1. Sending and Receiving Emails

 Choose InternetMail Client from the main menu to launch KMail. A configuration wizard appears.

1.1. Mail Configuration

Figure 1.1. Mail Account Type

Mail Account Type

Select the account type from the suggested list and advance to the next step. Both IMAP and POP3 accounts setup are the same.

Figure 1.2. Your Personal Data

Your Personal Data

Then, you are asked about your name, email address and company name, fill these with your personal data.

Figure 1.3. Account Credentials

Account Credentials

You are then asked for the account credentials: username and password. Your ISP or system administrator should have provided these along with your email address.

Figure 1.4. Mail Servers

Mail Servers

You are finally asked to provide mail server parameters. Again, your ISP or system administrator should have provided you with the incoming and outgoing mail servers. Outgoing servers are usually of the smtp.provider.net form. Incoming POP3 servers are usually of the pop.provider.net or pop3.provider.net forms. Incoming IMAP servers are usually of the imap.provider.net form. The mail.provider.net form is also common for both incoming and outgoing mail servers.

1.2. Mail Client Interface

Figure 1.5. KMail Client Interface

KMail Client Interface

Toolbar. Where the main action buttons lie. See Table 1.1, “KMail's Toolbar Buttons”.

Message List. Where information (subject, date, sender, etc.) about messages stored in the currently selected folder is displayed.

Message View Pane. Where the currently selected message content is displayed.

Folder List. Where all folders are listed. The default folders are inbox (incoming messages), outbox (unsent templates), sent-mail (already sent messages), trash (deleted messages), drafts (draft messages) and templates (templates for writing messages). There is also a special folder named Searches which contains the results of a search for messages.

1.3. KMail Usage

The following table shows the most important buttons available in KMail's toolbar, their equivalent keyboard shortcuts and a brief explanation of the functions they provide.

Table 1.1. KMail's Toolbar Buttons

Button Keyboard Shortcut Function
Ctrl-N

Compose a New Message. You need to complete the To and Subject fields in the message-compose window.

Ctrl-L

Get new messages for all defined e-mail accounts. Keep this button pressed to display a list of all defined accounts; select the one you want to get mail from in order to retrieve messages only for that account.

R

Reply to the author of the selected message. A message-compose window pops up with some fields already set.

F

Forward (send to a third party) the selected message.

Del

Delete the selected messages. Deleted messages are moved to the Trash folder. You can recover messages moved to the trash folder, but deletion from the Trash folder cannot be undone: be careful!


[Note] Note

Some of those buttons have a little arrow at the bottom right corner. An additional menu with related actions can be displayed by pressing the mouse button a little longer.