Hi Lisa,
This is the only way I know for you to be able to save your Email folder so
that particular file name shows up on the flash card so the information is
easy to find.
This post will discuss how emails can be saved to files which you can store
to a compact flash card, computer, or wherever you want to keep them,
instead
of saving them in the database which, when you have around 700 messages
stored there already, will cause sluggishness in Keymail.
I will describe the method and the preliminary steps the user has to take,
and all I ask is that you read the entire post carefully, as many times as
you
deem adequate for your understanding.
Towards the end, I will discuss how similar methods can be used to save into
files the entries in the planner and other databases like the Address List.
If you would have further questions relating to this, please ask me off-list
at: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Important sections you might want to read in connection to this topic are
the items in the Index that are titled, "Templates Topics" and its subtopic
"creation
and use", and "Printer Topics" and all its subtopics.
I am no longer mentioning the section number because I know that different
users have different BN/VN models and running different Keysoft versions,
but
I assure you that this method works even for those running Keysoft 3.06.
Those using earlier versions could check if they have the Print to File
option described below, because I could not verify that anymore.
OK, let's start.
The crude and inconvenient way used to save emails in the KeyMail database
into documents is to open the message and press SPACE with S (CTRL with S),
choose
the destination drive and folder, press BACKSPACE with X (CTRL with X)
to select the document type (preferably text), and then type a file name and
hit ENTER.
Alternatively, the user can use the Store Bloc command by first marking the
whole message as a block, then pressing S in the Block Commands Menu,
selecting
the drive and folder, and typing a file name that will be created, or
selecting an existing file that will be replaced or appended to.
The problems linked with these methods are.
1. You have to do this for every single email in the database that you want
to delete from your email folders because you do not need to read it often,
and yet you'd like to keep a copy of it for future reference.
2. You will not be able to save the email headers which contain information
about the sender, the original subject line, the date when you received it
or
when it was sent to you, et cetera.
If you really need such info, you would have to go into each saved file and
type it in yourself.
3. Since the method takes more steps, the user will spend about 20 to 30
seconds (depending on how fast he/She types) just to save one email, close
it and
move to the next one in the folder.
Further, to keep the database file small, emails have to be saved each time
they are received because they will only pile up and make it difficult for
the
user to go through each one with this method.
4. When the emails are saved into files, some users are not happy with the
format, finding that some lines are broken when there really had been no new
line markers in the original messages.
If they want to keep just one file for all the messages in a folder, and
thus they select this file when saving or storing a block and choosing to
append
rather than replace it, some indicators like the English language indicator
displayed as dots 1-2-4-6 l g e appear at the start of every message, and
the user likewise must manually put in a dividing line or string of
characters
(like 40 dashes or asterisks) to serve as a message separator.
The method I will be describing will address these problems satisfactorily.
First. The Print/Emboss to File Option.
In Chapter 6, the User's manual discusses the items in the Embosser/Printer
Set-Up Lists.
An item in both lists is called the Embosser (or Printer) Port.
The manual says that the settings for this option are Serial, Parallel, USB,
Bluetooth, and Infrared.
However, there is another setting that is not mentioned, and I do not know
why, considering that this is probably the most useful of all the available
settings.
How often would a user want to emboss or print an email, the planner entries
or database records, compared to exporting them into files that they can
store
and read in KeyWord or their computer?
This extra setting is called "File" and you set it by pressing F at the
Embosser/Printer Port option, then ENTER.
Alternatively, you can press SPACE with dots 3-4 (CTRL with SPACE) to cycle
through the settings for the Embosser/Printer Port.
Therefore, the first step in this method is to configure the BN/VN to send
information you wish to emboss or print into files.
1. From the Main Menu, press W to enter KeyWord.
2. Press P for Printer or E for Embosser.
3. You will be asked if you wish to use the printer/embosser or set it up.
Press S to enter the Setup List.
4. SPACE or DOWN ARROW to the seventh item, "Printer port".
Press F then hit ENTER.
5. Exit the Setup List by pressing SPACE with E (ESCAPE) twice to return to
the KeyWord Menu.
Second. Templates for Ink-Printing and Embossing.
When you wish to ink-print or emboss data that is not stored in files, but
in databases like the one used for the Address List, planner and emails, you
need to use templates.
These will tell KeySoft which field entries are to be sent to a printer,
embosser, or file.
There are ready-made templates that you can use and they are located in the
KeyList and Keymail folders of the Flash Disk.
You can create your own templates or modify the existing ones.
There are restrictions, however, for KeyMail and KeyPlan.
