Mulberry

Mulberry is an IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) email client that offers a full graphical user interface and use of your mouse. Mulberry stores your email on the campus email server (Isis) and stores your address book on your local computer. This document explains how to use Mulberry to manage your email.

Get Started

Obtain an Email Account

Before you can access email using Mulberry, you need to have an email account. See the document How do I get a UNC email account? for more information. If you plan to use Mulberry from home, you will also need to get an account with an ISP (Internet Service Provider). See the document Internet Service Providers for more information, and be sure to read the section on "Profiles" near the end of this document.

Get Mulberry

You can download Mulberry from the Shareware page at http://shareware.unc.edu using a Web browser such as Mozilla Firefox or Microsoft Internet Explorer. Please note that version 1.4.3 of Mulberry is configured specifically for the Isis email server at UNC. Refer to the Appendix for configuration information and preference settings. You may want to leave your preferences as listed in the Appendix to be able to follow this document as you learn Mulberry. After learning Mulberry, you can decide what changes you want to make in the preference settings. This document assumes that your preferences are set as listed in the Appendix.

Start Mulberry

From the Start menu, choose Programs and then Mulberry. Enter your userID and password at the prompt.

What You See

Server Window



When you use the Mulberry program, you will first see the Server Window, labeled imap, which displays the name of the server you are currently logged into and a list of the mailboxes to which you subscribe or own. Your Inbox will be opened and you will see a list of the messages in your Inbox.

Inbox Mailbox Window

The Server Window lists the folders on the imap server named Isis and the lower part of the Inbox Mailbox Window displays the message number and the total number of messages in the mailbox. These messages are numbered, display an icon which shows the status (Unseen, Replied, etc.) and any attachments, and displays who sent the message (or To for a list), the date sent, and the thread (a.k.a. the subject). The messages can be sorted by any of the header categories simply by clicking on the desired item in the header bar. You can also resize the columns by putting your mouse arrow on the line between the headers and drag.

Read Messages



To read a message, simply double-click on the message in the message list in the Inbox Mailbox Window. In the upper right corner, Mulberry tells you what message number you are on out of your total messages (Message 4 of 4, for example). If you want to read the next message, click on the down-arrow on the upper right side of the window. To read the previous message, click on the up arrow. As you read your mail, Mulberry will check your account on the email server at specified intervals and inform you if you have any new mail.

Read Messages by Status

Click on the Select drop down list in the Inbox window to view only the desired messages. Status options include Seen, Unseen, Important, Unimportant, Answered, Unanswered, Deleted, Undeleted, Draft, Not Draft, Matching, or Non-Matching.

Search Messages



You can use keywords or search criteria to search through messages in your mailboxes. You can display all items or match on criteria. In the upper right corner of the Inbox window, you see boxes marked All, Match, and Select as well as two drop down arrows. If you click on the arrow next to Match, you can select criteria such as when messages were sent and from whom. Select the criteria you want, and then the message list will highlight the messages that match your criteria. You can select the Match button (instead of All) to see only the messages you have searched for.You can also use the Search button to access the Message Search dialogue box. Here you will see options for Boolean operators such as and, not, or. To use any of these options, click on the Match button and choose Construct Search. Choose if you want New, Unseen, Important, Answered, Deleted, or Draft items only. You can search for Items Sent Today, Sent Since Yesterday, Sent this Week, or Sent Within Seven Days. In addition, you can find items Sent By Me, Sent To Me, and Sent To List. Other options include Selected To Addresses, Selected From Addresses, Selected Correspondents, Subjects, or Dates.

Send Mail

Address Messages



To send a new email message, go to the File menu and choose New Message. In the To: field, enter the email address of the person to whom you are writing; if you are writing to more than one person, enter each email address separated by a comma or return. Use the Tab key to move through the fields. If you want to send a CC: (Carbon Copy) or a BCC: (Blind Carbon Copy, where no one but the person who gets the BCC will know that person got the message), enter the email addresses in those fields. Enter a Subject: and type your message in the lower part of the screen. When you are done typing the message, send it by clicking on the Send button.

Format Messages

Using styled text, Mulberry allows you to format text similar to the way you format text in a word processor. You can make text bold, italicized, underlined, larger, smaller, centered, colored, etc. In order to use styled text, click on the button that says Plain and choose Enriched. You will see a formatting toolbar appear. Type and format your text as you would in Word. If you are sending a message to someone who uses Mulberry, the styled text will display. However, people using other email programs may not be able to see all or any of your formatting changes and will see a plain text version of your message.

Use a Signature

If you want to have a signature (name, address, phone number, etc.) that Mulberry adds to each message you write, from the File menu choose Preferences and click on the Signature button. Type what you want for your signature. When you are done, click on OK. If you want your signature automatically added to each message you create, click on the radio button for Advanced and then select Outgoing. Click in the check-box for Insert Signature. If you choose not to have your signature added automatically to each new message, you can add the signature on a case-by-case basis by clicking on the signature button in the message window when you want the signature added.

