DELTA MAIL

Please read the accompanying License.txt file before using this program.

Introduction
Installation
Usage
Uninstallation
Registration

Introduction

Delta Mail is a very small, fast and secure e-mail client that doesn't require any installation. It can automatically encrypt all outgoing messages (including the subject line and any attachments) using very powerful 256 bit symmetric encryption that doesn't require digital IDs. It also has excellent international language support that allows you to send and receive messages in any language (providing you have a suitable font installed on your system). Delta Mail features support for multiple e-mail accounts, HTML messages, file attachments, password authentication (cram-md5) and printing, an address book and account manager, the ability to queue e-mails prior to sending, remove message indentation, search for e-mails, display messages in any font and view/download/delete e-mails on the server. This version also includes a system tray facility that will check your e-mail in the background and alert you if any are found.

 

Installation

Run install.exe.

Options

'associate with .eml files'

Use Delta Mail to open .eml files

'use with web browser'

Use Delta Mail when you click on mailto links in web pages.

'run Delta Mail on startup'

Run Delta Mail in system tray mode every time Windows is started.

 

Setup

Run setup.exe

Refer to "in context" help i.e. click on '?' in the toolbar, and then click on the option you want information about.

Encryption

An edit field is provided so you can enter random characters which are used to generate your encryption key. This is necessary because computers are not capable of producing a sequence of truly random numbers. The characters that you enter here should be as random as possible (i.e. avoid repetitions and include special characters) to increase the strength of your key.

The 256 bit key is contained in the file bfkey.dat which is generated by the install program. You should not allow this file to be accessed by anyone who you do not want to read e-mail that was encrypted with this key. In symmetic encryption, both the sender and the receiver use the same key to encrypt and decrypt messages. It is much more secure than public key cryprography but it has the disadvantage of requiring a secure method of key exchange.

Technical details of the encryption process can be found here.

Usage

Run deltamail.exe or click on the start menu / desktop shortcut (created by the install program).

Receive Mail Overview

Click on the 'Tools' menu and then select 'Account Manager' to set up your e-mail accounts. To set up a new e-mail account, you will need to know your SMTP and POP3 server names. If you use Outlook Express you can find this out from the account properties, under the server tab. The server name is usually 'smtp.' or 'pop3.' followed by the last part of your e-mail address. Eg if your email address is user@server.com then the SMTP server might be smtp.server.com and the POP3 server could be pop3.server.com. To use an alternative port number, append the server name with a colon, followed by the number eg 127.0.0.1:2345. Once you have done this, you should restart Delta Mail in order to use the new accounts. You can selectively check accounts for new e-mail by selecting one from the menu in the top right corner of the screen and then clicking on 'Receive Mail'. Alternatively, you can check all of your accounts (if you have more than one) by selecting 'Check All' from the 'Mail' menu. If you have any new e-mail, it should appear in the main list. Double click on one of the list entries (or press F9) to display the e-mail text.

Folder Management

To add a new sub-folder, select a folder by clicking on it and then press then insert key. Click on the 'New Item' twice to rename the folder.

To delete a folder, select the folder and then press the delete key.

You can move or copy/move files from the current folder by selecting copy/move from the 'File' menu.

View E-mail Headers

This option allows you to view what e-mail is on the server without actually downloading the messages. You can then selectively download or delete the files from the server.

1) Select an account

2) Click on the E-mail Headers folder

3) Select an e-mail or a combination of e-mails from the list

4) Click on Mail->Delete From Server to delete your selection from the server

5) Click on Mail->Download From Server to download your selection into the inbox.

Fonts

The 'message font selector' option in the 'tools' menu may be used to change the font used to display messages. It will not, however, cause any changes in the way messages are sent i.e. your recipient will probably not view your messages in the font that you select.

You can select a different font for printing by clicking on 'printer font selector' in the 'tools' menu.

Search

Select the folder that you would like to search in and then click on 'search' from the 'File' menu. A window should then appear which allows you to specify your search criteria. The 'matches' and 'does not match' options refer to the entire field, message or file (eg if you select the 'From' field and the 'matches' option then the entire header field from 'From: ' to the end of the line must match your selection.

Color Schemes

Delta Mail has several different color schemes. You can select a new color scheme from 'colors' at the top of the send mail window. It is also possible to create and use your own color schemes. The scheme files are located in the 'colors' folder and consist of a name folded by hexadecimal color values for various graphical components. The format of the scheme files is as follows:

color scheme name
main window background
label background
label text
label text background
edit box background
edit box text
edit box text background
list box background
list box text
list box text background
rich edit background
rich edit text
full view background
full view text

Sorting

You can sort your email by clicking on the column titles. The email list will then be sorted alphabetically by the data in the selected column. This option is only available for the 'From', 'To' and 'Subject' columns at the present time.

Options

'Show HTML'

Show the HTML part of a multi-part email. This option can be disabled from setup.

'Show text'

Show the text part of a multi-part email.

'Extract attachments'

Produces a save dialog for each attachment in the email.

