Copyright: Copyright© 1999 Symantec Corporation.  All rights reserved.
Citation: Copyright© 1999 Symantec Corporation.  All rights reserved.


An Introduction to Internet Newsgroups

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Internet newsgroups were created by university students who wanted to be able to exchange information on a scale greater than what was available with Internet mail. Today’s Usenet Newsgroups are the result of several generations of Internet news.

Newsgroups are similar to forums and message areas available on national and local BBSs, but like the Internet itself, they have a much larger scale. There are currently over 15,000 newsgroups with subjects ranging from the monumental to the trivial, allowing people around the world to exchange information. If your service provider allows you to access newsgroups, you are sure to find one to pique your interest.

Newsgroup Naming Conventions

Newsgroup Articles

How News Works


Connecting to Newsgroups

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Depending on the news server you access, you may find the array of available newsgroups to be overwhelming. However, you'll  find that the Internet News Reader can help you access your favorite newsgroups more efficiently, especially if you take advantage of the Connection Directory!

Once you’ve added a newsgroup to the Connection Directory, you can select it with one or two clicks on the Rapid Connect list box instead of clicking through the various levels of folders in the Folders tree. After you’ve selected the newsgroup from the Rapid Connect list box, you’re only one click away from loading the newsgroup’s headers and exploring the latest articles.

The Internet News Reader even makes it easy for you to add a newsgroup to the Connection Directory by providing News | Add Group to Connection Directory and News | Add/Edit Group to Connection Directory menu items in each of its windows.

When you select a News entry from the Rapid Connect list box, the Internet News Reader highlights and opens the newsgroup’s folder in the All Newsgroups tree structure. You can then click on the Get New Headers Action Bar button to retrieve articles you haven't received, or select the News | Get New Headers menu item to have the Internet News Reader retrieve the new articles.  You can also select the News | Get All Headers From Server menu item to have the Internet News Reader retrieve all headers in the current group.

Once it’s retrieved the article headers, the Internet News Reader adds the newsgroup to the Visited Newsgroup folder, and displays the article headers in the header list.


Elements of the News Reader Window
Elements of the Internet News Reader Window

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Like other Procomm Plus  communications windows, the Internet News Reader window is divided into three horizontal components:

•	The top segment contains a title bar and standard Windows control buttons, a menu bar, and the Action Bar. See The Internet News Reader's Menus and Action Bar for more information.

•	The middle section is the Internet News Reader windows’s display area: a folder list appears on the left side and an article list appears on the right. See The Internet News Reader Display Area for more information.

•	The bottom segment displays the Internet News Reader's Status Line, which is discussed in The Internet News Reader's Status Line.


How News Works

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A News server is a machine that keeps track of newsgroups and the articles contained in each newsgroup. Each news server gathers the available information from other news servers and pass it on to other news servers. Error correction protocols are used to preserve the integrity of the information passed from server to server.

When you post an article to a newsgroup, it is added to the news server’s list of articles and then passed to another news server. The receiving news server adds your article to its own article base, then passes it along to another news server along with a note indicating that both the original server and the current server have received your article. Thus, your article travels from news server to news server throughout the world, updating article lists as it goes.


Newsgroup Articles

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Individual messages within newsgroups are called articles. These articles make up the content of a newsgroup. Making an article available to a newsgroup is called posting. All of the articles in the newsgroups have been posted by other users.

A newsgroup is like a magazine that consists entirely of letters to the editor: the newsgroup name is the magazine’s title and the newsgroup's articles are the letters.

Before posting an article of your own, it's a good idea to spend some time reading articles posted by other newsgroup participants. This practice, known as lurking, allows you to become familiar with the tone and content of the newsgroup. It also gives you the opportunity to learn from others' questions and answers.

In addition to text articles, some newsgroups occasionally contain binary files which are attached to a newsgroup article. If an attached binary file is very large, it can span across several messages. If you access an attached binary file with a normal message viewer, you'll see a brief, readable message header followed by a jumble of high-bit ASCII characters. This is because binary files must be "encoded" or translated into a format that Internet Mail can transport safely before they're attached and posted to a newsgroup.

For additional details about how to UUdecode a binary file from received articles, see Step-by-Step: UUdecoding a Binary File.


Newsgroup Naming Conventions

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Newsgroups have a loose set of naming conventions. There are always at least two words separated by a period or dot(.). The first word designates the general category of the newsgroup. Subsequent words provide a more specific definition of the subject matter contained in the group.

For example, "comp.os.ms-windows.programmer.tools" can be fairly easily translated as a newsgroup discussing the tools available to programmers working in the Microsoft Windows operating system.

There are eight common categories of newsgroups:

comp.

Groups discussing a variety of topics pertaining to computers.

misc.

