A User's Guide to Ximian Evolution
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# The First Time you Start Ximian Evolution

To start Ximian Evolution, do either of the following:

- Select Programs->Evolution from your menu panel.

- Type evolution at the command line.

> Command Line Options: Evolution has a number of command-line options that you may wish to make use of. You can find the full list by running the commands `man evolution` or `evolution --help`. The most important ones are:

> - To start Evolution in offline mode: `evolution --offline`

> - To start Evolution and begin composing a message to the email address you name: `evolution mailto:joe@somewhere.net`

> - To make your web browser use Evolution as the default email client, enter `evolution "%s"` as the email handler in your web browser or in the GNOME Control Center.

The first time you run the program, it will create a directory called `evolution` in your home directory, where it will store all of its local data. Then, it will open a first-run assistant to help you set up mail accounts and import data from other applications.

Using the first-run assistant will take approximately two to five minutes.

## Defining Your Identity

The Identity window is the first step in the assistant. Here, you will enter some basic personal information. You can define multiple identities later on with the Tools->Configure tool and clicking the Mail Accounts button.

- Full Name: Your full name (Example: John Doe).

- Email Address: Your email address (Example: john@doe.com)

- Organization: The company where you work, or the organization you represent when you send email (optional).

## Receiving Email

The Receiving Email lets you determine which you will get your email.

- Server Type: There are numerous types of servers from which Ximian Evolution can fetch your mail. Ask your system administrator if you're not sure which of the following are available to you:

  - POP: Downloads your email to your hard disk for permanent storage.

  - Microsoft Exchange: Available only if you have purchased the Ximian Connector for Microsoft Exchange, this will allow you to connect to a Microsoft Exchange 2000 server, which stores email, calendar, and contact information on the server.

  - IMAP: Keeps the email on your server so you can access your email from multiple systems.

  - Standard Unix mbox spools: If you want to read and store mail in the mail spool on your local system, choose this option. You'll need to provide the path to the mail spool you want to use.

  - Maildir format mail directories: If you download your mail using qmail or another maildir-style program, you'll want to use this option. You'll need to provide the path to the mail directory you want to use.

  - MH format mail directories: If you download your mail using mh or another MH-style program, you'll want to use this option. You'll need to provide the path to the mail directory you want to use.

  - Local Delivery: Choose this option if you want to move mail from the spool and store it in your home directory. If you would rather leave mail in your system's spool files, choose the Standard Unix mbox spools option instead. You'll need to provide the path to the mail spool you want to use.

  - Directory Tree of mbox files: If you wish to use a directory tree full of mbox files, select this option and enter the directory you wish to use. This option is useful if you wish to use pine or other email clients at the same time as Evolution, while storing mail on your local system in mbox format.

  - None: Select this if you do not plan to check mail with this account.

If you selected POP, Microsoft Exchange, or IMAP as your mail server, you'll need to enter some more information:

- The host name of your mail server. Ask your system administrator if you're not sure.

- The username for the account on that system.

- Whether you want to use a secure (SSL) connection. If your server supports it, it's best to enable this security option.

- The authentication options supported by your server. If you're not sure, click the Check for supported types button or ask your system administrator.

- Whether you'd like Evolution to remember your password.

> Ximian Evolution Talk to Microsoft Exchange?: If you have purchased Ximian Connector for Microsoft Exchange, you can access Microsoft Exchange 2000 servers natively. If you do not have the Connector, or if you use an older version of Microsoft Exchange, talk to your system administrator about access to standard protocol services like POP and IMAP.

## More Mail Configuration Options

There are more extensive options for mail preferences, especially if you've chosen POP, Microsoft Exchange, or IMAP as incoming mail server type. If you want to set these options after you've created the account, you can select Tools->Configure , click the Mail Accounts button. Then, select the account you want to change and click Edit. See the Section called Mail Settings in Chapter 10 for details.

If you chose POP mail:

  - Checking for new mail: If you would like Evolution to check for new mail automatically, check the box and select a frequency in minutes.

  - Message Storage: If you'd like to store copies of your mail on the server, check this option.

If you chose Microsoft Exchange:

  - Checking for new mail: If you would like Evolution to check for new mail automatically, check the box and select a frequency in minutes.

  - Mailbox Name is Different from Login Name: If your active directory user name is different from your Exchange mailbox name, check this box and enter your mailbox name here.

