FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
Terminology - "RFC" and "kludges"
Kludges and headers
What exactly are "Kludges"?
It's FIDO slang for message headers.Request for Comments (RFC)
Many people have made references to RFCs.
Where can I read up on them?
One place to start is the IETF (Internet Enginerring Task Force) web site.
Address Book
How can I copy a contact to another address book group? It seems to move it instead of copying it.
To place the same contact into multiple address book groups, do the following:
Right-click on the contact
Select 'Properties'
Click the ellipsis button (...) next to the 'Groups' field on the 'General' tab.
Put a checkmark in the box of each group you want this contact to appear in.
The nice thing about this feature, is that you only have to change one contact's entry, and all the rest will be automatically updated. However, if the contact has different entries depending on which group they are in, then you will need to create a new/separate contact entry for that group.What is the best size for a photo to be used in the address book?
120 x 144 pixels JPEG.How can I auto-complete names when addressing a new message
- The Bat! gives you three way to retrieve addresses from the address book.
- Address history list / Address book
Start typing.
The Bat! completes the address from the address history or the address b ook.
This depends on how you have configured auto-completion in your preferences.
- Nicknames
Type an Address Book nickname.
Hit TAB or Down.
The Bat! expands the Nickname automatically.
- Look-up
Start typing. Press Ctrl-Plus
The Bat! completes the name from the Address Book.
Repeat Press Ctrl-Plus to retrieve the next matching name
- You can use the Ctrl-(+) and Ctrl-(-) keyboard shortcuts to toggle through the possible matching addresses
Whenever I list alternative addresses in a single address book entry I cannot choose any alternative addresses when composing a message.
Here, it's best to create separate address book entries for each e-mail address for the recipient.I get an "Invalid argument to date encode" error message. What's wrong?
You have imported addresses from Outlook or Outlook express and you have asked The Bat! to import Birthday information too.
Unfortunately, the default date value supplied by Outlook and Outlook express is not valid in The Bat!
This causes the error message you see.
The only way out of this is to delete the entries you imported and import them again, this time leaving the Birthday field out of the list.
Macros
Can macros be nested?
Yes! For example, you can do this: %SUBJECT="Replying to your message dated %ODATE, at %OTIME"
This will create a reply with a subject looking like this: "Replying to your message dated June 10, 1999, at 1200"How do I add The Bat! version on such and such platform version to the bottom of all my messages?
Add this macro to the bottom of the message template:
Using The Bat! %THEBATVERSION under %WINDOWSPLATFORMNAME %WINDOWSMAJORVERSION.%WINDOWSMINORVERSION Build %WINDOWSBUILDNUMBER %WINDOWSCSDVERSION on a Pentium 4 1.2ghz with 128MB.
Of course, change the actual computer information to that of your own computer.What are the language IDs for the %Language macro?
- American English
AM
- Australian English
EA
- British English
BR
- Catalan
CT
- Czech
CZ
- Danish
DA
- Finnish
FI
- French
FR
- French Canadian
FC
- German
GE
- Italian
IT
- Norsk Bokmal
NO
- Norsk Nynorsk
NN
- Dutch
NL
- Portuguese Brazil
PB
- Portuguese Iberian
PT
- Polish
PL
- Spanish
SP
- Swedish
SW
- Russian
RU
- Hungarian
HU
Here is a tutorial about macros
Here is a library of useful macros
How can I create multi-lined sigs / cookies
If you'd like to create a sig such as this:
When planets run around in circles, we say they are orbiting.
When people do it, we say they are crazy.
Then your cookie line needs to look like this:
When planets run around in circles, we say they are orbiting.\nWhen people do it, we say they are crazy.
Notice the '\n' which is replaced with a newline when the cookie is used.
Working with browsers
Make The Bat! the default mailer for Netscape?
Download nsproto.exe (1.1 MB)
Install and execute
Make new protocol
Application: c:\program files\the bat!\thebat.exe
Template: mailto:%a
Save as: mailto
RegisterMake The Bat! the default mailer for Opera?
Go to Opera Preferences / Mail under external mail application.
Enter this string: "C:\Program Files\The Bat!\thebat.exe" mailto:Create a mailto link?
- Some forms of mailto:
- A good majority of e-mail client software has problems if you put spaces between the words that you specify for the subject or message body etc.
mailto:marck@silverstones.com?subject=Hi Marck
Some e-mail clients would drop the 'Marck'.
Click here to see if yours supports it.
- That's why I use an underscore character "_" to delimit my text. In a URL, it becomes invisible as the URL is underlined anyway.
mailto:marck@silverstones.com?subject=Hi_Marck
This is the same mailto as a hyperlink. Notice the underscore is almost invisible.
- Another way to set up spaces is to use "%20" between the words. The problem with this is that not all e-mail client software will recognise this and it may also confuse the person who clicks on it. TB does support this convention.
