Communicator Help: Using AOL<sup><font size=-2>®</font></sup> Communicator Mail

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Using AOL Communicator Mail

Reading and Storing Messages

For an introduction to this topic, see Getting Started With Mail.

Getting and Reading Mail
Adjusting Check for New Mail Settings
Viewing and Sorting Your Messages
HOW IT WORKS: Mail Message Security
Storing Messages for Offline Use
Archiving Messages
Backing Up and Restoring Local Mail

Related topics:

Mail Settings & Preferences: Information on general mail preferences and other mail settings.

Getting and Reading Mail

Tutorial movie:

Open and Save Attachments

By default, AOL Communicator Mail checks each new mail account for mail every ten minutes. You can change this setting for each account by editing the account's settings. For details, see Adjusting Check for New Mail Settings.

New mail normally shows up in the New Mail or Inbox folder for each account that you have set up. However, depending on the message filters that you may have set up, some mail may automatically get sorted into different folders.

To check mail immediately for all your accounts:

1. Hold the mouse button down while the pointer is over the Read button.
   A drop-down list appears.
2. Click Read Mail from All Accounts.

To get mail for the currently selected account only:

- Click Read near the upper-left corner of the AOL Communicator Mail window.

To see the messages in an account's Inbox or New Mail folder:

1. Locate the account's name on the left side of the AOL Communicator Mail window.
2. If the triangle beside the account name is pointing right, click it so that it is pointing down and the account's folders are visible.
3. Click the Inbox or New Mail folder.
   The messages appear on the right side of the AOL Communicator Mail window. Click a message to view it in the preview pane below (if the pane is visible). Double-click a message to view it in its own window.

To change the layout of the AOL Communicator Mail window:

Open the View menu, choose Layout Style, and choose the type of message preview you want.

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Adjusting Check for New Mail Settings

By default, AOL Communicator Mail checks each new mail account for mail every ten minutes. You can change this setting for each account by editing the account's "check for new mail" settings.

To edit or view "check for new mail" settings for an AOL account:

1. Open the Edit menu in AOL Communicator Mail.
2. Choose Account Settings.
3. Double-click the AOL account whose settings you want to change.
4. Under Options in the Mail Settings tab, you'll see these checkboxes:
   Check for new mail on startup: Leave this option selected if you want to collect messages for this account automatically when you first launch Mail.
   Check for new mail every __ minutes: Leave this option selected if you want to collect messages for this account at regular intervals. Be sure to fill in the interval in minutes that you want.

To edit or view "check for new mail" settings for an IMAP or POP account:

1. Open the Edit menu in AOL Communicator Mail.
2. Choose Account Settings.
3. Double-click the IMAP or POP account whose settings you want to change.
4. Click the Receiving Mail tab.
5. Under Options in the Mail Settings tab, you'll see these checkboxes:
   Check for new mail on startup: Leave this option selected if you want to collect messages for this account automatically when you first launch Mail.
   Check for new mail every __ minutes: Leave this option selected if you want to collect messages for this account at regular intervals. Be sure to fill in the interval in minutes that you want.

Related topics:

Getting and Reading Mail

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Viewing and Sorting Your Messages

To sort the messages in the currently selected folder, click the top of the column by which you want to sort.

These column icons have the following meanings:

Information about the message, such
as whether it is marked as unread
or marked as spam. Click this column
heading to sort the messages by information
symbols.

Click this column heading to flag a
message, sorted by date.

Click this column heading to sort
the messages by thread, so each
message is grouped with all its
responses.

When sorted by thread, messages
with multiple responses are marked
with this icon in the Thread column.
Click the arrow in the Subject column
to show or collapse responses to that
message.

You can also take these actions on columns:

- Reverse the order in which a category is sorted:
  Open the View menu, choose Sort By, and choose Ascending or Descending.
- Reorder column headings:
  Click and drag a column heading to the left or right to reposition the column.
- Display more columns:
  Click the arrow icon to the right of the rightmost column and select the column you want.

To do something to a message—such as reply, forward, move, or flag it—right-click the message and choose an action from the pop-up menu.

To change the layout of the Mail window: Open the View menu, choose Layout Styles, and choose the layout you want from the submenu:

- Wide Preview: The default layout shows your list of accounts and folders, the contents of the selected folder, and a preview of the selected message.
- Narrow Preview: Lengthens the list of accounts and folders and displays a narrower message preview.
- No Preview: Hides the message preview so you see only your accounts and folders and the selected folder's contents.

To print a message: Select it and click the Print icon near the top of the window.

To view the HTML source for any message: Select it, hold down the Ctrl and Shift keys, and press the U key at the same time.

Related topic:

For information on sorting mail into different folders, see Organizing Mail.

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HOW IT WORKS: Mail Message Security

Web sites use a variety of technologies to streamline users' surfing experience. For example, cookies are often used to keep track of your preferences, shopping cart, and so on at shopping sites, and JavaScript is often used to make web pages more interactive.

E-mail messages often include web pages that may in turn use cookies, JavaScript, and other web technologies. However, while such capabilities are useful in standalone web pages, they aren't required in e-mail messages, since you can always go to the web page itself to shop or interact with the site.

