Mail and News

1. How do I get rid of the "Local Folders" in Mail/News?
(found out by Bruce Jensen)

It is possible to remove those folders, but in doing so you risk dataloss. So proceed with caution.

Close Netscape completely.
In your profile directory, delete \Mail\Local Folders.
Open the file prefs.js with your favorite text editor and delete any reference to Local folders, especially:

user_pref("mail.server.server2.directory", "C:\\WINDOWS\\APPLICATION DATA\\Mozilla\\profiles\\YourProfile\\xxxxxxxx.slt\\Mail\\Local Folders");
user_pref("mail.server.server2.hostname", "Local Folders");
user_pref("mail.server.server2.name", "Local Folders");
user_pref("mail.server.server2.type", "none");
user_pref("mail.server.server2.userName", "nobody");
user_pref("mail.root.none", "C:\\WINDOWS\\APPLICATION DATA\\Mozilla\\profiles\\DeinProfil\\xxxxxxxx.slt\\Mail");
user_pref("mail.accountmanager.localfoldersserver", "server2");

Note: server2 is just an example. The name might be different on your system (server3, server4, and so on). Save prefs.js and restart Netscape. Local Folders should be gone now. Adjust settings in news server accounts (especially Sent Items).

2. How can I deactivate format=flowed (=using classic line break)?

Many people complain that Netscape does not break lines correctly or seems to forget to break lines when the message has been sent (although the mail/news editor shows line breaks). This is not a bug, it's a feature. Netscape uses a new format to send emails, it's called Format Flowed, see http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2646.txt.

This new standard lets you send text with returns only at the ends of paragraphs, which is much more convenient for reading on small or unconventional displays (PDAs, cellphones and such).
The way format=flowed works is by sending your mail wrapped and with normal quote characters (>'s), just like before. The only difference is that whenever Netscape wraps your text, it adds a single space to the end of the line. This allows Netscape (or other format flowed mailers) to reconstruct the original text exactly, taking out all the line breaks that were added, and presenting legible mail to the reader, no matter how wide or narrow the window is. A simple mailer won't know how to do this, of course, but that's ok; the only difference will be a single space added on the end of each wrapped line, which will disturb no one.
Format=Flowed is a display thing, the message is still wrapped as set in the preferences.
In my opinion, Format=Flowed is a good idea on "unconventional" and small displays, but on a large computer screen, with a high resolution, format=flowed is quite bad for the eyes.
See for yourself: format=flowed enabled / format=flowed disabled
Let me stress again that the source (i.e. the text that is being sent) for both messages looks exactly the same; when you send a message in format=flowed the lines are broken at the line length you specify in the preferences (default is 72). f=f only applies to the display of a message.

For deactivating the display of format=flowed add the following line to user.js:

user_pref("mailnews.display.disable_format_flowed_support", true);

Stanimir Stamenkov found another way to deal with the display of format=flowed messages. Add the following to userContent.css:

.moz-text-flowed {
max-width: 80ch !important
}

For HTML emails use:

.moz-text-html {
max-width: 42em !important
}

userContent.css is in your chrome folder in your profile directory. It's a simple text file and has to be created if it's not there. This fix is based on http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=71110.

To also deactivate the sending in format=flowed (and therefore get rid of format=flowed completely) add the following line:

user_pref("mailnews.send_plaintext_flowed", false);

See also my Format=Flowed-Mini-FAQ

3. How can I decode ROT-13?

Please use the following addon for ROT13 (and more): http://mnenhy.mozdev.org.

4. How can I have the classic ">" back instead of the vertical bar?

Add the following lines to your user.js:

user_pref("mail.quoted_graphical", false);
user_pref("mail.quoteasblock", false);
user_pref("mailnews.display.disable_format_flowed_support", true);

The third line disables format=flowed and is necessary to completely disable it. Without it, format=flowed messages would still have the vertical bar.
Thunderbird needs a bit more tweaking. Add the following lines to your userContent.css:

blockquote[type=cite] {
    padding-bottom: 0 !important;
    padding-top: 0 !important;
    padding-left: 0 !important;
    border-left: none !important;
    border-right: none !important;
}

Or use an extension called Quotecolors to facilitate the process.