  - Override Outlook Web Access Path: In most cases, the URL for web access is "http://server.company.com/exchange." If your system has a path that is not "exchange," check the box and enter the custom path here.

  - Create a Global Address List folder: If you want to use your organization's Active Directory or Global Address List, leave this box checked.

  - Active Directory Server Name: Enter the Active Directory server name here.

  - Limit number of Responses: Select a maximum number of results for an address search. A maximum number of results limits the load on your system and on your network.

If you chose IMAP:

  - Checking for new mail: If you would like Evolution to check for new mail automatically, check the box and select a frequency in minutes.

  - If you want Evolution to check for new messages in all your IMAP folders, make sure the Check for new messages in all folders box is selected.

  - Show only subscribed folders: Check this box if you have more folders in your IMAP view than you want to read.

  - Override server-supplied namespace: If you like, enter a specific directory where your server stores mail for you. Typical values are "mail" and "Mail." For more information about how to use IMAP mail, see the Section called Subscription Management in Chapter 3.

  - Apply filters to new messages in INBOX on this server: If you'd like your filters to work on this account as well as on locally downloaded mail, check this box.

> What's an IMAP Namespace?: For IMAP mail servers, your sysadmin may provide you with a specific namespace, the directory on where your server stores mail for you. If you check your IMAP mail and your folder list includes files that don't look like mail folders, you probably need to change your mail namespace. Typical values are "mail" and "Mail." If you prefer, you can choose to subscribe to individual mail folders one at a time. For more information about how to use IMAP mail, see the Section called Subscription Management in Chapter 3.

## Sending Email

The Sending Email step lets you configure sending email.

- Server Type: There are numerous server types that Ximian Evolution supports for sending your mail.

  - SMTP: Sends mail directly from your system.

  - Microsoft Exchange: Sends mail through a Microsoft Exchange server using the Microsoft Exchange 2000 protocol. Available only if you have are using the Ximian Connector for Microsoft Exchange. You must have a valid license key purchased from store.ximian.com.

  - Sendmail: Uses the Sendmail program to send mail from your system. Sendmail is more flexible, but is not as easy to configure, so you should only select this option if you know how to set up a Sendmail service.

- Host: If you chose SMTP or Microsoft Exchange, enter the server's name or IP address here.

- Server requires authentication: If your server requires you to enter a password to send mail, check this box.

- Authentication Type: Unless you've been told otherwise, your best bet is to leave this set at Password. If you're not sure, ask your system administrator or ISP, or have Ximian Evolution check for you by clicking Check for supported types.

- Username: The account name you use when you login to check your email. Normally, this is the part of your email address before the '@' character. For Exchange servers, it is the username you would use to log in to a Windows workstation at your company.

- Remember Password: If you prefer to not enter your password every time you check email, press this button.

## Importing Mail (Optional)

If Ximian Evolution finds mail or address files from another application, it will offer to import them. If you're not sure which file format your mail program uses, ask your system administrator. If you want, you can skip this step and return to it at a later time by selecting File->Import.

Ximian Evolution can import the following types of files:

VCard (.vcf, gcrd):

  The addressbook format used by the GNOME, KDE, and many other contact management applications. You should be able to export to VCard format from any address book application.

Microsoft Outlook Express 4 (.mbx):

  Email file format used by Microsoft Outlook Express 4. For other versions of Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express, see the workaround described in the note below.

MBox (mbox):

  The email box format used by Mozilla, Netscape, Ximian Evolution, Eudora, and many other email clients.

> Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express Users: Microsoft Outlook, and versions of Outlook Express after version 4, use proprietary formats that Ximian Evolution cannot read or import. For contacts, you may have to email them to yourself and import them that way. For email, there is a simpler workaround:

> 1. While using Windows, import the files into Mozilla Mail (or another mailer, such as Netscape or Eudora, that uses the standard mbox format).

> 2. Copy the files to the system or partition you use for Ximian Evolution.

> 3. Use the Ximian Evolution import tool to import the files. There's more information about why this works, and how, at the Ximian support website.

> Netscape Users: Before importing mail from Netscape, make sure you select File->Compact All Folders. If you don't, Ximian Evolution will import and undelete the messages in your Trash folders.

> Exporting Files From Ximian Evolution: Ximian Evolution uses standard file types for all its information, so you should have no trouble taking your information elsewhere if you want.

> For mail, that's `mbox`, for calendar, `iCal`, and for the address book, vCards in a `.db3` database.

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