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Read: Selection Subcommands

The following is a list of what are called the selection subcommands. These commands will determine the criteria for the messages that you will read. With the exception of the message #, you may use any subcommand in conjunction with any other subcommand. For example, if you wanted to read new mail in all conferences that you have set for scanning, enter R;S;A. Likewise, if you wanted to read the same messages, but only display those from a user named FRANK CROSS, enter R;S;A;USER;FRANK CROSS at the conference command prompt.

[Message#]	Message number to read.
A	Scan all selected conferences.
ALL	Scan all conferences that you have access to.
F	Read messages from current user.
FROM	Read messages from a user.
N	New Messages by date.
S	Read new messages.
TO	Read messages to a user.
TS	Search messages for specific text.
U	Read unread messages.
USER	Search messages to or from a particular user.
WAIT	Scan messages in conferences where you have mail waiting.
Y	Read messages addressed to you.
YA	Read messages to you or to ALL.

Read: Scan Subcommands

These particular subcommands can be used to set the direction that you will read mail. For example, if you wanted to begin reading at the end of the current message base, you would enter R;L.

+/-	Set read direction
1+	Begin with first message in the message base.
L	Begin with the last message.
N	New messages by date.
RM	Read memorized message.
RM+	Read memorized message and continue reading forward.
RM-	Read memorized message and continue reading reverse.

Read: Capture Subcommands

One time-saving feature that PCBoard offers is the ability to capture messages into one single file which you may download and browse off-line. The resulting file is an ASCII file that looks just like what you see on the screen when viewing messages.

Sometimes you may want to download a group of messages or just a single message. These subcommands allow you to capture messages and then download them to either a file or printer on your system.

C	Capture messages
D	Capture messages
QWK	Capture messages to a QWK packet
Z	Capture and compress messages

Read: General Subcommands

The following commands could be categorized as miscellaneous subcommands. Here, you will find commands to perform various functions that may not necessarily be directly related to reading messages, but are still available for your convenience.

DE	De-select current conference
G	Goodbye.
J	Join a conference.
K	Kill a message.
LONG	Use the extended message header for displaying.
NS	non-stop mode.
O	Read-only mode.
Q	Quick scan messages.
SE	Select current conference for scanning.
SET	Set the last message read number.
SHORT	Use the brief message header for displaying.

End of Message: Scan Subcommands

After you read each message, PCBoard will display an End of Message Command prompt. From this prompt you can enter numerous subcommands. Most often, you will be entering subcommands which allow you to continue reading, memorizing the current message number, etc. Following is a list of the subcommands you may access most frequently.

[Message#]	Message number to read
R	Read next message in current direction
+/-	Set read direction
JUMP	Jump to the next conference.
L	Begin with the last message.
M	Memorize current message number.
NEXT	Read next message.
PREV	Read previous message.
RM	Read memorized message.
RM+	Read memorized message and continue reading forward.
RM-	Read memorized message and continue reading reverse.
RR	Read reference message.
SKIP	Skip current conference.
T+	Thread read (forward direction).
T-	Thread read (reverse direction).

End of Message: Reply Subcommands

Communications is a two way street. Therefore, you will most likely read messages which you wish to respond to. The following is a list of reply subcommands that you can use to enter responses to messages.

RE	Reply to current message.
RO	Reply to a message but send reply to a different user.

End of Message: Capture Subcommands

If you are in the middle of reading messages and decide that you would like to capture the rest of the messages that you would have read into a text file, you may do so with the following subcommands.

C	Capture current message
D	Capture current message
Z	Capture and compress current message

End of Message: Selection Subcommands

While you are reading messages there are a few subcommands you can use to change the future messages you will be reading. You can use these to make specific searches. For example, if you began reading all new messages (R;A;S) and decided that there were too many messages, you should restrict your search. If you decided that it would be faster to read mail addressed to you or ALL, enter YA at the End of Message Command prompt.

F	Read messages from current user.
S	Read new messages.
TS	Search messages for specific text.
USER	Search messages to or from a particular user
Y	Read messages addressed to you.
YA	Read messages to you or to ALL.