Keep a Copy of a Message

If you want to keep a copy of your message, choose the Mailbox (or folder) to which you want to copy the message from the CopyTo drop down box.

Create a Draft


If you don't want to send the message right away, choose Save from the File menu. Give the message a name and indicate where you want the message to be saved. When you are ready to return to the message, choose Open Draft from the File menu to open the message.

Respond to Messages

Reply


Often it is faster to reply to a message that has been sent to you than it is to compose a new message. If you have a message open to read it or if it is listed in the list of messages, you can reply to that message. Choose Reply, Reply to From, or Reply to All from the Messages menu. Use Reply to Sender if you want to write to the author of the message, Reply to From if you want to reply to the list address, or Reply to All to respond to the sender, the list address, and the CC: field. You can also click on the Reply button.

When you choose Reply, you may indicate the recipients to receive your response. On the left side of the screen, there are check boxes for the To:, CC:, and BCC: fields with the addresses from the original message. To remove an address from the reply list, click on the desired box to remove the check. Click on Create Reply when you have the addresses selected.The "To:", "CC:", and "Subject:" lines will be automatically filled in for you and you will see a copy of the original message. If you do not want to have all of the original text in the reply, select the text you do want before clicking on Reply. You can now edit and add text to the original message to create your reply. Click on Send when you are done.

Forward

Sometimes you may want to send a copy of a message you have received to another person or group. To forward a message, either view the message or select it in the Inbox Mailbox window and click on the Forward button or select Forward from the Messages menu. Fill in the To:, CC:, and BCC: fields. The Subject field will be filled in for you. You can edit or add text to the message body as desired and click on Send.

Bounce

The Bounce command is like the Forward command in that it sends a copy of the original message to another person or group. Unlike Forward, however, Bounce sends an exact copy, including the original header information. You will not be able to edit the message. This is important if you are having email problems and need to send a copy of a message to a system administrator. Select Bounce from the Messages menu, type in the address, and click on Send.

Print, Save, and Delete

Print

To print a message to your local printer, open or select the message and choose Print from the File menu.

Save a Message to a File on Disk

If you want to keep a copy of a message in a file on a floppy or hard disk, open or select the message and from the File menu choose Save. Choose where you want to save the message.

Delete


You can delete a message after reading it by clicking on the Delete button. If you are in the Inbox Mailbox Window, you can select a message and choose Delete from the Messages menu. If you change your mind and want to keep a message, select the message in the Inbox Mailbox Window and choose Undelete from the Messages menu.


Deleting a message does not get rid of it; it only marks the message so it can be removed later. To remove the message from a mailbox, click on the Expunge button or select Expunge from the Mailboxes menu.

Delete Preferences

To change the delete preferences, select the File menu, choose Preferences, and select the Advanced radio button. On the Mailbox tab, you have two delete options. If you want to automatically expunge your messages when you close the Inbox Mailbox Window, select Expunge on Close. If you want to be prompted before deleting messages, select Warn on Expunge. If you want to be able to read deleted messages, choose Preferences from the File Menu. Select Advanced, click on the Message tab, and select Allow Deleted Messages to be Opened.

Use Attachments

Mulberry can be used to send many types of files as separate files along with your email messages. Word processing documents, spreadsheets, presentations, web pages, videos, sound, and digital photos are some examples of the kinds of files which may be attached.

Send an Attachment

To attach a file to a message, click on the Attach button. Locate the file you want to send, select it, and click on Open. You can attach several files to the same message if you wish. If you want to see a list of the files you have attached, click on the arrow next to the Parts field. Mulberry will list each item and the kind of file it is. Note that one part is the message text itself.

View an Attachment

Open the message. To see the contents of the attached file, double-click on it, and the file will be opened in the program that created it. For example, if it is a Word file, Mulberry will use Word to read it.

To set preferences on how Mulberry handles attached files, from the File menu choose Preferences and click on Advanced. Select the Attachments tab and make your selections.

Organize Your Mail

Mailboxes (also known as folders) are a means for organizing your email. You can create mailboxes to organize your email messages by subject or sender. If you use Isis for your email, you have several mailboxes already set up for you, including an Inbox, Sent-Mail, and Saved-Messages.

Open Mailboxes

To see what is in a mailbox, double-click on the mailbox name. A new mailbox window will be opened and the contents of the mailbox will display.

Create a Mailbox


To create a new mailbox, from the Mailboxes menu choose Create. In the Create Mailbox window, type in the name for the mailbox. Make sure that the Create in Hierarchy item is selected, and the In Account is set for imap.

