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   1 .TH MH-DRAFT %manext5% 2012-03-18 "%nmhversion%"
   2 .
   3 .\" %nmhwarning%
   4 .
   5 .SH NAME
   6 mh-draft \- draft folder facility for nmh message system
   7 .SH DESCRIPTION
   8 There are a number of interesting advanced facilities for the composition of
   9 outgoing mail.
  10 .SS "The Draft Folder"
  11 The
  12 .BR comp ,
  13 .BR dist ,
  14 .BR forw ,
  15 .BR repl ,
  16 .BR send ,
  17 and
  18 .B whom
  19 commands each take the switches
  20 .B \-draftfolder
  21 .I +folder
  22 and
  23 .B \-draftmessage
  24 .IR msg ,
  25 which allow you to manipulate the various draft messages you are composing.
  26 .PP
  27 If
  28 .B \-draftfolder
  29 .I +folder
  30 is used, draft messages will be constructed in the indicated folder.  The
  31 .RI \*(lq Draft\-Folder \*(rq
  32 profile entry may be used to specify a default draft folder.
  33 .PP
  34 If the switch
  35 .B \-draftmessage
  36 .I msg
  37 is given, the specified draft is used to compose the message.  If
  38 .B \-draftmessage
  39 .I msg
  40 is not used, then the draft defaults to `new' (create a new draft)
  41 unless the user invokes
  42 .B comp
  43 with
  44 .BR \-use ,
  45 in which case the default is `cur'.
  46 .PP
  47 Hence, the user may have several message compositions in progress
  48 simultaneously.  Now, all of the
  49 .B nmh
  50 tools are available on each of the user's message drafts (e.g.
  51 .BR show ,
  52 .BR scan ,
  53 .BR pick ,
  54 and so on).  If the folder does not exist, the user is asked if it should be
  55 created (just like with
  56 .BR refile ).
  57 The last draft message the user was composing is known as `cur'
  58 in the draft folder.
  59 .PP
  60 Using
  61 .BR send ,
  62 the user can send drafts using the standard
  63 .B nmh
  64 `msgs' convention with
  65 .B \-draftmessage
  66 .IR msgs .
  67 If no `msgs' are given, it defaults to `cur'.
  68 .PP
  69 In addition, all of these programs have a
  70 .B \-nodraftfolder
  71 switch, which undoes the last occurrence of
  72 .B \-draftfolder
  73 .I folder
  74 (useful if a default is specified in the user's
  75 .B nmh
  76 profile).
  77 .PP
  78 If the user does not give the
  79 .B \-draftfolder
  80 .I +folder
  81 switch, then all these commands act \*(lqnormally\*(rq.  Note that the
  82 .B \-draft
  83 switch to
  84 .B send
  85 and
  86 .B show
  87 still refers to the file called `draft' in the user's
  88 .B nmh
  89 directory.  In the interests of economy of expression, when using
  90 .B comp
  91 or
  92 .BR send ,
  93 the user needn't prefix the draft `msg' or `msgs' with
  94 .BR \-draftmessage .
  95 Both of these commands accept a `file' or `files' argument and they will,
  96 if given
  97 .B \-draftfolder
  98 .IR +folder ,
  99 treat these arguments as `msg' or `msgs'.  (This may appear to be
 100 inconsistent, at first, but it saves a lot of typing.)  Hence,
 101 .PP
 102 .RS
 103 .nf
 104 send -draftfolder +drafts first
 105 .fi
 106 .RE
 107 .PP
 108 is the same as
 109 .PP
 110 .RS
 111 .nf
 112 send -draftfolder +drafts -draftmessage first
 113 .fi
 114 .RE
 115 .PP
 116 To make all this a bit more clear, here are some examples.  Let's assume
 117 that the following entries are in the
 118 .B nmh
 119 profile:
 120 .PP
 121 .RS 5
 122 .nf
 123 Draft\-Folder: drafts
 124 sendf: \-draftfolder +drafts
 125 .fi
 126 .RE
 127 .PP
 128 Furthermore, let's assume that the program
 129 .B sendf
 130 is a (symbolic) link in the user's
 131 .I $HOME/bin/
 132 directory to
 133 .BR send .
 134 Now,
 135 .PP
 136 .RS 5
 137 .nf
 138 comp
 139 dist
 140 forw
 141 repl
 142 .fi
 143 .RE
 144 .PP
 145 will construct the message draft in the `draft' folder using the `new'
 146 message number.  Furthermore, they each define `cur' in this folder to
 147 be that message draft.  If the user were to use the
 148 .B quit
 149 option at the `What now?' prompt, then later on, if no other draft composition
 150 was done, the draft could be sent with simply
 151 .PP
 152 .RS 5
 153 .nf
 154 sendf
 155 .fi
 156 .RE
 157 .PP
 158 Or, if more editing was required, the draft could be edited with
 159 .PP
 160 .RS 5
 161 .nf
 162 comp -use
 163 .fi
 164 .RE
 165 .PP
 166 If other drafts had been composed in the meantime, so that this message
 167 draft was no longer known as `cur' in the `draft' folder, then
 168 the user could
 169 .B scan
 170 the folder to see which message draft should be used for editing or sending.
