Transcript: QuickMail settings, episode 2: General, part 2. Trash, saving, notifications and writing

Times are positions in QuickMail-settings-02-general-part2-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.

Welcome back (0:00)

Michael: Welcome back to our tour of QuickMail's settings. I'm Michael.

Maya: And I'm Maya. This is episode two, the middle of the General tab. Last time we covered previews, pictures, display modes, and sync. Today it's what happens when you empty the trash, saving messages to files, notifications, the desktop shortcut, and writing messages.

Michael: As before, we're AI voices, the demos are real recordings of QuickMail with NVDA on an offline test machine, a script pressed the keys, and we added clicks and chimes and shortened pauses afterwards.

Maya: Here's this part of the tab, as NVDA reads it when you tab through. We start just after the last setting from episode one.

[Demo, 0:44, logged] Mail action settings grouping Show a confirmation dialog before permanently deleting all messages in trash check box checked T Saving messages grouping Save format: combo box Email message (.eml) collapsed F Save folder: edit read only Documents Choose save folder button Use Documents button Notification settings grouping Show a notification when new mail arrives check box not checked N Show a notification when a watched conversation gets a reply check box not checked W Keep running in the notification area when I close the window check box not checked K Desktop shortcut settings grouping Desktop shortcut check box not checked O Composing settings grouping Automatically save the message as a draft while composing check box checked D Auto-save interval: combo box 2 minutes collapsed I Default compose mode: combo box Plain Text 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

Michael: Five groups: Mail action settings, Saving messages, Notification settings, Desktop shortcut settings, and Composing settings. Let's take them in order.

Confirm before emptying trash (1:53)

Maya: The first one is on screen as Confirm before emptying trash. NVDA read it as something longer: Show a confirmation dialog before permanently deleting all messages in trash. It's the same checkbox. The spoken name is just wordier than the label, and you'll hear that happen a few times in this series. We've put it on the list for the developer, because the spoken name is supposed to match what's on screen.

Michael: It's on by default. When you empty the trash, from the Empty Trash button on the toolbar or the command palette, QuickMail asks first. Emptying the trash can't be undone, so the window recommends leaving this on. Turn it off if you empty the trash often and you're sure of yourself.

Saving messages to files (2:37)

Maya: Next, the Saving messages group. QuickMail has two ways to save a message as a file. Control S is Save. It saves the selected messages straight away, in the format and folder you choose here, without asking. F12 is Save As, which asks every time.

Michael: Save format is Email message, dot E M L, by default. That's the original message, attachments and all, and any email program can open it. The other choices are a Text file, a Web page, and PDF.

Maya: Save folder is a read-only box that shows where Save writes. It's Documents by default. The Choose folder button picks another folder, and Use Documents puts it back.

Michael: Here's Control S on our offline machine, and then F12.

[Demo, 3:25, logged] Save dialog The original of this message could not be saved. QuickMail cannot reach the server right now, and the original message is only on the server. You can save it as a text file, web page, or PDF instead. Choose another format? Yes button Alt+ y All Inboxes - QuickMail window 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 Could not save the message: QuickMail cannot reach the server right now, and the original message is only on the server. Save As dialog File name: combo box collapsed edit Alt+ n selected Project Falcon kickoff - Dana Okafor - 2026-10-22 1336 All Inboxes - QuickMail window 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: This is a good one to hear honestly. Control S tried to save the original message, and QuickMail explained it couldn't: it can't reach the server, and the original message is only on the server. It offered to save it as a text file, web page, or PDF instead. We said no with alt N, and it said so: Could not save the message.

Michael: That's because an email message file is the exact original from the server, and QuickMail only keeps the text on your computer. With a connection, Control S just saves. Offline, choosing Text, Web page, or PDF as your format would work, because those are made from the text QuickMail already has.

Maya: Then F12 opened the Windows Save As dialog, with a file name already filled in from the subject, the sender, and the date. Escape cancelled it.

Notifications, and staying in the notification area (4:48)

Michael: The Notification settings group has three checkboxes, and all three are off by default.

Maya: Show a notification when new mail arrives. When it's on, Windows shows a notification when mail arrives in an inbox while QuickMail is running. Choosing the notification opens the message.

Michael: Show a notification when a watched conversation gets a reply. You watch a conversation with control shift W. This one works in every folder, not just the inbox, and it's independent of the one above. So you can turn off notifications for ordinary mail and still hear about the conversations you care about.

Maya: And Keep running in the notification area when I close the window. Normally, closing the window quits QuickMail. With this on, closing it hides QuickMail in the notification area, also called the system tray, so notifications keep coming. You get it back from the tray icon or a notification. To really quit, use Exit on the File menu, or Exit on the tray icon's menu.

Michael: We didn't demonstrate these. Our test machine has no mail arriving, and notifications come from Windows rather than from QuickMail's own window.

The desktop shortcut (6:01)

Maya: Desktop shortcut settings has one checkbox. On screen it says Keep a QuickMail shortcut on the desktop, though NVDA reads it as just Desktop shortcut. It shows whether the shortcut is there right now. Check it to add one, or uncheck it to remove it. The change happens when you save. The Start menu entry is always there either way.

Writing messages (6:23)

Michael: Last in this part, the Composing group. Automatically save the message as a draft while composing is on by default. While you write, QuickMail quietly saves a draft. It doesn't interrupt you. The time of the last save shows in the status row of the compose window, and if a save ever fails, that's announced once.

Maya: Auto-save interval is how often, two minutes by default. You can choose thirty seconds, one minute, two, five, or ten minutes. And it only matters while auto-save is on. Watch what happens to it when we turn auto-save off.

[Demo, 6:59, logged] Composing settings grouping Automatically save the message as a draft while composing check box checked D Auto-save interval: combo box 2 minutes collapsed I Automatically save the message as a draft while composing check box checked D not checked Default compose mode: combo box Plain Text 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

Michael: We tabbed to the auto-save checkbox, then on to Auto-save interval, two minutes. Shift tab went back, and space unchecked auto-save: NVDA said not checked. Then tab skipped right past the interval and landed on Default compose mode. The interval is turned off along with auto-save, so it's out of the way until you need it again.

Maya: And Default compose mode. It's Plain Text by default. The other choices are Markdown and HTML. This decides how a new message starts. You can still switch modes inside any message. Here's Markdown.

[Demo, 8:02, logged] Settings dialog tab control General settings tab selected 1 of 6 Message list settings grouping Preview lines: combo box 3 lines collapsed L Notification settings grouping Show a notification when new mail arrives check box not checked N Composing settings grouping Automatically save the message as a draft while composing check box checked D Auto-save interval: combo box 2 minutes collapsed I Default compose mode: combo box Plain Text collapsed M expanded Plain Text 1 of 3 Markdown not selected 2 of 3 Default compose mode: combo box Markdown 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 New Message - Markdown - QuickMail window To: edit blank Switched to Markdown mode.

Michael: NVDA read the choices, Plain Text, one of three, and Markdown, two of three. Enter chose Markdown and Enter saved. Then control N opened a new message, and the window title said New Message, Markdown. Focus was in the To field, and QuickMail added, Switched to Markdown mode.

Maya: One detail worth knowing. Drafts and templates always reopen in plain text, whatever this is set to.

Coming up (9:01)

Michael: That's the middle of the General tab. Next time, part three, the one we've been looking forward to: the screen reader announcements. Everything QuickMail says on its own, and how to make it say more, or less. Plus field labels, appointment reminders, and the trouble with access keys.

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.