Following are excerpts from the Netscape Handbook to assist you as you begin to particpate in the LincolnNet Open Forum discussion groups. It will be helpful for you to print out this document and go through it step-by-step in order to become acquainted with both newsgroups and email features.

Message Composition Window
News Window
News Toolbar Buttons
News Menu Items
Mail Window
Mail Toolbar Buttons
Mail Menu Items

Message Composition window

You can create and send email and newsgroup messages using the Message Composition window. When sending email, you can transmit Internet pages and disk files as attachments, including fully formatted HTML pages displayed within your mail message.

Netscape automatically recognizes the text of URLs and displays the text as highlighted, clickable links. For example, when you send a mail or news message using the Message Composition window, the recipient of the your message sees any URLs you've entered as links.

To enter the email and newsgroup area, select Window from the menu at the top of the Netscape screen. You should then choose either Netscape Mail or Netscape News from the menu. Next, in order to display the Message Composition window, choose File|New Mail Message or File|Mail Document, or one of several toolbar buttons and menu items in the Mail and News windows. You can also display the Message Composition window by clicking on a page link or a button designed to initiate email.

The View menu items let you hide or display numerous types of address fields. Fields can contain more than one address.

• The From field shows your email address.
• The Reply To field contains the email address where you want replies to your email sent.
• The Mail To contains the email address where you want your message sent.
• The Mail Cc field contains the email address where you want a copy of your message sent.
• The Mail Bcc field contains the email address where you want a blind copy of your message sent. A blind copy does not display the address of the copy recipient
• The File Cc field contains the location where you want to store a copy of the message you're sending. By default, messages are stored in the folder specified in the Mail and News|Servers panel.
• The Newsgroups field contains the name of the newsgroup where you want to post your news message. If you're posting from a newsgroup listing or message, this field is preset with the name of the newsgroup.
• The Follow up To field contains the name of the newsgroup where you want replies to your message posted.
• The Subject field contains a description of your email or posting. If you're sending mail or posting from news messages, this field is preset with the name of the current page.
• The Attachment field shows the page name or file name of any attachments you've designated.

On Windows, you can click on some field labels to produce the Address Book window or Attachment file dialog to simplify text entry. On Macintosh, you can click the small triangle icon in the upper-left of the window to show or hide the address and attachment fields.

Here are the Message Composition buttons:

• Send (Now), available when you check Options|Immediate Delivery, distributes the current message into the network and closes the window.
• Send (Later), available when you check Options|Deferred Delivery, stores the current message in the Outbox folder on your disk for distribution into the network at a later time. Choose File|Send Mail in Outbox to distribute deferred messages.
• Quote puts the current message into the quoted text format.
• Attach lets you send a separate document along with the email message. Press Attach Location (URL) to specify an HTML page. Press Attach File to specify any other type of file. Press Delete to remove a selected entry. The dialog also offers radio buttons for choosing how to send the attachment. Select the default, As Is (Source), to send files in their original form. Choose Convert to Plain Text if you want your attachment sent as ordinary ASCII text. By attaching an HTML page in source format, the recipient of the attachment can use Netscape to view the page fully formatted directly in the Mail window. The View menu in the Mail window offers options that let you view attachments either inline (the page appears within the message body) or as links (a link to the page appears within the message body).
• Address opens the Address Book window.
• Stop halts transmission of the message you are sending.

• File|Send Now (Same as Send Now toolbar button.)
• File|Send Later (Same as Send Later toolbar button.)
• File|Attach File (Same as Attach toolbar button.)
• File|Include Original Text imports the text of the current page into the message field. The imported text is appended to any other content in the field and each line is preceded with a greater-than (>) symbol.
• Edit|Paste as Quotation inserts the contents of the clipboard into the message as quoted text (each line preceded by the greater-than (>) symbol.
• View|Show All displays all possible address fields available in the Message Composition window. Other View menu items let you individually select the fields you want visible in the window.
• View|Wrap Long Lines, when checked, automatically line-wraps the messages you send such that no line is longer than 72 characters. The width of the Message Composition window does not affect line-wrapping, nor are the line breaks you see necessarily the wrapping that is sent. When unchecked, messages are sent without automatic line-wrapping and the line breaks that you see are sent. The default is checked.
• Options|Mail and News Preferences (Same as the Options menu item in the Netscape, Mail, or News window.)
• Options|Immediate Delivery, when checked, specifies that the Message Composition window offer a Send Now menu item and toolbar button so that messages you have written are sent over the network immediately. The option is saved across sessions.
• Options|Deferred Delivery, when checked, provides a Send Later menu item and toolbar button so that the messages you've written are stored in your Outbox folder (deferred) until you explicitly decide to send them. Choose the Mail window's File|Send Mail in Outbox menu item to deliver deferred messages. If you close the Mail window with mail in your Outbox, a dialog asks you whether you want to send the deferred messages now. The option is saved across sessions.

Back to the Selection Menu

News window

Choose the Window|News menu item to display the News window. The window has a toolbar, distinct menu items, and three panes containing news information.

The newsgroup pane is a hierarchical list of news servers, categories, and newsgroups. Note that you need to set the host name of your news (NNTP) server in the Mail and News|Servers panel before you can access Usenet news.

The outer-level (leftmost) folders in the newsgroup pane show the news servers (news hosts) you've connected to. Typically, you'll have connected to only the default news server and have only one outer-level folder.

To view the full set of available news categories and newsgroups, choose the Options|Show All Newsgroups menu item. A news category, notated by a folder icon and an asterisk in its name, contains newsgroups sharing the same prefix. Click on a category folder to display all its newsgroups.

The newsgroup pane contains the following columns:

• News Server shows the names of the news servers and newsgroups.
• The Subscribe icon shows if you are subscribed to the newsgroup. Click the icon to toggle the subscribe status.
• Unread shows the number of unread messages in the newsgroup.
• Total shows the number of read and unread messages in the newsgroup.

After subscribing to newsgroups, you can change the Options menu setting so that you view only subscribed newsgroups (or only active newsgroups which are subscribed newsgroups with unread messages). Other columns in the newsgroup pane tell you the number of unread messages and the total number of messages per newsgroup.

Your newsgroup subscription information is stored in a News file. If you have no previous News file, Netscape creates one that lists a couple of newsgroups designed for new users.

When you select a newsgroup by clicking on it, the message headings contained in the newsgroup are displayed in the message headings pane and has the following columns:

• Sender shows the name of the sender of the news message.
• The Flag icon shows if the message has been marked as noteworthy. Click the icon to toggle the flag status.
• The Read icon shows if the message has been viewed. Click the icon to toggle the read status.
• Subject shows the subject line of the message.
• Date shows the date and time the message was posted.

When you select a message heading by clicking on it, the message is displayed in the message content pane along with the header information such as Subject, Date, From, Organization, Newsgroups, and References.

The Newsgroups and References fields contain links to the newsgroup(s) containing the current message and where replies should be posted.

You can use toolbar buttons or menu items to move on to the next message or read a previous message.

You can resize each of the three panes to accommodate the news information by positioning the cursor on the border lines between two panes (the cursor changes shape) and dragging the panes to the proportions you desire. You can also modify the layout of the panes using options in the Mail and News|Appearance panel.

The News toolbar buttons and menu items offer further options for viewing, creating, sending, and storing news messages.

Back to the Selection Menu

News toolbar buttons

• To: News
  Displays the Message Composition window for creating a new news message.
• To: Mail
  Displays the Message Composition window for creating a new mail message.
• Re: Mail
  Displays the Message Composition window for replying to the current message's sender. The To field is pre-addressed.
• Re: News
  Displays the Message Composition window for replying to the current news message thread.
• Re: Both
  Displays the Message Composition window for replying to the current news message thread and replying by mail to the message's sender.
• Forward
  Displays the Message Composition window for forwarding the current news message as an attachment. The To field is blank. The original Subject field is prefixed with Fwd.
• Previous
  Displays the previous unread message in the thread.
• Next
  Displays the next unread message in the thread.
• Thread
  Marks messages in the thread as read.
• Group
  Marks all messages in the group as read.
• Print
  Prints the currently selected message in the message heading field.
• Stop
  Halts any ongoing transmission of messages from the news server.

Back to the Selection Menu

News menu items

When you position the mouse over each News window pane, you can use the pop-up menu as a shortcut to several of the menu bar items listed here.

