Transcript: QuickMail settings, episode 1: General, part 1. Reading, views and sync

Times are positions in QuickMail-settings-01-general-part1-v1.mp3; a demo's time is where its audio starts, after the chime.

Demo lines are the text the screen reader sent to its voice, from its own log. A following key can cut an utterance short, so a line here may be longer than what is heard.

• Download QuickMail settings, episode 1: General, part 1. Reading, views and sync (MP3, 14 MB)
• Back to the tour on the audio tours page

Welcome to the settings series (0:00)

Michael: Welcome back to QuickMail, the free email program for Windows that was built screen reader first. I'm Michael.

Maya: And I'm Maya. Today we're starting something a little different. We want to talk about the sort of stuff you never know is there until you really need it.

Michael: You know the moment. Something in the program does a thing you'd rather it didn't. Maybe it talks too much, or it shows you something you don't want to see, or it doesn't do something you assumed it would. And you find yourself hoping you can do something about it, beyond filing a bug.

Maya: That's where settings come in. Over the next few episodes, we're going to explain every QuickMail setting: what the default is, what you can change it to, and what will happen when you do.

Michael: We'll go tab by tab. The Settings window has six tabs: General, Advanced, Keyboard Shortcuts, Startup, Windowing, and Appearance. General is by far the biggest, so it gets three episodes. This is the first.

Maya: Same ground rules as our other tours. We're AI voices, but every demo is the real program on a Windows test machine. This time the screen reader is NVDA, with its default settings. A script pressed the keys, and we recorded what NVDA said. Afterwards we added a soft click for each key, a chime around each demo, evened out the volume, shortened long pauses and cut the setup keys. NVDA's words weren't changed.

Michael: And the test machine is offline. It has a work account and a personal account whose servers don't exist, so QuickMail is running from the mail it keeps on the computer. That matters for a couple of settings today, and we'll say so when it does.

Opening Settings and moving around (1:42)

Maya: First, getting there. Press control comma, or open the File menu with alt F and choose Settings, which is E. Focus starts on the first setting of the General tab. Control tab moves to the next tab, and control shift tab goes back. Let's open it and go through all six.

[Demo, 2:00, logged] All Inboxes - QuickMail window Settings dialog tab control General settings tab selected 1 of 6 Message list settings grouping Preview lines: combo box 3 lines collapsed L Advanced settings tab selected 2 of 6 Update settings grouping Download and install updates automatically check box checked W Keyboard shortcuts tab selected 3 of 6 Keyboard shortcuts list data grid Manage Accounts, Account, no shortcut data item 1 of 139 Startup settings tab selected 4 of 6 Startup folder settings grouping Opens in: edit read only I All Inboxes Windowing settings tab selected 5 of 6 Message open mode settings grouping Reading pane radio button checked Opens messages in the reading pane below the message list. This is the default behaviour. P Appearance tab selected 6 of 6 Theme settings grouping Theme: combo box System collapsed M General settings tab selected 1 of 6 Message list settings grouping Preview lines: combo box 3 lines collapsed L Messages data grid unread. Dana Okafor. Project Falcon kickoff. Welcome to the Project Falcon team.. 1:36P. Work -- Inbox. data item selected 1 of 12

Michael: NVDA said Settings dialog, then the General settings tab, one of six, and landed on Preview lines, a combo box set to three lines. Then control tab went through Advanced, two of six, Keyboard shortcuts, three of six, Startup, Windowing, and Appearance, six of six. One more control tab wrapped around to General.

Maya: Each time, focus went straight to the first setting on the new tab, so you hear where you are and the first thing you can change.

Michael: You also heard a letter at the end of some lines, like L after Preview lines. That's the access key. Alt plus that letter jumps to the setting. We'll warn you now that on the General tab, many letters are used more than once, so alt plus a letter can land on the wrong thing. We'll come back to that in part three.

Maya: Escape closed the window without saving, and we were back on the message we started from. Nothing in Settings takes effect until you save. Save is the default button, so Enter saves, unless you're on another button or inside an open list. Escape, or the Cancel button, throws your changes away.

The General tab at a glance (3:52)

Michael: Here are the first eleven settings on the General tab, the Message list, View, and Sync groups, just as NVDA reads them when you tab through.