Groups discussing a variety of topics that don’t relate to the other categories.

news.

Groups discussing a variety of topics pertaining to Internet news.

rec.

Groups discussing a variety of topics pertaining to recreational activities.

sci.

Groups discussing a variety of topics pertaining to other areas of science.

soc.

Groups discussing a variety of topics pertaining to social issues.

talk.

Groups discussing a variety of topics which usually evolve into heated discussions, sometimes called "flames."

alt.

alt groups are unlike the other groups in that they are not "official." Anyone can set up an alt. newsgroup. If an alt. newsgroup continues to thrive, it may eventually go through the process of becoming an "official" newsgroup. The topics of alt. newsgroups are diverse, but the topic can usually be determined by the group's name.

In addition to the eight common newsgroup categories, certain other kinds of newsgroups that are available in certain environments. However, most news servers do not receive an entire "feed," but instead limit themselves to the newsgroups their customers have expressed interest.


Reading an Article

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When you select a newsgroup folder from the Folders tree, the Internet News Reader displays the newsgroup’s available headers. You can view a particular article by:

•	Double clicking on its header.

•	Clicking on its header, then clicking the Display Article Action Bar button.

•	Highlighting it with the <Tab> and cursor keys and selecting the News | Display Article... menu item or pressing <Enter>.

The Internet News Reader displays the article in the Read Article window.

While you’re reading an article, you can select its text and copy it to the Windows Clipboard, or save it directly to disk. You can also reply to the article by clicking the Reply to Article button or selecting the News | Reply to Article... menu item.

For more information about the Read Article window's menus and Action Bar, see The Read Article Menus and Action Bar.


Responding to an Article

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Once you’ve spent some time reading newsgroup articles, you’ll no doubt want to post your own opinions or ask a question. To do so, simply select the Reply to Article Action Bar button, or select the News | Reply to Article... menu item from within the Internet News Reader’s Read Article window. The Internet News Reader then opens the Reply to Article window, where you can compose a response to the article.

When you reply to an article, the Internet News Reader automatically places the newsgroup name in the Reply to Article window’s To field. It also places the original article’s subject line in the window’s Subject field, prefaced with "Re:" to indicate that it’s a reply.

The Internet News Reader also offers a variety of text quoting options. For more information, see News Reply Options.

If you want to include a file with your article, click on the Attach/Encode File button or select the News | Attach/Encode File... menu item. The Internet News Reader displays a standard file selection dialog, where you can browse and select the file you want. The file will be encoded as required for posting. Once you’ve attached a file, its file and pathname will appear in the list box beneath the Subject field.

Click in the edit box at the bottom of the Reply to Article window to enter the text for your article. If you’d like to import a text file as part of your article, click on the Import Text button or select the File | Import Text... menu item and browse for the file you want to import.

When you’re satisfied with your reply, click on the Post/Send Article button or select the News | Post/Send Article menu item. The Internet News Reader completes your message and transmits it to your news server. If you’ve specified a Signature file in the Internet, News, User Info panel of Setup, it’s automatically attached to the end of your article.

Your reply to a newsgroup article will be freely accessible to everyone who reads the newsgroup.

For more information about the Reply to Message window, see The Reply to Article Menus and Action Bar.


Running the News Reader
Running the Internet News Reader

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As with Procomm Plus's Terminal window, you can start the Internet News Reader window in a number of ways. The three most common methods include:

•	By launching it as a Windows desktop application.

You can launch the Internet News window from the Procomm Plus group available from the Start menu. Simply click on the Internet News Reader icon.

•	By switching modes from within Procomm Plus.

While you are within Procomm Plus, you may open the Internet News window in one of two ways: by changing to the Internet News window, or opening the Internet News Reader window in a new window.

Each Procomm Plus communications window has a Window menu on its menu bar. From the Window menu, you can select either New Window or Change Window, and then select News from the pop-up menu.

•	By selecting a News-class entry from the Connection Directory. When you select a News-class entry, Procomm Plus automatically switches from its current mode of operation to the Internet News Reader window.

To use the Internet News Reader, you'll need a properly configured Current News Options option set in the Internet, News panel of Setup. For more information, see Internet News Options.

The first time you launch the Internet News Reader, it connects to your news server and retrieves a master list of the newsgroups available on the server. This action is also performed if you change the News server address in the Internet, News, News Server panel of Setup.

Once the master list is retrieved, the Internet News Reader window displays the top level folders of the Folders list.


Step-by-Step: Composing Your Own Article

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When you respond to an existing article in a newsgroup, your reply becomes a part of the existing article’s thread or topic, much like a link added to a chain. If you want to ask a question that’s unrelated to an existing newsgroup thread or start an entirely new topic, you’ll need to post an article of your own. To do so, just follow these steps:

1.	Open the New Article window.

Click on the Action Bar’s Compose New Article button select the News | Compose New Article... menu item to open the window.

The Internet News Reader’s New Article window’s menus and Action Bar are identical to those used in the Reply to Article window. See The Reply to Article Menus and Action Bar for a detailed explanation of their functions.

2.	Specify the newsgroup to receive your article.

When you reply to an existing article, the current newsgroup is assumed to be the destination for your reply article. If you’re beginning a new topic, the Internet News Reader cannot assume a destination; you’ll need to specify the newsgroup where the message should be posted.

If you know the name of the newsgroup you want to use, you can click in the To field and enter it directly. However, it’s much easier if you’ve created a News entry for the newsgroup: you can click on the To button and select it from the Connection Directory.

Highlight the entry you want, either by clicking on it or moving the highlight bar with the <Tab> and cursor keys, then click on OK to select the entry and return to the New Article window. The entry’s News Group name is copied into the To field.

3.	Specify a Subject line for the new article.

Click in the Subject edit field and enter a descriptive comment for your message. Although there are no enforced rules regarding an article’s subject line, it’s usually a good idea to make the subject text as informative as possible. Keep in mind that the newsgroup you’re using may have hundreds or even thousands of articles: by making it clear what you’re looking for or commenting on, you’re making it easier for others to find and respond to your article.

If you'll be attaching a file to your article, you don't need to specify a Subject line. The Internet News Reader will automatically generate the Subject line from the file you attach. If you do specify a Subject line for an article that includes an attached file, the Internet News Reader will append the attached file's name to the Subject line.

4.	Add the new article’s contents.

Click in the edit box at the bottom of the New Article window to enter the text for your article. You can take advantage of the standard Windows editing keys. You can also copy, cut and paste text to and from the Windows Clipboard.

If you want to import a text file into the message body of your article, click on the Import Text button or select the File | Import Text... menu item to select the file in a standard file selection dialog.

If you want to attach a file to your article, click on the Attach/Encode File... Action Bar button or select the News | Attach/Encode File... menu item. The Internet News Reader presents a standard file selection dialog where you can browse for the file you want. When you select a file and click OK, the name of the file you selected appears in the edit box below the Subject line as a reminder.

5.	Post the new article!

When you’re satisfied with your article, click on the Post/Send Article button or select the News | Post/Send Article menu item. If you’ve specified a Signature file in the Internet, News, User Info panel in Setup, the Internet News Reader automatically appends it to your article before transmitting your article to your news server.


Step-by-Step: Reading News Articles Off-line

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Although you can read newsgroup articles while you're connected to the Internet, you may find it convenient to retrieve newsgroup articles and read them when you're off-line. If you pay for connection time to the Internet, you may save money since you won't spend valuable connection time reading the articles! Simply follow these steps:

1.	Select the articles you want to read off-line.

Click on the article or use the cursor keys to highlight the article. You can also select multiple articles by pressing and holding <Ctrl> while you click on the articles you want.

2.	Tag the articles for retrieval.

If you want to tag all of the articles in the newsgroup, select the News | Mark Article(s) | Tag | All menu item. Select the News | Mark Article(s) | Tag | Selected menu item to tag your selected articles for retrieval.

Note how the tagged articles have a green dot next to them indicating that they are tagged. If you want to untag an article, select it and then select the News | Mark Article(s) | Untag menu item; the green dot disappears to indicate that the article is untagged. Once you've tagged the articles you want, you can continue to tag articles in other newsgroups. Simply view the newsgroups and tag them as described above. When you're finished tagging articles, proceed to Step 3.

3.	Retrieve the tagged articles.

Select the News | Get Tagged Articles menu item to start retrieving the articles you've tagged. The Internet News Reader displays a status dialog as it retrieves the articles; when it's finished, the status dialog disappears. Continue with other Internet tasks, or disconnect from the Internet, then proceed to Step 4.

4.	View the retrieved articles.

Articles that you've retrieved for off-line viewing appear in the Unread Newsgroups section of the Folders list. Click on the <+> indicator to see the newsgroups that you retrieved for off-line viewing. To view a group's articles, double-click the group's folder; the articles in the folder are displayed in the right side of the window. All of the newsgroup headers appear, but the articles you retrieved are marked with a "page" icon to indicate that you can view them off-line.

5.	Read the articles.

Read the articles, just as you did in  Step 5 of Step-by-Step: Searching for Newsgroups. As the articles age according to the settings in the Internet, News, Database panel in Setup, the Internet News Reader will remove them from the Unread Newsgroups folder.


