Eudora Configuration and Best Practices (Mac OS) *DRAFT* *work in progress*

Introduction

Basic Configuration

Enhanced Authentication
Toolbar Configration
Setting Your Server Trash Folder

Advanced Configuration

Recommended Settings

Best Practices and Miscellaneous Tips

Local vs. Server Mailboxes
Organizing Your Mail Workspace With Mailboxes
A Note About Deletion Models

Introduction

This document will cover how to configure Eudora 5.2.1 ideally and optimally for your computer. It will also provide guidelines for best practices and offer various tips, tricks, and strategies to best utilize the features of Eudora.

Basic Configuration

1. Locate the Eudora icon in your Applications folder.

2. Launch Eudora.

3. When the password prompt appears, click "Cancel." The Eudora menu will appear at the top of the screen.

Notes:

• If you receive a dialog box asking whether you want to use the system keychain, click "No."
• If you receive a dialog box asking whether you want to import settings and mail from another e-mail application, click "No."

4. Select "Settings" from the Special dropdown menu. The Settings menu appears.

5. Click the Getting Started icon to display the settings for this option.

6. Complete the following in the Checking Mail section:

• Username: Type your e-mail user name. For example, type smith.
• Mail Server: Type your mail server name using the table below. If your server isn't listed or you don't know what to enter here, check with your School, department, or LSP.

Note: If you are using an Internet Service Provider (ISP) other than Penn (for example, DCANet or Earthlink) to connect to your mail account, you will have different SMTP servers than those listed for Penn. Follow the instructions in the document "Sending E-mail: Selecting & Configuring Your SMTP Server "

7. In the Sending Mail section, complete the following:

• Real Name: Enter your full name. For example, type John Smith.
• SMTP Server: From the chart below, type the name of the outgoing mail server. If your server isn't listed or you don't know what to enter here, check with your School, department, or LSP.

8. Click the Checking Mail icon to display the settings for this option.

9. In the Account/Server Information section:

• Ensure that IMAP is selected as the mail protocol.
• In the Location prefix field, type Mail/ (you may want to double-check with your LSP first, but this prefix should work for most Penn servers).

10. In the Connection section:

• Leave 15 as the number of minutes that should elapse before Eudora checks for new mail.
• Ensure the "Send on check" checkbox is selected.

11. In the Download Options section, leave the "Minimal headers only" radio button selected.

12. In the left panel, scroll down and select the Hosts icon to display the settings for this option.

16. In the Directory Services section, in the "Ph/LDAP Server" field, enter one of the following:

• For Basic Directory Services, type directory.upenn.edu
• For Extended Directory Services (recommended), type the following exactly as shown:

  ldap://directory.upenn.edu/o=upenn.edu?cn,status,sn,givenname,mail

  Note: there are no space characters in the text; some text will disappear as you near the end of the field -- this is normal.

17. Click the Personalities icon to display the settings for this option.

18. In the Sending Mail section, check the "Allow authorization" box. (You may need to check with your LSP or server administrator to see whether this functionality is supported on your server, but most Penn servers are configured in this way.)

19. Click the Personality Extras icon.

20. Click the "Use a trash mailbox on the IMAP server" checkbox.

21. Click "OK" to close and save all Eudora settings you have just configured.

22. To set up your Trash folder on the mail server, do the following:

a. Select "<<Dominant>>" from the Mailbox dropdown menu.
b. Select "New...."
c. Type Trash as the name of the new mail box, and click "OK."
d. From the Mailbox dropdown menu, select "<<Dominant>>," and then select "Trash."

Enhanced Authentication Steps

Steps 23-29 involve configuration which enables strong authentication (in other words, passwords are not sent in cleartext over the network). There are two main kinds of strong authentication deployed on Penn mail servers: Kerberos (PennKey), and SSL/TLS. One of the two methods is typically supported by most Penn mail servers. Your School, department, or LSP will be able to tell you which kind of authentication is supported on your mail server, and which is the recommended one to use. If, after consulting with your School, department, or LSP you are still unsure, skip to step 30.

Steps 23-26 enable Kerberos (PennKey) authentication. Proceed only after checking first with your School, department, or LSP.

23. In the left panel, scroll down and select the Kerberos icon to display the settings for this option.

24. Under Personality, check only "Use Kerberos" and "Use Kerberos V/GSSAPI for POP3."
Caution: Do not enter or change information in any of the other fields in this Settings window.

25. Click "OK" at the bottom of the window. Eudora is now Kerberos enabled.

26. If you are using Eudora or any Kerberized application for the first time, please refer to the documents at How to Use Your PennKey for information on how to get set up and work in a Kerberized environment.

Steps 27-29 enable SSL/TLS authentication. Proceed only after checking first with your School, department, or LSP.