An example would be:
mailto:marck@silverstones.com?subject=Hi%20Marck
- You aren't limited to just specifying a subject header, you can have it show up in the body as well.
e.g.
mailto:marck@silverstones.com?body=Hi%20Marck
- You can also specify the TO header
mailto:marck@silverstones.com?TO=Marck
You can also write it like this, but I don't know why you'd do so:
mailto:?TO=marck@silverstones.com
- The correct short form version is: mailto:marck@silverstones.com
- Here's the way to specify the Carbon Copy (CC) field:
mailto:marck@silverstones.com?CC=another@example.com
Open a URL in a new browser window?
Hold down the 'Shift' button while clicking on the URL.
How do I turn off automatic reading confirmation?
If you mean incoming mail: Go to Account > Properties > Templates > Reading Confirmation, set "Action" to "Ignore".
If you mean outgoing mail: Account/Properties/Templates/New Message. Uncheck the new choices on the bottom/right.S/MIME
How do I get and install a certificate?
Here's a nicely done step-by-step tutorial written by Ulrich Peters. This certainly works with certificates acquired through Thawte, but the steps should be similar for other certificate issuing authorities.
PGP
Where can I get assistance with respect to using PGP and TB!?
There's a great user discussion list that was started just for your need. It's called "PGP-Basics" and you can subscribe here.
There's also a really good tutorial, German and English versions, with a translation from the original German by Gerd Ewald here.Error "This version of PGP requires an Administration Preferences file..."
When I try to sign or encrypt a message, I get the following error:
This version of PGP requires an Administration Preferences file. This file is either corrupt or not present on your computer. Please contact your Security Administrator.
PGP is trying to open a file called pgp_admin.prf. You must create this (empty) file and save it in your PGP directory. Then it will work without any error message.I have found that my email often is sent out with odd line lengths. Sometimes there will be just a word or two on a separate line.
This is because PGP is wrapping the lines after The Bat! has already performed the line wrapping you see in the message aditor.
Unlike other email software, The Bat! has a "WYSIWYG" interface and won't send unwrapped text. Nor will it wrap text "behind the scenes" before sending.
PGP's line wrapping function was added to compensate for email software that wraps text <em>after it has been signed, breaking the validity of the signature.
To solve the problem, just turn off PGP's line wrapping function.Does The Bat! have plug-in support for PGP v7.xx?
At present, there's no plug-in support for PGP v7.0 and higher since there was delay in the release of the PGP development kit required for creation of plugin support. Even though there has been release of a resource kit, it is at present inadequate for plugin development. However, as with all other clients, PGP Tray will work just fine with The Bat!.
Printing
Print messages to a file as opposed to actually printing it out on paper?
Under Windows, click the START button | Settings | Printers | Add printer
Manufacturer : Generic
Brand : Generic/Text only
Associate port: FILEPrint a range of pages? The option is greyed out!
The option is greyed out only if the message consists of a single page. If the message is two pages long or more, it wouldn't be grayed.Change the format of printed messages.
As with everything else having to do with formatting, the print format is controlled via a template found in the print setup configuration dialog. This template supports all the macros available for use with TB!.
Searching
How do you re-dock the Quicksearch toolbar?
Move your floating Quicksearch toolbar - roughly to the position of the top toolbar. Then CLOSE DOWN The Bat.
Run Regedit
Browse down to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\RIT\The Bat!\Toolbars\tbSearch
Double click on DockedTo - and change the "+" entry to "MsgDock"
Close down Regedit
Restart TheBat - and the Quicksearch toolbar should be located at the top of the folder list.
Display - how things look
How do I change the font?
(My thanks to Thomas F for this list).
The font is set in a few different places depending on what are of The Bat! you are looking at.
Editor: Options / Editor Preferences / Display
Viewer: Options / Preferences / Viewer
Source View: Options / Preferences / Source View
Message List: Options / Message List Fonts and Colours
Folder Pane and Message Header Pane (the latter mistakenly called
Message Pane): Options / Preferences / System / FontsThreading (How do I....?)
- Delete all messages in a thread
<Ctrl-Shift-Del>
- Expand all threads
<Ctrl-KeyPad-*>
- Close all threads
<Alt-0>, <Alt-1> when threading by reference
<Alt-0>, <Alt-2> when threading by subject (etc.)
- Move to the next unread message
Ctrl-] or Ctrl-Alt-right arrow
This will move you to the next unread messages, drilling down into threads to do so and will also cycle through the folder being browsed until all unread messages have been read.
Network and Administration
How do I prevent The Bat! from dialing up when I'm already connected to the internet?
Go in the Network and Administration settings and enable the option 'Use Existing Dialup Connections, if any'. It's important to note that these network settings are configurable globally or on a per account basis.How do I prevent The Bat! from performing mail checks whenever I'm off-line?
Go into the Network and Administration settings dialog. Enable 'Dialup Networking Connection'; enable 'No automatic dial for periodical connection' and enable 'use existing connection (if any) and that's it. Again, note that these settings may be made globally or on a per account basis.
How to sync The Bat! with your Palm device (by Tim Musson)
The Palm device
In the [v3.0.1] Palm Desktop software select HotSync | Custom...
Select the Mail Conduit and pick Change...
Make sure the conduit is set to sync files!
In the bottom half of the conduit window ensure "Mail System: Eudora" is set,
(or I have heard M$ Outlook works too.)The Bat!
