Pine

This document will guide you in using Pine to access your Brandeis email account. The original source of this document is http://www.washington.edu/pine/tutorial.4/index.html

Overview

Pine® is a Unix-based electronic mail program that was created and maintained by the Computing & Communications group at the University of Washington. This document is based on text written by the University of Washington:

© Copyright 1998 University of Washington. All Rights Reserved. Pine® is a registered trademark of the University of Washington. Permission to use this document for non-commercial purposes, in original or modified form, is granted, provided that the original source of the document is acknowledged as University of Washington Computing & Communications and that this footnote, as well as the notice at the top of this page, are retained on the title page of any documentation based on this text.

Pine offers:

  • On-screen menus that free you from memorizing commands -- available options are displayed across the bottom of each screen
  • On-screen messages that appear when you need a warning or information
  • Online help within Pine
  • Maturity, meaning that you are less likely to run into problems with Pine than with another email client
More information on advanced features of Pine can be found at http://www.washington.edu/pine/

Log in to the server: conch.unet.brandeis.edu or urchin.unet.brandeis.edu.

About Your Message Index Screen

The selected message is highlighted. The first column on the left is blank, or shows a "+" if the message was sent directly to you (if it is not a copy or from a mailing list). The second column may be blank, or it may contain:

Most of the commands you need to handle your messages are visible at the bottom of the screen, and you can press O (OTHER CMDS) to see additional commands that are available. You do not need to see these "other commands" on the screen to use them. That is, you never need to press O as a prefix for any other command.

Starting/Quitting

Starting

To use Pine, you'll need an SSH Telnet client such as NiftyTelnet SSH for the Mac, or TeraTerm SSH for Windows. (Don't have the program yet? Visit the Downloads page.)

To start Pine, select Mail from the menu system or type "pine" at your main prompt. The Main Menu screen will then appear. Each Pine screen has a similar layout: the top line tells you the screen name and additional useful information, below that is the work area (on the Main Menu screen, the work area is a menu of options), then the message/prompt line, and finally the menu of commands.

Quitting/Logging Out

To quit Pine:
  1. At almost any place in Pine, press Q (Quit). You are asked: Really quit pine?
  2. Press y (yes) or press Return to quit. It is a good idea to log off your computer whenever you are through with it or when you must leave it unattended.

The Main Menu

The Main Menu lists Pine's main options. The key or keys you must type to enter your choice are to the left of each option or command name. You can usually use either uppercase or lowercase letters, and you do not need to press Return.

From the Main Menu you can choose to read online help, write (compose) and send a message, look at an index of your mail messages, open or maintain your mail folders, update your address book, configure Pine, and quit Pine. There are additional options listed at the bottom of the screen as well.

Now that you know how to start Pine, you can explore on your own, or you can browse the rest of this document for a summary of Pine's main features.

Getting Help in Pine

To read the online help, use the Help command at the bottom of each screen. For example, at the Main Menu screen, press ? (Help). The help text is context-sensitive, meaning that you see only the help that relates to the Pine feature you are using. To exit the online help, press E (Exit Help).

Writing/Sending Messages

To write a message, press C (Compose). You will see the Compose Message screen.

In the command menu above, the ^ character is used to indicate the Control key. This means you must hold down the Control key while you press the letter for each command.

Different commands are available to you when your cursor is in different fields on this screen. To see additional commands available when your cursor is in the Message Text field, type Control-G (Get Help). For example, to move around, use the arrow keys or Control-N (Next line) and Control-P (Previous line); to correct typing errors, use Backspace or Delete.

Sending a Test Message

You might start experimenting in Pine by sending yourself a message.
  1. Press C (Compose). You will see the Compose Message screen.
  2. In the To field, type your email address and press Return.
  3. In the Cc field, press Return.
  4. In the Attachment field, press Return.
  5. In the Subject field, type "Test" and press Return.
  6. Below the Message Text line, type "This is a test."
  7. To send your message, type Control-X (Send). You will be asked: Send message?
  8. Press y (yes) or press Return.
The message is sent and a copy is saved to your sent-mail folder. (If you press n (no) the message is not sent, and you can continue to work on it.)

