NAME

       mh-draft - draft folder facility for nmh message system

SYNOPSIS

       any nmh command

DESCRIPTION

       There  are  a  number  of  interesting advanced facilities for the composition of outgoing
       mail.

   The Draft Folder
       The comp, dist, forw, repl, and whom commands have two additional  switches,  -draftfolder
       +folder and -draftmessage msg which allow you to manipulate the various draft messages you
       are composing.

       If -draftfolder +folder is used, these commands are directed to construct a draft  message
       in  the  indicated  folder.   (The  “Draft-Folder”  profile entry may be used to declare a
       default draft folder for use with comp, dist, forw, repl, and whom ).

       If the swith -draftmessage msg is given, the  specified  draft  is  used  to  compose  the
       message.  If -draftmessage msg is not used, then the draft defaults to `new' (create a new
       draft) unless the user invokes comp with -use, in which case the default is `cur'.

       Hence, the user may have several message compositions in  progress  simultaneously.   Now,
       all of the nmh tools are available on each of the user's message drafts (e.g.  show, scan,
       pick, and so on).  If the folder does not exist, the user is asked if it should be created
       (just  like with refile).  Also, the last draft message the user was composing is known as
       `cur' in the draft folder.

       Furthermore, the send command has these switches as well.  Hence, from the shell, the user
       can  send  off  whatever  drafts  desired  using  the  standard nmh `msgs' convention with
       -draftmessage msgs.  If no `msgs' are given, it defaults to `cur'.

       In addition, all five programs  have  a  -nodraftfolder  switch,  which  undoes  the  last
       occurrence of -draftfolder folder (useful if the latter occurs in the user's nmh profile).

       If  the  user  does  not give the -draftfolder +folder switch, then all these commands act
       “normally”.  Note that the -draft switch to send and show still refers to the file  called
       `draft'  in  the  user's  nmh  directory.  In the interests of economy of expression, when
       using comp or send, the user needn't prefix the draft `msg' or `msgs' with  -draftmessage.
       Both  of  these  commands  accept  a  `file'  or `files' argument, and they will, if given
       -draftfolder +folder treat these arguments as `msg' or `msgs'.  (This  may  appear  to  be
       inconsistent, at first, but it saves a lot of typing) Hence,

              send -draftfolder +drafts first

       is the same as

              send -draftfolder +drafts -draftmessage first

       To  make  all  this  a  bit  more  clear,  here  are some examples.  Let's assume that the
       following entries are in the nmh profile:

            Draft-Folder: +drafts
            sendf: -draftfolder +drafts

       Furthermore, let's assume that the program sendf  is  a  (symbolic)  link  in  the  user's
       $HOME/bin/ directory to send.  Then, any of the commands

            comp
            dist
            forw
            repl

       constructs  the  message  draft  in  the  `draft'  folder  using the `new' message number.
       Furthermore, they each define `cur' in this folder to be that message draft.  If the  user
       were  to  use  the  quit  option  at  `What  now?' level, then later on, if no other draft
       composition was done, the draft could be sent with simply

            sendf

       Or, if more editing was required, the draft could be edited with

            comp -use

       Instead, if other drafts had been composed in the meantime, so that this message draft was
       no longer known as `cur' in the `draft' folder, then the user could scan the folder to see
       which message draft in the folder should be used for editing  or  sending.   Clever  users
       could even employ a back-quoted pick to do the work:

            comp -use `pick +drafts -to nmh-workers`

       or

            sendf `pick +drafts -to nmh-workers`

       Note that in the comp example, the output from pick must resolve to a single message draft
       (it makes no sense to talk about composing two or  more  drafts  with  one  invocation  of
       comp).   In  contrast,  in the send example, as many message drafts as desired can appear,
       since send doesn't mind sending more than one draft at a time.

       Note that the argument -draftfolder +folder is not included in the profile entry for send,
       since when comp, et. al., invoke send directly, they supply send with the UNIX pathname of
       the message draft, and not a -draftmessage msg argument. As far as send  is  concerned,  a
       draft folder is not being used.

       It  is important to realize that nmh treats the draft folder like a standard nmh folder in
       nearly all respects.  There are two exceptions:

       First, under no circumstancs will the -draftfolder folder switch cause the named folder to
       become the current folder.

       Obviously,  if the folder appeared in the context of a standard +folder argument to an nmh
       program, as in

            scan +drafts

       it might become the current folder, depending on the context changes of the nmh program in
       question.

       Second,  although  conceptually send deletes the `msgs' named in the draft folder, it does
       not call delete-prog to perform the deletion.

   What Happens if the Draft Exists
       When the comp, dist, forw, and repl commands are  invoked  and  the  draft  you  indicated
       already  exists, these programs will prompt the user for a reponse directing the program's
       action.  The prompt is

            Draft ``/home/foobar/nmhbox/draft'' exists (xx bytes).
            Disposition?

       The appropriate responses and their meanings are:

            replace - deletes the draft and starts afresh
            list    - lists the draft
            refile  - files the draft into a folder and starts afresh
            quit    - leaves the draft intact and exits

       In addition, if you specified -draftfolder folder to the command, then one other  response
       will be accepted:

            new     - finds a new draft

       just  as  if  -draftmessage new had been given.  Finally, the comp command will accept one
       more response:

            use     - re-uses the draft

       just as if -use had been given.

CONTEXT

       None