Polarbar Settings

This dialog is accessed via the toolbar button named "Settings..." or via the Settings menu item on Polarbar's main window Tools menu. This dialog accesses most of the program's settings, but some of the settings are accessible from the location where you use them. For example, the main window's Message menu remembers things such as your Word wrap, Decode attachments, Headers, and font settings; the compose window remembers your word wrap and font settings; etc.

The Addressing Approach Page

When you send a message to multiple recipients, you could have either of two different and incompatible objectives in mind. You may want the recipients to be able to see the names of all the other people who received the message or you may want them all to be hidden from each other. This setting lets you decide which of these results should be your default and the Edit menu of the compose window lets you change that default for any particular message you're sending.

Send as a single message to all addressees with non-bcc addresses disclosed
A single message will be sent. All of the To and/or Cc addresses will be listed in the message headers, but none of the Bcc addresses will be listed in the message headers.
Send as multiple messages, one per addressee, with single address disclosure
A separate message will be sent to each addressee with only one To, Cc, or Bcc address listed in the message headers of each message.

Note: When sending a Bcc copy, an RFC-compliant outbound mail server will strip the Bcc address from the message headers and because there is no To or Cc header, the mail server will insert a blank Bcc header.

Send as a single message for non-Bcc and as multiple messages for Bcc
A single message will be sent to all non-Bcc addressees. Multiple messages will be sent to Bcc addresses, if any, one for each bcc addressee. All copies of the message get the full set of To and/or Cc addresses in the message headers, but the Bcc copies also include an individual Bcc address. This addressing approach is the default for new accounts.

Note: When sending a Bcc copy, an RFC-compliant outbound mail server will strip the Bcc address from the message headers. If there is at least one To or Cc address, no other address header changes will be made. But if there are no To or Cc addresses, then the mail server will insert a blank Bcc header.

Send as a single message to all addressees, with no addresses disclosed
A separate message will be sent to each addressee. None of the To, Cc, or Bcc addresses will be included in the message headers. Instead, a single To address, set to "Undisclosed Recipients ", will be included in each copy of the message.

Note: RFC-compliant outbound mail servers will change the localhost part of the To address to refer to the mail server (i.e., <list@localhost> gets changed to something like <list@mail.myisp.com>).

The Character Set Page

This page allows you to specify character sets for high ASCII character for inbound and outbound messages.  This is also where you will specify how you want messages with high ASCII characters to be decoded after download.

Character Set for imported text files
This setting determines the character set that is used when importing the contents of a file into a compose or reply when using the File / Import menu item in the Compose Window.
Character Set for outbound High ASCII Characters
This setting determines the character set that is specified in the MIME headers when a message that you create using the Compose Window has characters that are outside the US-ASCII character set range.
Encoding Style for High ASCII Characters
This setting determines how messages that you create using the Compose Window will be encoded. The three available options are:
Quoted-printable, only when high ASCII characters present
Only those messages that have characters that are outside the US-ASCII character set range, then the message will be encoded, using the MIME content transfer encoding method "quoted-printable".
Quoted-printable, always.
All messages will be encoded, using the MIME content transfer encoding method "quoted-printable".
8bit
All messages will be sent without any MIME content transfer encoding, but messages that have characters that are outside the US-ASCII character set range will be marked as using 8bit characters.
Permit high ASCII characters when sending UUencoded options
This setting determines whether or not characters that are outside the US-ASCII character set range are allowed in messages that have file attachments when file attachments are configured to use UUencoding.
Convert US-ASCII to ISO-8859-1 when displaying messages
This setting exists because some email clients fail to specify a character set or specify the US-ASCII character set when actually sending 8bit or quoted-printable messages that contain characters that are outside of the US-ASCII character set range. When enabled, this setting tells Polarbar to pretend that messages that specify the US-ASCII character set or fail to specify a character set will be treated as if they had specified the ISO-8859-1 character set.
Convert ISO-8859-1 to CP1252 when displaying messages
This setting exists because some email clients specify the ISO-8859-1 character set when actually sending messages from the Windows character set, which is a super-set of ISO-8859-1 and is commonly referred to as CP1252. When enabled, this setting tells Polarbar to pretend that messages that specify ISO-8859-1 character set will be treated as if they had specified the CP1252 character set.
The Cleanup Pages

This page allows you to specify common log options for general mail use. The Log Files tree branch lets you configure persistent logs, which may be helpful when you run into problems and you'd like to report problems back to the Polarbar Mailer Team. We often ask users to enable persistent logging and send us the log entries to diagnose problems.

