Launch the program and fool with the tutorial for a while and get a general feel for how to operate it by processing the practice "messages" that come with the tutorial.
Last month's I/O Port had an article on how to get the BBS to send you the packet and how to tell the BBS what you want included in it. There's a very good manual included in the files and importing it into Word, WordPerfect or any other good WP program and saving it to your info files will give you a quick way to search for keywords to supplement the index when you have a question. I'm more inclined to like a book I can hold in my hand, so I printed it out.
First, get to the main control panel and hit F2 and then Robomail Settings, which will take you into the several pages of settings with which you can customize the program to your liking. Since most new users won't know yet what they want, I'd advise you to just change the first two entries. In the space labeled "Location of Incoming QWK Packets:" give the complete path of the directory where you want your QWK packets to arrive. The default locations in the program will work fine, but most users will already have other directories or folders where they prefer incoming and outgoing files to reside. Many of my expert friends use the same location for QWK's and REP's, but my respect for Mr. Murphy leads me to keep my outgoing REP's in a SEND folder and the incoming QWK's in a folder labeled RECV. Even if you don't intend to change anything else at this time, it might be interesting to page through the rest of the setup pages just to see what's available for future reference. You will probably want to list the BBS System and the number of the conference where you send and receive your personal e-mail, when you get to that page.
The tutorial will show you how to highlight text and un-highlight it, by using the space-bar and arrow keys, and explain that when you hit the r key to reply, any highlighted text will be pre-quoted into the outgoing message for you to append your comments and replies to.
Log onto your favorite BBS, where you previously set the conferences you wish to participate in and what message number to start with (in case there are 2000 messages in the conference, waiting to clog up your hard drive). Go to the QWKmail door and tell the BBS to download your mail. Choose your transfer protocol (I recommend Z-Modem, if it's available from the BBS and your communications program) and download the QWK packet and log off. Open Robomail and, using the tab key to navigate between the sections of the control panel, open the QWK packet that has appeared in the lower right sector of the panel by double clicking on it or by highlighting the file with the arrow keys and hitting Enter. You have (we hope) learned how to process the message from doing the tutorial and "Reading The Fine Manual," so you can now enjoy communicating offline, instead of paying for online time or tying up somebody's BBS while you read and write your mail. Three hours worth of reading and writing can be received and replied to in around three minutes of actual online time.
Alt-S will spell-check the part of the outgoing message you wrote. As in all cases with Robomail, the possible options are listed with hotkeys at the very bottom of each screen, so you can quickly navigate through your options and actions.
Alt-X opens the address screen, so you can choose whether it's to be a public message or a private one, whether to just send the reply to the echo, conference or newsgroup where the original was found or to send a private reply by e-mail or echo-mail, the BBS and conference to send the reply through, routing information for the message (the default usually is the right one), and some other advanced settings. If the message is going through FIDOnet, you'll want to check the box for disabling any high-ASCII characters that might be in the message, since they tend to scramble things on FIDO. Many echoes and conferences won't allow private messages, so you might have your message refused by the BBS or, worse, have it sent so the whole world can read it, so I advise discretion until you learn the ropes.
This is also the screen where you choose your tagline, a little comment or quote usually appended to the end of a message. If it's a message on an internet conference or newsgroup (the only difference is that all messages in a newsgroup are addressed to "all") or e-mail, it will look for and copy an internet .sig file you have created as a text file and put in the same directory as Robomail and then listed on one of the setup pages mentioned above.
If you see a tagline on somebody else's message you like, or any line you could use as a tagline, highlight the line and hit the g (for"grab") key and edit the line to your preference and save it to the tagline file. I keep the tagline choice random (set in the settings pages) but often hit F10 when the tagline line is highlighted to bring up my entire tagline list so I can choose an appropriate one.
When you hit ESCape to exit Robomail, you will be prompted whether you really want to exit, then whether you want to send your replies now. The default is NO, so you will have to move the cursor to Yes and hit enter or click on YES, so the REP packet will be sent to your outgoing location.
The next time you log onto that BBS, just tell it you want to upload and send your REP packet before you grab your mail in the new QWK packet. The REP packet is not automatically erased from your hard drive when you send it, so you'll have to delete the REP file for that BBS after you have successfully sent it.
Dan Parsons has provided a fine tutorial and manual, so I won't attempt to duplicate his work. Robomail has served me well for over four years now and is popular all over the world. The address and phone number in the files is obsolete. The business-hours-voice phone is (310) 372-5386 and the BBS number is (310)374-7540.
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