Message Addressing

'Quick List'

The Quick List allows you to quickly address an email to a number of often used addresses. When the Quick List is displayed, simply double click the address to move it to the To field, or use the '« ' buttons to move an address to the appropriate To/Cc/Bcc field.

You can hide the quick list at any time by clicking the [ X ] link to the top left of the Quick List area. You can show it again by clicking the 'Show Quick List' link that appears when it is hidden.

Use the Quick Items section to change the number of displayed items in the Quick List. On the Options screen, select the Account Preferences link.

Adding/Removing Addresses in Quick List

Addresses are added to the Quick List in two ways:

  • By going to the Addresses screen and explicitly checking the 'In Quick List?' checkbox

  • By sending emails to addresses in your address book. As you send emails to addresses in your address book, the most commonly and most recently used addresses are added to your quicklist and appear at the top of the list

Addresses marked as 'In Quick List', are always shown first, and are always sorted by nick name, or if empty, full name, or if empty, email address. After that, other email addresses are shown, ordered by their weight.

Once an address is added automatically by sending to it, it cannot be explicitly removed. You can clear the entire list by going to the Options screen, and selecting the Account Preferences link and clicking the 'Clear' button in the Quick Items section.

Also, as you send to other addresses, any address you used only once or infrequently will automatically fall off the bottom of the list.

'Address Book' Button

This button will take you to a separate screen where you can edit the To/Cc/Bcc address lists by selecting email addresses from your address book. Select the address book entries, or the individual email addresses you want to add, then click "To selected", "Cc selected" or "Bcc selected" as appropriate.

'Check Names' Button

You can enter email addresses in the 'To', 'Cc' and 'Bcc' address fields in 4 main ways:

  • By entering a standard RFC822 email address. Eg joebloggs@hotmail.com or "Joe Bloggs" <joebloggs@hotmail.com>

  • By clicking the 'Address Book' button on the compose screen, which will take you to another screen which allows you to add email addresses to each field from a list

  • By using a nickname from your address book (eg. 'joe')

  • By using a full or partial name from your address book (eg. 'j bloggs')

When you click the 'Check Names' button, the following occurs:

  • Standard RFC822 email addresses are checked and expanded to a standard format

  • Any nicknames from your address book are expanded to standard email addresses

  • Any partial or full names are matched against your address book. If there is an unambiguous match, it is expanded, otherwise you are taken to another screen to correct any errors or select from any ambiguous addresses.

Here is an example of how this expanding and matching occurs. If you have the following address book:

Table 1. 

NicknameFull NameEmail address
andrewAndrew Smithasmith@somehost.com
anthonyAnthony Smithanthony@anywhere.com
billBill Smithbill@fastmail.fm
smithBill Manheimbm@elsewhere.com

Then entering the following lines will be expanded as shown:

Table 2. 

LineResultReason
smith "Bill Manheim" < bm@elsewhere.com > Matches nickname 'smith' exactly. Ignores full names
b smith "Bill Smith" < bill@fastmail.fm > Matches full name 'Bill Smith' unambiguously
andrew "Andrew Smith" <asmith@somehost.com> Matches nickname 'andrew' exactly. Ignores full names
bi m "Bill Manheim" < bm@elsewhere.com > Matches full name 'Bill Manheim' unambiguously
a smithambiguous, matches two names, you'll be asked to decide which one you meantMatches full names 'Andrew Smith' and 'Anthony Smith'
and s, bill "Andrew Smith" < asmith@somehost.com > , "Bill Smith" < bill@fastmail.fm > Maches full name 'Andrew Smith' unambiguously, as well as nickname 'bill' exactly
bm@elsewhere.com "Bill Manheim" < bm@elsewhere.com > Email address matches for entry for 'Bill Manheim'. Expands to include known full name

This is a very powerful way to address email messages, without having to remember peoples email addresses, or having to go to another screen to select addresses from a list.

'Save New Names' Button

If this option is checked, and some email addresses used in this message don't appear in your address book, you will be taken to another screen where you can quickly add those addresses to your address book for use in the future.

Address Groups

You can use an address group to send an email to many addresses. You must give the address group a nickname when you create it on the Addresses screen. To use the address group, enter the group nickname on the To, Cc or Bcc line. Click the 'Check Names' button to expand the address group.