In The Bat! Account Properties for the account you want to sync with ensure 'This account is the default for "mailto:" URLs' is checked.
Set Account\Properties\Transport\Delivery to Deferred &
Account\Properties\Transport\"Combined delivery (send+receive)".
(If Account\Properties\Transport\Delivery is set to Immediate, TB seems to have problems and you may have to kill the process to exit.)
If you have problems, you can try to run FixMAPI from the "Start\Run..." dialogue box or start The Bat! with the /InstallMAPI parameter once and try again. (as per instructions from Stefan Tanurkov)FYI, here is what my C:\Palm\"User"\sync.ini file looks like (interesting, but you should not need it):
[SmapiPlugin]
MsgHostName=Eudora 3.0.1 or higher
[SmapiPlugin Eudora 3.0.1 or higher]
UserAccount=
UserData=
[Messaging]
MsgHostId=SMAPIMsgHost
MsgHostName=Eudora 3.0.1 or higher
[Mail]
System=Eudora 3.0.1 or higher
Interface=MAPI32
Profile=TB!AccountName
UserAccount=TB!AccountName
PostOffice=TB!AccountName
Gateway=
Password=
What is SmartBat :-) ?
SmartBat is a hotkey (default=f6) accessible notepad replacement that functions similar to TB message editing. It keeps its text in %TBdir%\Mail\SmartBat.TXT (settings in SmartBat.INI). Also, it saves each time you exit.
You can load up a whole raft of default pads. For instance, I keep my "cookies" file in there, which makes it really easy to add new taglines as and when they come in ;-).
Open SmartBat!, Press Ctrl-N. It prompts you for a new file to open. Select the file.
That's it. Now you have two tabs at the bottom of the
SmartBat! screen, and the one you just opened. Want another file permanently on tap? Open that one too.
I currently have 7 files auto-loaded into SmartBat. And very nice it is too.
In the next release (1.63) of The Bat! SmartBat! will include a scheduler too.Is there an easy way to submit spam to SpamCop?
Press '+' and copy the text below (including the BeginFilter/EndFilter lines) onto
the clipboard using mark and Ctrl-C.
BeginFilter
Name: Submit spam to SpamCop
Source: \Inbox
Target: \Trash
CopyFolder: \\\\none
MainSet: 40.
Actions:faMarkRead,faNewMsg,faExport,faoExportOver,faoExportKludges,faoManualOnly,faoHotKey,faoSaveUnix
NewAddr: submit.xxxxxxxxxxxxx@spam.spamcop.net
NewTemplate: %put\3D\27C:\5Ctemp\5Cexport.txt\27\0D\0A
ExtFile: C:\temp\export.txt
HotKey: 49235
EndFilterOpen the Sorting office of the TB account you want to use the filter
from. Paste the filter in using Ctrl-V.
Select the filter and click on "Actions". Scroll down to the "Create
message to" option and change the 'xxxxxxxxxxxxx' in the address to be
that of your personal submission address for SpamCop.
If you do not have a c:\temp folder, you can change this in the two
places it appears in the filter. 1) in the "Export message to file"
target and 2) in the "Create a message for" template in the form
"%put=".
Press okay. Your submission filter is present, correct and ready to
roll. To use it, focus on a spam message and press Ctrl-Alt-S. If you
don't like the hotkey, change it in the "Options" tab for the filter.
Now the second stage filter. Once again, press '+' and copy the text below
(including the BeginFilter/EndFilter lines) onto the clipboard using
mark and Ctrl-C.
BeginFilter
Name: SpamCop AutoResponder
Source: \Inbox
Target: \Trash
CopyFolder: \\\\none
MainSet: 00nobody@spamcop.net
MainSet: 20SpamCop has accepted
Actions: faMarkRead,faExport,faExternal,faoExportOver,faoWaitCompletion
ExtCmd: C:\temp\spamcop.bat
ExtFile: C:\temp\spamcop.bat
SaveTemplate:\22c:\5CProgram\20Files\5CInternet\20Explorer\5CIEXPLORE.EXE\22\20%REGEXPTEXT\3D\22http://\5CS*spamcop.net/sc\5CS*\22\0D\0A
EndFilterPaste the filter into the sorting office for the account that receives
the replies from SpamCop. This filter will pick up the reply from
SpamCop saying that the spam is ready to be processed and launch IE to
go directly to the URL. Again, the filter makes use of the c:\temp
folder. You can change that in the "Export message to file" and "Run
eternal program" actions. If your browser is not "c:\Program
Files\Internet Explorer\IEXPLORE.EXE", you can change the execution
path in the "Export message to file" template.
That's it. Enjoy!
Error messages
I get an "Invalid argument to date encode" error message. What's wrong?
You have imported addresses from Outlook or Outlook express and you have asked The Bat! to import Birthday information too.
Unfortunately, the default date value supplied by Outlook and Outlook express is not valid in The Bat!
This causes the error message you see.
The only way out of this is to delete the entries you imported and import them again, this time leaving the Birthday field out of the list.
Return to the Main FAQ page
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