<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"/> <title>Mail Filters</title> <link rel="stylesheet" href="manpage.css" type="text/css"/> <link rel="start" href="index.html" title="Cone: COnsole Newsreader And Emailer"/> <link rel="up" href="cone00index.html" title="Cone mail client"/> <link rel="prev" href="cone11encryption.html" title="Encryption Menu"/> <link rel="next" href="cone13addressbook.html" title="Address Book"/> <link xmlns="" rel="icon" href="icon.gif" type="image/gif"/> <meta xmlns="" name="MSSmartTagsPreventParsing" content="TRUE"/> <!-- Copyright 2002 - 2007 Double Precision, Inc. See COPYING for distribution information. --> </head> <body> <div class="navheader"> <table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"> <tr> <th colspan="3" align="center" rowspan="1">Mail Filters</th> </tr> <tr> <td width="20%" align="left" rowspan="1" colspan="1"> <a accesskey="p" href="cone11encryption.html" shape="rect">Prev</a> </td> <th width="60%" align="center" rowspan="1" colspan="1"> <span class="application">Cone</span> mail client</th> <td width="20%" align="right" rowspan="1" colspan="1">  <a accesskey="n" href="cone13addressbook.html" shape="rect">Next</a></td> </tr> </table> <hr/> </div> <div class="chapter" lang="en" xml:lang="en"> <div class="titlepage"> <div> <div> <h2 class="title"><a id="cone12filters" shape="rect" name="cone12filters"> </a>Mail Filters</h2> </div> </div> </div> <p>This is a simple, automatic mail processing function. In this context, “<span class="quote">mail filtering</span>” means the ability to move, automatically delete, or automatically flag all messages that match a specific search criteria.</p> <p>Where possible, it is always more efficient to have the mail server filter messages, instead of a mail client like <span class="application">Cone</span>. <span class="application">Cone</span> mail filters may prove to be sufficient if the mail server does not mail filtering abilities. In situations where the mail server is capable of filtering, the mail server's filters will usually be faster and more efficient.</p> <p>Mail filters may be used with any IMAP, <a class="link" href="smap1.html" title="Appendix A. Simple Mail Access Protocol, Version 1" shape="rect">SMAP</a>, or a local mail account. Mail filters may also be used with POP3 accounts, but they'll be slow, and they'll have certain limitations. <span class="application">Cone</span> will have to download a copy of every message in the POP3 mailbox, in order to check it against the searching criteria, for every mail filter search. This is not needed with IMAP/SMAP accounts, where the search request is processed by the mail server.</p> <p>Mail filters may also be used in limited ways with Usenet newsgroups. Only limited forms of searching are available: only Usenet message headers may be searched, and the searching criteria may only include English characters. All other search requests can only be met by downloading a copy of every message from the newsgroup, which is not going to work very well, for obvious reasons.</p> <p>The best use for mail filters with a Usenet newsgroup is as a simple killfile: “<span class="quote">Search From: contains troll@example.com</span>”, followed by “<span class="quote">Delete and Expunge</span>”.</p> <p>A mail filter may be installed for any folder. Each folder has its own mail filters. The folder's mail filter is automatically processed by <span class="application">Cone</span> whenever:</p> <div class="itemizedlist"> <ul type="disc"> <li> <p>The folder is opened for the first time, or reopened after another folder was opened.</p> </li> <li> <p>New messages are added to the folder.</p> </li> </ul> </div> <p>All messages in the folder are processed by the mail filters when the folder is opened. When new messages are added to the folder, only the new messages will be processed by the mail filters. Existing messages will be ignored.