Browsing Messages

To browse messages, you can choose to open a single newsgroup that is in a Workgroup, or open all of the newsgroups in a Workgroup at once. Use the Navigator (left-hand pane) to select the Workgroup or newsgroup to browse. The Navigator displays groups in bold if they have unread messages in them.



The Messages view consists of two panes: Message List and Message Viewer. Each pane has its own toolbar and context-menu. First, we'll discuss the context menu for the Message List.



Queue… | Normal – Add selected message(s) to the Queue with a normal priority level.
Queue… | Priority – Add selected message(s) to the Queue with a high priority level.
Queue... | Priority Level - Add selected message(s) to the Queue with a specific priority level.
Queue… | Normal and Hold – Add selected message(s) to the Queue with a normal priority level, but held.
Queue… | Dequeue – Removes selected messages from the Queue.
Queue Wizard… - Allows you to set various parameters to use for the messages to be downloaded.
Auto Queue – Automatically queue articles in Expiry order up to a specified Megabyte amount.
Download Again – Download a retrieved article again.
Show… - Hide or show various columns in the message list.
Select... | All – Select all visible messages.
Select... | Like… - Displays a selection criteria dialog. Select messages using search criteria.
Move To… - Moves selected articles to “Saved Item” folders.
Mark… | Read – Marks selected message(s) Read.
Mark… | Unread – Marks selected message(s) Unread.
Mark... | All Read
Mark... | All Unread
Mark… | Thread Interesting – Marks the selected articles and any new replies in a special color.
Mark… | Thread Uninteresting – Unmarks “Interesting” articles.
Mark... | New - Marks selected messages "New".
Mark... | Old - Marks selected messages "Old".
Mark... | Keep - Locks selected messages so they won't accidently get deleted.
Mark... | Clear Keep - Unlocks selected messages.
Set Score Value - Set the score value for selected messages.
Total Size – Shows you the total estimated download size of the currently selected message(s).
Launch Attachment – Launches the attachments that are in the selected message. If there is more than one attachment in the message, you will be prompted to select one.
Collapse… - Collapse selected or all message threads.
Expand – Expand selected or all message threads.
Refresh Filter – Reapply the current filter to the messages.
Find – Display a message find dialog.
Find Again – Search the message list using the previous find criteria.
Create Automation Rule - Launches the Automation Rule editor preloaded with the current message's parameters.
Create Filter - Uses the current message's subject and author info to create a new filter.
Create kill filter – Launches the Kill Filter editor using the current message’s parameters.
Ignore Thread - Creates a thread-level kill filter.
Ignore Branch - Same as "Ignore Thread", but only for the selected branch.
Combine Messages | Join Single Parts – Joins selected messages into a single message. You will be prompted for the message order.
Combine Message | Merge Partial Messages – Joins two or more partial messages together. Use with caution.
Combine Messages | Force Complete – Makes the selected message complete by ignoring missing segments.
Article Grouping | Regroup Articles - Reapplies group identifiers for related message grouping.
Save… | Attachments – Saves attachments in selected message(s).
Save… | Messages – Saves selected message(s) to text files. If you find that NewsMan Pro cannot decode an attachment properly, please use this option to send us the message so we can make adjustments to the decoding logic.
Delete… | Messages – Moves selected message(s) to the “Trash” folder.
Delete... | Messages Permanently - Bypasses the Trash.
Delete… | Bodies – Removes retrieved message bodies from the database.
Delete…| Saved Attachment – Allows you to delete any attachment that was saved.
Delete... | Multi-posted Messages - Removes messages that are posted more than once. The message list must be sorted by subject in order to use this feature.
Delete… | Unavailable Messages – Removes messages that have expired from the message list and moves them to the “Trash” folder.
Copy... | Author to clipboard
Copy... | Subject to clipboard
Refresh Message List - Reloads the message list from the database.
Properties - Shows information about the message or messages that are selected.
Close Message Group


Message List Toolbar
This toolbar gives you a quick way to access many of the features on the context-menu as well as some features that are not available on the context-menu.