End of Message: General Subcommands

The following subcommands are the remaining commands that are available at the End of Message Command prompt.

/	Re-display current message
ALIAS	Toggle use of alias.
DE	De-select current conference
E	Edit message header information.
EDIT	Edit the content of a message.
FLAG	Flag a file for download.
G	Goodbye.
J	Join a conference.
K	Kill the current message.
LONG	Use the extended message header for displaying.
N	Quit reading messages.
NS	non-stop mode.
SHORT	Use the brief message header for displaying.
SE	Select current conference for scanning.
SET	Set the last message read number.
V	View a downloadable file.

End of Message: SysOp Subcommands

There are several subcommands that are available only to SysOps at the End of Message Command prompt. You can copy or move messages, access user records, edit message header information and more.

COPY	Copy a message to another conference.
F	Access the sender's user record.
FF	Access the sender's user record.
FT	Access the recipients user record.
MOVE	Move message to another conference.
P	Make current message private.
U	Make current message public.

Subcommands: Alphabetical Listing

For your convenience, the following is a detailed alphabetical list of subcommands that are available with the R command. Even the subcommands that are available at the End of Message Command prompt are listed.

[Message#]	Message number to read.	This number indicates the number of the message that you wish to read. If you wish, you may also append either a + or a - to the message number to read in the forward or reverse direction, starting with the message number specified. For example, to read message #3236 and every message afterwards, you would enter 3236+ instead of just 3236. You may also specify a range of message numbers by adding a dash between the low message number and high message number. For example, to specify messages between 3000 and 4000, enter 3000-4000.
(Enter)	Read next message in current direction.	When pressed at the End of Message Command? prompt, the next message is displayed in the direction that you are reading.
+/-	Set read direction.	When appended to a message number or used by itself, PCBoard displays all messages in forward-numerical or reverse-numerical order respectively from that point. You can always tell what mode you are in by looking at the Read Type at the top of the message you are reading. In that field you will see either a + or a - to denote which direction you are reading.
/	Re-display current message.	When this subcommand is entered at an End of Message Command prompt the message that was just displayed will be re-displayed.
1+	Begin with first message in the message base.	If you want to specify the first message in the message base you would specify this subcommand.
A	Scan all selected conferences.	Messages are read from all conferences that have been selected for scanning. You may choose which conferences you wish to scan for messages by using the SE command at the conference command prompt or by using DE or SE with the R user command. These conference scanning flags may also be modified while editing a user record.
ALIAS	Toggle usage of alias.	When you are in a conference that allows usage of an alias, you may or may not want to enter messages using your alias. This command allows you to toggle whether or not your alias will be used.
ALL	Scan all conferences that you have access to.	Messages are read from all conferences that you have access to whether you have selected them for scanning or not.
C	Capture messages.	The messages displayed by the current command are captured, placed in a file, and prepared for download. You are given the choice to continue with the download, abort the transfer, or hangup after the transfer.
COPY	Copy a message to another conference.	This subcommand for SysOps enables copying of a message to another conference. When you copy a message you leave the original message but also make another copy of the message in the conference that you specify.
D	Capture messages.	The messages displayed by the current command are captured, placed in a file, and immediately prepared for download.
DE	De-select current conference.	If a particular conference is chosen for scanning, the conference is de-selected. This has the same effect as using the Select command from the main menu and de-selecting the conference by pressing the corresponding number for the conference. This would cause the “X” flag in the flags column from the SELECT command (executed from a conference command prompt) to be removed.
E	Edit message header information.	At times, you may want to change who you addressed a message to or the subject of a message. If this is the case, use the E subcommand to edit those two fields of any message that you have entered. If you have SysOp security level, you may also change the reference number, whether the message has been read yet, and the protection of the message. This subcommand is only available at the End of Message Command? prompt.
E	Enter a message.	See the E user command for more details. Note, this command is not available at the End of Message Command? prompt. See the previously described subcommand.
EDIT	Edit the content of a message.	The current message will be placed in the editor for modification. You may want to re-edit a message if you accidentally lost carrier while entering a message or changed your mind, etc.
