Kontact can manage several e-mail addresses, such as your private e-mail address and your business address. When writing an e-mail, select one of the identities previously defined by clicking ‘View’+‘Identity’. To create a new identity profile, select ‘Settings’+‘Configure KMail’ then ‘Identities’+‘New’. In the dialog that opens, give the new identity a name, such as “private” or “office.” Click ‘OK’ to proceed to a dialog in which to enter some additional information.

Under the ‘General’ tab, enter your name, organization, and e-mail address. Under ‘Cryptography’, select your keys to send digitally signed or encrypted messages. For the encryption features to work, first create a key with KGpg, described in Chapter 12, Encryption with KGpg.

Under ‘Advanced’, you can enter a reply-to and a blind carbon-copy address, choose a dictionary, select the folders for drafts and sent messages, and define how messages should be sent. Under ‘Signature’, decide if and how each of your messages should be signed with an extra piece of text at the end. To activate this, select ‘Enable Signature’ and decide whether the signature should be taken from a file, from an input field, or from the output of a command. When you are finished with all your identity settings, confirm with ‘OK’.

The settings under ‘Network’ decide how Kontact receives and sends e-mail. There are two tabs, one each for sending and for receiving mail. Many of these settings vary depending on the system and network in which your mail server is located. If you are not sure about the settings or items to select, consult your ISP or system administrator.

Create outgoing mail boxes under the ‘Sending’ tab by clicking ‘Add’. Choose between the server types SMTP and sendmail. SMTP is the right choice in most cases. After making this selection, a window appears in which to enter SMTP server data. Provide a name and enter the server address (as given to you by your ISP). If the server wants you to authenticate yourself, enable ‘Server requires authentication’. Security settings are under the ‘Security’ tab. Specify your preferred encryption method here.

Make settings for receiving e-mail under the ‘Receiving’ tab. Use ‘Add’ to create a new account. Choose between different methods for fetching mail, such as local (Mbox or Maildir format), POP3, or IMAP. Make the settings appropriate for your server.

To compose new messages, select ‘Message’+‘New Message’ or click the corresponding icon in the toolbar. To send messages from different e-mail accounts, select one of the identities as described in Section 8.3.1, “Configuring Accounts”. In the recipient fields, enter an e-mail address or part of a name or address in your address book. If Kontact can match what you enter to something in the address book, a selection list opens. Click the desired contact or complete your input if none matches. To select directly from the address book, click ‘...’.

To attach files to your message, click the paper clip icon and select the file to attach. Alternatively, drag a file from the desktop or another folder to the ‘New Message’ window or select one of the options in the ‘Attach’ menu. Normally, the format of a file is recognized correctly. If this is not the case, right-click the icon. From the menu that appears, select ‘Properties’. This opens a dialog in which to set the format and the name of the file and add a description. In addition, decide whether the attached file should be signed or encrypted.

When you are finished composing your message, send it immediately with ‘Message’+‘Send’ or move it to the outbox with ‘Message’+‘Queue’. If you do the former, the message is copied to sent-mail after having been sent successfully. If you do the latter, it is moved to the outbox. Messages in the outbox can still be edited or deleted.

To encrypt your e-mail, first generate a key pair as described in Chapter 12, Encryption with KGpg. To configure the details of the encryption procedure, select ‘Settings’+‘Configure KMail’+‘Identities’ to specify the identity under which to send encrypted and signed messages. Then press ‘Modify’ . After confirming with ‘OK’, the key should be displayed in the corresponding field. Close the configuration dialog with ‘OK’.

Message folders help to organize your messages. By default, they are located in the directory ~/Mail. When starting KMail for the first time, the program creates several folders. inbox is where new messages fetched from a server are initially placed. outbox is used for temporary storage of messages queued for sending. sent-mail is for copies of messages sent. trash contains copies of all e-mails deleted with Del or ‘Edit’+‘Delete’. Use drafts to save unfinished messages. If you are using IMAP, the IMAP folders are listed below the local folders.

If you want additional folders to organize your messages, create them by selecting ‘Folder’+‘New Folder’. This opens a window in which to specify name and format of the newly created folder.

Right-click the folder for a context menu offering several folder operations. Click ‘Expiry’ to specify the expiration date for read and unread messages and what should happen with them after expiration. If you intend to use the folder to store messages from a mailing list, set the necessary options under ‘Folder’+‘Mailing List Management’.

To move one or several messages from one folder to another, highlight the messages to move then press M or select ‘Message’+‘Move to’. In the list of folders that appears, select the folder to which to move your messages. Messages can also be moved by dragging them from the upper window and dropping them into the appropriate folder in the left window.

Filters are a convenient method of automatically processing incoming mail. They use aspects of the mail, such as sender or size, to move mail to certain folders, delete unwanted mails, bounce mails back to the sender, or perform a number of other actions.