5. How can I re-activate "structured words"?

What are "structured words" anyhow, you might ask... well, it seems like Netscape thinks it's not good for the average user to have this nifty feature, so they disabled it, don't ask why, it's one of those things that might drive you crazy. "Structured words" is sort of like having "html" tags in plaintext messages, that's why they are also referred to as "plaintext tags".
Plaintext tags are very common in Linux/Unix/Mac mail/newsreaders (such as tin, slrn, mutt, pan, knews, mkmail, gnus and so on), so having this feature in a Windows program is very cool.
Mozilla (which Netscape is based on) knows the following plaintext tags:
*bold* = *bold*
/italic/ = /italic/
_underline_ = _underline_

So to reactivate plaintext tags add the following line to your user.js (don't you love user.js by now?):

user_pref("mail.display_struct", true);

6. How can I change the attribution line ("Someone wrote:")?
You can have a different reply intro line in Netscape. Add the following line(s) to user.js/prefs.js:

<Author> wrote:
user_pref("mailnews.reply_header_type", 1);

"On <date> <Author> wrote:
user_pref("mailnews.reply_header_type", 2);

"<Author> wrote On <date>:
user_pref("mailnews.reply_header_type", 3);

Changing the line completely (instead of "Author wrote"):
user_pref("mailnews.reply_header_authorwrote", "%s spoke thusly");
Changing the date display ("On ", or leaving it blank completely ""):
user_pref("mailnews.reply_header_ondate", "In the year %s");
Specifying the , separator (default is a comma):
user_pref("mailnews.reply_header_separator", ", ");
Replacing the colon (in "author wrote:"):
user_pref("mailnews.reply_header_colon", ":");
Changing the date display format:
user_pref("mailnews.reply_header_locale", "de-DE");
(de-DE is the German format: 25.05.02, you can use any format you like, for example en-GB for British format, or DK for Danish. Check out Edit -> Preferences -> Navigator -> Languages for examples)

Example:
My intro line looks like this:


`On 05/25/02 12:03 Someone spoke thusly:` `> Netscape 7 rules!` `I 100% agree.`

(Notice the empty line between the attribution line and the quoted text)

To accomplish this I added the following lines into my user.js:
user_pref("mailnews.reply_header_type", 2);
user_pref("mailnews.reply_header_authorwrote", "%s spoke thusly");
user_pref("mailnews.reply_header_separator", " ");
user_pref("mailnews.reply_header_colon", "\n");

7. How can I add spellcheckers in other languages?

You can either use the old Netscape 4 spellcheckers by copying them into the Netscape 7 spellchecker directory:
\Netscape\Netscape 7\components\spellchecker or install the new ones from http://wp.netscape.com/computing/download/spellcheckers.html

8. How can I export my address book?

Netscape 6. Use Dawn.
Netscape 7 has an export functon: Addressbook --> Tools --> Export

9. How can I change the color of quoted material?

You can not only have one color for quoted material, you can have different colors for the different quoting levels , and since a picture says more than a thousand words, check this out.

Here's how to do it:

In your profile directory (you know where that is by now, don't you?), there's a subfolder named chrome. Go there and create a file called userContent.css. It's a simple plaintext file, so use notepad or your favorite text editor and add the following lines:

blockquote[type=cite] {
color: navy ! important;
}
blockquote[type=cite] blockquote {
color: maroon ! important;
}
blockquote[type=cite] blockquote blockquote {
color: green ! important;
}
blockquote[type=cite] blockquote blockquote blockquote {
color: purple ! important;
}
blockquote[type=cite] blockquote blockquote blockquote blockquote {
color: teal ! important;
}

color specifies the color for the quoted material, in this case the first level of quoted material is navyblue, the second "maroon" and so on, blockquote specifies the level of quotes, the above example colors quotes up to 4 levels deep (color teal). You can add additional lines by just adding another blockquote level:

blockquote[type=cite] blockquote blockquote blockquote blockquote blockquote {
color: yellow ! important;
}

This would make a five level (and higher) quote appear in yellow.
The colors are either specified by name or RGB ( for example #FF0000) and completely up to your personal choice .