[Demo, 4:03, logged] All Inboxes - QuickMail window Settings dialog tab control General settings tab selected 1 of 6 Message list settings grouping Preview lines: combo box 3 lines collapsed L Read messages as plain text check box not checked P Show pictures included in messages check box checked Load pictures from the web automatically check box not checked View settings grouping Display mode: combo box Messages (flat list) collapsed Remember view settings for each folder check box checked B Synchronization settings grouping Sync range: combo box 30 days collapsed R Initial fetch count: combo box 500 messages collapsed C Check for new mail every: combo box 5 minutes collapsed E Download messages for offline reading: combo box Off collapsed M Include other folders, not just the Inbox check box not checked X Messages data grid unread. Dana Okafor. Project Falcon kickoff. Welcome to the Project Falcon team.. 1:36P. Work -- Inbox. data item selected 1 of 12

Maya: NVDA announces each group as you enter it, Message list settings, View settings, Synchronization settings, so you always know which part of the tab you're in. Let's take them one at a time.

Preview lines (5:17)

Michael: Preview lines decides how much of each message's text shows under it in the message list. The default is three lines. You can choose Off, or one to five lines.

Maya: And it isn't only visual. The preview is part of what your screen reader reads for each message. Here's the top of our inbox, then we turn previews off, then the same messages again.

[Demo, 5:40, logged] All Inboxes - QuickMail window Messages data grid unread. Sam Patel. Re: Budget review for next quarter. Updated numbers are in. Travel came in under.. 1:24P. Work -- Inbox. data item selected 2 of 12 unread. Dana Okafor. Project Falcon kickoff. Welcome to the Project Falcon team.. 1:36P. Work -- Inbox. data item selected 1 of 12 Settings dialog tab control General settings tab selected 1 of 6 Message list settings grouping Preview lines: combo box 3 lines collapsed L expanded 3 lines 4 of 6 2 lines not selected 3 of 6 1 line not selected 2 of 6 Off not selected 1 of 6 Preview lines: combo box Off collapsed L Messages data grid unread. Dana Okafor. Project Falcon kickoff. 1:36P. Work -- Inbox. data item selected 1 of 12 unread. Sam Patel. Re: Budget review for next quarter. 1:24P. Work -- Inbox. data item selected 2 of 12 unread. Dana Okafor. Project Falcon kickoff. 1:36P. Work -- Inbox. data item selected 1 of 12

Michael: Before: unread, Dana Okafor, Project Falcon kickoff, Welcome to the Project Falcon team, the time, and Work, Inbox. Then we opened Settings, alt down arrow opened the list, and up arrow went from three lines to two, one, and Off. Enter closed the list, and Enter again saved.

Maya: And after: unread, Dana Okafor, Project Falcon kickoff, the time, Work, Inbox. The preview is gone, and so is Sam Patel's. If you move through a lot of mail and only want who and what, that's a big saving.

Michael: Under the setting, the window says it takes effect after reopening a folder. Turning previews off happened straight away, as you heard. Choosing a bigger number is what waits for the folder to be loaded again.

Plain text and pictures (7:25)

Maya: Next, Read messages as plain text. It's off by default. When it's on, messages that were written in HTML, with fonts, colors, and layout, are shown as plain text in the reading pane instead. Some people find that much quieter to read.

Michael: Then two settings about pictures. Show pictures included in messages is on by default. These are pictures that travel inside the message itself, so showing them contacts nobody.

Maya: And Load pictures from the web automatically is off by default, for privacy. A picture that lives on a web server has to be fetched, and fetching it tells the sender that you opened their message, and roughly when. That's how a lot of marketing mail tracks you. Leave it off unless you're sure you want it.

Display mode, and remembering views (8:12)

Michael: In the View group, Display mode sets how the message list is organized. The default is Messages, a flat list. There are three others: Conversations, grouped by subject, From, grouped by sender, and To, grouped by recipient.

[Demo, 8:27, logged] All Inboxes - QuickMail window Settings dialog tab control General settings tab selected 1 of 6 Message list settings grouping Preview lines: combo box 3 lines collapsed L Read messages as plain text check box not checked P Show pictures included in messages check box checked Load pictures from the web automatically check box not checked View settings grouping Display mode: combo box Messages (flat list) collapsed expanded Messages (flat list) 1 of 4 Conversations (grouped by subject) not selected 2 of 4 From (grouped by sender) not selected 3 of 4 To (grouped by recipient) not selected 4 of 4 From (grouped by sender) not selected 3 of 4 Conversations (grouped by subject) not selected 2 of 4 Display mode: combo box Conversations (grouped by subject) collapsed Messages tree view

Maya: Alt down arrow opened the list, and NVDA read each choice: Messages, flat list, one of four, Conversations, grouped by subject, and the others. We went back to Conversations, Enter, and Enter again to save.