Maintain the Transaction Log
With this checkbox turned on, the program will monitor the size of the message transaction log file and remove the oldest entries in order to make it adhere to the Maximum Number of Log Items setting. This action is taken each time you close an account, either by switching to another account or by closing the program.
Maximum Number of Log Items
If the Maintain the Transaction Log setting is turned on, the program will remove the oldest entries from the message transaction log file in order to keep only this number of entries in the file.
Maintain the Trash Folder
With this checkbox turned on, the program will monitor the size of the TRASH folder and delete the messages that have been in it the longest, in order to make its size adhere to the Maximum Number of Trash Messages setting. This action is taken each time you close an account, either by switching to another account or by closing the program.
Maximum Number of Trash Messages
If the Maintain the Trash Folder setting is turned on, the program will delete from the TRASH folder the messages which have been in it the longest in order to keep only this number of messages in the folder.
Copy Discarded Messages to the Trash Folder
With this setting turned on, the program will copy deleted messages to the TRASH folder. If this setting is not turned on, messages will be permanently removed from the drive with no backup. Note also that with this setting enabled, sent messages will be saved to trash if no sent folder is selected.
Persist Java console output to debug file
Used for diagnostic purposes, this setting sends various messages about internal operations and error messages to a file named DEBUG.OUT in the Polarbar main directory. Normally this setting is off.
Max log size in kilobytes before archiving
Enabled only when Persist Java console is checked, this setting determines how large the diagnostic file can grow to. Once this size is reached, it is either truncated if the next setting (number of archives) is 0 or it is archived and then truncated.
Number of log archives to keep
Enabled only when Persist Java console is checked, this setting determines how many diagnostic files are kept. An archive file is created only when the diagnostic file reaches the pre-defined max log size setting above. Any number of archived files can be maintained, limited only by disk space.
Number of status message lines to keep for viewing
This setting determines how far back you can view status line messages that are overwritten over time. Status line messages are the ones that show the number of messages downloaded and how many notes were filtered, etc. The default is 100 lines. Entering a larger number for this value may result in increased memory usage and should be adjusted with care.
Number of Java console lines to keep for viewing
This setting determines how far back you can view standard Java console messages that are redirected by Polarbar when it starts. Java console messages usually only occur when errors or diagnostic messages are produced by Polarbar error handling routines. The default is 1000 lines. Entering a larger number for this value may result in increased memory usage and should be adjusted with care.
Use queued (background threaded) logging
This setting determines whether the logging actions run on a background thread or if they happen in the foreground thread. The difference is that Polarbar may appear to operate more smoothly and faster when this option is enabled. Changing the value either way will not take effect until you restart Polarbar.
Queued logging interval (in seconds)
This setting specifies how often the background logging will check to see if anything needs to be written to the log file or not. The default is three (3) seconds and should only be changed if you feel like you need to change it. A larger value could increase the time it takes to exit Polarbar. Changing this value will not take effect until you restart Polarbar.

The Compose Page

Include message headers when forwarding
If you turn this setting on, then when you forward a message, its header lines will be included instead of only its message body text.
Default word wrapping ON for all composed messages
This setting lets you specify whether you want the Word wrap setting on the Edit menu of the compose window to be on or off by default.
Auto-complete email addresses
If you enable this setting, then when you start typing an email address in the Compose Window, Polarbar will search for a matching address in the list of last 15 addresses used and in your current address book. You can use the up and down arrow keys to browse through matching items. For example, if you typed the letter u, you might be prompted for user@example.com. But if you're looking for usher@nightclub.com you can hit the down key and that address will show up. Last15 is searched on e-mail address, name and nickname. The address book is searched based on your selected sort order.
Show attachment mode dialog
This setting lets you choose whether or not the attachment file mode dialog, which lets you choose between binary and text mode, appears when you attach a file to a message.
Default MIME/UUENCODE as the method of encoding attached files
This setting lets you specify whether you want the compose window's Attachments menu setting to default to Mime or UUencode.
Font/color to use in compose window
This text area shows the name and size of the currently configured font, followed by the characters from A to Z, a to z, and 0 to 9, using the configured colors. The Select button displays the Select a Font dialog that lets you configure the font, size, and colors.

The Custom Programs Page

These settings let you specify a program that you want the Polarbar Mailer to execute for you at the beginning of a mail retrieval or send,  at the end of either of those, or after composing a message. You might want to have the program start your internet dialer program and wait 90 seconds at the beginning of each send. If you press the Send button and the Retrieve button at the same time, then you need the retrieve to also wait for 90 seconds before it tries to connect, so that your dialer can get connected first. Then after the send, you might want to make your dialer hang up. And after the retrieve, you might want to do something that you want to have done when no mail is retrieved (since the Filter feature can't help you with that because it can only act when a message is received). The first four Custom Program settings can fulfill all of these functions.

The program that you can execute upon leaving the compose window (the fifth Custom Program setting) can be used as an alternate editor, or can be used to "scrub" your messages in any way you like before sending them. Just remember not to ever make the Polarbar Mailer send your mail while this Custom Program is still running! The program will send the messages in the OUTBOX folder when you tell it to, without regard to the fact that one of them might still be "in use" by this Custom Program or alternate editor at the time. Also, make sure your "scrubber" or "alternate editor" doesn't do something that ruins your messages, because the program is just going to send them without examining them first. For example, if you remove the blank line between a message's header lines and its body text, and the first line of your body text happens to begin with a space or tab character or with a word that ends with a colon, then the SMTP or POP3 server to which you send the message will think that line of body text is still part of the message's header lines and will act accordingly. The only way the server will realize that the client has stopped sending header lines and started sending body text without the blank line which is supposed to signal that transition, is if it receives a line of text that doesn't start with a space or tab or a word that ends with a colon. So you'll have message body text that will be treated as headers, the results of which can be distressing and especially confusing to the recipient.

In these settings, you can use the Find buttons to select your executable file or type its name yourself.  Add whatever parameters you want to pass to that program. The Polarbar Mailer will ask Java to execute the exact string you've typed, whatever it may be.