• File
  New Web Browser creates a new Netscape window.
  New Mail Message displays the Message Composition window for writing a new mail message.
  New News Message displays the Message Composition window for writing a new news message.
  Save As lets you save the current message as a file.
  Open News Host prompts you to specify the news server to access and add to your news server list.
  Remove News Host deletes the selected news server from your list.
  Add Newsgroup lets you select a new newsgroup to add to your subscription list.
  Get More Messages lets you retrieve an additional group of news messages.
  Send Mail in Outbox connects to the mail server and sends any outgoing messages you have stored.
  Page Setup displays the standard Page Setup dialog box.
  Print Messages prints a selected message.
  Close closes the News window.
  Exit/Quit exits the Netscape application.
• Edit
  Undo/Redo reverses the last action.
  Cut removes the current selection and places a copy on the clipboard.
  Copy places a copy of the current selection on the clipboard.
  Paste puts a copy of the contents of the clipboard at the position of the selection marker.
  Select Thread selects all messages in the current thread.
  Select Flagged Messages selects messages in the current thread that are designated in the message headings pane.
  Select All Messages selects all messages in all threads.
  Find searches for text in the current message.
  Find Again searches for the same text as the previous search.
  Cancel Message removes the selected message you've sent to the newsgroup.
• View
  Sort lets you arrange the position of messages in the message heading field according to Date, Subject, Sender, or Message Number and can specify Ascending order. Choose Again to sort again. Choose Thread Messages to sort messages so that messages and their responses are grouped together.
  Unscramble (ROT-13) lets you decode a certain type of message in which the sender has shifted the message's characters.
  Wrap Long Lines, when checked, displays long lines in the message in shorter, more numerous lines. When unchecked, long lines are more likely to extend off the screen and require the horizontal scroll bar for viewing. The default is unchecked.
  Reload brings the message from the server again.
  Load Images displays the images of the current message if they have not been automatically loaded.
  Refresh redraws the current message.
  Document Source produces a View Source window showing the current page in HTML format.
  Attachments Inline, when checked, lets you to view a page attachment as part of the message. If the sender has included an HTML page as an attachment, the formatted page is appended to the message body.
  Attachments as Links, when checked, lets you to access a page attachment using a link. If the sender has included an HTML page as an attachment, a link to the formatted page is appended to the message body. Clicking on the link displays the page in the message content pane.
• Message
  Post Reply displays the Message Composition window for writing a response with the Send To field pre-addressed to the newsgroup of the previous message.
  Post and Mail Reply displays the Message Composition window for writing a response to the current message thread and replying to the message's sender.
  Mail Reply displays the Message Composition window for replying to the current message's sender. The To field is pre-addressed.
  Forward displays the Message Composition window for forwarding the current news message as an attachment. The To field is blank. The original Subject field is prefixed with Fwd.
  Forward Quoted displays the Message Composition window for sending the current message as quoted text in the content area.
  Mark as Read designates that the current message has been read.
  Mark as Unread designates that the current message has not been read.
  Mark Thread Read designates in the message headings field that the messages in the current thread have been read.
  Mark Newsgroup Read designates in the message headings field that the messages in the current newsgroup have been read.
  Flag Message distinguishes the current message with a small icon in the flag column of the message headings field.
  Unflag Message removes the current message's distinguishing icon.
  Add to Address Book creates an address book entry of the sender of the current message.
• Go
  Next Message displays the next listed message in the message content pane.
  Previous Message displays the previous message.
  First Unread displays the first unread message.
  Next Unread displays the next unread message.
  Previous Unreaddisplays the previous unread message.
  First Flagged displays the first marked message.
  Next Flagged displays the next marked message.
  Previous Flagged displays the previous marked message.
  Stop Loading halts any ongoing transmission of messages from the news server.
• Options
  Show Subscribed Newsgroups, when checked, displays only newsgroups in your subscription list.
  Show Active Newsgroups, when checked, displays only subscribed newsgroups with new messages.
  Show All Newsgroups, when checked, displays all available newsgroups from your news server.
  Show New Newsgroups, when checked, displays only newsgroups new since you previously connected to the news server.
  Show All Messages, when checked, displays all messages of the selected newsgroup.
  Show Only Unread Messages, when checked, displays only unread messages.
  Show Headers, lets you control the number of header information fields displayed when viewing messages. All displays all possible header fields. Normal displays the primary address fields. Brief displays only subject and recipient fields.
  Add from Newest Messages, when checked, displays the most recent messages first.
  Add from Oldest Messages, when checked, displays the oldest messages first.
  Document Encoding lets you select which character set encoding a document uses when document encoding is either not specified or unavailable.
  Save Options (UNIX only) preserves any changes made to your menu settings for subsequent sessions (excluding the preferences panel items, which are saved by pressing OK).
• Window
  This menu lets you switch among Netscape's primary or currently open windows.
• Help
  This menu contains the same items as Netscape's main window, plus an On News item on Windows and UNIX that displays a page describing Usenet news.

