path: root/tde-i18n-en_GB/docs/tdepim/kmail/getting-started.docbook

<chapter id="getting-started">

<chapterinfo>
<authorgroup>
<author><firstname>Daniel</firstname> <surname>Naber</surname> <affiliation><address> <email>daniel.naber@t-online.de</email>
</address></affiliation>
</author>
<author><firstname>David</firstname> <surname>Rugge</surname> <affiliation><address> <email>davidrugge@mediaone.net</email>
</address></affiliation>
</author>
<author><firstname>Michel</firstname> <surname>Boyer de la Giroday</surname> <affiliation><address> <email>michel@klaralvdalens-datakonsult.se</email>
</address></affiliation>
</author>
<othercredit role="translator"><firstname>Andrew</firstname><surname>Coles</surname><affiliation><address><email>andrew_coles@yahoo.co.uk</email></address></affiliation><contrib>British English English</contrib></othercredit> 
</authorgroup>
<date>2004-07-13</date> <releaseinfo>1.7</releaseinfo> </chapterinfo>

<title>Getting Started</title>

<para>This is a short introduction to &kmail; and its usage so you can start working with it right away. For more in-depth information see the <link linkend="using-kmail">Using &kmail;</link> section. Note that &kmail;'s installation is described in <link linkend="installation">the appendix</link>.</para>

<para>Invoking &kmail; for the first time creates a folder called <filename class="directory">Mail</filename> in your home folder. This folder contains the initial folders (<filename class="directory">inbox</filename>, <filename class="directory">outbox</filename>, <filename class="directory">sent-mail</filename>, <filename class="directory">wastebin</filename> and <filename class="directory">drafts</filename>). Use <menuchoice> <guimenu>Settings</guimenu> <guimenuitem>Configure &kmail;...</guimenuitem> </menuchoice> to enter some initial information so &kmail; will be able to properly retrieve and send your messages.</para>

<para>The Configure window consists of six sections: <guilabel>Identities</guilabel>, <guilabel>Network</guilabel>, <guilabel>Appearance</guilabel>, <guilabel>Composer</guilabel>, <guilabel>Security</guilabel> and <guilabel>Misc</guilabel>.</para>

<para>To begin sending and receiving messages you will only have to change some settings in the <guilabel>Identities</guilabel> and <guilabel>Network</guilabel> pages.</para>

  <sect1 id="setting-your-identity">
    <title>Setting your Identity </title>

    <para>The settings in the <guilabel>Identities</guilabel> page are fairly straightforward. Select your default identity and click <guibutton>Modify</guibutton>. Fill in the <guilabel>Your name</guilabel> field with your full name (&eg; <userinput>John Doe</userinput>) and the <guilabel>Organisation</guilabel> field (optional) with the appropriate information. </para>
    <para>Next, fill in the <guilabel>Email address</guilabel> field with your email address (&eg; <userinput>john@example.net</userinput>). </para>
    <para>If you are using <application>PGP</application> or <application>GnuPG</application> you can set your &openpgp; keys and/or &smime; certificates in the <link linkend="configure-identity-cryptography"><guilabel>Cryptography</guilabel></link> tab. </para>
    <para>Optionally, go to the <guilabel>Signature</guilabel> tab and enter your signature. This is a short text that will be automatically appended to all your messages. It has nothing to do with <emphasis>digital signatures</emphasis>. </para>

  </sect1>

<sect1 id="setting-up-your-account">
<title>Setting up your Account</title>

<para>The <guilabel>Network</guilabel> page contains the settings that tell &kmail; how to send and receive your email messages. Many of these settings can vary greatly depending on the setup of your system and on the kind of network that your mail server is located in. If you do not know what setting to choose or what to put in a field, consult your Internet Service Provider (<acronym>ISP</acronym>) or system administrator.</para>

