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<HTML>
<HEAD>
<META NAME="Author" CONTENT="Brent B. Welch">
<TITLE>MH & nmh: Tips</TITLE>
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<!-- $Id: tips.htm,v 6.0 1999/10/10 05:14:05 jpeek Exp $ -->
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<A NAME="index1"></A>
<H1>Tips</H1>
[<A HREF="filmai.htm">previous</A>]
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<P>
Here are a collection of tips that may make <I>exmh</I> work better for you.
While there are lots of choices in the way you can use <I>exmh</I>,
a few features seem to work pretty well and are worth emphasizing.
Some other features may not be worth
using because they slow things down too much.
<H2><A NAME="BacPro">Background Processing</A></H2>
<A NAME="index2"></A>
You can set up <I>exmh</I> to periodically
incorporate mail (run <I>inc</I>) for you.
If you already do this via a filtering system, you should
have <I>exmh</I> periodically check for
new mail in your folders.
This is called the <I>flist</I> action.
<P>
<A NAME="index3"></A>
The folder highlighting and icon feedback
work best with <I>inc</I> and <I>flist</I>.
Instead of <I>flist</I>, <I>exmh</I> can periodically
run <I>msgchk</I> or count messages in your system mailbox.
The disadvantage of running <I>msgchk</I> is that
there's no audible or icon feedback when new mail is waiting in
your mailbox.
There is only a status message that you might not notice.
<P>
Choose the background action and how
frequently it's done with the <TT>Background Processing</TT>
preferences section.
<H2><A NAME="ScaCac">Scan Caches</A></H2>
<A NAME="index4"></A>
<I>exmh</I> maintains a cache of the scan output for each folder.
If you run MH programs from outside of <I>exmh</I>, the cache may get
out of date.
You can manually update the cache with the <TT>Rescan Folder</TT>
operation under the Folder <TT>More...</TT> menu.
There are also menu entries that update scan caches for all your folders.
These run in the background so the user interface can remain active.
The scan cache is
<A HREF="../xmh/chafor.htm#xmhcache">compatible with <I>xmh</I></A>.
<H2><A NAME="OmMeDi">Optimizing Message Display</A></H2>
<A NAME="index5"></A>
If you want message display to go as fast as possible, do three things:
<OL>
<LI>
Disable the X-Face pipeline command so <I>exmh</I> won't try
to decompress <TT>X-Face:</TT> header fields.
<LI>
Disable the facesaver database.
(This is different than the X-Face pipeline.)
<P>
Actually, the database is slow only for the first message you receive from
a new email address.
The pathname of the bitmap image that corresponds to that
address is cached.
Caching avoids time-consuming lookup when
you view another message from that address.
<LI>
Disable the <TT>Graphic Separator</TT> in the MIME preferences.
That uses a 3D line of text instead of a blank line; it
takes a bit longer to display.
</OL>
<H2><A NAME="MoKeSt">More Keyboard Stuff</A></H2>
<A NAME="index6"></A>
If you really like using the keyboard instead of the mouse,
you can change folders, set the target folder, and select messages
by number with keyboard commands.
When you type plus (<TT>+</TT>), focus warps to the status line so you
can type in the name of a folder.
In this mode,
<UL>
<LI>
Typing + cycles between two entry points:
the target folder for moves and a folder to change into.
<LI>
<space> does folder name completion.
Keep pressing <space> to cycle
through all matching folder names.
<LI>
<Return> accepts the folder name.
<LI>
<Control-c> cancels the folder selection.
</UL>
If you start by typing a number (not +), the message is
selected, but it isn't displayed until you press <Return>.
<H2><A NAME="LarFol">Large Folders</A></H2>
<I>exmh</I> does not handle very large folders well.
If a folder grows to have more than 500 messages or so, you
will notice a slowdown in the time it takes to change in and
out of that folder.
Take this as a hint to clean up by moving old messages into subfolders.
(The Figure <A HREF="../mh/fol.htm#Asubfolde">A subfolder</A>
shows a folder and subfolder.)
Every three months or so I move old messages into subfolders with
names like <I>94Q2</I>, <I>94Q3</I>, and so on.
<P>
<P ALIGN=CENTER>
[<A HREF="tocs/jump.htm">Table of Contents</A>] [<A HREF="indexes/map.htm">Index</A>]
[<A HREF="filmai.htm">Previous: Filtering Mail</A>]
[<A HREF="tksexa.htm">Next: Tk Send and Xauthority</A>]
</P>
<HR>
(This section was written by Brent Welch.)<BR>
<EM>Last change $Date: 1999/10/10 05:14:05 $</EM>
<P>
This file is from the third edition of the book <I>MH & xmh: Email
for Users & Programmers</I>, ISBN 1-56592-093-7, by Jerry Peek.
Copyright © 1991, 1992, 1995 by O'Reilly & Associates, Inc.
This file is freely available; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation. For more information, see
<A HREF="../copying.htm">the file <I>copying.htm</I></A>.
<P>
<ADDRESS>
Suggestions are welcome:
<A HREF="http://www.beedub.com/exmh/">Brent Welch</A>
<A HREF="mailto:welch@acm.org"><welch@acm.org></A>
</ADDRESS>
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