You have just sent a basic message. There are, of course, other options you can use as you compose a message. A few are summarized in the next section, and complete information about options for the Compose Message screen is available in Pine's online help. As you compose a message, you can type Control-G (Get Help) at any time to see details about your current task.

Hints for Writing a Message

In the To: field, type the email addresses of your recipients. Separate the addresses with commas. For addresses on the same machine, all you need is to supply the user name and hit the Return key. Pine will fill in the rest.

When you are finished, press Return. Always check the addresses in both the To and the Cc fields for accuracy and completeness before you send a message.

Hints for Sending a Message

Sending a Message After your message is composed, type Control-X, and then press y or press Return. Your message is sent and a copy is saved to the sent-mail folder. If a message cannot be delivered, eventually it is returned to you. If you want to re-send a message, you can use the F (Forward) command.

Changing Your Mind If you change your mind after typing Control-X to send a message, press n instead of y to continue to work on your message. While you are writing your message, you can type Control-O (Postpone) to hold your message so you can work on it later, or you can type Control-C (Cancel) to delete your message entirely. You are asked to confirm whether or not you want to cancel a message.

Cc: In this field, type the email addresses of the persons to whom you want to send copies. Separate their addresses with commas. When you are finished, or if you do not want to send any copies, press Return.

Attchmnt: This is an advanced Pine feature that allows you to attach files, including word processing documents, spreadsheets, and images that are located in your home directory on the particular machine you are using, be it PIP, LOGOS, DIN or BINAH. If the file is on your personal computer and not in your account, you can use an FTP program to upload it. (For more information, look up the documentation for the WS_FTP or Fetch FTP clients.) To send the file, type the file name. If Pine finds the file, it will elaborate on the file name and show the file's size. If it cannot find the file, exit Pine and check the file name.

If you do not want to attach a file to your message, press Return. For more information, place your cursor in the Attchmnt field, then type Control-G (Get Help).

Subject: In this field, enter a one-line description of your message. Recipients appreciate a short, pertinent description, since this is what they see when they scan their index of messages. When finished, press Return.

Message Text: Type your message. To move around, use the arrow keys. To delete a character, press Backspace or Delete. To delete a line, type Control-K. To justify text, type Control-J. (To immediately undelete a line or to unjustify text, type Control-U). To check the spelling, type Control-T. To see other editing commands, type Control-G (Get Help).

Using the Pine Address Book

In both the To and the Cc fields, you can enter a person's email address as shown above, or you can use an entry from your Pine address book. You can use the address book to store email addresses for individuals or groups, to create easily remembered "nicknames" for these addresses, and to quickly retrieve an email address when you are composing a message.
  1. At the Pine Main Menu, press A. You will see the Address Book List screen.
  2. Your personal address book, .addressbook, will be highlighted. Press Return. Here is a sample page from an address book:
  3. Use P (Prev), N (Next), or the up and down arrow keys to select the address you want, and press T (Take). At this point, or, if there is only one address to take, you see this message: "Enter new or existing nickname (one word and easy to remember):"
  4. Enter a nickname for your correspondent and press Return.
  5. Follow the instructions. (Type Control-G if you need help.)

Taking Multiple Addresses to Build a Distribution List

To take multiple addresses from a message you are viewing or have selected in the index:
  1. Press T (TakeAddr). (Note: The T command is not visible on your screen unless you press O (OTHER CMDS), but you need not see this command to use it.) You will see the Take Address screen and the following message: "[Single mode: Use "P" or "N" to select desired address]"
  2. Press L (ListMode).
  3. For each address you want to take, use P (Prev), N (Next), or the up and down arrow keys to select it, and then press X (Set/Unset) in the box to its left.
  4. Press T (Take). You will see the following message: "Enter new or existing nickname (one word and easy to remember):"
  5. Enter a nickname for your list of correspondents and press Return.
  6. Follow the instructions. (Type Control-G if you need help.)

Changing a Single Address or a Distribution List

To change a single address or a distribution list:
  1. At the Pine Main Menu, press A (Address Book) and then press Return. You see your personal Address Book screen.
  2. Use the arrow keys to select the single address or distribution list you want to change.
  3. Press > (View/Update).
  4. Press U (Update), then use arrow keys to get to the field where you want to make a change.
  5. Follow the instructions. (Type Control-G if you need help.)

