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Getting Started With Pine E-Mail

U-M Information Technology Central Services * S4131 * January 2004

Pine is an e-mail program that you use by typing commands rather than by pointing and clicking. You can access Pine from a Macintosh, Windows, or Unix computer by connecting to the ITCS Login Service. Pine is an IMAP (Interactive Mail Access Protocol) client that runs on the Login Service.

Pine was written at The University of Washington, which provides complete documentation in its Pine Information Center.

NOTE: This document is also available in these formats: Microsoft Word | Adobe Acrobat PDF.

Table of Contents

Requirements for Using Pine

Opening Pine

  1. Use your secure software to connect to the Login Service (login.itd.umich.edu).

  2. At the Unix prompt (%), type pine.

    3. Pine's top line displays the Pine version number, the name of the current screen, and the folder you are currently in.

    Screen shot of Pine's opening screen

    The bottom two rows display the available commands. Each command is activated by typing the indicated letter. Sometimes, you will have additional choices, which you can view by typing O (Other commands).

    IMPORTANT! If a command letter is preceded by a ^ symbol, hold down the Control key while typing the command letter.

Composing Messages

  1. Type C to compose an outgoing message. You will see a screen similar to the example pictured (the example shows text already entered).

    2. Screen shot of composing a message

  2. In the To field, enter one or more names (with blanks replaced by periods) or uniqnames. Separate names with commas. Press Return or Enter to go to the next field.

    3. The system will append "@umich.edu" to the name or uniqname. However, if your recipient does not have an e-mail address registered in the U-M Online Directory, you need to enter the full Internet address (for example, someone@aol.com).

  3. To move to the other fields, use the arrow keys or press Tab, Return, or Enter. To send a "carbon copy" of the message, enter the recipient's e-mail address in the Cc field. Enter a subject for your message in the Subject field.

  4. Move to the Message Text area and type your message.

    5. Pine supports simple editing with commands listed on the bottom two rows of the screen. For a review of composer commands, type ^G (Control-G) while composing a message. Type E to exit the help screen. For more tips on using the editor in Pine, see Using the Unix Text Editor Pico (R1168).

  5. To send your message, type ^X (Control-X).

Reading and Replying To Mail

  1. To read mail, type I to view the Index. Pine will display each message's date of arrival, sender, size, and subject.

  2. Use the arrow keys to select a message, then press Return or Enter to view the text.

    3. Screen shot of message list

  3. To reply to a message, press R. Pine will ask if you want to include (quote) the message in your reply. If you answer yes, Pine will include the message and mark it with > symbols.

  4. Pine will ask "Reply to all recipients?" You can respond by typing either N for no, Y for yes, or ^C for cancel. If you just hit the Return or Enter key, Pine assumes your response was "no," and includes only the sender of the message you are replying to rather than all recipients. Do not reply to all recipients unless you are sure they all really need to see your reply. It's generally best to reply just to the sender of the original message.

Printing Your Messages

  1. Select the message you want to print by either selecting it in the Index list or opening it.

  2. Type % or Y. (These both function as print commands.)

  3. You'll see a confirmation prompt at the bottom of your Pine screen.

    4. Screen shot of confirmation prompt

  4. Type Y for yes.

Setting Up Pine to View URLs

You can enable Pine version 4.05 and later to view URLs contained in messages you receive. Pine will then open the text-based Web browser Lynx to view the URLs.

  1. Open Pine. Type S for Setup.

  2. You'll then see a prompt at the bottom of your Pine window asking you to choose a setup task. Type C for configuration.

    3. Screen shot showing selection of configuation

  3. You'll then see a menu of configuration options. Page down (by pressing the space bar) to the "enable-msg-view-urls" option. Use your arrow keys to select that option. Then press the Return or Enter key. An "X" will appear next to that option.

    4. Screen shot of selecting the enable-msg-view-urls option

  4. Type E to exit the setup menu and return to the main Pine menu.

  5. You'll see a prompt at the bottom of the Pine window asking if you want to commit your changes. Type Y for yes.

Using Pine to View URLs

  1. After you have enabled the viewing of URLs in Pine, (see above) you'll be able to highlight URLs in messages you receive by using your arrow keys.

    2. Screen shot of a message with a highlighted URL

  2. While you have a URL highlighted, press the Return or Enter key. The text-based Web browser Lynx will open, and you will be connected to the URL.

  3. When you are finished browsing the Web, type Q to quit Lynx and return to Pine.

Quitting Pine and Logging Out

  1. Type Q to quit Pine.

  2. To log out of the Login Service, type exit at the Unix prompt (%).

  3. Quit the software you used to connect to the Login Service.

Additional Resources

Type ? (or type ^G if you are in the Compose Message screen) to access Pine's online help; the text will vary, depending on which screen you are in when you enter the help command.

The University of Washington's Pine Information Center has just about everything you could possibly want to know about Pine and then some. Pine was written by people at the University of Washington. The following document, in the Pine Information Center, is especially helpful: Getting Started With Email Using Pine.

Visit ITCS's Information System to obtain ITCS computer documentation and other resources. A list of relevant documents follows.

We welcome your comments; please send e-mail.

ITCS's Online Help Desk provides a variety of computing help resources.

For further help with Pine, send e-mail or phone
(734) 764-HELP.