27. In the left panel, scroll down and select the SSL icon to display the settings for this option.

28. In the SSL for SMTP dropdown, select one of the following options. Your School, department, or LSP will be able to tell you the appropriate setting:

• Required (TLS)
• Optional (TLS)
• Required (Alternate Port)

29. In the SSL for IMAP dropdown, select one of the following options. Your School, department, or LSP will be able to tell you the appropriate setting:

• Required (TLS)
• Optional (TLS)
• Required (Alternate Port)

30. Click OK to close the Settings window and save the configuration settings made thus far. The rest of the steps for Basic Configuration are done outside of the Settings window.

Toolbar Configuration

The default toolbar has a shortcut to the In mailbox, which is only used for POP configurations. If you followed the preceding steps above and configured Eudora to use the IMAP protocol, you need to reconfigure the toolbar so the shortcut button points to the Inbox mailbox on your mail server.

31. Locate the In mailbox button on the toolbar (usually the 3rd button from left).

32. Command-click (Apple-click) the button. A pop-up Toolbar Creation Button dialog box appears.

33. From the Mailbox menu, select <<Dominant>>, and then Inbox.

34. The toolbar button has now been re-mapped to the IMAP Inbox. Now you can call up your server Inbox by clicking this toolbar button.

More information about the subtle differences between IMAP and POP configurations may be found in the <Eudora POP to IMAP migration document>.

Setting Your Server Trash Folder

You need to make a one-time configuration to set your server Trash folder. This is done the first time you delete a message on the server.

35. Open your incoming mail Inbox by either clicking on the Inbox shortcut on the toolbar, or navigating from the Mailbox menu to <<Dominant>> and selecting Inbox.

36. Hilight an unwanted message, then delete it by pressing the Delete key, or choosing Delete from the Message menu.

37. A dialog box appears, instructing you to locate the server Trash folder. From the Mailbox menu, select <<Dominant>>, then Trash.

38. You have successfully set your server Trash folder and do not need to do this step again.

You have successfully completed basic configuration for Eudora. Please consult the next section, Advanced Configuration, for further settings to optimize your Eudora user experience.

Advanced Configuration

You can configure Eudora with additional settings to optimize your user experience. Select "Settings" from the Special dropdown menu to display the Settings dialog box.

Recommended Settings

• In the Mood Watch section, uncheck the Enable Mood Watch checkbox to disable this feature
• In the Styled Text section, check the "Send plain text mail only" radio button. Plain text is compatible with the majority of e-mail systems.
• In the Styled Text section, uncheck all boxes in the "When receiving styled mail, pay attention to:" section.
• In the Mailbox Display section, for Message preview, set the "Mark and read after __ seconds" to 0 (zero).
  

Best Practices and Miscellaneous Tips

Local vs. Server Mailboxes

There is one basic concept to know about using Eudora in an IMAP configuration. Whereas in a POP configuration, all mail is downloaded to your hard drive, IMAP allows you to work with local mailboxes on your hard drive and server mailboxes.

From the Windows menu, select Mailboxes to visually see the way Eudora distinguishes between local and server mail.

The items in the top portion of the hierarchy are your local mailboxes on your hard drive. In the example above, the local mail hierarchy is named Eudora Folder copy.

The items in the lower portion of the hierarchy (below <<Dominant>>) are mailboxes located on your mail server. For Eudora 5.2.1, the main server mail hierarchy is always called <<Dominant>>.

You can create new mailboxes to move existing mail messages, to better organize your mail. You can create new mailboxes both locally on your hard drive, and on the server.

• To create a local mailbox, choose New... from the Mailbox menu. Provide a name for your mailbox in the dialogue box.
• To create a server mailbox, first select the Mailbox menu, then navigate to <<Dominant>> and choose New... from the hierarchical dropdown menu. Enter a mailbox name in the dialogue box. This creates a new mailbox on the server.

Organizing Your Mail Workspace With Mailboxes

Don't let thousands of messages pile up in your Inbox. Create local mailboxes for messages meant to be filed away and archived on your hard drive. Create server mailboxes for mail that you think you will be using in the short term. Then, move the messages accordingly.

1. Hilight one or more messages you wish to move.

2. Use the Transfer menu to move the messages.

• To move the messages to a local mailbox, select the local mailbox which appears immediately under the Transfer option (top level).
• To move messages to a server mailbox, navigate to <<Dominant>> and then select the server mailbox from the choices in the hierarchical dropdown menu.

A Note About Deletion Models

In an IMAP configuration, mail may be deleted from the server in one of two ways:

• Server Trash: An actual Trash mailbox is defined on the server, and emptied periodically to delete unwanted mail
• Mark and Purge: Unwanted messages are first "marked" for deletion, and then a separate Purge command is issued to delete all marked messages. Many webmail systems use a mark and purge deletion model

Eudora 5.2.1 for Mac OS works ideally with the server trash deletion model.This is unlike the Windows version of Eudora 5.2.1, which is optimized for the mark and purge model. The difference is due to the slightly different implementation of the deletion features on the two platforms; in testing, the server trash model was found to be the most suitable for Eudora for Mac OS.

1. To empty messages from the server Trash, hold down the option key and select "Empty all Trash Mailboxes" from the Special menu. This empties both the local Trash and the server's Trash folders.

More information about the deletion models may be found in the document, <Migration>.