When you select Files(s) from the Include/Attach -> menu the Include/Attach File dialog is opened. This is very similar to the Select Folders menu available through the Open ... option in the Main window Folder pull-down menu. (See Using the File Selection Window for information on using this type of dialog window.)
You can enter the path name of one or more files, separated by a Return after each name. Or, click the Show list button to see an expanded dialog that lists files in the current directory and subdirectories of the current directory. You can then select a file by clicking on a name in the list.
After you have selected a file path name the Include/Attach file data dialog is opened.
The Include/Attach file data dialog lets you specify how the data is to be included or attached, how it is to be encoded, and how it is described. This dialog will be shown once for each file you named in the Include/Attach File dialog. The items to be specified include:
The icon displayed in the message text will vary according to the data type. Icons Representing Included Files shows examples of icons that represent included GIF, JPEG, binary, PostScript, MPEG, and U-LAW audio files in a Composition window.
This option is intended as a shortcut to save you typing time. It is not recommended for including non-ASCII data.
When the recipient of the message clicks on the icon, the appropriate viewer program will be launched (if available) to show the data contained in the file, as specified in the Mailcap File Definition.
The local attachment option can be used when all the recipients are in the same local network, and can access common files from a server.
When you click the Attached as "local to the recipient" button the Include/Attach file data dialog expands to include extra parameter fields.
Expanded Include/Attach File Data shows an example of an Include/Attach file data dialog with expanded parameters. The section entitled Extra parameters for attached files describes the additional parameters.
The sender must first place the external file in a directory which is made visible to the outside world by the FTP server. Then, the file is attached to the message by providing both the path name and the network name (or IP address) of the FTP server.
This option is known as anonymous FTP since the recipients do not need a login account on the FTP server. Instead, they log in using the name anonymous, and give their e-mail address as the password. (Most MIME mail programs do this automatically.)
When the recipient clicks on the file icon in the message, the file is retrieved from the FTP server and then it is displayed. Depending on the speed of the FTP link, this may take a long time. An animated icon is displayed during the retrieval, so the recipient is aware that it is in progress.
Expanded Include/Attach File Data shows an example of an Include/Attach file data dialog with expanded parameters. The section entitled Extra parameters for attached files describes the additional parameters.
This option is more secure than the anonymous FTP option, but requires more effort to set up.
A mail server is a program which accepts e-mail messages formatted a certain way. It recognizes, among other things, requests to retrieve a file with a specific path name. It responds to the e-mail message by sending a reply message containing the requested file.
When the recipient clicks on the file icon Ishmail mails a request to the appropriate mail server. The requested file will eventually arrive as a new mail message.
The sender must coordinate with the local system administrator to make the file available to the mail server.
Electronic mail systems were originally designed to handle 7-bit ASCII characters, i.e. the U.S. English character set. All modern mail systems can now handle 8-bit ASCII, thus can use various ISO character sets for non-English alphabets. However, messages you send may pass through many different mail systems on the way to their destination, and there is no guarantee that some intermediate mail system may not be able to handle other than 7-bit ASCII. The result may be that your message is garbled in transmission. To guard against this, you can encode your message so that it will pass safely through any mail system even if it contains binary (non-ASCII) data.
There are five choices for encoding.
Base 64 encoding is a "next generation" of uuencode. It was developed to address the shortcomings in uuencode, mainly the lack of standardization of the algorithm.
If you are attaching an external file, the Include/Attach file data dialog expands to present extra parameters, depending on the attachment type. Certain parameters are displayed in the expanded Include/Attach file data dialog only when file to be included or attached is of a certain type. For example, the parameters Application type and Application padding only appear when you select the file type application/octet-stream. The figure below shows an example of the expanded Include/Attach file data dialog.
The optional parameters are:
An option menu button to the right of the field shows a list of possible character set names to choose from, or type the name in the field.
If the data is included in-line, this implies using the same character set as the message body.
Use the Message ... option to copy a message from the active mail folder (the one shown in the Folder Contents area of the Main window) into the message you are composing. The file will be shown as an icon in the message text. The recipient will be able to view the included message or save it to a file (or mail folder).
TIPS:
Use the Signature -> option to copy the .signature file from your home directory into this message.
When you click Signature -> a cascading menu is opened offering you the choice of four possible .signature files. See Signature Preferences for information about signature files. You can have different signatures for internal mail versus external mail. You can also have plain text and enriched text versions of the internal and external signatures.
Clicking this option places the contents of the .signature file at the cursor location.
Another way to add the contents of a .signature file to the composition is to click on the Append Signature button at the bottom of the Composition window. If you use this method, the signature is not appended until you send the message.