path: root/faq/en/faq_003.xml

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><chapter id="sylpheed-faq-3">
  <title>Sylpheed FAQ - Interface</title>
  <qandaset id="faq-interface">
<?dbhtml cellspacing="13px" ?>    <qandaentry>
      <question id="faq-display-language">
        <para>How do I make Sylpheed display my language?</para>
      </question>
      <answer>
        <para>You have to set some environment variables, such as
     <envar>LANG</envar>, <envar>LC_CTYPE</envar>, <envar>LC_MESSAGES</envar> to your local language.
     Usually <envar>LANG</envar> (or <envar>LC_ALL</envar>) is sufficient. Note that modern distributions and operating systems do this for you automatically.</para>
        <para>Under UNIX, if you need to set e.g. the <envar>LANG</envar> environment variable manually, execute the following command (using <literal>sh</literal> or related shell):</para>
        <para><command>export LANG=<replaceable>value</replaceable></command></para>
        <para>Replace <replaceable>value</replaceable> with a valid ISO <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_code">language code</ulink> (e.g. <literal>en_GB</literal> for British English).</para>
        <para>If you intend to set the displayed language manually under Windows, you can do so by creating the
<envar>LANG</envar> environment variable with a valid ISO language code value under <menuchoice>
            <guimenu>Control Panel</guimenu>
            <guimenuitem>System</guimenuitem>
            <guisubmenu>Advanced</guisubmenu>
            <guibutton>Environment Variables</guibutton>
          </menuchoice>.</para>
        <para>Also see the <link linkend="faq-environment-variables">question</link> regarding environment variables that have effect on Sylpheed.</para>
      </answer>
    </qandaentry>
    <qandaentry>
      <question>
        <para>I don&apos;t like the default font. Can I change that?</para>
      </question>
      <answer>
        <para>Yes. In <menuchoice>
            <guimenu>Configuration</guimenu>
            <guimenuitem>Common preferences...</guimenuitem>
          </menuchoice>, under the
     <guimenuitem>Display</guimenuitem> tab.</para>
      </answer>
    </qandaentry>
    <qandaentry>
      <question>
        <para>There are too many columns in the message list!</para>
      </question>
      <answer>
        <para>In <menuchoice>
            <guimenu>Configuration</guimenu>
            <guimenuitem>Common preferences...</guimenuitem>
          </menuchoice> under the
     <guimenuitem>Display</guimenuitem> tab, you can press the button <guibutton>Set display item of summary...</guibutton>. That pops up a screen with all the
     options you can show or leave out of the message
     list.</para>
      </answer>
    </qandaentry>
    <qandaentry>
      <question>
        <para>How do I disable or enable the alternating row colors in the message list?</para>
      </question>
      <answer>
        <para>Under  UNIX, you can directly edit the appropriate hidden setting stored in the <filename>$HOME/.sylpheed-2.0/sylpheedrc</filename> configuration file by changing the setting value to 0, or 1, respectively (default is on, i.e. 1): </para>
        <programlisting>enable_rules_hint=0</programlisting>
        <tip>
          <para>There are various other hidden settings that can be adjusted in your <filename>sylpheedrc</filename> configuration file, see the <filename>README</filename> file for details.</para>
        </tip>
        <para>The above does not work under Windows, however, so you have to edit the <filename>C:\Program Files\Sylpheed\share\themes\MS-Windows\gtk-2.0\gtkrc</filename> file and set the following setting to 1, or 0, respectively (default is off under Windows, i.e. 0):</para>
        <programlisting>GtkTreeView::allow-rules = 1</programlisting>
        <note>
          <para>Since the hidden setting  described above is not stored within your user profile under Windows, it may be overwritten when installing a new version of Sylpheed. To avoid this at least partially, keep a backup copy of the <filename>gtkrc</filename> file somewhere safe.</para>
        </note>
      </answer>
    </qandaentry>
    <qandaentry>
      <question>
        <para>Can I use a different editor to write my mails?</para>
      </question>
      <answer>
        <para>You can. In <menuchoice>
            <guimenu>Configuration</guimenu>
            <guimenuitem>Common preferences</guimenuitem>
          </menuchoice>, under
     the <guimenuitem>Details</guimenuitem> and <guimenuitem>External commands</guimenuitem> tabs, you can define your editor of choice.
     Remember, if you want to use a command line editor
     like vi or emacs, to write the name of the shell
     (term, term, rxvt) with the <parameter>-e</parameter> parameter in front of
     the editor. E.g.: <command>rxvt -e vi %s</command>.</para>
        <para>Also, make sure that you have checked <guilabel>Automatically launch the external editor</guilabel> in <menuchoice>
            <guimenuitem>Common preferences</guimenuitem>
            <guimenuitem>Compose</guimenuitem>
            <guimenuitem>Editor</guimenuitem>
          </menuchoice>, if you want the editor of your choice to be launched every time you begin composing a message.</para>
      </answer>
    </qandaentry>
    <qandaentry>
      <question>
        <para>How to change the font size in the Sylpheed interface?</para>
      </question>
      <answer>
        <para>You can set the GTK+ font by <filename>$HOME/.gtkrc-2.0</filename>, or
     <filename>$HOME/.gtkrc-2.0.mine</filename>,
     (which is included by <filename>$HOME/.gtkrc-2.0</filename>).
