The K Desktop Environment (KDE) includes a mail client called Kmail. It is a very useful email client, providing a graphical user interface. The Kmail program was developed by David Rugge and Markus Wuebben.
To execute Kmail, go to the KDE main menu and select the Internet, Mail client menu option. If this is the first time you have executed Kmail, you will see the dialog box shown in Figure 8.2.
Figure 8.2. Kmail creating the Mail mailbox.
This dialog box is merely telling you that the Mail directory could not be found and it will create it.
Kmail creates the Mail directory in your home directory. The Mail directory contains various mail files, such as inbox, outbox, sent-mail, and trash.
Figure 8.3 shows the Settings dialog box. If this is the first invocation of Kmail, this dialog box appears automatically. Otherwise, you select the File, Settings menu option.
Figure 8.3. Kmail's Settings dialog box, Identity tab.
The Settings dialog box has six tabs: Identity, Network, Appearance, Composer, Misc, and PGP. At a minimum, you should visit the Identity and Network tab pages and provide the information required.
The information you provide will allow you to send and receive email.
To begin sending and receiving email, you will have to change only the settings on the Identity and Network tabs.
On the Identity tab page (refer to Figure 8.3), you should provide your full name, organization (if applicable), email address, reply-to address, and signature file.
Figure 8.4 shows the Network tab page. On this tab page, you should specify the method of mail transmission, either Sendmail or SMTP. If Sendmail is selected, be sure to supply the fully-qualified path to the program. If you select SMTP, supply the name of the SMTP server you will send to. Next, you have to configure the Incoming Mail section on the Network tab. You need to have at least one account set up so that you can receive email messages. Click Add to create a new account.
Figure 8.4. Kmail's Settings dialog box, Network tab.
The Configure Account dialog box is shown in Figure 8.5. In this dialog box, you need to supply your name, login account name, password (optional), the mail host, and the port to use. Optionally, you can select from a number of radio buttons and choose where you want to store mail. If you leave the Password field empty, whenever Kmail goes to retrieve mail, it will prompt you for your password.
Figure 8.5. Kmail's Configure Account dialog box.
Figure 8.6 shows the Kmail Mail Reader window. It consists of three panes, a menu bar, and a toolbar.
The three panes are Folders, Headers, and Message. The Folders pane is located in the upper-left portion of the Mail Reader window. The Headers pane is located in the upper center of the window, and the Message pane is located under the Headers pane.
Figure 8.6. Kmail's Mail Reader window.
The Folders pane contains message folders or mailboxes. Click a folder to select it. Any messages that are contained in the folder will appear in the Headers pane.
The Headers pane shows a list of header information, such as Sender, Subject, and Date. If you click a header, the associated message is displayed in the Message pane. To sort messages, click the column to sort on.
The Message pane shows the header and body of the selected message (in the Headers pane). The message can be scrolled using the Page Up and Page Down keys, or line-by-line using the up and down arrow keys. The following list describes the keyboard keys you can use to browse messages:
• N: Next message
• P: Previous message
• +: Next unread message
• -: Previous unread message
When you are ready to receive mail, select the File, Check mail menu option. If you did not supply a password in the configuration window, you will see the Please Set Password and Username dialog box, shown in Figure 8.7.
Figure 8.7. Kmail's Please set Password and Username dialog box.
This dialog box is displayed so that you can supply your password for retrieving mail from the server.
Be sure to change the username if required. At the same time that this window is displayed, the Retrieving Messages window is displayed, showing the current state of message retrieval. The Retrieving Messages window is shown in Figure 8.8.
Figure 8.8. Kmail's Retrieving messages window.
This window is a status window, showing you the current progress of message retrieval. Various messages are displayed, depending on the state of retrieval. When all messages have been retrieved,
To compose a new email message, select the File, New Composer menu option. Figure 8.9 shows the Kmail Composer window. If you did not specify a signature file in the configuration window, Kmail will prompt you for a signature file every time you compose an email. If you are not interested in a signature file, select the File, Settings menu option. Click the Composer tab and unselect the Automatically Append Signature radio button. Finally, click the OK button to dismiss the dialog box.
Figure 8.9. Kmail's Composer window.
You use the Kmail Composer window to compose your email and send it when finished. Fill in the appropriate fields in the Composer window to complete your email. The ellipsis (...) buttons to the right of the To: and Cc: fields invoke the address book, allowing you to select addresses from the list.
When you have completed the message, click the Send icon (the envelope) on the toolbar, or select the File, Send (or Send Later) menu option.
The Kmail address book allows you to store commonly used email addresses. To invoke it, select the File, Addressbook menu option. The address book is shown in Figure 8.10.
After the file has been attached, it appears in the Attachments pane found at the bottom of the Composer window.
There are many other fine features found in the Kmail program. Be sure to select the Help menu to read about Kmail's various features.
Figure 8.10. Kmail's Addressbook in the other fields.