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The Bat! User's FAQ
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What is The Bat!
The Bat! is an extremely flexible e-mail client with extensive
capabilities not found
in other e-mail clients. Just in case you were wondering, The Bat! is written in Delphi,
and some of the fascinating features of it are:
Real-time automatic spellchecker. As you type, it underlines
questionable spellings, and a single right click will let you choose
the correct spelling while a double right click will replace the word
with the closest correct spelling automatically.
Full 32 bit multi-threading. You can check mail on all of your
accounts,
and write/read messages at the same time.
Mail Ticker - This is a cool feature seen nowhere else. It looks
like
a Wall Street stock ticker, but it shows you the header info from
your new messages. From, To, Subject etc. Double-clicking on a message
from the ticker will bring up all the messages set to display in the
ticker in a virtual folder.
Filtering system - An unbelievably awesome, power-packed
suite of
filtering tools. Pass data to external programs, auto-responders,
macro enhanced templates, selective downloading filters etc.
Manage your mail directly on the POP/IMAP server.
IMAP, APOP, PGP, POP before SMTP
verification.
Very powerful message editor. This is great, how many times have
you
wanted to cut out a certain little block of text, but as you drag
your mouse down it highlights the entire line. In this editor, you
can just select the text you want. It's also a free caret editor which
means that wherever you click in the message is where you'll
start typing.
Multiple accounts that can be changed on the fly. There's more,
each folder you create to save messages in can have its own
identity (To, From, Reply-to), macro enhanced templates etc.. This
is my most favorite aspect of The Bat! You can make it do just about
anything.
Automatic mail retrieval w/auto log-off
It can import your messages with the built in import wizard from:
- Microsoft Outlook Express v4.xx
- Netscape Communicator v4.xx
- Netscape Mail v2.xx/3.xx
- Eudora Lite/Pro
- Pegasus Mail v2.xx
It can import address books from any client that can export to
an:
- .INI
- Comma Separated File
- Tab Separated File
Support for ten (count 'em 10) different languages, with the
capability to switch between them on the fly.
A park function, where you can make a message stay where it is
at.
No accidental deletions or moving it to the wrong folder.
Under construction function, where you can work on your messages,
and leave them in your outbox until you're finished and want to
send it.
A very cool address book function that let's you choose e-mail
addresses very similar to the way you run programs from the Windows
Start button or choose favorites from the favorites dropdown menu. The
address book also supports vCard as well as being able to place actual
pictures of your contacts in the address book. Another feature is the ability
to define macro enabled templates for each contact in your address
book. That means you can personalize your messages for each individual
person.
You can run mailing lists as well as full fledged discussion
lists like
MajorDomo and Listserv. I'm running one right now called "The Bat!
User's Discussion List". All I have to do is check the POP3 account,
and it filters, modifies, corrects the To: From: and Reply To: headers,
then mails it out to everyone on the list. No fuss, no muss. Take
a look here for the step-by-step guide I wrote on how to do it.
An excellent built in search engine that is very quick, and
displays
your results in a very logical, easy to use format.
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Where can I get it?
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top
Is their a compiled list of keyboard shortcuts?
Yes! The maintainer of this list is Dmitry Potapenko.
Shortcuts in English or Russian.
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Who wrote it?
Stefan Tanurkov
Born - 19th of April, 1974
Horoscope - Aries
Education - Moldavian State University, specialized in mathematics and computer science.
Working experience - Professional since 1990, with RIT - since 1993
Author of Dos Navigator (DOS Shell)
Status - Married
Life style - Fatalistic optimist :-)
He initiated the The Bat! project.
Max Masyutin
Born - 14th of September, 1977
Horoscope - Virgo
Education - Comprehensive school
Working experience - Professional since 1994, with RIT - since 1996.
Author of Argus (Fido mailer for Win95/NT)
Status - Single
The Bat! v1.x is written in Delphi 2. The
Bat! v2.x will be written using Delphi 5.
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Is there a user mailing
list?
There are two User Discussion Lists (UDLs) that
you can get help on. The first and most popular is 'The Bat User Discussion List (TBUDL)'
which is for questions concerning the official releases of The Bat!, and the second is
'The Bat Beta Testers (TBBETA)' which is for discussion concerning beta releases of The
Bat!.
One thing you'll be pleasantly surprised to find
is that the program developers not only monitor the lists, but actually participate as
well.
To join The Bat User's Discussion List (TBUDL),
please send a blank message to: TBUDL.SUB@thebat.dutaint.com
To join The Bat Beta Testers List (TBBETA),
please send a blank message to: TBBETA.SUB@thebat.dutaint.com
If you wish to subscribe to the Russian speaking
list, please send a blank message to: thebat-subscribe@egroups.com
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Is
there a list archive of messages?
Yes!
For TBUDL, go to: http://tbudl.thebat.dutaint.com
For TBBETA, go to: http://tbbeta.thebat.dutaint.com
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Is there a wish list of
features that users want?
Yes, it is maintained by Konstantin G., and you can see it here.
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Request for Comments
(RFC)
Many people have made references to RFCs. Where can I
read up on them?
For basic information on what they are and where to find them,
please see the article I wrote
about them.
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