Using Address Book Entries When Composing Email

When composing a message, at the To or the Cc (Carbon Copy) fields you can enter an email address in any of the following ways:
  • Type the entire email address.
  • Type a nickname you have set up in the address book. After you press Return, Pine will provide the full address.
To send a message to one person:
  1. Place your cursor in the To or Cc field and then type Control-T (To AddrBk).
  2. Use the arrow keys to highlight the name you want.
  3. Press S (Select) or press Return.

To send a message to several people:

  1. Place your cursor in the To or Cc field and then type Control-T (To AddrBk).
  2. Type L (List Mode).
  3. Using the arrow keys, place an x before each name you want.
  4. Press S (Select) or press Return.

Message Management

Listing, Viewing, Replying to, and Forwarding Messages

Pine stores messages that are sent to you in your INBOX folder. Messages remain in your INBOX until you delete them or save them in other folders.

Listing Messages To see a list of the messages you have received in your INBOX folder:

  • At the Pine Main Menu, press I (Message Index). The selected message is highlighted, as shown in the following example:
  • If you have any messages, they are listed as shown in the following example for the user named "jhughes."
  • If you want to list the messages in a folder other than your INBOX, see "Moving Between Folders."
Viewing a Message
  1. At the Message Index screen, use the arrow keys to highlight the message you want to view.
  2. Press V (ViewMsg) or press Return to read a selected message.
  3. To see the next message, press N (NextMsg).
  4. To see the previous message, press P (PrevMsg).
  5. To return from your message to the Message Index, press I (Index).
Replying to a Message To reply to a message that you have selected at the Message Index screen or that you are viewing, press R (Reply). You will be asked whether you want to include the original message in your reply. Also, if the original message was sent to more than one person, you are asked if you want to reply to all recipients. Think carefully before you answer -- it may be that you want your reply to be sent only to the author of the message. Warning: It is always a good idea to check the list of addresses in the To and Cc fields before you send a message to see who will receive it.

Forwarding a Message To forward a message that you have selected at the Message Index screen or that you are viewing:

  1. Press F (Forward). A copy of the message opens and the To field is highlighted.
  2. Enter the address of your recipient and send the message as usual. Note that you can modify the original message if you wish -- for example, to forward only a portion of it or to add a message or notes of your own.

Pine Folders

Messages can quickly accumulate in your INBOX folder. If you use email often, you could soon collect hundreds of messages. You should delete messages you do not want, and use folders to organize messages you wish to save. A folder is a collection of one or more messages that are stored (just like the messages in your INBOX) so you can access and manage them.

Organizing Messages With Folders You can organize your email messages into different folders by topic, correspondent, date, or any other category that is meaningful to you. You can create your own folders, and Pine automatically provides three:

  • The INBOX folder: messages sent to you are listed in this folder. When you first start Pine and go to the Message Index screen, you are looking at the list of messages in your INBOX folder. Every incoming message remains in your INBOX until you delete it or save it in another folder.
  • The saved-messages folder: copies of messages you save are stored in this folder unless you save them to other folders you create yourself. See "
  • Saving a Message." The sent-mail folder: copies of messages you send are stored in this folder. This is convenient if you cannot remember whether you actually sent a message and want to check, or if you want to send a message again.

Keeping Folders Clean Messages -- whether they are in your INBOX or your other Pine folders -- occupy storage space, and your storage space is limited. Check your email frequently to see if you have new messages. Do not keep too many messages in your INBOX folder. A large INBOX reduces performance: it takes longer to display large lists of messages when you start Pine, and it requires more time to move between messages. Delete your incoming messages right away if you do not want them, or save them to other folders if you do. See Saving a Message. Routinely delete obsolete messages from all of your Pine folders. You will get a message via Pine at the end of each month asking you about your sent-mail folders. First it asks you if you want to rename (and thus save) your current sent-mail folder. Then it asks if you want to delete any sent-mail folders (and all the messages they contain) from previous months and the current month. To conserve space, it is a good idea to delete any sent-mail folders you do not want.