Step-by-Step: Searching for Newsgroups

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You can easily browse through the Folders tree structure to locate newsgroups that interest you -- that's what it was designed for! However, you'll probably find it much faster to take advantage of the Internet News Reader’s Find capabilities. Follow these steps:

1.	Open the Find dialog.

Click the Find Action Bar button, or select it from the Edit menu.

2.	Configure it to search the Newsgroups tree.

Select the Newsgroups option in the Search option group.

3.	Search for a keyword.

Enter text in the Text to find field, and click Find First. Remember, the word that you’re searching for is in the name of the newsgroup and abbreviations are often used instead of full words. For example, comp is used instead of computer.

The Internet News Reader locates the first instance of the text you enter and highlights it for you. If the newsgroup is one that interests you, continue to the next step. Otherwise, click on Find Next to continue the search.

4.	Browse the newsgroup's available headers.

Double click on the folder representing the newsgroup. The Internet News Reader retrieves the headers available for the newsgroup from you news server. By default, the Internet News Reader will only retrieve 200 headers from an individual newsgroup. If the newsgroup you've selected has more headers available, the Internet News Reader prompts to determine whether you'd like to retrieve them.

You can specify the maximum number of headers to be retrieved in the Article Header Retrieval group in the Internet, News, Properties panel of Setup.

After the Internet News Reader has retrieved the headers, it displays them in the headers list, where you can scan through them. If you're not interested in any of the headers that are displayed, you should probably start over with Step 1.

5.	See if the articles are as good as the headers.

After you've located an articled header that interests you, double click it to open the article in the Read Article window.

If you like the first article, browse through a few more to make sure you didn’t find an odd article which was the exception rather than the rule.

6.	Add the newsgroup to the Connection Directory.

If you like the newsgroup and want to connect to it quickly and easily in the future, you can have the Internet News Reader add it to the Connection Directory. Just select the News | Add Group to Rapid Connect menu item. The advantage of adding newsgroups to the Connection Directory is discussed in Connecting to Newsgroups.


Step-by-Step: UUdecoding a Binary File

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In addition to standard text messages, newsgroup articles can also contain binary files that have been encoded for transport across the Internet. Typically, binary files are UUencoded for posting to Usenet newsgroups.

To access an encoded file, you must first decode it. Fortunately, the Internet News Reader makes it a simple task! Just follow these steps:

1.	Determine if there is a UUencoded attachment.

Most newsgroup utilities on the market today indicate an attached file in a newsgroup article by including a numbering sequence or filename in the article's Subject field. For example, each of the following lines was a Subject line for an article containing an encoded file:

Check out this photo of Alex, Geddy, and Neil (2/2)

A modeled ORC (orc.jpg 4/5)

Network OSI (MODEL.GIF) (1/1)

The newest graphic of the shuttle. 5/11

Quite often, articles with encoded binary file attachments stretch over multiple articles. The numbering sequence included in the Subject field helps to group these related articles together when the article headers are viewed in a Internet News Reader utility.

If you see several articles in a newsgroup header list with Subject fields that are identical except for a fraction at the end, it's probably an encoded binary file that spans across multiple articles.

2.	Select the article(s) you want to decode.

Typically, sorting articles within a newsgroup by Subject will arrange encoded binary file articles in sequential order. However, you may want to experiment with the sorting methods available from the Internet News Reader's Options | Sort submenu to find the arrangement that you prefer.

When you've located one or more articles you want to retrieve and decode, click on the first article, press <Shift> and then click on the last article to select all of them. You can also select multiple articles by holding down the <Ctrl> key as you click on them.

3.	Decode the articles.

Once you've selected the article(s) you want, click on the Get and Decode Selected Articles Action Bar button, or select the News | Get and Decode Selected Articles menu item. The Internet News Reader begins retrieving the articles you selected and displays the Getting Article status dialog.

Once it's retrieved the articles you selected, the Internet News Reader decodes them automatically. The decoded files are saved in the path you've specified in the Directory for saved and decoded articles field in the Internet, News, Properties panel of Setup.

In general, it's a good idea to specify a decoding destination that offers plenty of available drive space. Encoded articles can be quite large, and the Internet News Reader uses temporary data files to process them.


Tagging, Marking, and Keeping News Articles

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The Internet News Reader allows you to easily retrieve, read, and reply to articles in newsgroups. It also gives you convenient management tools to help you make the most of your newsgroup experience:

To Do This	Do This
Tag the selected article(s) for later retrieval.	Select the News | Mark Article(s) | Tag | Selected item from the Internet News Reader menus or from the right mouse button pop-up menu. Options are also available to Untag tagged articles.
Flag an article to indicate that you've read it.	Select the News | Mark Article(s) | Read | Selected item from the Internet News Reader menus or from the right mouse button pop-up menu. Options are also available to mark Read article(s) as Unread.
Protect the selected article(s) whenever the Internet News Reader purges its database.	Select the News | Mark Article(s) | Keep | Selected item from the Internet News Reader menus or from the right mouse button pop-up menu. You can remove a Keep flag from selected article(s) with the Don't Keep options.


