Posting Messages

Setting up a signature file   Currently there is no way to do this in the menus, you'll have to directly edit the program's settings file. More information can be found in the help topic PineappleNews.ini Reference.

Composing a new message   Click on the icon for the newsgroup you want in the storage view, then select Create from the Message menu. An edit window will appear with the newsgroup field already filled in. If you want to make a cross-post (i.e., a post to two or more newsgroups) you'll have to type in the names of the groups yourself. Eventually the Newsgroups: button will bring up a list to choose from but I haven't yet written that part. Type a subject for the post and then the message contents. You can cut-and-paste from other sources if you wish. When you're finished pick "Save to Outbox" from the edit window's File menu.

The post will not be sent right away. You can write as many posts as you want and all of them will collect in the Outbox folder. When you're ready to send them you can select the Transfer menu, then Upload, then All Servers to send them all.

If you change your mind about a message in the Outbox you can drag it to the trash to get rid of it. Or if you just don't want to send it right now you can double-click on it to bring up a new edit window and pick Save as Draft from the File menu, which will cause it to be moved to the Drafts folder. Messages in the Drafts folder will not be sent.

Replying to an existing message   Select the message you want to reply to in the headers view, then pick Reply from the Message menu. The edit window will be pre-filled with the quoted contents of the post you're replying to. Just as with a top-level post you can pick Save to Outbox to send it during the next transfer cycle or Save to Drafts to edit it later.

Editing drafts   As you might guess, you can resume editing a post in the Drafts folder by double-clicking on it. If you're now ready to send it select Save to Outbox from the File menu.

Sent posts   Once a post has been sent it is moved from the Outbox to Sent Messages. What happens to it after that is up to you. You're free to delete sent messages, drag them to storage folders, or whatever.


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