All the configuration settings of Sylpheed are accessible from
+the Configuration menu and consist of common settings
+(Common preferences, Filter settings,
+Template and actions) and account specific
+settings.
+
With Sylpheed, there is no limit to the number of accounts
+you can create. You can create new accounts for each of your
+mail account, but also to change the default behaviour of
+Sylpheed. As folders can be attached to accounts, the account
+specific part of the configuration automatically change based
+on the current folder (you can have a different signature when
+replying to messages from different folders).
+
The Common Preferences, found in the Configuration menu, controls
+the window layout and the different options of the graphical
+interface of Sylpheed. Depending on some compile time switches
+(and on the availability of some extra libraries), some tabs
+may be included (or not) in your version of Sylpheed. These tabs
+are not listed here but are described (or will be described) in
+the sections covering the optional features they control (like the
+Privacy tab for the GnuPG interface).
+
+
Receive tab
+
+
In here you can set up how to receive messages.
+
+
+
+
+
+
You can define a special program to pick up messages from
+the default unix mailbox. Usually this is not used, but
+you can use it. Actually, this information may be wrong.
+If someone knows better, please let me know.
+
Local spool lets you define where your local mailbox is
+located. You can also tell Sylpheed whether or not to
+filter the incoming messages from that mail spool file.
+The spool directory defined here is used by all the accounts
+of the local type, by default it is set to the
+standard UNIX mailbox location.
+
Autocheck new mail. When you check this option, Sylpheed
+will check if there is new mail on the set interval.
+
Check new mail on startup means that Sylpheed will
+immediately look for new mail on all the selected accounts
+when it loads.
+
Update all local folders after incorporation
+Well, if you know the use of this option, feel free to
+write this part...
+
In the news section you can specify how many articles
+should be downloaded when opening a newsgroup.
+
+
Send tab
+
+
In here you can set up how to send messages.
+
+
+
+
+
+
You can choose to use an external program (like sendmail) for
+sending mail. By default no external program is necessary
+and Sylpheed can directly send the outgoing messages to a
+SMTP server.
+
The sent messages can be saved in the outbox (Sent
+folder), the name of the outbox folder can be specified
+for each account (see the account setting section).
+
The outgoing codeset selection can be changed to force
+the definition of the character set used in sent mails.
+The default and recommended value is automatic,
+so Sylpheed determines the codeset when sending each
+message.
+
+
Compose tab
+
+
Controls the composition window's behaviour..
+
+
+
+
+
+
You can change the signature separator and choose to insert
+it automatically (unless your signature file already contains
+this separator). Leave it as it is by default (unless you really
+need to change it, and are ready to face a religion war), a lot
+of mail clients rely on this separator to cut the signature when
+quoting mails, and this one is accepted as the standard one.
+
If you hate the editor that comes with Sylpheed, you can choose
+to automatically start an editor of your choice when composing
+new messages (the editor can be defined in the Other tab).
+
The wrap settings defines how Sylpheed will wrap long
+lines. You can choose to wrap quoted messages, wrap as you type,
+or wrap when sending. You can also change the maximum line length.
+
The reply settings let you control the way you will reply
+to mails. If Automatically select account(...) is set,
+the account used when replying to a message is automatically
+selected based on the folder the original message is in (as you
+where already told, accounts can be attached to folders).
+If Quote message when replying is selected, when hiting
+the Reply button, the composition window pops up and is
+filled with either the complete message you are replying to (if
+nothing is selected in the body of this message) or the selected
+part of its body. When this option is not selected, the composition
+window is always empty, and you must cut-and-paste the parts of
+the original message you want to quote manually.
+
+
Quote tab
+
+
In here you can control the quotation of your replies and forwarded
+messages.
+
+
+
+
+
+
You can individually define the quotation mark that appears
+at the beginning of each quoted line when replying and forwarding
+a message.
+
You can also define the text that appears before and after the
+quotation. The format of the quotation contains placeholders for
+parts of the original message that are explains in the window
+that appears when hiting the Description of symbols
+button.
+
+
Display tab
+
+
In here you can control the display options of Sylpheed.
+
+
+
+
+
+
You can change the font used to display the messages. Pressing
+the button next to the font name field will open the font selection
+window, then you can select among all the available fonts.
+
Turning on the translation of the header fields will change the
+content of the header summary (between the summary and the message
+pane), and use the localized header fields name based on the
+selected language (selected by the 'LANG' environment variable).
+This setting will only take effect the next time you will start
+Sylpheed.
+
Selecting Display unread next to folder name will add
+the number of unread messages next to the folder name in the
+folder pane (so you can minimize the width of the folder pane
+and hide the unread column).
+
You can also control the content of the summary pane. If you choose
+to display the recipient name for the mail you send, in the From
+column, for any mail you have sent, the name of the recipient will
+appear preceded by an arrow (the characters sequence: -->).
+The Expand threads controls the initial state of the message
+threads when opening a folder (expanded of collapsed).
+The Set display item of summary button opens a selection
+window that contains all the available items to display in the
+left column, the currently selected items in the right column.
