Mouse Conventions

These conventions assume you are using a standard three-button mouse.

The left mouse button (mouse button 1) is the most commonly used button. You click the left mouse button to select items, activate menus, and depress or release buttons within Ishmail windows. When a procedure asks you to "click on an object" or to "select an item," use the left mouse button. The middle (mouse button 2) is used for "drag-and-drop" operations (see below). The right mouse button (mouse button 3) activates pop-up menus associated with a particular object or item.

Ishmail windows follow Motif conventions for selecting, highlighting, and performing actions on selected items using the mouse. Reverse image highlighting is used to indicate items that have been selected.

In most cases, you will select (highlight) items, such as mail messages, mail folders, alias names, and so forth, and then perform some action on the selection(s).

There are several ways to select and then perform an action on selected items.

You can select single or multiple items:

• To select a single item in a list, place the mouse pointer on the item and click the left mouse button.

• To select multiple contiguous items in a list (contiguous items precede and/or follow each other in a list):
  • Place the mouse pointer on the first item you want to select and press and hold the left mouse button. Continue holding down the mouse button as you drag the pointer down (or up) the list of items you want to select. Release the mouse button on the last item you want to select.

    This is called the mouse drag-select method.

  • Click on the first item and Shift-click the last item in the list you want to select.

• To select noncontiguous items in a list, hold down the Control key and click the left mouse button on each item you want to select. (Noncontiguous items can be separated by one or more items in the list.)

To perform an action on an item:

• Double-click the item (using the left mouse button).

  Double-clicking an item performs the default action for that item. For example, the default action for a highlighted mail message in the Main window is "Read." Therefore, if you double-click a message in the Main window, it will be opened and displayed in Ishmail's Reading window.

• Place the mouse pointer on the item and press and hold the right mouse button. A pop-up menu appears that contains a list of the valid actions you can perform on the item. Slide the mouse pointer onto the action you want to perform and release the mouse button.

• Click the left mouse button on a pull-down menu in the Menu Bar and select the action from the menu's list of actions that can be performed on the item.

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  NOTE:
  Only the valid actions that can be performed on the item will be available for selection. If an option in the menu list is not valid for the selected item, the option will appear "dim" and will not be available for selection.

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You can use the mouse drag-and-drop method to perform certain default actions on message(s).

• To drag-and-drop a mail message into a Reading window, press and hold the middle mouse button on a mail message and drag the mouse pointer into the Reading window. Release the mouse button.

  This action performs the same function as double-clicking the message or selecting the message and then choosing the Read option from the Message pull-down menu.

• To move a message to a folder using the drag-and-drop method, press and hold the middle mouse button on a message, then drag it to a mail folder icon and release.

• To copy a message to a folder using the drag-and-drop method, press and hold the middle mouse button on a message and drag it to a mail folder icon. Press the Control button, then release the mouse button.

• You can also perform the drag-and-drop action to move or copy multiple selected messages to a folder icon. You must first select the messages you want to move or copy, then press and hold the middle mouse button on any one of the selected messages to move or copy all of them.

  If you drag-and-drop multiple messages into a Reading window, only the first message will be placed in the Reading window.

  When items are being "dragged," the cursor takes one of two different shapes. If the mouse is over an area where "drop" is appropriate, the cursor takes the shape of a "thumb up." If the drop action is not appropriate, the cursor takes the shape of a "thumb down."