Under the operating systems on which we've tried this feature, Java cannot execute anything other than *.EXE files and, in the case of Windows 95, the START command. If you need to execute a non-*.EXE file under Windows 95, insert the word START at the beginning of the command. Under OS/2 or NT, insert CMD.EXE /C START instead. Using these methods to start the program in a separate session is also necessary for many character mode (that is, non-GUI or non-graphical) programs which need a "console" for input and output, particularly batch files and REXX programs.

Under OS/2 and Windows 95, even when you do use START or CMD.EXE /C START to run the program in a separate character mode window, in order to run a batch file or REXX program, the session's STDIN and STDOUT (standard input and standard output) has been redirected to some unknown location. In order to get a batch file to take input from the keyboard, you have to redirect STDIN back to the keyboard and the same goes for STDOUT and the monitor. For example, instead of having the batch file execute PAUSE, it has to execute PAUSE < CON, and instead of ECHO HELLO, it must be ECHO HELLO > CON. In REXX, you can't use SAY and PULL; you might use LINEIN("CON") and LINEOUT("HELLO","CON") instead.

If you want the program to wait, between starting a Custom Program and doing whatever it would do next (like if your Custom Program is an internet dialer and you need to give it time to connect before the Polarbar Mailer should try to connect to the server), then insert the string "delay=60;" (that is, the word "delay", an equals sign, the number of seconds, and a semicolon) at the beginning of your command line. In this case, the program will tell Java to execute whatever comes after the semicolon, instead of telling Java to execute the whole command line. If you want a delay but no Custom Program (as in the example above, where you initiate a send and a retrieve at the same time and you have configured the send to start your dialer, so you need for the retrieve to just wait until the connection has been made), you can say "delay=60;" without any program name after it.

For the fifth Custom Program, the one that you can run when leaving the compose window, there is a special parameter: The name of the file that has just been created by the compose window will be passed at the end of the command line, unless you specify that you need that filename to be passed at some other location within the command line. To do so, just place the string "{file}" at that location. That is, the word "file" in French curly brackets.

Once you have filled in the fifth Custom Program setting here, your compose window will stop using its original toolbar and start using an alternate one. This one has an additional button, which is the way in which this Custom Program is activated. When you want to send a message just as it is in the compose window, press the normal Send Later button or the Send Now button. When you're done with the functions of the compose window but you want your Custom Program to be executed against the new message before it is sent (whether the Custom Program functions as an alternate editor or any other kind of scrubber), press the Send Later/Execute Custom Program button instead. (The same function is also available on the File menu of the compose window, in case you have the toolbar turned off.) The message will be placed into the OUTBOX folder just as if you'd pressed the Send Later button, but then the fifth Custom Program will be executed.

Separate Custom Program settings are maintained for each operating system that you use with a single Polarbar installation.

The Fonts and Colors Page

This page allows you to change the Compose window font, the Folder tree font, the Main font, the Message font, the Message list font, the Menu font, the Title font and the Headings font. In addition to changing the font settings, the text and panel colors can also be changed for all fonts other than the Menu font. You can even consolidate all of the fonts and colors to match the current Main font and color settings.

The Title font is used on panels that display the gradient title bar, usually at the top of the dialog. For example, all the settings panels make use of this gradient title bar. Since the gradient transitions from the foreground color to the background color, you should make your foreground color setting for this very dark and the background very light for the best effect. For Java 1.1.x users, the color value is ignored and the gradient.jpg graphic image is used to determine the color.
The Headings font is another dialog font used to highlight section headings in dialogs. Many of the settings panels (custom programs, fonts and colors, etc.) use this font/color combination.

Note: If the stand-alone fonts and colors dialog was activated via Tools / Fonts and colors... prior to the settings dialog being activated, then this page will not be present in the settings dialog. Conversely, if the settings dialog is active when Tools / Fonts and colors... is activated, then the settings dialog is given focus and switches to this page.

The Incoming Servers Page

Server List
Mail for this account is retrieved from one or more incoming mail servers that are configured on this page. The order in which the server connections are attempted is from top to bottom. Polarbar always attempts to retrieve from each server in the listed order, with the exception of servers that are disabled.
Create Button
Use the Create button to add a new incoming mail server entry. Polarbar pops up a "New Server" dialog that lets you choose which type of server to configure:
  1. POP3
    A standard Post Office Protocol 3 server that requires you to log in with your user ID and password.
  2. IMAP4
    A standard Internet Mail ail Access Protocol 4 server that requires you to log in with your user ID and password.
  3. PPO
    A type of server that deposits your mail into a specific directory when new mail is available.
  4. news:
    A public Usenet news server or a private news server.
The new server entry is added to the bottom of the list and is listed as "undefined".
Changing Entries
You can change entries in the list by expanding the settings tree and select the individual entry to edit. Changes are saved when you press the OK button.
Remove Button
Use the Remove button to delete the highlighted entry.
Up Button
Use the Up button to move the highlighted entry up one slot in the list.
Down Button
Use the Down button to move the highlighted entry down one slot in the list.

For all server types other than PPO, each edit panel displayed when you expand the tree uses the same basic panel with minor differences between the types, as described below:

The Incoming Servers panel (all servers other than PPO):
Mail Server
The address for the mail server (e.g., mail@myisp.com).
Userid
For POP3 and IMAP4 servers only. Your user ID for this mail server. This field is optional. If it is blank, then Polarbar will prompt you for your user ID the first time it attempts to retrieve mail using this server (after you start Polarbar or switch to this account).
Password
For POP3 and IMAP4 servers only. Your password for this mail server. This field is optional. If it is blank, then Polarbar will prompt you for your password the first time it attempts to retrieve mail using this server (after you start Polarbar or switch to this account).
Prompt before preview
For POP3 and IMAP4 servers only. If this checkbox is enabled, then Polarbar will prompt you for your user ID and password when you choose this server for use with Preview Mail feature, even if neither the user ID nor the password is missing.
Disable
For all servers other than PPO. If this checkbox is enabled, then Polarbar will not attempt to retrieve mail from this incoming mail server.
Maximum message size
For POP3 and IMAP4 servers only. The maximum message size to download. If set to any value other than zero (0), then any messages larger than this number of bytes will not be downloaded. Instead, only their headers will be retrieved. In place of the actual message, Polarbar will insert an explanation of why the message was not downloaded. You can then use the Preview Mail feature to look at the first 50 lines of the message and decide if you want to retrieve the entire message (from the Mail Preview window) or just delete it.
Connection Timeout
How many seconds the program should wait for a connection. It will stop waiting sooner than this if TCP/IP returns an error or if the connection is made.
Attempts
How many attempts Polarbar should make to connect to this server before moving on to the next server in the list.
Port
Usually 110 for a POP3 server, 143 for an IMAP4 server, and 119 for a news server.
Test Connection Button
When you activate this button, Polarbar tests the connection to this server and reports the results by changing the button text. If the connection attempt fails, you can adjust the server settings and test the connection again.

The Options panel (POP3 servers only):
Retrieve new mail only
If this checkbox is enabled, then Polarbar will only retrieve new mail (i.e., mail that Polarbar has not previously retrieved). This option is most commonly enabled if you intend to leave you mail on the server.
Download POP3 mail in reverse order
If this checkbox is enabled, then Polarbar will retrieve mail from this server in reverse order (i.e., from highest to lowest, instead of from lowest to highest).
Delete retrieved messages from server
If this checkbox is enabled, then after Polarbar has successfully downloaded a mail message, it tells the server to mark the message for deletion. The server won't actually delete the marked messages until after Polarbar logs off from the server. This means that if the server connection drops, none of the messages that were marked for deletion will be deleted.
Mail server supports the APOP command
If this checkbox is enabled, then Polarbar will log on using the APOP command, using an MD5 hash encoding of a time stamp provided by the POP3 server and your password, instead of using the clear text PASSWORD command. If this checkbox is enabled, but the POP3 server does not support the APOP command, then Polarbar will indicate a failure and you will have to disable this checkbox in order to allow Polarbar to log on to the POP3 server.
Server message list is unordered
If the server doesn't sort its list of messages by number, then you can enable this option to have Polarbar sort the list of messages by number. If you also have the reverse download option enabled, then Polarbar will sort the list of messages in reverse order by number.
Mail server supports the UIDL command
If this checkbox is enabled, then Polarbar retrieves the UIDL codes for all messages that are on this mail server and compares them with its saved list of UIDLs of previously retrieved mail in order to determine which mail messages are new. If this checkbox is disabled, then Polarbar uses a "high water mark" to indicate how many of the mail messages that are on the server have already been retrieved. The "high water mark" method is prone to failure and the use of UIDL is strongly encouraged.
Last message number (non-UIDL mode only)
When the UIDL option is unchecked, this entry field allows you to enter the "high water mark" Polarbar uses to indicate how many of the mail messages that are on the server have already been retrieved. The "high water mark" method is prone to failure and the use of UIDL is strongly encouraged.

The Options panel (IMAP4 servers only):
Send a NOOP before each server command
If this checkbox is enabled, then Polarbar sends a NOOP command to the IMAP server before each command. This is not part of the IMAP specification and even though it's compatible with the specification, this option only exists for some non-standard situations. It should normally be unchecked.
Retrieve new mail only
If this checkbox is enabled, then Polarbar will only retrieve new mail (i.e., mail that Polarbar has not previously retrieved). This option is most commonly enabled if you intend to leave you mail on the server.
Delete retrieved messages from server
If this checkbox is enabled, then after Polarbar has successfully downloaded a mail message, it tells the server to mark the message for deletion. The server won't actually delete the marked messages until after Polarbar logs off from the server. This means that if the server connection drops, none of the messages that were marked for deletion will be deleted.

The Mailbox Mapping panel (POP3 and IMAP4 servers only):
Addresses
A comma-separated list of email address to use with the mailbox mapping feature, as controlled by the radio buttons. If this field is blank, then the mailbox mapping feature is disabled.
Retrieve mail for only these addresses
If this radio button is enabled, then Polarbar will only retrieve mail messages that have one or more of the indicated email addresses in their "To:", "Cc:", or "Bcc:" headers or are in one or more of their "Received:" headers, if prefixed by "for" and surrounded by angle brackets (e.g., "Received: ... for <mailbox@domain> ...").
Retrieve mail excluding these addresses
If this radio button is enabled, then Polarbar will only retrieve mail messages that don't have any of the indicated email addresses in their "To:", "Cc:", or "Bcc:" headers.