 171 Clever users could even employ a backquoted
 172 .B pick
 173 to do the work:
 174 .PP
 175 .RS 5
 176 .nf
 177 comp -use `pick +drafts -to nmh-workers`
 178 .fi
 179 .RE
 180 .PP
 181 or
 182 .PP
 183 .RS 5
 184 .nf
 185 sendf `pick +drafts -to nmh-workers`
 186 .fi
 187 .RE
 188 .PP
 189 Note that in the
 190 .B comp
 191 example, the output from
 192 .B pick
 193 must resolve to a single message draft (it makes no sense to talk about
 194 composing two or more drafts with one invocation of
 195 .BR comp ).
 196 In contrast, in the
 197 .B send
 198 example, as many message drafts as desired can appear, since
 199 .B send
 200 doesn't mind sending more than one draft at a time.
 201 .PP
 202 Note that the argument
 203 .B \-draftfolder
 204 .I +folder
 205 is not included in the profile entry for
 206 .BR send ,
 207 since when
 208 .BR comp ,
 209 et al, invoke
 210 .B send
 211 directly, they supply
 212 .B send
 213 with the Unix pathname of the message draft;
 214 .I not
 215 a
 216 .B \-draftmessage
 217 .I msg
 218 argument.  As far as
 219 .B send
 220 is concerned, a draft folder is not being used.
 221 .PP
 222 It is important to realize that
 223 .B nmh
 224 treats the draft folder like a standard
 225 .B nmh
 226 folder in nearly all respects.  There are two exceptions:
 227 .PP
 228 First, under no circumstances will the
 229 .B \-draftfolder
 230 .I folder
 231 switch cause the named folder to become the current folder.
 232 Obviously, if the folder appeared in the context of a standard
 233 .I +folder
 234 argument to an
 235 .B nmh
 236 program, as in
 237 .PP
 238 .RS 5
 239 .nf
 240 scan +drafts
 241 .fi
 242 .RE
 243 .PP
 244 it might become the current folder, depending on the context changes of the
 245 .B nmh
 246 program in question.
 247 .PP
 248 Second, although conceptually
 249 .B send
 250 deletes the `msgs' named in the draft folder, it does not call
 251 .I delete\-prog
 252 to perform the deletion.
 253 .SS "What Happens if the Draft Exists"
 254 When the
 255 .BR comp ,
 256 .BR dist ,
 257 .BR forw ,
 258 and
 259 .B repl
 260 commands
 261 are invoked and the draft you indicated already exists, these programs
 262 will prompt the user for a response directing the program's action.
 263 The prompt is
 264 .PP
 265 .RS 5
 266 .nf
 267 Draft ``/home/foobar/nmhbox/draft'' exists (xx bytes).
 268 Disposition?
 269 .fi
 270 .RE
 271 .PP
 272 The appropriate responses and their meanings are:
 273 .PP
 274 .RS 5
 275 .PD 0
 276 .TP 10
 277 .B replace
 278 deletes the draft and starts afresh
 279 .TP
 280 .B list
 281 lists the draft
 282 .TP
 283 .B refile
 284 files the draft into a folder and starts afresh
 285 .TP 10
 286 .B quit
 287 leaves the draft intact and exits
 288 .PD
 289 .RE
 290 .PP
 291 In addition, if you specified
 292 .B \-draftfolder
 293 .I folder
 294 to the command, then one other response will be accepted:
 295 .PP
 296 .RS 5
 297 .PD 0
 298 .TP 10
 299 .B new
 300 creates a new draft
 301 .PD
 302 .RE
 303 .PP
 304 just as if
 305 .B \-draftmessage
 306 .I new
 307 had been given.
 308 Finally, the
 309 .B comp
 310 command will accept one more response:
 311 .PP
 312 .RS 5
 313 .PD 0
 314 .TP 10
 315 .B use
 316 re-uses the draft
 317 .PD
 318 .RE
 319 .PP
 320 just as if
 321 .B \-use
 322 had been given.
 323 .SH FILES
 324 .PP
 325 .TP 20
 326 $HOME/.mh_profile
 327 The user's profile.
 328 .SH "PROFILE COMPONENTS"
 329 .PP
 330 .PD 0
 331 .TP 20
 332 Draft\-Folder:
 333 For a default draft folder
 334 .PD
 335 .SH CONTEXT
 336 None