Back to the Selection Menu

Mail window

Choose Window|Mail to display the Mail window and check for new messages. Alternatively, you can click on the mail icon (the small envelope in the bottom-right of the Netscape and News windows).

When you first open the Mail window, you're prompted to enter your email password. Use the password that you established with your Internet service provider or system administrator when you set up your Internet account. You'll have to enter your email password once per session or specify in the Mail and News|Organization panel that Netscape remember your password.

When you open the Mail window, Netscape checks the server and retrieves any new mail. Thereafter, Netscape can periodically recheck the server for new incoming messages, though does not automatically retrieve the messages. You can set the number of minutes between checks in the Mail and News|Servers panel.

To retrieve new messages, press the Get Mail toolbar button or click the mail icon. You can also click on the mail icon from the Mail window to manually check the server and retrieve new messages.

The mail icon shows you of the availability of new messages.

• A question mark (?) adjacent to the envelope indicates Netscape cannot automatically check the status of the mail server. This appears before you've opened the Mail window or if you haven't supplied your password.
• The envelope alone indicates there are no new messages for you.
• An exclamation point (!) adjacent to the envelope indicates that new messages are available for retrieval. On Macintosh, you'll also be notified of new messages by a mail icon flashing in the menu bar.

The mail folder pane contains a hierarchical list of your mail folders and three columns:

• Mail Folder shows the name of the mail folder.
• Unread shows the number of unread messages.
• Total shows the number of messages within the folder.

• The Inbox folder holds incoming mail messages to you. The folder always appears.
• The Outbox folder holds your unsent messages. The folder is created when the Message Composition window's Options|Deferred Delivery item is checked and you specify that a message be sent later.
• The Sent folder holds copies of your sent messages. The folder is created when a mail file is specified in the Mail and News|Composition panel and you send a message.
• The Trash folder holds mail messages you are deleting. The folder is created when you delete a message.

When you select a mail folder by clicking on it, the message heading pane displays the titles of messages contained in that folder and the following columns:

• Sender shows the name of the sender of the mail message. In the Outbox and Sent folders, you'll see the title Recipient instead of Sender, and the column shows the email address of the mail recipient.
• The Flag icon shows if the message has been marked as noteworthy. Click the icon to toggle the flag status.
• The Read icon shows if the message has been viewed. Click the icon to toggle the read status.
• Subject shows the subject line of the message.
• Date shows the date and time the message arrived at your Inbox.

Mail messages are unthreaded by default. You can change the setting in the Mail and News|Organization panel. On Macintosh, the message headings pane offers an area above the scroll bar that you can click on to show the current headings threaded or unthreaded.

When you select a message heading by clicking on it, the message gets displayed in the message content pane along with header information such as Subject, Date, From, To, and CC.

You can use toolbar buttons or menu items to move on to the next message or read a previous message.

You can resize each of the three panes to accommodate mail information by positioning the cursor on the border lines between two panes (the cursor changes shape) and dragging to the proportions you desire. You can also modify the layout of the panes using options in the Mail and News|Appearance panel.

If the message sender has included a page attachment, you can check the View|Attachments Inline menu item to display fully formatted HTML page information appended to the message body or check the View|Attachments as Links menu item to display a link to the attached page. If the message sender has included a file attachment, you can click on a link that presents the Save As dialog for saving the file to your hard disk. Beside each link to an attachment, you'll find information detailing the attachment's name, file type, and encoding.

The Mail toolbar buttons and menu items offer further options for viewing, creating, sending, and storing mail messages.

Back to the Selection Menu

Mail toolbar buttons

• Get Mail
  Connect to the mail server and bring any available mail messages into the Inbox.
• Delete
  Puts the currently selected message in the message heading field into the Trash folder.
• To: Mail
  Displays the Message Composition window for creating a new mail message. The To field is blank.
• Re: Mail
  Displays the Message Composition window for replying to the current mail message. The To field is pre-addressed to the original message's sender.
• Re: All
  Displays the Message Composition window for replying to the current mail message. The To field is pre-addressed to the original message's sender and all other recipients of the current message.
• Forward
  Displays the Message Composition window for forwarding the current mail message as an attachment. The To field is blank. The original Subject field is prefixed with Fwd.
• Previous
  View the previous unread message in the message list.
• Next
  View the next unread message in the message list.
• Print
  Prints the currently selected message in the message heading field.
• Stop
  Halts any ongoing transmission of messages from the mail server.