</p> <div class="section" lang="en" xml:lang="en"> <div class="titlepage"> <div> <div> <h4 class="title"><a id="id530792" shape="rect" name="id530792"> </a>Mail Filter Entry Screen</h4> </div> </div> </div> <hr /><pre class="programlisting" xml:space="preserve"> <B>INBOX - FILTERS CONE </B> Current Filters: Search Subject: contains RFC Move to internet-drafts Search From: contains boss@domain.com Mark [ Add new filter ] [ Save Filters ] <B> </B> ^C Cancel DEL Delete ^D Move down ^U Move up </pre><hr /> <p>This screen is accessed by highlighting a folder on the Folder Listing screen, then pressing <span class="keycap"><strong>F</strong></span>. Each mail filter consists of one or more “<span class="quote">steps</span>”. There are two kinds of steps: a “<span class="quote">select</span>” step compiles a list of messages that match a certain search criteria; the selection step is followed by one or more steps that apply a particular “<span class="quote">action</span>” against all messages that were selected. More than one action step may follow a selection step; messages are processed by each action step in sequence, until another selection step, which searches the remaining messages again, and compiles a different list of selected messages.</p> <p>Some actions cannot be naturally followed by any other action, and can only be followed by another selection step. Consider, for example, “<span class="quote">Delete And Expunge</span>” or “<span class="quote">Move to another folder</span>” filtering step: at the conclusion the selected messages are obviously removed, and nothing else can be done with them, any more.</p> <p>This screen initially shows any existing filtering steps defined for the folder. All filtering steps are processed in the order shown. Highlighting an existing filtering step and pressing <span class="keycap"><strong>CTRL</strong></span>-<span class="keycap"><strong>U</strong></span>, or <span class="keycap"><strong>CTRL</strong></span>-<span class="keycap"><strong>D</strong></span>, moves the filtering step higher or lower, thus changing its relative order in the mail filter. <span class="keycap"><strong>DEL</strong></span> removes the existing filtering step. The folder's mail filter is removed by highlighting each step and pressing <span class="keycap"><strong>DEL</strong></span>, then highlighting “<span class="quote">Save Filters</span>” and pressing <span class="keycap"><strong>ENTER</strong></span>.</p> <p>All changes made on this screen are temporary. “<span class="quote">Save Filters</span>” must be selected in order for any changes made on this screen to take effect. <span class="keycap"><strong>CTRL</strong></span>-<span class="keycap"><strong>C</strong></span> closes this screen without changing the folder's existing filter, throwing out all the temporary changes.</p> <p>Highlighting “<span class="quote">Add new filter</span>” and pressing <span class="keycap"><strong>ENTER</strong></span> adds a new filtering step to the end of the mail filter. A sub-menu is shown to define the new filtering step:</p> <div class="variablelist"> <dl> <dt><span class="term"><span class="keycap"><strong>S</strong></span> - select</span></dt> <dd> <p>Enters a new searching criteria which will be used to select messages for the following action steps. See “<span class="quote">Search criteria</span>”, below, for more information.</p> </dd> <dt><span class="term"><span class="keycap"><strong>D</strong></span> - mark deleted</span></dt> <dd> <p>Marks all selected messages as deleted. The messages are not removed from the folder, but only marked as deleted.</p> </dd> <dt><span class="term"><span class="keycap"><strong>U</strong></span> - unmark deleted</span></dt> <dd> <p>Removes the “<span class="quote">deleted</span>” mark from the selected messages. The selected messages are no longer marked as deleted.</p> </dd> <dt><span class="term"><span class="keycap"><strong>X</strong></span> - delete and expunge</span></dt> <dd> <p>The selected messages are removed from the folder.</p> </dd> <dt><span class="term"><span class="keycap"><strong>R</strong></span> - mark each message as tagged</span></dt> <dd> <p>Marks, or highlights the selected messages on the folder index screen. Tagged messages are shown as highlighted on the folder index screen, preceded by “<span class="quote"><code class="literal">*</code></span>”. On some displays, tagged messages are flagged by a checkmark symbol instead of the “<span class="quote"><code class="literal">*</code></span>”.</p> </dd> <dt><span class="term"><span class="keycap"><strong>K</strong></span> - unmark, or untag the messages</span></dt> <dd> <p>Removes the highlighting mark from the selected messages.</p> </dd> <dt><span class="term"><span class="keycap"><strong>W</strong></span> - watch thread</span></dt> <dd> <p>Watch the selected message's replies/subthreads (unless the message is already a part of a watched thread). See <a class="link" href="cone02folderindex.html#watch" title="Watching Threads" shape="rect">“<span class="quote">Watching Threads</span>”</a> in the “<span class="quote">Folder Index</span>” chapter for more information on thread watching.