<sect2 id="sending-mail">
<title>Sending Messages</title>

<para>The <guilabel>Sending</guilabel> tab provides a list of ways to send messages. The first item in the list is the default way to send messages. Using the <guibutton>Add...</guibutton> button you can choose between two different ways of sending messages: <guilabel>SMTP</guilabel> and <guilabel>Sendmail</guilabel>. &Sendmail; here means a local software installation -- this has a reputation of being difficult to set up, so if you do not already have a working &Sendmail; configuration, choose <guilabel>SMTP</guilabel> and fill in the <guilabel>Name</guilabel> field with a descriptive name (&eg; <userinput>My Mail Account</userinput>) and the <guilabel>Host</guilabel> field with the name and domain of your mail server (&eg; <userinput>smtp.provider.com</userinput>). You will probably not need to change the <guilabel>Port</guilabel> setting (the default is <userinput>25</userinput>).</para>

<!-- TODO: more specific link -->
<para>If you do want to use &Sendmail; and you are using a dial-up connection, follow the instructions for setting up sendmail for a dial-up connection in the <link linkend="faq">&FAQ;</link> section.</para>

<para>The way of sending messages configured here will be used for your default identity and for all other identities that have no own way of sending messages. You can use different ways of sending messages for different identities by selecting the <guilabel>Special transport</guilabel> checkbox in the <guilabel>Advanced</guilabel> tab of the <guilabel>Identities</guilabel> section.</para>

<para>A description of the other options can be found in the <link linkend="configure-accounts-sending">Configuration</link> chapter.</para>


<sect3 id="sending-mail-kolab">
<title>Options relevant to <acronym>Kolab</acronym> server</title>

<para>When configuring a <guilabel>SMTP</guilabel> account with a <guilabel>Kolab</guilabel> server Host, you need to check the <guilabel>Server requires authentification</guilabel> option and to fill in your <guilabel>Kolab</guilabel> user's email address and password in the <guilabel>Login</guilabel> and <guilabel>Password</guilabel> fields. Select then the <guilabel>Security</guilabel> tab and click on the <guibutton>Check What the Server Supports</guibutton> for automated setup of your <guilabel>Security</guilabel> configuration. The default should be <guilabel>TLS/PLAIN</guilabel>. The <guilabel>Kolab</guilabel> server supports <guilabel>SSL/PLAIN</guilabel> as well. Those settings may of course be configured manually.</para>
</sect3>
</sect2>

<sect2 id="receiving-mail">
<title>Receiving Messages</title>

<para>To set up an account so you can receive mail, press the <guibutton>Add...</guibutton> button in the <guilabel>Receiving</guilabel> tab. You will then be prompted for the type of your email account. Most users should select <guilabel>POP3</guilabel> or <guilabel>IMAP</guilabel>. If you want to use a local mailbox file, please see the <link linkend="faq-file-locking">FAQ about file locking</link>.</para>
        
<para>You will then be presented with the <guilabel>Add account</guilabel> window. First, fill in the <guilabel>Name</guilabel> field to name your account. You can choose any name you like. <guilabel>Login</guilabel>, <guilabel>Password</guilabel>, and <guilabel>Host</guilabel> should be filled in with the appropriate information from your <acronym>ISP</acronym> or system administrator. You should not need to change the <guilabel>Port</guilabel> setting (the default for POP3 is <userinput>110</userinput>, the default for <acronym>IMAP</acronym> is <userinput>143</userinput>).</para>

<sect3 id="receiving-mail-kolab">
<title>Options relevant to <acronym>Kolab</acronym> server</title>
<para>select <guilabel>Disconnected IMAP</guilabel> when choosing your <guilabel>Account Type</guilabel>. Fill in the <guilabel>Login</guilabel> and <guilabel>Password</guilabel> fields with respectively your user email address and password on the <guilabel>Kolab</guilabel> server. In the <guilabel>Security</guilabel> section click on the <guilabel>Check What the Server Support</guilabel> button for automated set-up of your <guilabel>Security</guilabel> configuration. The default should be <guilabel>TLS/PLAIN</guilabel>. The <guilabel>Kolab</guilabel> server supports <guilabel>SSL/PLAIN</guilabel> as well. Those settings may of course be configured manually.</para>
<para>If you want to use the <guilabel>"Out of Office" Replies</guilabel> functionality of the <guilabel>Kolab</guilabel> server, set-up the <guilabel>Filtering</guilabel> section of you <guilabel>DIMAP</guilabel> account by checking the <guilabel>Server supports Sieve</guilabel> option as well as <guilabel>Reuse host and login configuration</guilabel>, <guilabel>Managesieve port</guilabel> should be set to 2000 as default. </para>
</sect3>