The planner only lets you specify the start and end printing/embossing date.
KeyMail, on the other hand, will let you modify the templates it uses, but
you must retain their file names.
The template files KeyMail uses are the Email Embosser Template and the
Email Print Template found in the Keymail folder of the Flash Disk.
You can change their format and contents, but do NOT change their file
names.
Meanwhile, you can create templates of your own, with your preferred file
name, if you are to use them with KeyList databases that you have customized
or
created, but that is not the concern of this post, so please refer to
chapter 10 of your User's Manual if this is what you wish to do.
But if you follow my discussion here, you will also get a fairly good idea
of how templates are created and modified.
Let's look at the Email Print Template.
Enter KeyWord by pressing W from the Main Menu.
Press O for the Open File option, select the Flash Disk as the drive if it
is not yet selected, then Keymail as the folder, and hit ENTER on Email
Print
Template.
Templates used for ink-printing are text documents, while the used for
embossing are Braille documents.
Both are of KeyWord type, not the foreign Braille and text types.
Each line in the Email Print Template has a field name, followed by a field
pointer, except for the Body Field where there is no word "Body" but just
the
pointer.
This means that when you print an email, be it to a file or to actual paper,
the words "From:", "Date:", "To:", "Copy:", and "Subject:" will appear
before
the field entry, but the body (referring to the message body) will just be
printed without the tag, "Body:" which is not necessary.
But if you really want that to appear, then before the Body Field pointer,
write the word "Body" (without the quotes) in computer Braille because
you're
in a text document, followed by a colon (dots 1-5-6, (SHIFT with SEMICOLON)
THEN a SPACE.
You can also include other things in this template that will appear in the
resulting printed email.
For instance, if you want to print several emails to a single file (steps on
how to do that are discussed below), you naturally would want a message
separator,
for instance, 40 asterisks or dashes.
After the line containing the Body Field pointer, you can type that string
of asterisks or dashes or whatever message separator you prefer, or add new
line
markers.
You can also use something like "END OF MESSAGE" (without the quotes) as the
separator, and if so, just type that where you would like it to appear.
Just imagine the template to be the file into which you will insert the
field entries of your email, and the format and sequence will be the same.
Thus, you can also remove some fields.
For instance, if all emails you wish to save were sent to your address, and
you don't need such information to be saved, then erase the line containing
the tag and pointer for the To field.
You can do the same for the Copy tag and CC field pointer.
One more thing I should point out is that the Date field there contains the
Date-Index Field pointer whose entry is the receiving Time and Date
information,
not the Sending Time and Date field.
This is the header you see on an email after the From field, not the one
after the To or CC field which, in my opinion, is more important.
If you wish to change this to the Sending Time and Date field, or you wish
to insert other fields like the Message-ID or Reply-To header, then do the
following.
1. Position the cursor where you want the field to be inserted.
Make sure you have a new line marker separating each field line.
One new line marker will do.
2. enter the Format menu by Pressing BACKSPACE with I (CTRL with A, then I)
to insert a field.
3. You will be asked whether you wish to get the field from the Address List
or Email Folders database.
Press E for the latter.
4. The BN/VN will pause, then tell you to "Please wait", and I'm telling you
now that you may need to wait for a long time, so please be patient.
The first time I did this, I had 673 emails saved in my database, and the
pause was approximately 15 minutes long.
Do NOT interrupt it.
Do NOT reset, do NOT turn off the unit, do NOT let the batteries go flat.
Don't press anything, just leave it alone, sit tight and wait.
For VoiceNote users, you can press SPACE with C (READ with I), if your
fingers are really itching and not having a Braille display to check if the
VN has
not yet gone to sleep increases your anxiety.
Do NOT panic if the VoiceNote does not respond, the command you executed is
just to tell KeySoft that you're waiting for it to do something so it
shouldn't
dare doze off and leave you petrified.
The reason for the long pause is that templates are part of KeyList's
function but the Email Folders database is sorted and used by KeyMail, a
different
application.
Your database records are being sorted to be accessed by KeyList, hence the
long pause that depends on the size of the database.
This also explains why, after you've inserted fields into this template, the
next time you use KeyMail, you will again be told to please wait or the unit
will just not respond but seem like it froze, and you need to wait the same
length of time that you have waited when inserting fields into the template.
Again, you must not interrupt this, lest your database will get corrupted
and the stored data become inaccessible.
5. After the long wait, the BN/VN will say, "Field selection list" and
places you on the first field in the Email Folders database definition file,
which
is called "Header".
