![]() | Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) |
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6.1. | Why are my filters not applied to incoming messages of IMAP accounts? |
Normal IMAP mode does not support filtering, but the new disconnected IMAP account type does. You could try to use server-side filtering (ask your admin for how to install filters on the server and in which format), since IMAP is all about managing your email on the server. Unfortunately, although there exists a mail filter language (Sieve, defined in RFC3028), there is no standardized access protocol for installing or editing server-side Sieve scripts. If such a protocol becomes available in the future, KMail will most probably include support for it. | |
6.2. | Using PGP or GnuPG is very slow or it blocks KMail. |
KMail accesses PGP/GnuPG synchronously, i.e. it blocks while PGP/GnuPG works. This means that you might want to disable automatic retrieval of unknown keys from a keyserver to make KMail look more responsive. If you are using GnuPG 1.0.7 (or better) or upgraded from an earlier version, then make sure to run gpg --rebuild-keydb-caches once and gpg --check-trustdb after every import or refresh. Both will speed up GnuPG immensely. | |
6.3. | What should I know if I want to use PGP/GnuPG with KMail? |
KMail provides a simple and easy-to-use interface for the basic functions of these programs; still you should understand how these programs work and what might make their use insecure. Some important issues:
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6.4. | Where does KMail save my settings and my mail? |
Most KMail settings are stored in $KDEHOME/share/config/kmailrc, where $KDEHOME is typically ~/.kde; the identities are stored in $KDEHOME/share/config/emailidentities and your mail is saved in ~/Mail. Note that some of the files are hidden: remember to also copy those if you want to backup or archive your mails. | |
6.5. | Why did KMail regenerate the index of a folder? |
KMail regenerates the index of a folder whenever the index appears to be out of date, i.e. whenever the contents of a folder are newer than the index. KMail regenerates the index in this case in order to prevent the loss or corruption of messages. Unfortunately, currently-deleted messages might reappear and message flags (like important, etc.) might be lost when the index is regenerated. An outdated index can have several causes; the two most important causes are:
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6.6. | I cannot add addresses to my address book after upgrading to KDE 3.x. |
You probably copied your old kmailrc file manually. That is not necessary, there is a script that will do such things when you run KDE 3.x for the first time. To fix the problem, remove the complete “[AddressBook]” group and the addressbook option in group “[General]” in your kmailrc file; however, chances are you will also encounter other problems that the config update script would have solved. | |
6.7. | Can I use KMail together with a different email client, e.g. mutt? |
If you're using the mbox format for your folders it is not possible to use a different email client while KMail is running. With mutt there may also be problems even if both programs are not running at the same time. We recommend to use the maildir format in this case, this should solve all problems. | |
6.8. | How can I convert my mailboxes from mbox to maildir? |
There is no automatic way to do that. You will have to create a new folder in maildir format and copy the messages from the mbox folder into this new folder. Remember to adapt any filter rules connected with the old folder before you delete it. | |
6.9. | How can I use a browser other than Konqueror to open links in messages? |
Change the File Associations for HTML files using KControl. | |
6.10. | How can I remove attachments from messages without removing the message itself? |
This is currently not supported. As a workaround, move the message to the drafts folder, double click on it in order to open it in the composer, remove the attachments, save the message again to the drafts folder, move it back to its folder. The disadvantage of this workaround is that the date will be changed to the current date. Some other headers might also be changed. | |
6.11. | How can I make KMail check for new messages at startup? |
If KMail should always check for new messages at startup then enable Check mail on startup on the Network configuration page. Otherwise start KMail with kmail --check. | |
6.12. | Why does KMail get slow / stop working when I try to send big attachments? |
KMail is known to have problems with large attachments. We are working on a solution for this problem for KDE 3.2 but currently it temporarily consumes virtual memory of about 10-15 times the size of the attachment. That means that if you attach a 2MB file KMail might temporarily need about 20-30 MB of virtual memory (= RAM + swap space). If you do not have enough virtual memory this will lead to problems. | |
6.13. | Where can I get a list of changes between the versions of KMail? |