Unfortunately, some technologies used routinely in web pages can potentially be used to collect information about you when they are included in e-mail messages.

Communicator automatically disables web technologies in all e-mail messages that you receive, including cookies, JavaScript, Java, Active X, VBScript, and plugins, because these technologies may be used to transport e-mail-borne viruses. It also disables images in e-mail messages that are marked as spam.

As a result, Communicator helps users avoid many of the potential privacy and security problems associated with e-mail messages.

Virus checking: Files attached to messages sent to and from AOL accounts are automatically checked for viruses by the AOL® service. If a virus is discovered, the AOL service attempts to repair it. If the repair is successful, both the sender and the recipient are notified. If the message can't be repaired, the message is not sent and the sender is notified. The sender and the recipient are also notified if for some reason an AOL® message's attachments cannot be checked for viruses.

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Storing Messages for Offline Use

When you set up an AOL® member account or an ISP account that uses IMAP, your mail is stored on the server. By default, only the message headers are displayed in your AOL® Mail inbox.

When you first set up such an account, you have the option of selecting the option labeled "Make my mail in this account available offline". But you can also turn this option on or off for an account that's already set up.

To view or change your current offline options, follow these steps:

1. From any Communicator Mail window, open the Edit menu and choose Account Settings.
2. Double-click the name of the account (either an AOL member account or an ISP account that uses IMAP) whose offline setting you want to view or change.
   The offline setting is not relevant for ISP accounts that use POP, since POP messages are always downloaded to your computer in their entirety.
3. This step varies depending what kind of account you're viewing:
   AOL Account: Click the Options tab and locate the checkbox labeled Store messages locally for offline computing (in the top part of the window). This option should be selected if you want AOL Communicator Mail to download all the messages stored in this account to your computer.
   ISP Account (with IMAP server): Click the Receiving Mail tab and locate the checkbox labeled Store messages locally for offline computing (in the Options area, near the bottom).
   In either case, the offline option should be selected if you want AOL Communicator Mail to download all the messages stored in the account to your computer.
4. Click OK to confirm your choice.
5. Click OK in the Account Settings window.

Lots of messages take longer to store: If you have more than a hundred messages and a slow connection, the initial download process can take some time.

Once the initial download is completed, Communicator Mail keeps the online and offline copies of your messages synchronized whenever you're online.

When you're offline, you can browse through or rearrange any of the messages with the assurance that your changes will be reflected on the server the next time you go online.

Related topics:

Using AOL Communicator Offline
Archiving Messages
HOW IT WORKS: Passwords & Local Mail

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Archiving Messages

You can set up mail archiving for any of your mail accounts.

Archiving messages is different from storing messages for offline use:

- Archiving an account's messages places a copy of every message you send from or receive in that account on your hard disk in a special folder that shows up under Local Mail in the main Mail window. You can archive any kind of account, including POP.
- Storing messages for offline use causes messages in an IMAP or AOL account to be available in their normal folders even when you're not connected to the Internet.

To turn on mail archiving for some or all of your accounts:

1. Open the Tools menu and choose Auto-Archive Mail.
2. Select one of these mail archive settings:
   All accounts: Archive all sent and received messages for all accounts.
   No accounts: Don't archive any messages.
   Archive mail only for the selected accounts: Archive sent and received messages for some but not all of your accounts.
   If you choose this setting, click to select or deselect each account as appropriate.
3. Click OK.

You can find the archived messages for each account under Local Mail on the left side of the main Mail window.

Related topics:

Storing Messages for Offline Use
HOW IT WORKS: Passwords & Local Mail
Backing Up and Restoring Local Mail

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Backing Up and Restoring Local Mail

In addition to archiving mail for an account, you can back up any Local Mail folder as a `.zip` file, or restore any Local Mail folder that you previously backed up.

This feature can be useful if you want to preserve backups of your mail on a separate drive or transfer your Local Mail folders from one computer to another.

To back up any Local Mail folder:

1. Right-click the folder you want to back up.
2. Choose Backup to .zip.
3. In the "Backup Local Mail to .zip" window, confirm that the selected folder is the one you want to back up. If it isn't, use the drop-down list to change the selection.
4. Confirm that you want any subfolders to be backed up as well (this is the default setting).
5. Click Continue.
6. Type a name for the backup folder and select the directory where you want it to be saved.
7. Click Save.
   If you are backing up a lot of messages, the progress of the backup is indicated in the status bar near the bottom of the Mail window.
8. If you are backing up an archive folder, you will be asked if you want to delete the messages from the archive, since you just created a backup.
   If you're backing up a Local Mail folder that's not an archive, you won't be asked this question, and your original messages in the folder will be preserved.

To restore a .zip file containing one or more backed up Local Mail folders:

1. Open the Tools menu and choose Restore a Backup.
2. Locate the `.zip` file you want to restore, select it, and click Open.
   If you haven't previously restored any backups, a new folder called Restored Backups appears under Local Mail.
   The folders and messages from the backup appear (sorted by backup date) under Restored Backups.

Related topic:

Archiving Messages

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Last Updated September 16, 2003