Press SPACE or DOWN ARROW until you get to the Date field.
Note that this is different from the Date Index field, which comes before
the Date field, so skip that one and press ENTER only when you reach the
Date
field.
When you have selected it by tapping the ENTER key, its pointer will be
inserted into the template and displayed as dots 1-2-4-6 fld then the name
of the
field, which in this case is Date, enclosed within parentheses.
Now, if you're fine with the Date Index field in the original form of the
Email Print Template, then disregard the above steps.
Or, if you want to change it but you're scared to do it yourself, then email
me and tell me which fields you want to go in, what would be the format, and
I'll create the template for you and send it as an attachment.
Write to me at the email address I gave in the third paragraph of this post.
Note that you can insert any field that you want from the Email Folders
database.
But if you choose to insert the Folders field pointer, using the template to
print an email does not show the name of the folder where you have it
stored,
but a number corresponding to that folder.
Folder names are not saved in the email database but in the Keysoft.ksd file
in the Dictionaries folder of the Flash Disk which saves KeySoft settings
and
other system info, and which the user cannot access.
One last thing that needs to be changed in the Email Print Template is the
settings for the side margins.
When you use the Print to File option, the resulting file will contain the
document, email, or database record as it would appear on paper.
Thus, if you have a non-zero left, right, top and bottom margin, you will
find spaces before each line (corresponding to the size of the left margin),
and
blank lines at the top and bottom of the file (corresponding to the top and
bottom margins).
Having Justification turned on will also cause extra spaces between words to
be inserted, so make sure that's turned OFF.
To do this.
1. Position the cursor at the top of the template file (press SPACE with
dots 1-2-3 or READ with T).
2. Enter the Layout List by pressing BACKSPACE with L (CTRL with L).
SPACE (DOWN ARROW) to the setting for Justification and make sure it's
turned OFF.
If not, press F, then ENTER.
3. SPACE or DOWN ARROW to the settings for left and right margins.
Set them to 0, by typing 0 (no need for the number sign, dots 2-4-5 will do
on the BT units) and hit ENTER.
When you're done, exit with SPACE with E (ESCAPE), and type Y for yes to
confirm the changes made.
4. Next, enter the Page Settings List by pressing BACKSPACE with P (CTRL
with P).
SPACE or DOWN ARROW to the settings for the Top and Bottom Margins, then set
them to 0 in the same way you had set the left and right margins to 0.
Exit and confirm the changes made.
5. You can also change the settings for the paper length and width if you
want.
These settings are in the Page Settings List, before the Top and Bottom
Margin settings.
You can change them to the maximum and this will affect word wrap.
But if you're happy with the defaults, then leave them as they are.
When you're done with all changes, exit the template file by pressing SPACE
with E (ESCAPE) and return to the Main Menu.
Don't worry, the Format Menu settings you've changed will only take effect
on the template and what you print using it.
Note that you can do the same changes you've done to the Email Print
Template in the Email Embosser Template.
Don't be discouraged and think that this is a complicated method.
What I have discussed so far is just the setting up of preliminary things.
When you've done these changes, you do not need to do them again every time
you want to save emails into files.
Now we're ready to find out how this saving of emails can be done.
Third. Using the Print/Emboss to File Option for Saving EMails Conveniently.
It is always a good practice to organize the emails you have received into
folders according to something that the messages have in common.
For instance, you can keep messages from the BrailleNote list that you find
to be worth saving to a folder called "BrailleNote".
You can also keep emails from a certain person to a folder that bears that
person's name.
You can save the emails there, and schedule a time when you wish to export
the emails into files that you can store in a cf card or your computer, and
then
delete the ones you have in the database to reclaim more space, and avoid
poor and slow KeyMail performance which I'm sure most of us are oh so
familiar with.
As to how often you want to do this, I leave that to your discretion.
I am suggesting though that instead of exporting each email to individual
files, save to a single file all the emails you have in a folder, and then
give
the file a name that indicates the time span during which the emails were
received; e.g., "February 2004" or "Feb 22-28".
Although there is nothing wrong in saving emails to separate files, you must
keep in mind two things.
The more files you have in a folder in the Flash Disk, compact flash card or
storage card, the longer it takes for KeyWord to open the folder and display
the list of files.
If you plan on saving hundreds of emails, it's best to group them and then
save each group of messages to single files.
Also, a blank file already takes up 623 bytes.
I know this is small, but if you have 100 files of small sizes, then 62,300
bytes are eaten up aside from what the file contents take up, while having
these
messages in one file will account for about 61,677 bytes less of occupied
space.
