Saving Mail to Another Location

You can save mail to any location in your file system by typing in an absolute pathname. This means that the location you specify is an exact location within your file system rather than one that is relative to the Folders directory.

Saving to an Absolute Path in Your Home Directory

To save mail to an absolute location in your home directory, you can precede the path with the variable $HOME, or with the tilde (~) on your keyboard, followed by your user account name (or that of another user's home directory where you have write permission). The tilde indicates the top level of your home directory.

To save a mail message in a location under your home directory, follow the instructions in the section "Saving Mail to the New Default Location", but use the form in one of the examples below to type the path on the Mail File text field:

~username/Subdirectory/filename
$HOME/username/Subdirectory/filename

When you choose Move or Copy, the chosen mail file in your mailbox is stored in a file named filename in a subdirectory named Subdirectory under your home directory.

Saving to an Absolute Path Relative to the Root Directory

To save a mail message to an absolute location starting from the top level directory in your file system, you use a slash (/) to indicate the root directory, and follow that with an absolute path.

To save a mail message in a location under your root directory, follow the instructions in the section "Creating a New Mail File", but use the following form on the Mail File text field:

/Subdirectory/filename

where / is the root directory, and Subdirectory is an existing directory under root.

For example, you could type:

/tmp/myfile

The /tmp directory is a directory that contains some system files.

You should only use the /tmp directory for temporary file storage. When you reboot your system, these files will be purged.

When you choose Move or Copy, the chosen mail file in your mailbox is stored in a file named myfile in the subdirectory named tmp under the root directory.

Modifying the Default Location

Using Mail Tool's Properties window, you can permanently change the default location for your saved mail. For instance, you could change the name of the Folders directory, or you could save your mail to a location directly relative to your home directory.

To change the default location for your saved mail, follow these steps:

1. From the Mail Tool base window's control area, choose Edit Properties.

   The Mail Tool Properties window appears.

2. Position the pointer on the Category menu button and choose Mail Filing.

   The Mail Filing properties appear in the Properties window.

3. Double-click SELECT on the word Folders on the text field.

   Folders is highlighted, for example.

4. Choose the default location for your saved mail:

   1. To change the name of the Folders directory type in a new name, such as Mail.

   2. To save mail directly under your home directory, type:

      $HOME

      This will expand to the actual path name of your home directory.

5. Click SELECT on the Apply button.

   A pop-up message asks if $HOME should be expanded to the path name of your home directory.

6. Click SELECT on the Expand String button.

   The Properties window is dismissed.

Saving Mail to the New Default Location

Saving mail messages to the new default that you have specified is just like saving mail to the Folders directory. To save mail, do the following:

1. Type the file name, or a subdirectory name and then the file name, on the text field in the Mail Tool base window.

   Note that if you have changed the default location to your home directory there is no need to type a tilde to specify your home directory as the destination.

2. Click SELECT on the message you want to save.

3. Choose Move or Copy.

The chosen mail message is saved to the directory name of your choice under your home directory (e.g. the directory name you substituted for Folders, the top level of your home directory, or a specified subdirectory).