     For example:</para>
        <programlisting>style &quot;default&quot; {
       font = &quot;-adobe-helvetica-medium-r-normal--12-*-*-*-*-*-iso8859-1 &quot;
}
widget_class &quot;*&quot; style &quot;default&quot;
</programlisting>
      </answer>
    </qandaentry>
    <qandaentry>
      <question>
        <para>Sylpheed saves my outgoing mail (in Outbox). Can I make it stop doing that?</para>
      </question>
      <answer>
        <para>In <menuchoice>
            <guimenu>Configuration</guimenu>
            <guimenuitem>Common preferences...</guimenuitem>
          </menuchoice>, there is a
     checkbox <guilabel>Save sent message to outbox</guilabel>. Uncheck it,
     and it&apos;s solved.</para>
      </answer>
    </qandaentry>
    <qandaentry>
      <question>
        <para>How can I change the key bindings (hotkeys) in Sylpheed?</para>
      </question>
      <answer>
        <para>Unlike Sylpheed 1.x,  Sylpheed 2.x and 3.x doesn&apos;t allow direct modification of the menu shortcuts by default. Nevertheless, you can use the following methods to configure them:</para>
        <orderedlist>
          <listitem>
            <para><emphasis>Using GNOME 2.8 or later:</emphasis> run gconf-editor from <menuchoice>
                <guimenu>Applications</guimenu>
                <guisubmenu>System Tools</guisubmenu>
                <guimenuitem>Configuration Editor</guimenuitem>
              </menuchoice>. Select <menuchoice>
                <guimenu>desktop</guimenu>
                <guisubmenu>gnome</guisubmenu>
                <guisubmenu>interface</guisubmenu>
              </menuchoice> and check <guilabel>can-change-accels</guilabel> there.</para>
          </listitem>
          <listitem>
            <para><emphasis>Using GNOME before 2.8, or other environments:</emphasis> add the following line to the file <filename>~/.gtkrc-2.0</filename> (or create a new one, if it doesn&apos;t exist):</para>
            <programlisting>gtk-can-change-accels = 1</programlisting>
          </listitem>
          <listitem>
            <para>When Sylpheed is not running, directly edit <filename>~/.sylpheed-2.0/menurc</filename> with a text editor.</para>
          </listitem>
        </orderedlist>
        <para>After that, the key binding change itself is very simple. Suppose you want to assign a
     shortcut key to a function, e.g. sending all mail
     out should start when you press <keycombo>
            <keycap>Ctrl</keycap>
            <keycap>Y</keycap>
          </keycombo>. Click the
      <guimenu>Message</guimenu> menu and move the mouse over <guimenuitem>Send all messages</guimenuitem>. Now you press <keycombo>
            <keycap>Ctrl</keycap>
            <keycap>Y</keycap>
          </keycombo>. Immediately the menu
     text is updated and the function is in place. Please
     note that a previous function that <keycombo>
            <keycap>Ctrl</keycap>
            <keycap>Y</keycap>
          </keycombo> was
     assigned to, will no longer have a shortcut key. If
     you want to remove the key binding, do the same
     thing, but press the <keycap>Delete</keycap> key on the menu item.
     Then the key binding is removed.</para>
        <para>Also see <menuchoice>
            <guimenu>Configuration</guimenu>
            <guimenuitem>Common preferences...</guimenuitem>
            <guimenuitem>Details</guimenuitem>
            <guimenuitem>Interface</guimenuitem>
            <guilabel>Set key bindings...</guilabel>
          </menuchoice> where you are able to reset the Default key bindings, or use other predefined key bindings.</para>
      </answer>
    </qandaentry>
    <qandaentry>
      <question>
        <para>Can I close windows without the mouse?</para>
      </question>
      <answer>
        <para>Of course! Not all windows, but by pressing <keycap>Escape</keycap>,
     you can close the address book, the window of viewing
     a mail source (<menuchoice>
            <guimenu>View</guimenu>
            <guimenuitem>Message source</guimenuitem>
          </menuchoice>), the window of
     viewing the headers, and several others. Just give
     it a try and you will find all of them.</para>
      </answer>
    </qandaentry>
    <qandaentry>
      <question>
        <para>Can I change the way the date is displayed in the message summary?</para>
      </question>
      <answer>
        <para>As of 0.4.65 you can. The options are:</para>
        <programlisting>     %y = year in numbers     %m = month in number
     %d = day in numbers      %c = date/time for locale
     %A = full weekday name   %a = short month name
     %B = full month name     %b = short month name
     %H = hours in 24-clock   %I = hours in 12-clock</programlisting>
        <para>For more information, go to the <menuchoice>
            <guimenu>Configuration</guimenu>
            <guimenuitem>Common preferences</guimenuitem>
            <guimenuitem>Display</guimenuitem>
            <guimenuitem>General</guimenuitem>
          </menuchoice>  and choose the <guibutton>...</guibutton> labeled button.
