FAQ: Miscellaneous (Part 2)

How do I receive email via SMTP? [Agent only]

In general, it is impractical for a program like Agent to receive email using SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol), although that is the protocol used to send mail. A conventional SMTP server has no provision for queueing email for later retrieval, so Agent would have to be online 24 hours a day to avoid missing messages. For this reason almost all service providers use the POP3 protocol for transferring email to their users, and that is the default protocol that Agent uses.

However, a few service providers (most notably Demon in the U.K.) have implemented an unconventional SMTP server that does queue email, and that's how they provide incoming mail to their users. If your service provider has such a setup, you must go to the System Profile tab of the Options | Inbound Email dialog box and set the Receive email with SMTP option.

How can I move items from the Outbox to a Folder? [Agent only]

Agent 99a does not allow you to move items from the Outbox to a folder. This will be added in the next interim release that you receive (along with some other features that round out the basic email functionality).

In future versions, Agent will automatically route messages to a default folder that you specify. The Outbox will become just a repository for items that are waiting to be sent - and once they are successfully sent, they will be copied to a folder of your choice. From this default folder, you'll be able to move/copy to other folders if desired (as well as print and sort!).

We are also considering some automatic routing schemes for your outbound mail, similar to the inbound mail filtering that Agent already does.

Can I import my existing email database into Agent? [Agent only]

If you're currently using Eudora or Pegasus as your email package, we have written converter programs that allow you to import your existing database into Agent. The programs are available as ftp.forteinc.com/pub/forte/converters/eudora.zip and ftp.forteinc.com/pub/forte/converters/pegasus.zip, respectively, and each includes a readme.txt file that describes how to use it.

These programs work by reading your existing database and writing a text file that you can import into Agent with the File | Import Messages menu option. They will preserve any existing trays, folders, and mailboxes that you had set up, converting them to Agent folders.

We will add converters for other email packages according to demand (and resources). You can import new messages at any time without disturbing your existing folders and messages, so you don't need to wait for a converter before switching to Agent.

Why can't I select the "Import Messages" menu item? [Agent only]

The File | Import Messages option is grayed if you have never run the Options | Inbound Email dialog box to configure the system for email. This is because import won't work until you've designated a default inbound email folder.

How does the "Manage Folders" menu work?

When you select either the Copy or Move to Folder menu option the "flyout" menu will list up to nine folders that you have specified, followed by a menu option "All Folders...". You should put the folders that you copy or move messages to most frequently on the flyout menu so that they are easily accessible.

To configure the flyout menu, select Options | Manage Folder Menus. There are two listboxes shown on the Manage Folder Menus dialog box. The left-most one shows a list of all folders that aren't already displayed on the menu. The right-most one shows the folders that do appear on the menu. To add a folder to the menu, select a folder from the Folder listbox and click on Add. The folder name will appear in the Menu listbox.

How do I make sure that addresses never appear when I'm using field text for mailing lists??

When you define a Field Text value for an address book entry, Agent uses that value in your messages' To, Cc, or Bcc fields in place of the entry's real addresses. So, instead of seeing their own addresses in the message, your recipients see the Field Text instead. This feature is useful for sending messages to mailing lists, when you don't want the recipients of the list to see the email addresses of the other recipients.

But, if you use the Expand Addresses feature of the address book when selecting your mailing list entry from the address book for use in a message, Agent inserts all of the addresses from the list into the message, and DOES NOT use the Field Text. The next release of Agent will warn you when this is about to happen, to verify that you really want to expand the addresses.

In the meantime:

Don't use the expand addresses feature when inserting address book entries that have the Field Text defined.
Double-check the To, Cc, and Bcc fields of your messages to be sure they contain the correct information. For a mailing list with a Field Text defined, everything will work correctly only if just the name of the entry appears in the message.

Why are some people posting with more recent versions than I have?

If you think you're running the most recent version of Agent or Free Agent, you may sometimes be surprised to see a newsgroup posting by somebody with a higher version number than you have. What's happening here - are these people somehow special? Why do they have something that you don't have?

There are several possible reasons for this. You might have missed a release announcement and still be using outdated software. See our Release History page to make sure you haven't missed anything.

If you're using the latest public version, something else is obviously happening. The post may have come from someone who is beta-testing a new version that we will be releasing in the near future, or they may have a special version that fixes a specific bug they were encountering. If the posting came from Forté (somebody@forteinc.com) then they're probably just using an internal development version that hasn't even made it to beta yet.

How do I cancel a connection attempt that's obviously failing?

(From some of the bug reports we've seen, a better title for this one might be "Why doesn't Agent have a Cancel button on the "Connecting to Server" dialog box?")

The "Connecting to Server" dialog box appears during the period of time when Agent has passed control to the underlying winsock driver, during the first call to the driver after it is loaded. Whether or not this happens during the dial-in phase depends on the particular winsock driver you are using. If you are using the Trumpet winsock, the dial-in occurs as a side-effect of the first winsock call, which won't return to Agent until the call either succeeds or fails.

That's why there is no cancel button on the dialog box - Agent isn't in control of the process at this point, and has no way to tell the winsock driver to cancel the connection attempt. With Trumpet Winsock, as far as we know at present, the only way to cancel the call is to go to TCPMAN and press ESC. That will cancel the connection attempt and return control to Agent.

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