+Items can be added or removed using the two arrows that appears
+between the columns. Using the up and down buttons
+on the right side of the window, you can change the display order
+of the selected item in the summary window (from left to right).
+
+
Message tab
+
+
The message tab controls the message window options.
+
+
+
+
+
+
The message text can use colours to highlight the different levels
+of quotation and URIs. The colours can be changed by using the
+colours selection dialog that pops up when pressing the Edit
+button next to the Enable coloration of messages toggle.
+
The dispaly of the header summary between the summary and message
+panes can also be turned on and off (Display header pane above message
+view dialog).
+
Display short header on message view and the Edit
+button next to it, control the inclusion of some header fields
+in the message view. If the message coloration has been turned on,
+the addresses that appear in the header part of the message view
+are highlighted as URIs.
+
The Line space setting controls the lines spacing of the
+message view.
+
Leave space on head. Checking this box will make the
+start of new lines (unwrapped, where the writer has pressed
+the Enter/Return key) indent a few pixels. This can be useful
+to read larger e-mails.
+
Scroll half page. When enabled, the text in the message
+view will only scroll half a page instead of a whole page when
+pressing the space bar.
+
Smooth scroll. Enabling this box will make the text
+in the message view scroll in a smooth, sliding way. For the
+eye this can be pleasing, it is a personal preference.
+
Select the Resize attached image if you wnat all the
+images (attachment) to be resized to fit in the message window.
+
+
Interface tab
+
+
The interface tab controls the Sylpheed's Graphical User Interface
+behaviour.
+
+
+
+
+
+
The Open message when cursor keys are pressed toggles controls
+the opening of the messages while you go through them in the summary
+pane using the cursor (up and down arrows) keys. If this toggle is on,
+each time you press the down (or up) key in the the
+summary window, the current message changes and the content of the
+message view changes to the content of the newly selected message.
+Otherwise, the content of the message view does not change unless you
+press enter (then the message view contains the content of the selected
+message).
+This does not change the behaviour of the left mouse button (always selects
+and open the pointed message).
+
Open first unread message when entering a folder if selected,
+when opening a folder, the message view will contain the first unread
+message of this folder (or the latest message in the order the folder
+uses for sorting messages). If not selected, the message view remains
+empty until a message is selected (by changing the current message with
+the cursor keys or with the left mouse button).
+
Only marks message read when open in new window leaves the
+selected message unread (but display it in the message view) until you
+open it in a new window (double click the left mouse button).
+
If Execute immediately when moving or deleting messages is not
+selected, a new button appears in the button bar marked Execute.
+When deleting or moving messages, they are first marked as deleted or
+moved but Sylpheed does not move or delete them until you press the
+Execute button (or the Execute entry of the
+Tools menu).
+
The Receive dialog settings controls the dialog that pops
+up (if you have set Show receive dialog to always)
+when receiving new mails.
+The default is to open a pop up window upon reception error unless
+you select the Dont't pop up error dialog (...) toggle.
+
The Set key bindings button when pressed, opens a selection
+window that contains a list of pre-defined key bindings (Mew,
+Mutt, Old Sylpheed) to change all the key bindings
+at once. The key bindings can also be changed one by one as described in
+
+
Other tab
+
+
The other tab contains the settings that does not fit the
+previous categories.
+
+
+
+
+
+
Web browser. Here you can enter the name of your favorite
+web browser (Netscape, Opera, Mozilla, Lynx etc.). Add the %s parameter
+to the command so Sylpheed knows it has to provide the text you clicked
+on as the URL that the browser has to visit.
+The arrow next to the text field can be used to display a scrolling
+list of predefined URL browsing command lines.
+
Printing. Here you can define the program that should be used
+to print. Default is lpr, and the %s is the name of the temporary file
+that Sylpheed creates for lpr to print.
+When using the File->Print menu entry to print the selected
+message, a text window pops up to allow you to change the command
+used to print.
+
External editor. You can select an external editor to write
+your e-mails with, for example vi, emacs or gedit. Note that for
+text-based editors like vi, you need to define a terminal window,
+e.g. xterm -e vi %s. Otherwise there is no place that the
+editor will be able to show up. Here too, the %s parameter is the
+name of a temporary file that is created by Sylpheed.
+
Add address to destination (...) when selected,
+double clicking an e-mail address (in the address book,
+when the composition window is opened) can be used to add
+this address to the To: field.
+
Confirming if you want to exit Sylpheed (or just exit quietly).
+
Cleaning the trashbox when exiting Sylpheed.
+
Have Sylpheed ask you to clean the trash before it is done.
+
Warn you when exiting Sylpheed when there are still messages
+queued to be sent.
In order to set up an account in Sylpheed, in the Configuration
+menu you select Create new account. If you want to change the
+settings of an existing account and this account is the current
+one, in the Configuration menu select Preferences for
+current account, otherwise select Edit accounts....
+There you select the account you want to change. After that you press
+edit. Then a dialog appears in which you can enter or update
+the following areas:
+
+
+
Basic tab
+
+
+
+
+
+
In the "Basic" tab you name the account. This is to make identifying
+the account easier. The name is then used in the Change current account
+part of the Configuration menu, or in menu found in the lower
+right corner of the main window (used to quickly switch to another account).