The welcome screen lists all important changes for your version. It is displayed when you select Help->KMail Introduction. | |
6.14. | Can I configure the location of my mail folder? |
Exit KMail, make a backup of ~/.kde/share/config/kmailrc, then open it with an editor and add e.g. folders=/home/username/.mail to the “[General]” section. Then move all your existing folders (including the hidden index files) to the new location. The next time you start KMail will use /home/username/.mail instead of /home/username/Mail. Note that KMail will lose its filters if you change the mail folder's location but forget to move your existing folders. | |
6.15. | How can I use mail folders that are not in ~/Mail/? |
To add a whole mbox mail folder use ln -s /somewhere/Mail/.remotedir.directory ~/Mail/.mymailboxfile.directory. Note that it is not possible to use links to files, only links that point to folders will work. | |
6.16. | I'm one of those people whose mails consist of 100 quoted lines and one line written by myself. For some reason this annoys other people. Can KMail help me and make everyone's life better? |
Sure. Just select a short relevant part of the original mail with the mouse before you reply. Only this part will then be quoted in your reply. | |
6.17. | For some messages the value in the Date field is unknown or it is not correct. |
Probably the “Date:” header of these messages is broken and KMail cannot interpret it. That is not a bug in KMail but in the software that sent the mail. | |
6.18. | My signature has two dashes above it. What's up? |
Separating the signature from the message body with two dashes and a space on a single line is common usage. These symbols permit mail clients who recognize them to trim the signatures from a reply. If your signature does not already have this separator, KMail will automatically add it. | |
6.19. | KMail fetches the same messages over and over again. |
This happens if you have enabled Leave fetched messages on the server and your POP3 server does not support the UIDL command. There is currently no workaround besides disabling Leave fetched messages on the server. A more detailed explanation can be found in this mailing list post. | |
6.20. | Are there any known bugs in KMail? |
A list of submitted bugs is linked at the KMail homepage. Note that not all these bugs are valid. All in all we think that KMail is a very robust piece of software. WarningHowever, you should not run KMail while another email client is already accessing the files in ~/Mail; if you try to do so, you might lose messages. Note that you should make backups of your messages anyway. | |
6.21. | KMail does not display HTML mail properly. |
References to external content like images, are disabled by default, as they can be used to track whether and when you read a message. Loading external references can be activated in the Security tab in KMail's configuration dialog; also Plugins (like MacromediaŽ Flash), Java™ and JavaScript will not be displayed in KMail for security reasons and there is no way to activate them. | |
6.22. | Can I use two different versions of KMail at the same time? Can I go back from a current version of KMail to an older one? |
You can only run one instance of KMail at once. We also recommend to stick to a certain version and not switch back and forth between different versions. Downgrading to an older version will probably cause problems, e.g. because the index file formats might have changed. Upgrading should never be a problem. | |
6.23. | Does KMail support uuencoded files? |
Uuencoded attachments are supported, but inline uuencoded files are not. | |
6.24. | KMail crashed while I was writing a mail; is that mail is lost now? |
KMail tries to save your mail to ~/dead.letter in case of a crash. The next time you start KMail the mail composer should appear with your mail again; If it does not, try to open ~/dead.letter with an editor. If it does not exist then the crash was so bad that KMail could not save your mail. | |
6.25. | When I try to set a folder to be mailing list-aware, it does not do anything when receiving an email from the list. |
Associating a folder with a mailing list has nothing to do with filtering the mailing list messages — you have to add a new filter rule manually; however, once you associated a folder with a mailing list you can use Message->Reply to Mailing-List... or Message->New Message to Mailing-List... and the mailing list address will be set in the To: field. | |
6.26. | My SMTP server requires authentication; Does KMail support this? |
There are two common techniques used for SMTP authentication: “SMTP after POP3” and “SMTP Auth”. “SMTP Auth” can be set in the General tab of the SMTP configuration dialog. To use “SMTP after POP3” you have to collect all your messages in the outbox and send them just after you have fetched new mail. You can make KMail send the queued messages automatically with the Send messages in outbox folder option on the Network configuration page. | |
6.27. | Can I use KMail and procmail? |
