[Alpine-info] Using roles to set From: on replies (Was: Re: Copy To: to From: field)

[Doug Barton]

FH wrote:

> Is there any way to link the "Alternate Addresses" to the defined Roles? 


We _just_ had a thread on how to set up roles to do this directly. You
want to do S R R to get into the role menu, then either select an
existing role or create a new one. Then you want the following settings:

Current Folder Type:	Email
Partic pattern=	you at yourdomain.tld

For the "Message is ..." and similar options you almost certainly want
to choose "Don't care, always matches" for all of them.

Then in the ACTIONS BEGIN HERE section set From, and the other options
as appropriate.

Finally for the "Reply/Forward/Compose Use" options select what you
need. I use "Without confirmation" for the first 2, and "With
confirmation" for the last. That way I get my various roles as options
in the compose menu (see below).

That will handle setting the right From: address on replies. Now here
is the clever bit. If you want to have a default role (and you
probably do) list it _last_ so that alpine can match any of the
more-specific roles first. For that default role I choose "Without
confirmation" for the "Compose Use" option.

I have my @FreeBSD.org address listed as my first role, and my
personal e-mail address listed last as the default. So, when I hit C
for a new message I get the following prompt:

Use role "FreeBSD" for Compose?
 ? Help   Y [Yes]                    ^T To Select Alternate Role
^C Cancel   N No, use default settings

That way I can just click Y to use my most common alternate role, or N
to use the default. If I need something more exotic, I use ^T.

The alternate address stuff is great, and I use that as well so that
alpine will mark mail that is sent directly to me in the Index. If all
you need for "roles" is simply to set the From address on the
occasional mail, that "Copy To Address to From if it is Us" option is
great. However it is well worth your while to become familiar with the
options available to you for roles. They are one of alpine's most
powerful features.


hope this helps,

Doug