Transcript: QuickMail settings, episode 6: the Startup tab

Times are positions in QuickMail-settings-06-startup-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.

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Welcome (0:00)

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

Maya: And I'm Maya. Episode six, the Startup tab. Three questions: where QuickMail opens, how much mail it checks while it starts, and whether it starts with Windows.

Michael: As always, 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, chimes and shorter pauses afterwards.

Maya: Here's the tab.

[Demo, 0:31, logged] Startup settings tab selected 4 of 6 Startup folder settings grouping Opens in: edit read only I All Inboxes Choose startup folder button H Clear startup folder button L Startup sync settings grouping Just my startup folder radio button checked Fastest start. Checks only the folders your startup folder shows. If that is All Mail, this checks everything. J Every account's inbox radio button checked Checks each account's inbox at startup, whatever folder you open in. X Every folder radio button checked Checks every folder on every account before settling. Slowest start, and how QuickMail behaved before this setting existed. D Just my startup folder radio button checked Fastest start. Checks only the folders your startup folder shows. If that is All Mail, this checks everything. J Windows sign-in settings grouping Start at sign-in edit read only Available in the installed version of QuickMail. This copy is portable 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: Three groups: Startup folder settings, Startup sync settings, and Windows sign-in settings. Let's take them in order.

Where QuickMail opens (1:37)

Maya: First, Opens in. It's a read-only box that shows the folder QuickMail opens in each time it starts. Ours said All Inboxes. If you've never chosen one, it's All Mail, everything from every account.

Michael: It's read-only rather than greyed out on purpose, so you can still tab to it and hear what it says. To change it, there's a Choose button, and a Clear button that goes back to All Mail.

Maya: There's also a quicker way, outside Settings. In the folder tree, open a folder's context menu with shift F10, and choose Set as Startup Folder.

Michael: Here's choosing one in Settings, and then clearing it.

[Demo, 2:16, logged] Choose startup folder button H Choose Startup Folder dialog Folders tree view All Inboxes 2 of 10 level 1 All Drafts 3 of 10 level 1 All Sent 4 of 10 level 1 All Archive 5 of 10 level 1 tab control Startup settings tab selected 4 of 6 Startup folder settings grouping Choose startup folder button H Opens in: edit read only I All Archive Choose startup folder button H Clear startup folder button L Choose startup folder button H Opens in: edit read only I All Mail 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: Choose opened a window called Choose Startup Folder, with a folder tree. It started on the folder you already have, All Inboxes, two of ten. Down arrow went to All Drafts, All Sent, and All Archive, and Enter chose All Archive.

Michael: Back in Settings, Opens in now said All Archive. Then we tabbed to Clear and pressed space, and Opens in went back to All Mail. We pressed Escape at the end, so none of this was saved.

How much to check at startup (3:33)

Maya: Next, Startup sync: how much mail QuickMail checks when it starts. Three radio buttons, and only one tab stop for the group. You arrow between them, and the choice moves with you.

Michael: Just my startup folder is the default, and the window recommends it. It's the fastest start. QuickMail checks only the folders your startup folder shows. If your startup folder is All Mail, that means everything anyway.

Maya: Every account's inbox checks each account's inbox at startup, whatever folder you open in.

Michael: And Every folder checks every folder on every account before settling down. It's the slowest start, and it's how QuickMail behaved before this setting existed.

Maya: Whichever you choose, new mail still arrives in your inboxes straight away. The other folders are caught up by the background check from the General tab, the one called Check for new mail every. If you set that to Off, other folders are only checked when you open them.

Starting with Windows (4:31)

Michael: The last group is Windows sign-in. On our test machine, NVDA read a read-only box called Start at sign-in, which explains: available in the installed version of QuickMail. This copy is portable, or a development build, and Windows would lose track of it if it were moved.

Maya: That's because our test machine runs a portable copy. In the installed version, you get two checkboxes instead.

Michael: The first is Start QuickMail automatically when I sign in to Windows. It's off unless you turn it on. When it's on, QuickMail starts every time you sign in, and it's listed in Task Manager's startup apps and in Windows Settings, under Apps, Startup, where you can turn it off too. It's applied when you save.

Maya: The second is Start minimized, which is on by default. When Windows starts QuickMail for you, it doesn't open its window over whatever you're doing. If Keep running in the notification area is on, from the General tab, it starts there, in the system tray. Otherwise it starts minimized on the taskbar.

Michael: That pairing works nicely. QuickMail is ready and checking mail from the moment you sign in, notifications arrive, and nothing grabs your focus.

Coming up (5:47)

Maya: That's the Startup tab. Next episode: Windowing, where a message opens when you press Enter. In the reading pane, in a tab, or in a window of its own.

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.