Printing MIME Messages

The procedure for printing a message or messages containing MIME-encoded inclusions or attachments is described below. As you perform the print procedure, you can click the Cancel button at any time to cancel the operation, or click the Help button to get more information.

Click the Print command to print messages either from the Reading window or from the Main window. Inclusions and attachments are printed separately from the original mail message.

Ishmail has built-in support for printing the following file types:

Plain ASCII text
Rich Text
PostScript.

In order for Ishmail to print included or attached files containing other MIME-encoded content types, such as GIF, JPEG, ODA, and so forth, you must supply an external print application command for each type and specify it in your mailcap file or $HOME/.mailcap file.

Before issuing a print command for any inclusion or attachment, Ishmail checks the mailcap file to see if a print command is specified. If the command is found, Ishmail displays the name of the file in a Print MIME dialog window along with selection prompts that enable you to print the file or to skip it.

Follow this procedure to print messages containing inclusions or attachments:

Select the message(s) you want to print, then click the Print ... option in the Main window File pull-down window. The Print Message window is displayed.

Select one of the Print header options by clicking the radio button adjacent to the option:

Select Print all headers to print the standard headers displayed in the message header section as well as headers that are normally hidden.
Select Print displayed headers only to print only the headers that are displayed in the message header section.
Select Don't print headers to print the message body only.

If you have selected multiple messages to print, two additional options appear in the Print Message window:

Select one of the multiple-print options:

Select Print separately to print each message individually (a separate print command is sent to the printer for each message).
Select Print together to concatenate and print the selected messages via a single print command.

Click the Print button. One of two print MIME dialog windows is displayed, depending on whether the MIME-encoded file is available locally or must be retrieved from an external source:

If the file is available locally, or if the file has already been retrieved via a previous Show option or Retrieve ... option (see Viewing MIME-encoded Messages), the Print MIME dialog window is displayed.

If the file is not available and must be retrieved from an external source, the Print MIME attachment dialog window is displayed.
Select options in the Print MIME window or the Print MIME attachment window to specify which files to print or to skip.
As you make your print selection(s), the name of each printable inclusion or attachment is displayed, in turn, at the top of the dialog window.

NOTE:
An inclusion or attachment is "printable" if it is one of the file types for which there is built-in print support or if a print command for the file type is specified in the mailcap file.
1. Select Print this one or Retrieve and print this one to print the specified included file or attached file. (In the example illustration above, the specified attachment is the file /pub/GIF/README.)
2. Select Skip this one if you DON'T want the to print the specified attachment.
  The dialog window will then display, in turn, the names of the each of the next included or attached files. As each name is displayed, you can choose to print it or skip it.
  An error message is displayed if an inclusion or attachment can't be retrieved.
3. Select Print all included and attached files or Retrieve and print all attached files if you want to print ALL of the included or attached files. You will not be prompted to select any other inclusions or attachments in this message.
4. Select Skip all included and attached files or Skip all attached files if you DON'T want to print any of the included or attached files.
5. Press Ok to send the file and inclusions or attachments to the printer.

Ishmail indicates the printing order of these files by inserting a note similar to the following in the printed output of the original mail message. The note is inserted at the location of the icon that represented the inclusion or attachment.

(Attached Text File: /pub/GIF/README)

(Printed separately)

If an inclusion or attachment can't be printed because the appropriate print software is not available, a message similar to the following is added to the printed output at the location of the icon that represented the inclusion or attachment:

(Attached GIF Image: /pub/GIF/shuttle.gif)

(Not printable)

If an inclusion or attachment is not printed because you elected to "skip" it, a message similar to the following is added to the printed output at the location of the icon that represented the inclusion or attachment:

(Attached GIF Image: /pub/GIF/shuttle.gif)

(Not printed)

Printing MIME Messages

See Also