LEICHTER@VENUS.YCC.YALE.EDU ("Jerry Leichter ", LEICHTER-JERRY@CS.YALE.EDU) (12/07/87)
I have a problem with VAX mail..... It seems that every time I login, it tells me I have one new mail message, but when I get into mail, and type dir, it gives me the directory of my main folder. This seems to have been caused by my compressing the main mail file down when I received a mail message. Can someone tell me how to get rid of that outstanding mail message???? I've already tried to compress it down again, but it still hasn't gone away. This is one of the most commonly-asked VMS questions, by beginners and expe- rienced users alike. While the answer IS in the MAIL documentation, it is almost never noticed - partly because, it seems, MAIL is easy enough to use that hardly anyone ever bothers to READ the documentation! Anyhow: Go into MAIL and type READ/NEW. If you've actually got some new mail, read it; when you've read it all, type READ/NEW again. When READ/NEW reports "No new messages", it also resets the new mail message counter to 0. Note that there are several ways to get the new mail message counter out of sync with the actual new messages. The two most common are system crashes and restoring the system disk from a backup (often related, of course). I don't think compressing your mail file will do this, but there could be some odd timing window involved. -- Jerry
tedcrane@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu (Ted Crane) (12/09/87)
By now, several people must have offered the solution to this problem
(new mail counter and contents of NEWMAIL folder out of synch).
READ/NEW is documented, but the situation is so silly that no matter
how many times I hear the problem, I've never felt the need to point
the user at the manual.
On the other hand, here is a suggestion which will help avoid the problem:
In MAIL, the keypad-MINUS key is defined as "READ/NEW" by default. So,
why not use DCL to define the same key as "MAIL"? Then, to enter MAIL
and read new mail, just hit the keypad-MINUS twice in a row. As a side
effect, the new mail counter will be brought back into synch with the actual
NEWMAIL folder contents! For the lazy, here's the DCL command:
$ define/key -
/nolog -
/if_state=DEFAULT -
/echo/terminate -
MINUS -
"mail"
(This presumes various default settings of DCL and your terminal, adapt as
necessary).
- ted crane, alias (tc)
tedcrane@tcgould.tn.cornell.edu BITNET: tedcrane@CRNLTHRY
{decvax!ucbvax}!tcgould.tn.cornell.edu!tedcrane DECnet: GOPHER::THC
(607) 273-8768jrozbori@udenva.cair.du.edu (Jim Rozboril) (12/12/87)
In article <3123@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu> tedcrane@tcgould.tn.cornell.edu (Ted Crane) writes: >By now, several people must have offered the solution to this problem >(new mail counter and contents of NEWMAIL folder out of synch). >READ/NEW is documented, but the situation is so silly that no matter >how many times I hear the problem, I've never felt the need to point >the user at the manual. > Hey folks, I tried read/new and it didn't work. Any other suggestions? roz
kennedy@asuvax.UUCP (Ralph Kennedy) (12/15/87)
In article <9587@udenva.cair.du.edu>, jrozbori@udenva.cair.du.edu (Jim Rozboril) writes: > In article <3123@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu> tedcrane@tcgould.tn.cornell.edu (Ted Crane) writes: > >By now, several people must have offered the solution to this problem > >(new mail counter and contents of NEWMAIL folder out of synch). > >READ/NEW is documented, but the situation is so silly that no matter > >how many times I hear the problem, I've never felt the need to point > >the user at the manual. > > > Hey folks, I tried read/new and it didn't work. Any other suggestions? > > roz Individual users can use read/new to fix the problem, but it is tricky. I believe you have to first send yourself a dummy letter, then enter mail and hit <CR> to read it, then say read/new. It's been awhile since I've had to do this, but I remember that the dummy letter is necessary. From a sysadmin point of view, the problem can be fixed by running sys$examples:mailuaf.com and entering REMOVE <username> and ADD <username>. Ralph Kennedy uucp: ...ihnp4!mot!asuvax!kennedy Engineering Comp. Serv. csnet: kennedy@asu.CSNET Arizona St. Univ. Tempe, AZ 85287
tedcrane@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu (Ted Crane) (12/16/87)
In article <9587@udenva.cair.du.edu> jrozbori@udenva.UUCP (Jim Rozboril) writes: >>By now, several people must have offered the solution to this problem >>(new mail counter and contents of NEWMAIL folder out of synch). >>READ/NEW is documented, ... >> >Hey folks, I tried read/new and it didn't work. Any other suggestions? > >roz It hasn't failed me yet. Of course, if you READ/NEW and there is new mail waiting to be read, it will read the new mail and NOT reset the counter. You have to continue using READ/NEW until there is not more new mail and you get the message No more Mail