Menu Entries
Prev
Next

Chapter 5. Menu Entries

Daniel Naber

David Rugge

Michel Boyer de la Giroday

Revision 1.7 (2004-07-11)

Each menu item is discussed below. When there is a keyboard shortcut that performs a menu item function, the default shortcut is listed with the menu item.

The Main Window

File Menu

File->New Window

Creates a new main window.

File->Open... (Ctrl+O)

Allows you to open files which contain email messages.

File->Save As... (Ctrl+S)

Saves the currently displayed message to a text file, including all the headers and attachments.

File->Print... (Ctrl+P)

Display a dialog that lets you prints the currently displayed message.

File->Compact All Folders

Will compact all folders, i.e. it will really move and delete the messages on disk according to how you have moved and deleted them in KMail.

File->Expire All Folders

Delete old messages from all folders, according to the rules in each folder's Properties dialog (the default is not to delete old messages at all).

File->Refresh Local IMAP Cache

This will remove all changes that you have done locally to your IMAP folders and redownload everything from the server. Use this if the local cache was corrupted.

File->Empty All Trash Folders

Use this to empty all trash folders, i.e. the local trash folder and all trash folders that you might have on IMAP servers.

File->Check Mail (Ctrl+L)

Checks for new messages in all your accounts, except those that have Exclude from "Check Mail" enabled.

File->Check Mail In

Submenu that lets you check for new messages from a particular account.

File->Send Queued Messages

Sends the messages that are in your outbox.

File->Quit (Ctrl+Q)

Closes the current main window or exits KMail if there is only this one window.

Edit Menu

Edit->Undo (Ctrl+Z)

Revokes your last move or delete action. Note that you cannot undo a deletion in the trash.

Edit->Copy (Ctrl+C)

Copies selected text to the clipboard.

Edit->Edit Message (T)

Edits the selected message if it is editable. Only messages in the outbox and drafts folder can be edited.

Edit->Move to Trash (Delete)

Moves the selected messages to the trash folder. If the selected messages are already in the trash folder, they will really be deleted.

Edit->Delete (Shift+Delete)

Deletes the selected messages. There is no way to recover the messages once they are deleted with this command.

Edit->Find in Message... (Ctrl+F)

Lets you search for a string in the currently displayed message.

Edit->Select All Messages (Ctrl+A)

Selects all messages in the current folder.

Edit->Select Message Text (Ctrl+Shift+A)

Selects the text of the currently displayed message.

View Menu

View->Headers

Changes the format of the message header in the Message pane.

View->Attachments

Changes the way attachments appear in the Message pane (independent of the MIME Tree). With As Icons all attachments appear as icons at the bottom of the message. Smart will show attachments as icons, unless the message suggests that they should be displayed inline. You can suggest that certain attachments should be shown inline in your own messages when you select Suggest automatic display in the attachment's properties dialog. Inline shows the contents of the attachments at the bottom of the message. Attachments that cannot be displayed, e.g. compressed files, will still be shown as an icon. Hide will not show attachments.

View->Unread Column

Allows you to specify whether the number of unread messages should be shown in parentheses next to the folder name (View After Folder Name) or in a separate column (View in Separate Column)

View->Total Column

Display a column in the list of folders which shows the number of messages per folder.

View->Expand Thread (.)

If Folder->Thread Messages is activated, this will display the thread of the current message, i.e. all messages that are replies to the current message.

View->Collapse Thread (,)

If Folder->Thread Messages is activated, this will hide the thread of the current message, i.e. it will hide all messages that are replies to the current message.

View->Expand All Threads (Ctrl+.)

Expands all threads in the current folder.

View->Collapse All Threads (Ctrl+,)

Collapses all threads in the current folder.

View->View Source (V)

Shows the message and its complete headers in plain text format in a new window. This can be useful to find out the origin of a mail. You should know that it is easy to fake the From: header of a mail, but one can still find out which mail servers have been used to send the message by looking at the Received: lines in the header.

View->Use Fixed Font (X)

Uses a fixed width (monospaced) font to display the messages in the current folder. The font to be used can be configured in the Appearance section of KMail's configuration dialog.

View->Set Encoding

Lets you choose the character encoding to be used in the Message Pane. The default, Auto, should work in almost all cases.

Go Menu

Go->Next Message (N)

Selects the next message in the message list. The keyboard shortcut Right Arrow also performs this action.

Go->Next Unread Message (+)

Selects the next unread message in the message list. If there is no unread message below the currently selected message then the behavior depends on the value of the When trying to find unread messages option.

Go->Previous Message (P)

Selects the previous message in the message list.

Go->Previous Unread Message (-)

Selects the previous unread message in the message list. If there is no unread message above the currently selected message then the behavior depends on the value of the When trying to find unread messages option.

Go->Next Unread Folder (Ctrl++)

Jumps to the the next folder with unread messages.