Back to the Selection Menu

Mail menu items

When you position the mouse over each Mail window pane, you can use the pop-up menu as a shortcut to several of the menu bar items listed here.

• File
  New Web Browser creates a new Netscape window.
  New Mail Message displays the Message Composition window for writing a new mail message.
  New Folder creates a new mail folder.
  Add Folder (Open Folder) displays the standard Open Folder dialog box.
  Save As produces a dialog box for saving the current message as a file.
  Get New Mail connects to the mail server and retrieves messages addressed to you.
  Send Mail in Outbox connects to the mail server and sends any outgoing messages you have stored in the Outbox folder for deferred delivery.
  Empty Trash Folder permanently removes messages placed in the Trash folder.
  Compress Folder recovers disk space from deleted messages.
  Page Setup displays the standard Page Setup dialog box.
  Print Messages prints a selected message.
  Close closes the Mail window.
  Exit/Quit exits the Netscape application.
• Edit
  Undo/Redo reverses the last action.
  Cut removes the current selection and places a copy on the clipboard.
  Copy places a copy of the current selection on the clipboard.
  Paste puts a copy of the contents of the clipboard at the position of the selection marker.
  Delete Message moves the current message to the Trash folder.
  Delete Folder permanently removes the selected folder.
  Select Thread selects all messages in the current thread.
  Select Flagged Messages selects messages in the current thread that are designated in the Mark column of the message headings pane.
  Select All Messages selects all messages in all threads.
  Find searches for text in the current message.
  Find Again searches for the same text as the previous search.
• View
  Sort lets you arrange the position of messages in the message heading field according to Date, Subject, Sender, or Message Number and can specify Ascending order. Choose Again to sort again. Choose Thread Messages to sort messages so that messages and their responses are grouped together.
  Unscramble (ROT-13) lets you decode a certain type of message in which the sender has shifted the message's characters.
  Wrap Long Lines, when checked, displays long lines in the message in shorter, more numerous lines. When unchecked, long lines are more likely to extend off the screen and require the horizontal scroll bar for viewing. The default is unchecked.
  Reload brings the message from the server again.
  Load Images displays the images of the current message if they have not been automatically loaded.
  Refresh redraws the current message.
  Document Source produces a View Source window showing the current page in HTML format.
  Attachments Inline, when checked, lets you to view a page attachment as part of the message. If the sender has included an HTML page as an attachment, the formatted page is appended to the message body.
  Attachments as Links, when checked, lets you to access a page attachment using a link. If the sender has included an HTML page as an attachment, a link to the formatted page is appended to the message body. Clicking on the link displays the page in the message content pane.
• Message
  Reply displays the Message Composition window for writing a response with the Send To field pre-addressed to the sender of the previous message.
  Reply to All displays the Message Composition window for writing a response with the Send To field pre-addressed to the sender and other recipients of the previous message.
  Forward displays the Message Composition window for sending the current messages as an attachment with the Subject field and Attachment field automatically filled in.
  Forward Quoted displays the Message Composition window for sending the current message as quoted text in the content area.
  Mark as Read designates that the current message has been viewed.
  Mark as Unread designates that the current message has not been viewed.
  Flag Message distinguishes the current message with a small icon in the flag column of the message headings field.
  Unflag Message removes the current message's distinguishing icon.
  Add to Address Book creates an address book entry of the sender of the current message.
  Move transfers the current message to the folder you select.
  Copy transfers a copy of the current message to the folder you select.
• Go
  Next Message displays the next message listed in the message heading pane.
  Previous Message displays the previous message.
  First Unread displays the first unread message.
  Next Unread displays the next unread message.
  Previous Unread displays the previous unread message.
  First Flagged displays the first marked message.
  Next Flagged displays the next marked message.
  Previous Flagged displays the previous marked message.
  Stop Loading halts any ongoing transmission of messages from the mail server.
• Options
  Show All Messages, when checked, displays both read and unread messages in the message header pane.
  Show Only Unread Messages, when checked, displays only unread messages in the message header pane.
  Show Headers, lets you control the number of header information fields displayed when viewing messages. All displays all possible header fields. Normal displays the primary address fields. Brief displays only subject and recipient fields.
  Document Encoding lets you select which character set encoding a document uses when document encoding is either not specified or unavailable.
  Save Options (UNIX only) preserves any changes made to your menu settings for subsequent sessions (excluding the preferences panel items, which are saved by pressing OK).
• Window
  This menu lets you switch among Netscape's primary or currently open windows.
• Help
  This menu contains the same items as Netscape's main window.