If you are not sure how to do it, download my userContent.css, copy it into your chrome folder and change it according to your personal color taste.

You can also have the graphical vertical quoting bars in a different color. This should be self-explanatory:

blockquote[type=cite] {
color: navy ! important;
border-color: black ! important;
}
blockquote[type=cite] blockquote {
color: maroon ! important;
border-color: navy ! important;
}
blockquote[type=cite] blockquote blockquote {
color: green ! important;
border-color: maroon ! important;
}
blockquote[type=cite] blockquote blockquote blockquote {
color: purple ! important;
border-color: green ! important;
}
blockquote[type=cite] blockquote blockquote blockquote blockquote {
color: teal ! important;
border-color: purple ! important;
}
blockquote[type=cite] blockquote blockquote blockquote blockquote blockquote {
color: gray ! important;
border-color: teal ! important;
}

And this is not the limit:

How about having the quoted text in a different font (for example Arial)? Then add

font-family: Arial !important;

Or a bigger font:

font-size: 18pt !important;

Or how about having a background color? Then add

background-color: gray !important;

There is virtually no limit of what you can do with message display in Netscape 7/Mozilla. All you need to know is a basic understanding of CSS.

Netscape 7.1 also colors quoted text in the Message Composer. The quoted text is in a default light-blue. To change this color to something else add the following to your userContent.css (where the actual color is either RGB or a real color name):

span[_moz_quote=true] {
color: green !important;
}

Addendum: Adding this to your userContent.css also adds "real-time-coloring" to Netscape 7.0/Mozilla 1.0!

10. How can I change the color of the signature?

Netscape displays a correct signature ("-- ") in a grayish color. If you don't like that color you can change it (surprise!).
Remember userContent.css (see #9)? Open that file with your favorite text editor and add the following lines:

.moz-txt-sig, .moz-signature {
color: red !important;
}

The following also changes the color of URLs:

.moz-txt-sig > a, .moz-signature > a {
color: CC0033 !important;
}

Again , "color" is completely up to your personal taste. You may use "real names" for the colors ("red") or hexadecimals (CC0033).

11. How can I deactivate newsgroup abbreviations?

To have the the full name displayed add the following line to user.js:

user_pref("mail.server.default.abbreviate",false);

To specify a server:

user_pref("mail.server.serverX.abbreviate",false);

where X is the server number.

12. How do I set up a MOVEMAIL account in Unix/Linux?

There is no possibility to set up a MOVEMAIL account over the GUI yet. To have MOVEMAIL support in Mozilla / Netscape 7 set up the MOVEMAIL account as a POP3 server. Then open prefs.js in your Profile Directory and look for the pop3 server:

user_pref("mail.server.server1.type", "pop3");

and change it to

user_pref("mail.server.server1.type", "movemail");

Please note that the server number (server1) may be different on your system, depending on the number of servers you added. Please be careful not accidentally changing an actual POP3 server.
Wolgang Müller suggests the following miniscript:

#!/bin/tcsh
mv prefs.js prefs.bak
sed -e 's/^\(user_pref("mail\.server\.server.*\.type", "\)pop3"/\1movemail"/' \
prefs.bak > prefs.js

BTW: There's also the possibility to install Netscape 4, set up a normal MOVEMAIL account and then let Mozilla/Netscape 6.x/7.x pick up the settings from Netscape 4.

13. How can I have the @ sign in my email username?

This is for people who need to use the @-sign in a username for logging into mail servers.
Edit your user.js and add the following line:

user_pref("mail.allow_at_sign_in_user_name", true);

14. Emails don't remain deleted

You delete emails, and every time you restart the program the emails are back. This is most probably a problem with corrupted index files. Close Netscape and go into your Profile Directory and in the Mail subfolder. Each mail server has its own folder there, for example \Mail\pop.mail.mailserver.com\ - the *.msf files are the index files, if you have a problem with deleting emails from your inbox delete inbox.msf, don't worry, the index file will be recreated when you restart Netscape.

