Sylpheed FAQ - Interface
How do I make Sylpheed display my language?
You have to set some environment variables, such as
LANG, LC_CTYPE, LC_MESSAGES to your local language.
Usually LANG (or LC_ALL) is sufficient. Note that modern distributions and operating systems do this for you automatically.
I don't like the default font. Can I change that?
Yes. In
Configuration
Common preferences...
, under the
Display tab.
There are too many columns in the message list!
In
Configuration
Common preferences...
under the
Display tab, you can press the button Set display item of summary.... That pops up a screen with all the
options you can show or leave out of the message
list.
How do I disable or enable the alternating row colors in the message list?
Under UNIX, you can directly edit the appropriate hidden setting stored in the $HOME/.sylpheed-2.0/sylpheedrc configuration file by changing the setting value to 0, or 1, respectively (default is on, i.e. 1):
enable_rules_hint=0
There are various other hidden settings that can be adjusted in your sylpheedrc configuration file, see the README file for details.
The above does not work under Windows, however, so you have to edit the C:\Program Files\Sylpheed\share\themes\MS-Windows\gtk-2.0\gtkrc file and set the following setting to 1, or 0, respectively (default is off under Windows, i.e. 0):
GtkTreeView::allow-rules = 1
Since the hidden setting described above is not stored within your user profile under Windows, it may be overwritten when installing a new version of Sylpheed. To avoid this at least partially, keep a backup copy of the gtkrc file somewhere safe.
Can I use a different editor to write my mails?
You can. In
Configuration
Common preferences
, under
the Details and External commands tabs, you can define your editor of choice.
Remember, if you want to use a command line editor
like vi or emacs, to write the name of the shell
(term, term, rxvt) with the -e parameter in front of
the editor. E.g.: rxvt -e vi %s.
Also, make sure that you have checked Automatically launch the external editor in
Common preferences
Compose
Editor
, if you want the editor of your choice to be launched every time you begin composing a message.
How to change the font size in the Sylpheed interface?
You can set the GTK+ font by $HOME/.gtkrc-2.0, or
$HOME/.gtkrc-2.0.mine,
(which is included by $HOME/.gtkrc-2.0).
For example:
style "default" {
font = "-adobe-helvetica-medium-r-normal--12-*-*-*-*-*-iso8859-1 "
}
widget_class "*" style "default"
Sylpheed saves my outgoing mail (in Outbox). Can I make it stop doing that?
In
Configuration
Common preferences...
, there's a
checkbox Save sent message to outbox. Uncheck it,
and it's solved.
How can I change the key bindings (hotkeys) in Sylpheed?
Unlike Sylpheed 1.x, Sylpheed 2.x and 3.x doesn't allow direct modification of the menu shortcuts by default. Nevertheless, you can use the following methods to configure them:
Using GNOME 2.8 or later: run gconf-editor from
Applications
System Tools
Configuration Editor
. Select
desktop
gnome
interface
and check can-change-accels there.
Using GNOME before 2.8, or other environments: add the following line to the file ~/.gtkrc-2.0 (or create a new one, if it doesn't exist):
gtk-can-change-accels = 1
When Sylpheed is not running, directly edit ~/.sylpheed-2.0/menurc with a text editor.
After that, the key binding change itself is very simple. Suppose you want to assign a
shortcut key to a function, e.g. sending all mail
out should start when you press
Ctrl
Y
. Click the
Message menu and move the mouse over Send all messages. Now you press
Ctrl
Y
. Immediately the menu
text is updated and the function is in place. Please
note that a previous function that
Ctrl
Y
was
assigned to, will no longer have a shortcut key. If
you want to remove the key binding, do the same
thing, but press the Delete key on the menu item.
Then the key binding is removed.
Also see
Configuration
Common preferences...
Details
Interface
Set key bindings...
where you are able to reset the Default key bindings, or use other predefined key bindings.
Can I close windows without the mouse?
Of course! Not all windows, but by pressing Escape,
you can close the address book, the window of viewing
a mail source (
View
Message source
), the window of
viewing the headers, and several others. Just give
it a try and you will find all of them.
Can I change the way the date is displayed in the message summary?
As of 0.4.65 you can. The options are:
%y = year in numbers %m = month in number
%d = day in numbers %c = date/time for locale
%A = full weekday name %a = short month name
%B = full month name %b = short month name
%H = hours in 24-clock %I = hours in 12-clock
For more information, go to the
Configuration
Common preferences
Display
General
and choose the ... labeled button.
For more options, see man 3 strftime.
Why can't I see the compface pictures?
You need to enable displaying of the header pane in the
general preferences.
I still can't see the pictures. Why not?
You may not have compiled in Compface support. See the appropriate question in the Installation and Configuration section.
Why does the URL launcher not launch my web browser?
You need to double click the URL.
Also, check that you have configured your web browser correctly in
Configuration
Common preferences...
Details
External commands
.
Attachments with spaces in the name won't open!
When you try to launch a helper application, like an image viewer, with an attachment that has spaces in the name, put quotes around the %s
parameter. Example: gedit '%s'
Where is the Bcc when I compose a mail?
Open
Configuration
Preferences for current account...
Compose
. There you can check the Bcc checkbox and optionally enter an email address.
How do I change the toolbar?
Go to
View
Customize toolbar...
and select items from the Available items list to be displayed on the toolbar. You can modify the order by using the Up or Down button. The customization dialog also offers you to revert your modifications to default.
Why isn't the next message displayed when I delete a message?
Go to
Configuration
Common preferences...
Details
Interface
, and select Always open messages in summary when selected.
How can I remove mailing list information from Subject headers?
Very often, when you are subscribed to a mailing list, you will store each message from that list in a folder dedicated to that list. Depending on remote software solution and configuration, mailing lists tend to include some words in the Subject header to identify the messages, optionally accompanied with a message number, for instance [sylpheed:33101]. These additions do not provide useful info if you have organized your folders as described, but Sylpheed allows you to disable displaying the additions in summary, and/or, if you wish, delete the additions on reply.
To do that, right-click on a folder from the folder tree, and select Properties... In the Folder properties dialog, check Don't display [...] or (...) at the beginning of subject in summary, or Delete [...] or (...) at the beginning of subject on reply, respectively.