The PPO panel (PPO servers only):
Directory
The absolute path for the directory that the PPO server places new mail messages into.
Supported PPO Message Extensions
A comma-separated list of case-sensitive file name extensions that Polarbar will look for in the PPO server's directory.
Activate PPO Inbox
If this checkbox is enabled, then Polarbar will to retrieve mail from this PPO mail server. This checkbox is disabled and cleared if the Directory field does not hold the absolute path for an existing and accessible directory.

The Newsgroup Tab (news servers only):
Newsgroup
The name of the newsgroup to read for this server entry.
Last article read
The highest article number that has been retrieved from the server. When Polarbar retrieves articles from the newsgroup, it will only download those articles that have an article number that is larger than this value.
Catchup
If you activate this button, then the Last article read field gets set to the highest article number that the server reports for this newsgroup.
The Messages Page
Prompt before deleting messages
With this checkbox turned on, the program will ask you for confirmation each time you delete a message from a folder. Caution: If turn off this setting, it is suggested that you enable the cleanup setting: Copy Discarded Messages to Trash to avoid accidental loss of messages.
Prompt if no default persona when composing
With this checkbox turned on, the program will ask you to select a Persona when the compose window opens if you haven't previously selected a default persona.
Prompt before permitting addresses without domains
With this checkbox turned on, the program will ask you whether you're sure you haven't made a mistake each time you try to leave the compose window with an addressee which is not formatted like a legal internet address and is also not found as a nickname in one of your address books. Turn this setting off if you need to be able to address messages to other users on your own network without having to specify the domain name as part of the address.
Prompt before permitting messages without user text
With this checkbox turned on, the program will ask you whether you're sure you haven't made a mistake each time you try to leave the compose window without having added any text to the initial preface and/or quoted text.
Prompt before permitting messages with no subject
With this checkbox turned on, the program will ask you whether you're sure you haven't made a mistake each time you try to leave the compose window wit a blank subject.
Scan unread messages across folders
If you turn this setting on, then when you select Next Unread Message and there are no more unread messages in the current folder, the program will advance to the next folder with unread messages in it, if any, not counting the draft, outbox, and trash folders.
Remember folder message list sort order
If you turn this setting on, then when you sort the Message List, the sort order will be retained between visits to folder and between invocations of the program.
Switch focus on message selection
If you turn this setting on, then after a message is selected, the window focus is switched back to the message browser.
Start in drafts folder when it has new auto saved messages
If you turn this setting on, then if Polarbar was closed, crashed, or killed with open compose windows, then when you restart Polarbar, Polarbar will start up with the drafts folder selected instead of the inbox.
Use separate message window (requires restarting Polarbar)
If you turn this setting on and restart Polarbar, all messages are displayed in a window that is detached from the main Polarbar frame. This feature does not work well unless you also enable "Switch focus on message selection".
Move unread message count to start of title bar
Polarbar displays the current unread message count in the title bar. By default, it is displayed following the "Polarbar Mailer - " part of the title bar text as a convenience for those users that want to have their window manager lock Polarbar in all virtual screens, which typically requires that the title bar text be constant up to the first occurrence of a dash. If you enable this setting, Polarbar will instead display the current unread message count as the first text in the title bar, which will usually allow you to see the current unread message count simply by looking at the window manager's task list.
Fix double-click in text browser, even when Java is less than 1.4
Java 1.4 made significant changes to the rules regard what text gets highlighted when double-clicking in a text area component. Polarbar automatically compensates for this when it detects that you are using Java 1.4 or higher. This setting allows you to enjoy the benefits of the Polarbar Java 1.4 double-click fixes if you are using a pre-1.4 version of Java that has been updated with the Java 1.4 rules.
The News Page

If your only use of internet newsgroups is by web sites such as http://www.dejanews.com or http://www.hotbot.com, you don't need a news reader application. Those web sites let you read all the newsgroup postings you want and they even let you write a reply, but not easily. The Polarbar Mailer provides an easy way to write newsgroup postings and replies so you can interact with such web sites in both directions without using a full-fledged news reader. To write an original posting, just type NEWS: and the newsgroup name as the addressee, in the Compose Window. To reply to a posting on a newsgroup web site, see Paste quoted.