Yes, but it is important to do it the right way or you might lose mail. In order to use procmail and KMail you need to set up KMail so that it will fetch new mail from the spoolfiles in which procmail drops your mail. Do not set up procmail to deliver mail in a KMail folder, this cannot work. For each procmail spoolfile you then need to create an account from which KMail will fetch new mail; you also need to make sure you specify the right lockfile name for this account. When setting up an account, KMail will do some minimal parsing on your .procmail file, and will try to list every spoolfile it has found, and also the lockfiles next to the procmail lockfile item. procmail lets the user specify lockfiles in three different ways, so there is no way to establish a correspondence between the spoolfiles and lockfiles; so it's really up to you to make sure you specify the right lockfile for each spoolfile. | |
6.28. | Spellchecking does not recognize non-English characters. |
Before you can use spellchecking the first time, you have to configure it. You can do so in the composer window's menu under Settings->Spellchecker.... You can set the dictionary and the encoding there. | |
6.29. | How do I use my Eudora/NetscapeŽ/Outlook/... mail folders in KMail? |
See the section Using other Mailbox files With KMail. | |
6.30. | Can I use encryption with my normal (non-SSL) POP3 account? |
If your POP3 server runs an ssh daemon, you can use ssh to tunnel your POP3 connection using the following command: ssh -L 11000:127.0.0.1:110 user@host Modify your KMail configuration to fetch the mail via POP3 from localhost and ssh will tunnel the connection for you. NoteIf non-encrypted messages have already been sent via Internet, the only advantage of using ssh is that your password will be sent encrypted to the POP3 server. | |
6.31. | Does KMail lock the folders it uses? |
KMail does not lock the files in ~/Mail. To avoid the risk of losing mail if using a local account it is necessary to ensure that KMail uses the same type of locking as your mail delivery agent. There are five different locking options you can use:
Procmail lockfile will use a small utility that comes with procmail called lockfile. You can use this if your mail folder is in a folder where you have write permission. This will not work on your /var/spool/mail/user file in most cases. It will create .lock files on your account when KMail is checking for new mail. Please note that this will only work if procmail is installed on your system. Mutt dotlock and Mutt dotlock privileged will both use a small utility that comes with mutt called mutt_dotlock. Mutt dotlock can be used in the same way as the Procmail lockfile option, with the same limitation with regards to the /var/spool/mail/ folders. However, the Mutt dotlock privileged option can create lock files in the /var/spool/mail folder. mutt_dotlock is a setgid program and this option will run it in setgid mode. Please note that these options will only work if mutt is installed on your system. FCNTL will use the fcntl() system call. WarningUsage of FCNTL locking might cause system lockups when the mail spool file is on an NFS mounted device. If you do not want to use any locking, the none option is what you want. However, there are risks of losing mail when no locking is used. | |
6.32. | How do I leave messages on the server? |
See the Download filters chapter. If you want to leave all messages on the server: open up the Settings->Configure KMail... window. Click on the Network page. Select your account from the account list and click the Modify... button. This dialog contains the Leave fetched messages on the server setting which you must enable. | |
6.33. | How do I automatically insert a text footer within my messages? |
The text footer is also called a signature (not to be confused with a cryptographic signature). Select Settings->Configure KMail... Look in the Identity page for the Signature tab and add your signature there. Then go to the General tab on the Composer page and enable Automatically append signature | |
6.34. | How do I set up sendmailŽ to work with KMail if I have a dial-up connection? |
First you should check if your distribution can do this for you. It probably has already been set up during installation. If that is not the case, you may want to have a look at the Mail Queue HOWTO. | |
6.35. | I've seen demonstrations of remote control behavior with KMail. Is there any documentation on the available interfaces? |
You can get a list of functions by using this command in a shell: dcop kmail KMailIface. Some documentation is also available in kdenetwork/kmail/kmailIface.h and kdenetwork/kmail/mailcomposerIface.h. | |
6.36. | How do I enable permanent decryption of read messages? |
The global reversal of encryption is considered extremely insecure. Shared access to messages for multiple persons should be implemented using semantic solutions (e.g. by defining roles like “department manager”). In case it is imperative to use it in the insecure mode, it has to be manually enabled in the file $KDEHOME/share/config/kmailrc by adding the following directive in the [Reader] group: store-displayed-messages-unencrypted=true |
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