The News Reader
The Internet News Reader

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Procomm Plus includes the Internet News Reader to help you easily manage the large quantity of messages available from Usenet Newsgroups. In addition to powerful features like support for UUdecoding, Procomm Plus also includes an easy-to-use interface for quick on-line navigation.

The Internet News Reader references the Current News Options option set defined in the Internet, News panel of Setup to determine everything from your news server’s address to how you want your article headers sorted.

An Introduction to Internet Newsgroups

Running the Internet News Reader

Elements of the Internet News Reader Window

Using the Internet News Reader

The Internet News Reader’s Menus and Action Bar


The News Reader Display Area
The Internet News Reader Display Area

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The Internet News Reader display area is split into two sections:

•	The Folders list, located on the left.

•	The Headers list, located on the right.

These sections help you easily keep track of the large quantities of messages available within individual Internet newsgroups.

The Folders List

The left portion of the display area is a tree structure of folders. There are three top level folders:

Visited Newsgroups

This folder stores a list of the newsgroups you have read during the current session, listed by their full names in a second level of folders under the Visited Newsgroups folder.

All Newsgroups

The All Newsgroups folder is the top folder of a multilevel tree structure that arranges newsgroups by their names. The first level under All Newsgroups displays folders for each of the main types of newsgroups, plus any other starting level newsgroups your news server provides. Subsequent folder levels contain subgroups of the starting level newsgroups, and so on.

Unread Newsgroups

This folder stores a list of newsgroups that contain unread articles you have retrieved through a previous process.

If a folder within the tree structure contains other folders, it's displayed with a small plus (+) button. To open a folder an expand the next level of the tree, simply click on its associated plus (+) button.

When you expand the tree structure within a folder, its associated plus (+) button changes to a minus (-) button. If you click on a minus button, the tree structure contracts and the minus button changes back to a plus.

The Headers List

Newsgroup articles usually contains header information describing the articles contents, origin and posting date. When you double click on a folder, the Internet News Reader scans the articles contained in the folder and displays the header information in its header list on the right side of the reader window.

Each article's entry in the headers list displays the following information:

Status

If a green dot appears beside an article’s subject, the article has been tagged. Tagged articles can be retrieved.

If a push pin appears beside an article's subject, the article has been marked to Keep. Any article with the Keep attribute will not be purged.

If the image of a document appears beside an article's subject, the article has been retrieved from the news server and is stored in the local database. If a red "X" appears, the article is no longer available on the news server and is not stored locally. If neither of these images appears, the article is not stored in the local database but it was available on the server at the time of the last update.

If a "plus" button appears beside an article's subject, the article represents the starting point for a thread of two or more articles. You can click on the plus button to expand the thread. Similarly, if a "minus" button appears, it indicates the starting point for an expanded thread; you can click on the minus button to contract the thread.

Subject

The contents of the article's Subject line.

From

The name or Internet Email address of the article’s author.

Date

The date the article was received by your news server.

Given the meandering path newsgroup articles can take across time zones, traveling from news server to news server, it's not uncommon to see a reply to an article with a date or time stamp earlier than that of the article itself!

Size

The number of lines in the article.

Number

The number of the article within its newsgroup on your news server.

The article number shown in the Internet News Reader's headers list is accurate for your news server. However, since each news server on the Internet maintains its own newsgroups and articles lists, a particular article's number may vary from server to server.

The Internet News Reader allows you to sort the headers list by any one of its information fields, in either ascending or descending order. You can specify a sort order by selecting one of the Edit | Sort menu items, or by clicking on the heading list field you want to sort with.

Clicking on the heading fields also toggles the sort order between ascending and descending. For example, to sort the articles by ascending date (older-to-newer), click on the Date field once. To sort by descending date (newer-to-older), click Date a second time.

You can also choose to sort the articles by threading them. This arranges articles primarily by subject, but also links them to the articles they reply to: the original article appears first, followed by all of its replies. Threading articles makes it easier to read them as though they were parts of a conversation.

The article number shown in the Internet News Reader's headers list is accurate for your news server. However, since each news server on the Internet maintains its own newsgroups and articles lists, a particular article's number may vary from server to server.

For your convenience, the fields displayed in the header list are also resizable. To change the width of a field, move the mouse cursor slowly over one of its boundary lines: when the cursor changes to a bi-directional arrow, you can click and drag the boundary line in the direction you desire. Your changes are applied immediately to the headers list!