+
Choose a name that tells something about the account, like the
+name of the ISP, mailbox or news-server you are setting up.
+You can select this account to be the default account ("Usually used").
+The default account can also be defined from the Edit accounts
+window (toggle the D column next to the account name).
+
Enter your name and e-mail address, and if you have one, the
+organization that you use Sylpheed for.
+In the Protocol box you select the type of service that this
+account will be using. The flavors you can choose are: POP3 normal,
+POP3 APOP auth, IMAP4, NNTP news or None (local).
+
For POP3 and IMAP services you can then specify the server where
+your mail is stored. Details about this name, and also the name
+that goes into the field for SMTP server (send) should be given
+to you by your ISP.
+
For a local unix mailbox, the Server for receiving is disabled,
+since the mail will be received for you.
+
The fields for User ID and Password will also be
+disabled for accounts that do no deal with POP3 or IMAP services.
+Otherwise you can enter the login name and password for the e-mail
+server with your ISP here. Usually these are the same as your login
+name and password to access the dial-in service, but this is
+not standard. If in doubt, contact the helpdesk of your ISP.
+
+
Passwords:
+
+
The password is not printed in the entry field (replaced by stars) but
+is stored in plaintext in the Sylpheed configuration files. The Sylpheed
+configuration directory ( /.sylpheed) is only readable by 'owner', and
+not by 'group' and 'other', do not change these access rights.
+
Receive tab
+
+
+
+
+
+
The Receive tab is only used for POP3 accounts. Here you
+specify if the mails that were successfully retrieved should be removed
+from the server. You can also tell Sylpheed to get all the
+messages there, not only the ones you already received (in case
+you leave your messages on the server).
+You can choose to leave the messages on the server during a selectable
+number of days (then remove them).
+
You can also define a limit for the size of the messages to
+download. Any message bigger than this limit will not be
+downloaded.
+
You can also choose to filter messages on receiving, if not
+set, the messages are only filtered when you use the filter
+entry of the Tools menu.
+
The default inbox defines the folder that receives the incoming
+(and not filtered) messages for this account.
+You can define a different folder as inbox for each of your
+accounts.
+
If the Get all checks for messages on this account is turned
+off, when using the Get all menu entry (or toolbar button)
+this account will not be checked. To check for new mails for
+this account, you must select the account, then use the Get
+toolbar button (or menu entry).
+
Send tab
+
+
+
+
+
+
In the Send tab you can define the settings that apply
+to sending mails.
+
You can choose to add the date field to the messages you send,
+generate a unique message identifier, or add custom header
+fields.
+
+
X-face pictures:
+
+
The user defined header field should be set up to contain your
+X-face picture.
+Thanks to Jeff Dairiki, you can have a complete online course in this.
+Visit
+this page for the details.
+
If your SMTP server needs authentication, define the user ID and
+password to use in this tab. You can also choose to first authenticate with
+POP3 before sending.
+
+
Compose tab
+
+
+
+
+
+
In the Compose tab you can define your signature file,
+choose to always copy someone when sending mails (you can
+choose to always copy your boss, or yourself), and define the
+Reply-To field for the current account.
+
Privacy tab
+
+
This tab is only available when Sylpheed has been compiled
+with GPGME and GNUPG (for signature and encryption).
+
+
With this tab you can choose the keys to use when signing
+or encrypting mails for this account.
+
Advanced tab
+
+
The Advanced tab contains some settings you normally do
+not need to change (unless you really know what you are
+doing).
+
+
+
+
+
You can change the default SMTP or POP3 ports used when
+connecting to your mail server, define a domain name to
+use when sending a mail. Some ISP (or mail relays) reject
+mails without a valid domain name.
+
The default folders for the sent messages, drafts and
+trash can be defined here. If not changed the current account
+will use the default folders.
+
Attaching accounts to folders
+
+
Pressing the right mouse button over a folder (in the folder pane),
+and selecting the Properties entry will open the folder properties
+form. In this form, in the General tab you can see (but not modify)
+the folder name and the corresponding directory path (relative to the mail
+directory). In the Compose tab:
+
+
+
+
you can select the account, choose to apply this setting also to
+the sub-folders.
+You can also force the address used when sending mail (to force a mailing
+list address, for example), choose to send a copy of the sent mails
+to a list of addresses different from the default one defined for the
+selected account.
+
Using accounts in the real life
+
+
Accounts can, of course be used to retrieve mails from different ISPs,
+separate your personal and professional messages, but also to make your
+life easier.
+You can define different accounts just to change your address (as sender),
+your signature, change the sent folder, etc...
+Here is a summary of the account specific settings, feel free to
+find your own use for them:
+
+
+
Sender name, address and organization. Signature, extra header
+fields.
+
Leave or remove message from server (usefull for debug).
+
Incoming mails filtering and size limit.
+
Default field (Reply-To:, Cc:, Bcc:).
+
Draft, Trash and Sent folders.
+
+
By attaching accounts to folders, you can control all these settings
+on a folder basis, but you can also change the To:, Cc:,
+Bcc:, and Reply-To: for each folder (overrides the account
+settings).
+