News Server
This setting is partially obsolete as of Polarbar 1.24, which added support for outbound news servers.
Note: If you don't want to use the Polarbar news posting feature, you should leave the News Server field blank in order to avoid occasional Paste Quoted oddities where Polarbar thinks that you are trying to reply to a news message.
Port Number
This setting is obsolete as of Polarbar 1.24, which added support for outbound news servers.
Interpret addresses containing a period (.) but no (@) as newsgroups
If you leave this setting on, then you don't have to type NEWS: before a newsgroup name in the Addresses: field of the compose window. The program will assume that any address that has a period without an @ sign is a newsgroup and will send the message using your news server. (If the message also has other addressees that don't look like newsgroup names, the program will send the message to those addressees using the SMTP or POP3 server; it will only send the message to the news server for those addressees that look like newsgroup names.)
Note: This setting applies to you even if you never want to use the Polarbar Mailer for newsgroup postings or replies. If you need to be able to send an email message to an address which does not contain an @ sign but does contain a period (for example, another user at your own domain so that you want to leave off the @ sign and the domain name, but his username has a period in it), then you have to turn this setting off or else the program will always try to send that message to your news server (and if you don't have your news server setting filled in, the program is going to prompt you for it at send time). With this setting turned off, the program will never try to send anything to the news server unless you type NEWS: in front of the address in the compose window.
The Outgoing Servers Page
Server List
Mail sent using this account is sent via one or more outgoing mail servers that are configured on this page. The order in which the server connections are attempted is from top to bottom. Polarbar does not memorize which server it used previously and always starts with the first listed server. You can configure each server to only be used if your computer's IP address is in one (or more) specific IP address range(s) and you can disable a server from being used without having to delete it from the list.
Create Button
Use the Create button to add a new outgoing mail server entry. Polarbar pops up a "New Server" dialog that lets you choose which type of server to configure:
  1. SMTP
    A standard Simple Mail Transfer Protocol server.
  2. Auth SMTP
    An SMTP server that supports the AUTH LOGIN authentication protocol that requires you to log in with your user ID and password. If you are not sure if your ISP uses a plain SMTP server or supports AUTH LOGIN, choosing this server type is a safe option, because if it turns out that the server doesn't support AUTH LOGIN, Polarbar will fall back to the simple SMTP usage.
  3. POP3 (out)
    A standard Post Office Protocol 3 server that requires you to log in with your user ID and password.
  4. PPO
    A type of server that requires you to deposit your mail into a specific directory that it scans periodically for new outgoing mail.
  5. News
    A type of server that allows you to post messages to a news group server.
The new server entry is added to the bottom of the list and is listed as "undefined".
Changing Entries
You can change entries in the list by expanding the settings tree and select the individual entry to edit. Changes are saved when you press the OK button.
Remove Button
Use the Remove button to delete the highlighted entry.
Up Button
Use the Up button to move the highlighted entry up one slot in the list.
Down Button
Use the Down button to move the highlighted entry down one slot in the list.

For all server types other than PPO, each edit panel displayed when you expand the tree uses the same basic panel with minor differences between the types, as described below:

The Outgoing Servers panel (all servers other than PPO):
Mail Server
The address for the mail server (e.g., mail@myisp.com).
Userid
For Auth SMTP, POP Before SMTP, and POP3 (out) servers only. Your user ID for this mail server. This field is optional. If it is blank, then Polarbar will prompt you for your user ID the first time it attempts to retrieve mail using this server (after you start Polarbar or switch to this account).
Password
For Auth SMTP, POP Before SMTP, and POP3 (out) servers only. Your password for this mail server. This field is optional. If it is blank, then Polarbar will prompt you for your password the first time it attempts to retrieve mail using this server (after you start Polarbar or switch to this account).
Disable
If this checkbox is enabled, then Polarbar will not attempt to send mail using this outgoing mail server.
Connection Timeout
How many seconds the program should wait for a connection. It will stop waiting sooner than this if TCP/IP returns an error or if the connection is made.
Attempts
How many attempts Polarbar should make to connect to this server before moving on to the next server in the list.
Port
Usually 25 for an SMTP or Auth SMTP server or 110 for a POP3 (out) server.
Test Connection Button
When you activate this button, Polarbar tests the connection to this server and reports the results by changing the button text. If the connection attempt fails, you can adjust the server settings and test the connection again.

The IP Ranges panel (all servers other than PPO):
IP Ranges
A optional list of IP address ranges, separated by semicolon, that your computer's IP address must be within in order for Polarbar to use this server. For example, if the ISP that owns this server always gives your computer an IP address that starts with 39.12 or 39.13 when you are connected to the ISP's network, then you could enter 39.12;39.13 into this field. Then if you were dialed into some other network, this server would not be used to send your mail.

The PPO Server panel (PPO servers only):
Directory
The absolute path for the directory that the PPO server scans for new messages to send. Polarbar saves all messages using the POP file name extension (all uppercase).
Activate PPO Outbox
If this checkbox is disabled, then Polarbar will not attempt to send mail using this PPO server. This checkbox is disabled and cleared if the Directory field does not hold the absolute path for an existing and accessible directory.

The Persona Page

This page allows you to create a new persona, using the Create button. To see the settings for your existing personas, expand the Persona tree by clicking on the + icon next to the Personas title in the Polarbar Settings tree. Click on a persona name to see the first page of that persona's settings. Click on the + icon next to the persona name to see the other persona settings pages for the same persona.

Note: If the stand-alone persona dialog was activated via Tools / Personas... prior to the settings dialog being activated, then this page will not be present in the settings dialog. Conversely, if the settings dialog is active when Tools / Personas... is activated, then the settings dialog is given focus and switches to this page.

The PGP Page

This page lets you configure Polarbar for use with PGP for signing, encrypting, decrypting and verification of mail messages.