The header list takes special advantage of the right mouse button. Click it to access a variety of functions from the Internet News Reader's News menu.


The News Reader's Status Line
The Internet News Reader's Status Line

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At the bottom of the Internet News Reader window is the Status Line, which is used to display messages and program information, including information about the current Newsgroup and Headers list.

From left to right you see a guess of how many articles reside on the server in the current group, the number of groups in your news database and the current date and time.

If the Status Line doesn't appear on your Internet News Reader window, it’s been toggled off. Simply select the View | Status Line menu item to turn it on again.


The News Reader's Menus and Action Bar
The Internet News Reader’s Menus and Action Bar

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Action Bar Button	Menu | Item	Description
	Rapid Connect No associated menu item.	The Rapid Connect drop down list box allows you to quickly access the Headers for a newsgroup.  By default, News-class entries are shown in the list box, but you can toggle the displayed class by selecting the appropriate bracketed item from the list. For example, to view Mail-class entries and groups, you’d select the [Mail Connection] item.
	File | Open Connection Directory...	Displays a standard File Open dialog, where you can select an existing Connection Directory file to be loaded for use. See The Connection Directory.
	File | Connection Directory...	Opens the Connection Directory and displays the currently loaded .dir file. See The Connection Directory.
	File |  Decode  Local File...	Opens a standard file selection dialog, where you can select file to load and decode. This is useful if you've save a newsgroup article as a text file and later discovered that it included an encoded file.
	File | Exit	Closes all open data files, closes the Internet News Reader window, and returns you to Windows.
	Edit | Find...	Opens the Find dialog, where you can specify text and options to be used to search for text in the Internet News Reader.
	View |  Action Bars...	Opens the Load Action Bars dialog, where you can specify the Action Bar files you want to use. See Selecting Action Bars.
	View |  Large Action Bars	Toggles between the display of large or small icon buttons on the Internet News Reader’s Action Bar.
	View | ToolTips	Toggles the display of the Action Bar ToolTips. If this menu item is checked or enabled, the Terminal window will also display brief help information on the Status Line when the mouse cursor is left motionless over an Action Bar button for one second. The ToolTips setting is automatically saved for future sessions.
	View |  Status Line	Toggles the display of the Internet News Reader window Status Line. See The Internet News Reader's Status Line. The Status Line setting is automatically saved for future sessions.
	View |  Status Window	Toggles the display of the News Status Window, which displays important information about your news session.
	Options |  System Options...	Opens the System Options panel within Setup. For more information, see System Options.
	Options |  Internet Connection...	Opens the Internet Connection panel within Setup. For more information, see Internet Connection Options.
	Options |  News Options	Pulls down a submenu, from which you can select a specific panel to access within the News group within Setup. For more information, see Internet News Options.
	Options |  Work Offline	If toggled on, the Internet News Reader will connect to the news server only to get and send news; message composition is performed offline.  If toggled off, the Internet News Reader remains connected to the news server while articles are being read and replies composed.
	Options |  Display  Saved Graphic	Determines whether the Image Viewer or GIF Viewer will be launched automatically after a decode process.
	Options |  Display Only  Unread Articles	Configures the Internet News Reader to display only those articles you haven't read.
	Options | Sort	Opens a submenu, where you can select the field to be used to sort the headers of the currently selected newsgroup. You can sort headers by Date, From, Subject, Size, Article Number, or Subject with Replies, in ascending or descending order.
	News | Add Group to Connection Directory	Creates a Connection Directory entry for the currently selected newsgroup.
	News | Add/Edit Group to Connection Directory	Opens an Add Directory Entry dialog in the Connection Directory  with the name of the newsgroup displayed in the Name field.
	News | Get  New Headers	Retrieves the headers for the currently selected newsgroup. The number of headers actually retrieved is determined by the settings you've specified in the Article Header Retrieval group in the Internet, News, Properties panel of Setup and the number of headers available in the selected newsgroup.
	News |  Get All Headers  From Server	Retrieves all of the headers for the currently selected newsgroup.
	News | Get  Selected Articles	Retrieves the articles whose headers you've highlighted in the headers list.
	News | Get and  Decode Selected  Articles	Retrieves and decodes attached files from the articles whose headers you've highlighted in the headers list. Decoded files are stored in the path you've specified in the Internet, News, Properties panel in Setup.
	News | Get  Tagged Articles	Retrieves the articles whose headers you've previously tagged.