</p> </dd> <dt><span class="term"><span class="keycap"><strong>A</strong></span> - unwatch thread</span></dt> <dd> <p>Stops watching the message, and its replies/subthreads.</p> </dd> <dt><span class="term"><span class="keycap"><strong>M</strong></span> - move messages</span></dt> <dd> <p>Move the selected messages to another folder. Selecting this option reopens the folder index screen. Highlight the folder where the messages can be moved to, and press ENTER.</p> <div class="note" style="margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in;"> <h3 class="title">Note</h3> <p>Messages can be moved only to folders in the same mail account. Messages cannot be moved to a folder in another mail account.</p> <p>This means that this option is not available with POP3 accounts, which naturally have only one folder.</p> </div> </dd> <dt><span class="term"><span class="keycap"><strong>C</strong></span> - copy messages</span></dt> <dd> <p>Copies the selected messages to another folder. This is very similar to the move command, except copies of the selected messages remain in the original folder.</p> <div class="note" style="margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in;"> <h3 class="title">Note</h3> <p>This mail filter will be processed every time a folder is opened. Therefore, the selected messages will be copied to another folder every time this folder is opened. This Copy filtering step should be followed by another filtering step, such as Move, or Delete/Expunge, that removes all selected messages. Otherwise the results could be quite amusing</p> </div> </dd> </dl> </div> <div class="section" lang="en" xml:lang="en"> <div class="titlepage"> <div> <div> <h5 class="title"><a id="id519086" shape="rect" name="id519086"> </a>Search criteria</h5> </div> </div> </div> <div class="variablelist"> <dl> <dt><span class="term"><span class="keycap"><strong>A</strong></span> - select all</span></dt> <dd> <p>Press <span class="keycap"><strong>A</strong></span> to select all available messages.</p> </dd> <dt><span class="term"><span class="keycap"><strong>!</strong></span> - not</span></dt> <dd> <p>Press <span class="keycap"><strong>!</strong></span> to logically reverse the following search criteria. Thus, if the entered search criteria was “<span class="quote">Search the <code class="literal">From</code> header for <code class="literal">troll@example.com</code></span>” the actual search will find messages where the <code class="literal">From</code> header does <span class="emphasis"><em>NOT</em></span> contain this text.</p> </dd> <dt><span class="term"><span class="keycap"><strong>D</strong></span> - search by date</span></dt> <dd> <p>A date-related search. Additional prompts follow, described below.</p> </dd> <dt><span class="term"><span class="keycap"><strong>S</strong></span> - search by status</span></dt> <dd> <p>A status-related search. Each message has several status flags that define whether the message is a new message, a deleted message, a replied message, and so on. Selecting a status search shows three options: “<span class="quote">Deleted</span>”, “<span class="quote">Unread</span>”, and “<span class="quote">Replied</span>”, to search for all deleted, unread, or replied messages, respectively.</p> </dd> <dt><span class="term"><span class="keycap"><strong>T</strong></span> - search by text</span></dt> <dd> <p>A text-based search, search for messages that contain (or don't contain) a given text string. Additional prompts follow, that further refine what kind of text to search for.</p> </dd> <dt><span class="term"><span class="keycap"><strong>Z</strong></span> - search by size</span></dt> <dd> <p>Search for messages that are bigger or smaller than a certain size. Select “<span class="quote">Larger than</span>” or “<span class="quote">Smaller than</span>” at the next prompt, then enter the target message size, in bytes, and press <span class="keycap"><strong>ENTER</strong></span> to search.</p> </dd> </dl> </div> <div class="section" lang="en" xml:lang="en"> <div class="titlepage"> <div> <div> <h6 class="title"><a id="id518849" shape="rect" name="id518849"> </a>Date-based searches</h6> </div> </div> </div> <p>A date-based search brings up additional prompts that specify the nature of the search. There are two dates that are associated with every message: the “<span class="quote">sent</span>” date, when the message was sent; and the “<span class="quote">received</span>” date, when the message was received.