Pine How-to Guide

Pine is a keyboard-driven, or command-driven, email program for Unix. To move between fields, use the TAB or arrow keys. A list of available commands appears at the bottom of the Pine window.

Starting Pine

  1. Use SSH to log into your NetID AFS account via the server login1.oit.duke.edu. A prompt similar to this one will appear: netid@login1%>
  2. At the prompt, type pine. The main Pine window will appear.

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Reading messages

  1. From Pine's main menu, type I (Message Index). The Message Index screen will display a list of your email messages.
  2. Use the TAB or arrow keys to select the message you want to read.
  3. Press ENTER. The Message Text window will open.
  4. Optional: To read the preceding message, type P (PrevMsg); to read the next message, type N (NextMsg).

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Replying to messages

  1. While viewing the message, type R (Reply). A prompt will ask if you want to include the original message in the reply.
  2. Type Y (Yes) or N (No).
  3. If the message had multiple recipients, the prompt Reply to all recipients? will appear. Type Y to reply to all recipients or N to reply to the sender only.
  4. Under Message Text, type your reply.
  5. To send the message, press CONTROL-X (Mac) or CTRL-X (Windows).
  6. At the Send message? prompt, type Y (Yes) or N (No).

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Composing messages

  1. From Pine's Main Menu, type C (Compose). The Compose Message screen will appear.
  2. Fill in the fields as listed below.
  • To: Type the email address of the recipient. Separate multiple addresses with commas.
  • Cc: (optional) Type the address of the person(s) you want to receive a copy of the message.
  • Bcc: (optional) Type the address of the person(s) to whom you want to send a blind copy of the message. Sending a blind copy means the recipients listed in the To: and Cc: fields will have no knowledge of this copy.
  • Subject: Type a brief subject.
  • Message Text: Type your message.
  1. To send the message, press CONTROL-X (Mac) or CTRL-X (Windows).
  2. At the Send message? prompt, type Y (Yes) or N (No).

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Forwarding messages

  1. From the Main Menu, type I (Message Index). The Message Index screen will appear.
  2. Do one of the following:
  • Use the arrow keys to select the message you want to forward, then type F (Forward).
  • With the Message Text window open, type F (Forward).
  1. In the To: field, type the email address of the recipient. Separate multiple addresses with commas..
  2. To send the message, press CONTROL-X (Mac) or CTRL-X (Windows).
  3. At the Send message? prompt, type Y (Yes) or N (No)

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Creating attachments

You can attach a file to an email message if you have previously uploaded the file to your home directory using SFTP.

In the message header, use the arrow keys to navigate to the Attchmnt field.

  1. Press CTRL-J (Attach). A prompt asking for the file to attach will appear.
  2. Press CTRL-T (To Files). The Browser screen will appear.
  3. Select the file to attach and press E (Exit Browser). An Attachment Comment prompt will appear.
  4. Type a comment or press ENTER to leave blank.

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Viewing and saving attachments

A message's attachment appears in the email header beside Parts/attachments.

If the attachment is plain text, you can view it in Pine. If it's not in plain text format, save the file in your home directory and download it to your computer using SFTP.

  1. While viewing the message, type V (View).
  2. A list of the parts of the email message will be displayed. The first item listed is usually the text of the email message. Any other items listed are attached files.
  3. Use the arrow keys to select the attachment you want to view.
  • If the attachment is plain text, type V (View).
  • If the attachment is not in plain text (for example, a Microsoft Word document), type S (Save) to save it to your home directory. A prompt to copy the attachment to the home directory will appear. Press ENTER to accept, then use SFTP to download the file.

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Printing messages

  1. While viewing a message, type Y. The prompt Print message using "attached-to-ansi"?  will appear.
  2. Press Y (Yes). The Print Data box will appear.
  3. Click OK. The Print window will appear.
  4. Click OK.

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Deleting messages

To delete a message, do one of the following:

A confirmation message will indicate that the message is marked for deletion. The message will be deleted when you quit Pine.


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Creating a signature

A signature is text appended to the bottom of every email message you send. Signatures usually include your name, telephone number, fax number, and the like. Pine is automatically configured to look for a signature file and append it to the bottom of every outgoing mail message.

To create a signature, do one of the following:


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Quitting Pine

  1. Type Q (Quit). A prompt asking if you really want to quit Pine will appear.
  2. Press Y (Yes). The Unix prompt will appear.

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