'Add to address book'

Add the sender's name and email address to the address book.

'Reply to list'

Reply to the sender and all of the recipients of the selected email (probably including you).

'Mark'

Highlight the selected email (its list entry will turn red)

'Move File'

Opens the move dialog, allowing you to move the file to a folder of your choice.

'Copy File'

Same as 'move file' but with copy.

'Delete All'

Delete all of the emails in the currently open folder. Use with caution (although you do get a prompt).

'Search'

Open the search dialog. From here you can select various fields (or the message/whole email) to search in. New folders of the form search1, search2 etc are created for the results.

'Print'

Print the selected email(s) using the default printer.

'Enter system tray mode'

Minimise program to system tray. Delta Mail will then check the all of your email accounts (at 1 minute intervals) and the system tray icon will change colour (and optionally a sound will be played) if you receive new mail.

'Close send windows'

Close all currently open send mail windows.

'Send Queued'

Send all of the emails in the outbox folder.

'Sort by file name'

Mails are stored in folders sequentially using filenames such as mm1.eml, mm2.eml etc. The initial sorting (when the program is started) is done on the basis of these numbers so that mm1.eml is at the top. This option will restore this ordering should it have been changed by clicking on one of the column titles.

'Delete from server'

Is only available when you click on the 'Email Headers' (virtual) folder. Allows you to delete an email without downloading it.

'Download from server'

Only available when in the 'Email headers' folder.

'Indent Quoted text'

Use angle bracket '>' to indent original email text when you reply to or forward an email.

'Address Book'

A list of name / address associations. The address is in the same format used for the To: field in email headers i.e. "Name" <email>. Click on a name or address twice to edit it.

'Account Manager'

Runs account manager.exe program described in Receive Mail Overview.

'Message Font Selector'

Change the font used to display message text (not HTML).

'Printer Font Selector'

Change font used for printing message text.

Send Mail Overview

Click on the 'New Email' button to compose a new e-mail message. Choose an account from the drop down menu, enter the recpient's address, the subject and the message and then click on 'Send Mail'.. If you want to queue emails then click on 'Send Later' from the 'File' menu. To send the queued e-mails; return to the main window and then click on 'Send Queued' from the 'Mail' menu.

Recipient Syntax

Recipient addresses may be entered in the same format used for the "To" field in email headers i.e. you can use:

"Name" <email_address>

or just

email_address.

Multiple e-mail addresses, seperated by a comma, can be entered into the 'to' field e.g.

"John" <john@aaa.com>,"Mark" <mark@bbb.com>,david@ccc.com

Address Book

The address book can be accessed via the 'Tools' menu in the main window. Press the insert key to add a new address book entry or the delete key to remove an entry. To edit an address book entry, click on it once to select it and then click on it again to begin editing.

Options

'Save as draft'

Save current email in the drafts folder.

'Send later'

Save current email in the outbox folder.

'Add attachment'

Allows you to select a file to attach to this email.

'Read'

Select a text file and read contents into message window.

'Write'

Write contents of message window to a text file.

'Clear'

Clear message window.

'Add custom text'

Read the contents of customtext.txt (in same folder as program) into message window.

'Unindent'

Allows you to remove angle bracket indentation from messages in the 'Send Mail' window.

'Encrypt Messages'

This option is only enabled if you have run the setup program and entered a 32 character string. It will cause your e-mail (subject, message and attachments) to be encrypted prior to sending.

'Save Sent Items'

This option causes the program to save a copy of all e-mails that were successfully sent in the 'sent items' folder.

'Use BCC For Multiple Send'

Select this option if you are sending an e-mail to more then one address but do not want the list of e-mail addresses to be sent to each address.

Troubleshooting

A list of error messages and possible solutions:

"Cannot resolve"

If you have a dial-up internet connection you should try connecting to your ISP before attemping to send or receive any e-mails. If not, try checking your SMTP (if sending e-mail) or POP3 (if receiving e-mail) server name and port number (an alternative port number may be specified by appending a colon followed by the port number to the server name).

"Cannot connect to server"

If you have entered a server's IP address, please see "cannot resolve". Otherwise, try checking your SMTP (if sending e-mail) or POP3 (if receiving e-mail) server name and port number.

"Socket error"

If you are sending an email, it may be too large for the server.

"Target directory is receiving mail"

You may be trying to initiate an operation that will change the contents of a folder that is currently receving emails. Try again when all current transfers have completed.

"POP3 server does not support requested authentication"

The server you are using does not support any of the authorisation protocols that Delta Mail supports (plain and cram-md5).

Uninstallation

Run install.exe and click on 'uninstall'.

 

Registration

You can register Delta Mail for $20 (which may be paid using any major credit card) at the following address.

https://www.Qwerks.com/order/buynow.asp?ProductID=3684

This is a secure site that uses encryption to protect your data. Once you have registered, you will be guided to a webpage from which you can download the full version of Delta Mail. You will receive a new, full version copy, of all future versions of Delta Mail when they are released.