Introduction

Composing a message is probably one of the reasons for using a mail program. It's very likely that you may survive without Filters or Roles, but very few people would use an e-mail program if it did not have the ability to be able to compose a message (if you had a choice).

There are many configuration options that affect how you start, or finish a composition of a message, we will try to cover them here.

Starting a New Message

In order to start a new message, you must press either the C or the # key, in any non configuration screen, which is not the composer screen.

Here are their meanings.

1. The # command is used to compose a message setting a specific role. If there are no roles defined then key will do nothing but show you an error message at the bottom of the screen, however if you have defined at least one role, you will be shown a screen with the list of all of your roles, from where you can select the one that you want to use. In order to cancel composing using a role you must press the E key. If you do not have a newsgroup open, then you will be taken to the composition screen, which we will discuss later. This is by far the easiest way to start composing a message. If you are already in a newsgroup, then the behavior is different and what happens next is described in the News page.
2. The C command is much more complicated than the # command, because what happens after you press this key will depend on many settings, so bear with me while I explain what happens.
   • If you have never configured anything in Pine, ever sent a message using Pine, then you will go directly into the composer.
   • If there is a ".pine-interrupted-mail" file in your directory, then Pine will assume that somehow you could not finish writing an earlier message and ask you if you want to continue it at this time. If you answer yes to this question, then Pine will include the message and headers taken from that file into the composer and you will continue composing the interrupted message. If you answer No to this question or if you do not have this file in your home directory then proceed to the next step.
   • If you defined the "postponed-folder" configuration option, and this folder exists in the mail/ collection, then Pine will ask you if you want to continue the message that you intentionally postponed earlier. If you answer yes and this folder is empty then Pine will erase this folder and continue to the next step, but if not it will show you a screen with all the messages that are postponed, from where you should select one. Pressing the E key in this screen, will cancel the composition of the message. If there is only one message in the postponed-folder screen, then Pine will assume that you want to continue this message, and will put you automatically in the composer.
   • If you defined the "form-letter-folder" configuration option, and this folder exists in the mail/ collection, then Pine will ask you if you want to start your message with one of the messages from this folder. If you answer yes and this folder is empty then Pine will skip this step, but if not it will show you a screen with all the messages that are form letters, from where you should select one. Pressing the E key in this screen, will cancel the composition of the message. If there is only one message in the form letter folder, then Pine will assume that you want to use this message, and will put you automatically in the composer.
   • If at this stage you are not composing a message, then Pine will check your roles configuration. If there are no roles defined then Pine will go directly into the composer. In other words, if you do not have any interrupted, postponed, or form letter messages and you do not have any roles defined then Pine will go directly into the composer.
      
     If there is at least one role defined, Pine will go through your list of roles and check to see if there is a match. If there is a match, then what will happen is already explained in the the roles section, under How do Roles Work?. If there's no match of any role, then what will happen next will depend on the configuration option: [ ] confirm-role-even-for-default . If this configuration option is set, then Pine will confirm with you that you do not intend to use a role, and pressing ^T will allow you to select one. Note that pressing RETURN, Y and N all have the same effect of putting you in the composer. The way to cancel the composition at this stage is by pressing ^C.
      
     Again what will happen next will depend on if you have a newsgroup open or not. In fact, if you do not have a newsgroup open, then you will be taken to the composition screen, which we will discuss later. If you are already in a newsgroup, then the behavior is different and what happens next is described in the News page.

Starting a New Message (Part II)

If the above seemed too complicated, in order to reduce the complexity and prompting of Pine there is an alternative to all this process. As we saw before, checking for Postponed messages, is done after checking for interrupted messages and before checking for roles. There is a way to put all of these questions at the same level.

In fact, if you set the alternate-compose-menu, then the first thing that will happen will be that you will see a menu in the bottom of the screen. This menu contains a few options. Here are all the possible options:

1. [New], is the default entry. It means that if you press N or RETURN, then you will be taken to the composer directly, or if you have set the confirm-role-even-for-default, be asked to confirm if you do not want to compose using a role.
2. I, to continue composing an interrupted message. This option is only available if such a message exists.
3. P, to continue composing a postponed message. This option is available only if the postponed folder exists.
4. F, to start composing using a form letter. This option is only available if the form-letter-folder exists.
5. R, to start composing a message using a Role. This option is only available if you have at least one role defined.