International Association of Boards
of Examiners in Optometry

PC-Pine for PC Compatibles

What is PC-Pine?

PC-Pine is a Windows/Winsock email client that is available to read email from your Internet Service Provider if they support IMAP (Interactive Mail Access Protocol) Your email address remains the same, but how you read and send email changes. Although not a full graphical user interface, PC-Pine operates in a Windows environment and supplements the regular Pine commands with limited mouse support and pull-down menus

PC-Pine makes use of a faster and more efficient client/server protocol called IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol). IMAP operates without a true login to the email server and therefore utilizes fewer network resources. PC-Pine allows you to read your email locally while storing your email on the email server. PC-Pine can also be used if you have access to PPP or SLIP services and wish to read your mail from home.

Differences Between PC-Pine and Pine

PC-Pine and Pine look and feel very much the same. The menu options are almost identical, and the editor (Pico) that you use when creating, replying, or forwarding messages is the same. There are, however, a few differences between these programs you will need to be aware of in order to use PC-Pine efficiently.
The Mouse
Using PC-Pine instead of Pine allows you to use the mouse to:
File Locations
Unlike Pine, which stores all files on the Unix system on which it runs, PC-Pine maintains some files on the desktop (or hard disk of your PC) and other files remotely on the Unix mail server that you login to. Because PC-Pine is an IMAP client, all your mail messages and folders are maintained on the Unix mail server. This centralized mail storage allows you to login in from any PC directly connected to the Internet or dial in from home to read your mail. Because your mail folders are maintained on the mail server, mail messages that you choose to save are also centrally stored.

The major difference in file storage comes when you choose to Export or Attach files. When you choose to Export, the file is turned into an ascii format and is then saved in your default (home) directory unless you specify otherwise. When attaching files, you access these from your local drive or from a local network.

There are several support files which must reside at the local level. When you setup an address book in PC-Pine, the address book file (ADDRBOOK) will reside on the local machine in the default directory (C:\PCPine). Also, when setting up a signature file, you must store it in the same directory under the name pine.sig. See the section on "How to Configure PC-Pine for Personal Use" at the end of this document for more information.

Editing
Both Pine and PC-Pine use the Pico editor for creating and editing mail messages. The major difference is that with PC-Pine the spell checker is not available. Also, unlike Unix Pine, you do not get the option with PC-Pine to use an alternate Unix editor such as ne or vi.
Printing
One very nice plus to using PC-Pine is that printing is easier. If your printer is properly configured through the Windows Printer Control panel, you should be able to print any message with no problem.

How do I get PC-Pine?

You can download the software using an ftp program or Netscape. You will find PCPCINE at this FTP Site. For more information on installing and configuring PC-Pine, see the section on Installing PC-Pine the end of this document.

Getting Started

Before you can access email using PC-Pine, you need to have an email account. If you plan to use PC-Pine from home, you first need to get a PPP connection. For more information see the document Internet@Home/Work with PPP (for Windows

Starting PC-Pine

Double-click on the PC-Pine icon to start the program. You will be prompted to enter your account information, including login name and password.

Reading Your Mail

To view new messages, from the Main Menu simply press I (Folder Index). You will be shown an index of the messages in your "INBOX," the folder that contains new messages and messages you have not deleted or moved to another folder. The index screen provides information on the date the message was received, the email address or name of the person who sent it, the subject and length of the message, and the message status (N - new, D - deleted, A - answered). The "+" beside a message means the message was sent directly to your account (i.e. - not as part of a cc: or mailing list).

To read a message, select it using your arrow keys and then press <return> or double-click with your mouse on the desired message to select and open it. If the message is more than one screen long, press the space bar (NextPage) or the down arrow until you reach the end of the message. To view another message, press N (NextMsg) for next message or I (Folder Index) to return to the index. Again, as with all Pine screens, your options are shown on the menu bar at the bottom of the screen. The options within Folder Index are extensive and continue on a second and third menu, shown by pressing O (Other Cmds). These options can be clicked on using the mouse or accessed directly by pressing the letter without going to the additional menus. See below for a summary of these commands.