Moving Between Folders From almost anywhere in Pine, you can press L to see a collection list of your folders. Of course, the folder you are most often interested in is your INBOX folder, the folder that contains your new email messages. When you start Pine and press I (Index) at the Main Menu, you see a list of messages in your INBOX folder. If you want to see the messages in another folder, you need to go to that folder. The following instructions show you two ways to go to another folder from nearly anywhere in Pine. To access your folders and the messages that are stored in them:

  1. Press L (ListFldrs). You see the Collection List screen with collections of folders. Typically each collection is shown in a way similar to the example below.
  2. If it is not already highlighted, use the arrow keys to highlight the Mail line and press Return. You see an expanded list of folders, similar to the following, in which your current folder is highlighted.
  3. Use the arrow keys or P and N to highlight another folder.
  4. To see an index of the messages in that folder, press > (you do not need to use your shift key -- lower case works fine) or press Return.

(Note: This method of accessing folders uses the Folder List screen, which has a menu of commands that enable you to add, delete, or rename folders. If you simply want to move to and list the messages in another folder, try the method below.)

To move most quickly to the index of another folder:

  1. From almost anywhere in Pine, press G (GotoFldr).
  2. You will be prompted for the name of a folder. (Note: If you have more than one folder collection defined, observe the prompt to make sure it is set for the desired collection (shown in brackets in the prompt). If the prompt is not set for the desired collection, type Control-N (Next Collection) or Control-P (Prev Collection) to select the desired collection.)
  3. Type the folder name and press Return, or simply press Return to choose the default folder shown in brackets in the prompt.
  4. You will see the list of messages in that folder.
Adding a Folder
  1. Press L. You see the Collection List screen. Highlight the collection you want and press Return. You will see a list of folders.
  2. To add a folder, press A. You will be prompted for the name of a folder.
  3. Type the folder name and press Return. Your folder name will appear. You might want to add a couple of test folders so you can practice deleting folders.

Deleting a Folder To delete a folder and all of the messages it contains:

  1. Press L (ListFldrs). You see the Collection List screen.
  2. Highlight the collection you want and press Return. You see an expanded list of your folders in which your current folder is highlighted. (When you start Pine, the current folder is your INBOX. You cannot delete your INBOX.)
  3. Use the arrow keys or P and N to highlight the folder you wish to delete.
  4. To delete the entire folder of messages, press D (Delete). You are asked: Delete "folder"?
  5. Press y (yes) if you want to delete the folder and all of its messages. The folder disappears. (Warning: There is no way in Pine to undelete a deleted folder.)

Saving a Message

When you save a message to another folder, you are given a choice: you can store it in the saved-messages folder, or you can specify another folder. Once you save a message, the copy in your INBOX folder automatically is marked for deletion so that you will only have one copy. When you quit Pine, you are asked to confirm whether or not you want to expunge the copy from the INBOX folder. To conserve space, it is a good idea to do this.

Saving a Message to the Saved-Messages Folder

  1. At the Message Index screen, use the arrow keys to highlight the message you want to save, or, at the Message Text screen as you view a message, press S (Save). You are asked if you want to save the message to the saved-messages folder or to another folder: SAVE to folder in [saved-messages]:
  2. Press Return to choose the default folder: [saved-messages]. Pine saves your message, and you see the following: [Message # copied to "saved-messages" in and deleted]
Saving a Message to a Folder You Specify You will find it useful to create additional folders for storing messages on particular subjects. To save a message to a folder you specify:
  1. At the Message Index screen, use the arrow keys to highlight the message you want to save, or, at the Message Text screen as you view a message, press S (Save) to save a message. You are asked if you want to save it to the saved-messages folder or to another folder: SAVE to folder in [saved-messages]:
  2. Type a folder name and press Return. For example, to save a message to a folder named "papers," type "papers" and press Return. If this is the first time you have named this folder, you see the message: Folder "papers" in doesn't exist. Create?
  3. Press y or Return to create the folder. Once you have created the folder, or whenever you type the name of a folder that already exists, you see a message like this one: [Message # copied to "papers" in and deleted]