15. Check all IMAP folders simultaneously

To force Netscape to check all your IMAP folder add the following line to user.js:

user_pref("mail.check_all_imap_folders_for_new", true);

16. Email Problems with IMAP (personal namespace problem)

Netscape/Mozilla has problems with the personal namespaces used by Cyrus and Courier IMAP servers. The problem is that Netscape automatically adds an ending "/" to the "IMAP server directory" in the "Advanced" form of your server entry. You can avoid that by directly editing the "prefs.js" file in your Netscape profile directory.
Search for the line

user_pref("mail.server.serverX.namespace.personal", "INBOX/");

where "X" is some number depending on how many mail srvers you've configured. Now remove the ending "/" by replacing this line with the following one:

user_pref("mail.server.serverX.namespace.personal", "\"INBOX.\"");

You also have to change the server_sub_directory:

user_pref("mail.server.serverX.namespace.other_users", "\"user.\"");
user_pref("mail.server.serverX.namespace.personal", "\"INBOX.\"");
user_pref("mail.server.serverX.namespace.public", "\"\"");
user_pref("mail.server.serverX.server_sub_directory", "INBOX.");

Start Netscape again and you'll see that it now shows "INBOX." in the "IMAP server directory field". Make sure that you "Allow the server to override these namespaces" - and you should be all set. The folders no longer appear as subfolders of the inbox.

(Tip sent in by dman84, http://www.emailaddresses.com/forum/showthread.php?s=985fd55a02321263229f8c49d8130036&threadid=1925)

17. How can I change the color of links in mail/news?

To have links in emails/news postings in a different color than the standard blue add the following lines to userContent.css:

.moz-text-plain pre > a {
color: green ! important;
}
.moz-txt-sig > a,
.moz-signature > a {
color: green ! important;
}

18. Remove the plaintext tag symbols (* / _)

If you want Mozilla to hide the signature separators and the symbols around *bold* /italic/ _underlined_ words in plain text messages amend <profile>/chrome/userContent.css as follows:

.moz-txt-tag { display: none; }

If you only want to alter some types use

*bold*:
.moz-txt-star > .moz-txt-tag { display: none; }

/italic/:
.moz-txt-slash > .moz-txt-tag { display: none; }

_underline_:
.moz-txt-underscore > .moz-txt-tag { display: none; }

|code|
.moz-txt-verticalline > .moz-txt-tag { display: none; }

-- (Signature)
.moz-txt-sig > .moz-txt-tag { display: none; }

19. Disable "Advance to next unread message in folder"

Add the following line to your user.js:

user_pref("mailnews.nav_crosses_folders", 0);

Choose from the following options:
0 - Always go to the next folder without prompting
1 - Ask before going (default behaviour)
2 - Don't prompt and don't go to the next folder with unread messages

20. How to perform a correct subject change in news (FAQ)

If you change the subject of a news thread you have to adhere to certain usenet rules.

Let's use an example to illustrate how a correct subject change is performed.

User 1 posts:
subject: Apples are great

Now User 2 replies and adds in the body that he also likes strawberries very much.
subject: Re: Apples are great

Now User 3 praises the high vitamin C content in strawberries (the subject still remains the same):
subject: Re: Apples are great

Now User 4 steps in and thinks 'It's about time the subject is changed, because I also want to add saomething about strawberris, but the subject is all wrong for that.' So he changes the subject:
subject: Strawberries are vitamin bombs (was: Apples are great)

Now User 3 replies to this post, using an intelligent standards-compliant newsreader, e.g. Mozilla:
subject: Re: Strawberries are vitamin bombs

See? Mozilla strips the "was"-part, because User 4 started a new thread which has nothing to do with the original "Apple" thread.