</p> <p>The sent date is obtained from the message's <code class="literal">Date:</code> header. The received date is obtained from the mail server (or from the timestamp on the local mailbox).</p> <p>The first prompt enters which date is searched for:</p> <div class="orderedlist"> <ol type="1"> <li> <p>Messages that were sent before the given date.</p> </li> <li> <p>Messages that were the sent on the given date.</p> </li> <li> <p>Messages that were the sent since (on, or after) the given date.</p> </li> <li> <p>Messages that were received before the given date.</p> </li> <li> <p>Messages that were the received on the given date.</p> </li> <li> <p>Messages that were the received since (on, or after) the given date.</p> </li> </ol> </div> <p>The actual date is entered interactively. It starts with today's date. Press <span class="keycap"><strong>+</strong></span> or <span class="keycap"><strong>-</strong></span> to advance the shown date to the next or the following date. Press <span class="keycap"><strong>[</strong></span> or <span class="keycap"><strong>]</strong></span> to advance the shown date by a month. Press <span class="keycap"><strong><</strong></span> or <span class="keycap"><strong>></strong></span> to advance the shown date by a month. Press the space bar to accept the shown date, and search for messages.</p> <div class="note" style="margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in;"> <h3 class="title">Note</h3> <p>Date-based searches are not currently implemented for NetNews newsgroups.</p> </div> </div> <div class="section" lang="en" xml:lang="en"> <div class="titlepage"> <div> <div> <h6 class="title"><a id="id518975" shape="rect" name="id518975"> </a>Text-based searches</h6> </div> </div> </div> <p>Selecting a text-based search shows a wealth of options:</p> <div class="variablelist"> <dl> <dt><span class="term"><span class="keycap"><strong>S</strong></span> - subject</span></dt> <dd> <p>Search the contents of the <code class="literal">Subject:</code> header.</p> </dd> <dt><span class="term"><span class="keycap"><strong>F</strong></span> - from</span></dt> <dd> <p>Search the contents of the <code class="literal">From:</code> header.</p> </dd> <dt><span class="term"><span class="keycap"><strong>T</strong></span> - to</span></dt> <dd> <p>Search the contents of the <code class="literal">To:</code> header.</p> </dd> <dt><span class="term"><span class="keycap"><strong>C</strong></span> - cc</span></dt> <dd> <p>Search the contents of the <code class="literal">Cc:</code> header.</p> </dd> <dt><span class="term"><span class="keycap"><strong>B</strong></span> - bcc</span></dt> <dd> <p>Search the contents of the <code class="literal">Bcc:</code> header.</p> </dd> <dt><span class="term"><span class="keycap"><strong>H</strong></span> - specific header</span></dt> <dd> <p>Searches for the given text in some other header. The next prompt asks for the header's name.</p> </dd> <dt><span class="term"><span class="keycap"><strong>O</strong></span> - contents</span></dt> <dd> <p>Search the contents of the message for the given text.</p> </dd> <dt><span class="term"><span class="keycap"><strong>A</strong></span> - anywhere</span></dt> <dd> <p>Search the given text anywhere - headers or contents.</p> </dd> </dl> </div> <p>Enter the text to search for after selecting one of these options, and press <span class="keycap"><strong>ENTER</strong></span> to perform the search.</p> <div class="note" style="margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in;"> <h3 class="title">Note</h3> <p>Efficient searching is implemented for local mail, and IMAP/SMAP mailboxes only. NetNews servers' searching capabilities are very limited, and POP3 servers have no search facilities whatsoever. In all cases, searching for message status flags is supported, since message status flags are always cached locally.</p> <p>Only message headers of NetNews folders may be searched, and only English characters can be used as a search string. Some older NetNews servers may not have any searching ability whatsoever. Searching of message contents is not supported. Searching by message size, or message's date is not supported either.</p> <p>Searching of POP3 folders is also not very efficient, although the search text is not limited to English characters only. POP3 folder search is accomplished by downloading the complete headers of each message, and searching it manually. Downloaded headers are not cached. The headers are also downloaded when searching by message's date. 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