Reading a Message¶

This page documents the message pane — the region that shows the message you are currently reading. It is the bottom (or right-hand) half of the main window, and the same view fills a message tab or window when you open a message that way.

Select a message in the message list and it appears here. Use the View ▸ Message pane toggle (F8) to show or hide the pane, and Vertical Message Pane to move it beside the list instead of below it.

Anatomy of the pane¶

The pane is laid out top to bottom:

A header with the message's metadata (sender, recipients, date, …).
The attachment list, when the message has attachments.
The message body.
A notification box that slides in when there is something to download or confirm.

Header fields¶

The header is a scrollable block of labelled fields. Fields that do not apply to the current message are hidden.

Field	Shows
From	The sender's name and address.
To / Cc / Bcc	The recipients in each role.
Subject	The message subject.
Date	When the message was sent or received.
Type	How the message is encoded (e.g. e-mail).
Spam Score	A percentage spam rating, shown only when one is available.

Sender and recipient actions¶

The From, To, Cc, and Bcc fields are interactive. Right-click an address to open its menu:

Action	Effect
Compose to…	Start a new message to that address.
Open contact card…	Open the address in the address book.
Resend message to this address	Send the current message to that address.
Copy to clipboard	Copy the address text.

Delivery status (Follow Delivery)¶

When delivery tracking is on for a message (see Follow Delivery), each recipient can carry a small status marker next to its address:

Marker	Meaning
green ✔	The event succeeded (e.g. delivered / read).
orange ●	In progress / pending.
red ✘	The event failed.

Click a marker to see the full list of delivery events recorded for that recipient.

Attachments¶

When a message has attachments, they are listed above the body, with the total shown alongside a Save All button.

Gesture	Action
Double-click a file	Open it.
Save All	Save every attachment to a folder.
Right-click ▸ Save as	Save the selected attachment to a chosen location.

Large attachments and message bodies may not be downloaded yet; see Downloading on demand below.

The message body¶

The body is rendered as HTML (or plain text). Remote content and links are handled carefully:

Click a link to open it in your browser. Right-click a link to Copy to clipboard instead.
Find in message — press Ctrl+F to open the text finder and search within the current message body.

Marking as read

Opening a message marks it as read. Depending on your settings this can be instant, after a short delay, or never — so briefly arrowing past a message need not flip it to read. You can always flip the state back from the list's context menu.

Downloading on demand¶

To save bandwidth and space, the body and attachments of a message are not always fetched up front. When the open message has content that is not yet local, the notification box appears at the bottom of the pane with an explanation and an action button:

The message body or one or more attachments of this message are not downloaded. → the action downloads them.
The last attempt … was not successful. → the action retries.
… are currently being downloaded. → progress is shown while it runs.

For attachments specifically, the download control offers a small menu:

Option	Effect
Download this once.	Fetch the content for this message only.
*Always download attachments from 'domain'.*	Auto-download future attachments from that domain.
*Always download attachments from 'user@domain'.*	Auto-download future attachments from that address.

Dismiss the box with its ✕ button.

Read receipts¶

If a message requests a read receipt (disposition notification), a prompt offers to send one. You can choose:

Choice	Effect
Send for this once	Send a receipt for this message only.
Never send read receipts	Do not send, now or later.
Always send to user / domain	Send automatically for that sender in future.

Your always choices are remembered and can be reviewed in Options.

Viewing the raw message¶

For the raw, on-the-wire form of a message, use Show MIME Source (Ctrl+U) from the message list's context menu. (Available on standard-protocol builds.)

Acting on the open message¶

The actions in the main toolbar and the message-side toolbar operate on whatever is shown in the pane:

Action	Icon	Shortcut
Reply		`Ctrl`+`R`
Reply all		`Ctrl`+`Shift`+`R`
Forward		`Ctrl`+`L`
Delete		`Del`
Print		`Ctrl`+`P`
New using same content / recipients		`Ctrl`+`E`
Export to file		`Ctrl`+`S`

Keyboard shortcuts¶

Shortcut	Action
`F8`	Show / hide the message pane
`Ctrl`+`F`	Find within the message body
`Ctrl`+`R` / `Ctrl`+`Shift`+`R` / `Ctrl`+`L`	Reply / Reply all / Forward
`Ctrl`+`P`	Print
`Del`	Delete
`Ctrl`+`S`	Export to file
`Ctrl`+`U`	Show MIME source (standard-protocol builds)

Icon reference¶

Function	Icon
Save / Save All
Reply / Reply all / Forward
Delete
Print
New using existing