F	Access the sender's user record.	As a SysOp, you may be reading a message and want to access the user record of the user who left the message. This command will display the user record of the user who left the message. The format of the user record and the commands that are available when the user record is displayed are all discussed in the description of the 7 SysOp command.
F	Read messages from current user.	The message base is scanned for all messages from you.
FLAG	Flag a file for download.	Enables you to flag a file for download later during the session. This subcommand is identical to the FLAG user command.
FF	Access the sender's user record.	See the F subcommand for more details.
FROM	Read messages from a user.	If you wish to read mail that is only from a particular user, use this subcommand. When you use this subcommand, PCBoard will prompt you for the user you wish to read mail from.
FT	Access the recipients user record.	Like the F subcommand, this subcommand allows you to access user records while you are reading messages. The difference, however, is that the user record of the whom the message is addressed to will be displayed.
G	GoodBye.	(See the G user command for more details.)
J	Join a conference.	You may join another conference. (See the J user command for more details.)
JUMP	Jump to the next conference.	If you read all conferences (R;A or R;ALL), you may jump to the next available conference for message base scanning by using this command. The last message read pointer is not advanced to the last message when you jump a conference. Next time you scan for new mail in that conference, all of the messages you jumped over will be shown in the scan. This subcommand is only available at the End of Message Command prompt.
K	Kill the current message.	If the message is to/from you then you may kill it. When you kill a message, you make it inactive in the message base. The SysOp may recover any message which has been killed but not yet packed out of the message base by using the 4 SysOp command. If you do not issue this command at an End of Message Command prompt, you will be asked to enter the message number that you wish to kill.
L	Begin with the last message.	The current message base is read backward from the last message to the first.
LONG	Use the extended message header for displaying.	Displays the extended message header. All message header fields are displayed, but the extended header uses 7 lines as opposed to the 5 lines used by the short header display.
M	Memorize current message number.	When executed, PCBoard memorizes the current message number. PCBoard will only remember one message number. If you try to memorize another message number, the previous one will be lost. When you want to return to the memorized message number, you may type RM, RM+, or RM-.
MOVE	Move message to another conference.	This subcommand for SysOps will move a message to another conference. Moving implies that the message will be copied to the conference that you specify and then the original message will be deleted. When you use this subcommand you will be prompted to enter the conference you wish to move the message to. If you enter the number of the conference you are currently in, the message will be moved to the end of the current conference's message base.
N	New messages by date.	The first message that is read is the one that matches the date that you specify. This enables you to read only messages that were left after a certain date.
N	Quit reading messages.	At the End of Message command prompt, reading ends and you are returned to the conference command prompt.
NEXT	Read next message.
NS	non-stop mode.	Messages are displayed in non-stop mode, thus eliminating More? prompts from the display.
O	Read messages in read-only mode.	When you want to read messages and do not want your last message read updated as you read the mail, read the mail in what is called read-only mode. Additionally, if you have sufficient security as defined in PCBSetup ⇒ Security Levels ⇒ Sysop Commands, the message read status will not be updated. This means that even though you have read the message, it will not be shown as having been read and your last message read pointers will not be updated.
P	Make current message private.	A quick way to make any message security RECEIVER ONLY is to use this subcommand. This subcommand is available to SysOps only and is quite useful when you need to make a message private but do not want to use the E subcommand to edit all of the message header information.
PREV	Read previous message.	The previous message in the message base will be displayed.
Q	Quick scan messages.	See the Q user command for more information.
QWK	Capture message in QWK format.	One of the most popular off-line message format is the QWK format. With what is called a QWK packet you can load it into an off-line mail reader and read and reply to messages off-line saving time and money. If you use this subcommand, any message that would have normally been displayed to your screen will be sent to a QWK packet that you may download and read off-line.
RM	Read memorized message.	The message previously memorized is re-displayed.
RE	Reply to current message.	When you wish to respond to an individual's message you enter a message called a reply. To enter a reply to the current message you use the RE command which will create a new message addressed to the sender of the original message. This is the command you will be using most often when replying to a message because the message that you want to respond to is the message you are currently reading. Therefore, you will not have to enter a message number to respond to because you are currently reading the message. See the REPLY to Message command for additional information.