Sending a Message

Sending a message from Pine is a simple matter; the text editor, Pico, is easy to learn and use. To write a message, press C (Compose). Your cursor will appear at the To: prompt in the Compose Menu. Enter the email address of the person to whom you are sending the message, then press <return>, or the down arrow. If you want to send carbon copies, enter the email addresses after the Cc: prompt and press <return>. If you want to attach a file, see the section on Sending and Receiving Attachments. Press <return> again and give a brief description of what your message is about after the Subject: prompt.

Note: Pressing ^R (Rich Hdr) while your cursor is anywhere in the address header section will display additional fields that you can use such as bcc (blind carbon copy), fcc (file carbon copy), and lcc (list carbon copy). If you want more information on these or any other fields, position your cursor in that field and press ^G for help with any section. The next <return> after filling in the Subject line will transfer you to the Message Text portion of the screen. (The menu commands shown below will appear when you move into the message text portion of the screen.)

PINE 3.91     COMPOSE MESSAGE     Folder:"folder name" 0 Messages

To      : user@e-mail.address
Cc      :
Attchmnt:
Subject : test
----- Message Text -----
This is a test message.  To enter your message, simply type in what you want to
say.


^G Get Help ^X Send    ^R Rich Hdr ^YPrvPg/Top^K Cut Line  ^O Postpone

^C Cancel ^D Del Chr ^J Attach ^V NxtPg/End^U UnDel Line^T To AddrBk

Typing your Message with Pico

Now that you are in the Message Text area, you can type in the text of your message using the Pico text editor. Pico automatically word-wraps the text of your message. You can insert blank lines for neater formatting by pressing <return>. You can move the cursor by using the arrow keys or the mouse. If you need to make corrections to your message, place your cursor where you wish to make a change and use the backspace key to delete characters and/or start typing to insert new characters. If you want to delete a line place your cursor anywhere in that line and press ^K. If you delete or insert words or lines, you can press ^J to rejustify the text so that unusual line breaks will not occur in your letter. To assist you in moving around/editing your message, Pine has a word find command (^W). Note, there is no spell check feature with PC-Pine. When you have finished writing your message, press ^X to send it.

Moving Blocks of Text

There are a couple of methods for marking blocks of text for deletion or copying. Perhaps the easiest is to use your mouse to highlight/select the block you desire and then use the Cut Text (^K) command to "cut" the block. Or, you could move your cursor to the first character you wish to include in the block and then press Ctrl-^ (^^) to begin marking a block. Then move your cursor to the end of the desired block and choose Cut Text (^K). Remember, if you use ^K without marking anything, the line your cursor is situated in will be deleted. If you wish to reinsert the block of text into your message, position your cursor at the desired location and use the UnCut Text (^U) command to paste it back in. You can paste the same block more than once.

Summary of Pico Editor Commands

The ^ indicates that the <Ctrl> key should be held down when typing the following letter.
COMMAND       KEYS    FUNCTION                                                    
Get Help      ^ G     Displays help text.                                         
Cancel        ^ C     Aborts work on current composition.                         
Send          ^ X     Sends current email message and exits pico editor.      
Justify       ^ J     Reformat text in paragraph where cursor is located.        
                      Good for rejoining uneven lines of text.                    
Read File     ^ R     Inserts external file at current cursor position.    
                      Note:  for best results, save the external file
                      in ascii (or text only with line breaks) format 
                      before inserting into the desired mail message.                              
Where is      ^ W     Search for 1st occurrence of specified text string.     
Cut Text      ^ K     Cuts selected text (or current line if only 1 
                      character selected).                                                  
Uncut Text    ^ U     Uncuts (pastes) last cut text, inserting it at
                      the current cursor position.                                    
Postpone      ^ O     Allows you to temporarily stop work on current              
                      composition.                                                
Del Char      ^ D     Deletes the character at the cursor position.               
              ^ A     Move to the beginning of the current line.                  
              ^ E     Move to the end of the current line.                        
              ^ P     Move to the previous line.                                  
              ^ N     Move to the next line                                       
PrvPg/Top     ^ V     Move forward a page of text                                 
NxtPg/End     ^ Y     Move backward a page of text.                               

Replying to a Message

If you would like to reply to the message you have just read, press R or click on Reply. Using the Reply function has the advantage that you do not need to type in the person's address. You will be asked if you want the original message included in your reply, and if you do, press <return> or type y. (Note: Including the entire text of a large message clogs up user space and may prove expensive to those who download their mail at a cost. However, you may want to include the original message to remind the person what you're talking about. You can also edit the original message in your Reply so that it only contains the relevant parts.) You will also be asked whether you want to reply to all the recipients, such as people who were CC:'d or on the mailing list. The default for both questions is no. After this, you will be presented with a screen that already has the original sender's address filled in; simply type in your message and press ^X (Send) to send the message.

Forwarding a Message

If you would like to forward the message you have just read in the Folder Index to someone else, press F or click on Forward. You will be asked to enter the email address of the person to whom you want to forward the message. After you have entered the address, enter an introductory message above the forwarded message if you feel it needs some explanation. Press ^X (Send) to send it.

Deleting Messages

When you have finished reading a message, you can delete it or save it. All messages remain in the INBOX folder until you either eXpunge them or save them to another folder. To delete a message, simply highlight it from the index using your arrow keys, then press D (Delete). If you make a mistake, press U to undelete the message. You can also delete messages while you are reading them by simply pressing D (Delete). You will then move to the next message in the current folder. The letter D will appear next to the message, which means that when you exit Pine or press X (eXpunge), the message will be deleted. Note: When you quit Pine, if you wish to actually delete the messages you've marked for deletion, answer Yes when you're asked if you wish to "Expunge the xx deleted messages from INBOX".

Printing a Message

Printing in PC-Pine is simple. Choose Y to print and a Print dialog box will appear. Choose OK to send the message to the printer.

Keeping a Copy of Message -- Saving vs. Exporting

There are two methods to choose from if you wish to keep a copy of a message. If you wish to keep a copy for continued use within Pine (keeping its mail formats), then Save is the option you'll want to use. If you wish to use that message in another program such as Word or WordPerfect, then you'll use the Export option. When you choose Export, Pine will convert the file to a text file which will be readable by any other application.

Saving Mail and Using Folders

When you choose to save a message, it will be saved into a folder which resides on the email server (Isis) so you can access it from any location that you run PC-Pine and it will stay in an email format which Pine can read. If you want to save some of your messages, you should think about a system of folder organization. You may, for example, want to create one folder to contain all messages from John Smith, another to contain messages concerning SAS, a third to contain messages about meetings and conferences, and a fourth to contain miscellaneous messages. To save a message to a folder, highlight the message, then choose S (Save). You will be asked to give the name of the folder in which you wish to save it. If you have never used this folder before, Pine will ask you if you want the folder created; if it already exists, the message will be saved in the existing folder. Example:
SAVE to folder in <mail/[]> [saved-messages]: sas
If the folder does not exist, you will be given a message that looks like this:
Folder "sas" in <mail/[]> doesn't exist. Create?
When the message is saved, you will be notified like this:
[Message 2 copied to folder "sas" in <mail/[]> and marked deleted]
The message is now in the designated folder and will be marked for deletion from the INBOX. To look at all of your folders, press L (Folder List).
Moving Around Folders
When you enter Pine, the INBOX folder is automatically opened. If you want to view a message you have saved in another folder, from the Main Menu choose L for Folder List. Use the arrow keys to highlight the folder you wish to visit and press return. If you are already in the Folder Index, you can press G (GotoFldr) and enter the name of the folder you wish to move to. (Note: if you can't remember the folder name, press ^T for a list of all your folders.)

Exporting a Message

To export a message, select the message and then press E to Export. At the prompt Filename to save message text in: type in drive:/path/filename of where you'd like to save the file (e.g. a:bios111.doc or c:/courses/artmemo.doc). If you can't remember the location you wish to store the file in, you can press ^T to bring up a dialog box which will allow you to browse through drives and directories.

Sending and Receiving Attachments

Files created in programs other than Pine (i.e. word processing documents, spreadsheets, databases, etc.) can be sent via an email message when included as an attachment. When you send or save attachments using PC-Pine, you'll be accessing your local disk drives rather than the remote server. If you are sending attachments from a Lab workstation, the files you'll want to attach will more than likely be located on a floppy disk so you'll want to type a:filename in the attachment field. When saving files sent as attachments you'll need to designate the path/location to the floppy drive also.