Now let me show you how several emails can easily be saved to a file.
1. Open the folder containing the emails you wish to save into files.
Remember that if you had inserted fields into the template file, you will be
asked to "Please wait" and you must wait, no matter how long it takes.
For now, you would need to mark every email you want to save in a single
file first.
Press SPACE with M (CTRL with SPACE) on each email.
After this, you can schedule the saving of emails and thus need only to mark
all messages in a folder because you have already deleted the ones you have
previously saved into files.
To mark all emails in a folder, enter the Email Action Menu (SPACE with dots
2-6 or CTRL with ENTER), then press A for ALL.
Note that if you used the Find option in KeyMail to get the list of only the
emails you want to save into files, you need to mark them manually one by
one.
Using the Mark All option in the Email Action Menu will not mark only the
Search results but ALL the emails in that folder.
Now if you just want to print/emboss one email, then you do not need to mark
it.
2. When you're certain that you have marked all that you want to save to a
single file, enter the Email Action Menu once more (you do not need to be
inside
a message to do this, but just inside the folder with the marked
emails), and press P for Print or E for Emboss.
3. You will be asked if you wish to print/emboss or set up the
printer/embosser.
If you are not sure that the printer/embosser port is already set to File,
then press S, SPACE or DOWN ARROW to that item, press F, then ENTER, exit
with
SPACE with E (ESCAPE), and finally hit P to print or E to emboss.
If you're certain that the printer/embosser port is already set to File,
then at that prompt asking you what you want to do, press P to print or E to
emboss.
4. Wait for the BN/VN to finish printing/embossing your emails to a file.
I've been using this method since I discovered it last December and with my
BNBT32 whose email database that time had over 1,300 emails in it, the
print/emboss
to file option works at approximately one email per second.
Of course the speed will also depend on the length of emails, but I have
tried this with a mixture of short, long, and average-size emails, and the
resulting
speed is just about the same.
When the BN/VN is done printing or embossing the emails to a file, you will
be returned to the email folder on the message where your cursor was upon
executing
the Print/Emboss to File option.
5. Exit the email folder and KeyMail itself and from the Main Menu, press W
to enter KeyWord.
Type O for the Open File option, and then select the KeySoft Systems Disk as
the drive.
If you are immediately placed at the folder name prompt, hit BACKSPACE to go
to the drive name prompt.
6. After the Keysoft Systems Disk is selected, select the root directory
which is the same as the None folder.
If nothing is being offered at the folder name prompt, or something other
than None is being offered, just type the word "none" (without the quotes).
7. SPACE or DOWN ARROW to the file called Print to File.txt and press ENTER
to open it.
Note that whether you chose to print or to emboss your emails, the file you
need to open is still called Print to File.txt; yes, that's a .txt extension
for both cases.
8. You will be asked if you wish to review the options and press Y for yes.
If you chose to emboss your emails to a file, then make sure that the BN/VN
recognizes Print to File.txt as being a Braille document, which is the first
item in the list of options where you are placed.
Type B for Braille or T for text.
Hit ENTER.
I also suggest that you set Line format when opening the file, which is the
second or third item in the list of options, depending on whether you
specified
the file to be Braille or text.
Press L to set Line Format.
This will make sure that there are new line markers between the email header
information, and before and after the message body and separator.
9. If your emails had accented letters in them, like e acutes or u umlauts,
etc., set the extended character set to MS-DOS.
This is the last item in the list of options.
Press M to select the MS-DOS setting.
10. When you're done configuring the options, press SPACE with E (ESCAPE)
and you will be placed at the top of the file.
Check the first two characters there.
They may be weird ones like the first is the null character (ASCII number 0)
which is neither displayed nor spoken, and the next one may be a Y dieresis
(umlaut).
Delete those two weird characters (SPACE with dots 3-6, or the DELETE key,
twice).
11. You should have all the emails you marked for printing/embossing in that
single file, with header information intact, and separated by the message
separator
you typed in the template file.
If you have any problems at this point, email me at the email address I gave
with your questions, a description of what you've done, and what the problem
is all about.
However, this Print to File.txt is temporary, being in the Keysoft Systems
Disk and will be overwritten every time you use the Print to File option.
Thus, you need to save its contents elsewhere.
You can either press SPACE with S (CTRL with S) or mark the whole file as
one block and use the Store Block command.
Choose any drive other than the Keysoft Systems Disk and your preferred
folder.
At the file name prompt, press BACKSPACE with X (CTRL with X) to see which
file type is set for the destination document.
