| Filtering The List | ||
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 | Chapter 6. Message List Commands |  |
| Filtering The List | ||
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| | Chapter 6. Message List Commands | |
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Entire document Available as PDF |
GatorLink WebMail provides a means to filter your message-list--that is, to temporarily view only a subset of the messages in a folder. Filtering is a powerful tool which gives you much more than just the ability to view a group of messages. Coupled with the "Check All" control, the Delete Checked button and/or the Move/Copy buttons, the Filter facility provides you the ability to manage large amounts of e-mail very efficiently.
Filtering your messages is a simple 1-2-3 process:
Select the target of filter: What parts of the messages do you want to filter on?
For example, you can filter by Sender, Subject, whether or not the sender is in your Address Book, and various message attributes.
Enter any additional criteria [search-terms] (if applicable).
For filter-by Sender, Subject, or Recipients, (any of the filter types with a
" : at the end of the selection-name) you may
specify one or more words or other characters (a
"search-string") which the filter will use to select only the
messages you wish to see.
Click the Filter button
Now, we'll go into detail on steps 1 and 2.
Click the "Filter Message List" dropdown menu to select a filter category.
This is the default value; no filters are applied.
You might select this if you wanted to view all messages either from an individual (that person's name or e-mail address is on the "From:" line), or about that same individual (i.e. that person's name is part of the Subject).
The Subject: line of every message in this folder will be searched for the exact string of characters (case INsensitive) you enter.
This would be useful to help you find all messages on a given topic (i.e. with a common "Subject:"). Note that since the search-term will be found regardless of where it is in the "Subject:" line, you can ignore the effect of the many "Re:", "Fwd:", and similar tags which may get added to a subject line during an extended e-mail exchange. Just search on the original subject--or even just a unique word occurring anywhere within the subject--to find all messages which match what you enter.
The From: line of every message in this folder will be searched for the exact string of characters (case INsensitive) you enter.
This would be useful to help you find all messages from a given individual.
The To: line of every message in this folder will be searched for the exact string of characters (case INsensitive) you enter.
This can be particularly useful if you receive mail from e-mail lists (e.g., LISTSERV lists); since the "To:" line of such messages usually specifies the list-name, you can easily locate all the messages from that list.
It may also be useful if you have multiple e-mail addresses which you use for different purposes, but have them all forwarded to your GatorLink e-mail box; you can search for any one of your addresses, and view only the mail that was sent to that address.
Specifying "To: Recipients" as the search-target will NOT find messages for which the search-string matches a "CC:" or "BCC:" line. To match these secondary recipients, use the "All Recipients" search-target (see below).
This is similar to the "To: Recipients" filter discussed above, but it also searches "CC:" and "BCC:" recipients.
Selects only messages which you have not yet read.
When a new message arrives, it shows in your message list in bold (dark) type. After you have read it, the entry in your message list changes to normal (lighter) type (also the "Sender" color changes from dark black to a lighter gray). These visual clues help you know which messages you have already read, and which you have not. The "New Messages" filter allows you to view a list of only messages which you have not yet read.
This is the opposite (inverse) of the "New Messages" filter (discussed above). This allows you to view a list of only the messages which you have already read.
This could be useful, in conjunction with the "Check All" control, to allow you to move all messages you have already read to an "old messages" folder, or to the Trash.
Show only messages to which you have already responded (using the "reply" or "(all)" controls).
Show only messages which include an attachment.
This may be particularly useful if you are running short on space ("Quota") in your GatorLink account. Locating messages with attachments (which are frequently large files), and deleting them, is a good way to quickly free up space in your account.
Don't forget to empty the trash!
Opposite (inverse) of "Messages with attachments" (above). Shows only messages which do not include any attachments.
Show only messages with "From:" lines which match an address in your GatorLink WebMail Address Book.
Opposite (inverse) of "From known addresses" (above). Show only messages with "From:" lines which do NOT match any address in your GatorLink WebMail Address Book.
This filter may be particularly useful in helping you find--and quickly delete--junk mail which may have been missed by the junk-mail filters (see "Messages Flagged as Junk," below).
This filter works in conjunction with the "Junk Mail Flag Threshold:" setting found on the "Preferences" page.
Using the "Junk Mail Flag Threshold" setting, you set how strict or lax you wish to be in flagging mail as "Junk." Junk-mail identification is not a precise science; the Junk-mail facility can only identify the probability that a message is, or is not, Junk. You set, according to your experiences and preferences, the probability-cut-off level at which you want messages to be considered "Junk."
Note that the "Junk Mail" section of the "Preferences" page gives you the option to "Auto Filter Junk Mail" if you wish. Selecting that feature will cause all mail identified as "Junk" (according to your threshold preference) to be automatically moved to the "Junk" folder (not the "Trash").
For more information, see the "Junk Mail" section of the "Preferences" chapter of this document, and the CNS Spam Information Center.
The opposite (inverse) of the "Messages Flagged as Junk" filter (discussed above). Shows you all messages which have NOT been flagged as "Junk" (according to your threshold preference).
After you select a filter target from the drop-down menu, if
the category requires further criteria (such as the "subject",
"sender" and "recipients" selections -- any of the filter types with a
" : at the end of the selection-name), the gray box to the right
of "Filter Message List..." will turn white,
and you can type your specific selection criteria into it. For
example, if you select "Only Subject", then
you will need to specify what Subject you want to search/select
for.
The search-text you enter in the box is case-INsensitive; it does not distinguish between upper and lower-case characters. If you search on "Gator", you will get all messages containing "Gator", "gator", "GATOR" or any other upper/lower-case variation, provided it occurs in the portion of the message specified in the "Filter Message List..." drop-down.
A message will be selected by a filter if the text you enter in the box occurs anywhere in the message-part being searched. It is a simple search; it does not recognize advanced syntaxes such as UNIX "regular expression" language, nor logical operators such as "AND", "OR", or "NOT". There is no need to use "quote-marks" to specify "exact phrases" such as you might, for example, in Google search. In fact, since the GatorLink WebMail filter searches on the exact string that you type (including spaces), adding quote-marks will probably result in a failure to find the correct messages. Because GatorLink WebMail is searching for the entire search-string you entered, if you enter "quote-marks", it will search for "quote-marks".
An exception to the rule that GatorLink WebMail searches for the exact text entered as the search-string occurs in the case of consecutive blank spaces (" "). GatorLink WebMail converts consecutive spaces into a single space prior to executing the search.
Finally, don't forget to click the Filter button to tell GatorLink WebMail to apply your filtering criteria.
Once you have applied a filter, you may revert back to viewing the entire message list (unfiltered) by clicking the "Check Mail" link in the upper-left corner, directly beneath the "Web Mail" graphic logo (if you are in your INBOX), or the folder name (of whatever folder you're currently working in) in your list of folders (gray Folder-Selection/Management & Storage Management Menu on left side of window).
Since GatorLink WebMail is intended as an auxiliary/supplemental e-mail tool, for times when your primary e-mail program may be unavailable, it doesn't provide the extensive searching and filtering features with which you may be familiar in stand-alone e-mail programs like Microsoft Outlook, Eudora, or Thunderbird. In particular, no provision is available to search/filter based on body-content of messages.
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| Sorting The List |  | Bulk Operations: Applying Commands to a Group of Messages |