	News | Get and  Decode Tagged  Articles	Retrieves and decodes attached files from the articles whose headers you've previously tagged. Decoded files are stored in the path specified in the Internet, News, Properties panel within Setup.
	News |  Mark Article(s)	Marks all of the articles (all) or the headers you've selected (selected) with one of the following marks:  read, unread, keep, don't keep, tag or untag.
	News | Add  Author to Killfile |  Current Newsgroup	Adds the author of the currently highlighted article to the killfile for the current newsgroup, preventing articles from that author from being seen.
	News | Add  Author to Killfile |  Global	Adds the author of the currently highlighted article to the killfile for all newsgroups, preventing articles from that author from being seen.
	News | Add  Subject to Killfile |  Current Newsgroup	Adds the subject of the currently highlighted article to the killfile for the current newsgroup, preventing articles on that subject from being seen.
	News | Add  Subject to Killfile |  Global	Adds the subject of the currently highlighted article to the killfile for all newsgroups, preventing articles on that subject from being seen.
	News |  Display Article...	Opens the Read Article window, displaying the full article text associated with the selected header.
	News |  Compose New Article...	Opens the New Article window, where you can compose a new article for the posting to a newsgroup. For more information, see Step-by-Step: Composing your own article.
	News | Update  Group List	Updates the list of newsgroups available for download from your news server.
	News | Get  Group List	Receives the complete list of newsgroups available for download from your news server.
	Tools |  Remote Control	Displays the Procomm Remote opening dialog, where you can configure your computer for remote control, call a remote machine or set your machine as a host.
	Tools |  Send a Fax...	Displays the Send a Fax wizard, which will guide you through the steps necessary to send a fax document. If wizards are disabled, the Send a Fax dialog is displayed instead.
	Tools |  Fax Tools |  Fax Manager	Opens the Fax Manager, which you can use to organize faxes you've received or sent, as well as your cover sheets.
	Tools |  Fax Tools |  Fax Viewer	Opens the Fax Viewer, which you can use to view, annotate and print faxes you’ve received or sent.
	Tools |  Fax Tools |  Fax Status	Opens the Fax Status utility, where you can monitor the status of your fax connection(s) and watch the progress of on-going fax activity.
	Tools |  Fax Tools |  Fax Cover  Sheet Editor	Opens the Cover Sheet Editor, where you can create your own cover sheets, or modify those included with Procomm Plus.
	Tools |  Scripts |  Start Script	Executes the ASPECT script displayed in the Action Bar’s Script File list box. If a script is already running, you can click on this icon to stop it. The icon is animated whenever a script is running. <Alt><.> is the keyboard equivalent.
	Tools | Run...	Opens the Run ASPECT File dialog, from which you can execute compiled scripts. <Alt><F5> is the keyboard equivalent.
	Tools |  Scripts |  Compile/Edit...	Opens the Run ASPECT File dialog, from which you can execute compiled scripts. <Alt><F5> is the keyboard equivalent.
	Tools |  Scripts |  ASPECT Editor	Opens the ASPECT Editor, which you can use to create, view or modify text files as well as ASPECT source files.
	Tools |  Scripts |  Dialog Editor	Opens the Dialog Editor, which you can use to create or modify custom dialog boxes for your ASPECT scripts.
	Tools |  Scripts |  User Window Editor	Opens the User Window Editor, which you can use to create or modify custom screens for your ASPECT scripts.
	Tools | Image Viewer	Opens the Image Viewer, where you can select and view images in many formats. See the Image Viewer.
	Tools | Scheduler	Opens the Scheduler, where you can set Procomm Plus to perform functions automatically at a predetermined time. For more information, see The Scheduler.
	Tools |  Action Bar Editor	Opens the Action Bar Editor, where you can design your own Action Bars for use in the Internet News Reader window. See The Action Bar Editor.
	Tools |  QWK Mail Viewer	Opens the QWK Mail Viewer, where you can view and reply to messages you’ve retrieved from a BBS. For a detailed discussion, see The QWK Mail Viewer.
	Tools | Caller ID Directory Editor	Opens the Caller ID Directory Editor, where you can add, modify or delete Caller IDs from the current database. See The Caller ID Directory Editor.
	Window |  Change Window	Allows you to changes the current window to one of the other modes of operation including the Data Terminal, Fax Status, the Telnet window, the FTP Client or the Internet Mail Client.
	Window |  New Window	Allows you to open a new window in one of the other modes of operation including the Data Terminal, Fax Status, the Telnet window, the FTP Client, the Internet Mail Client, or the Internet News Reader.
	Window |  1,2,3...	If you have one or more Procomm Plus communications windows open, they will be listed at the bottom of the Window menu. To make one of them the active window, select it from the menu.
	Help |  Wizards...	Opens the Procomm Plus Wizard Manager dialog, where you can launch wizards to assist you in performing common tasks.
	Help |  Help Topics	Opens on-line help.
	Help |  Script Reference	Opens ASPECT on-line help.
	Help | About Procomm Plus	Opens a dialog with information about Procomm Plus.