<sect3 id="receiving-mail-dimap-misc">
<title>Options only relevant to DIMAP (<acronym>Kolab</acronym> server)</title>
<para>After having configured your <guilabel>Disconnect IMAP</guilabel> account, you need to activate the <guilabel>Groupware</guilabel> functionalities and set-up the <guilabel>Misc</guilabel> page for <guilabel>KMail</guilabel>. </para>
<para>In the <guilabel>Misc</guilabel> page, of the <guilabel>Configure</guilabel> dialogue, choose the <guilabel>Groupware</guilabel> tab. Check the <guilabel>Enable IMAP resource functionality</guilabel> option and select <guilabel>Kolab (XML)</guilabel> as <guilabel>Format used for the groupware folders</guilabel>. The <guilabel>Resource folders are in account</guilabel> combo-box should be set on the <guilabel>Receiving</guilabel> (kolab user) account of your choice (if you happen to have several accounts).You may if you wish hide the groupware folder by checking this option. It is recommended to check both <guilabel>Groupware Compatibility and Legacy Options</guilabel> for compatibility with an eventual <guilabel>Kolab</guilabel> Microsoft Outlook client for sending invitations and replies from a <guilabel>Kolab</guilabel> KDE client. </para>
</sect3>
        
<sect3 id="receiving-mail-imap">
<title>Options only relevant to <acronym>IMAP</acronym></title>
<para>If you are using <acronym>IMAP</acronym>, you can optionally specify a path in the <guilabel>Prefix to folders</guilabel> field. This tells &kmail; where it can find your folders on the server. If you also have a shell account on the server and the messages are stored in your home folder it might be useful to store the messages in a subfolder <filename class="directory">Mail</filename>. Use this as a value in the <guilabel>Prefix to folders</guilabel> field so that &kmail; does not mix up mailbox files and other files. If you are not interested in this feature, simple leave the field blank.</para>

<para>If you check <guilabel>Automatically compact folders</guilabel> &kmail; removes the messages you deleted from the server as soon as you leave a folder. Otherwise the messages are only marked as deleted and it is up to you to compact the folders manually by using the menu item <menuchoice><guimenu>File</guimenu><guimenuitem>Compact All Folders</guimenuitem></menuchoice>.</para>
<para>If you check <guilabel>Show hidden folders</guilabel>, folders whose name starts with a dot are also displayed.</para>
</sect3>


<sect3 id="receiving-mail-pop3">
<title>Options only relevant to POP3</title>

<para>Select <guilabel>Leave fetched messages on the server</guilabel> if you want to leave your messages on the server after you downloaded them.</para>

<para>Select <guilabel>Exclude from &quot;Check Mail&quot;</guilabel> if you do not want to check this account whenever you use <menuchoice><guimenu>File</guimenu><guimenuitem>Check Mail</guimenuitem></menuchoice>. You can still check for new messages on this account with <menuchoice><guimenu>File</guimenu><guimenuitem>Check Mail In</guimenuitem></menuchoice>.</para>

<para>Select <guilabel>Enable interval mail checking</guilabel> if you want &kmail; to check for new messages automatically. The interval can be specified below under <guilabel>Check interval</guilabel>.</para>

<para><guilabel>inbox</guilabel> is the default folder for incoming messages. If you want to change that for some reason, you can do so with <guilabel>Destination folder</guilabel>. But what you probably want is a <link linkend="filters">filter</link>, which has nothing to do with this option.</para>

<para>With <guilabel>Precommand</guilabel> you can specify any program that &kmail; will execute just before fetching mail. Please specify the full path (do not use <quote>~</quote>) and note that &kmail; will not continue until the program returns.</para>