From left to right, the toolbar buttons are:

• Reload - Loads the message list from the database.
• Get Headers
• Get New Headers
• Grouping Toggle - Turn related article grouping on/off.
• New - Old messages are not loaded when opening or refreshing a group.
• Unread - Read messages are not loaded when opening or refreshing a group.
• New Post
• Queue Wizard
• Queue Messages (Normal)
• Queue Messages (High Priority)
• Queue Messages (Paused)
• Queue Messages (Priority Select)
• Copy (Author or Subject to clipboard)
• Mark Read
• Mark All Read
• Delete
• Delete All
• Color Settings (for Scoring)
• Print
• Tools - Shows the filter toolbars if you've hidden them.
• Zoom - Make the message list fill the entire Newsman window. Clicking it again restores the previous layout.
• Help

Below the message list toolbar, there are two additional toolbars for the Message Filter and Quick Filter functions.


Message Viewer
When reading text messages, the Message Viewer toolbar is very useful for navigating between messages.


From left to right, the toolbar buttons are:

• Reply to Group
• First message in list
• Previous message in list
• Next message in list
• Last message in list
• Next unread message
• Next thread
• Options
• Zoom

In addition, the Message Pane has its own context menu:


While the message pane displays the text portion of a Usenet message, it will also display the contents of the following file types:

• NFO - Contains description of associated message set. Can also contain ASCII art.
• TXT - Text file.
• SFV/CRC - File to verify the integrity of attachments by using a calculated CRC value.
• CSV - Comma-separated file.
• DIZ - File tag.

Previewing Images
You can preview image files within the message pane by opening the Image Pane to the right of the message text. In addition, Newsman allows you to zoom the image by dragging the image...



like so...



Sorting the Message List
By default, Newsman sorts messages by Thread, which means that related articles are threaded and the list is sorted by the post date of the top-most message. You can sort the message list as follows:

• Thread - Messages and replies are displayed threaded, with each thread sorted by the parent message's post date.
• Subject - Sorts the list in subject order. The messages are still threaded when using this sort.
• Lines - Sorts the list by message line count.
• Size - Sorts the list by message size.
• Date - Sorts the list by post date.
• Sender - Sorts by the message's author.

Only the Thread and Subject sorts are threaded. To return to the default Thread sort, click on the header for the first column. To sort the list in reverse order, click the desired column header again. In binary groups, related message sets are also grouped (collapsed into a single-line) based on the poster and subject. You can sort on multiple columns by holding down the SHIFT key and clicking on another column.


Downloading Messages
To download a message, it must be added to the Download Queue. There are several keyboard shortcuts for this as well as items on the message list context menu and the message list toolbar. The simplest method is to select the message(s) you want to Queue and press "Q". This will add the selected messages to the Download Queue using the default "Normal" priority. To add a message to the top of the Download Queue for immediate download, press "P", or double-click the message. These default shortcuts use the default file-type folder settings when saving any attachments. The Queue Wizard allows you to configure all of the download options as you add sets of messages to the Download Queue, including any Queue Post Processing options.

Beginning with version 2.0.0.3, Newsman Pro has been enhanced to support the downloading of incomplete multi-part messages. When an incomplete message is Queued, you will be prompted on how you want Newsman Pro to handle the incomplete message:

• Force Complete - The message will be altered to appear complete. Missing parts will be removed and cannot be downloaded in the future.
• Download Available Parts - Any available parts will be downloaded and Newsman will do its best to determine what type of attachment the message contains. After these parts have been retrieved, you can save the attachment with the parts that are available, or you can wait until new parts arrive the next time you get headers. Any message that receives new parts with subsequent header retrievals will be marked "New" and the attachment icon will be displayed transparent to indicate that it is a partial attachment. Queue the message again to download any unretrieved parts. If the message becomes fully complete, Newsman Pro can automatically save the attachment once the final part is retrieved (see Settings to enable or modify the Auto-Save options).

Score Colors
You can define specific colors for highlighting messages based on their score. To edit the score color display options, click on the "Color Settings" icon in the toolbar:



Select "Edit Score Colors" to bring up the score range color editor:



Using Score Coloring
Once you've defined your score color ranges, Newsman Pro will use your specified colors as the background color for the score column. In addition, the score range description will be displayed as a mouseover hint:



You can also choose to have the score colors displayed in the Subject column:




Viewing Message Properties
You can view useful information of one or more messages by selecting them in the message list and using the context menu to select "Properties", or by pressing F12



If a single message is selected, there are additional options available on the Properties dialog:

• View Raw Segment - Displays the raw message as sent by the news server. The message must have already been retrieved in order for this option to be available.
• Add Segment to Queue - Allows you to add any segment of a message to the Queue for download. When using this feature, you can specify which news server should be used in order to override the server(s) that would normally be used. This can be useful if you find that a segment is corrupted and you want to try and retrieve it from another server.