Customizing elm

The elm mailer has different options you can set to make it more convenient for you to use. Among features you can change are the menus that appear on the screen, the printer your mail is sent to, and the order in which your mail is listed in your mailbox. These are entered automatically in the .elm/elmrc file. This file is created by elm and contains your default settings and customizations.

Using the Options Editor

To start the elm options editor, press O at the elm command prompt:

   Command: o

You will see a screen similar to the following:

Figure 7-10 You can configure elm using the options editor.

Using the screen, you can change the 12 predefined settings in the .elm/elmrc file. For information on changing other settings, see Mail Systems: User's Guide.

To select an option to set, type the first letter of the option. For example, to change the way messages are sorted, press S.
To get information about a specific option in the option menu, type ? and then type the first letter of the option.
Type the new option setting, then press Enter.
When you are finished setting options, press > to save your changes.
If you do not save the changes, the .elm/elmrc file will not be changed and the changes will only apply to the current mail session.
Exit the options editor by pressing Enter.

Example: Changing the Order of Your Mail Messages.

To change the order in which your mail messages are listed in your mailbox, press S (the first letter of "S)orting criteria") in the options editor.
Command: s
A message indicates how messages are currently sorted. For example:
This sort will order most-recently-sent to least-recently-sent
To see different choices for sorting your messages, press the space bar.
When you see the method you want, press Enter. For instance, press Enter when you see:
This sort will order by sender name
Press > to save the change.
To return to your mailbox, press Enter again. The messages in your mailbox will now appear in alphabetical order by sender name.

Changing the User Level of elm

elm provides three user levels:

Level 0, for beginning users.
Level 1, for users familiar with elm.
Level 2, for expert users.

The user level affects:

Commands displayed in the command menu.
The frequency of use of each command differs with user level. elm considers this difference and tailors the command menu for each user level.
The simplicity of the message.
For example, elm displays "To:" instead of "Send the message to:" in the higher user levels.
The handling of a message that was aborted (forgotten).
The aborted (forgotten) message is an outgoing message that is canceled when the "F)orget it" action is taken. In user level 1 or 2, the canceled message is stored. This allows you to retrieve the message before exiting elm.

To change the default user level (Level 0, beginner) to an advanced user level (Level 1 or 2), follow these steps:

Press O (letter O, not zero) at the main screen prompt, "Command:" The options editor screen appears.
Press U at the "Command:" prompt.
Select an advanced user level (1 or 2) by pressing the space bar, then press Enter.
Save the setting by pressing >.

For more information on using and customizing elm and other mail systems in HP-UX, see Mail Systems: User's Guide.

Customizing elm

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Using the Options Editor

Changing the User Level of elm