<para>On the <guilabel>Extras</guilabel> tab you can select <guilabel>Use pipelining for faster mail download</guilabel> if this is supported by your server. You should carefully test this to make sure it works safely.</para>
</sect3>

<sect3 id="receiving-mail-imap-pop3">
<title>Options for both <acronym>IMAP</acronym> and POP3</title>

<!-- TODO: move all this, this isn't important for beginners?! -->
<para>If you select <guilabel>Store POP password in configuration file</guilabel> or <guilabel>Store IMAP password in configuration file</guilabel> &kmail; will remember your password so you will not have to type it every time you start &kmail; and fetch new mail.</para>

<warning><para>Be warned that &kmail; cannot really encrypt your password, so people who can access your configuration files (&eg; system administrators) can easily get your password if you select this option.</para></warning>

<para>&kmail; supports encryption via <guilabel>SSL</guilabel> and <guilabel>TLS</guilabel> (<guilabel>TLS</guilabel> should be preferred if it is available).</para>

<para>For POP3 &kmail; supports:</para>

<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para><guilabel>Clear text</guilabel>, </para></listitem>
<listitem><para><guilabel>PLAIN</guilabel>, </para></listitem>
<listitem><para><guilabel>LOGIN</guilabel>, </para></listitem>
<listitem><para><guilabel>CRAM-MD5</guilabel> (recommended if <guilabel>DIGEST-MD5</guilabel> is not available),</para></listitem>
<listitem><para><guilabel>DIGEST-MD5</guilabel> (recommended) and</para></listitem>
<listitem><para><guilabel>APOP</guilabel> authentication.</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>

<para><guilabel>DIGEST-MD5</guilabel>, <guilabel>CRAM-MD5</guilabel> and <guilabel>APOP</guilabel> are secure on their own, the other options are only secure when used together with <guilabel>SSL</guilabel> or <guilabel>TLS</guilabel>. You should only use <guilabel>Clear text</guilabel> if your server does not support any of the other authentication methods. Additionally, for <acronym>IMAP</acronym> <guilabel>Anonymous</guilabel> is supported, but <guilabel>APOP</guilabel> is not. Use the <guibutton>Check what the server supports</guibutton> button on the <guilabel>Extras</guilabel> or <guilabel>Security</guilabel> tab to automatically select the most secure settings supported by your server.</para>

<para>You are now ready to send and receive mail. For <acronym>IMAP</acronym>, just open your folders in the folder tree in &kmail;'s main window. &kmail; then connects to your server and displays the messages it finds. For POP3 use <menuchoice><guimenu>File</guimenu><guimenuitem>Check Mail</guimenuitem></menuchoice>.</para>

</sect3>

</sect2>

</sect1>

<sect1 id="testing-your-setup">
<title>Testing your Setup</title>

<para>First, you should send yourself a message to test your configuration. To send a message, either hit <keycombo action="simul">&Ctrl;<keycap>N</keycap></keycombo>, select the <guiicon>New Message</guiicon> icon or select the <menuchoice><guimenu>Message</guimenu><guimenuitem>New Message...</guimenuitem></menuchoice> menu item. The <link linkend="the-composer-window">composer window</link> will appear. Fill in the <guilabel>To:</guilabel> field with your email address and type something in the <guilabel>Subject</guilabel> field. Send the message by selecting <menuchoice><guimenu>Message</guimenu> <guimenuitem>Send</guimenuitem> </menuchoice>.</para>
      
<para>To check your email, select <menuchoice><guimenu>File</guimenu><guimenuitem>Check Mail</guimenuitem></menuchoice>. In the lower right corner of the main window, a progress bar will indicate how many messages are being downloaded. If you receive the message you just sent, then congratulations! If, however, you receive any error messages while testing your setup, make sure that your network connection is working and recheck your settings at <menuchoice><guimenu>Settings</guimenu> <guimenuitem>Configure &kmail;...</guimenuitem></menuchoice>.</para>

</sect1>

</chapter>