enter the new E-mail address. We
recommend that you use the standard format for Internet addresses,
as follows:
Username@computer.dept.org.domain (e.g., JRDoe@epx.cis.umn.edu)
When you have entered the full electronic address, followed by a
RETURN, you will receive the message
[Addition complete. Address book updated.]
You can continue to enter new addresses, using the Add command
(A). To edit an address, use the arrow keys to highlight the
entry to be changed, press E for Edit, and make the changes. To
delete an entry, use the arrow keys to highlight it, and press D
for Delete.
Creating a Distribution List
To create a distribution list, select S from the Address Book
screen menu. You will be prompted for the long name/description
of the new list. Type in your description of the list, and press
RETURN. You will then be prompted for a nickname for the list.
After you have entered a nickname and pressed return, you will be
prompted to enter the first address, second address, and so on.
To signify that you have no more addresses to enter, press the
RETURN key twice. The nickname of your new list, the long
description you provided, and all the addresses you listed should
appear at the end of your list of individual addresses, along with
the message:
[Addition of list XXXX complete. Address book updated.].
At this point you can create another list, add to or delete items
from a list, edit an entry, search for items, and so on.
For more information and complete descriptions on these and other
options available through the Address Book screen, press ? to
enter the Help utility for the Address Book Screen.
This page is maintained by Al Bento
who can be reached at abento@ubmail.ubalt.edu. This page was last updated on February 12, 1996. Although we will attempt to keep this information accurate, we can not guarantee the accuracy of the information provided.