PGP Public Keyring
Enter the path to your PGP public Keyring or use the Find button to locate it.
PGP Secret Keyring
Enter the path to your PGP secret Keyring or use the Find button to locate it.
PGP ID
Enter your PGP ID here or locate it using the find button.
PGP Passphrase
Only type your PGP pass phrase here if you want it to be stored in Polarbar's account settings file, using weak encryption. If you don't type your pass phrase here, then each time you start Polarbar, you will be prompted for your pass phrase the first time that Polarbar might need it since the time you started Polarbar. If you do enter your pass phrase here, you can test it using the Test button. If you are worried about leaving your pass phrase in memory, you can clear it by selecting Tools->PGP->Clear PGP Passphrase

The Platform Page

These settings are used by Polarbar to determine how to deal with the following items that have significant operational differences between various platform types. Unless you are running Polarbar on a platform that has not previously been tested, you should never need to change any of these settings. If you do change any of these settings and you need to restore the Polarbar default values, exit Polarbar and delete the PLATFORM.INI file from the Mailer directory, then restart Polarbar.

Add overwrite test to save file dialog
Unless the OS name starts with "Windows", because Windows provides it natively, Polarbar prompts the user to avoid overwriting files.
Native choice control supports searching.
If the OS name contains "OS/2", Polarbar does not provide first-letter searching for choice controls, because OS/2 provides that natively.
Large choice controls use scrollable lists.
If the OS is Un*x-derived (the OS name contains "BSD", "Linux", "Solaris", or "Unix"), because X-windows choice controls have display problems if they have a large number of long choices.
Enable Un*x print options.
If the OS is Un*x-derived (the OS name contains "BSD", "Linux", "Solaris", or "Unix"), due to the lack of a native print dialog.

The Printing Page

These settings only have an effect when printing messages, not anywhere else in the program such as the online help.

Font
This option lets you select the font that will be used for printing messages.
Top Margin
This option lets you select the size of the top margin for printing messages.
Bottom Margin
See Top Margin, above.
Left Margin
See Top Margin, above.
Right Margin
See Top Margin, above.
Page eject after each message
The program will always send a page eject after a print job, so this setting applies only when there are multiple messages in a single print job. With this setting turned on, each message will have at least one page to itself. With this setting off, if one message ends before the bottom of its page, the next message will begin in the remaining space rather than not starting until the next page.
Print footer on each page
With this setting turned on, the bottom of each page will have a horizontal line, the date and time of printing on the left, and the page number on the right.
Use the following value for dots per inch
On some systems, when the program asks Java for the printer's page size, the response that Java returns is incorrect. This setting lets you tell the program to ignore Java's answer and use the information you provide instead. If your printout is missing its end, and the top and left margins are bigger than they should be, that means the program is being told that an inch is bigger than it really is, so you need to tell the program to use a smaller number when calculating how much space equals an inch. If your printout's bottom and right margins are too big, that means the program is being told that an inch is smaller than it really is, so you need to tell the program to use a bigger number instead, in this setting. The window in which your Java virtual machine is running will contain a notice after each print job, which will tell you what the program used for the dots per inch setting for that print job, so you can tell what number to start with when increasing or decreasing the value in this setting. Just look where it says "1 inch=".
Wrap lines which exceed the right margin
You can turn this checkbox off if you want the program to not bother checking the width of each line in the message file before printing it. If your messages don't have any long lines, then your printouts would not be losing text off the right edge of the page even with this setting turned off, so this check is a waste of your time and CPU power if you're using that particular printer driver. Therefore, you would want to turn this setting off.
Assign printer settings (Un*x-derivatives only)
When running Polarbar on a Un*x-derived platform (see the Platform Printing settings), Polarbar provides additional printer options that are geared towards Un*x-like systems. Unfortunately, some Java vendors don't include support for these print options in the print dialog.

The Program Launchers Page

This page allows you to configure programs that run automatically when you open an attachment, based on the file extension of the attachment file. If a launcher is not configured for a particular file extension, then the Attachment Processor dialog appears when you open an attachment.

Launchers
This is the list of existing application launchers defined. If none are shown, use the Update button to add new entries after defining the extension and program.
Extensions
Enter one or more file extensions that are associated with the program path. Separate multiple extensions with a space.
Program path
Enter the name of the program that will be run when opening attachments that have the file extension(s) defined.
Find button
Use the find button to open the standard file open dialog to locate a program and have its name filled into the entry field when you select it.
Update button
Use the update button to add a new entry, if no launcher is highlighted in the list of existing launchers, or update an existing entry if an existing launcher is highlighted.
Delete button
Use the delete button to remove the highlighted entry in the launchers list.
The Retrieving Page
Retrieve mail automatically every [ ] minutes
With this checkbox turned on and a number of minutes specified, the program will automatically retrieve new mail whenever the account is open after each time the specified number of minutes elapses. To temporarily turn it off, or to make automatic mail retrieval occur on all accounts, see Popper.
Retrieve mail at startup
With this checkbox turned on, Polarbar will attempt the first mail retrieval as soon as it is safe to do so (after starting Polarbar or switching to this account) instead of waiting until after the automatic mail retrieval interval expires.
Send mail in outbox when performing receive
With this checkbox turned on Polarbar will try to send any messages in your outbox as soon as a mail retrieval process has been started.
Popper retrieves to another account
With this checkbox turned on, any messages that are retrieved for this account when the Popper is running are instead redirected to the account that is specified in the drop-down list to the right, even if this account is the active account when the Popper is retrieving messages.
Play system sound when new mail is received
With this radio button turned on, the program will play your system's default sound (typically a beep), when a mail retrieval action results in new mail being received.
Play audio file when new mail is received
With this radio button turned on and a valid audio (.AU) file selected via the Find button to the right, the program will play that audio file, when a mail retrieval action results in new mail being received.
Do not play a file when new mail is received
With this radio button turned on, the program will not play any sound when a mail retrieval action results in new mail being received.