Go->Previous Unread Folder (Ctrl+-)

Jumps to the the previous folder with unread messages.

Go->Next Unread Text (Space)

Scrolls down if you are not yet at the bottom of a message, otherwise jumps to the next unread message.

Folder Menu

Folder->New Folder...

Opens the Folder Properties dialog that lets you create a new folder.

Folder->Mark All Messages as Read

Sets the status of all new and unread messages in the current folder to read.

Folder->Compact

Compacts the folder file to reduce its disk space usage. Usually KMail compacts all folders automatically, but under certain circumstances you might want to compact a folder manually.

Folder->Expire

Deletes old messages from the current folder or moves them to another folder, according to the rules in the folder's Properties dialog (the default is not to delete or move old messages). Usually KMail does this automatically, but under certain circumstances you might want to expire a folder manually..

Folder->Remove Duplicate Messages (Ctrl+*)

Searches the folder for duplicate messages and deletes the duplicates.

Folder->Check Mail in This Folder (F5)

Checks whether new mail arrived in the currently selected folder. This is only available for IMAP folders.

Folder->Troubleshoot IMAP Cache...

Opens a dialog that helps to solve problems with synchronizing disconnected IMAP folders.

Rebuild Index. As a first step to solve synchronization problems, you can rebuild the index file. This will take some time, but can not cause any problems or data loss. You can select if the indexes should be rebuilt for the selected folder only (Only current folder), the selected folder and its folder subtree (Current folder and all subfolders), or for the whole account (All folders of this account).

Refresh Cache: If rebuilding the index does not solve the problem, you can refresh the local IMAP cache for the current folder and all subfolders. The cache is deleted and the mails are refetched from the server. This will delete all your local changes in these folders!

This option is only available for disconnected IMAP folders.

Folder->Move All Messages to Trash

Moves all of the messages in the selected folder into the trash folder. This is only available if the currently selected folder is not a trash folder.

Folder->Empty Trash

Permanently deletes all messages. This is only available if the currently selected folder is a trash folder.

Folder->Delete Folder

Removes the selected folder and all its contents, including subfolders.

Warning

Note that there is no way to access the contents of a folder after it has been removed.

Folder->Prefer HTML to Plain Text

If enabled then HTML messages in this folders will be shown using HTML rendering. For security reasons, we recommend to only activate this for folders which only contain trusted messages.

Folder->Thread Messages

If enabled then the messages in the message list are shown in a tree-like list, with replies showing up directly under the message they reply to.

Folder->Thread Messages also by Subject

If enabled then the messages are not only grouped according to special information included in the messages but also according to their subject, i.e. messages with the same subject are considered as being related. If many messages are threaded below unrelated messages then you might want to disable this option.

Folder->Properties

Opens up the Properties dialog which lets you change the settings for the selected folder.

Message Menu

Message->New Message... (Ctrl+N)

Opens the composer window so you can write a new message.

Message->New Message to Mailing-List...

Opens the composer window so you can write a new mail. If the current folder holds a mailing list and has a posting address defined, this address will be the default To: address.

Message->Reply... (R)

Opens up the composer window, inserts the quoted text of the currently selected message and presets the To: field either with the mailing-list address (if you reply to a mailing-list message) or with the preferred reply address of the sender. If you want to control which address the To: field is preset with then you should either use Message->Reply to Author... or Message->Reply to Mailing-List.... Your identity will automatically be set to the one which this message was sent to.

Message->Reply to All... (A)

Opens up the composer window, inserts the quoted text of the currently selected message and presets the To: field either with the mailing-list address (if you reply to a mailing-list message) or with the preferred reply address of the sender. The Copy to (CC): field is preset with the addresses of all other recipients of the currently selected message excluding your own addresses. Your identity will automatically be set to the one which this message was sent to.

Message->Reply to Author... (Shift+A)

Opens up the composer window, inserts the quoted text of the currently selected message and presets the To: field with the preferred reply address of the sender. Your identity will automatically be set to the one which this message was sent to.

Message->Reply to Mailing-List... (L)

Opens up the composer window, inserts the quoted text of the currently selected message and presets the To: field with the mailing-list address. If you did not specify a mailing-list address for the currently selected folder and KMail cannot determine the posting address from the currently selected message then the To: field will be empty. Your identity will automatically be set to the one which this message was sent to.

Message->Reply Without Quote... (Shift+R)

Works just like Reply... except that the text of the currently selected message is not quoted.

Message->Forward

Forwards the message to a new recipient. Using As Attachment the message and its attachments will become an attachment of the new message. The original message headers will be included in the forwarded message, too. Using Inline, the message's text and some important header fields will be copied to the body of the new message with a text marking the forwarded part. Attachments will be forwarded as attachments of the new message. As Digest concatenates the messages together as a MIME digest attachment. Redirect works like forward, except that the message stays the same (even the From: field). The user who redirected the message is added in special header fields (Redirect-From, Redirect-Date, Redirect-To, etc.).