Copy a Message to a Mailbox

You can copy a message to a mailbox in several different ways. If you are reading a message, select the name of the mailbox to which you want to copy the message from the Copy to list. Or, if you are reading the message or looking at the message list in the Mailbox Inbox Window, select the message and from the Messages window choose Copy to Mailbox and select the mailbox name from the available list. After you have copied the message to a mailbox, it will be marked as deleted in the original mailbox. If you do not want messages to be automatically deleted after being moved, choose Preferences from the File menu and select Advanced. Click on Message tab and uncheck Delete Message After Copy.If you want messages that you have read to be moved automatically to a specified mailbox, from the File menu choose Preferences and select Advanced. Select the Mailbox tab. Check the box for Move Read Messages In INBOX and select the mailbox from the drop down list or type in the mailbox name.

Rename and Delete Mailboxes

You can change the name on a mailbox or delete a mailbox by using the Rename or Delete options on the Mailboxes menu.

Search Mailbox Hierarchy


On the Server Window, click on the Search button. The options include mailboxes Whose Name Starts With, Whose Name Ends With, Contains, Whose Name Is, In Sub-hierarchy, or In Entire Hierarchy.

Use Address Books

An address book is a handy way to store email addresses so that you don't have to memorize them. You can give people nicknames, which are short-cuts to their email addresses. Also, you can create nicknames for groups of people that you write to regularly so that you can address the message to the name for the group instead of typing in all the individual addresses. Mulberry supports address resolution, which is the process of matching a nickname to an email address and then placing it in the address field of an email message.

The Address Book Manager


The Address Book Manager is a tool for keeping track of your different address books. You may, for example, have different address books to keep track of people at different organizations. Mulberry requires address books to be opened in order to use them for address searching and resolution. Select Address Book Manager from the Addresses menu.

When you first start Mulberry, you may need to create a new Address Book by cwhich means it is saved on your hard drive. In the Address Book Manager, you can specify how you want each address book to be used. The first three columns allow certain address book functions to be turned on or off:

  • open the address book at startup.
  • use address book in address resolution (Mulberry will search this address book for nicknames)
  • use this address book when searching

To turn a function on or off, check the gray 'diamond' under the appropriate header in the column next to the address book.

Create an Address Book

At UNC, Mulberry address books are stored on your computer hard drive (local) and not on the Isis email server (remote). To create an address book, select an account (local) in the address book manager list by clicking on the folder labeled local and then click on the New icon.

Add Individuals or Groups to the Address Book


To create a new address for an individual, click on the Single icon and then on the New icon. To create a new entry for a group, click on the Group icon and New icon. On the Address Edit screen, enter the email address, name, and other information as desired. You can choose to sort the addresses by last name, first name, email address, domain name, nick-name, or company. Choose whether to Show the full name, email address, nick-name, or company.

Compose a Message While in the Address Book

Click on the desired name in the address book and click the Message button. Select the To, CC, and BCC addressees. Click on the New Message button.

Search an Address Book


With the Address Manager open, click on the Search button. Enter the desired criteria.

Identities and Profiles

Identities

You can set up different identities for yourself, each of which can have its own From, Reply-To, etc. addresses as well as its own signature file. For example, you might want to have one identity that contains your work information including your organization, title, work phone number, etc., and another identity that is less formal.


To create a new identity, from the File menu choose Preferences and click on the Advanced radio button. Select the Identities tab and click on the Add... button. In the Identity Edit window, you will see tabs for each type of information you can enter and you can fill out the appropriate information. For example, you can change what the "From:" line will display when your message is sent by completing the information on the From tab. Check the Active box next to the relevant fields. To use an identity when composing a message, select the Identity Name from the drop-down box on the untitled message window when you create a new mail message.

Profiles

Setting up a new identity means you can use different names, titles, and email addresses; setting up a different profile means you can use different mail servers, which is particularly important if you access your email off campus using an Internet Service Provider (see the AT, select your preferences, and then proceed to check your email.

Shared Mailboxes

Shared mailboxes allow you to store email in a folder and allow other people can access it. You can give different people different access levels. For example, you may grant permission only to read mail for one person while you may give another person privileges to both read and reply to mail. For more information, see the ITS document How to Create Shared Mail Folders Using Mulberry.

Also see How to Create Shared Mail Folders for instructions on how to do this using Webmail.

Appendix

When you download Mulberry from the UNC Shareware site, the following preferences have been pre-set. You can modify these settings by selecting Preferences from the File menu. Select Advanced and then click on the appropriate tab and make your selections.

Configure Mulberry

See the previous section "Get Mulberry" for details on getting Mulberry from Shareware. Exit all programs prior to configuring Mulberry. When the "self-extractor" screen appears, click on the Setup button to run the Mulberry wizard. Follow the instructions and make your selections as the wizard runs.Note that if you use an ISP, you may have to configure Mulberry differently; refer to instructions from your ISP for more details.


Top
University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill