Opera Mail Tutorial opera.com /help/tutorials/mail/ Welcome to Opera Mail Last updated for Opera 12.00 This is an introductory tutorial to help you use Opera Mail; the built-in email client and newsreader in the Opera desktop browser. This tutorial explains how Opera Mail is different from most other email clients and shows you how to use it efficiently to manage your messages automatically, leaving you time for more important things. It's designed to expand on the basic information in Opera Help - Email and News. Topics In this tutorial, we cover the following topics: Get started with Opera Mail How to set up Opera Mail and import messages so you can start using it. The Opera Mail layout A walkthrough of the Opera Mail layout to help you find your way around and understand the terminology. Handle received messages How to view messages, mark them as read, save attachments, manage threads and spam, and delete messages. Sort messages with labels How to apply labels, and use them to automatically sort your messages, including how to add label rules and settings. Write and send messages How to write and send message; includes the Compose context menu, drafts, and Quick Reply. Newsfeeds and newsgroups How to subscribe to newsfeeds and newsgroups, and how to read newsgroup messages. Manage contacts How to create contacts, use them for messaging and sorting, and manage them. 1 / 40 Customize Opera Mail How to change default settings, edit your account details, or customize the Mail panel, windows, message fields, and label icons. Advanced tips and solutions Advanced tips for using Opera Mail and information to help you solve any problems. 2 / 40 Get started with Opera Mail opera.com /help/tutorials/mail/setup/ Opera Mail Tutorial This topic shows you how to create an account and import messages and settings so that you can start using Opera Mail. In this topic: What you need to get started To use Opera Mail, you need the following: 1. The Opera desktop browser installed on your PC. 2. An email address and service provider that offers IMAP or POP access to your inbox. Whether you can use Opera Mail with your existing account depends on the services offered by your provider, and sometimes the type of account. For example, some providers only offer a web interface, while some may only offer access to POP or IMAP for an extra fee, or if you upgrade your account. Some providers will only let you use their own software. The table below lists some examples of some leading webmail sites and indicates whether you can use them with Opera Mail. Webmail Service IMAP POP AOL Mail Yes Yes FastMail Yes Yes Gmail Yes Yes MobileMe Yes Yes Windows Live Hotmail No Yes Yahoo! Mail No Yes Providers that offer neither POP nor IMAP access are generally not supported, although there are a number of third-party utilities that you could try, listed below. Note that we don't offer support for these. YPOPs! for Yahoo! Mail IzyMail for Yahoo! Mail, Hotmail, Windows Live Mail, Lycos Mail, AIM Mail and others FreePOPs which supports all of the above and many more through custom modules Create or add an account Opera Mail is built into the Opera browser; all you need to get started is an email address. You can use Opera Mail with FastMail.FM, Gmail, Yahoo, AOL or any service that supports IMAP or POP protocols. For more information on providers, see Using Opera Mail with your webmail account below. To create or add an Opera account, follow the steps below: 1. From the menu, select . 3 / 40 2. If you do not have an Opera account, you are prompted to create one. If you have an Opera account, select Add. 3. Select the kind of account you want to create, for example, email or newsgroup. If you want to import messages and settings, see the Import messages and settings topic. 4. In the resulting dialog, complete the following fields: Real name: Type the name that you want to display in the From field of your emails. Email address: Type your email address. Organization: Type the name of your organization (optional). 5. Click Next. 6. Type the login name provided by your ISP provider. For example, your Fastmail.FM or Gmail username, Yahoo! ID name, or AOL login name. 7. Type your password. 8. Depending on the service enabled for your email account, select either IMAP or POP. For example, for Yahoo! Mail, select POP and for AOL Mail, select IMA. For an explanation of these terms, see What is POP and IMAP? below. 9. If your server details are automatically recorded, go to step 9. Otherwise, complete incoming and outgoing server details. Ask your ISP for the specific details. See also: Non-standard server ports 10. To enable TLS encryption for incoming and/or outgoing servers, check Use secure connection (TLS). For details, see the Secure connection (TLS) topic. 11. If you use POP and want to access email from other computers, tick Leave messages on server. 12. Select Finish. The Mail and Contacts options are added to the menu and the Mail panel appears. You use these to access your messages or newsfeeds, and your contact address book. 13. Notes: For IMAP accounts, also see IMAP sent folder. IMAP sent folder To ensure that your sent IMAP messages are stored on the server and not stored locally, define your sent folder. To do this follow the steps below. 1. From the menu in Opera, select Mail and Chat Accounts. 2. Select your IMAP account, then Edit. 3. Select the Outgoing tab. 4. In the IMAP sent folder field, select the folder to store your sent messages. 5. Click OK. Import messages or settings You can import email, different account settings, folders and contacts at any time. This applies for the following versions and email clients: Opera versions 5 to 11 Outlook Express Eudora Thunderbird 4 / 40 Netscape Mail and related email clients such as the Mozilla suite Any mailbox stored in the generic mbox format, usually *.mbx or *.mbs files If your previous mailer is not listed above, you may only be able to use it if it includes the capability to export to the mbox format. To import messages or settings: 1. Either: Create or add an account using steps 1 - 3 above and select Import email as the account type, or select . 2. Select the email client from which you are importing your old messages, or select Choose to find the folder with your messages. 3. In the Import item field, select the relevant account. If it is not listed, select Browse to find the account from the directory. 4. Check what you want to import: settings, contacts, messages or a combination. 5. Select the account to which you want your messages to be imported. 6. Select Import. Result: When you successfully import messages and folders: Your imported account's folder structure displays under the Labels header in the Mail panel. Old incoming messages are shown in the Received view. Messages that are not already on your computer will be downloaded from the mail server. Messages in your old Outbox, Sent, Drafts and Trash folders are shown in the corresponding views. Although you can continue using your imported folder structure by manually dragging messages into these folders, we suggest you give Opera Mail's organization methods a try. They will revolutionize the way you handle your messages. Detailed explanations What is POP and IMAP? These are standard Internet protocols for email retrieval. POP leaves messages on the server, downloads them to your computer, and manages them in Opera Mail. IMAP allows you to manage your email directly on the server. Since emails are still on the server, they are accessible from other online connections, or offline if you have downloaded the message bodies. Opera Mail uses the following protocols: POP3 IMAP (E)SMTP RSS (RDF Site Summary and Really Simple Syndication) 5 / 40 Atom, and NNTP. Non-standard server ports The default ports used are 143 for IMAP, 110 for POP, and 119 for NNTP. If your ISP uses a non- standard server port, you can enter it after the server name in the form "servername:port", i.e. "pop.example.com:111". Secure connection (TLS) TLS enables high-security, encrypted communications between a mail client, like Opera Mail, and a server. Encrypted communications allow your password and other sensitive data to be sent across the Internet without others being able to spy on it. Opera Mail supports TLS, however your ISP server must support secure connection TLS for you to use this feature. 6 / 40 The Opera Mail layout opera.com /help/tutorials/mail/navigate/ Opera Mail Tutorial This topic introduces you to the Opera Mail layout and explains how to navigate it and how to use Mail views. Opera Mail layout When you open Opera Mail, you'll see a layout something like this: 1. Mail panel and views The Mail panel is the key to using Opera Mail. It gives you easy access to all your mail and news, and allows you to quickly read and send messages. The panel displays automatically when you are using Opera Mail and closes when you go to a different tab not related to email. At the bottom of the panel, a notifcation flashes when Opera Mail is checking for messages. The Mail panel displays a set of default “views” to help you access your messages more efficiently. It's important to understand how Opera Mail uses views, as opposed to the more traditional folders you may have seen in other mail clients.