Configuring Pine to Access Mail on the Mail Server

Troubleshooting

Accessing Your New INBOX

Pine can be used to access mail on the mail server via IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol.) To configure Pine to do so, follow the steps below.

1. From the Main Menu, go to Setup, then Config.
2. Move the cursor down to the "inbox-path" setting * and change it to the following:

{imap.albany.edu/imap/ssl/user=your_userid}inbox

3. Exit setup and answer Yes when asked to commit the changes.

* Most Unix accounts should already have this configured properly and should not need to have this value updated.

Note: One significant difference you will notice after making this change is that you will be prompted for your Unix password whenever you start Pine.

Accessing Your Folders

If you had folders stored in your home directory on your Unix account, these will appear as they normally did. However, in order to view folders created on the mail server directly via the web interface, you will need to create a new folder collection.

1. From the Main Menu, go to Setup, then Config. Under "Folder Preferences," turn ON the following items:

enable-lame-list-mode

quell-empty-directories

separate-folder-and-directory-entries

2. Type "E" to exit, and say Yes when asked to commit your settings.

3. From the Main Menu, go to Setup, then type "L" for "Collection List".

4. Type "A" to add a new folder collection and enter the following information:

Nickname: <enter a nickname of your choosing>

Server: imap.albany.edu/imap/ssl/user=your_userid

Path: INBOX.                 (NOTE: make sure to include the period after "INBOX")

View: (leave blank)

Userid represents your Unix username. If you are asked for your mail password, enter it.

5. Type Control-X to save your settings, then "E" to exit the Setup area.

Now when you view your folder list in Pine, you should be able to access your mail folders from your new folder collection.

---

Troubleshooting

Pine prompts for password since addition of WebMail

When you enter Pine, it now asks you for your password. This is because mail now resides on a different server (instead of directly accessible via /var/mail), and you are required to authenticate yourself to the server. There is no way for the user to bypass this prompt and still access his/her INBOX.

Mail saved in Pine folders doesn't appear in WebMail

If you are using Pine in addition to WebMail, you may find that messages you save to folders in Pine do not appear later when you log into WebMail.

By default, Pine now provides you two folder collections instead of one: one called <Mail> for local mail folders stored in a subdirectory of your home directory, and one called <Mail on imap.albany.edu...> for folders stored on the new mail server. For users whose folders have been copied to the new server, these two collections may appear identical, although they are in fact different.

Furthermore, since by default the local mail collection appears first in your collection list, it is used as the default location for saving messages. You may think you are saving mail onto the new server, but you are really only saving it to your a local Unix directory. Files in your home directory can't be seen on WebMail. You should look carefully when you are saving mail to make sure you are using the correct folder collection.

However, to simplify the process of saving mail, you can go to Setup, CollectionList and do one of the following:

1. Use the Shuffle ($) command to move the new folder collection <Mail on imap.albany.edu...> to the top, where it will be used as the default collection for saves.
2. Delete the local <Mail> collection entirely so that it will not be used. This does not delete the actual folders.
3. Rename one or both of your mail folder collections to make them easier to distinguish.

---