The Read Message Menus and Action Bar
The Read Article Window's Menus and Action Bar

  Related Topics

Action Bar Button	Menu Item	Description
	File |  Connection  Directory...	Opens the current Connection Directory file, allowing you to connect to, create or edit News entries.
	File |  Save Article as Text...	Saves the currently displayed article as a standard text file, using a filename you specify. By default, the file will be written to the path you’ve specified in the Internet, News, Properties panel in Setup.
	File | Print...	Prints the displayed article to the currently selected printer.
	File | Exit	Closes the Read Article window, returning you to the Internet News Reader’s main window.
	Edit | Copy	Copies text you’ve selected in the current article to the Windows Clipboard. The article is not affected.
	Edit | Select All	Selects the entire text of the article except for its header contents.
	News | Add Group to Connection Directory	Creates a Connection Directory News entry for the current newsgroup. Once placed in the Connection Directory, the entry will also appear in the Rapid Connect list box in the main Internet News Reader window.
	News | Add/Edit Group to Connection Directory	Opens an Add Directory Entry dialog in the Connection Directory with the name of the newsgroup displayed in the Name field.
	News | Compose New Article...	Opens the New Article window, where you can prepare an article to be posted to any newsgroup under any subject.
	News | Reply to Article...	Opens the Reply to Article window, where you can prepare a reply to the article currently displayed in the Read Article window. The current article’s Subject line and newsgroup name are automatically entered in the appropriate fields within the Reply to Article window. For more information, see Responding to an Article.
	News | Add Author to Killfile | Current Newsgroup	Adds the author of the current article to the killfile for the current newsgroup, preventing articles from that author from being seen.
	News | Add Author to Killfile | Global	Adds the author of the current article to the killfile for all newsgroups, preventing articles from that author from being seen.
	News | Add Subject to Killfile | Current Newsgroup	Adds the subject of the current article to the killfile for the current newsgroup, preventing articles on that subject from being seen.
	News | Add Subject to Killfile | Global	Adds the subject of the current article to the killfile for all newsgroups, preventing articles on that subject from being seen.
	News | Display  Entire Header...	Opens a simple dialog where you can view all of the header information available for the current message.
	News | Display  Previous Article	Displays the article which precedes the current article in the sorted headers list.
	News | Display  Next Article	Displays the article which follows the current article in the sorted headers list.
	Help!	Opens on-line Help for the Internet News Reader.


The Reply to Message Menus and Action Bar
The Reply to Article Window's Menus and Action Bar

  Related Topics

Action Bar Button	Menu Item	Description
	File |  Connection  Directory...	Opens the current Connection Directory file, where you can select a News entry to be used as the destination newsgroup in the To field.
	File |  Save Article as Text...	Saves your reply to the current article as a standard text file, using a filename you specify. By default, the file will be written to the path you’ve specified in the Internet, News, Properties panel in Setup.
	File | Import Text...	Opens a standard file selection dialog, where you can browse for and select a text file to be imported into the message body of your article.
	File | Print...	Prints your reply to the current article to the currently selected printer.
	File | Exit	Closes the Reply to Article window without posting an article to a newsgroup.
	Edit | Cut	Removes the text you’ve selected in the message body edit box and places it in the Windows Clipboard.
	Edit | Copy	Copies the text you’ve selected in the message body edit box to the Windows Clipboard. The message body text is unaffected.
	Edit | Paste	Copies text from the Windows Clipboard into the message body edit box.
	Edit | Select All	Selects all of the text in the message body edit box.
	News | Add Group to Rapid Connect	Creates a Connection Directory News entry for the current newsgroup. Once placed in the Connection Directory, the entry will also appear in the Rapid Connect list box in the main Internet News Reader window.
	News | Add/Edit Group to Rapid Connect	Opens an Add Directory Entry dialog in the Connection Directory with the name of the newsgroup displayed in the Name field.
	News |  Attach/Encode File...	Opens a standard file selection dialog, where you can browse for and select a file to be attached to your article. If necessary, the file will be encoded for posting.
	News |  Post/Send Article	Saves your article and sends it to your news server.
	News |  Check Spelling
	Help!	Opens on-line Help for the Internet News Reader.


Using the News Reader
Using the Internet News Reader

  Related Topics

Now that you’re familiar with all of the different elements of the Internet News Reader, we can discuss how to use the Internet News Reader to read articles. First, we'll need some newsgroups to read!

Step-by-Step: Searching for Newsgroups

Connecting to Newsgroups

Reading an Article

Responding to an Article

Tagging, Marking, and Keeping

Step-by-Step: UUdecoding a Binary File

Step-by-Step: Composing Your Own Article

Step-by-Step: Reading News Articles Off-line