For more options, see <command>man 3 strftime</command>.</para>
      </answer>
    </qandaentry>
    <qandaentry>
      <question>
        <para>Why can&apos;t I see the compface pictures?</para>
      </question>
      <answer>
        <para>You need to enable displaying of the header pane in the
     general preferences.</para>
      </answer>
    </qandaentry>
    <qandaentry>
      <question>
        <para>I still can&apos;t see the pictures. Why not?</para>
      </question>
      <answer>
        <para>You may not have compiled in Compface support. See  the appropriate question in the Installation and Configuration section.</para>
      </answer>
    </qandaentry>
    <qandaentry>
      <question>
        <para>Why does the URL launcher not launch my web browser?</para>
      </question>
      <answer>
        <para>You need to double click the URL.
Also, check that you have configured your web browser correctly in <menuchoice>
            <guimenu>Configuration</guimenu>
            <guimenuitem>Common preferences...</guimenuitem>
            <guimenuitem> Details</guimenuitem>
            <guimenuitem>External commands</guimenuitem>
          </menuchoice>. </para>
      </answer>
    </qandaentry>
    <qandaentry>
      <question>
        <para>Attachments with spaces in the name won&apos;t open!</para>
      </question>
      <answer>
        <para>When you try to launch a helper application, like an image viewer, with an attachment that has spaces in the name, put quotes around the <parameter>%s</parameter>
parameter. Example: <command>gedit &apos;%s&apos;</command></para>
      </answer>
    </qandaentry>
    <qandaentry>
      <question>
        <para>Execute command for my dynamic signature seems not to be working!</para>
      </question>
      <answer>
        <para>Under Windows, if you have created e.g. a simple batch file to echo a line to be included in your dynamic signature, you need to execute the command (specified under <menuchoice>
            <guimenu>Account preferences</guimenu>
            <guisubmenu>Compose</guisubmenu>
            <guimenuitem>Signature</guimenuitem>
            <guilabel>Command output</guilabel>
          </menuchoice>) using either forward slashes or double
backslashes for paths, for example:</para>
        <para><command>cmd /c &apos;c:\\signature.bat&apos;</command></para>
        <para>Note that it is also recommended to enclose paths with single quotes, as is illustrated above.</para>
      </answer>
    </qandaentry>
    <qandaentry>
      <question>
        <para>Where is the Bcc when I compose a mail?</para>
      </question>
      <answer>
        <para>Open <menuchoice>
            <guimenu>Configuration</guimenu>
            <guimenuitem>Preferences for current account...</guimenuitem>
            <guimenuitem>Compose</guimenuitem>
          </menuchoice>. There you can check the <guilabel>Bcc</guilabel> checkbox and optionally enter an email address.</para>
      </answer>
    </qandaentry>
    <qandaentry>
      <question>
        <para>How do I change the toolbar?</para>
      </question>
      <answer>
        <para>Go to <menuchoice>
            <guimenu>View</guimenu>
            <guimenuitem>Customize toolbar...</guimenuitem>
          </menuchoice> and select items from the <guilabel>Available items</guilabel> list to be displayed on the toolbar. You can modify the order by using the <guibutton>Up</guibutton> or <guibutton>Down</guibutton> button. The customization dialog also offers you to revert your modifications to default.</para>
      </answer>
    </qandaentry>
    <qandaentry>
      <question>
        <para>Why isn&apos;t the next message displayed when I delete a message? </para>
      </question>
      <answer>
        <para>Go to <menuchoice>
            <guimenu>Configuration</guimenu>
            <guimenuitem>Common preferences...</guimenuitem>
            <guimenuitem>Details</guimenuitem>
            <guimenuitem>Interface</guimenuitem>
          </menuchoice>, and select <guilabel>Always open messages in summary when selected</guilabel>. </para>
      </answer>
    </qandaentry>
    <qandaentry>
      <question>
        <para>How can I remove mailing list information from Subject headers?</para>
      </question>
      <answer>
        <para>Very often, when you are subscribed to a mailing list, you will store each message from that list in a folder dedicated to that list. Depending on remote software solution and configuration,  mailing lists tend to include some words in the Subject header to identify the messages, optionally accompanied with a message number, for instance <literal>[sylpheed:33101]</literal>. These additions do not provide useful info if you have organized your folders as described, but Sylpheed allows you to disable displaying the additions in  summary, and/or, if you wish, delete the additions on reply.</para>
        <para>To do that, right-click on a folder from the folder tree, and select  <guimenuitem>Properties...</guimenuitem> In the <guilabel>Folder properties</guilabel> dialog, check <guilabel>Don&apos;t display [...] or (...) at the beginning of subject in summary</guilabel>, or <guilabel>Delete [...] or (...) at the beginning of subject on reply</guilabel>, respectively.</para>
      </answer>
    </qandaentry>
  </qandaset>
</chapter>