Advanced Configuration
Perhaps your mail server has changed names. Perhaps you've grown tired of a certain layout for your appointments. Whatever the reason, you want to change your Evolution settings. This chapter will tell you how to do just that.
Evolution 1.2 brings with it a redesigned comprehensive settings window that you can open by choosing Tools->Settings, no matter where you are in Evolution. On the left half of the settings window is a column, similar to the Evolution shortcut bar, which lets you choose which portion of Evolution to customize. The right half of the window is where you'll make your actual changes.
![][](figures/config-mail.png)
There are eight items you can customize. From top to bottom, they are:
- Mail Accounts
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Here, add or change information about your email accounts: the servers to which you connect, the way you download mail, your password authentication mode, and so forth. This is the most complex item in the list, and is covered in the Section called Working with Mail Accounts.
- Folder Settings
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Here, you can choose the default folders for various components of Evolution, the folders that will be cached locally when you go to offline mode, and the folders that Evolution will use when it is searching for autocompletion information as you address a mail.
- Mail Preferences
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These are overall mail reading preferences: display settings, notification options, security, and so forth. Settings that vary per-account are in the Mail Accounts tool, described in the Section called Working with Mail Accounts, but most of the mail settings are here.
- Composer Preferences
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Settings for the way that you use the mail composer: shortcuts, signatures, spelling, and so forth. One fun feature here is the ability to substitute graphical smiley-faces for "emoticons" such as :) that many people use in email. This tool is covered in the Section called Message Composer Preferences.
- Calendar and Tasks
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Here, you can set the way the calendar behaves, including your time zone and the length of your work-week.
- Exchange Delegation
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This item will only appear if you have Ximian Connector for Microsoft Exchange installed. It will allow you to choose who has access to your Exchange account. This feature is covered in the Section called Access Delegation in the chapter called The Ximian Connector for Microsoft Exchange.
- Directory Servers
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This item allows you to enter account information for connecting to remote directory (LDAP) servers.
- Summary Preferences
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Set the mail folders, news feeds, schedule summary length, and weather locations to be displayed here. For news feeds, enter the web address of any RDF file. Summary customization is covered in the Section called Customizing the Summary's Modules in the chapter called Getting Oriented with the Ximian Evolution Summary rather than in this chapter.
- Out of Office
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This item will only appear if you have Ximian Connector for Microsoft Exchange installed. It allows you to create and remove automatic "vacation" messages. For information about how to use this feature, read the Section called Setting an Out of Office Message in the chapter called The Ximian Connector for Microsoft Exchange.
Working with Mail Accounts
Ximian Evolution allows you to maintain multiple accounts, or identities. This is useful want to keep personal and professional email separate, or if you wear several hats at work. When you are writing an email message, you can which account to use by selecting from the drop-down list next to the From entry in the message composer.
Clicking Send/Receive will refresh any IMAP, mh, or mbox listings and check and download mail from all POP servers. In other words, Send/Receive gets your mail, no matter how many sources you have, or what types they are. If you don't want to check mail for a given account, select it in the Mail Accounts tab and click the Disable button.
To add a new account, simply click Add to open the mail configuration assistant. To alter an existing identity, select it in the Preferences window, and then click Edit to open the account editor dialog.
The account editor dialog has six sections:
- Identity
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Here, enter the name, email address, and other identifying information for the account. You may also choose a default signature to insert into messages sent from this account.
- Receiving Mail
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Here, select the way you will be getting mail: you may download mail from a server (POP), read and keep it on the server (Microsoft Exchange or IMAP), or read it from files that already exist on your desktop computer. If you use a server, it may permit or require you to use a Secure Socket Layer (SSL) connection. To turn SSL connections on, just click the Use Secure Connection (SSL) button.
Specifying Port Numbers Your system administrator may ask you to connect to a specific port on a mail server. To specify which port you use, just type a colon and the port number after the server name. For example, to connect to port 143 on the server smtp.omniport.com, you would enter as smtp.omniport.com:143 as the server name.
- Receiving Options
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Here, decide whether you'd like to check for mail automatically and how often, as well as other message retrieval options.
- If you chose POP:
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Checking for new mail: If you would like Evolution to check for new mail automatically, check the box and select a frequency in minutes.
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Message Storage: If you'd like to store copies of your mail on the server, check this option.
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Store Store status headers in Elm/Pine/Mutt format: If you would like to use the X-Status header format used by the mail clients Elm, Pine, and Mutt, select this option. This option is useful if you plan to check your mail with those clients from time to time.
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- If you chose Microsoft Exchange:
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Checking for new mail: If you would like Evolution to check for new mail automatically, check the box and select a frequency in minutes.
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Global Catalog server name: enter the name of your Global Catalog server to create a folder for your organization's Global Address List.
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Limit number of Responses: Select a maximum number of results for an address search. Lowering the maximum number the load on your system and on your network. Most servers will not send more than 1000 results, regardless of the value you select here.
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Mailbox Name: Enter your mailbox name.
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OWA Path: Enter the path used with Outlook Web Access on your server.
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Public Folder Server: Enter the name of your public folder server, if it differs from your Exchange server.
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Apply Filters to new messages in Inbox on this server: check this box if you wish to apply filters to this account.
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- If you chose IMAP:
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Checking for new mail: If you would like Evolution to check for new mail automatically, check the box and select a frequency in minutes.
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If you want Evolution to check for new messages in all your IMAP folders, make sure the Check for new messages in all folders box is selected.
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Show only subscribed folders: Check this box if you have more folders in your IMAP view than you want to read.
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Override server-supplied namespace: If you like, enter a specific directory where your server stores mail for you. Typical values are "mail" and "Mail." For more information about how to use IMAP mail, see the Section called Subscription Management in the chapter called Using Evolution for Email.
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Apply filters to new messages in INBOX on this server: If you'd like your filters to work on this account, check this box.
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Store status headers in Elm/Pine/Mutt format: If you would like to use the X-Status header format used by the mail clients Elm, Pine, and Mutt, select this option. This option is useful if you plan to check your mail with those clients from time to time.
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- Sending Mail
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In this section, you will choose and configure a method for sending mail. You may choose SMTP, Microsoft Exchange (if you have purchased the Ximian Connector for Microsoft Exchange) or sendmail.
If you choose Exchange or Sendmail, you're done with this tab. SMTP offers you a choice of hostname, connection security level, and authentication type, which you will recognize as similar to those for IMAP and POP servers in the Receiving Mail tab.
- Defaults
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Here, you can decide where this account will store the messages that it has sent, and the messages that you save as drafts. If you wish to revert to the "factory" settings, click the Restore Defaults button.
If you wish to send someone a copy of every message from this account, check the box labeled Always carbon-copy (Cc) to: or Always blind carbon-copy (Bcc) to:, and enter one or more addresses.
- Security
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In this section, you will set the security options for this account. If you use encryption, enter your PGP key id (see the Section called Encryption in the chapter called Using Evolution for Email for more information) and select among the four options below to determine key and signature handling.