Checking for New Mail

To check your mail, click Send/Receive in the toolbar. If you haven't created any mail accounts yet, the setup assistant asks you for the information it needs to check your e-mail. For information on creating mail accounts, see Starting Evolution for the First Time.

If this is your first time checking mail, or you haven't asked Evolution to store your password, you are prompted for the password. Enter your password to download your e-mail.

If you get an error message instead of mail, you probably need to check your network settings. To learn how to do that, see Mail Preferences, or ask your system administrator.


Sharing Mailboxes with Other Mail Programs

If you want to use Evolution and another e-mail client, such as Mutt, at the same time, use the following procedure:

  1. Download your mail in the other application as you would normally.

  2. In Evolution, click Edit > Preferences, then click Mail Accounts. Select the account you want to use to share mail and click Edit. Instead of Edit, you might want to create a new account just for this source of mail by clicking New.

  3. Under the Receiving Mail tab, select the type of mail file that your other mail application uses, then specify the full path to that location. A typical choice would be mbox files, with the path /home/username/Mail/.

  4. Click OK.

You can only use one mail client at a time. The mail files are locked by the mail program that is currently using them, so the mail files can't be accessed by any other mail program.


Using Evolution for News

USENET newsgroups are similar to mail, so it's often convenient to read news and mail side by side. You can add a news source, called an NNTP server, the same way you would a new e-mail account, selecting USENET News as the source type. The news server appear as a remote mail server, and each news group works like an IMAP folder. When you click Send/Receive, Evolution also checks for news messages.

When you create a news group account, you are not subscribed to any groups. To subscribe to a news group:

  1. Click Folder > Subscriptions .

  2. Select your NNTP account, select the groups you want to subscribe to, then click Subscribe.

  3. Click Close.


Working with Attachments and HTML Mail

If someone sends you an attachment, Evolution displays the file icon at the end of the message to which it's attached. Text, including HTML formatting and embedded images, appears as part of the message, rather than as a separate attachment. Attachements are also listed on the top bar of the message. To vie the attachments, click the arrow to expand the attachment window. To open an attachment, double-click the attachment. Click the Save All button save all the attachments.


Saving or Opening Attachments

If you get an e-mail message with an attachment, Evolution can help you save the attachment or open it with the appropriate applications.

To save an attachment to disk:

  1. Click the down-arrow on the attachment icon, or right-click on the attachment icon in the top bar, then click Save As.

  2. Select a location and name for the file.

  3. Click OK.

To open an attachment using another application:

  1. Click the down-arrow on the attachment icon.

  2. Select the application to open the attachment.

  3. Click OK.

The options available for an attachment vary depending on the type of attachment and the applications your system has installed. For example, attached word processor files can be opened in OpenOffice.org or another word processor, while compressed archive files can be opened in the File Roller application.


Inline Images in HTML Mail

When someone sends you HTML mail that includes an image in the body of the message (for example, the welcome message in your Inbox), Evolution displays the image inside the message. You can create messages like this by using the Insert Image tool in the message composer. Alternately, just drag an image into the message composition area.

Some images are links in a message, rather than being part of the message. Evolution can download those images from the Internet, but does not do so unless you request it specifically. This is because remotely hosted images can be slow to load and display, and can even be used by spammers to track who reads the e-mail. Not loading images automatically helps protect your privacy.

To load the images for one message:

  1. Click View > Message Display > Load Images.

To set the default action for loading images:

  1. Click Edit > Preferences, then click Mail Preference.

  2. Click the HTML Mail tab.

  3. Select one of the items: Never Load Images Off the Net, Load Images in Mail From Contacts, or Always Load Images Off the Net.

  4. Click Close.

If you use an HTTP proxy (as in many large organizations), Evolution must be able to find it through the gnome-vfs subsystem before it can load images from the Internet.

To set your proxy in KDE:

  1. Click the menu icon > System > Configuration > Yast.

  2. Click Network Services, then click Proxy.

  3. Specify your proxy settings (if you don't know your proxy settings, contact your ISP or system administrator).

  4. Click Finish, then click Close.

To set your proxy in GNOME:

  1. Click System > Administrative Settings (enter your root password if needed).

  2. Click Network Services, then click Proxy.

  3. Specify your proxy settings (if you don't know your proxy settings, contact your ISP or system administrator).

  4. Click Finish, then click Close.