Message->Send Again...

Opens a composer window with the currently selected message so it can be sent again. This is only available for messages which you have sent or, more precisely, for messages which have the sent status.

Message->Copy To

Copies the selected messages to a certain folder.

Message->Move To

Moves the selected messages to a certain folder.

Message->Mark Message

Allows you to change the status of the selected message to one of the following states:

StatusSymbolMeaning
ReadSheet of paper before an envelopeThe message has been read.
NewClosed envelope with a starThe message is new to KMail and you.
UnreadClose envelopeThe message is not new to KMail but has not been read yet.
ImportantFlagThis status will not automatically be set by KMail. You can use it freely to mark messages that are in some way important to you.
RepliedBlue u-turn arrowA reply to this message has been sent.
ForwardedBlue arrowThe message has been forwarded to someone else.
QueuedEnvelopeThe message has been queued in the outbox to be sent later.
SentAngled envelopeThe message has been sent.
SpamRound recycle symbolThis status will not be set automatically by KMail. You can use it to mark spam messages.
HamGreen check markThis status will not be set automatically by KMail. You can use it to mark messages which are not spam.
Message->Mark Thread

Allows you to change the status of all messages in a thread. The possible states are the same as for Message->Mark Message.

Message->Watch Thread

Use this to mark threads which you want to keep an eye on for further contributions to the discussion.

Message->Ignore Thread

Use this to mark threads you are not interested in. New contributions to this thread will automatically be marked as read.

Message->Create Filter

Opens up the Filter dialog with a new filter added. This new filter is based on fields of the current mail, depending on which sub menu item you select.

Message->Apply Filters (Ctrl+J)

Applies your filters to the selected messages.

Message->Apply Filter

Allows you to apply an individual filter to the selected messages. Only filters for which you enabled the Add this filter to the Apply Filter menu option will be available.

Tools Menu

Tools->Find Messages... (S)

Opens up a search window that lets you search for messages with certain characteristics, e.g. a certain subject. Start the search by entering some values and press Search. Click on one of the resulting messages and it will appear in the Message pane.

Tools->Address Book

Starts up KAddressBook, the KDE address book.

Tools->Certificate Manager...

Starts Kleopatra, the KDE certificate manager.

Tools->GnuPG Log Viewer

Starts KWatchGnuPG, a tool to present the debug output of GnuPG application. If signing, encryption, or verification mysteriously stop working, you might find out why by looking at the log.

Tools->Import Messages...

Starts up kmailcvt (which is part of kdepim). This application lets you import messages from several email clients KMail.

Tools->Edit "Out of Office" Replies...

Launch the Configure "Out of Office" Replies dialog, which allow you to set-up vacation notifications.

Note

Out of Office reply functionality relies on server-side filtering. To be able to use it you need to configure the Filtering tab (see option relevant to kolab server) of your IMAP account set-up.

Tools->Filter Log Viewer...

Opens up the viewer window for the filter log; there you find some options to control the logging of the filtering process. In the log you will find valuable information about what filter rules were used, what was the result of the evaluation of those rules, and which filter actions were applied to a message.

Tools->Anti-Spam Wizard...

It starts a wizard which can help you to set up spam filtering.

Settings Menu

Settings->Show Toolbar

If enabled, the Toolbar is visible (the Toolbar is the one with the icon to compose a new message etc.).

Settings->Show Quick Search

If enabled, the Quick Search bar which allows you to quickly search for messages matching a search text is visible.

Settings->Configure Filters...

Opens the Message Filters window.

Settings->Configure POP Filters...

Opens the Configure Pop Filters window.

Settings->Configure Shortcuts...

Opens a window that lets you configure the keyboard shortcuts for many menu commands.

Settings->Configure Notifications...

Opens a window that lets you configure what happens when new mail arrives, like playing a sound.

Settings->Configure Toolbars...

Opens a window that lets you choose which icons are visible in the toolbar.

Settings->Configure KMail...

Opens the Configure window.

Help Menu

These are the KDE standard items for the Help menu:

Help->KMail Handbook (F1)

Invokes the KDE Help system starting at the KMail help pages. (this document).

Help->What's This? (Shift+F1)

Changes the mouse cursor to a combination arrow and question mark. Clicking on items within KMail will open a help window (if one exists for the particular item) explaining the item's function.

Help->Report Bug...

Opens the Bug report dialog where you can report a bug or request a “wishlist” feature.

Help->About KMail

This will display version and author information.

Help->About KDE

This displays the KDE version and other basic information.

Additionally KMail offers these items:

Help->KMail Introduction

This displays the welcome screen, which lists the most important differences between your version of KMail and the previous one.

Help->Tip of the Day

This displays a dialog with useful hints for using KMail.

Prev
Next
Home


Would you like to make a comment or contribute an update to this page?
Send feedback to the KDE Docs Team