Eudora 3.0.2 Delivers a Parcel of New Features Phyllis Galt

Eudora Pro, the email program that runs on Macintoshes and PCs, 
has been available to the MIT community for about a year under a 
site license agreement with Qualcomm, Inc. QUALCOMM recently 
released a new version, Eudora Pro 3.0.2.

This article highlights some of  Eudora's new features and discusses 
installation issues at MIT. (For now, IS supports Eudora 3.0.2 only on 
the Macintosh; an installer for Windows is under development.) 
 
What's New
Eudora Pro 3.0.2 has several new features that can help you manage 
your email more effectively:

* Active URL links. If you receive e- mail that includes a URL for a 
Web site, Eudora automatically turns it into a link. Double-clicking on 
the link starts up your Web browser and opens the associated Web 
page. (The first time you do this, Eudora asks you to select a 
browser.)

* A customizable toolbar. Eudora's new toolbar lets you access 
frequently used commands with ease. You can choose from a set of 
icon styles, move the toolbar, and turn it off. You can also add and 
delete commands from the toolbar.
 
* An Fcc option. If you liked the Fcc (File carbon copy) option in 
Tech-Mail, you'll be happy to know that Eudora now has an 
equivalent option. When you create or respond to a message, you can 
turn the Transfer menu into an Fcc menu by clicking once in the Bcc 
field. You can then choose a mailbox in which to file a copy of your 
message.

* Stationery files. Eudora lets you save files as templates (Stationery) 
for later use. This is helpful if you send the same messages 
repeatedly. To create a Stationery file, use the Stationery option 
under the Save As. command while saving the text of an outgoing 
message. To access a Stationery file, use the New Message With 
command under the Message menu.

* Interactive sorting. If you've selected a sort criterion for a mailbox, 
new messages added to the mailbox are sorted dynamically. A new 
Group Subjects option under the Sort command lets you group 
messages in a mailbox that have the same subject.

* Multiple signatures. You can now create as many signatures as you 
like by choosing the New option under the Signatures command.

* The ability to edit incoming messages.  If you need to add notes to 
an incoming message, you can do so by clicking on the pencil icon in 
the icon bar at the top of the message.

* Address book. The Nicknames feature has been expanded into an 
address book, where you can store postal addresses and phone and 
fax numbers, as well as email addresses. 

* A Print One Copy command. This command bypasses the usual 
Print dialog box and prints a single copy of an email message.

New Mailbox Format
In addition to these new features, Eudora 3.0.2 has a more efficient 
mailbox format. In earlier versions, each mailbox had an associated 
table of contents (.toc) file. In Eudora 3.0.2, a mailbox and its 
associated table of contents are treated as one file. 

If you're upgrading from an earlier version of Eudora, the Use old 
style ".toc" files setting, under Miscellaneous in the Settings. 
command, is turned on by default. Your mailboxes remain in the old 
format until you turn off this setting. Once you turn it off, each 
mailbox is converted the first time you use it. If you think you'll 
need to access your mailboxes with older versions of Eudora, leave 
this setting on; otherwise, turn it off and use the new, more efficient 
mailbox format.

How to Get Eudora 3.0.2
You can download the Eudora 3.0.2 installer and instructions for the 
Macintosh from the Web page at

http://web.mit.edu/ist/help/eudora/

Unlike the installer for Eudora 2.1, this installer does not contain 
the actual files to be installed. Rather, during the installation process, 
it goes to the software distribution server, net-dist.mit.edu, and gets 
each of the files. If you are installing Eudora at home via Tether, 
make sure you have Tether running before and during installation. 
The process takes 25 to 30 minutes with a 28.8 Kbps modem and 50 
to 55 minutes with a 14.4 Kbps modem.

If you're upgrading from an earlier version of Eudora, the installer 
finds and uses your existing settings. If the installation on your 
machine is for multiple users, the installer upgrades each user's 
settings file.

If you are installing Eudora for the first time, the installer steps you 
through a set of questions to customize Eudora for your use at MIT. 
It also lets you set up Eudora for multiple users.

Changes in Default Settings
Two default settings in Eudora 3.0.2 differ from those in version 2.1. 
Eudora 3.0.2 supports Hesiod, which automatically determines which 
post office (POP) server stores your incoming mail. With version 2.1, 
you had to find out which post office server stored your incoming 
mail and indicate it in the POP account setting. 

The SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) setting in Hosts under the 
Settings. command has been changed from "mit.edu" to 
"outgoing.mit.edu." This was done to prepare for possible  changes in 
how MIT provides outgoing mail support to the community.

Getting Help
The Eudora installation includes a comprehensive User Manual in 
Portable Document Format. To view it, you need Acrobat Reader 3, 
which you can download for free from net-dist.mit.edu. It's in the 
directory /mit/macos7/web/acrobat-reader/current/. Eudora also 
has extensive online help.

If you have questions about Eudora 3.0.2 for the Macintosh, contact 
the Computing Help Desk at x3-1101 or <mac-help@mit.edu>.