Pegasus Mail (Frequently-Asked Questions)

FAQs - Pegasus Mail for Windows, General problems and questions

Problem: Some of my correspondents send me messages with very long lines that run off the end of the window when I read them in Pegasus Mail. How can I view these long lines in Pegasus Mail?

Solution: Use one of Pegasus Mail's wrapping functions. Press <F5> to reformat the lines in the message, or press <Ctrl+F5> to perform simple wrapping of the lines at the space nearest to the right margin. These options appear on the Reader menu in the program while you are reading the message.

Question: How do I archive mail folders? If I later need them, how would I be able to access them?

Solution: (Assuming that you are using Pegasus Mail 3.12) - Follow these steps:

1. Menu: File -> Mail Folders (to open the Folders window) - or simply press Ctrl+L
2. Select the Folders window by clicking in it
3. Menu: Folders -> Add mailbox to list
4: Select Directory Path and then enter an existing directory you want to use for archiving. Give it a meaningful name (e.g., Archive 1999).
5. Create folders in the new mailbox as desired. (You can't use the "New mail folder".) Move
messages as desired to these new folders. (At present you cannot move folders themselves between mailboxes - this will change in a future version of Pegasus Mail).
6. When done, right click on the new mailbox and select Disconnect this Mailbox. The mailbox and its folders will disappear.
7. You will now have folders ready for archiving in a directory. If that directory is on a network server (possibly compressed), that may be all you need. If and when you want to access those archives, you can reconnect Pegasus Mail to the directory and you'll see all the folders in the Folders window. You could also use something like WinZip to compress all of the folders in that directory for archiving as a single file. You would of could have to expand the ZIP file again before being able to access those folders. (Be warned that ZIP password protection is not terribly secure.)

(Our thanks to John Navas for submitting this section).

Problem: I have multiple Pegasus Mail users set up on my computer. How can I password protect these users so that other people cannot read their mail?

Answer: At the moment, you cannot. Pegasus Mail's file formats are all plain text or close to it, so they can be easily examined using many different programs. It seems dangerous to us to present an illusion of security where none really exists. In future, Pegasus Mail will support an encrypted message store, at which time it will make sense to enable password protection for the program.

Problem: I've received a message with attachments; I want to forward the message, along with its attachments, but I also want to add some text into the message before I send it. How can I do this?

Answer: There's no automatic way. You can save the attachments and re-attach them to the new message, but this is time-consuming. An alternative technique is to start a new message with the original message attached - this will preserve the attachments and the sender's original text. To do this, highlight the message in the folder window and click the Forward button. In the forwarding options dialog that opens, select "Start a new message with the selected messages as attachments". We're aware that this area is a weakness in the program at present and will be correcting it in a future version.

Problem: When I send an Internet message, the Pegasus Mail status bar shows two messages being sent, even though I actually only sent one? What is the mysterious second message?

Answer: Only one message is actually sent. For a brief period while the message is being processed, two copies of it exist in the mail queue - the "interim" version that you created when you pressed the "Send" button in the message editor, and a "final form" version prepared by Pegasus Mail for delivery to the Internet. Once the final form version has been successfully sent, the interim version is deleted. Pegasus Mail is simply being over-helpful in reporting the existence of both versions to you.

Problem: Why do all my folders, distribution lists and address books appear twice in WinPMail?

Solution: You are probably running a copy of Pegasus Mail that has been installed in the same directory as your home mailbox; this results in the program seeing your folders as your own, and also as system-wide entries. Either move your home mailbox to a different location, or uninstall Pegasus Mail and reinstall it in another location.