Sending an Attachment

To send an attachment, type in the path/location of the file you wish to send in the attachment: line of the address header or press ^J which will prompt you for the attachment name. If you can't remember the location or name of the file you can press ^T to bring up a dialog box which will allow you to browse for your file. You will then be prompted for Attachment comment: -- you can use this field to put in a descriptor of the file you're sending.

Receiving/Reading an Attachment

To work with an attachment you've received, select V (ViewAttch). If the attachment sent to you is a plain text file, you can read it by choosing V (View). Oftentimes, however, files which are sent as attachments are binary files (created in programs such as Word, Word Perfect, Excel, etc.). Binary files cannot be viewed in Pine. Instead, you'll need to choose S to save these files to a local drive, and then use the program in which they were created to open them up and read them. When you choose S to save, you see the following prompt "Copy attachment to file in home directory: filename". If you press enter to accept this, the file will be stored in the pine default directory. If you wish to save the file to a different location, choose ^T (To Files) to indicate the drive and directory you wish to store the file in.

The Address Book

If you send messages frequently to a particular person or group, you can create a shortcut so you do not need to enter complete email addresses each time.

Nicknames

A nickname is a shortcut for a particular person. To create an nickname, select A (Address Book) from Pine's main menu. Then press A (AddNew). You will then get a dialog box such as the once shown below. Note that instructions are included on how to fill in each of the fields.
Nickname  :	Type a shortcut for person's name (e.g. jane for Jane Doe)
Fullname  :	Type in the person's full name (e.g. Jane Doe)
Fcc       :	Use this field to indicate where copies of messages sent
                  to this person should be stored. 
			If left blank, copies will default to the sent--mail folder
Comment   :	
Addresses :	Type in the person's email address.


Fill in the fields just like you would in the composer.
To form a list, just enter multiple comma-separated addresses.
To add to a list use the View/Edit cmd instead of the AddNew cmd
It is ok to leave fields blank.  Press ^X to save the new entry.
Once you've filled in the fields press ^X to save this entry to your address book. The next time you are composing a message to that person, you need only enter the nickname (e.g. jane) at the To: prompt; Pine will supply the person's full name and his or her email address. To edit address book entries, choose V (View/Edit); to delete an entry select D (Delete).

Take Address Command

A simpler method of adding nicknames is by using the "Take Address" command. From either the message screen or with a message highlighted in the Folder Index, enter T (Take Address). This function will search the message for any email addresses, list those available, and allow you to create a nickname for them. When prompted, enter a nickname, the person's full name, and any other information you require. Enter ^X to save this information to the address book.

Address Lists

You may also have a certain group of people to whom you regularly send the same message. To avoid having to enter the email address for every person on that list, you can create an address list. Once you do this, you simply send the message to the group name you designate, and Pine will mail the message to each member's email address. The process for creating such a list is very similar to the one for adding a single user. From the Address Book menu, choose A (AddNew). In the Nickname field type in a short name for the list you're creating. In the Fullname field, type in a longer name for that list. In the Addresses field, enter the email addresses (or address book nickname), for every member of the list, separating each entry with a comma. When you are finished entering addresses press ^X to save this list to your address book. When you are composing a message, you need only enter the list nickname at the To: prompt. Pine will supply the email addresses for each member of the group.

Summary of PC-Pine Commands

COMMAND       KEYS    FUNCTION                                                     
Help          ?       Displays context sensitive help text.                        
Other Cmds    O       Displays "other" pine commands which are not
                      currently seen on the menu bar.                                        
Main          M       Takes you to the Main Pine menu.                             
View Msg      V       Views the currently selected message.                        
Prev Msg      P       Views message previous to one currently selected.    
Next Msg      N       Views message after one currently selected.          
Prev Page     -       Displays previous page of current message/screen.    
Next Page     Space   Displays next page of current message/screen.        
Delete        D       Flags or marks the currently selected message(s)         
                      for deletion.  Note:  the message(s)will not be 
                      deleted until Expunge is used.                                             
Undelete      U       Unflags messages which are marked for deletion.              
Reply         R       Allows you to reply to the author and/or others      
                      included in the To:, cc:, or bcc: fields of the      
                      current message.(uses Pico editor)                                           
Forward       F       Forwards a copy of the current message to 
                      another person.(uses Pico editor)                                           
Quit          Q       Quits the current Pine session.                              
Compose       C       Allows you to create a new mail message using 
                      the Pico editor.                                                      
List Folders  L       Takes you to list of your mail folders.                      
GotoFlder     G       Allows you to bypass the mail folder list and 
                      go directly to a specified folder.                                       
Whereis       W       Finds specified text string.                                 
Print         Y       Prints the currently selected mail message(s).               
Take Addr     T       Allows you to extract an email address from 
                      the current mail message into your addressbook.                          
Save          S       Allows you to save the selected mail message in a            
                      designated Pine mail folder (retains in Pine format      
                      for email use).                                                  
Export        E       Allows you to place the currently selected message
                      in your home or current working directory 
                      (changes the message to a plain text file).                                          
Expunge       X       Erases files which have been marked for deletion.            
Select        ;       Allows you to select a group of messages to perform         
                      a function upon based upon certain criteria (
                      i.e. can select by date, by person or by subject).                           
Apply         A       Used with Select option.  Allows you to specify 
                      actions to take upon selected messages 
                      (delete, reply, forward, save, export, print, etc.).                                        
Sort Index    $       Sort mail messages in current mail folder by date,           
                      arrival, reverse order, subject, from, etc.  Note: 
                      sort by arrival date for greatest efficiency.                        
Jump          J       Allows you to specify by number a mail message to go         
                      (jump) to.                                                   
Hdr Mode      H       Toggles header information.  When "on" extended
                      header information is displayed, such as 
                      blind carbon copies (bcc).                                                       
Zoom          Z       Used with the Select option.  Allows you to 
                      "zoom in" to see selected mail messages and 
                      "zoom out" to all messages.   

Installing PC-Pine

The name of the downloadable files that are available from the PC Pine FTP site are as follows:
  README                                15 Kb    Mon Jul 15 15:41:00 1996 
  pcp_lwp.zip                          641 Kb    Mon Jul 15 15:39:00 1996 Zip Compressed Data
  pcp_pcn.zip                          640 Kb    Mon Jul 15 15:39:00 1996 Zip Compressed Data
  pcp_pct.zip                          668 Kb    Mon Jul 15 15:39:00 1996 Zip Compressed Data
  pcp_w16.zip                          680 Kb    Mon Jul 15 15:39:00 1996 Zip Compressed Data
  pcp_w32.zip                          708 Kb    Mon Jul 15 15:39:00 1996 Zip Compressed Data
  pcp_wat.zip                          649 Kb    Mon Jul 15 15:39:00 1996 Zip Compressed Data
  pkunzip.exe                           28 Kb    Wed Jun 12 00:00:00 1996 Binary Executable
If you are running Windows 3.1 download the file pcp_w16.zip and for Windows 95 download the file pcp_w32.zip. Both of these files are in .zip format and you will need to unzip the files using the program pkunzip.exe which is available at the same FTP site. Download both files to a subdirectory called C:\PCPINE and open up a DOS window in that directory. at the DOS prompt type pkunzip pcp_w??.zip where ?? is 16 or 32 depending on which file you downloaded. This program pkunzip will un-zip (decompress) the file you downloaded and expand it to a number of files.

To create a program icon in Windows 3.1 from which to easily start PC-Pine, choose the Windows program group where you want to locate the icon. From the File menu, choose New and click OK for the Program Item option. In the window for Program Item Properties, type:

Click the Change Icon button, and you should be presented with a light green pine icon. Click OK, then OK again at the Program Item Properties window. PC-Pine is now installed.

How to configure PC-Pine for personal use

After you install PC-Pine, the first time you activate the Pico editor to either create, reply ,or forward a mail message PC-Pine will prompt you for information that it will use in the From: field. (Lab users will not be prompted for this information.)

The IAB Data Collection thanks the University of North Carolina for provding the basic layout for these web pages. The original document was a web page from the The Office of Information Technology at The University of North Carolina that has been modified/updated for general use. The information contained in these pages is intended to help beginning internet users to use the World Wide Web (WWW). It is written to help IAB members, State Board Members, and others find and use information on the internet. Please send any comments/suggestions to Ernie_Patterson@unc.edu.