Sending Mail

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This section describes how to start a mail message. The messages are created as templates in your drafts folder and then your editor is opened on the draft. The Sections The Built-in Editor and Mail Formatting describe how to actually compose the message when using the built-in editor or an external editor.

Sending a New Message

Use the Send message button to create a new draft message. This runs the MH comp command to set up the template for the draft. So, it is affected by the components and your comp: profile entry, if any.

Replying to a Message

The Reply... menu has two entries: Reply to sender and Reply all. These operations use the MH repl command, so they are affected by the replcomps file and your repl: profile entry, if any. Reply to sender uses the repl option -nocc to -nocc cc so that the reply just goes to the sender. Reply all uses -cc to -cc cc so that the reply goes to everyone in the To: and Cc: fields of the original message. (See the Section Selective Replies with -nocc and -cc.) Another entry displays instructions for adding more entries to the Reply... menu. The X resources used to do this are described in more detail in the Section Resources for Buttons.

Forwarding a Message

To forward the current message or messages, click the Forward button or press f. Forward uses the MH forw command to set up the message, so it is affected by the forwcomps file and your forw: profile entry, if any.

Using an Existing Message as a Template

To use an existing message as a template for a new message, select the Use message as draft menu entry under the message More... menu. In this case the message is copied into the draft folder first. This menu entry also lets you continue work on a message left in your drafts folder.

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(This section was written by Brent Welch.)
Last change $Date: 1996/06/06 15:14:13 $

This file is from the third edition of the book MH & xmh: Email for Users & Programmers, ISBN 1-56592-093-7, by Jerry Peek. Copyright © 1991, 1992, 1995 by O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. This file is freely-available; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation. For more information, see the file copying.htm.

Suggestions are welcome: <Brent.Welch@eng.sun.com>