Mutt

This page details how to use mutt to read and send email on Redbrick. If you're new to Redbrick, make sure to take a look at the Forwarding first.

Reading your mail

Mutt is the default mail program on RedBrick. To start it, simply type "email" into your terminal and hit return.

When you start mutt with its default settings you will taken to your default mailbox. Here you will see a list of all your email split into columns. The first column shows the status of the mail, "N" for new mail, "O" for unread and blank for previously read mail. The next columns contains the number of the mail in the list, the date the mail was received followed by the sender's name. The final column displays the subject of the mail. A highlight bar will show which mail is currently selected.

To read the currently selected mail, press the return key and the contents of the mail will appear in the lower half of the screen. If the mail is too big to fit in the one screen you can continue down through the text by using either the return key or the spacebar. When you are finished reading a message, type "q" This will return you to the main list of emails. To save time you can type the number of the mail in the list followed by the return key to jump to that mail.

Sending an email

To send a mail from mutt, first hit the "m" key.

At the bottom of your screen you will see "To:". If you're sending a mail to another Redbrick user, simply type in their username and hit the return key. The program will take care of the rest. For anyone else, you enter the full email address of of the person you wish to mail: To:anyone@dcu.ie and hit return.

Next you will see "Subject:". Just enter the mail's subject and hit return again. Your default text editor will now launch, on Redbrick this is set to nano, so type in your message here and when you're done, hit ctrl and x to save, then y and return to accept. You will be brought to a menu that confirms the details of your mail at the top. If you are happy with all the details, simply press "y" to send and you're done.

There are more options you have access to before you press "y" outlined below

• e: Re-edit the message
• t: Change the primary recipients address
• c: Add the email address of others you wish to recieve the mail seperated by commas
• b: Add the email address of others you wish to recieve the mail without the primary recipient knowing
• s: Change the subject
• r: Change the default reply-to address
• f: Define the folder you want a copy of the mail to be saved in
• q: Cancel the email
• a: Attach a file to the email. You will be prompted for its location

Deleting email

While viewing the email list, highlight the desired mail, and press "d". The mail is now marked to be deleted. If you wish to delete it immediately, press the $ key (shift and 4). You will be prompted to confirm deletion, hit "y" to delete or "n" to cancel. Otherwise, you will be prompted to confirm deletion when you exit the program.

If you wish to undelete a mail, highlight it and press "u"

Forwarding an email

To send a mail you have recieved on to another person, highlight the mail and press "f".

You will see the same options as when you are sending a mail

When your editor opens it will contain the mail you are forwardin

You may add extra txt if you wish or simply leave it as it is

Save and send the message in the usual way

Setting a signature

A signature file is a normal text file that gets added on to the bottom of every mail you send

To create one type

nano ~/.signature

Add in whatever text you would like added to the bottom of your emails and save in the usual way

Thats it,mutt will now add that text to the bottom of all sent mails

Exiting mutt

To exit Mutt press the "q" key whilst in the main mail list

You may be asked a number of yes/no question

Answer them with "y" or "n" and then hit return

Mailboxes

If you are using procmail and have a number of mailboxes you should start mutt by typing mutt -y

This will give you a list of all your mailboxes when the program starts

Simply highlight a mailbox and hit return to view it's contents

To switch to another mailbox hit "c" and enter = followed by the name of the name of the mailbox: =helpdesk

Alternatively hit "c" and then hit "?" to see a list of all mailboxes

To return to the original mailboxes list hit the tab key located just above Caps Lock