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This section documents a handful of commands and variables that don't fit into any of the other documentation categories.
imail-quit). This closes all open
IMAP connections and buries all IMAIL buffers. With
prefix argument, only affects the current IMAIL buffer,
leaving any other IMAIL buffers alone.
imail-disconnect).
imail-bury).
imail-save-folder).
When you are finished reading mail in a folder, use the q command
(imail-quit). This command closes the folder, then buries
the buffer. Closing a folder has different effects, depending on the
type of folder. Closing an IMAP folder causes IMAIL
to disconnect from the IMAP server (go offline). Closing a
file folder saves any changes out to the corresponding file. In both
cases, internal data structures may be dropped, requiring them to be
rebuilt, should the folder later be re-opened. In no case are any
changes made to the folder's contents; in particular, deleted messages
are not expunged.
On IMAP folders, the q command is equivalent to M-d b. On file folders, the q command is equivalent to s b.
The M-d command (imail-disconnect) disconnects
IMAIL from the IMAP server (goes offline). This has
no effect on file folders.
The b command (imail-bury) buries the selected
IMAIL buffer. Burying a buffer means moving it to the
bottom of the buffer list and selecting another buffer from the top of
the list. This is similar to the command bury-buffer, except
that any summary buffer associated with this buffer is also buried, and
if a window was created to hold the summary buffer, it is deleted.
The s command (imail-save-folder) saves out any changes to
the selected IMAIL folder. For file folders, this means
writing the folder back out to its file. For IMAP folders,
this no effect. In no case are any changes made to the folder's
contents; in particular, deleted messages are not expunged.
IMAIL normally caches IMAP message bodies in memory
in order to increase performance. The variable
imail-body-cache-limit gives you some control over how this
caching is done. imail-body-cache-limit is normally set to a
positive integer, meaning that any message body or in-line
MIME entity whose size in bytes is less than this number is
cached. However, caching can be entirely disabled by setting
imail-body-cache-limit to #f, or made unconditional by
setting it to #t.
Another thing that IMAIL caches is IMAP passwords.
This is done so that you don't have to keep typing your password
whenever you connect to a new IMAP folder. However, this is
also a security risk, because the password is kept in Scheme's memory.
The variable imail-pass-phrase-retention-time says how long
passwords are cached, in minutes. Normally this is set to 30 minutes,
but if you are paranoid you can set it to zero to disable password
caching altogether. Scheme keeps track of the use of each password,
and deletes its copy of the password when it has expired. Additionally,
Scheme stores passwords in an obscured form, to prevent them being seen
during casual browsing through memory structures, but this does
not provide any protection against a deliberate attempt to find
the password.