Deleting a Message

Keep your Pine folders clean by routinely deleting messages you do not want. There are two steps to deleting a message: marking it for deletion and then expunging it. To mark a message you do not want for deletion:
  1. Select and open the folder that contains the message you wish to mark for deletion.
  2. At the Message Index screen, select the message you want to mark for deletion, or simply view the message.
  3. Press D (Delete).
  4. If you are looking at the Message Index screen when you mark a message for deletion, a "D" appears in the left column of the message line, and the next message, if there is one, is selected. If you are looking at the Message Text screen when you mark a message for deletion, a "DEL" briefly appears in the upper right corner of your screen, you get an on-screen message that the message has been deleted, and the next message, if there is one, appears.
  5. Repeat this process to mark additional messages for deletion.
Undeleting a Message If you change your mind about a message you have marked for deletion, use the U (Undelete) command to remove the deletion mark any time before you expunge a message. Remember: After you expunge a message, Pine cannot get it back.

Expunging a Message A message that is marked for deletion remains in Pine until you expunge it. You can expunge a message that is marked for deletion at any time, or you can wait until you quit Pine. Once you have a few messages marked for deletion, you may want to expunge them before you continue to work, because it is easier to look through an index that contains fewer messages. To expunge a message:

  1. At the Message Index screen, press X (eXpunge). You will be asked: Expunge # message(s) from "foldername"?
  2. Press y (yes) or press Return. Messages marked for deletion disappear.
Warning: Once you expunge a message, it is gone. Pine cannot get it back.

(Note: You will be asked whether you want to expunge messages that are marked for deletion whenever you leave a folder (other than the INBOX) that contains messages marked for deletion, or when you quit your Pine session.)

Printing Messages

Pine provides three options for printing (the one you use depends on the computer and printer you are using), which are explained later in this section. First, see if you can print a message using the following method. If your message prints, you may not need to read about Pine's other printing options. To print a message:
  1. From either the Message Index screen or the Message Text screen, press % (Print). You are asked to confirm your choice.
  2. Follow the instructions. Type Control-G if you still need help.
If your message prints, fine. If your message does not print, you need to learn about Pine's three options for printing. The following instructions and Pine's online help may be all you need to print your messages. If you have any questions or need help setting the Pine printing option, contact LTS.

Pine's Printing Options Pine has three printing options, which are available under S (Setup), P (Printer) on Pine's Main Menu screen. Here is a brief description of each.

  1. Printing Using a Printer Attached to PC or Macintosh: By default, Pine assumes you have a desktop computer attached to a printer. If you do, you should be able to print messages using this method.
  2. Printing Using a Standard Unix Print Command: If you are using a Unix workstation, select this option as your printing method for Pine. Using this option may require setting your "PRINTER" or "LPDEST" environment variable using the standard Unix utilities.
  3. Printing Using a Personally Selected Print Command: See LTS for help.

Pine Can Do More

Pine has other useful features that have not been covered in this introductory document. Although originally designed for novice email users, Pine has evolved to support many advanced features. There is also a PC version of Pine. Both Pine and PC-Pine are designed for use with IMAP mail servers. If you would like to learn more about Pine:
  • Try all of the commands at the bottom of each Pine screen, including the ones that appear when you press O (OTHER CMDS).
  • Read Pine's online help. It contains tips to help you at every stage of learning Pine. Read about different functions, even those you do not use yet.
  • Explore Pine's other options. To see them, at the Pine Main Menu, press S (Setup). You see a message asking you to choose one of the following tasks:
    • P (Printer) to select a printer
    • N (Newpassword) to change your account password
    • C (Config) to allow advanced users to set different Pine configurations. (There are many Pine commands that are not available by default and have to be enabled before you can use them.)
    • S (Signature) to create an email signature
    • A (AddressBooks) to work with your Address Books
    • L (collectionList) to work with your Collection List
    • D (Directory) to set up the LDAP directory server
  • For advanced information, see the online Unix Manual entries for Pine and Pico. In addition, at the Pine Main Menu, press R (RelNotes) to see Pine's release notes.
  • Visit the University of Washington's Pine Information Center. Your local system managers may have customized Pine to suit specific needs, and they may or may not offer all of Pine's ever-growing set of configuration and personal-preference options. Thus, your local system managers are a good source of information about additional Pine features.
This page was last modified on: Oct 29, 2007