The Spell Checker Page

This page allows you to choose the Polarbar Spell Checker. The options on this page support the two Spell Checkers currently supplied with Polarbar, JSpell and Wintertree Sentry. This page also displays an option to support additional Spell Checkers that might be made available in the future. When you enable JSpell, there are only two further options. When you enable Sentry, the rest of the options on this page become available. Also, the Spell Checker branch of the Polarbar Settings tree grows, adding a continuation page of options and a Spelling Files page. The options on the first two Spell Checker pages are generally self-evident. The Spelling Files page needs some further clarification.

Any Spell Checker compares your typed text against a stored data base containing correct spellings of the words of your language. In the case of Sentry, this data base consists of the files listed on the Spelling Files page. To validate your text, Sentry looks up your words in each file listed on this page, starting with the Main lexicon (.tlx) file and continuing with the other files whose names are filled in here, in order from the top to the bottom of this page. When Sentry validates a word in a particular file, the lookup stops. If Sentry doesn't validate your word in a file, it continues the lookup in the next file on the Settings page. If it reaches the last file and still can't validate your word, it offers you a list of suggested possible other ways of spelling the word. Clearly, the fewer files on this page, the faster a Spell Check might run, at the expense of not doing as thorough a job of catching misspellings.

Each file on this page has a specific purpose, as follows:

The Main lexicon (.tlx) file contains all the words in the language that aren't in the main compressed (.clx) file.

The Main lexicon (.clx) file is the primary language lexicon file in a compressed format. The compression allows faster lookups of words contained inside it as well as a smaller distribution size.

The Common accent lexicon file contains words that may be commonly used in the language but may be borrowed from other languages. English uses no accents or other decorations on letters, unlike for example, French. But if, for example, you happen to refer to a person or place whose name is French, you might use the proper French spelling.

The Auto-correct lexicon file contains common misspellings of words. If you happen to misspell a word in one of these common ways, Sentry simply corrects the word without prompting you in the Spell Checker dialog.

The Additional dictionary file is intended to contain the words you add to Sentry's vocabulary with the Add button in the Spell Checker dialog. This is the default purpose of this file, but the Spell Checker dialog offers you a way to add words to other lexicon files. There are three entries for an Additional dictionary file for flexibility. You may want to separate legal words from medical terms or have other uses for these additional entries.

Separate Lexicon file locations are maintained for each operating system that you use with a single Polarbar installation.

In order for Sentry to function properly, the minimal requirement is a Main lexicon (.tlx) file. You may omit some or all of the other files, but we recommend you supply at least one Additional dictionary file to hold the words you want Sentry to learn. For this reason, we will always supply at least a small "starter" file for this entry.

When we supply a new Sentry dictionary, it consists of at least two files. One is a file with extension .tlx, whose name you enter as the Main lexicon (.tlx) file. The other is a file with extension .clx, whose name you enter as the Main lexicon (.clx) file. The Canadian lexicon files included today are ssceca.tlx and ssceca2.clx. The British lexicon files are sscebr.tlx and sscebr2.clx. You can use the same auto-correct and accent lexicons with all three English "dialects." All these files are located within the Polarbar distribution jar file, which is an ordinary zip archive. Unzip them from the root directory of the archive and adjust your Spelling Files Settings accordingly. Each file on this page has an extension of either .clx or .tlx. The .clx extension indicates a compressed file format and those files cannot be changed. The .tlx file extensions are text files, which allows Polarbar to add words that may not appear in any of the other lexicon files.

This page of Settings offers Edit buttons for some of these files. Not all the Edit buttons are active because you cannot edit the compressed files (those having the .clx extension) and for technical reasons the accent.tlx file cannot be edited either. Clicking one of the active Edit buttons launches a dialog that allows you to modify the associated file, thereby adjusting Sentry's behavior when it encounters certain words. You can create alternate spellings, perhaps to add special-purpose jargon words to the dictionary. You can also correct or remove incorrect spellings you may have accidentally entered into the dictionary by clicking the wrong button while checking the spelling of an E-mail message.

The Time Zone Page

This page allows you to set up an alternate Time Zone if the default Time Zone that Java picks for Polarbar is not correct for your location.

The Web Browser Page

This setting lets you determine what type of browser window will be opened when you double-click on a URL in the program's main browser panel. These programs are executed in the same way as the Custom Programs; the Polarbar Mailer will pass the command exactly as you've typed it here to the operating system, with the selected URL either at the end (with a single space separating the command from the URL) or where the last percent sign (%), if any, is located, using Java's method of starting native programs. If you need to use a CMD.EXE /C command or a START command or something to get your specified program to run as a Custom Program as described above, then you need to do the same thing here as well. As an example of using the positional URL syntax, if you type C:\BAT\BROWSER "%" here and you later double click on http://WWW/ in the text browser, then Polarbar will execute the command C:\BAT\BROWSER "http://WWW/".

Separate Web Browser settings are maintained for each operating system that you use with a single Polarbar installation.

The Windows Registry Page

This page allows you to add Polarbar to the Windows Registry and also allows you to make Polarbar the default Windows email client (for example, for handling mail to links on web pages).