ARCHIVED: In Pine, how do I make a folder collection?

Note: Pine is not available on any central UITS systems. UITS does not support the use of Pine at Indiana University.

Note: The software discussed here is no longer in common use at IU, and UITS may no longer be able to verify this text's accuracy; additionally, the UITS Support Center may no longer have the materials needed to adequately support this software.

Depending on the configuration, Pine uses a default folder collection that resides either on an external computer, such as an IMAP server, or within a directory on your account. This collection is where Pine stores your saved mail folders. In addition to the default collection, you can create other collections for additional folders. You could, for example, have separate folder collections for messages received from colleagues at work, email from distribution lists, and personal mail from friends. You could also create a folder collection on your account and back up the mail from your IMAP server to it.

If you have already created a directory for the folder collection you want to add, proceed to the steps below appropriate for your version of Pine to create the folder collection. If you need to create the directory for the folder collection, first follow these steps:

1. Log into your account and get to the Unix shell.
   
   
2. Create a directory for your folder collection. Enter: mkdir directoryname

   Replace directoryname with whatever you want to name the folder collection. For example, for a collection of folders for distribution lists you subscribe to, you might name the directory lists. For more information about creating directories in Unix, see Introduction to Unix commands.

   Note: Folder collection directories can also be in nested subdirectories, but it is not a good idea to put a folder collection directory inside another folder collection directory. For example, if you have created a folder collection in the directory mail, you should not create another collection in mail/lists.

When you have created the directory, follow the instructions below for your version of Pine to create the folder collection.

Pine 4 and later

To configure Pine 4 and later:

1. Start Pine, and from the Main Menu, press  s  for Setup and  l  (the letter L) for collectionLists.
   
   
2. Press  a  to create a new folder collection.
   
   
3. Next to "Nickname :", create a name for this folder collection. It can be anything you want. Next to "Path :", enter the path of your directory (e.g., lists for a directory called lists that you created in your home directory).
   
   
4. Press Ctrl-x and then  y  to create the collection.

   Note: The first folder collection in your list will be the one Pine uses by default for saving sent mail. To change the order of these collections with the shuffle command, press  $  (the dollar sign).

Versions of Pine earlier than 4

To configure versions of Pine earlier than 4:

1. Start or return to Pine.
   
   
2. From Pine's Main Menu, press  s  for Setup, and then  c  for Config.
   
   
3. Use your arrow keys to move to the "folder-collections" variable. To add the appropriate directory to the folder collections, press  a .
   
   
4. You will see something similar to one of these three prompts: Replace or Add To default value ? Enter text to insert before "Mail/[]": Enter text to insert before "{imap}INBOX.[]":

   If you see the first prompt, press  a  again and then enter the name of your directory (e.g.,  directoryname/[] ). If you see something like the second or third prompt, you may press Ctrl-w to toggle between two options: putting your new folder collection before the existing folder list or after it (i.e., Mail/[] or {imap}INBOX.[] in these examples). Then enter the path of your directory. For example, if you want to create a folder collection for the mailing lists you read called lists, enter:

   lists/[]

   Note: Pine will make the first directory in the folder collections list the default for saving mail.

5. Exit the Setup Configuration menu by pressing  e . Save your changes by pressing  y . The next time you use Pine, your new folder collection will be listed in Pine's Folder List menu.

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