Michael: NVDA then said Messages, tree view. In conversations mode, the list becomes a tree, where each conversation opens to show its messages. On our offline test machine, the tree came up empty. That's a known problem when QuickMail rereads a combined folder like All Inboxes without a connection, and it's on the developer's list. With a connection, you'd land on the first conversation.

Maya: You can change this same setting from the View menu at any time, so Settings is where you choose the starting point.

Michael: Which brings us to the next checkbox, Remember view settings for each folder. It's on by default. When it's on, each folder opens the way you last left it. If you put your Inbox in conversations and leave Sent as a flat list, that's how they stay. The display mode in Settings then only applies to folders you haven't changed.

Maya: Turn it off, and every folder follows the one display mode in Settings.

Sync: how much mail, and how often (10:18)

Michael: Now the Sync group, which decides how much mail QuickMail keeps on your computer, and how often it checks for more. Here are the choices for two of them.

[Demo, 10:28, logged] All Inboxes - QuickMail window Settings dialog tab control General settings tab selected 1 of 6 Message list settings grouping Preview lines: combo box 3 lines collapsed L Read messages as plain text check box not checked P Show pictures included in messages check box checked Load pictures from the web automatically check box not checked View settings grouping Display mode: combo box Messages (flat list) collapsed Remember view settings for each folder check box checked B Synchronization settings grouping Sync range: combo box 30 days collapsed R expanded 30 days 2 of 5 6 months not selected 3 of 5 1 year not selected 4 of 5 All mail not selected 5 of 5 Sync range: combo box 30 days collapsed R Initial fetch count: combo box 500 messages collapsed C Check for new mail every: combo box 5 minutes collapsed E Download messages for offline reading: combo box Off collapsed M expanded Off 1 of 7 Last 7 days not selected 2 of 7 Last 30 days not selected 3 of 7 Last 90 days not selected 4 of 7 Last 6 months not selected 5 of 7 Last year not selected 6 of 7 All mail not selected 7 of 7 Download messages for offline reading: combo box Off collapsed M Messages data grid unread. Dana Okafor. Project Falcon kickoff. Welcome to the Project Falcon team.. 1:36P. Work -- Inbox. data item selected 1 of 12

Maya: First, Sync range, thirty days by default. NVDA read the choices: thirty days, six months, one year, and All mail. Above thirty days there's also seven days. This is how far back QuickMail keeps your mail in step with the server. A longer range means more mail to search on your own computer, and a longer first sync.

Michael: Then Initial fetch count, five hundred messages by default. The first time QuickMail syncs a folder, it fetches up to this many messages to start with. You can choose a hundred, two fifty, five hundred, a thousand, or All messages.

Maya: Then Check for new mail every, five minutes by default. Most mail servers tell QuickMail the moment new mail arrives, which is called push. This setting is the safety net behind push. Every five minutes, QuickMail rechecks your inbox anyway, so mail still arrives if push quietly stops, and messages you read on your phone show as read here too. You can choose Off, which means push only, or one, five, fifteen, thirty, or sixty minutes.

Michael: And then two settings for reading offline. Download messages for offline reading is Off by default. NVDA read the choices: Off, last seven days, thirty days, ninety days, six months, last year, and All mail.

Maya: When it's on, QuickMail keeps the full text of your Inbox messages on the computer, so you can read them on a plane or when the Wi-Fi drops. It's never wider than the sync range above it. Attachments aren't downloaded ahead of time. They're fetched when you open them, so they still need a connection.

Michael: And the last one, Include other folders, not just the Inbox. Off by default. Turn it on, and QuickMail also keeps the text of messages in Sent, Archive, and your other folders, so searching finds words inside them too. Trash, Junk, and Drafts are always left out.

Coming up (13:34)

Maya: That's the first third of the General tab. In part two, we'll cover what happens when you empty the trash, saving messages to files, notifications, the desktop shortcut, and writing messages.

Michael: And in part three, the screen reader announcements: everything QuickMail says on its own, and how to make it say more, or less.

Maya: QuickMail is free, at github dot com slash kelly l ford slash QuickMail. Thanks for listening. I'm Maya.

Michael: And I'm Michael.