******* THE I-MAIL MESSAGER ******* (c) Copyright - Challenge Business Systems Burnaby, B.C. Canada March, 1995 All Rights Reserved USER'S GUIDE ******* THE I-MAIL MESSAGER ******* TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.0 - Program Overview......................................... 2 2.0 - The I-Mail Messager's Main Menu.......................... 3 3.0 - Names & E-Mail Addresses................................. 4 3.1 - Adding Names And E-Mail Addresses.................... 4 3.2 - Changing Names And E-Mail Addresses.................. 4 3.3 - Deleting Names And E-Mail Addresses.................. 5 3.4 - Uploading A Name & Address Text File................. 5 3.5 - Entering An E-Mail Tagline........................... 6 3.6 - Vacation Reply Setup................................. 6 4.0 - Next Page & Previous Page................................ 7 5.0 - Downloading Names & E-Mail Addresses..................... 7 6.0 - Exiting The Program...................................... 7 7.0 - Using The On-Line Help................................... 7 8.0 - Writing Messages......................................... 8 9.0 - Editing Messages......................................... 8 10.0 - Reading & Downloading Messages........................... 9 11.0 - Uploading Messages And Files............................. 9 12.0 - Deleting Messages........................................ 9 13.0 - Acknowledgements And Copyrights.......................... 10 - 1 - ******* THE I-MAIL MESSAGER ******* 1.0 - PROGRAM OVERVIEW Welcome to The I-Mail Messager, a "full-feature" Internet E-Mail program for users of Wildcat Bulletin Boards. Now you can handle all your Internet E-Mail requirements-scan, read, write, upload & delete from within one program. No more hunting for "that address" or having to enter those cryptic, long names where one wrong period gets your mail "bounced". You can store up to 130 names & address, write a message and have the address placed in the message for you. Write your message off-line, saving valuable BBS time for other things (games?). Upload a file and attach it to your mail for transfer. Download your mail for a permanent record and reading off-line. Ever made a mistake in your message or forgot something and realized it after saving the message? No longer a problem! Now you can quickly go back into your message to make those changes. Type the same thing everytime you send a message. Not anymore! Just enter it once and have it placed on to end of all your messages for you. - 2 - ******* THE I-MAIL MESSAGER ******* 2.0 - HOW TO USE THE I-MAIL MESSAGER (THE MAIN MENU) When you enter the E-Mail Messager the first 13 names & addresses in your database will displayed followed by the program choices available, listed at the bottom of your screen. First time entry to The E-Mail Messager is automatically detected and your personal database will be created. The main menu is broken into 11 selections. You choose a menu item by pressing the letter highlited in green next to that selection. The Main Menu Selections Are: [A]ddr. Entry - Add/Change/Delete Names & E-Mail Addresses & Taglines [N]ext Page - Show The Next 13 Names & Internet Addresses On File [P]rev Page - Show The Previous 13 Names & Internet Addresses On File [L]ist Download - Download A Text File List Of Your Names & Addresses On File [Q]uit - Stop This Program And Return To The Internet E-Mail Menu [H]elp - Complete On-line Explaining each Section Of The Program. [W]rite Mess. - Write An Internet E-Mail Message. Maximum 140 Lines. [E]dit Mess. - Change/Correct An Internet E-Mail Message You Wrote. [R]ead Mess. - Scan, Read or Download Your Internet E-Mail Messages. [U]pload Mess. - Upload File(s) From You And Create A E-Mail Message. [D]elete Mess. - Delete An Internet E-Mail Message You Wrote or Received. You will always be returned to the Main Menu after selecting any of these choices. Except for [Q]uit which returns you to the BBS Mail Menu. All names and addresses in your database are displayed in alphabetical order by name (not e-mail address) with only the first 45 characters of the e-mail address being displayed. Should an address exceed this a ">>" will displayed to the right of it indicating that it is longer than what is shown on the screen. NOTE: Your database, like your e-mail is considered private. Only you can access it. - 3 - ******* THE I-MAIL MESSAGER ******* 3.0 - NAMES & E-MAIL ADDRESSES There are 10 choices available when you select [A]ddr. Entry". You choose a menu item by pressing the letter highlited in green next to that selection. These are: [A]dd Address - Add a new name & e-mail address to your database. [C]hange Address - Change a name & e-mail address in your database. [D]elete Address - Delete a name & e-mail address from your database. [U]pload File - Upload a text file of names & e-mail addresses. [T]agline Entry - Enter a tagline message for all your e-mail. [V]acation - Automatically Reply to E-Mail While You're On Holidays. [N]ext Page - Display the next page of names & and addresses. [P]rev Page - Display the previous page of names & and addresses. [Q]uit - Quit This Sub-Menu And Return To The Main Program Menu. [H]elp - On-Line Explaining Each Of The Above Selections. You will always be returned to the Address Menu after selecting any of these choices. Except for [Q]uit which returns you to the Main Program Menu. The next page feature of this program when selected from "Address Entry" will display the next 13 names and e-mail addresses on file. The previous page feature of this program when selected from "Address Entry" will display the previous 13 names and e-mail addresses on file. 3.1 - ADDING NAMES & ADDRESSES From the Address Sub-Menu press the letter "A" to add a new name and e-mail address to your database. You will be prompted to enter the name of the person/company and their full internet e-mail address. The name field allows a maximum of 25 characters and the address field allows up to 70 characters. The e-mail address will be checked to ensure it contains two important letters used in all internet addresses. These are the "@" and "." (one of each). A warning will appear at the bottom of your screen advising you that the e-mail address may be invalid should the address not contain these 2 characters. 3.2 - CHANGING NAMES & ADDRESSES From the Address Sub-Menu press the letter "C" to change a name or e-mail address in your database. You will be prompted to enter an address number. Enter the number of the name/address shown on the left hand side of the screen under "Number" for the one you wish to change. The current information on file will be displayed on the lower part of the screen. Above that you will prompted to enter the new name and e-mail address. To leave the current information as is, just press the "ENTER" key or type in the new name and/or address. - 4 - ******* THE I-MAIL MESSAGER ******* 3.2 - CHANGING NAMES & ADDRESSES (Cont.) The name field allows a maximum of 25 characters and the address field allows up to 70 characters. The e-mail address will be checked to ensure it contains two important letters used in all internet addresses. These are the "@" and "." (one of each). A warning will appear at the bottom of your screen advising you that the e-mail address may be invalid should the address not contain these 2 characters. 3.3 - DELETING NAMES & ADDRESSES From the Address Sub-Menu press the letter "D" to delete a name & address from your database. You will be prompted to enter an address number. Enter the number of the name/address shown on the left hand side of the screen under "Number" for the one you wish to change. The Name & Address will be displayed in the centre part of the screen. the screen. You will asked to confirm the deletion. Press "Y" to delete the name and address from your database or "N" to cancel the deletion. The screen will then re-display showing the number you entered with the name and address blank if you pressed "Y". This will be removed and the number re-assigned when you exit "Address Entry". 3.4 - UPLOADING A NAME & ADDRESS TEXT FILE This is a TEXT file that you must create on your own computer. The advantage to this is that you can write and check all your names and addresses off-line then upload them all at once to your database, saving valuable on-line time. (Games?) This file must have only ONE NAME AND E-MAIL ADDRESS PER LINE in the format of NAME+E-MAIL ADDRESS. The person/company name can not be more than 25 characters. The internet e-mail address can not exceed a total of 70 characters (Example - Bob Smith+bob.smith@somebbs.com). Why a+? So you can use commas (,) as part of your name field. Press the letter "U" to upload a TEXT file of names & e-mail addresses for your database. You will be asked if you wish to upload a file. Press "Y" to upload the file. You will then be asked for the name of the file. A maximum of 12 characters is allowed. 8 characters, a period and a 3 letter extension. If you have chosen a default upload protocol as part of your BBS settings it will be used, otherwise you will be prompted for a protocol. To cancel an upload after pressing "Y" leave the TEXT File name blank and press the "ENTER" key. After uploading your TEXT file, each name & address in the file will be displayed on the screen, one at a time. You will given 3 choices. They are: "S" - Save it to your on-line database. "C" - Change the name & address details and then save it to your database or "D " - Don't save the name & address to your on-line database. - 5 - ******* THE I-MAIL MESSAGER ******* 3.4 - UPLOADING A NAME & ADDRESS TEXT FILE (Cont.) Upon completing this process your database will be sorted and numbers assigned to the additions. You may then review all your names & addresses (including additions) using "[N]ext Page" & "[P]rev. Page". 3.5 - ENTERING AN E-MAIL TAGLINE A tagline can best described as message of it's own that is automatically added to the bottom of all your out-going e-mail. For example - if you add the statement "Have a good day" to all your e-mail then use this feature to stick it onto the end of all your mail. This way you don't have to type it every time. (Spelling Mistakes?) A tagline can be up to 5 lines long and contain anything you want to say to everyone getting e-mail from you. It can be changed or deleted at any time ("Merry Christmas & Happy New Year" would a good use for a tagline in December only). To enter, change or delete a tagline press the letter "T". A screen similar to the edit message used to write or change messages will appear with a heading titled "Add/Change Your E-Mail Tagline" displayed at the top. You are limited to a maximum of 5 lines of text. A blank line will be placed between your message and the tagline automatically, so don't leave the first line blank unless you want 2 blank lines between your message and tagline. To delete a tagline press the "SPACE BAR" or "DEL" to erase it and then save it as an empty tagline. Be sure to select the Wildcat spell check option after entering it to avoid having spelling mistakes in all your e-mail. 3.6 - VACATION REPLY SETUP With this option you can prepare an out-going message to be forwared automatically to anyone sending you e-mail while you are away on holidays. The advantage of this feature is that people will know that you received their message but are away and will reply at a later date. From the "Address Entry" Menu press the letter "V" you will be prompted to enter the starting and ending dates of the time you will be away. The ending date must be greater than the start date you enter. To cancel your vacation setup press the "ENTER" key at either the starting or ending dates, without adding a date. To change any existing vacation dates just enter the new starting and/or ending dates. To delete existing vacation dates enter "00/00/00" as the starting date. This will stop your vacation message from be sent at all. Your vacation message will be kept for future use should you want to enter new dates at a later time. After entering proper starting and ending dates a write messages screen will appear with the heading "Add/Change Your Vacation Message." Your message may be up to 140 lines long. When finished press the "ESC" key. Press "P" to spell check your message (a good idea), then "S" to save it or "A" to abort saving it. If you have created a tagline for all your outgoing mail it will be added to the bottom of the message if you press "S" for save. NOTE: You can change your vacation message at any time by selecting "V" , Just press "ENTER" (twice) to skip the dates. - 6 - ******* THE I-MAIL MESSAGER ******* 4.0 - NEXT PAGE AND PREVIOUS PAGE The next page and previous page features of this program are used in two ways. When you are at the "Main Menu" or the selection "Address Entry" pressing the letters "N" or "P" will display the next/Previous 13 Names and E-Mail Addresses you have on file. If you select "Edit Messages", "Read Messages" or "Delete Messages" and then press the letters "N" or "P" will display the next/previous 13 messages you have on file. All messages are displayed in reverse order - that is Newest to Oldest message on file. 5.0 - DOWNLOADING NAMES & E-MAIL ADDRESSES By choosing this selection you can download a complete list of the names & internet e-mail addresses you have on file at the BBS to your computer. To download this list press the letter "L". You will be asked to confirm you wish to proceed. Press "Y" to continue or "N" to stop. If you have chosen a default download protocol as part of your BBS settings it will be used, otherwise you will be prompted for a protocol. The file will be placed in your normal download directory as EMAILADR.TXT This file is formatted as a report with date and page numbers ready for printing. As internet e-mail addresses can be quite long you will have to use the condensed print mode on your printer for it to fit on an 8 1/2" x 11" page. 6.0 - EXITING THE PROGRAM Press "Q" at the "Main Menu" of the program and you will be returned to the BBS Internet E-Mail Menu. This key is also used in "Address Entry", "Edit Messages, "Read Messages" and "Delete Messages". Pressing "Q" from these sub-menus will return you to the "Main Menu" of the program. 7.0 - USING THE ON-LINE HELP The program's on-line help is broken into topics. When you press the letter "H" from the main program menu an overview of the selections available will be displayed. You may obtain further help on each selection by pressing the key shown in green, to the left of each topic. These are the same keys that you would press to actually use that selection. After reading the extended help on the particular topic you will be returned to the main help screen. To exit the on-line help press the letter "X" from the main help screen. - 7 - ******* THE I-MAIL MESSAGER ******* 8.0 - WRITING MESSAGES To write a new message press "W" from the "Main Menu". There are 4 parts to writing a message with The E-Mail Messager. These are: 1) Select An E-Mail Address - You will prompted to enter the number of a name & address in your database. Enter the number you want or press "ENTER" for a new name & address not currently in your database. If you press the "ENTER" key (for new) the program will let you add this address to your database after you enter your message. 2) Enter The Address & Subject - The screen will clear and display a message header showing your name, the address you selected (if any) and a blank subject for this message. The 2 steps to take here are: A) If you didn't select an address you will be prompted for the e-mail address. A maximum of 70 characters is allowed for the address. To cancel this message leave the "TO:" field blank and press "ENTER". B) Enter the subject/topic for your message (70 characters Maximum). As some E-Mail systems don't like a subject header you may leave this blank if you wish. 3) Write your message - Type in your message (up to 140 lines max.). When finished press the "ESC" key. Press "P" to spell check your message (a good idea), then "S" to save it or "A" to abort saving and sending it. If you have created a tagline for all outgoing mail (see "Address Entry") it will be added if you press "S". If the e-mail address is longer than 45 characters it will be placed on the first line of your message-don't remove it or your message will not be sent 4) Adding A New Name & Address - If you pressed "ENTER" and didn't choose a name & address from your database the program will now ask you if you want to add this person/company to your database. Press "Y" to add it to your database. The program will prompt you for a name for this address. A maximum of 25 characters is permitted and can be anything you want. The database will then be sorted alphabetically by name (not address) assigning a number to this new name & address. 9.0 - EDITING MESSAGES Choosing this selection you can quickly scan all your messages (both sent and received) in newest to oldest order for editing. Press the letter "N" to display another page of messages. Press the letter "P" to re-display the previous page of messages. To edit a message press the letter "E" and enter the message number shown on the left hand side of the screen under "Number" when prompted. Remember there's no point in editing a message unless you just wrote it, since the message will have already been sent. See "Write Messages" for help on how to edit/change a message. - 8 - ******* THE I-MAIL MESSAGER ******* 10. - READING & DOWNLOADING MESSAGES Choosing this selection you can quickly scan all your messages (both sent and received) in newest to oldest order for reading on-line or downloading to your own computer. Press the letter "N" to display another page of messages. Press the letter "P" to re-display the previous page of messages. To read a message on-line press the letter "R" and enter the message number shown on the left hand side of the screen under "Number" when prompted. You can reply to this message immediately after reading it by pressing the letter "R" again. You will be prompted to enter any starting and ending lines for quoting in your message. Press the "ENTER" key to skip adding quote lines. If there is a file attached to the message you selected for reading the system ask you if you wish to download it to your computer. Answer "Y" for yes to download the file to your computer. The name of this file will be whatever the sender of the message decided to call it. The name will be displayed as it is transferred to your computer. If you have chosen a default download protocol as part of your BBS settings it will be used, otherwise you will be prompted for a protocol. To download a message to your computer for off-line reading press the letter "D" and enter the message number shown on the left hand side of the screen under "Number" when prompted. If there is a file attached to the message the system ask you if you wish to download it also. Answer "Y" for yes if you want it transferred too. All messages downloaded are assigned a name using the message number, a period and the 3 letter extension MSG. Example - message number 156 on the BBS will be given the name 156.MSG. The name will be displayed during the transfer. If you have chosen a default download protocol as part of your BBS settings it will be used, otherwise you will be prompted for a protocol. The message TEXT and any attached file will be placed in your default download directory. Remember that all Internet E-Mail is considered private so you will only be able to read and download your own mail. 11. - UPLOADING MESSAGES & FILES Choosing this selection you can upload a pre-written file (140 lines max.) to the BBS to become a message. This lets you write messages off-line saving valuable on-line time for other things (games?). You may also upload and attach a file of any size and type to your message for transfer. There are 4 steps to uploading a message. These are: 1) Selecting an e-mail address from your database (or none for new). 2) Uploading your message text file to the BBS. 3) Uploading a file to attach to the message (if any). 4) Editing your message, adding a subject/topic and address (if needed). - 9 - ******* THE I-MAIL MESSAGER ******* 11. - UPLOADING MESSAGES & FILES (Cont.) A maximum of 12 characters is allowed for each file name. 8 characters, a period and a 3 letter extension. If you have chosen a default upload protocol as part of your BBS settings it will be used, otherwise you will be prompted for a protocol. Press "Y" to upload your TEXT file. To cancel an upload after pressing "Y" leave the TEXT file name blank and press the "ENTER" key. When you have finished uploading your TEXT file you will asked by the program if you wish to upload a file to attach to the message. Press "Y" and you will be prompted for the file name. The procedure for this step is the same as uploading the text file. To cancel the upload leave the file name blank and press "ENTER" Cancelling an upload for an attached file does not abort your message. After uploading the program will automatically create a message from your text file, attach any file transferred and let you edit or add to the message. When finished press the "ESC" key. Press "P" to spell check your message (a good idea), then "S" to save it or "A" to abort saving and sending it. If you have created a tagline for all your outgoing mail (see "Address Entry") it will be added if you press "S". NOTE: If the e-mail address is longer than 45 characters it will be placed on the first line of the message-don't remove it or your e-mail will not sent. Review "Write Messages" for further information. 12.0 - DELETING MESSAGES Choosing this selection you can quickly scan all your messages (both sent and received) in newest to oldest order for deletion. Press the letter "N" to display another page of messages. Press the letter "P" to re-display the previous page of messages. To delete a message press the letter "D" and enter the message number shown on the left hand side of the screen under "Number" when prompted. You will asked to confirm the deletion - enter "Y" to delete it or "N" to cancel deleting the message. Any deleted messages will have the letter "D" displayed in red next to their number. Deleted message(s) remain on file until the normal BBS purge of deleted items is run. NOTE: Once you delete a message you can NOT access it again and any file attached to it is erased. 13.0 - ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND COPYRIGHTS What a pain in the butt writing this stuff. Everybody knows who owns what. What are we stupid and think MS-DOS, Mustang Software and Wildcat are our trademarks. But to ensure the lawyers don't get upset we state the following: We acknowledge all trademarks and copyrights of all third parties mentioned in any of the documentation provided with this program. This includes but is not limited to Microsoft, MSDOS, Mustang Software, Wildcat, Wccode, Wcdraw, Makemenu, & Makewild. - 10 -