Project Menu

Fetch News: You must be online to use this option. NewsCoaster will log on to the newsserver specified in the 'Program Settings' window, and download the newsgroups you are currently subscribed to (those listed in the Groups list, with an 'S' next to them).

Fetch News For This Group: Download news, but only for the currently selected group (whether or not your are subscribed to it).

Send News: This makes NewsCoaster post any messages in your 'outgoing' folder, that are not 'Held' (ie, have a 'H' next to them in the messages list).

Fetch Group List: This downloads all the available newsgroups on your newsserver into a file. If you have more than one newsserver, it will do this for the 'default' newsserver only (see Program Settings). Once you have done this, you can view, find and subscribe to groups by selecting the 'Groups Manager'. The groups list is saved as a text file under the name 'x.gl' (where 'x' is the name of the newsserver) in the NewsCoaster program directory, so you may examine it separately if you wish. Also, you don't have to download the group list to subscribe to groups, eg, you may already know the name of the newsgroup and assume it exists on your newsserver. Note that downloading the newsgroup may take some time.

Fetch New Groups: This downloads all the newsgroups which have appeared since you last selected this option, or the 'Fetch Group List' option. If you have more than one newsserver, it will do this for the 'default' newsserver only (see Program Settings). Note that if you were using a version of NewsCoaster before this option was introduced, then you won't be able to use it until you redo a 'Fetch Group List' - even if you've already downloaded the group list.

Disconnect From Newsserver: When in online mode, NewsCoaster will keep open the connection to the newsserver for speed. This connection will be automatically closed when you quit NewsCoaster, but this option will force a disconnection (NewsCoaster will automatically reconnect whenever it needs to next do so).

User Info: Registration details (NewsCoaster used to be shareware).

About NewsCoaster: Some boring information:)

About MUI: Information about Magic User Interface, which NewsCoaster uses.

System Information: Puts some general information about your system into the file 'RAM:sysinfo.txt'. If you are reporting a bug to me, please use this option and send me the resultant file.

Iconify: Makes NewsCoaster 'disappear', and an icon appears on your Workbench screen. Doubleclick on this icon to make NewsCoaster reappear.

Quit: Quit NewsCoaster. You should always use this option rather than merely switching your computer off, to make sure that settings are correctly saved!

Newsgroups Menu

New Newsgroup: Opens the New Newsgroup window for you to enter in details for a new newsgroup for you to subscribe to. As default, you are automatically subscribed to newly created newsgroups.

Edit Newsgroup: Opens the Edit Newsgroup window for you to edit the currently selected newsgroup.

Advanced Settings: Opens the Advanced Newsgroup Settings window for the currently selected newsgroup.

Delete Newsgroup: Deletes the currently selected newsgroup. Warning! This will delete all the messages contained in that group. If you wish to keep the messages, and just want to unsubscribe, select 'Edit Newsgroup', and untick the 'Subscribe?' checkmark box.

Archive Newsgroup: Writes out all the articles into a single text file, complete with all headers. If you have an email or news client which stores/reads in such a format, then this will allow you to export to those programs easily.

Groups Manager: Opens the Groups Manager window, for the default newsserver. If you have more than one newsserver set up and you wish to access the groups for a newsserver other than your default, you should go to the Servers page of Program Settings.

View - List: Views the folders as a simple list.

View - Tree: Views the folders in a tree structure. This is fairly basic at the moment and I would recommend you keep to the List view. There are no resizable columns or horizontal scrollbars (and until someone produces an MUI tree class that subclasses NList, you won't see them), no doubleclicking or drag-sorting (these may be unimplemented in the Listtree class, so again a big problem.. for now select the 'Edit Newsgroup' menu instead of doubleclicking). In future it will hopefully be possible to define your own hierarchy structure, at least, so you can group similar newsgroups into a parent 'folder' for example. NListtree.mcc is required for this option.

Sort Groups: Sorts the newsgroups list alphabetically.

Search Groups: This allows you to search for particular messages. See 'Search' window for more details.

Reset Group Article Pointer: This resets the article pointer that NewsCoaster maintains for the currently selected newsgroup - so next time you download it will be as if you are downloading for the first time. Note that duplicate articles will not be downloaded, since NewsCoaster checks the message IDs of downloaded messages against those you already have. This option is useful if you change newsservers, since different newsservers will have articles stored with different ID numbers - in fact, you change the newsserver, you will be asked if you wish to reset the article pointers of all groups - see Program Settings.

Reset All Groups' Pointers: As above, but for all newsgroups.

Update Groups: This option should only be used in dire circumstances if your preferences file ('.prefs' in the NewsCoaster root folder) as got corrupted or deleted (possible if a crash happens at a bad time). In this case, no groups will be listed, but the data will still be available on your hard disk. This option scans for all folders and messages, and corrects the situation. Note that various settings (the group name, and basically all settings you can enter in the 'Edit Newsgroup' window) are lost, so only use this option if you have to (and then re-edit all the groups).

Update Index: This option is also used for correcting mistakes for the messages contained in a particular group (as stored in '.index' files). You should only use this option if something has gone wrong. This option scans the folder of the currently selected newsgroup, and recorrects the '.index' file to keep information on the messages that are actually in that group. Note the message flags such as Unread/Important are lost.

Update All Indices: As above, but for all groups.

Import Messages: This should be used to import messages from elsewhere, particularly of use if you are switching from another newsreader. To use, firstly set up all the groups that you wish to read in (eg, so if you were subscribed to 'comp.sys.amiga.misc' and 'alt.tarot' in your old newsreader, you should open up groups for these in NewsCoaster too before using this option). Then select this option, and select the drawer containing the messages. Alternatively, if messages are stored in multiple sub-directories, you can just select the folder containing the sub-directories, as this option scans all sub-directories. There is a known bug concerning crossposted messages in that if you are subscribed to more than one group that the message was posted to, it will only be copied to one group.