RM+	Read memorized message and continue reading forward.	The message previously memorized is re-displayed and the message base is placed in forward mode for further reading.
RM-	Read memorized message and continue reading reverse.	The message previously memorized is re-displayed and the message base is placed in reverse mode for further reading.
RR	Read reference message.	If the message you are reading displays a message number in the REFER# field of the message header, you may read the reference message by typing RR and pressing the ENTER key. This is also where the memorize a message command (M) comes in handy. Using that command you can memorize the current message, read the reference message and then quickly return to the original message by returning to the memorized message number.
S	Read new messages.	All messages in the current conference that have not already been read will be displayed. You may specify the A or ALL subcommand to scan for new mail in other conferences besides the current conference.
SE	Select current conference for scanning.	While reading a message you may select the current conference to scan for messages. This has the same effect as if you executed the Select command from the main menu and placed an “X” in the flags column. Using this command you may select the conferences you wish to scan for mail on-the-fly.
SET	Set the last message read number.	PCBoard stores last message read pointers for each conference. These pointers contain the last message number that you read in any particular conference. By looking at this value, PCBoard is able to determine which messages you have not read yet. As you read messages, this number will be automatically updated. If you need to manually update this value, use this command. When executed, you will be asked to enter the highest message number that you have read. Enter any valid message number into the field. If the number you enter is higher than the highest message in the conference, your last message read will be set to the highest number in the conference.
SHORT	Use the brief message header for displaying.	Displays the four line version of the message header. This means that not all of the fields in the header are displayed so that more of the message will be displayed on the screen.
SKIP	Skip current conference.	While executing an R;ALL or an R;A command, you may use SKIP to bypass the remaining messages in the current conference and to set the last message read pointer to the last message. In the R;A case, however, invoking SKIP will act just as it does with the R;A command only it moves you to the next available conference and permits you to continue reading messages in the next conference.
T	Thread read.	PCBoard allows you to read only messages that have the same subject in the message header. This is called reading messages by thread. You may choose to read forward or reverse in the thread by appending a + or a - next to the T (e.g. T+, T-). Normally, you memorize your current position (by using the M command) and use the RM command to return to the original message after the thread read is complete.
TO	Read messages to a user.	If you wish to read mail that is addressed to a particular user, use this subcommand. When you do, you will be prompted for the user name that PCBoard will use to search the TO: field of each message.
TS	Search messages for specific text.	Each message is scanned for the text that you indicate. You may perform complex text searches by using Boolean text searches. For more information on Boolean text searches, refer to Searching For Text in the Sysop's Guide chapter of this manual.
U	Read unread messages.	Anytime that you want to read messages that have not been read, you can use this subcommand. If a message has been read by the recipient, PCBoard will display the date and time that the message was read in the message header. Messages to ALL will always be considered as unread.
U	Make current message public.	Like the P subcommand, this subcommand allows you to quickly change the message security of the current message. However, this subcommand will make a message a PUBLIC message. This subcommand is only available to SysOps since it is able to change the security of the current message.
USER	Search messages to or from a particular user.	When executed you are prompted to enter the name of the user you would like to search for. After you enter a valid user name, the message base is scanned for messages both for a specified user and those left by a specified user.
V	View a downloadable file.	Enables a downloadable file to be viewed online via PCBVIEW.BAT. This subcommand is identical to the V subcommand for the F user command. In other words, it is identical to typing F;V at a conference command prompt.
WAIT	Scan messages in conferences where you have mail waiting.	Messages are read only from conferences that you currently have personal mail waiting to be read. For example, if you login and see that you have mail waiting in conferences 2,3, and 25 you could read all new messages in only those conferences by entering R;WAIT at the conference command prompt.
Y	Read messages addressed to you.	The message base is scanned for all messages addressed to you.
YA	Read messages to you or to ALL.	The message base is scanned for all messages addressed to you or to ALL.
Z	Capture and compress messages.	As with the D command, the messages displayed by the current command are captured and placed in a file. The file, however, is compressed before it is downloaded and therefore may not be sent to your local printer.

