9. Sending Replies

Rmail has several commands that use Mail mode to send mail. Only the special commands of Rmail for entering Mail mode are documented here. Note that the usual keys for sending mail, C-x m and C-x 4 m, are available in Rmail mode and work just as they usually do.

m

Send a message (rmail-mail).

c

Continue editing already started outgoing message (rmail-continue).

r

Send a reply to the current Rmail message (rmail-reply).

f

Forward current message to other users (rmail-forward).

To reply to a the message you are reading in Rmail, type r (rmail-reply). This displays the `*mail*' buffer in another window, much like C-x 4 m, but pre-initializes the `Subject', `To', `CC', and `In-reply-to' header fields based on the message you reply to. The `To' field is given the sender of that message, and the `CC' gets all the recipients of that message. Recipients that match elements of the list rmail-dont-reply-to are omitted; by default, this list contains your own mailing address.

Once you have initialized the `*mail*' buffer this way, sending the mail goes as usual. You can edit the presupplied header fields if they are not what you want.

One additional Mail mode command is available when you invoke mail from Rmail: C-c C-y (mail-yank-original) inserts into the outgoing message a copy of the current Rmail message. Normally this is the message you are replying to, but you can also switch to the Rmail buffer, select a different message, switch back, and yank the new current message. Normally the yanked message is indented four spaces and has most header fields deleted from it; an argument to C-c C-y specifies the amount to indent. C-u C-c C-y neither indents the message nor deletes any header fields.

Another frequent reason to send mail in Rmail is to forward the current message to other users. f (rmail-forward) makes this easy by preinitializing the `*mail*' buffer with the current message as the text and a subject designating a forwarded message. All you have to do is fill in the recipients and send.

You can use the m (rmail-mail) command to start editing an outgoing message that is not a reply. It leaves the header fields empty. Its only difference from C-x 4 m is that it makes the Rmail buffer accessible for C-c y, just as r does. Thus m can be used to reply to or forward a message; it can do anything r or f can do.

The c (rmail-continue) command resumes editing the `*mail*' buffer, to finish editing an outgoing message you were already composing, or to alter a message you have sent.

This document was generated by XEmacs shared group account on December, 19 2009 using texi2html 1.65.