Make sure it's a Keyword type Braille or text document.
Type the file name and hit ENTER.
12. When you're done saving its contents to a file, you can either exit and
leave Print to File.txt where it is, or delete it by selecting the Erase
File
option in the Block Commands Menu (press E then Y).
Next, check the file you have saved in the Flash Disk, cf card or storage
card.
If you're sure it's there safe and sound, return to KeyMail and erase the
emails you have successfully saved.
In the future, when you have gotten the hang of this method, after printing
or embossing the marked emails, do not exit the folder yet.
Instead, re-enter the Email Action Menu (SPACE with dots 2-6 or CTRL with
ENTER), and press D to delete the emails, and type T to move them to the
Trash
folder (as opposed to just removing them from the folder but keeping them in
the All folder which doesn't really get rid of them from your database).
Empty the Trash folder after you have made sure that the file into which the
group
of emails was saved is intact.
13. Final Notes.
I really recommend that users learn and use this method.
It has greatly improved the performance of KeyMail in my unit and I have not
lost any important emails.
The frequency at which you will save emails to files will depend on how many
messages you receive and would like to keep.
I do mine every month, for example.
The speed is much better as I have already raved about.
The headers are all there as I have specified in the template file.
The lines are not broken off.
Messages are separated properly.
But I use the Print, not the Emboss, Email option in the Email Action Menu.
This is because emails we receive are really text documents.
They are only displayed as grade 2 Braille because of the setting for
Preferred Reading Grade.
Notice, however, that when you route your cursor to a contracted word, it is
expanded, which shows that the message body is a text file.
Hence, it is better to save a text file to a text file.
If you choose the Emboss option, it will still work.
However, the Duxbury Braille Translator and KeySoft do not always agree.
If you read the result of the Emboss to File option using speech, you will
notice errors in translation.
This is not a problem if you're using the Braille display to read them and
if you will not copy-paste a saved email to a message you'll be sending to
someone.
Otherwise, the translation errors will carry over to the resulting text
message body that the recipient (blind or sighted) will read in your email.
To avoid these problems, I suggest using the Print Email option, since when
you read the saved emails, the on-the-fly translation to grade 2 will still
be used by your display, unless you change it.
Further, if the Printer/Embosser port is set to file, printing entries in
the planner or records in databases like the Address List will also be
exported
to the Print to File.txt document in the root directory of the Keysoft
Systems Disk.
You can save this as a .doc or .rtf or .wp5 file, transfer to a computer
using a card reader or ActiveSync, and read and edit it there.
This will be useful if you want to have copies of information you stored in
KeyList databases and the planner that will be readable on your computer
when
you send your BN/VN for repair or upgrade.
Lastly, do not forget to change the Embosser/Printer port setting to Serial,
Parallel, USB, Bluetooth, or Infrared if ever you intend to connect the
BN/VN
to an embosser or printer.
Please feel free to write me off-list if you deem it necessary.
Thanks.
If you have any further queries pertaining to this message, please don't
hesitate to contact me.
Regards, Hilda.
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
"We say with great insistence, that the ordinary blind person can do the
ordinary job in the ordinary place of business and do it as well as the
ordinary sighted person, and we mean by that, that the extraordinary blind
person can do the extraordinary job in the extraordinary place of business
and do it as well as any extraordinary sighted person can..."
m-Dr. Marc Maurer at the NFB 2001 Everest Expedition Celebration
----- Original Message -----
From: "Lisa Ehlers" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, July 16, 2006 7:16 AM
Subject: [Braillenote] backing up my email folder on storage card
Hi Everyone,
Maybe I didn't explain myself well enough earlier. I want to be able to
only back up the folder called my email. Why because it's easier to find
then. I would prefer to just move that particular file to the flash card
if that's possible. If something happened and my email database crashed
My Email would be lost with all of my helpful emails I've saved. I keep
looking in the file called email folders and don't see anything. Nothing
like inbox, outbox, trash, nothing. I was thinking there was a simple
procedure that was included in KS 6.11 to accoplish this task. Perhaps
I'm wrong? Basically I want to be able to save My Email folder so that
particular file name shows up on the flash card so the information is easy
to find. Any ideas?
Thanks for your time and your help.
Lisa
___
To leave the BrailleNote list, send a blank message to
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
To view the list archives or change your preferences, visit
http://list.humanware.com/mailman/listinfo/braillenote
___
To leave the BrailleNote list, send a blank message to
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
To view the list archives or change your preferences, visit
http://list.humanware.com/mailman/listinfo/braillenote