Description

Exchanging electronic mail or messages between users is probably the most popular form of communications on bulletin board systems. Users will enter and read messages almost every call. PCBoard has several subcommands that allow you to read only those messages that interest you.

While the number of subcommands may overwhelm you at first, you will find that you will become familiar with them after a little bit of practice. You may also find that using mnemonics will help you remember the commands easier. By looking at the subcommands described earlier you would find that you could enter R;S;A at a conference command prompt to read all new messages in the conferences that you have selected for scanning. You may find it easier to remember that R;S;A means Read mail Since last time in All selected conferences.

Use the selection subcommands to determine the messages that you will read. After you read each message you will be presented with an End of Message Command prompt where you can enter other commands that enable you to reply to messages and other functions as well.

Combining Read Subcommands

Once you understand how you can combine the various read subcommands, you will be able to better make use of PCBoard's power. The following section is designed to help you find the right subcommand for the right situation.

If you enter R at a conference command prompt you will see a line which shows you the range of the message numbers in the current conference message base and will ask you what Message Read Command you would like to use. At this point, choose at least one subcommand from the Read: Selection Subcommands section. For example, if you were to enter a Y, you are telling PCBoard to read messages that are addressed to you. Now that PCBoard has enough information to go on, it will begin scanning with message #1 for any mail that is addressed to you.

You may be wondering what you would do if you did not want to begin scanning at message number one (m,aybe you only wanted to scan any new mail that is addressed to you). What you would do in this case is use both the Y and the S subcommands. Simply enter both subcommands at the Message Read Command prompt putting either a space ( SPACE ) or a semicolon ( ; ) between each command. The following is a sample scenario:

(50 min. left) Main Board Command? R

(H)elp, (3523-5032), Message Read Command? Y;S

At this point, PCBoard would begin scanning all new mail in the current conference for any messages that are addressed to you.

The Difference Between LONG and SHORT Message Headers

The message header is the information that you are displayed regarding who the message is from or to, the subject of the message, etc. PCBoard supports two different message headers – long and short.

The long message header closely resembles the message header of previous versions of PCBoard with the exception that the, TO, FROM, and SUBJECT fields all take one line a piece. The long message header displays the following information:

Date
Message number
Reference number (if message is a reply)
Who the message is address to
Who the message is from
The subject of the message
The security of the message
If the message has been read or not
The status of a message (has replies, message security, etc.)
Type of message read you are using

All in all, this format takes a hefty 7 display lines on the screen including the blank line between the header and the message text. This amounts to nearly one third of the entire display area on the screen. The short header, on the other hand, uses only 5 display lines including the blank line. This amounts to less than one quarter of the display screen enabling you to fit more message text on the screen. The short message header displays the following information:

Date and time the message was entered
Message number
If the message has replies (displayed as an R on the top line of the header)
If the message has been read (displayed as an * on the top line of the header)
Who the message is addressed to
Who the message is from
The subject of the message

The following shows the long message header style:

Missing image?

The following illustrates the short message header style

Missing image?

As you can see two lines of information really does make a difference. The default header that is used is determined by how you answered the following question using the W user command:

Use long headers when reading messages? (Y)

You can also switch between long and short headers by typing either LONG or SHORT at the End of Message Command prompt. In addition, you may also use these words when using the R user command. For example:

R;A;LONG
R;Y;S;SHORT

Examples

If you do not like to read a lot of mail when you login to a system, you may want to only read new messages that are addressed to you in all conferences that you are able to join. To do this, you would enter the following at the conference command prompt:

R;Y;S;ALL

If you wanted to read the same messages but instead you wanted to capture them to a file that you could download, you would enter the following instead:

R;Y;S;ALL;C

Sometimes you may want to search for messages that only have certain text in either the message header or the actual message body. For, example, if you wanted to search all of the messages in the current message base for HARD DRIVE you would enter the following:

R;TS;HARD DRIVE

At this point, PCBoard would ask you what message you wished to begin the scan with. If you enter L it will begin with the end of the message base and search backwards. If you want to scan with the beginning message and search forward, you would enter 1+.

R Read Messages

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