A User's Guide to Ximian Evolution
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# Chapter 3. Using Evolution for Email

This chapter, and Chapter 4, will provide you with an in-depth guide to the capabilities of Evolution as a mail client. For information about how to set up your mail account, see the Section called Mail Settings in Chapter 10.

> If you use IMAP Mail: If you chose IMAP mail during the setup process, you must subscribe to your mail folders before you can read mail in them. Read the Section called Subscription Management to find out how.

# Reading Mail

Start the mail client by clicking on the Inbox icon in the shortcut bar, or by selecting a mail folder in the folder bar. To read a message, select it in the message list; if you'd like to see it in its own window, double-click on it or press Ctrl+O.

> Reading Mail with the Keyboard: You can click the spacebar to page down while you're reading an email, and press backspace to page up in an email. This may help to make reading your email faster.

## Sorting the message list

Evolution helps you work by letting you sort your email. To sort by sender, subject, or date, click on the bars with those labels at the top of the message list. The direction of the arrow next to the label indicates the direction of the sort, and if you click again, you'll sort them in reverse order. For example, click once on Date to sort messages by date from oldest to newest. Click again, and Evolution sorts the list from newest to oldest. You can also right-click on the message header bars to get a set of sorting options, and add or remove columns from the message list. You can find detailed instructions on how to customize your message display columns in the Section called Sorting Mail with Column Headers in Chapter 4.

> Email Headers: To look at the complete headers for email messages, select View->Message Display->Show Full Headers. To see absolutely every bit, choose View->Message Display->Show Email Source .

You can also choose a threaded message view. Select View->Threaded to turn the threaded view on or off. When you select this option, Evolution groups the replies to a message with the original, so you can follow the thread of a conversation from one message to the next.

Figure 3-1. Threaded Mail View

## Deleting Mail

Once you've read your mail, you may want to get rid of it. To delete a message:

1. Click the message to select it

2. Press delete button or right click on the message and choose Delete.

   > Why do I still see deleted mail?: When you press Delete or click the trash button, your mail isn't actually deleted, but is marked for deletion. Your email is not gone until you have expunged it. When you "Expunge" a folder, you remove all the mail that you have marked for deletion.

   > If you don't like this behavior, select View->Hide Deleted Messages. Then, you will only see deleted messages when you look in your Trash folder.

3. Click Actions->Expunge or press Ctrl+E

> Trash is Actually a vFolder?: Both local and IMAP Trash folders are actually vFolders that display all messages you have marked for later deletion. For more information about vFolders, see the Section called Getting Really Organized with vFolders in Chapter 4. Since emptying your trash expunges the messages in your Trash folder, choosing Actions->Empty Trash is the same as expunging deleted mail from all your folders.

> This is not, however, true for the Trash folder on Exchange servers, which behaves just the same as it would in Outlook. That is to say, the Trash folder on an Exchange server is a normal folder with actual messages in it.

## Undeleting Messages

To undelete a message:

1. Select a message you have marked for deletion.

2. Press Ctrl+U or choose Edit->Undelete

   > What does Undelete actually do?: If you have marked a message for deletion, undeleting it will unmark it, and the message will be removed from the Trash folder. However, it can't bring back messages that have been expunged.

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