Messages Menu

View - Flat: Views the messages as a simple list.

View - Threaded: Views the messages as a threaded tree - messages are positioned according to who replied to who. Note that this option is currently rather slow. NListtree.mcc is required for this option.

Read Message: Displays the currently selected message in the View window.

Edit Message: This is used when you have already created a message (ie, it must be in your .outgoing or .sent folders). The Write window is opened for you to enter the message. Clicking cancel will not lose the original message. If you keep the changes, and are editing a message in .outgoing, the original message will be overwritten. If you are editing a message in .sent, the original message will not be overwritten, instead a new message will be copied to .outgoing (ie, it acts as a resend).

Supersede Message: This is like editing a message, but you can only do this to messages you have sent (ie, in your sent folder). This is special in that when you send a superseded message, it tells the newsserver that this new message is to replace the old one. Note that it takes time for this to propagate to other newsservers, so other people may still download your original message in the meantime - and of course, they may have already done so.

Cancel Message: If you wish to cancel a message, select the message in your sent folder, and choose this option. A special message will be placed in your outgoing folder which when sent, will tell your newsserver to cancel the message. This means that nobody will be able to download it. Like supersede, this takes time to effect other newsservers, and of course doesn't effect those who have already downloaded your message.

Delete Message: The currently selected messages are (after confirmation) moved to the Deleted folder. If you select this option on messages in the Deleted folder, then they are deleted permanently (or alternatively, the contents of the Deleted folder are cleared when you exit NewsCoaster).

Undelete Message: For messages in the 'deleted' folder only. The selected messages will be moved back to their original folder (note that any messages downloaded with a version of NewsCoaster prior to v1.24 will not function properly with this option, and will be moved to an incorrect newsgroup).

Export Message: Use this to save a message to an external file, or view with an external program. See here for details.

View Header: Displays the headers for this messages (using whatever program is set up to display text/plain attachments). Note in particular that if you downloaded this message in online mode, and you haven't yet downloaded the body, this option allows you to view the headers without NewsCoaster trying to go online to fetch the message body (which would happen if you tried to read or export the message).

Move: Moves the selected messages to a folder of your choice.

Copy: Moves the selected messages to a folder of your choice.

Add to Killfile: Creates a killfile based on the selected message.

Export to YAM's address book: Exports the name and email of the author of the selected message to YAM's address book (this uses the 'YAM:' assign to find the location of YAM's address book).

Post New Message: This opens the Write window for you to create a new message. As a default, it will be posted to the newsgroup that you have currently selected (and you must select one - this option won't work if the Sent or Outgoing folders are selected), but you may change them (or crosspost to more than one).

Followup Message: Followup to this message - ie, you want to post a response to the newsgroup. This again opens up the Write window, but is a followup to the currently selected message. The original message is quoted with '> ' put before every line, and your .sig (if a default one is selected) is placed at the end. Note that NewsCoaster will attempt to rewrap the text before quoting, to avoid unsightly line overspilling.

Reply via Email: Reply to the author of this message via email. Otherwise, the same as above.

Followup and Reply: Followup to the newsgroup, and reply to the author via email.

Permanently Delete - Selected Messages: 'Permanently delete' means that messages are deleted straight away, and are NOT copied to the 'deleted' folder. Although you can't change your mind, there is the advantage that this method is much faster. This option deletes currently selected messages.

Permanently Delete - All Read Messages: Permanently delete all the messages that you have read in the current folder.

Permanently Delete - All Online Headers: Permanently delete all the messages in the current folder that you haven't yet downloaded the bodies for (for use in Online mode).

Permanently Delete - All in this Group: Permanently delete all the messages in the current folder.

Permanently Delete - ALL Messages: Permanently delete all the messages in every newsgroup (messages in 'outgoing' or 'sent' will not be deleted by this option). Be careful with this option!

Select - All: Select all of the messages in the current folder.

Select - None: Deselect all of the messages in the current folder.

Select - Toggle: Toggle the selection of all the messages in the
current folder.

Select - All From This Poster: Select all of the messages in the current folder that are from the same person as the currently selected message.

Select - All With This Subject: Select all of the messages in the current folder that have the same subject as the currently selected message.

Select - All Read Messages: Select all of the read messages in the current folder.

Select - All Unread Messages: Select all of the unread messages in the current folder.

Mark As - Unread: Mark this message as being unread.

Mark As - Read: Mark this message as being read.

Mark As - Held: Mark this message as being held (outgoing only).

Mark As - Queued: Mark this message as being queued (outgoing
only).

Mark As - Normal: Message will be displayed as normal (ie,
default).

Mark As - Important: Message will have the subject line highlighted in the messages view list.

Change Date To Current: This can only be applied to messages in 'outgoing' - it updates the 'Date' of the selected messages to the current date and time. Normally, the Date of the messages you send will be that of the last time you edited them, and not when you choose 'Send News', so this is a quicker way to set the date to the current time if you wish.

Download Body: Downloads the bodies of all the currently selected messages, if they haven't already been downloaded (online mode only).

Preferences Menu

Program Settings: This opens the Program Settings window.

KillFile: This opens the Killfiles window.

Users: See the users section. Only available if you are set up as a Supervisor.

Change Password: See the users section.

MUI Settings: This opens the MUI Settings window, where you can change the MUI preferences specifically for NewsCoaster.