Transcript: QuickMail settings, episode 4: the Advanced tab

Times are positions in QuickMail-settings-04-advanced-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 (0:00)

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

Maya: And I'm Maya. We've finished the General tab. This is episode four, the Advanced tab. It's shorter, and most people only visit it now and then: for updates, for unusual kinds of email account, for moving to a new computer, or when something's gone wrong and the developer asks for a log.

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

Maya: Here's the whole tab. Control tab from General gets you here.

[Demo, 0:40, logged] Advanced settings tab selected 2 of 6 Update settings grouping Download and install updates automatically check box checked W Show a message after an update has been installed check box checked M Account sign-in settings grouping Sign in with Google for Gmail accounts check box not checked G Account type settings grouping Offer POP3 when adding an account check box not checked P Moving settings between computers grouping Allow exporting and importing settings check box not checked X QuickMail logging settings grouping Enable logging check box not checked L Delete QuickMail logs button D Connection diagnostics settings grouping Record connection diagnostics check box not checked R Log format settings grouping Action first radio button checked Message then timestamp — easier to scan since the log is already chronological. A Time first radio button checked Timestamp then message — the original log format. T Action first radio button checked Message then timestamp — easier to scan since the log is already chronological. A 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: Seven groups this time: updates, account sign-in, account types, moving settings between computers, logging, connection diagnostics, and log format. At the end we pressed down arrow on the log format choices, and up again. More on those in a minute.

Updates (1:59)

Maya: Download and install updates automatically is on by default. QuickMail checks for new versions and installs them for you. Turn it off, and the Help menu still tells you when an update is available, but nothing is downloaded or installed until you choose to. This setting takes effect the next time QuickMail starts.

Michael: One important detail. This only applies to the installed version of QuickMail. If you run the portable copy, the single exe file, it never updates itself, whatever this says.

Maya: Show a message after an update has been installed is also on by default. The first time QuickMail starts after an update, it shows a QuickMail Update Installed message, once. Turn it off if you'd rather updates happened quietly.

Google sign-in and POP3 (2:47)

Michael: The next two settings are for particular kinds of email account. Both are off by default, and both take effect the next time QuickMail starts.

Maya: Sign in with Google for Gmail accounts. Here's the background. Google no longer lets QuickMail sign in new accounts with Google's own sign-in page, so for Gmail you normally use an app password. Turn this on only if your Google authorization was set up before that change. It adds a Gmail sign in with Google choice when you add an account. Gmail accounts already using Google sign-in keep working either way.

Michael: And Offer POP3 when adding an account. A few mail services don't offer IMAP, the usual way QuickMail talks to a server, only the older POP3. Turning this on adds POP3 as a connection method, under Advanced settings in the Add Account window.

Maya: Know what you're choosing, though. With POP3, each message is downloaded to this computer and kept there, in QuickMail's own Inbox, Sent, Drafts and Trash. Once a message leaves the server, the copy on your computer is the only copy. Accounts already using POP3 keep working either way.

Moving your settings to another computer (4:00)

Michael: Allow exporting and importing settings is off by default. Turn it on, and two new commands appear on the File menu: Export Settings and Import Settings. Here's the File menu before and after.

[Demo, 4:15, logged] All Inboxes - QuickMail window New Message N Ctrl+ N 1 of 10 Save S Ctrl+ S 2 of 10 Save As… A F12 3 of 10 Print… P Ctrl+ P 4 of 10 Import Calendar File I 5 of 10 Manage Accounts… M 8 of 10 File collapsed Alt+ F 1 of 6 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 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 Show a message after an update has been installed check box checked M Account sign-in settings grouping Sign in with Google for Gmail accounts check box not checked G Account type settings grouping Offer POP3 when adding an account check box not checked P Moving settings between computers grouping Allow exporting and importing settings check box not checked X checked 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 N Ctrl+ N 1 of 10 Save S Ctrl+ S 2 of 10 Save As… A F12 3 of 10 Print… P Ctrl+ P 4 of 10 Import Calendar File I 5 of 10 Export Settings R 6 of 10 Import Settings T 7 of 10 File collapsed Alt+ F 1 of 6 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: Before: New Message, Save, Save As, Print, Import Calendar File, and Manage Accounts. Notice that Manage Accounts said eight of ten, though it was only the sixth item we heard. The menu counts the two hidden items. That's a small thing for the developer's list.

Michael: Then we went to the Advanced tab, tabbed to Allow exporting and importing settings, checked it, and saved. After: the same menu, now with Export Settings, six of ten, and Import Settings, seven of ten, right after Import Calendar File.

Maya: Export Settings writes one file with your setup. It can hold your account details, rules and saved views, your address book and groups, templates, keyboard shortcuts, themes, your spelling dictionary, and the settings in this window. It never includes a password, so you'll type those again on the new computer. Import Settings, on the other computer, replaces that computer's settings with the ones in the file, after keeping a copy of what was there.

Logging and connection diagnostics (6:25)

Michael: Now the troubleshooting tools. Enable logging is off by default. When it's on, QuickMail writes a log file of what it does, which is what the developer will want if you report a problem. Starting QuickMail with slash debug always turns logging on, whatever this says.

Maya: Under it is a button, Delete QuickMail logs. It deletes the application log, the connection diagnostics log, and any saved debug screenshots. It asks first, with No as the default answer. People use it because logs can contain email addresses and server names, and they don't want those left lying around. When it's done, it doesn't say anything, which we've noted.

Michael: Record connection diagnostics is off by default too. It records exactly how QuickMail connects to your mail servers, and it adds a Connection Diagnostics item to the Help menu. That window shows each account's real connection state, and lets you save a report.

Maya: Turn it on when an account says it's connected but mail has stopped, or the status looks wrong, and then make the problem happen again. It starts recording straight away, with no restart. The report includes your account names and mail server names, but never passwords or message content.

Log format (7:42)

Michael: And Log format, a pair of radio buttons. Action first is the default, and the window calls it recommended. Each line in the log starts with what happened, then the time. For example: Sync completed, forty-two messages, and then the date and time in brackets.

Maya: Time first is the original layout, with the date and time at the start of each line. NVDA read both choices as we arrowed down and back up, with a short description of each.

Michael: Action first is easier to listen to. When you read a log with a screen reader, you hear what happened straight away, instead of a long timestamp on every line.

Settings that aren't in the window (8:23)

Maya: One more thing for the curious. A few settings aren't in the Settings window at all. They live only in a file called config dot ini, in QuickMail's data folder, and most people should never need them.

Michael: They include how many connections QuickMail opens to each mail server, six by default. Whether Add Account may look up an unfamiliar provider's server settings online, which is on by default. And how often Microsoft accounts are checked for new mail, every sixty seconds. If you edit that file, close QuickMail first, and keep a copy.

Coming up (8:59)

Maya: That's the Advanced tab. Next episode: Keyboard Shortcuts, where you can change the key for almost any command in QuickMail.

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

Maya: And I'm Maya.