Rules:
If you change a subject then include the original subject in brackets and add "was: ". Mozilla and other intelligent newsreaders will then strip the was-part when you reply to that post. If you are using a newsreader that can't do this you have to delete the was-part manually. Please also note that the "Re:" part has to be deleted when you change the subject.

Generic example:
1. subject: This is a subject
2. subject: Re: This is a subject
2. subject: New subject (was: This is a subject)
3. subject: Re: New subject

21. Advanced tweaks in Mail and News

The following adjustments go into userContent.css. For an idea what you can do with userContent.css see http://lxr.mozilla.org/seamonkey/source/themes/modern/messenger (Advanced users)

Examples:

1.) Make the font bigger in plaintext:

.moz-text-plain pre {font-size: 12pt !important;}

To have a bigger font while composing a message see tip 26.

2.) Use a different font for displaying mails: (see also here for a tip on how to change the font when composing)

.moz-text-plain pre {font-family: Arial !important;}

3.) Use a different font colour for displaying messages:

.moz-text-plain pre {font-color: green !important;}

4.) Signature tweaks:

.moz-txt-sig,.moz-signature {color: red !important;} (Signature in red colour)

.moz-txt-sig > a,.moz-signature > a {color: yellow !important;} (Links in the signature in a different colour)

5.) colour of links in the messagebody:

.moz-text-plain pre > a {
color: green ! important;
}

6.) Threads with unread postings are underlined and bolded:

treechildren:-moz-tree-cell-text(container, closed, hasUnread, read)

{
text-decoration: underline ! important;
font-weight:bold ! important;
}

22. Change the colour of quoted text in the editor (while composing emails/news postings)
Add the following to userContent.css

span[_moz_quote=true] {
color: #000000 !important;
}

Where color specifies the colour for the quoted text.

23. How can I sort newsgroups alphabetically?

Open the corresponding *.rc file (Linux newsrc-*) in your News folder and sort the list of newsgroups.Or try GRSort http://gerold.goerke.bei.t-online.de/GRSort/grsort.html
You may alos try the command prompt tool sort:
Open a command prompt: Windows XP/2000/NT: Start -> Run -> cmd.exe / Windows 9x: Start -> Run -> command.com
Change to the directory that contains your *.rc files (example: news.mozilla.org.rc) and type the following command (with Netscape completely closed!)
sort news.mozilla.org.rc > sorted.txt (open this file to see if it had the desired effect)
(Sort will now have sorted the file alphabetically)
Delete news.mozilla.org.rc and name sorted.txt to news.mozilla.org.rc
Restart Netscape.

24. How can I have the "References" header back?

Install Mnenhy: http://mnenhy.mozdev.org
Install Messageidfinder: http://messageidfinder.mozdev.org
Then restart Netscape.
Select "Extended Normal View" from the View menu.

25. How can I export my emails to Outlook or Outlook Express?

The following is, in my personal view, the easiest way to get your e-mails over to Outlook.

Install Netscape Communicator 4. Any version will do the trick. Although Netscape 4.x, Netscape 6.x/.7x and Mozilla (and all derivatives) use the same format (mbox), Outlook only knows how to import from Netscape 4. Strange, yes, but Outlook does not look for the actual mail files, but for the (so-called) "index" files.
Create a profile with Netscape Communicator 4 ( that means you have to start NC 4 once and click through the profile creation process). Then close Netscape Communicator 4 completely.
Copy the email files (click on the link to find out where your emails are. Copy the ones without extension, that means do not copy the *.msf files) to your newly created NC 4 profile, normally c:\program files\netscape\users\...\Mail
Start NC 4 and the Messenger application so that the email folders are indexed. Click on each of the mailbox folders to accomplish this. Then close Netscape 4.
Import the emails with Outlook or Outlook Express.

26. How can I change the font for composing messages in the plaintext editor?

Add the following lines to userContent.css:

BODY[style*="width: 72ch"]
{
font-family: Verdana !important;
}

"Verdana" is the font in this case. You can also change the font size by adding, for example,

font-size: 200%;